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US 9,752,165 B2Granted
Processes and systems for recovering oil from fermentation products
AssigneeCellulosic Ethanol Technologies, LLC
InventorTravis Brotherson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Processes and systems for recovering oil from a fermentation product are provided that optimize oil recovery during fermentation. The processes and systems described herein introduce a gas into the fermentation product in order to cause the oil within the fermentation product to separate therefrom, thereby facilitating its subsequent recovery. The processes and systems described herein can maximize the amount of oil that can be recovered during fermentation.
Claims8
A method for recovering an oil from a fermentation product, the method comprising:
- (a) fermenting an oil-containing biomass feedstock to thereby produce a fermentation product comprising an oil;
- (b) introducing a gas into the fermentation product to thereby form an oil-poor component and an oil-rich component;
- and (c) separating the oil-rich component from the oil-poor component to thereby produce a recovered oil-rich product, wherein the gas is introduced into the fermentation product at a rate of 5 to 1,000 cm3/min and the fermenting of step (a) and the introducing of a gas of step (h) occur in a container comprising an agitator, wherein the agitator operates at a predetermined agitation rate during the fermenting of step (a) and a predetermined agitation rate during the introducing of the gas of step (b), wherein the predetermined agitation rate during the introducing step of the gas of (b) is at least 50 percent less than the predetermined agitation rate during the fermenting of step (a).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.