22377results about "Biofuels" patented technology

An adjustable spinal fusion intervertebral implant is provided that can comprise upper and lower body portions that can each have proximal and distal wedge surfaces disposed at proximal and distal ends thereof. An actuator shaft disposed intermediate the upper and lower body portions can be actuated to cause proximal and distal protrusions to converge towards each other and contact the respective ones of the proximal and distal wedge surfaces. Such contact can thereby transfer the longitudinal movement of the proximal and distal protrusions against the proximal and distal wedge surfaces to cause the separation of the upper and lower body portions, thereby expanding the intervertebral implant.

An adjustable spinal fusion intervertebral implant is provided that can comprise upper and lower body portions that can each have proximal and distal wedge surfaces disposed at proximal and distal ends thereof. An actuator shaft disposed intermediate the upper and lower body portions can be actuated to cause proximal and distal protrusions to converge towards each other and contact the respective ones of the proximal and distal wedge surfaces. Such contact can thereby transfer the longitudinal movement of the proximal and distal protrusions against the proximal and distal wedge surfaces to cause the separation of the upper and lower body portions, thereby expanding the intervertebral implant. The upper and lower body portions can have side portions that help facilitate linear translational movement of the upper body portion relative to the lower body portion.

Biomass is pretreated using a low concentration of aqueous ammonia at high biomass concentration. Pretreated biomass is further hydrolyzed with a saccharification enzyme consortium. Fermentable sugars released by saccharification may be utilized for the production of target chemicals by fermentation.

A process for producing ethanol including a combination of biochemical and synthetic conversions results in high yield ethanol production with concurrent production of high value coproducts. An acetic acid intermediate is produced from carbohydrates, such as corn, using enzymatic milling and fermentation steps, followed by conversion of the acetic acid into ethanol using esterification and hydrogenation reactions. Coproducts can include corn oil, and high protein animal feed containing the biomass produced in the fermentation.

The present invention provides a transgenic soybean event MON87705, and cells, seeds, and plants comprising DNA diagnostic for the soybean event. The invention also provides compositions comprising nucleotide sequences that are diagnostic for said soybean event in a sample, methods for detecting the presence of said soybean event nucleotide sequences in a sample, probes and primers for use in detecting nucleotide sequences that are diagnostic for the presence of said soybean event in a sample, growing the seeds of such soybean event into soybean plants, and breeding to produce soybean plants comprising DNA diagnostic for the soybean event.

A vegetable oil hydroconversion process is described for hydroconverting a mixture between 1 to 75% in mass of oil or natural fat (1) and the rest mineral oil (2), hydroconverted in a reactor (205) under conditions of pressure, temperature, hydrogen (flow 119) and sulfide catalyst of Groups VIII and VIB, obtaining, after sour water separation (flow 111) and rectification (flow 112), a specified diesel product (4). The product (4) has an ITQ / DCN (cetane number) higher than a product obtained from a pure mineral based oil would have, lower density than from a base oil and a plugging point depending on the mineral oil flow, as well as greater oxidation stability than the base oil.

A stable continuous method for producing ethanol from the anaerobic bacterial fermentation of a gaseous substrate containing at least one reducing gas involves culturing a fermentation bioreactor anaerobic, acetogenic bacteria in a liquid nutrient medium; supplying the gaseous substrate to the bioreactor; and manipulating the bacteria in the bioreactor by reducing the redox potential, or increasing the NAD(P)H TO NAD(P) ratio, in the fermentation broth after the bacteria achieves a steady state and stable cell concentration in the bioreactor. The free acetic acid concentration in the bioreactor is maintained at less than 5 g / L free acid. This method allows ethanol to be produced in the fermentation broth in the bioreactor at a productivity greater than 10 g / L per day. Both ethanol and acetate are produced in a ratio of ethanol to acetate ranging from 1:1 to 20:1.

The invention relates to processes that efficiently convert carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, into products in such a manner that the energy, carbon, and mass content of the materials are efficiently transferred into such products. Such methods include converting the materials into at least one intermediate by a biological conversion process and at least one intermediate by a thermochemical conversion process and reacting the intermediates to form the product. Such methods have a chemical energy efficiency to produce the product that is greater than the chemical energy efficiency of a solely biological conversion process to produce the product and that is greater than the chemical energy efficiency of a process in which all of the material is initially subjected to a thermochemical conversion step as part of the process to produce the product.

The invention provides methods and apparatus for selectively producing ethanol from syngas. As disclosed herein, syngas derived from cellulosic biomass (or other sources) can be catalytically converted into methanol, which in turn can be catalytically converted into acetic acid or acetates. Finally, the acetic acid or acetates can be reduced to ethanol according to several variations. In some embodiments, yields of ethanol from biomass can exceed 100 gallons per dry ton of biomass.

A novel clostridia bacterial species (Clostridium carboxidivorans, ATCC BAA-624, “P7”) is provided. P7 is capable of synthesizing, from waste gases, products which are useful as biofuel. In particular, P7 can convert CO to ethanol. Thus, this novel bacterium can transform waste gases (e.g. syngas and refinery wastes) into useful products. P7 also catalyzes the production of acetate and butanol. Further, P7 is also capable of directly fermenting lignocellulosic materials to produce ethanol and other substances.

Methods for the fermentive production of four carbon alcohols are provided. Specifically, butanol, preferably 2-butanol is produced by the fermentive growth of a recombinant bacteria expressing a 2-butanol biosynthetic pathway. The recombinant microorganisms and methods of the invention can also be adapted to produce 2-butanone, an intermediate in the 2-butanol biosynthetic pathways disclosed herein.

The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of diesel range hydrocarbons wherein a feed is hydrotreated in a hydrotreating step and isomerised in an isomerisation step, and a feed comprising fresh feed containing more than 5 wt % of free fatty acids and at least one diluting agent is hydrotreated at a reaction temperature of 200-400° C., in a hydrotreating reactor in the presence of catalyst, and the ratio of the diluting agent / fresh feed is 5-30:1.

A process for producing ethanol by the conversion of carbohydrates from a corn dry milling process in which the bottoms fraction from distillation of ethanol in a conventional yeast fermentation is used in a process including a combination of biochemical and synthetic conversions. The process results in high yield ethanol production with concurrent production of high value coproducts. An acetic acid intermediate is produced from bottoms fraction, followed by conversion of the acetic acid into ethanol using esterification and hydrogenation reactions. Coproducts of the process include a high protein content solids fraction produced in the fermentation.

A process for selective formation of ethanol from acetic acid includes contacting a feed stream containing acetic acid and hydrogen at an elevated temperature with catalyst comprising platinum and tin on a high surface area silica promoted with calcium metasilicate. Selectivities to ethanol of over 85% are achieved at 280° C. with catalyst life in the hundreds of hours.

Methods for the fermentative production of isobutanol is provided by the fermentative growth of a recombinant microorganism expressing a highly active ketol-acid reductoisomerase enzyme in addition to other enzymes required for conversion of glucose to isobutanol.

A method wherein lignocellulosic biomass materials are converted into combustible fuel products. In particular, the method is a continuous process, involving wet oxidation or steam explosion, for fermentatively converting such biomass materials into ethanol using a process design that permits all or part of the process water from the ethanol fermentation process to be recycled to reduce the consumption of process water. The effluent from the ethanol fermentation step may be subjected to an anaerobic fermentation step generating methane and a water effluent in which the amount of potentially inhibitory substances is at a sub-inhibitory level, which in turn permits all or part of the effluent water from the anaerobic fermentation step to be recycled into the process.

Methods for the fermentive production of four carbon alcohols are provided. Specifically, butanol, preferably 2-butanol is produced by the fermentive growth of a recombinant bacteria expressing a 2-butanol biosynthetic pathway. The recombinant microorganisms and methods of the invention can also be adapted to produce 2-butanone, an intermediate in the 2-butanol biosynthetic pathways disclosed herein.

A continuous and modular process converts lignocellulosic materials for the production of ethanol principally and / or chemicals such as methanol, butanediol, propanediol, hydrocarbon fuel, etc. Renewable lignocellulosic biomass such as but not all inclusive hardwoods (gum, beech, oak, sweet gum, poplar, eucalyptus, etc.), soft woods (pines, firs, spruce, etc.), corn stovers, straws, grasses, recycled papers, waste products from pulp and paper mills, etc can be used as feedstock. The process is designed to be modular and the feed entry point can be selected to adapt to different biomass feedstock. Lignocellulosic biomass such as hardwood and softwood are subjected to chemical / pressure treatment stages using potent and selective chemicals such as sodium chlorite / acetic acid (anhydrous) and chlorine / chlorine dioxide to separate the main components—lignin, cellulose (glucose) and hemicelluloses (xylose, arabinose, galactose)—into three process streams. The separated carbohydrates are further subjected to washing, cleaning, neutralization, and / or mild hydrolysis and subsequently fermented to produce ethanol. Residual lignin and extractives remained with the cellulose are removed by chemical treatment steps to enhance the fermentations of cellulose. Pre-hydrolysate after neutralization to neutralize and remove toxic components such as acetic acid, furfural, phenolics, etc. containing (xylose, arabinose, galactose) and hexoses (glucose) can be either separately or together with the purified cellulosic fraction fermented to produce ethanol. Approximately 100 gallons of ethanol, suitable to be used as a fuel, can be produced from one dried ton of wood. Significant amount of lignin are separated as a by-product and can be converted to hydrocarbon fuel, surfactant, drilling aid, or can be incinerated for generation of power and steam.

A process arrangement for distilling fuel grade ethanol includes a fermentation portion, a distillation portion, a condensation and dehydration portion, a separation and drying portion and an evaporation portion. The fermentation portion produces beer. The distillation portion, the condensation and dehydration portion and the separation and drying portion receives beer from the fermentation portion and produces hot ethanol vapor and thin stillage. In the evaporation portion, a set of first effect evaporators which are heated either by plant steam or hot ethanol vapor, concentrate thin stillage into mid stillage while producing first effect steam. The first effect steam from the first effect evaporators provides heat to a set of second effect evaporators which concentrate the mid stillage into a syrup for further drying. The second effect evaporators produce second effect steam which is used to heat the distillation portion of the process arrangement. The multiple evaporators of the first and second effects of the evaporation portion can be selectively taken off-line for maintenance while the evaporation portion and the remainder of the process arrangement continue to operate at full capacity.

A high flux in conversion of pyruvate to acetolactate was achieved in yeast through expression of acetolactate synthase in the cytosol in conjunction with reduction in pyruvate decarboxylase activity. Additional manipulations to improve flux to acetolactate are reduced pyruvate dehydrogenase activity and reduced glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. Production of compounds having acetolactate as an upstream intermediate benefit from the increased conversion of pruvate to acetolactate in the described strains.

The present invention relates to a hybrid enzyme comprising carbohydrate-binding module amino acid sequence and a fungal alpha-amylase amino acid sequence and to a variant of a fungal wild type enzyme comprising a carbohydrate-binding module and an alpha-amylase catalytic module. The invention also relates to the use of the hybrid enzyme or the variant in starch liquefaction.

In one embodiment of the invention, a method of mounting a surgical robotic arm to a set-up arm of a robotic surgical system is provided that includes sliding a pair of guide slots of the surgical robotic arm over a pair of guide tabs in the set-up arm; aligning electrical connectors in the set-up arm to electrical connectors of the surgical robotic arm; and coincidentally mating male electrical connectors to female electrical connectors while finally mating the guide tabs in the set-up arm to flanges of a housing of the surgical robotic arm.

Particulate compositions are described comprising an intimate mixture of a biomass char producedfrom the combustion of a biomass, such as switchgrass or hybrid poplar, with at least a second carbonaceous material, such as petroleum coke or coal, and, optionally a gasification catalyst, for gasification in the presence of steam to yield a plurality of gases including methane and at least one or more of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and other higher hydrocarbons are formed. Processes are also provided for the preparation of the particulate compositions and converting the particulate composition into a plurality of gaseous products.

It includes the stages of grinding the lignocellulosic biomass to a size of 15-30 mm, subjecting the product obtained to steam explosion pre-treatment at a temperature of 190-230° C. for between 1 and 10 minutes in a reactor (2), collecting the pre-treated material in a cyclone (3) and separating the liquid and solid fractions by filtration in a filter press (9), introducing the solid fraction in a fermentation deposit (10), adding a cellulase at a concentration of 15 UFP per gram of cellulose and 12.6 International Units of β-glucosidase enzyme dissolved in citrate buffer pH 4.8, inoculating the fermentation deposit (10) with a culture of the heat-tolerant bacteria Kluyveromyces marxianus CECT 10875, obtained by chemical mutagenesis from strain DER-26 of Kluyveromyces marxianus and shaking the mixture for 72 hours at 42° C.

A microbial host cell is provided for the production of isobutanol. Carbon flux in the cell is optimized through the Entner-Doudoroff pathway.

A method and apparatus for synthesizing ethanol using synthetic routes via synthesis gas are disclosed. A method and apparatus for gasifying biomass, such as biomass, in a steam gasifier that employs a fluidized bed and heating using hot flue gases from the combustion of synthesis gas is described. Methods and apparatus for converting synthesis gas into ethanol are also disclosed, using stepwise catalytic reactions to convert the carbon monoxide and hydrogen into ethanol using catalysts including iridium acetate.