Process for improving carbon conversion efficiency

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11359294-B2
Application number	US-201916273933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2019
Priority date	Feb 12, 2018
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

The invention provides for the integration of a CO-consuming process, such as a gas fermentation process, with a CO2 electrolysis process. The invention is capable of utilizing a CO2-comprising gaseous substrate generated by an industrial process and provides for one or more removal modules to remove at least one constituent from a CO2-comprising gaseous substrate prior to passage of the gaseous substrate to a CO2 electrolysis module. The invention may further comprise one or more pressure modules, one or more CO2 concentration modules, one or more O2 separation modules, and/or an H2 electrolysis module. Carbon conversion efficiency is increased by recycling CO2 produced by a CO-consuming process to the CO2 electrolysis process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for improving carbon conversion efficiency comprising:
a. passing a gaseous substrate comprising CO 2 and CO and/or H 2 from an industrial process to a first removal module for removal of at least one constituent from the CO 2 -comprising gaseous substrate to produce a first CO 2 — treated gas stream comprising CO 2 and CO and/or H 2 ;
b. passing the first CO 2 -treated gas stream to a CO 2 concentration module to produce a first CO 2 -concentrated gas stream and a first CO 2 -lean stream comprising CO and/or H 2 ;
c. passing the first CO 2 -concentrated stream to a CO 2 electrolysis module for conversion of at least a portion of the first CO 2 concentrated gas stream to produce a first CO-enriched stream and a first O 2 -enriched stream;
d. passing at least a portion of the first O 2 -enriched stream to an O 2 separation module to produce a second O 2 -enriched stream and a first O 2 -lean stream comprising CO 2 ,
e. passing at least a portion of the first CO-enriched stream to a bioreactor comprising a culture of at least one C1-fixing microorganism;
f. passing at least a portion of the first CO 2 -lean stream to the bioreactor;
g. fermenting the culture in the bioreactor to produce one or more fermentation products and a tail gas stream comprising CO 2 ;
h. passing at least a portion of the tail gas stream to the first or a second removal module for removal of at least one constituent selected from H 2 S, acetone and mixtures thereof, from the tail gas to produce a treated tail gas stream;
i. passing at least a portion of the treated tail gas stream to the carbon dioxide electrolysis module for conversion of at least a portion of the carbon dioxide to produce a second CO-enriched stream and a third O 2 enriched stream; and
j. passing at least a portion of the second CO-enriched stream to the bioreactor and passing at least a portion of the third O 2 -enriched stream to the O 2 separation module to produce a fourth O 2 -enriched stream and a second O 2 -lean stream comprising CO 2 .

2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising passing the CO 2 -comprising gaseous substrate from the industrial process to a pressure module to produce a pressurized CO 2 -comprising gas stream, and then passing the pressurized CO 2 -comprising gas stream to the first removal module.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises passing at least a portion of the second and/or fourth O 2 -enriched stream directly to the industrial process.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process comprises passing at least a portion of the CO-enriched stream to a pressure module to produce a pressurized CO-stream and passing at least a portion of the pressurized CO-stream to the bioreactor.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises passing water to an H 2 electrolysis module to produce an H 2 -enriched stream and passing at least a portion of the H 2 -enriched stream to the bioreactor.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the tail gas comprising CO 2 is passed to a pressure module to produce a pressurized tail gas stream, and the pressurized tail gas stream is passed to the first removal module.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 -comprising gaseous substrate from the industrial process further comprises one or more of CO, H 2 , and CH 4 .

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the industrial process is selected from the group consisting of carbohydrate fermentation, cement making, pulp and paper making, steel making, oil refining and associated processes, petrochemical production, coke production, anaerobic or aerobic digestion, gasification, natural gas extraction, oil extraction, metallurgical processes, production and/or refinement of aluminum, copper, and/or ferroalloys, geological reservoirs, Fischer-Tropsch processes, methanol production, pyrolysis, steam methane reforming, dry methane reforming, partial oxidation of biogas or natural gas, and autothermal reforming of biogas or natural gas.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the first removal module is selected from the group consisting of a hydrolysis module, an acid gas removal module, a deoxygenation module, a catalytic hydrogenation module, a particulate removal module, a chloride removal module, a tar removal module, and a hydrogen cyanide polishing module.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one constituent removed from the CO 2 -comprising gas substrate is selected from the group consisting of sulfur compounds, aromatic compounds, alkynes, alkenes, alkanes, olefins, nitrogen compounds, oxygen, phosphorous-comprising compounds, particulate matter, solids, halogenated compounds, silicon-comprising compounds, carbonyls, metals, alcohols, esters, ketones, peroxides, aldehydes, ethers, tars, and naphthalene.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the fermentation product is selected from the group consisting of ethanol, butyrate, 2,3-butanediol, lactate, butene, butadiene, methyl ethyl ketone, ethylene, acetone, isopropanol, lipids, 3-hydroxypropionate, terpenes, fatty acids, 2-butanol, 1,2-propanediol, and 1-propanol.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second CO enriched stream comprises at least a portion of oxygen, and at least a portion of the CO enriched stream is passed to an deoxygenation module for removing at least a portion of oxygen from the carbon monoxide enriched stream.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the C1-fixing microorganism is a carboxydotrophic bacterium.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein the carboxydotrophic bacterium is selected from the group comprising Moorella, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Acetobacterium, Eubacterium, Butyribacterium, Oxobacter, Methanosarcina , and Desulfotomaculum.

15. The process according to claim 14 , wherein the carboxydotrophic bacterium is Clostridium autoethanogenum.

16. The process of claim 1 , further comprising passing at least one of the fermentation products to a conversion process, wherein at least one of the fermentation products is further converted to at least one component of diesel fuel, jet fuel, and/or gasoline fuel.

17. The process of claim 1 further comprising passing the first and/or the second O 2 -lean stream to the bioreactor.

18. The process of claim 1 further comprising passing the first and/or the second O 2 -lean stream to the electrolysis module.

Assignees

• Lanzatech Inc

Inventors

• Mihalcea Christophe
• Conrado Robert
• Bourdakos Nicholas
• Li Xueliang
• Simpson Sean

Classifications

• B01D53/62 Primary

  Carbon oxides · CPC title

• C25B1/00

  Electrolytic production of inorganic compounds or non-metals · CPC title

• C25B1/04

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• B01D2257/50

  Carbon oxides · CPC title

• C25B1/23

  Carbon monoxide or syngas · CPC title