The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 19, 1997
Lee R Lynd, Meriden, NH (US);
Colin R South, Waltham, MA (US);
The Trustee of Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (US);
Abstract
An improved continuous process for producing ethanol from cellulosic materials employs an intermittently agitated, perpetually fed, solids retaining reactor vessel. Cellulosic substrate, catalysts and fermentation agents are introduced into a reaction vessel to form a slurry. The slurry is agitated for a first selected time interval under conditions sufficient to initiate and maintain a fermentation reaction and then allowed to settle during a second selected time interval. At the end of the second selected time interval an ethanol-containing effluent is removed from the vessel. Thereafter, additional cellulosic material, catalysts and fermentation agents are added to the reactor vessel. This operating cycle is repeated virtually perpetually to effect the ethanol production. It can be implemented using a single bioreactor or a cascade of bioreactors.