Use of fermentation tail gas in integrated gasification and gas fermentation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021284925-A1
Application number	US-202117180583-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 19, 2021
Priority date	Mar 16, 2020
Publication date	Sep 16, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

The disclosure provides for the separation and combustion of at least one hydrocarbon, oxygenate, sulfur compound, and or nitrogen compound, from industrial gas or gasification derived syngas to generate steam. A gasification process and a gas fermentation process may be integrated using tail gas from the fermentation process for the flame to combust tar and other compounds from the syngas generated by a gasification process. Integration may be achieved by removing tar and other compounds from industrial gas or gasification derived syngas using an adsorbent and regenerating the adsorbent using tail gas from the gas fermentation process. Tail gas enriched with the desorbed tar and other compounds may be used to generate steam in a steam boiler and the steam may be used for a variety of purposes including power generation to power, for example, a compressor of the gas fermentation process.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
a. treating a syngas stream from a gasification process or an industrial waste gas by adsorbing on an adsorbent a component comprising at least one of a hydrocarbon, an oxygenate, a sulfur compound, a nitrogen compound, or any combination thereof and generating a treated stream; b. fermenting at least a portion of the treated stream in a bioreactor using a microorganism to generate an effluent comprising at least one product and a tail gas stream comprising at least carbon dioxide; c. regenerating the adsorbent by at least partially desorbing the component using at least a portion of the tail gas stream to provide an enriched tail gas stream comprising the carbon dioxide and the desorbed component; and d. utilizing the enriched tail gas stream in at least one of:
i. combusting in a steam boiler to produce steam;
ii. generating power;
iii. recycling to a gasification process; or
iv. passing to a product recovery zone.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the tail gas further comprises methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the microorganism is one or more Cl-fixing microorganisms.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein Cl-fixing microorganism is selected from Moorella, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Acetobacterium, Eubacterium, Butyribacterium, Oxobacter, Methanosarcina , and Desulfotomaculum.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the steam is high pressure steam.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising employing the steam for distillation of fermentation products, operation of an adsorption chiller, steam driven compression, evaporation of waste water, drying of biomass, steam in place operations, clean in place operations, drying of feedstock, steam driven feedstock conveyors, heating of buildings, generation of power, and generating power to power a compressor of the fermentation process.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the industrial waste gas is from processes selected from ferrous metal products manufacturing, non-ferrous products manufacturing, petroleum refining, electric power production, carbon black production, paper and pulp manufacturing, ammonia production, methanol production, coke manufacturing, and any combination thereof, and or the syngas stream is from the gasification of coal, gasification of refinery residues, gasification of biomass, gasification of lignocellulosic material, black liquor gasification, gasification of municipal solid waste, gasification of industrial solid waste, gasification of sewerage, gasification of sludge from wastewater treatment, reforming of natural gas, reforming of biogas, reforming of landfill gas or any combination thereof.

8 . The process of claim 1 wherein the generating power is cogeneration or direct generation.

9 . The process of claim 1 wherein the tail gas stream, as compared to the syngas stream from a gasification process or the industrial waste gas, is
a. enriched in N 2 ;
b. enriched in CO 2 ;
c. depleted in impurities; or
d. any combination of (a) (b) or (c).

10 . The process of claim 9 wherein the desorbing the component using at least a portion of the tail gas stream is improved as compared to desorbing the component using a syngas stream.

11 . A method comprising:
a. gasifying a gasification feedstock to produce syngas comprising at least carbon monoxide, hydrogen, water, and tars; b. cooling the syngas to separate water and at least one tar by condensation and provide a remainder of the syngas depleted in water and at least one tar; c. disposing of the at least one tar by:
i. combusting the at least one tar using a flame produced by the combustion of fuel gas, natural gas, syngas, tail gas from a gas fermentation process, or any combination thereof; or
ii. passing the at least one tar to a wastewater treatment process; and
d. fermenting at least a portion of the remainder of the syngas in a bioreactor using a microorganism to generate an effluent comprising at least one product.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising removing at least a second tar from the syngas by adsorption using an adsorbent.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the fermenting further generates the tail gas.

14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising regenerating the adsorbent using the tail gas.

15 . The method of claim 14 further comprising utilizing the tail gas after regenerating the adsorbent to generate steam.

16 . The method of claim 15 further comprising using the steam to generate electricity.

17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising using the electricity to power a compressor of the fermenting step.

18 . An apparatus comprising:
a. an adsorption unit housing an adsorbent; b. a bioreactor in fluid communication with the adsorption unit; c. a tail gas conduit in fluid communication with the bioreactor and the adsorption unit; d. an enriched tail gas utilization unit comprising at least one of
i. a gasifier in fluid communication with the adsorption unit;
ii. a steam generation unit;
iii. a power production unit; or
iv. a product recovery unit in fluid communication with the bioreactor; and
e. an enriched tail gas conduit in fluid communication with the adsorption unit and the enriched tail gas utilization unit.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising a steam conduit in fluid communication with the steam generation unit and a power generation system.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising a compressor in electrical communication with the power generation system and in fluid communication with the bioreactor.

21 . The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the power production unit is a cogeneration power production unit or a direct power production unit.

22 . The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising a feedstock conduit in fluid communication with the adsorption unit.

Assignees

• Lanzatech Inc

Inventors

• Gao Allan Haiming
• Conrado Robert John
• Rosin Richard
• Morin Gregory
• Nowak Franz-Marcus

Classifications

• Y02E50/30

  Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel · CPC title

• C12M47/18

  Gas cleaning, e.g. scrubbers; Separation of different gases (separating dispersed particles from gases or vapours B01D45/00; separation of gases or vapours B01D53/00; gas washing apparatus for laboratory uses B01L5/04) · CPC title

• C10K1/20 Primary

  by treating with solids; Regenerating spent purifying masses {(separation by adsorption B01D53/02; separation by chemical reaction B01D53/34; refining of hydrocarbon oils with acids C10G17/02, C10G27/02, C10G29/12)} · CPC title

• C10J2300/1846

  Partial oxidation, i.e. injection of air or oxygen only · CPC title

• C10J2300/1681

  with biological plants, e.g. involving bacteria, algae, fungi · CPC title