Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090114591 | System and Method for Pretreating Biomass - According to one embodiment, a method for heat treatment of a biomass includes allowing biomass in a pretreatment reactor to undergo a pre-treatment reaction process. The pre-treatment reaction process yields pretreated biomass along with soluble components. A first liquid having a first temperature is transported into the pretreatment reactor and the pretreated biomass elevates the first temperature to a second temperature. At least a port of the soluble components are captured in the first liquid, and the at least a portion of the soluble components in the first liquid and the first liquid are removed from the pretreatment reactor. A second liquid having a third temperature is transported into the pretreatment reactor and the pretreated biomass elevates the third temperature to a fourth temperature, the fourth temperature being less than second temperature. | 05-07-2009 |
20100152485 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING BIOMASS - In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a system and method converting biomass into useful chemicals are provided. In a particular embodiment, the method includes fermenting biomass in one or more fermentors to produce a fermentation broth comprising ammonium carboxylate salts, the fermentors containing an ammonium carbonate or ammonium bicarbonate buffer. The method further includes reacting the ammonium carboxylate salts from the fermentors with a high-molecular-weight amine to produce amine carboxylate salt, and thermally cracking the amine carboxylate salt to produce carboxylic acid. In another embodiment, the ammonium carboxylate salts from the fermentors may be reacted with a low-molecular-weight amine to produce a low-molecular-weight-amine carboxylate salt. The low-molecular-weight amine in the low-molecular-weight-amine carboxylate salt may then be switched with a high-molecular-weight amine to form a high-molecular-weight-amine carboxylate salt, which is then thermally cracked to produce carboxylic acid. | 06-17-2010 |
20100185021 | ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO ALCOHOLS AND HYDROCARBONS FROM BIOMASS - A method of producing alcohols, hydrocarbons, or both from biomass by converting biomass into a carboxylic acid, reacting the carboxylic acid with an olefin to produce an ester and hydrogenolyzing the ester to produce alcohol. A method of producing hydrocarbons from biomass by converting at least a portion of the biomass into a carboxylic acid, a ketone, or an ammonium carboxylate salt, reacting at least one of a portion of the carboxylic acid, a portion of the ketone, or a portion of the ammonium carboxylate salt in an oligomerization reactor as at least part of a process that produces an oligomerization product and separating hydrocarbons from the oligomerization product. | 07-22-2010 |
20100202936 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SOLUBILIZING PROTEIN - A process for solubilization of protein including application of an alkali, such as lime, and heating. The process may also involve lime recovery and may be accomplished in a single stage or two stages to separate protein solubilized from labile and recalcitrant sources. Systems and devices for use in such process, including a continuous stirred tank reactor and a plug flow reactor are also involved. | 08-12-2010 |
20100248318 | HYDROGEN PROCESSING AND IMPURITY REMOVAL AND CLEANING METHODS IN A BIOMASS CONVERSION PROCESS - In one embodiment, the disclosure includes a method of biomass conversion including fermenting biomass to produce a carboxylic acid or carboxylate salt and hydrogen gas, recovering the hydrogen gas, and converting the carboxylic acid or carboxylate salt to an alcohol using the hydrogen gas. In one embodiment, the hydrogen produced by biomass conversion may be converted to an acetate. Another embodiment relates to a biomass conversion system. The system may include: a fermentation unit for fermentation of biomass to a carboxylic acid or carboxylate salt in a fermentation broth and for production of a carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas stream, an extraction unit for extracting the carboxylic acid or carboxylate salt from the fermentation broth, a gas extraction unit for separation of the hydrogen gas and the carbon dioxide, and a production unit for production of an alcohol from the carboxylic acid or carboxylate salt using the hydrogen gas. | 09-30-2010 |
20110287497 | ANAEROBIC ORGANISMS IN A PROCESS FOR CONVERTING BIOMASS - A method for integrating biological conversion of mixed acids to hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon-like molecules, biofuels, and combinations thereof. The method including introducing fermentation products to at least one microorganism chosen from the group consisting of heterotrophic microorganisms, photo-mixotrophic microorganisms, chemo-autotrophic microorganisms, and combinations thereof. | 11-24-2011 |
20120149076 | INTEGRATION OF FERMENTAITON WITH MEMBRANE - Herein disclosed is a method comprising a) fermenting biomass to produce a fermentation broth; b) separating the fermentation broth into a liquid stream and a solid or slurry stream; c) passing the liquid stream through a reverse osmosis membrane to obtain a permeate and a retentate; and d) concentrating the retentate. Herein disclosed is a method comprising a) fermenting biomass in a first fermentor to produce a first fermentation broth; b) separating the first fermentation broth into a first liquid stream and a first solid or slurry stream; c) introducing the first solid or slurry stream into a second fermentor to produce a second fermentation broth, wherein the second fermentor comprises a lower fermentation products concentration than the first fermentor; d) separating the second fermentation broth into a second liquid stream and a second solid or slurry stream; and e) passing the second liquid stream through a reverse osmosis membrane. | 06-14-2012 |
20120258508 | ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO ALCOHOLS AND HYDROCARBONS FROM BIOMASS - A method of producing hydrocarbons from biomass that includes converting at least a portion of the biomass into a first product having at least one of a carboxylic acid, a ketone, an ammonium carboxylate salt, and combinations thereof; converting at least a portion of the first product into an alcohol; reacting at least some of the alcohol in an oligomerization reactor as part of a process that produces an oligomerization product. | 10-11-2012 |
20120264184 | ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO ALCOHOLS AND HYDROCARBONS FROM BIOMASS - A method of producing alcohols, hydrocarbons, or both from biomass, the method including converting biomass into a carboxylic acid; reacting the carboxylic acid with an olefin to produce an ester; and hydrogenolyzing the ester to produce alcohol. The steps of reacting the carboxylic acid with an olefin to produce an ester, and hydrogenolyzing the ester to produce an alcohol, may both be carried out in the same reactor. | 10-18-2012 |
20130211144 | MULTI-STAGE REACTION FOR MITIGATINGTHE PRESENCE OF UNWANTED CATIONS - Methods for producing organic products that may include the steps of providing a feed stream comprising a first organic salt and a second organic salt to a reactor; reacting the feed stream at a first temperature to convert at least some of the first organic salt to the organic products, wherein reacting the feed stream results in a first product stream comprising the organic products and second organic salt; separating at least a portion of the organic products from the first product stream resulting in a first reduced product stream comprising second organic salt; and reacting the first reduced product stream at a second temperature to convert the second organic salt to a second organic products. | 08-15-2013 |
20130231467 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SOLUBILIZING PROTEIN - A method of solubilizing protein that includes applying an alkali to a protein source to form a slurry; heating the slurry to a temperature sufficient to allow hydrolysis of protein in the protein source to obtain a reaction liquid comprising solubilized proteins, prions, and reactive solids; separating reactive solids from the reaction liquid to produce a separated reaction liquid, wherein the reactive solids comprise unsolubilized proteins; further heating the separated reaction liquid to an elevated temperature and holding for a time period sufficient to destroy prions in the separated reaction liquid, wherein the elevated temperature is between 75° C. and 250° C. and the time period is between 1 second and 5 hours; and neutralizing the reaction liquid with acid or an acid source to produce a neutralized liquid. | 09-05-2013 |
20140178951 | SYSTEM AND PROCESS FOR OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM BIOMASS - A process for producing products from biomass comprising fermenting biomass to produce a first product stream comprising carboxylic acid salts; acidifying at least one of the first product stream and a second product stream to produce a third product stream comprising acids; extracting such acids from the third product stream with a solvent; separating the extracting solvent from the acids to produce the separated extracting solvent and a fourth product stream comprising acids; and processing the fourth product stream to produce a fifth product stream. | 06-26-2014 |
20140335586 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING ACIDS TO HYDROCARBON FUELS - Herein disclosed is a method comprising: converting at least a portion of the biomass into medium-chain fatty acids or carboxylic acids ranging from C4 to C9; reacting at least a portion of the medium-chain fatty acids or carboxylic acids in a ketonization reactor to produce a ketonization product; and reacting at least a portion of the ketonization product in a hydrodeoxygenation reactor to remove substantially all oxygen and produce a hydrodeoxygenation product comprising n-paraffins. Herein also disclosed is a system comprising: a fermentation unit to convert the biomass into medium-chain fatty acids or carboxylic acids ranging from C4 to C9; a ketonization reactor configured to receive at least a portion of the medium-chain fatty acids or carboxylic acids and to produce a ketonization product; and a hydrodeoxygenation reactor configured to receive at least a portion of the ketonization product and to produce a hydrodeoxygenation product comprising n-paraffins. | 11-13-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100190493 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CORRECTING A MOBILE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER - A system for correcting or updating a mobile identification number in a cellular telephone portion of a telematics unit installed in a vehicle allows service providers to resolve duplicate entries. A wireless service provider stores a triplicate entry in their HLR for cellular telephones associated with a number of telematics unit. The triplicate entry includes a MDN, a MIN, and an ESN. If a telematics unit's triplicate entry is an invalid combination, resulting, e.g., in call failure, the system provides an efficient mechanism whereby the service provider can update the MIN of each cellular telephone in one or more telematics units to eliminate duplicate entries. | 07-29-2010 |
20110159868 | Automated Message Enumerated Notification - The described method and system provide a connectivity problem resolution mechanism that uses a data mode call in order to diagnose a connection problem while avoiding audible ringing and or inadvertent user pick-up during error diagnosis and correction. The system includes three primary functions and elements including cellular error message recognition, error response handling configured to update and/or maintain processes, and new error message capture. This system is usable both online and offline. Error recognition may be based on error message matching or keyword matching. | 06-30-2011 |
20110207463 | Port Initiated Number Gateway - The described method and system enables a telematic operator to determine a connectivity standing of devices requiring a port change from one wireless carrier to another. In particular, a modem initiates a call to each affected mobile directory number (MDN) and verifies connectivity to the correct vehicle using a telematic authentication encrypted key with appropriate verification of the stored MIN, electronic serial number (ESN), and station ID (STID). The list of verified devices of good connectivity is used to facilitate the MIN change to those telematic devices whereby a higher probability of success is most likely to occur. Moreover, by distinguishing devices most likely to commit a MIN port on the first attempt, a potential impact population whereby success is not likely is also developed, so that further appropriate scrutiny or action can be executed for problematic devices. | 08-25-2011 |
20120172012 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE WHILE LOCATED IN A MOBILE VEHICLE - A method for controlling a mobile communications device while located in a mobile vehicle involves pairing the mobile communications device with a telematics unit via short range wireless communication. The method further involves, receiving an incoming text message at the mobile device while the mobile device is paired with the telematics unit. Upon receiving the text message, a text messaging management strategy is implemented via the telematics unit and/or the mobile device, where the text messaging management strategy is executable via an application that is resident on the mobile device. | 07-05-2012 |
20130163511 | METHOD OF WIRELESSLY COMMUNICATING DATA BETWEEN VEHICLES AND CENTRAL FACILITIES - A method of wirelessly communicating packetized data between a vehicle and a central facility includes receiving a request at a vehicle telematics unit to transmit packetized data; determining whether the vehicle telematics unit is communicating through a roaming wireless carrier system; and delaying the transmission of packetized data between the vehicle telematics unit and a central facility until the vehicle telematics unit is no longer communicating through the roaming wireless carrier system. | 06-27-2013 |