Adsorption Tower for Fermentation Product Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for producing fermentation products using microorganisms often discard unused raw materials for culture, leading to economic inefficiencies and waste, as they do not effectively recover and reuse bacterial cells and culture materials.
Innovation Solution
A method involving culturing microorganisms with a first culture medium, passing the culture solution through an adsorption tower packed with an adsorbent to separate bacterial cells and raw materials from fermentation products, and then reusing the collected effluent in a second culture medium, where the adsorbent's pore size and void size are optimized to allow for efficient separation and reuse of bacterial cells and raw materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional separation methods (centrifugal separation, membrane separation) are used to recover fermentation products, then the fermentation product can be obtained, but the unused raw materials for culture are discarded and cannot be reused
Solution Approach 1:
The invention recovers and reuses the effluent containing unused raw materials and bacterial cells from the fermentation process. Instead of discarding this waste stream, it is treated and reused as a culture medium for subsequent fermentation batches, thereby recovering valuable substances and improving economic efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The effluent from the fermentation process serves dual purposes: it is used to cultivate new bacterial cells and simultaneously acts as a culture medium for the next production cycle. The waste stream essentially serves itself by providing nutrients for bacterial growth and subsequent fermentation production
2Loss of substance
If centrifugal separation or membrane separation is used to separate bacterial cells from fermentation products, then the fermentation product can be recovered, but the process complexity increases and unused raw materials are wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the fermentation product from the culture medium using adsorption, leaving behind the effluent containing bacterial cells and unused raw materials. This extracted effluent is then reused for the next fermentation batch, avoiding the need for complex separation processes and preventing waste of valuable materials
Solution Approach 2:
An adsorbent material is introduced as an intermediary substance to selectively bind and remove the fermentation product from the culture medium. This mediator enables separation without requiring complex centrifugal or membrane separation equipment, simplifying the overall process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables the effective reuse of bacterial cells and raw materials for culture, enhancing the economic and efficient production of fermentation products by maintaining high carbon source conversion rates and reducing waste.
Implementation Method 1
passing a culture solution containing cultured bacterial cells, raw materials for culture, and the fermentation product through an adsorption tower packed with an adsorbent capable of adsorbing the fermentation product to adsorb the fermentation product from the culture solution to the adsorbent
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing a fermentation product by culturing a microorganism, the method containing steps (A) to (D):(A) culturing the microorganism with a first culture medium;(B) passing a culture solution containing cultured bacterial cells, raw materials for culture, and the fermentation product through an adsorption tower packed with an adsorbent capable of adsorbing the fermentation product from the culture solution, and then collecting an effluent containing the bacterial cells and the raw materials for culture flowing out from the adsorption tower, wherein a relationship among a size (short diameter) d of the bacterial cell, a pore size D1 of the adsorbent, and a minimum void size D2 between adsorbent particles, D1<d<D2 is satisfied;(C) eluting the fermentation product from the absorbent; and(D) culturing the microorganism with a second culture medium using collected effluent containing the bacterial cells and the raw materials for culture.