Chemical Engineering December 2014 - 16

ChementatoR
Synthesizing omega-3 lipids from waste gases and algae
A
collaboration between LanzaTech
(Skokie, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com)
and the IOC-DBT Center for Advanced
Bio-Energy Research (Faridabad,
India; www.iocl.com) has led
to a carbon-capturing process that
synthesizes omega-3 lipids in algae.
Via a continuous fermentation step
that takes place in a specialized gasfermentation
reactor, proprietary microbes
convert captured waste gases
- CO2 and H2 - into acetate. Any
CO2 source can be used, but the process
works best with highly concentrated
CO2 (greater than 50%), since
blending with H2 is required. Acetate
is the only metabolite produced during
the fermentation. The resulting
acetate-rich broth is then fed to algae,
which are housed in a scalable, industry-standard
bioreactor, where the acetate
is converted into fatty acids.
Once the algae have grown very rich
in omega-3 fatty acids, there are two
potential end products for this process:
the algae can be dried and used as a
fish-meal substitute in the aquaculture
industry, or the lipid-rich algal oil can
be extracted and purified, resulting in
saleable omega-3 lipid products. The
group is currently working to identify
the best commercial lipid-extraction
method to be applied in this process.
The process has been demonstrated
at bench scale at IOC-DBT's facility
in Faridabad, and construction of a
continuous pilot plant is planned for
next year, most likely also located in
Faridabad. Once the process is commercialized,
LanzaTech will serve
as the sole licensor of the integrated
technology. The diversity of the end
products is key to the process' success,
the company says, emphasizing the
significance of the ability to transform
abundant waste gases into valuable
omega-3 products for both the worldwide
food and energy industries. ■
H2 and CO2 from APG
Last month, Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama;
www.chiyoda-corp.com)
and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ltd. (Tokyo, both Japan; www.mhi.
com) received approval in principle
(AIP) for a jointly developed floating
production, storage and offloading
(FPSO) facility for the production of
H2 and CO2 from associated petroleum
gas (APg).
The H2/CO2 FPSO will perform
steam reforming of APg that is
generated by offshore plants above
subsea oil fields. Simultaneously,
the process will convert the H2 into
methylcyclohexane via an organic
chemical hydride method. As a result,
the H2 is essentially stored as
methylcyclohexane - a liquid form
at ambient temperature and pressure.
This so-called Sera hydrogen
can then be transported to shore,
where the H2 is extracted by a dehydrogenation
process developed
by Chiyoda, and supplied to existing
infrastructures. The CO2 co-product
from the reformer will be used in
enhanced-oil recovery (EOr).
Chiyoda says that this will be the
world's first FPSO to incorporate
the new H2/CO2 concept. ❏
Model relief devices in fl owbalanced
simulations.
Good thinking.
Feedback from our users is what inspires us to keep making
CHEMCAD better. As a direct response to user need, many
features like this one were added to our integrated suite of
chemical process simulation software. That's why we consider
every CHEMCAD user part of our development team.
Get the whole story behind this user-inspired feature and
learn more about how CHEMCAD advances engineering
at chemstations.com/trychemcad.
Trevor Rice, CHEMCAD Developer →
A
Engineering advanced
© 2014 Chemstations, Inc. All rights reserved. | CMS-3764 12/14
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http://www.chiyoda-corp.com http://www.mhi http://www.lanzatech.com http://www.iocl.com http://www.chemstations.com/trychemcad http://adlinks.che.com/50983-07
Chemical Engineering December 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering December 2014
