Methods and compositions for production and purification of biofuel from plants and microalgae

• US 20080155888A1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Algae, Incorporated (Reliance Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Aurora Algae, Incorporated (Reliance Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Vick, Bertrand, Caspari, Matthew, Guido, Radaelli
• Granted Patent: US 8,088,614 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 44/308
• CPC Class Codes: C11B 1/10 by extracting
• CPC Class Codes: C11C 3/003 by esterification of fatty acids with alcohols C11C3/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/10 Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 977/894 having step or means utilizing biological growth

Abstract

Methods and compositions are provided for producing purified oil from an organism, whether these organisms are wild type, selectively bred or genetically modified, and are suitable for the large scale production of an oil product. The organism may be an animal, a plant or a microorganism such as yeast, bacteria or algae. The organism is processed to create a biomass which can be extracted to remove the lipids contained within the biomass. The extraction produces a crude extract rich in lipids and containing residual contaminants. These contaminants are removed by contacting the crude extract with a composition that comprises a nanomaterial. Subsequently an oil product is recovered which is substantially free from residual contaminants, such as pigments.

Claims

1. A process for recovering an oil product from an organism, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract from an organismal biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract to a composition comprising a nanomaterial; and

(c) recovering said oil product from said composition comprising the nanomaterial.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said organism is grown prior to step (a).

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the crude extract is obtained in step (a) by exposing the organismal biomass to at least one water-immiscible solvent.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the water-immiscible solvent is selected from the group consisting of carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, cyclohexane, 1,2-dichloroethane, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, dimethyl formamide, ethyl acetate, heptane, hexane, methyl-tert-butyl ether, pentane, toluene, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising step (d) wherein said oil product produced in step (c) is exposed to a treatment to remove said at least one solvent.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein said treatment comprises evaporation at a low temperature.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein said organism is a plant.

8. The process of claim 2, wherein said plant is an algae.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein said algae is a species of Dunaliella, Chlorella or Spirulina.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein said algae is Dunaliella Bardawil, Dunaliella salina or Dunaliella primolecta, Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella emorsonii, Chlorella minutissima, Chlorella sorokiniana, Chlorella vulgaris or Spirulina platensis.

11. The process of claim 8, wherein said algae is Cyclotella cryptica, Tetraselmis suecica, Monoraphidium, Botryococcus braunii, Stichococcus, Haematococcus pluvialis, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Tetraselmis suecica, Isochrysis galbana, Nannochloropsis, Nitzschia closterium, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chlamydomas perigranulata or Synechocystis.

12. The process of claim 7, wherein said plant is Tagetes erecta or Tagetes patula.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein said nanomaterial is a carbonaceous nanomaterial.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein recovery step (c) comprises applying pressure to said composition in order to recover said oil product.

15. The process of claim 14 is subjected to centrifugation or mechanical compression in order to obtain said oil product.

16. The process of claim 1, wherein said composition comprises at least 10% by weight of carbonaceous nanomaterials.

17. The process of claim 1, wherein said nanomaterial comprises carbonaceous nanoparticles, wherein the smallest dimension of said carbonaceous nanoparticles is less than 500 nm n.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein at least 50% of the nanoparticles are a material other than a carbon nanotube.

19. The process of claim 17, wherein said nanomaterial has the capacity to bind an amount of contaminant equal to at least 50% of the weight of said nanomaterial.

20. The process of claim 17, wherein at least 50% of said carbonaceous particles have the smallest dimension less than 500 nm.

21. The process of claim 17, wherein at least 50% of said carbonaceous particles have the smallest dimension less than 300 nm.

22. The process of claim 17, wherein at least 50% of said carbonaceous particles have the smallest dimension less than 200 nm.

23. The process of claim 17, wherein at least 50% of said carbonaceous particles have the smallest dimension less than 100 nm.

24. The process of claim 17, wherein said nanomaterial has the capacity to bind an amount of contaminant equal to at least 10 times the weight of said nanomaterial.

25. The process of claim 17, wherein a portion of the carbonaceous material has a tubular or spheroid configuration.

26. The process of claim 1, wherein said nanomaterial comprises graphene.

27. The process of claim 26, wherein nanomaterial comprises at least 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, or 99.9% graphene by weight.

43. A composition produced by the process of claim 6 comprising purified oil that is substantially free of any solvents or pigments.

44. The composition of claim 43, wherein said composition has less than 15% water by weight.

28. A process for recovering triglycerides, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract from an organismal biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract to a composition comprising a nanomaterial; and

(c) recovering said triglycerides from said composition comprising the nanomaterial.

29. The process of claim 28, wherein said organism is grown prior to step (a).

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of transesterification of the triglycerides into a fuel selected from the group of biodiesel or biogasoline.

31. A process for recovering an organic pigment, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract from an organismal biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract to a composition comprising a nanomaterial; and

(c) recovering said organic pigment from said composition comprising a nanomaterial.

32. The process of claim 31, wherein said organism is grown prior to step (a).

33. The process of claim 31, wherein the purified organic pigment is selected from the group of b-carotene, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, a carotenoid or a chlorophyll.

34. The process of claim 32, wherein the purified organic pigment is a chlorophyll.

36. The process of claim 34, wherein said organism is grown prior to step (a).

38. The process of claim 36, wherein said organism is grown prior to step (a).

35. A process for producing a biofuel, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract from an organismal biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract to a composition comprising a nanomaterial;

(c) recovering said oil product from said composition comprising a nanomaterial; and

(d) converting the purified oil product by transesterification into biodiesel or biogasoline.

37. A process for recovering an oil product from a plant, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract from a plant biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract to a composition comprising a nanomaterial; and

(c) recovering said oil product from said composition comprising a nanomaterial, wherein said oil product is substantially free of any plant pigments.

39. A composition comprising an extract of an organism and a nanomaterial.

40. The composition of claim 39, wherein said nanomaterial a carbonaceous nanomaterial.

41. The composition of claim 40, wherein said carbonaceous nanomaterial comprises graphene.

42. The composition of claim 41, wherein said carbonaceous nanomaterial comprises at least 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, or 99.9% graphene by weight.

45. The composition of claim 42, wherein the organism from which the purified oil was produced is a plant.

46. The composition of claim 45, wherein the plant from which the purified oil was produced is an algae.

47. A process for recovering a carotenoid, comprising:

(a) obtaining a crude extract containing a plurality of organic pigments from an organismal biomass;

(b) applying said crude extract containing a plurality of organic pigments to a composition comprising a nanomaterial, wherein the composition comprising the nanomaterial selectively absorbs at least one organic pigment that is not a carotenoid from said crude extract;

(c) recovering a liquid extract from step (b) by removing the composition comprising the nanomaterial from said crude extract; and

(d) isolating a carotenoid from the liquid extract from step (c).

48. The process of claim 47, wherein said at least one organic pigment that is not a carotenoid is a chlorophyll.

49. The process of claim 48, further comprising recovering the chlorophyll from said composition comprising the nanomaterial.

50. The process of claim 47, wherein the nanomaterial is graphene.

51. The process of claim 47, wherein the carotenoid is recovered by an extraction method.

52. The process of claim 47, further comprising:

adding activated charcoal to the liquid extract from step (d) so as to remove substantially other organic pigments that are not chlorophyll.

53. The process of claim 47, further comprising recovering an oil product from said crude extract.

54. A process for recovering a lipid-containing oil product from an organism, comprising:

(a) admixing an organismal biomass with a water-immiscible solvent to produce a crude extract of the biomass which contains lipid and the water-immiscible solvent;

(b) adding a nanomaterial to the crude extract wherein the nanomaterial absorbs the lipid, the water-immiscible solvent and at least one organic pigment;

(c) isolating the nanomaterial in step (b) from the rest of the crude extract; and

(d) recovering a lipid-containing oil product from the isolated nanomaterial in step (c), wherein the lipid-containing oil product is substantially free of chlorophyll.

55. The process of claim 54, wherein the water-immiscible solvent is selected from the group consisting of carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, cyclohexane, 1,2-dichloroethane, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, dimethyl formamide, ethyl acetate, heptane, hexane, methyl-tert-butyl ether, pentane, toluene, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane.

56. The process of claim 54, wherein the lipid-containing oil product contains less than 10% of the chlorophyll in the crude extract.

57. The process of claim 54, wherein the lipid-containing oil product contains less than 5% of the chlorophyll in the crude extract.

58. The process of claim 54, further comprising:

(e) adding activated charcoal to the lipid-containing oil product in step (d); and

(f) isolating a further purified lipid-containing oil product by removing the activated charcoal in step (e).

59. The process of claim 58, wherein the further purified lipid-containing oil product in step (f) is substantially free of carotenoid.

60. The process of claim 59, wherein the lipid-containing oil product contains less than 20% of the carotenoid in the lipid-containing oil product in step (d).