17 research outputs found

    Process for the continuous biological production of lipids, hydrocarbons or mixtures thereof

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    The present invention is directed to a process for the continuous biological production of lipids, hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon like material or mixtures thereof by conversion of a suitable substrate using micro-organisms, in which process the said substrate is continuously, anaerobically fermented to produce lipids, hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon like material or mixtures thereof and fermentation gas, in the presence of, optionally supported, micro-organisms in an aqueous medium in a column type reactor, in which reactor at least part of the aqueous medium flows in upward direction, and recovering the lipids, hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon like material by separating the fermentation gas, the micro-organisms, the lipids, hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon like material from each other under conditions that coalescence of the hydrocarbon material or hydrocarbon like material is promoted.BiotechnologyApplied Science

    Method for the production of a fermentation product from an organism

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    The invention relates to a method for the production of a fermentation product from an organism cultured in a culture medium, wherein the organism after the formation of the fermentation product is subjected to a lysis treatment in the presence of a lysis-promoting compound. In accordance with the invention, the lysis-promoting agent is a compound that can be metabolised by the organism, and the method comprises the steps of treating the organism at a first, relatively high concentration of the lysis-promoting compound, separating the lysis-promoting agent and the fermentation product, and culturing the organism at a second, relatively low concentration of the metabolisable lysis-promoting agent.Applied Science

    Technical and Economical Feasibility of Production of Ethanol from Sugar Cane and Sugar Cane Bagasse

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    The primary aim of this study is to investigate and analyze the sugar-ethanol plants operating in Brazil to construct a raw model to gain better understanding and insight about the technical and economical aspects of the currently operating plants. And, the secondary aim is to combine the knowledge gathered from the currently existing plant with the future design idea of converting lignocellulose into ethanol together with sucrose. The major products of the plants are ethanol and sugar. The proposed plant capacity is 5 million metric tones of sugar cane per year. The plant operation time is 174 days (4176 h) during the harvest season. The plant location is Sao Paulo state of Brazil. The designed 2005 plant produces 99.88% anhydrous ethanol and white sugar with 165,956 and 379,401 ton yearly capacities respectively. The plant is self sufficient in terms of steam and electricity requirements. The results of economical analysis of the 2005 plant reveal that the required total capital investment is 102million.Theinvestmentisdeterminedusingthelocationfactorof0.4forBrazil.Thenetpresentvalueoftheinvestmentis102 million. The investment is determined using the location factor of 0.4 for Brazil. The net present value of the investment is 166 million using discount rate of 4%. The same analysis reveals that the maximum interest rate that investment can remain economical through out the investment period is 26.5%. The sensitivity analysis showed that the economical values are highly sensitive to sugar cane, ethanol and sugar prices. The designed 2015 plant produces 99.89% anhydrous ethanol and white sugar with 396,872 and 370,405 ton yearly capacities respectively. For the future plant the microorganisms for fermentation are selected as recombinant Sacharomyces cerevisiae that can metabolize pentose and hexose sugars. the pretreatment method for the lignocellulose breakdown is selected as acid catalyzed steam explosion. The cellulose is hydrolyzed using cellulase enzyme. The plant is self sufficient in steam production, however, some portion of electricity demand is required to be purchased from the grid. The environmental impact of the plant is minimized by proposed waste treatment methods. The investment requirement for 2015 plant is obtained as 133millionafterincludingthelocationfactorof0.4forBrazil.Thenetpresentvalueof2015plantisobtainedas133 million after including the location factor of 0.4 for Brazil. The net present value of 2015 plant is obtained as 370 million for discount rate of 4%. The pay put period for the 2015 plant is obtained as 1.4 years. The discounted cash flow analysis reveals that the plant investment can stand interest rates up to 38%. As in 2005 plant the cost of sugar cane and selling price of ethanol and sugar are the major disturbances for the economic parameters.Applied Science

    Method of substantially continuously separating two compounds using a moving bed or a simulated moving bed

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    The present invention relates to a method of separating a first solute A and a second solute B using (simulated) moving bed chromatography. According to the present invention at least one of a) a feedstream; and b) a desorbent stream comprises an organic solvent. The use of different solvent liquids for the feedstream and the desorbent stream results in an increased difference in partition coefficients for solute A and solute B. According to the present invention it is possible to obtain solute A in an extract stream in a form which is more concentrated in comparison to the concentration of solute A in the feedstreamApplied Science

    Theoretical performance of countercurrent reactors for production of enantiopure compounds

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    Irreversible reactions are being applied in enzymatic kinetic resolution to obtain enantiomerically pure compounds from racemic mixtures. Using model calculations for situations without mass transfer limitation, we show that reversible reactions might also be useful for enzymatic kinetic resolution, provided that countercurrent systems are used rather than batch or cocurrent systems. The required reaction time or enzyme amount in a countercurrent system is much lower than in an analogous cocurrent system or its batch equivalent. More importantly, often the calculated yield and enantiomeric excess are better in countercurrent systems. Racemization can also be favorably used in countercurrent systems. Consequently, to achieve with a reversible reaction a particular enantiomeric excess and yield, a countercurrent system needs less dilution or activated co-reactant and less enantioselective enzyme than a cocurrent system.BT/BiotechnologyApplied Science

    Process for the recovery of lipids or hydrocarbons

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    The invention is directed to a method for recovering a lipid or hydrocarbon from a fermentation mixture, comprising the steps of - providing a fermentation mixture wherein the lipid or hydrocarbon is produced by microbial fermentation in a fermentation vessel, which mixture comprises an aqueous phase and a liquid product phase, wherein the liquid product phase comprises the lipid or hydrocarbon; and - feeding at least part of the aqueous phase and part of the liquid product phase to a second vessel, thereby forming a second mixture; and - promoting phase-separation of the aqueous and product phase by injecting a gas into the second mixture, thereby separating the product phase from the aqueous phase; and - collecting the product phase comprising the lipid or hydrocarbon.BT/BiotechnologyApplied Science

    Vapour permeation for ethanol recovery from fermentation off–gas

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    In ethanol fermentations, about 2% of the ethanol leaves the fermenter with the off–gas. Conventionally, this is recovered by absorption in water. As alternative, vapour permeation was investigated conceptually for ethanol recovery from fermentation off–gas. A preliminary techno–economic evaluation of this system using hydrophobic membrane was carried out. The results were compared with conventional absorption. For the assumed membrane, concentrated ethanol (∼66 mass%) might be achieved using vapour permeation whereas absorption achieves 2 mass%, and needs much more distillation to achieve ∼93 mass%. The ethanol recovery costs for base case absorption and for hydrophobic vapour permeation were calculated to be 0.211 and 1.389 US $/kg, respectively. The ethanol recovery cost decreases with increase in membrane permeability in hydrophobic vapour permeation but the base case cost was not achieved. In the vapour permeation process, membrane cost dominates at lower membrane permeabilities whereas at the permeabilities 3 times higher than original, the costs for vacuum on permeate side of membrane governs the ethanol recovery cost.Accepted Author ManuscriptOLD BT/Cell Systems EngineeringBT/Bioprocess Engineerin

    Fumaric acid production by fermentation

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    Abstract The potential of fumaric acid as a raw material in the polymer industry and the increment of cost of petroleum-based fumaric acid raises interest in fermentation processes for production of this compound from renewable resources. Although the chemical process yields 112% w/w fumaric acid from maleic anhydride and the fermentation process yields only 85% w/w from glucose, the latter raw material is three times cheaper. Besides, the fermentation fixes CO2. Production of fumaric acid by Rhizopus species and the involved metabolic pathways are reviewed. Submerged fermentation systems coupled with product recovery techniques seem to have achieved economically attractive yields and productivities. Future prospects for improvement of fumaric acid production include metabolic engineering approaches to achieve low pH fermentations.BiotechnologyApplied Science

    Techno-economic assessment of the use of solvents in the scale-up of microbial sesquiterpene production for fuels and fine chemicals

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    Sesquiterpenes are a group of versatile, 15-carbon molecules with applications ranging from fuels to fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. When produced by microbial fermentation at laboratory scale, solvents are often employed for reducing product evaporation and enhancing recovery. However, it is not clear whether this approach constitutes a favorable techno-economic alternative at production scale. In this study empirical correlations, mass transfer and process flow sheeting models were used to perform a techno-economic assessment of solvent-based processes at scales typical for flavors and fragrances (25 MT year−1) and the fuel market (25 000 MT year−1). Different solvent-based process options were compared to the current state of the art, which employs surfactants for product recovery. The use of solvents did reduce the sesquiterpene evaporation rate during fermentation and improved product recovery but it resulted in costs that were higher than, or similar to, the base case due to the additional equipment cost for solvent-product separation. However, when selecting solvents compatible with the final product formulation (e.g. in a kerosene enrichment process), unit costs as low as $0.7 kg−1 can be achieved while decreasing environmental impact.BT/Bioprocess EngineeringBT/Biotechnology and Societ
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