Systems and methods for utilizing and recovering chitosan to process biological material
First Claim
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1. A system adapted to utilize and recover chitosan for processing biological material, comprising:
- a culture source that retains culture, the culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid;
a mixer in fluid communication with the culture source and an acid source, the mixer adapted to reduce the pH of an amount of the culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, by facilitating one or more chemical processes within the culture;
a flocculation apparatus receiving the culture and incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material, the flocculation apparatus adapted to then receive an amount of a base from a base source to increase the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid and subsequently concentrated; and
a separator apparatus to separate concentrated biological material from the concentrated flocculates, the separator apparatus being adapted to receive an amount of an acid to reduce the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to remove recovered chitosan from the concentrated biological material;
wherein the recovered chitosan and the concentrated biological material are mechanically processed by the separator apparatus to separate the recovered chitosan from the concentrated material; and
wherein the recovered chitosan is incorporated with the chitosan solution.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for processing biological material utilizing chitosan are provided herein. Methods may include the steps of reducing the pH of an amount of culture to about 5 to 7, incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material; increasing the pH of the culture to about 7 to 10, to flocculate biological material in the culture, concentrating the flocculates, reducing the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, and separating the recovered chitosan solution from the concentrated biological material.
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14 Claims
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1. A system adapted to utilize and recover chitosan for processing biological material, comprising:
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a culture source that retains culture, the culture including an amount of biological material suspended within a fluid; a mixer in fluid communication with the culture source and an acid source, the mixer adapted to reduce the pH of an amount of the culture to about 5 to 7, inclusive, by facilitating one or more chemical processes within the culture; a flocculation apparatus receiving the culture and incorporating an amount of a chitosan solution into the culture to form a mixture, wherein chitosan in the chitosan solution binds to the biological material, the flocculation apparatus adapted to then receive an amount of a base from a base source to increase the pH of the mixture to about 7 to 10, inclusive, to cause the biological material bound to the chitosan to form flocculates that are dispersed in the fluid and subsequently concentrated; and a separator apparatus to separate concentrated biological material from the concentrated flocculates, the separator apparatus being adapted to receive an amount of an acid to reduce the pH of the concentrated flocculates to about 3 to 5, inclusive, to remove recovered chitosan from the concentrated biological material; wherein the recovered chitosan and the concentrated biological material are mechanically processed by the separator apparatus to separate the recovered chitosan from the concentrated material; and wherein the recovered chitosan is incorporated with the chitosan solution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification