Process and systems for obtaining 1,4-butanediol from fermentation broths

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018237367-A1
Application number	US-201715845398-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2017
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Aug 23, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A process of purifying 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO) from a fermentation broth including separating solid materials, salts and water, and subjecting the resulting material to a two, three or four column distillation system, that can include a wiped film evaporator to produce a purified 1,4-butanediol product.

First claim

1 . A process of purifying 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO) comprising:
(a) subjecting a crude 1,4-BDO mixture to a first column distillation procedure to remove materials with a boiling point lower than 1,4-BDO from the crude 1,4-BDO mixture to produce a first 1,4-BDO-containing product stream; and (b) subjecting the first 1,4-BDO-containing product stream to a second column distillation procedure to remove materials with boiling points higher than 1,4-BDO as a first high-boilers stream, to produce a purified 1,4-BDO product, wherein the purified 1,4-BDO product is collected from a side-draw of the second column distillation procedure.

2 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising (c) subjecting the first high-boilers stream to wiped-film evaporation (WFE) to produce a first WFE distillate and subjecting the first WFE distillate to step (b).

3 . The process of claim 1 further comprising (d) subjecting the first 1,4-BDO-containing product stream, prior to performing step (b), to an intermediate column distillation procedure to remove materials with boiling points higher than 1,4-BDO as a second high-boilers stream.

4 . The process of claim 3 , further comprising (c) subjecting the second high-boilers stream to wiped-film evaporation (WFE) producing a second WFE distillate and subjecting the second WFE distillate to step (d).

5 . The process of claim 3 further comprising (e) treating the first 1,4-BDO-containing product stream with a hydrogenation reaction prior to performing step (b).

6 . The process of claim 1 further comprising (f) treating the purified 1,4-BDO product with a hydrogenation reaction.

7 . The process of claim 1 wherein the crude 1,4-BDO mixture is at least 50% (w/w), 60% (w/w), 70% (w/w), 80% (w/w), 85% (w/w) or 90% (w/w) 1,4-BDO.

8 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the purified 1,4-BDO product is greater than 90% (w/w), 91% (w/w), 92% (w/w), 93% (w/w), 94% (w/w), 95% (w/w), 96% (w/w), 97%, (w/w) 98% (w/w), 99% (w/w), 99.1% (w/w), 99.2% (w/w), 99.3% (w/w), 99.4% (w/w), 99.5% (w/w), 99.6% (w/w), 99.7% (w/w), 99.8% (w/w) or 99.9% (w/w), 1,4-BDO.

9 . The process of claim 1 , wherein recovery of 1,4-BDO in the purified 1,4-BDO product from the crude 1,4-BDO mixture is greater than 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99%.

10 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the purified 1,4-BDO product collected from the side draw is in a vapor phase.

11 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the first column distillation procedure and second column distillation procedures are each performed at pressures equal to or less than atmospheric pressure.

12 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the pressure of the first column distillation procedure differs from the pressure of the second distillation procedure.

13 . The process of claim 1 further comprising culturing a modified non-naturally occurring organism to produce a 1,4-BDO in a fermentation broth, subjecting the fermentation broth to a separation procedure to obtain a separated 1,4-BDO product, and subjecting the separated 1,4-BDO product to water removal and salt removal to produce the crude 1,4-BDO mixture, wherein the separation procedure consists of a first filtration and a second filtration, wherein the first filtration is microfiltration or ultrafiltration, and wherein the second filtration is nanofiltration.

14 . The process of claim 13 , further comprising subjecting the crude 1,4-BDO mixture to a polishing ion exchange using a polishing ion exchange resin that is an anion exchange resin.

15 . The process of claim 13 , wherein the water removal is by evaporation.

16 . The process of claim 13 , wherein the salt removal is by primary ion exchange.

17 . A system for purifying 1,4-BDO comprising:
a first distillation column receiving a crude 1,4-BDO mixture and generating a first stream of materials with boiling points lower than 1,4-BDO and a 1,4-BDO-containing product stream; a second distillation column receiving the 1,4-BDO-containing product stream at a feed point and generating a first stream of materials with boiling points higher than 1,4-BDO, a second stream of materials with boiling points lower than 1,4-BDO, and a purified 1,4-BDO product from a side-draw; and a wiped-film evaporator receiving the first stream of materials with boiling points higher than 1,4-BDO and generating a distillate, wherein the distillate is fed to the second distillation column.

18 . The system of claim 17 further comprising a hydrogenation reactor constructed to treat the purified 1,4-BDO product generated by the second distillation column.

19 - 21 . (canceled)

22 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the side-draw is located above the feed point of the second distillation column.

23 - 39 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Genomatica Inc

Inventors

• Garikipati Svb Janardhan
• Japs Michael
• Sonico Ishmael M

Classifications

• B01D3/143

  by two or more of a fractionation, separation or rectification step · CPC title

• C07C31/207

  1,4-Butanediol; 1,3-Butanediol; 1,2-Butanediol; 2,3-Butanediol · CPC title

• B01D3/002

  by continuous methods · CPC title

• C07C29/74

  Separation; Purification; Use of additives, e.g. for stabilisation · CPC title

• C07C29/00

  Preparation of compounds having hydroxy or O-metal groups bound to a carbon atom not belonging to a six-membered aromatic ring · CPC title