The PDMS/ceramic composite membrane used in this study was
from the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University. Pervaporation performance of
the PDMS/ceramic composite membrane was tested in ABE mode
solution and fermentation broth as described previously [18]. Fed
batch fermentation with pervaporation was carried out in a glass
fermenter with a working volume of 1 L. Concentrated production
medium containing 300 g/L glucose was used for feed medium. The
membrane was sterilized at 121 ◦C for 15 min before operation. The
flow rate of fermentation broth was fixed at 15 L/h by a peristaltic
pump (Longer BT300, China) during PV, and the permeation pressure was less than 400 Pa. Permeates were collected in a cold trap
using liquid N2 while the retentate was returned to fermenter. Samples were taken from the fermenter and permeate for the analysis
of cell density, ABE solvents and glucose.