Vacuum Infusion of Yeast into Crop Parenchyma for In-Situ Fermentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for fermenting carbohydrate-rich crops are costly due to energy-intensive crushing and hot water extraction, leading to high capital and operating expenses, and result in significant sugar loss due to respiration and microbial fermentation before processing.
Innovation Solution
A process involving vacuum infusion of fermentation organisms and enzymes into the apoplast of carbohydrate-rich plant parenchyma tissue to ferment simple sugars to ethanol, reducing the need for mechanical extraction and maintaining an anaerobic environment to prevent microbial degradation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mechanical crushing and hot water extraction are used to ferment carbohydrate-rich crops, then sugar extraction efficiency is improved, but energy consumption and capital costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the fermentation process from centralized industrial facilities and brings it to the field level by infusing yeast directly into harvested crop material. This decentralizes the extraction function, eliminating the need for energy-intensive mechanical crushing and hot water extraction at centralized locations, thereby reducing energy consumption while maintaining sugar extraction efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces mechanical crushing systems with a chemical/biological approach using enzyme infusion and natural fermentation. Instead of using mechanical force to break down plant cell walls and extract sugars, the system uses enzymatic action and osmotic pressure to achieve sugar release, substituting mechanical energy with chemical and biological processes that consume less energy.
2Productivity
If mechanical crushing and hot water extraction are used, then sugar extraction is improved, but operating expenses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enables the crop material to ferment its own sugars in-situ using infused yeast and enzymes, eliminating the need for energy-intensive centralized processing operations. The system uses the crop's own cellular structures and naturally occurring osmotic gradients to drive sugar release and fermentation, making the process self-sufficient and reducing ongoing operating expenses.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters from high-temperature hot water extraction to ambient temperature fermentation. By conducting the process at lower temperatures and using biochemical rather than thermal methods, the system reduces energy consumption and operating expenses while maintaining effective sugar extraction and fermentation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If crops are stored before processing, then harvest flexibility is improved, but sugar loss due to respiration and microbial fermentation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention performs the fermentation action immediately after harvest by infusing yeast and enzymes directly into the harvested crop material in the field. This preliminary action prevents sugar loss by converting sugars to ethanol before respiration and microbial degradation can occur during storage, while still allowing harvest flexibility since the process can be initiated at any time after harvesting.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention establishes continuous fermentation action by maintaining anaerobic conditions and active yeast metabolism throughout the process. By keeping the fermentation continuously active rather than allowing intervals where sugars remain vulnerable to respiration, the system prevents sugar loss while maintaining the flexibility to process crops at different times based on harvest conditions.
4Productivity
If centralized fermentation facilities are used, then fermentation efficiency is improved, but capital costs and equipment usage costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the fermentation process from centralized facilities and distributes it to multiple field-level locations. Instead of one large fermentation facility processing all crops, the system creates numerous small-scale fermentation units at harvest locations, reducing the need for expensive centralized equipment and infrastructure while maintaining overall fermentation efficiency through parallel processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a universal fermentation system that can process various carbohydrate-rich crops using the same basic approach of yeast and enzyme infusion. This multi-functional system eliminates the need for specialized equipment for different crop types, reducing capital costs while maintaining fermentation efficiency across diverse feedstocks.
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 approach lowers energy costs, minimizes sugar loss, and allows for efficient ethanol production at or near the harvest site, enabling continuous ethanol removal and reducing capital costs associated with equipment usage throughout the year.
Implementation Method 1
Yeasts ferment simple sugars to ethanol in an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment. One mole of glucose or fructose (or 0.5 mole of sucrose) is fermented to 2 moles of ethanol and 2 moles of carbon dioxide and gives off 118 kJ of heat.
Implementation Method 2
exposing the carbohydrate-rich plant parenchyma tissue to a gas-phase preparation pressure for a preparation time, either prior to step (b) or following step (b), wherein the gas-phase preparation pressure is less than atmospheric pressure
Data Source
AI summary
A method for fermenting carbohydrate-rich crops is provided. Sugar beet, sugar cane, sweet sorghum, tropical maize hybrids and fruits are rich in simple sugars; potato, sweet potato, cassava and yam are rich in starch; and Jerusalem artichoke is rich in inulin. This method uses vacuum infusion to infuse yeast into the intercellular space (apoplast) of the parenchyma tissue. The simple sugars diffuse into the apoplast, come into contact with the yeast and produce ethanol. Ethanol can be extracted from the crop by vacuum stripping or crushing or can be left inside the starchy crop to preserve it. In some variants, pectinase enzymes degrade the parenchyma cell walls to speed up diffusion of simple sugars to the yeast, speed up diffusion of amylase to starch granules or speed up diffusion of inulinase to insoluble inulin.