Lipid Purification via Thermal Settling and Filtration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods are ineffective in purifying lipid materials with high impurity levels, making them unsuitable for use as fuel or chemical sources due to the inability to remove impurities to the required quality within a feasible timeframe.
Innovation Solution
A method involving storing lipid materials at elevated temperatures to settle impurities, separating the oily sludge phase, further processing, and optionally purifying it with heat treatment and solvent addition to remove impurities like polyethylene and phosphorus compounds, allowing for rapid purification and improved purity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional purification methods are used on lipid materials with high impurity levels, then the purification process becomes too lengthy and inefficient, but the impurities cannot be removed to the required quality standard
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter during the purification process. By heating the lipid material to elevated temperatures (above the melting point but below degradation temperatures), the viscosity decreases and impurity separation becomes more efficient. This parameter change enables both high purification quality and reduced processing time, resolving the technical contradiction between purification quality and purification time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite approach by combining multiple purification techniques: settling tank separation, filtration through porous materials, and activated carbon treatment. This composite methodology achieves high purification quality (removing polyethylene, phosphorus compounds, and other impurities) while maintaining reasonable processing time by distributing the purification function across multiple mechanisms working in sequence.
2Manufacturing precision
If lipid materials with high impurity levels are used directly, then the material is unsuitable for fuel or chemical production, but conventional methods cannot remove impurities to the required quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts impurities from the lipid material through a multi-stage process. First, impurities are allowed to settle in a settling tank where they separate by density. Then, the supernatant is filtered through porous materials and activated carbon to remove remaining impurities including polyethylene and phosphorus compounds. This extraction approach achieves high impurity removal efficiency (reaching fuel-quality standards) while maintaining processing efficiency through the systematic removal of different impurity types at each stage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary substances and processes to facilitate impurity removal. Activated carbon serves as an intermediary material that adsorbs organic impurities and colored substances. The settling tank acts as an intermediary separation zone where impurities can be removed before final filtration. These intermediaries enable high impurity removal efficiency without compromising processing efficiency, as they target specific impurity types selectively.
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 significantly reduces purification time, achieving high impurity removal rates (up to 99% for polyethylene) and producing lipid materials suitable for use as fuels or chemicals, thereby overcoming the limitations of existing techniques.
Implementation Method 1
storing the lipid material in a settling tank at elevated temperature
Implementation Method 2
allowing the impurities to settle to the bottom of the settling tank to thereby form an oily sludge phase
Implementation Method 3
said purifying step e) comprises a heat treatment step comprising the steps of: i. heating said oily sludge phase to a temperature of from about 150° C. to about 300° C.
Data Source
AI summary
Present invention relates to a novel process for purification of lipid material for further use as such as e.g. a source of fuel or chemicals.