Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100261922 | Systems and Methods for Extracting Lipids from and Dehydrating Wet Algal Biomass - Exemplary methods include centrifuging a wet algal biomass to increase a solid content of the wet algal biomass to between approximately 10% and 40% to result in a centrifuged algal biomass, mixing the centrifuged algal biomass with an amphiphilic solvent to result in a mixture, heating the mixture to result in a dehydrated, defatted algal biomass, separating the amphiphilic solvent from the dehydrated, defatted algal biomass to result in amphiphilic solvent, water and lipids, evaporating the amphiphilic solvent from the water and the lipids, and separating the water from the lipids. The amphiphilic solvent may be selected from a group consisting of acetone, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanone, dimethyl ether, and propionaldehyde. Other exemplary methods include filtering a wet algal biomass through a membrane to increase a solid content of the wet algal biomass to between approximately 10% and 40% to result in a filtered algal biomass. | 10-14-2010 |
20100330658 | SILICEOUS PARTICLES - Various aspects provide for extracting siliceous particles. Siliceous particles may include or be derived from diatoms. Certain embodiments provide for segregating suspensions into two or more segregation products. In some cases, a first product includes siliceous particles, and a second product may include hydrophobic species. Certain aspects provide for extracting non-siliceous biomass (e.g., lipids). | 12-30-2010 |
20110041386 | Extraction From Suspensions - A suspension may include an aqueous liquid and suspended particles. The particles may include a nonpolar and/or hydrophobic substance (e.g., a lipid) substantially contained within polar and/or hydrophilic exterior layers. A method for extracting the suspended lipids may include adding a nonpolar solvent to the suspension and disrupting the exterior layers to expose the lipids to the nonpolar solvent. In some cases, particles may also include interior hydrophilic portions (e.g., intracellular water), which may be exposed to the aqueous liquid via disruption of the exteriors. The mixture may be accelerated to segregate the mixture into first and second products. The first product may have a majority of the nonpolar and/or hydrophobic substances. The second product may have a majority of the polar substances. | 02-24-2011 |
20110072713 | Processing Lipids - A method for converting lipids to alkyl esters may include receiving a reactant comprising one or more lipids. In some cases, the reactant may include substantial amounts of polar lipids and/or free fatty acids. Some reactants may be derived from photosynthetic organisms, such as algae and/or diatoms. The reactant may be mixed with an alcohol and a catalyst to form a mixture. The mixture may be heated, for example, to a temperature between 50 and 350 degrees Celsius, including between 80 and 220 degrees Celsius. Pressure may be controlled to be between 1 and 200 bar, including between 10 and 100 bar. At least a portion of the reactant may be converted to one or more alkyl esters. A biofuel may include alkyl esters made from lipids according to various methods. | 03-31-2011 |
20110196163 | Systems and Methods for Extracting Lipids from and Dehydrating Wet Algal Biomass - Exemplary methods include centrifuging a wet algal biomass to increase a solid content of the wet algal biomass to between approximately 10% and 40% to result in a centrifuged algal biomass, mixing the centrifuged algal biomass with an amphiphilic solvent to result in a mixture, heating the mixture to result in a dehydrated, defatted algal biomass, separating the amphiphilic solvent from the dehydrated, defatted algal biomass to result in amphiphilic solvent, water and lipids, evaporating the amphiphilic solvent from the water and the lipids, and separating the water from the lipids. The amphiphilic solvent may be selected from a group consisting of acetone, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanone, dimethyl ether, and propionaldehyde. Other exemplary methods include filtering a wet algal biomass through a membrane to increase a solid content of the wet algal biomass to between approximately 10% and 40% to result in a filtered algal biomass. | 08-11-2011 |