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:
Jul. 03, 2012
Filed:
Feb. 25, 2008
Rathin Datta, Chicago, IL (US);
Rahul Basu, Naperville, IL (US);
Hans E. Grethlein, Syracuse, NY (US);
Richard W. Baker, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Yu Huang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Rathin Datta, Chicago, IL (US);
Rahul Basu, Naperville, IL (US);
Hans E. Grethlein, Syracuse, NY (US);
Richard W. Baker, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Yu Huang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Coskata, Inc., Warrenville, IL (US);
Abstract
Ethanol and other liquid products produced by contacting carbon monoxide (CO) and/or a mixture of CO(carbon dioxide) and H(hydrogen) with a microorganism in a bioreactor are separated using a combination of distillation and vapor permeation membranes. The bioreactor passes an effluent with an ethanol concentration of 1 to 6 wt % to a distillation column that produces an overhead vapor stream enriched in ethanol. A series of vapor permeation membranes retain ethanol as retentate and produce a 99 wt % or higher ethanol product. Ethanol depleted permeate streams flow back to the column and the bioreactor. Coupling a bioreactor with distillation and pervaporation efficiently and economically separates ethanol when present at low concentration in an aqueous fermentation broth. The separation arrangement may also include a flash zone ahead of the distillation column to raise the concentration of the ethanol in the input stream to the distillation column.