Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Biorefinery system, methods and compositions thereof

a biorefinery and microorganism technology, applied in the field of bioengineering approaches, can solve the problems of high production cost, insufficient farm land available, and insufficient supply of biofuels to date to meet both global food and fuel needs

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-01-23
CALYSTA
View PDF2 Cites 10 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]In view of the limitations associated with the production of first, second and next generation biofuels, there is clearly a need in the art for new methods of efficiently and cost-effectively producing alternative fuels without taxing the environment or competing with food production. The present invention solves this problem by providing efficient and cost-effective methods for producing biofuels and other products using bioengineering.

Problems solved by technology

But, biofuels generated to date have their own difficulties and concerns.
The amount of farm land available is not sufficient to satisfy both global food and fuel needs.
But, technical difficulties in production, along with the high cost of production, have not made second generation biofuels any more cost-effective or accessible.
But, methane's volatility make transportation and direct usage as a fuel problematic.
The F-T process yields petroleum products consistent with today's fuel supply, but suffers from a number of drawbacks, including low yields, poor selectivity (making downstream utilization complex), and requires significant capital expenditure and scale to achieve economical production (Spath and Dayton, December 2003 NREL / TP-510-34929).
The massive scale required for an F-T plant (more than $2B capital cost for a typical plant [Patel, 2005]) also represents a significant limitation due to the large amount of methane feedstock required to supply continuous operation of such a plant.
As methane transportation is prohibitively expensive in most cases, such a plant must be co-located with either a large gas source or a pipeline.
An additional cost and scaling factor is the economics of gas-scrubbing technologies (Spath and Dayton, 2003), as F-T catalysts are highly sensitive to common contaminants in natural gas that survive the syngas conversion process.
However, despite significant research and development over the last 70+ years, the limitations of F-T technology prevent broad adoption of commercial GTL processes.
The requirements for ready access to large volumes of clean gas, combined with massive capital investment, currently limit natural gas based F-T plants to successful operation in only a few locations world-wide (Spath and Dayton, 2003).
The high minimum processing requirement for a GTL or LNG plant, combined with the high cost of transport, result in smaller methane sources being referred to as ‘stranded’ gas (for example, natural gas produced at off-shore oil wells, or methane off-gas from landfills).
In the current absence of efficient small-scale conversion technologies, such stranded gas sources are typically vented to atmosphere or flared, as methane accumulation presents a significant safety risk.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Biorefinery system, methods and compositions thereof

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

Exemplary Biofuel Production

Culture Maintenance

[0073]Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b was maintained at 30° C. in serum vials containing Higgins minimal nitrate salts medium (NSM). The headspace composition was adjusted to a 50:50 volume of methane:air. The vials were shaken at a rate of 200-250 rpm. Alternatively, the culture was maintained on NSM-media plates solidified with 1.5% w / v agar grown in the presence of methanol vapor (via 0.5 mL methanol in the lid of parafilm-sealed plates) or supplemented with 1% methanol. Plates were incubated inverted in a humidified chamber under normal atmosphere at 30′C.

Methanotroph Fermentation

[0074]A 2-liter bioreactor containing 1 L defined media MM-W1 was inoculated with cells from serum vial batch culture (10-20% v / v). The composition of medium MM-W1 was as follows: 0.8 mM MgSO4*7H2O, 10 mM NaNO3, 0.14 mM CaCl2, 1.2 mM NaHCO3, 2.35 mM KH2PO4, 3.4 mM K2HPO4, 20.7 μM Na2MoO4*2H2O, 1 μM CuSO4* 5H2O, 10 μM FeEDTA, and 1 mL trace metal solution (...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
octane numberaaaaaaaaaa
densityaaaaaaaaaa
densityaaaaaaaaaa
Login to View More

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to bioengineering approaches for producing biofuel and, in particular, to the use of a C1 metabolizing microorganism reactor system for converting C1 substrates, such as methane or methanol, into biomass and subsequently into biofuels, bioplastics, or the like.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The present disclosure relates to bioengineering approaches for producing biofuel and, in particular, to the use of a C1 metabolizing microorganism reactor system for converting C1 substrates, such as methane or methanol, into biomass and subsequently into biofuels, bioplastics, or the like.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]With the ever increasing depletion of fossil fuel deposits, the increasing production of greenhouse gases and recent concerns about climate change, substituting biofuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel) for fossil fuels has become an industrial focus. But, biofuels generated to date have their own difficulties and concerns. First generation biofuels are derived from plants (e.g., starch; cane sugar; and corn, rapeseed, soybean, palm, and other vegetable oils), but these fuel crops compete with crops grown for human and animal consumption. The amount of farm land available is not sufficient to satisfy both global food a...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C10G3/00
CPCC10G3/00C10G3/50C10L1/02C10L1/04C12N9/1029C12N9/16C12N9/93C12P7/6409C12P7/6463C12Y203/01039C12Y301/02C12Y602/01003C10G2300/1014Y02P30/20C12N15/52C10G47/00Y02E50/30Y02E50/10C12N1/16C12N1/20C12N15/74C12P5/00C12P7/649C12Y604/01002C10L2200/0469C10L2270/04C10L2270/02C10L2290/26C12R2001/01C12N15/63C12N1/205Y02P20/52
Inventor SILVERMAN, JOSHUARESNICK, SOL M.MENDEZ, MICHAEL
Owner CALYSTA
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products