Process of hydrocarbonisation and hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass and resulting product

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thermochemical process in an acidic, neutral or alkaline environment, using water as a reagent, in which the input raw material undergoes a chemical-physical change through hydrocarbonisation (HTC), going through the stages of hydrolysis (10), dehydration (11), decarboxylation (12) and aromatisation (13), resulting in a carbonous liquid mixture with a high moisture content, of which the separated liquid phase is an organomineral or amino organic product with fulvic acid and humic acids, which can be used as a fertiliser.

Description

HYDROCARBONIZATION AND HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESS OF BIOMASS AND RESULTING PRODUCT

[0001] The present invention pertains to the technological sector of manufacturing agricultural inputs from biomass and involves processing organic waste of plant, mineral, or animal origin, or waste from the food or agricultural industries. The process can also be used to process sludge from sewage plants, sludge from landfills, or the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW).

[0002] Among the wastes that can be treated, specified risk protein hazardous waste (SRM) is particularly important, because unlike conventional processes, the invention proposed here enables the destruction of the causative agent of prion diseases in animal tissue. These diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, and scrapie, pose serious risks to human and animal health.

[0003] In particular, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as "mad cow disease," is a transmissible neurodegenerative disease that affects cattle. It is believed to be caused by high concentrations of proteins known as prions. Prions are resilient to chemicals and physical agents, making it difficult to dispose of bovine skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, distal ileum, and tonsils. These remains are categorized as specified risk materials (SRM), which means they are completely banned from their traditional uses, such as feed, pet food, or fertilizer applications.To give you an idea of ​​the scale of the problem, in countries like the United States and Canada, approximately 30-50% of livestock weight is not directly consumed by humans, but is recovered by the oleochemical and feed industries and used to produce cosmetics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and fertilizers. In other words, banning the use of SRMs generates significant economic losses and poses a real problem for processing industries.

[0004] The current state of the art in the disposal of waste such as SRM includes incineration or landfill, which often requires separation, storage and transportation.

[0005] Landfilling waste is inexpensive and simple; however, waste takes decades to biodegrade, and landfills require substantial amounts of land, and they don't generate any value-added materials during treatment. Additionally, the landfill site must be strictly isolated from living creatures to prevent further contamination and disease transmission within the ecological environment.

[0006] The incineration method is effective for removing prions and also generates heat or electricity. However, incineration requires much more energy than landfill disposal, with lower energy production, and leads to additional carbon emissions into the environment.

[0007] Other conventional processes for destroying SRM in cattle tissue include thermal depolymerization, alkaline hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis, thermal hydrolysis, plasma arc destruction, pyrolysis, gasification, plasma gasification, and reductive thermal processing. None of these processes are completely efficient, which prevents the treated tissues from being fully decontaminated and reused to manufacture byproducts such as feed or fertilizer.

[0008] The following patent documents are cited as the most relevant: PI 0113435-3 - "method of reducing the number of viable microbial organisms and / or BSE prions present in an organic material, system and utility thereof that utilizes an anaerobic co-digestion process that can be used on animal cadavers", and; PI 0115343-9 - "method for manufacturing an animal feed decontaminated of transmissible degenerative encephalopathies", which describes a treatment with alkali and heat, applying 132°C for 20 minutes at a pressure of 3 bar. The use of composting is also known. Composting produces amine-based fertilizer for animal feed, but requires expensive infrastructure for large-scale disposal and a substantial amount of time, presenting a high risk of prion leakage. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The invention disclosed in this specification relates to a process for manufacturing inputs, producing biological products (yeast, bacteria, enzymes, and fungi), and producing proteins and organic acids for agriculture and animal feed from any biomass source. It is also capable of destroying chemical and biological contaminants in addition to the causative agent of prion diseases. This process is based on the hydrocarbonization (HTC) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of hazardous protein biomass. Due to a series of disease-specific factors, including the natural degradation of infectious prion resistance (PrPsc), hydrocarbonization (HTC) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) extract a safe protein fraction to produce value-added industrial raw material, providing a viable and safe alternative for valorizing byproducts.

[0010] The process's inventiveness lies in adopting higher temperatures and pressures to produce a different technical effect—hydrocarbonization, or HTC—instead of the hydrolysis of conventional processes. Heating can be achieved by induction, microwaves, or any other equivalent means. The ultimate goal is to bioconvert infectious materials collected from cattle waste processing (BRF) and enable their reuse, transforming them into value-added products for new applications.

[0011] After processing, waste or byproducts with a high moisture content are transformed into a liquid carbonaceous mixture. The liquid portion is used in agriculture as fertilizer, a medium for biological crops, and a protein source for animals. The solid portion is used as a substrate or energy source (hydrochar). It can be classified as organic, organomineral, or amino, with the presence of fulvic acid and humic acids. It is important to note that the formation of fulvic and humic acids occurs naturally but takes many years, whereas the proposed process achieves the same result in hours.

[0012] The following advantages of the invention disclosed herein are cited:

[0013] • Positive energy balance (self-sustainable);

[0014] • Ensures 100% decontamination of all pathogens;

[0015] • No atmospheric contamination;

[0016] • Maximum efficiency of carbon credits;

[0017] • Sequestration of heavy metals in the solid fraction;

[0018] • Recovery of macro and micronutrients present in waste;

[0019] • Protein production;

[0020] • Transformation of proteins into amino acids;

[0021] These advantages are achieved through a thermochemical process in an acidic, neutral, or alkaline environment. The proposed process has low energy expenditure and uses water as a reagent. During the process, the input raw material undergoes a chemical-physical change through temperatures ranging from 140°C to 240°C and pressures ranging from 10 bar to 25 bar, with a residence time of 40 minutes to 240 minutes, and a pH ranging from 2 to 14. This text is an example. The description must disclose the invention clearly and completely enough for a professional in the field to implement it.

[0022] In order for the present invention to be fully understood and put into practice by any technician in this technological sector, it will be explained in a clear, concise and sufficient manner to allow its reproduction, based on the drawings listed below, which are merely illustrative of preferred embodiments without having the purpose of limiting the scope of protection, since deletions, additions, modifications and replacements by equivalents can be made without departing from the proposed solution: Fig. 1

[0023] [Fig. 1] Schematic diagram of a possible (not unique) configuration of the devices used to implement the proposed process. Fig.2

[0024] [Fig. 2] is a flowchart of the phases that occur in the HTC process.

[0025] The present invention relates to a thermochemical process that requires at least 60% humidity in critical and subcritical conditions of the water present or added to the waste, using pressure and temperature through an anaerobic process.

[0026] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the process is carried out in a system (1) comprising at least one solids crusher (2), an input tank (3) that receives the material to be transformed, a water reservoir (4) that will be used as a reagent, an HTC reactor (5) that will perform the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), an output tank (6) that stores the transformed material, pumps (7) and valves (8) that control and move the material within the system circuit and, finally, a separation device (9) of the liquid phase from the solid phase of the final product.

[0027] The process begins with the grinding of the solid material in the solids crusher (2), receiving it in the inlet tank (3) together with water from the tank (4), transferring this mixture to the HTC reactor (5), to initiate the hydrocarbonization. This HTC process is carried out using a temperature range of 140°C to 240°C, with a pressure of 10 bar to 25 bar, residence time of 40 minutes to 240 minutes, as well as a pH of 2 to 14.

[0028] The HTC steps that occur in reactor (5) are: hydrolysis (10), dehydration (11), decarboxylation (12), and aromatization (13). In hydrolysis (10), molecules are broken down into smaller particles in the presence of water. Dehydration (11) reduces the amount of water in the biomass without altering its chemical composition. Next, decarboxylation (12) occurs, which is the partial elimination of carboxyl groups. Carboxyl and carbonyl groups are rapidly degraded at temperatures above 150°C, producing CO2 and CO. Finally, aromatization (13) occurs, in which aromatic structures with high stability under alkaline conditions are formed. The carbon content decreases with an increase in the number of aromatic structures.

[0029] The resulting product from HTC is a liquid carbonaceous mixture with a high moisture content, consisting of a solid phase and a liquid phase. This product is transported to the outlet tank (6) and from there to a separation device (9), such as a filter press, to separate the solid from the liquid phase. The solid portion, also known as hydrochar, is used as a substrate. The liquid portion is an organic, organomineral, or amine product containing fulvic acid and humic acids. It can be used as a fertilizer, a biological culture medium (yeast, fungi, bacteria, and enzymes), and for the production of proteins and organic acids.

Claims

BIOMASS HYDROCARBONIZATION PROCESS carried out in an HTC reactor (5) characterized by using at least 60% humidity in critical and subcritical conditions of the water present or aggregated to the waste, in which thermal hydrocarbonization is carried out using a temperature range of 140° C to 240° C, with a pressure of 10 bar to 25 bar, residence time of 40 minutes to 240 minutes and pH of 2 to 14. BIOMASS HYDROCARBONIZATION PROCESS according to claim 1, characterized in that the HTC steps that occur in the reactor (5) are hydrolysis (10), dehydration (11), decarboxylation (12) and aromatization (13). PRODUCT resulting from the process defined in 1 characterized by the liquid phase separated from a liquid carbonaceous mixture with a high moisture content resulting from HTC being an organic, organomineral or amine product with the presence of fulvic acid and humic acids.

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