Plate-Grid Biomass Growing Units for Contamination-Controlled Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing biomass production methods face challenges such as difficulty in controlling contamination, heterogeneity, and limited productivity due to transportation and contamination risks, particularly in solid state fermentation and insect cultivation processes.
Innovation Solution
A system with a controllable environment comprising a growing unit divided into a first area for biomass growth and a second area for decontamination, featuring a plate-grid device with movable plates and grids, a decontamination device, and a transporting mechanism to separate and decontaminate biomass independently, allowing simultaneous growth and decontamination without interrupting the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If solid state fermentation techniques are used with specifically designed reactors to ensure control and sterility, then contamination risk is reduced, but the volume and amount of produced biomass is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into multiple independent growing units, each capable of operating autonomously. Each growing unit contains its own plate-grid device for biomass cultivation, allowing parallel processing and scaling up production volume while maintaining individual contamination control through physical separation of growing environments.
Solution Approach 2:
A transport mechanism serves as an intermediary system that connects growing units and enables the transfer of breeding units between them. This intermediary transport system allows biomass to be moved between controlled environments without direct exposure to contamination risks, bridging the gap between isolated growing units while maintaining sterility.
2Productivity
If breeding units are accumulated and transported through large common spaces, then productivity is enhanced, but contamination risk increases due to transportation through common spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The transport mechanism acts as a controlled intermediary system that enables biomass transfer between growing units through dedicated pathways. This intermediary transport infrastructure allows high-volume biomass movement while maintaining contamination control through enclosed, controlled-environment transport corridors that prevent exposure to external contaminants.
Solution Approach 2:
The growing units maintain controlled environments that act as inert, contamination-free zones for biomass cultivation. These controlled atmospheres protect the biomass during storage and transport phases, creating a sterile buffer zone that prevents contamination while enabling accumulation and movement of large biomass volumes.
3Productivity
If breeding units are transported through large common spaces, then productivity is enhanced, but heterogeneity among individuals increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the biomass production process into identical, replicated growing units that each maintain the same controlled environment conditions. This segmentation ensures that all biomass individuals experience uniform cultivation conditions, maintaining genetic and physiological homogeneity while enabling large-scale production through parallel processing of multiple units.
Solution Approach 2:
The design employs uniform, standardized growing units with identical plate-grid devices and controlled environments. This homogeneity in the cultivation infrastructure ensures consistent growth conditions across all units, producing biomass with uniform characteristics and reducing heterogeneity among individuals while scaling up production volume.
Data Source
AI summary
A system (100, 200, 400, 700) and method for growing biomass, wherein the system comprises at least one growing unit (110, 210, 410, 710) having a respective controllable environment and comprising a first area (120, 220, 420, 720) and a second area (130, 230, 430, 730). The system further comprises at least one plate-grid device (140, 240, 441, 442, 443, 500, 740) arranged within said at least one growing unit in turn comprising at least one plate (225, 325, 510) elevated from at least one grid (226, 326, 530, 631, 632, 633, 634) wherein the at least one plate and the at least one grid are independently movable from one another between the first area and the second area. Additionally, the system comprises a decontamination device (160, 260, 461, 462) arranged within the second area and configured to decontaminate, in the second area, one or more of the at least one plate and/or at least one grid of the at least one plate-grid device. Furthermore, the at least one plate and at least one grid of each at least one plate-grid device are movable independently from the at least one plate and at least one grid of the other plate grid devices between a loading position (171, 471, 771), at which the at least one plate is free to receive a growth medium for growing biomass, and a discharging position (172, 472, 772), within the first area. The system further comprises at least one transporting mechanism (150, 250, 450, 750) configured to transport grown biomass discharged from the at least one plate-grid device at the discharging position, to a third area arranged outside of the at least one growing unit.