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US 2014/0273176 A1Published application
Systems and Methods for Utilizing and Recovering Chitosan to Process Biological Material
AssigneeAurora Algae, Inc.
InventorDaniel Fleischer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for processing biological material utilizing chitosan are provided herein. Methods may include the steps of reducing the pH of an amount of culture to about 5 to 7, incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material; increasing the pH of the culture to about 7 to 10, to flocculate biological material in the culture, concentrating the flocculates, reducing the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, and separating the recovered chitosan solution from the concentrated biological material.
Claims32
A method for utilizing and recovering chitosan to process biological material, comprising:
- reducing the pH of an amount of culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, the amount of culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid;
- incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the suspended biological material;
- increasing the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid;
- concentrating the flocculates by separating the flocculates from the fluid;
- reducing the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to disassociate the chitosan from the concentrated biological material causing the chitosan to combine with the fluid to create a recovered chitosan solution;
- and
- separating the recovered chitosan solution from the concentrated biological material.
4 more elements
A method for utilizing and recovering chitosan to process biological material, comprising:
- reducing the pH of an amount of culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, the amount of culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid;
- incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material;
- increasing the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid;
- concentrating the flocculates by separating the flocculates from the fluid;
- reducing the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to disassociate the chitosan from the concentrated flocculates causing the chitosan to combine with the fluid to create a recovered chitosan solution;
- separating the recovered chitosan solution from the concentrated biological material;
- removing additional chitosan from concentrated biological material by:
- resuspending the concentrated biological material in fresh water;
- and
- mechanically processing the resuspended concentration of biological material in such a way that the additional chitosan separates from the concentrated biological material into the fresh water to create additional recovered chitosan solution;
- and
- combining the additional recovered chitosan solution with the recovered chitosan solution.
9 more elements
A system adapted to utilize and recover chitosan for processing biological material, comprising:
- a culture source that retains culture, the culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid;
- a mixer in fluid communication with the culture source and the acid source, the mixer adapted to reduce the pH of the amount of culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, by facilitating one or more chemical processes within the culture;
- a flocculation apparatus receiving the culture and incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material, the flocculation apparatus adapted to then receive an amount of a base from a base source to increase the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid and subsequently concentrated;
- a separator apparatus to separate concentrated biological material from the concentrated flocculates, the separator apparatus being adapted to receive an amount of an acid to reduce the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to remove recovered chitosan from the concentrated biological material;
- wherein the recovered chitosan and the concentrated biological material are mechanically processed by separator apparatus to separate the recovered chitosan from the concentrated material;
- and
- wherein the recovered chitosan is incorporated with the chitosan solution.
4 more elements
A method for efficiently producing biological materials for utilization in the production of biofuels and edible protein, comprising:
- reducing the pH of an amount of culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, the amount of culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid;
- incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material;
- increasing the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid;
- concentrating the flocculates by separating the flocculates from the fluid;
- reducing the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to disassociate the chitosan from the concentrated flocculates causing the chitosan to combine with the fluid to create a recovered chitosan solution;
- separating the recovered chitosan solution from the concentrated biological material;
- and
- processing the concentrated biological material in such a way that a biofuel or edible protein is produced.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.