Acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation
Fermentación ABE
- Date
- 1915 · confidence medium
- Place
- Manchester, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Chaim Weizmann
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A bacterial fermentation process that converts starch or glucose into acetone, butanol, and ethanol, developed by chemist Chaim Weizmann and used on a large scale to produce the acetone needed for cordite during World War I.
What it led to
- Large-scale industrial production of acetone and butanol
- Boost to the fermentation biotechnology industry
- A precedent that helped Weizmann's Zionist cause with the British government