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US 8,192,627 B2Granted
Bio-oil recovery methods
AssigneeICM, Inc.
InventorsCharles C. Gallop, Theron Cooper, Kurt A. Dieker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An emulsion-breaking additive is combined with an emulsion concentrate to yield a reaction product and the emulsion concentrate is produced in a process stream and contains entrapped bio-oil. Subsequent phase separating can be accomplished with gravity separation and/or mechanical processing. The emulsion-breaking additive can be native to the process stream. Related systems and methods are also provided.
Claims17
A method comprising:
- dewatering a bio-oil process stream from a biomass processing facility with a mechanical processor to produce a de-oiled process stream and an emulsion concentrate, wherein the emulsion concentrate contains entrapped bio-oil;
- combining an emulsion-breaking additive with the emulsion concentrate in an amount sufficient to release the entrapped bio-oil from the emulsion concentrate and produce a reaction product containing released bio-oil and an amount of the emulsion-breaking additive, wherein the emulsion-breaking additive is a polar protic solvent;
- removing at least some of the emulsion breaking additive from the reaction product to yield a broken emulsion concentrate;
- and
- phase separating the broken emulsion concentrate to yield an aqueous phase and a bio-oil phase.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- dewatering a bio-oil process stream from a biomass processing facility with a mechanical processor to produce a de-oiled process stream and an emulsion concentrate, wherein the emulsion concentrate contains entrapped bio-oil;
- combining an emulsion-breaking additive with the emulsion concentrate in an amount sufficient to release the entrapped bio-oil from the emulsion concentrate and produce a reaction product containing released bio-oil and an amount of the emulsion-breaking additive, wherein the emulsion-breaking additive is a polar protic solvent;
- phase separating the reaction product to yield a broken emulsion concentrate;
- mechanically processing the broken emulsion concentrate to yield an aqueous phase and a bio-oil phase, wherein the bio-oil phase contains the emulsion-breaking additive;
- and
- removing at least some of the emulsion breaking additive from the bio-oil phase.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- dewatering a bio-oil process stream from a biomass processing facility with a mechanical processor to produce a de-oiled process stream and a stable emulsion, wherein the stable emulsion contains entrapped bio-oil;
- combining an emulsion-breaking additive with the stable emulsion, wherein the emulsion-breaking additive is a polar protic solvent added in an amount effective to at least partially break the stable emulsion to release the entrapped bio-oil from the stable emulsion and produce a reaction product containing released bio-oil and an amount of the emulsion-breaking additive;
- removing at least some of the emulsion breaking additive from the reaction product to yield a broken emulsion;
- phase separating the broken emulsion to yield an aqueous phase and a bio-oil phase containing the released bio-oil;
- and
- recovering the released bio-oil from the bio-oil phase.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- dewatering a bio-oil process stream from a biomass processing facility with a mechanical processor to produce a de-oiled process stream and a stable emulsion, wherein the stable emulsion contains entrapped bio-oil;
- combining an emulsion-breaking additive with the stable emulsion, wherein the emulsion-breaking additive is a polar protic solvent added in an amount effective to at least partially break the stable emulsion to release the entrapped bio-oil from the stable emulsion and produce a reaction product containing released bio-oil and an amount of the emulsion-breaking additive;
- phase separating the reaction product to produce a broken emulsion;
- mechanically processing the broken emulsion to yield an aqueous phase and a bio-oil phase, wherein the bio-oil phase contains the emulsion-breaking additive;
- removing at least some of the emulsion breaking additive from the bio-oil phase;
- and recovering the released bio-oil from the bio-oil phase.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- dewatering a concentrated thin stillage stream from an ethanol production facility with a mechanical processor to produce de-oiled concentrated thin stillage and an emulsion concentrate, wherein the emulsion concentrate contains entrapped bio-oil;
- combining ethanol with the emulsion concentrate in an amount sufficient to destabilize the emulsion concentrate and produce a reaction product containing released bio-oil and an amount of the ethanol;
- removing at least some of the ethanol from the reaction product to yield a broken emulsion concentrate;
- phase separating the broken emulsion concentrate to yield an aqueous phase and a bio-oil phase;
- and recovering the released bio-oil in the bio-oil phase, wherein the released bio-oil phase comprises corn oil.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.