EP2276827A1

EP2276827A1 - A biotechnical production method and equipment

Info

Publication number: EP2276827A1
Application number: EP09729361A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Eino Elias Hakalehto
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-04-08
Filing date: 2009-04-07
Publication date: 2011-01-26
Also published as: FI20080275A0; EP2276827A4; WO2009125049A1

Abstract

The use of the equipment and method corresponding with this invention makes it possible to implement biotechnological production from biomass-based raw materials cost-effectively at, or in the vicinity of, raw material sources. Only some sections of the reactor used, such as supporting structures and the component needed for arranging lead-tliroughs, are implemented with a hard material, such as steel. Additionally, plastic, paper, or textile or another material of this type is used to construct the reactor frame.

Description

A BIOTECHNICAL PRODUCTION METHOD AND EQUIPMENT

Invention Background

In biotechnology, many raw materials that could be utilised through microbial action by means of fermentation or a similar reaction may require long-distance transport, or occur in relatively small quantities or over a wide geographical area. The need to transport such raw material over a long distance in their unprocessed form may bring the costs of utilising the material up to an unreasonable level. Consequently, many solutions have been developed for processing various biomass-based waste materials on a moving platform, making it possible for the reactions needed to refine them to at least partly take place already during transport. Another alternative is to use a platform, lorry, trailer or similar mobile solutions to take the bioreactors to the raw material resources, which may include various types of biowaste from farms, organic waste storages of industrial plants, silos, harvest waste, logging waste and other similar waste materials or by-products. A prerequisite for this, however, is building relatively expensive mobile units, while the value of the products formed in these would not necessarily cover the investment and production costs particularly well due to the low batch volume.

Biotechnology is also developing new techniques for high-volume products, such as fuels, chemicals and bioplastics, and in order to achieve this as economically as possible, new technology is needed e.g. for the implementation of biotechnical reactors, or bioreactors or fermentors, as efficiently and optimally as possible. A microbial strain is then needed in the actual bioreactor, which provides the physical setting for microbial action. In order for these bioreactions to be performed optimally, measurement technology, process regulation and modelling are also needed in the reactor. Various environmental factors that need to be taken into consideration in optimisation of various bioreactions, which often also are referred to as fermentation, include temperature, pH, partial pressures of oxygen and other gases, osmolarity, viscosity of the process solution etc. Many of these properties also play a role in the recovery and post-treatment of products. Additionally, it is often necessary to add various growth factors, inhibitors or regulators to the biotechnological reaction. To make it possible to lead gases or various liquid or other substances into the reactor container to regulate the environmental factors inside it, it is necessary to equip the reactor with openings and lead-throughs. hi terms of the usability of these, it is important to ensure working conditions that are as aseptic as possible, thus avoiding the access into or contamination by undesirable microbes in the bioreactor. Similarly, lead-throughs and openings will also be needed for mechanical stirring, cooling or heating, measurements and sampling. The performance of these operations as efficiently as possible and avoiding reactor contamination must also be facilitated. In the same manner, process solution is often collected for product recovery, and new microbial cultivation or nutrient medium (raw material) is added into the reactor.

Biotechnical solutions usually rely on biomass-based raw materials, which frequently can consist of various organic waste materials or plant biomass specifically cultivated for bioindustry raw material. The waste can also be of animal origin, stored in the vicinity of animal sheds and fields, or at abattoirs and other meat or fur processing plants. Li many cases, they may involve significant hygiene and waste disposal problems. For the needs of a biotechnological process, it may be necessary to treat these materials with chemicals, heat or enzymes, for example to perform hydrolysis of macro-molecules. In this process, such as plants rich in sugar or starch can be used, which can be treated with amylases and other starch enzymes. On the other hand, plant materials such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignins in wood materials, can be utilised after preliminary treatment by hydrolytic enzymes. Various protein-containing wastes can be treated with proteolytic enzymes. This preliminary treatment enables an efficient use of the chemical energy bound in these materials for microbial growth and product formation. In some cases, such enzymatic properties are found in the microbe used as the production organism, or in a mixed cultivation of different microbes.

Additional costs in the implementation of biotechnical processes can be incurred e.g. because of the stringent asepticity requirement, which sets high standards for material quality, lead-throughs etc. as discussed above. Such as the high requirements imposed on steel quality in bioprocesses increase the total costs the more the higher quantities of these expensive materials it is necessary to use. The steel often needs to be acid-proof special steel, and particular requirements also apply to its grinding. What also often emerges as a problem in a bioprocess is the fact that the product formation or production does not take place at high enough a rate. In the resulting diluted process solutions or product mixtures, product recovery and purification from these is expensive and not cost effective to carry out, especially if the performance in proportion to raw material use or plant investments would be low. The risk of contamination and losses caused by undesirable microbes is increased. Placing different types of probes and sensors in the right areas in the bioreactor, or at an adequate number of locations in the various sections of the process solution, may also become a problem.

Description of the Invention

Using the method and equipment described in this invention makes it possible to run a biotechnical process as efficiently as possible, enabling the implementation of plants, reactors and process equipment where raw materials are available, or as close as possible to these sources of raw materials, thus avoiding unnecessary transportations of the biomass material. The method also strives to achieve cost savings by building the reactor as cost- effectively as possible, for example using expensive special steels as little as possible in the structure of the reactor or fermentor. hi this application, the words reactor, bioreactor and fermentor all refer to the same equipment.

In order to achieve these objectives, significant sections of the reactor frame or structure are made of plastic, paper, cardboard, textile or similar. In reactor implementation, various packaging or baling machines or equipment can be used. The structure can be made more robust by using a frame around which the paper or plastic or textile are wrapped in one or several layers. The material used may also be a combination of those listed above, or it can consist of different layers. At one or both ends of the package or roll or bale or bag or similar, a component made from e.g. steel or other suitable material can conveniently be fitted, which is equipped with lead-throughs for adding and removing substances, gas feeds, regulations, measurements, heating or cooling, sampling, or stirring or other similar functions. This component of the structure may be made not only of metal but alternatively in part or completely of timber, plastic, glass or glass fibre, or other material suitable for the implementation method and purpose of each reactor. The frame may be attached to this component, and it can also be made of different materials, however ensuring that it provides the bioreactor with the necessary shape and sturdiness. In special applications, the reactor can also be implemented without the need for a special component, as the lead-throughs can be arranged through a bag-like or other solution, such as a plastic pipe. When using equipment corresponding with this invention, process microbes and various substance additions can be led into the bioreactor built as described here. If necessary, an exhaust valve can be built for gases formed in the reaction, conveniently with an aseptic implementation.

Inside the reactor, biomass-based raw material is processed into a product assisted by microbes. A number of benefits can be obtained by leading gases in to the process solution in the reactor; these are described in the Finnish patent nr 106561, international patent application nr PCT/FI2008/000001, and Finnish patent application nr 20080249. The solution of gases and removal of volatile products affect such as the mixing of the process solution and temperature conditions in the reactor, and these phenomena can be used in heat transfers inside the reactor. By leading gases into the reactor, aerobic, microaerobic or anaerobic conditions can be created in the reactor to meet the requirements of the desired bioreaction.

The raw material can be added into the reactor after this structure has been completed, or alternatively, the frame made of plastic, paper or similar can be wrapped around the biomass. Raw material can also be added into the reaction and products removed from the reactor while the reaction is in progress. These additions and removals can be fed-batch or continuous in their character. The product may also be in a liquid, solid or gaseous state. The same reactor may produce several products. What is characteristic of the method and equipment corresponding with this invention is that the bioreaction, which often also is referred to as fermentation, can be implemented and the bioreactor built as cost-effectively as possible at or near the raw material source. This makes it possible to minimise costs arising from the building and use of the reactor, as well as raw material transport costs. Instead, the product or intermediate product or process solution collected or recovered from the bioreaction at the site can be transported. It can, for example, be sucked into a tanker or container for transport, and it can also be processed during transport if necessary.

Claims

Patent claims

1. Equipment for the implementation of a bioreaction or biotechnological microbial process or similar and/or to form a product, characterized in that the equipment in question is implemented by building the reactor frame, or a major section of it, from plastic, paper, cardboard or textile, or a combination of these materials.

2. Equipment corresponding with patent claim 1, characterized in that the material in question is wrapped, wound or rolled in one or several layers, or alternatively mounted in a bag or pipe form around a frame or a similar structure, which may be made of metal, plastic, timber, glass, glass fibre or a similar material.

3. Equipment corresponding with patent claims 1 and/or 2, characterized in that into the process solution or biomass or similar, which in the beginning of the reaction is added into the reactor or is in the reactor, substances can be added or removed through a particular frame component, which can be built at one or both ends of the reactor.

4. Equipment corresponding with patent claim 3, characterized in that the regulations and measurements, as well as sampling, heat regulation and stirring needed for the performance of the reaction, can be implemented through the said frame component.

5. Equipment corresponding with patent claims 3 and/or 4, characterized in that a desired gas, which may contain oxygen or be oxygen-free, is led into the reactor and/or process solution through the frame component.

6. A method for running equipment corresponding with one or several of patent claims 1-5, characterized in that the reactor structure is wrapped, erected or rolled around the biomass raw material or similar.

7. A method for using equipment corresponding with one or several of patent claims 1-5, characterized in that the microbial nutrient medium and/or process raw materials are added into the reactor built as described above at the beginning of the reaction and/or during it.

8. A method corresponding with patent claim 7, characterized in that the products are formed as a result of microbial action.

9. A method corresponding with patent claims 7 and/or 8, characterized in that the nutrient medium is added and/or products removed from the reactor continuously.

10. A method corresponding with one or several of patent claims 6-9, characterized in that the leading of gas into the process solution improves the mass and heat transfer properties.

11. A method corresponding with one or more of patent claims 6-10, characterized in that the reactor is built at the raw material source or in its vicinity.

12. A method corresponding with one or several of patent claims 6-11, characterized in that the product is collected from the reactor into a tanker or similar container on a mobile platform.