The Procter Gamble Company

Kaneka Corporation

Meredian, Inc.

Angella Christine Cearley

Karunakaran Narasimhan

Isao Noda

Michael Steven Gibson

Kenneth Yee

Yasuyoshi Ueda

Koichi Kinoshita

Fumio Osakada

Stanley James Welling

Patrick Joseph Corrigan

Deborah Jean Back

Victor Manuel Arredondo

Michael Matthew Satkowski

Neil Thomas Fairweather

Donald Eugene Levengood

Guo-Qiang Chen

Processes for converting glycerol to an amino alcohol product involving reacting glycerol with a metal catalyst to obtain hydroxyacetone, and reacting the hydroxyacetone with an amine compound to obtain an adduct that is then reduced using a reducing agent to obtain an amino alcohol product are described.

Processes for converting glycerol to amino alcohols

Improved processes for extracting polyhydroxyalkanoate from a biomass containing the polyhydroxyalkanoate including the steps of: combining the biomass containing the polyhydroxyalkanoate with a solvent selected from lower chain ketones, and mixtures thereof to form a biomass liquor wherein the biomass liquor comprises less than about 25% water; mixing the biomass liquor for from about 10 to about 300 minutes at a temperature in the range of from about 70&#xb0; C. to about 120&#xb0; C.; separating the polyhydroxyalkanoate from the biomass liquor to form a PHA-enriched liquor, wherein the separating occurs at a temperature of at least about 40&#xb0; C.; mixing the PHA-enriched liquor with water to form precipitated polyhydroxyalkanoate and an impure solvent liquor, wherein the water is mixed with the PHA-enriched liquor in the ratio of from at least about 0.4-1 parts of water to one part solvent; and recovering the precipitated polyhydroxyalkanoate from the impure solvent liquor. Optional treatment with oxidizing agents or mild surfactant or mild bleach is used to enhance color and odor.

Process for the solvent-based extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoates from biomass

Processes for the extraction of PHAs from biomass, said processes comprising: combining the biomass containing the PHAs with a single main solvent to form a biomass liquor; heating the biomass liquor to at least partially solubilize the PHAs from the biomass to form a PHA liquor; separating the biomass from the PHA liquor to form a PHA-enriched liquor; evaporating from 0% to about 50% of the single main solvent from the PHA-enriched liquor to form a solvent vapor and a concentrated PHA-enriched liquor; and cooling the concentrated PHA-enriched liquor to form precipitated PHAs and an impure solvent liquor. Optionally, further recovering the precipitated PHAs from the impure solvent liquor by filtration under pressure. A PHA-enriched liquor and a concentrated PHA-enriched liquor.

Solvent extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoates from biomass

The present invention provides a method for easily obtaining a biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate by a solvent extraction method. A method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate crystal comprises mixing a solution of a polyhydroxyalkanoate in a good solvent with a poor solvent at 50 to 130&#xb0; C. to precipitate a polyhydroxyalkanoate.

Method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoate crystal

The invention relates to processes for extracting polyhydroxyalkanoate from a biomass, comprising admixing the biomass with an organic solvent for from 1 second to 15 minutes at a first temperature of from 5&#xb0; C. below the melting point of the polyhydroxyalkanoate to 10&#xb0; C. above the melting point of the polyhydroxyalkanoate and at a pressure of from 1 bar to 10 bar to provide a composition comprising the organic solvent and polyhydroxyalkanoate.

Process for the extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoates from biomass

The present invention provides a method for conveniently obtaining a biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate by a solvent extraction method. A method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate crystal comprises precipitating a polyhydroxyalkanoate crystal using a monohydric alcohol having 4 to 10 carbon atoms as a extraction solvent, keeping a polyhydroxyalkanoate solution containing 0.1 to 10% by weight of water relative to the total amount of the solution warm at 70&#xb0; C. or higher, and cooling the solution to below 70&#xb0; C.

Growing community of inventors

Hamilton, OH, United States of America

Angella Christine Cearley