Unitel Technologies, Inc.

Syngest, Inc.

Todd Harvey

Sarabjit Singh Randhava

Richard L Kao

Surjit Singh Randhava

Gregory J Dicosola

Ajaib Singh Randhava

This invention relates to a new process for making fatty acids directly from a feedstock consisting of phytoplankton in water without the need to a) thermally separate, dewater and dry the phytoplankton, and b) extract the immobilized lipids. Our method is much less expensive than the current practice of making fatty acids from phytoplankton, because we bypass the costly and energy intensive operations associated with a) dewatering and drying the biomass, and b) extracting the immobilized lipids. As such, this invention greatly enhances the economic viability of making biofuels and bioproducts from phytoplankton.

Fatty acids from phytoplankton

The invention provides extraction of immobilized oil from an oil-containing feed using a food grade solvent. The food grade solvent may include ethyl acetate or ethyl lactate. The solvent may also include an ethanol co-solvent with the ethyl acetate or ethyl lactate. The solvent may be recaptured within the system and reused in the process.

Extraction of immobilized oil using mixtures of food grade solvents

This invention discloses a method for making a dimethylether (DME) product from a synthesis gas (syngas) in the presence of a catalyst in a fluid pluralized bed reactor operating in the gas phase. The reactions generate a significant amount of heat and the heat management is balanced between supplying quench recycle syngas to the pluralized sections along the reactor and also by controlling the preheat temperature of the reactant streams. Gas phase fluidization of the catalyst is controlled so that the pluralized reactive zones are maintained in a backmix configuration.

Synthesis of DME using a fluid pluralized bed reactor

This invention provides a process for making ammonia from biomass. The biomass may be first reacted with oxygen and steam to generate a biosyngas comprising hydrogen (H) and carbon monoxide (CO) as the active components. The gasification step may be regulated to reduce the amount of methane in the biosyngas that may leave the gasifier.

Process for producing ammonia from biomass

Disclosed herein is a process for the production of fuel grade DME from carbonaceous fuels, including a pressurized multi-stage progressively expanding fluidized bed gasifier and an oxyblown autothermal reformer to produce a synthesis gas (syngas) with desirable hydrogen to carbon monoxide molar ratio, which then undergoes gas-phase DME one-step direct synthesis in a fluid pluralized bed reactor over an attrition resistant bifunctional catalyst. The crude DME thus obtained is purified in a two column distillation unit to produce a fuel grade DME having a purity greater than 99.98 mole %.

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Schaumburg, IL, United States of America

Todd Harvey