Removal of nitrogen from a chlorophyll or pheophytin containing biomass
AssigneeSapphire Energy, Inc.
InventorsRichard J. Cranford, Craig Behnke, Yan Poon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to refining a product from a biomass containing chlorophyll and/or pheophytins. In particular, a method of refining a product (such as a biofuel) from a photosynthetic organism is disclosed. The photosynthetic organism can be a naturally occurring organism or a genetically modified or altered organism. The method of refining comprises removing nitrogen to obtain the desired product. In some aspects, nitrogen is removed from a chlorophyll and/or pheophytin containing product by enzymatic degradation of chlorophyll and/or pheophytins and subsequent removal of the nitrogen
Claims21
1-227. (canceled)
A method for producing a nitrogen-depleted product from an non-vascular photosynthetic organism comprising obtaining a biomass composition from the non-vascular photosynthetic organism, wherein the biomass composition comprises one or more chlorophylls and/or one or more pheophytins and an oil;
- degrading at least a subset of the chlorophyll or pheophytin in the biomass composition by heating the biomass to 60° C. to 250° C. in the presence of a base and one or more solvents;
- removing a cleaved portion of the degraded chlorophyll or pheophytin by removing the one or more solvents, wherein the cleaved portion comprises nitrogen;
- and refining the biomass composition to produce a nitrogen-depleted product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.