Energy efficient method and apparatus for the extraction of biomolecules from dilute aqueous solution
AssigneesDynaSep Inc., Phasex Corporation
InventorsHans Schonemann, Brian Waibel, Val Krukonis
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the energy efficient and selective extraction of dilute concentrations of biomolecules, e.g., small organic compounds, e.g., one or more C2-C6 alcohols, one or more C3-C5 carboxylic acids, one or more C8-18 fatty alcohols, one or more C1-C18 dicarboxylic acids, one or more furfurals, one or more furans, one or more butanediols, one or more butadienes, and mixtures thereof, from an aqueous solution using liquid phase dimethyl ether (DME).
Claims20
An energetically efficient method for concentrating a biomolecule from a dilute biomolecule-water solution comprising:
- a) mixing the dilute biomolecule-water solution with liquid phase dimethyl ether (DME), wherein the distribution coefficient for the biomolecule in a mixture of the DME and the biomolecule-water solution favors the transfer of the biomolecule from the biomolecule-water solution to the DME, thereby yielding a solution comprising a first phase and a second phase, the first phase comprising biomolecule-containing DME and the second phase comprising the dilute biomolecule-water solution, thereby extracting a portion of the biomolecule from the biomolecule-water solution into the DME;
- b) separating the first phase and the second phase;
- c) vaporizing the liquid phase DME in the first phase to vapor phase DME, thereby releasing the biomolecule from the DME, yielding a concentrated biomolecule-water solution;
- d) recovering the vapor phase DME by condensing to liquid phase;
- and
- e) repeating steps a)-d), wherein the DME recovered in step d) is mixed with the dilute biomolecule-water solution in step a).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.