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US 4,380,584 AGranted
Fermentation apparatus
AssigneePhillips Petroleum Company
InventorDonald O. Hitzman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An organism rich fluid is withdrawn from a foam fermenting apparatus by collecting and withdrawing the fluid from the foam breaker. In another embodiment the fluid from the foam breaker inside of the fermenter is subjected to a liquid/solid centrifugal action and an organism rich fluid stream as well as an organism depleted fluid stream is recovered.
Claims11
In a fermentation apparatus comprising
- (a) a housing
- (b) at least one feed conduit for the introduction of materials into said housing,
- (c) at least one product conduit for the removal of product from said housing,
- (d) a foam breaker in the upper portion of said housing
- (e) a gas outlet operatively connected to said foam breaker for allowing the removal of gas from said fermenter,
- the improvement comprising
- (f) a fluid collector operatively associated with respect to said foam breaker and at a small distance from said foam breaker, allowing the collection of at least a portion of the fluid leaving said foam breaker and
- (g) conduit means operatively associated with said collecting unit allowing the withdrawal of at least a portion of the fluid so collected from said housing.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.