Liquid distributor system and process of liquid distribution

Inventors

Sechrist, Paul Alvin • Heijstra, Bjorn Daniel • Conolly, Joshua Jeremy

Assignees

Lanzatech Inc

Abstract

The disclosure provides a system and a process for injecting and uniformly distributing a liquid into a fermentation broth in a bioreactor for maintaining stable condition within the fermentation broth. The system includes a downcomer section which contains two or more circular pipe conduits extending from a wall of the downcomer to the center vertical axis line of the downcomer. Liquid injection apertures are arranged along the circular pipe conduit and are non-uniformly spaced apart from the center vertical axis of the downcomer to the wall of the downcomer. The apertures further alternate and are offset between the top and bottom surfaces of the circular pipe conduit. The process of the disclosure involves using the system described above for carrying out a fermentation process for converting a C1-substrate to at least one product such as ethanol.

Core Innovation

A bioreactor system is described with a riser section and a downcomer section containing fermentation broth in fluid communication with the riser section. At least two liquid distributors are provided, each comprising a circular pipe conduit extending longitudinally from a wall of the downcomer section to a closed end proximate to a center vertical axis. The distributors inject liquid through a plurality of liquid injection apertures arranged along the circular pipe conduit, and the spacing between successive apertures decreases non-uniformly along the length of the conduit.

The liquid injection apertures are arranged so that the apertures alternate and are offset between a top surface and a bottom surface of the circular pipe conduit. In related embodiments, the conduit is defined independently with a closed end and a connector end, with the apertures arranged from the closed end to the connector end and with spacing between successive apertures decreasing non-uniformly from the closed end to the connector end.

The bioreactor system further includes a liquid distributor attached to a downcomer section wall and longitudinally extending across substantially the entire diameter of the downcomer, with a support member proximate to the closed end. The claim coverage also includes apertures arranged from a midpoint corresponding to a center vertical axis toward both the closed end and the downcomer section wall, while maintaining non-uniformly decreasing spacing along the circular pipe conduit.

Claims Coverage

The document includes three independent claims covering a bioreactor system and a stand-alone liquid distributor. Across these independent claims, the central inventive features are non-uniformly decreasing aperture spacing along a circular pipe conduit and alternating, offset aperture placement between top and bottom conduit surfaces, with system embodiments defined by riser/downcomer geometry and midpoint/full-diameter placement.

Overall, the claim coverage centers on controlling liquid injection distribution in a downcomer/riser bioreactor by using circular pipe conduits with multiple injection apertures whose spacing decreases non-uniformly along the conduit and whose apertures alternate and are offset between top and bottom conduit surfaces. The independent claims further distinguish system-level embodiments from a stand-alone liquid distributor embodiment.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications