As 2012 comes to a close, a review of biofuels-related patent publications indicates that research continues to progress mainly in the areas of biofuel materials and precursors. Most of the patent publications reviewed here are for advances aimed at increasing the efficiency of the production process and producing enhanced versions of starter materials.
Before presenting any recent patents, it is instructive to summarize the two types of published patent applications: those that have issued and those that have published but are still pending and under examination. This article will primarily focus on patent publications, since those documents are indicative of more recent research and development of biofuels. In fact, the patent applications being published now were first filed between March and June 2011.
An issued patent has a fixed set of claims at the end that defines the invention regardless of what is included in the detailed description section. Anyone reviewing issued patents for an indication of the actual invention should turn to the claims section first. The detailed description section should primarily be used to provide context of the claims and/or definitions of some of the terms/phrases in the claims. Issued patents are in force 20 years from the filing date, and they give the patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, and/or selling the claimed invention in the country where the patent issued. Published patent applications are useful to provide notice to the general public and/or competitors as to potential future patents and their scope. Between the filing date or priority date of the application and the publication date, the patent application is not published, and therefore, not readily available to the public for review. The existence of a patent publication does not necessarily mean that a patent will issue from that application or that the final issued set of claims will be the same or resemble the claims in the publication. These publications should primarily be used for notice and information purposes.
This article is not advocating or determining the patentability of any of the technologies presented. The content of this article is directed to an objective summary of some of the biofuel-related patent art encompassing four main topics: increasing the efficiency of the biofuel production process; new or modified biofuel starter materials; fermenters used in the production of biofuels; and biofuels applications.
Process Efficiency
This category regularly makes up the largest class of patents, patent publications, and journal articles, primarily because it is often easier to optimize the production of existing and known biofuels as opposed to developing and testing potential new biofuels.
US Patent Publication 2012/0289750, Process and apparatus for coupling separation and purification of ethyl tert-butyl ether
(inventors: Wuping Zhang, et al.; November 15, 2012), discloses a method and related device that apparently streamlines the separation and purification steps in order to produce ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and makes the effort to reduce the percentage of water in the product more efficient and effective. According to the inventors, the cost of producing ETBE and ethanol is more expensive in China than the production of gasoline, which leads to a preference for gasoline. This process will bring the cost of the production of ethanol more in line with, if not lower than the production of gasoline. As part of this invention, separation and purification are coupled via a distillation-extraction coupling zone that comprises a distillation column and an extraction column.
US Patent Publication 2012/0288917, Algae growth system
(inventors: David Dean Krenbrink; November 15, 2012), is an older application, in that the current publication is based on two Patent Cooperation Treaty applications filed in 2008 and 2009. The inventors are trying to merge the success of the open pond model of algae growth with the process efficiency of a closed loop system. By having a system that looks more like an open pond, while at the same time having a light system and harvesting system that is more automated and controlled, the inventors state that they can improve the growth and harvesting system. Claim 1 of the application discloses the broad scope of the application: “A photo bioreactor system for growing a photosynthetic culture in an aqueous liquid and harvesting the photosynthetic culture, the photo bioreactor system comprising: a. a vessel arranged to contain the aqueous liquid; b. a lighting system, arranged to be at least partially submerged in the aqueous liquid, and arranged to irradiate the photosynthetic culture below the surface of the aqueous liquid; and c. a harvester system comprising a scoop construction comprising a scoop, arranged to scoop at least part of the photosynthetic culture from the aqueous liquid, and a collector system, arranged to collect at least part of the scooped photosynthetic culture.”
US Patent Publication 2012/0283496, Methods of extracting neutral lipids and producing biofuels
(inventor: Aniket Kale; assignee: Heliae Development, LLC; November 8, 2012), discloses the selective extraction and fractionation of algal lipids and algal products from an algal biomass. The inventors claim that the extraction process is both single and multistep by using step extraction and fractionation with nonpolar solvents to process wet algal biomass. This same company has another patent application,
US Patent Publication 2012/0282679, Methods of and systems for dewatering algae and recycling water therefrom
(inventor: Aniket Kale; November 8, 2012), discloses dewatering algae and then recycling the recovered water for use in other algal cell cultures. According to the application, “…the method includes adding a water miscible solvent set to the wet algal biomass and waiting an amount of time to permit algal cells of the algal biomass to gather and isolating at least a portion of the gathered algal cells from at least a portion of the solvent set and liquid of the wet algal biomass so that a dewatered algal biomass is generated. The dewatered algal biomass can be used to generated [sic] algal products such as biofuels and nutraceuticals.”
US Patent Publication 2012/0282651, System and method of co-cultivating microalgae with fungus
(inventors: Joshua (Shuhua) Yuan, et al.; Renewuel LLC; November 8, 2012), discloses systems and methods for pelletizing single cell microalgae by co-cultivating the microalgae with filamentous fungi. The inventors state that this co-cultivation enables a low cost separation of microalgae from the liquid medium and significantly increases both the biomass and the lipid yield. The algae claimed are from a class selected from the group consisting of Actinocluysophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Bryopsidophyceae, Bolidophyceae, Chlorarachnea, Chlorophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Cryptophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Diatomophyceae, Dinophyceae, Eustigmatophyceae, Glaucophyceae, Haptophyceae, Noctiluciphyceae, Pedinophyeeae, Picophagophyceae, Pleurastrophyceae, Prasinophyceae, Prymnesiophyceae, Raphidophyceae, Synchromophyceae, Syndiniophyceae, Synurophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Ulvophyceae, Xanthophyceae, and combinations thereof. The fungi claimed are from a genus selected from the group consisting of Arthoniomycetes, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycetes, Blastocladiomycetes, Chytridiomycetes, Dacrymycetes, Dothideomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Glomeromycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Lecanoromycetes, Leotiomycetes, Lichinamycetes, Monoblepharidomycetes, Orbiliomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Tremellomycetes, Pezizomycetes, Zygomycetes, Mortierellales, Mucorales and combinations thereof. This publication is one of many that is attempting to commercialize algae production beyond small scale installations and systems.
New and/or Improved Fermenters
The number of patent publications from 2012 indicates that research on fermentation starter material and “fermenters” is increasing. Previous articles in this series have focused on 2011 patent publications related to fermenters, and there have been several publications in 2012. It is clear from the scope and number of publications that this area of attempted patent protection is not going to decrease soon.
US Patent Publication 2012/0288910, Methods of increasing dihydroxy acid dehydratase activity to improve production of fuels, chemicals, and amino acids
(inventors: Jun Urano, et al.; assignee: Gevo, Inc.; November 15, 2012). discloses recombinant microorganisms that comprise one or more dihydroxyacid dehydratase or DHAD that work as a part of DHAD-requiring biosynthetic pathways. The inventors also state that the recombinant microorganisms may also comprise mitochrondrially localized DHAD enzyme and, as pointed out in the application, these engineered microorganisms are a key component. Further, the recombinant microorganisms may be microorganisms of the Saccharomyces clade, Crabtree-negative yeast microorganisms, Crabtree-positive yeast microorganisms, post- (whole genome duplication (WGD) yeast microorganisms, pre-WGD yeast microorganisms, and non-fermenting yeast microorganisms.
US Patent Publication 2012/0288909, Microbial production of pentanol from glucose or glycerol
(inventors: Hsien-Chung Tseng, et al.; assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; November 15, 2012), teaches the production of pentanol through recombinant gene expression and metabolic engineering. The inventors have recognized that the pathway to the production of butanol can be modified to produce pentanol. The independent claims are as follows: “A cell that recombinantly expresses one or more genes of the butanol biosynthetic pathway and a gene encoding a thiolase that condenses one acetyl-CoA with one propionyl-CoA to form a ketone”;“A method, comprising recombinantly expressing in a cell one or more genes of the butanol biosynthetic pathway and a thiolase that condenses one acetyl-CoA with one propionyl-CoA to form a ketone” and “A cell that recombinantly expresses: (a) a gene encoding an acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase that condenses one acetyl-CoA with one propionyl-CoA to form 3-ketovaleryl-CoA; (b) genes encoding 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA reductase, an enoyl-CoA hydratase, and a trans-enoyl-CoA reductase; and (c) a gene encoding a bi-functional aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase.”
Biofuels Applications
A newly published group of applications by the same team (inventors: Ricardo Arjona Antolin, et al.) at Abengoa Bioenergia Nuevas Technologies, S.A., and all dated November 15, 2012, is related to monitoring biofuels and bioproducts to determine greenhouse gas levels, sustainability, and other key indicators of the potential successful implementation of a biofuel.
US Patent Publication 2012/0290363, Method of monitoring sustainability of bioproducts
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US Patent Publication 2012/0290362, Method of measurement of emissions of greenhouse gas industry related bioproducts
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US Patent Publication 2012/0290344, Method for determining emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the production of bioproducts
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US Patent Publication 2012/0290273, System and method for calculating greenhouse gas emissions in the production of raw material for obtaining bioproducts; US Patent Publication 2012/0290267, System and method for measuring GHG emissions in bioproduct production processes; US Patent Publication 2012/0290221, System and method for measuring GHG emissions associated to bioproduct industry
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US Patent Publication 2012/0290220, System and method for calculating greenhouse gas emissions in the production of raw material for obtaining bioproducts
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US Patent Publication 2012/0290205, System and method for measuring GHG emissions in bioproduct production processes
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US Patent Publication 2012/0287270, System and method for measuring GHG emissions associated to bioproduct industry
; all disclose some sort of measurement, calculation and/or determination of GHG emissions produced during the generation of bioproduct from different source materials. This group of applications is important because it starts to focus on one of the key issues that has been lacking in GHG emissions regulation—how to measure GHG emissions reliably from different biofuels and source materials, so that acceptable levels of emissions are able to be determined and properly regulated. This area is an area in which several models have been developed, but that could use more innovation.
US Patent Publication 2012/0285392,
Deep water nutrient recovery system
(inventors: Gaye Elizabeth Morgenthaler, et al.; assignee: LiveFuels, Inc.; November 15, 2012) and
US Patent Publication 2012/0283458, Sourcing phosphorus and other nutrients from the ocean via ocean thermal energy conversion systems
(inventors: Gaye Elizabeth Morganthaler, et al.; assignee: LiveFuels, Inc.; November 8, 2012), discloses a system that both apparently reduces or slows the acidification of the ocean, while at the same time allows for recovery of nutrients from the ocean floor. These nutrients, such as phosphorus, can be recovered by extracting fish biomass that can later be converted into biofuels. The inventors state that: “The present invention discloses methods for increasing the CO2 absorption capacity of a body of water, for example, an ocean, by mixing surface water CO2 and nutrient-rich deep water in the ocean. In particular, the methods disclosed herein contemplate photosynthetic conversion of the ocean surface water CO2 into carbon biomass by culturing algae in an upwelling of a nutrient-rich source of water in the ocean, and by feeding the cultured algae to fish. These methods contemplate that an advantageous increase in the population of the algae-fed fish in the ocean will contribute to mixing of the CO2 and/or other nutrients in the ocean through natural physical mechanisms, for example, the swimming of the fish through the ocean, and by natural organic mechanisms, for example, decomposition of the algae and fish biomass which falls back to the ocean floor as 'marine snow.'” The ‘458 Publication discloses “the controlled methods comprise: (i) providing upwelled water in a body of water; (ii) culturing algae in the upwelled water; (iii) feeding the algae to planktivorious organisms; (iv) extracting lipids from the planktivorious organisms; and (v) polishing the lipids to make biofuel or other useful products. In certain embodiments, the upwelled water is provided in the body of water by using an open-cycle OTEC system.”
