Patent · US Active

Method of making propanol and ethanol from plant material by biological conversion and gasification

US8329436B2 · kind B2 · utility

12Cited by
75References
39Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 11, 2008
Grant dateDec 11, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 13, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02E50/30
  • WIPO fieldBiotechnology
  • WIPO sectorChemistry

Abstract

The invention relates to processes that efficiently convert carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, into products in such a manner that the energy, carbon, and mass content of the materials are efficiently transferred into such products. Such methods include converting the materials into at least one intermediate by a biological conversion process and at least one intermediate by a thermochemical conversion process and reacting the intermediates to form the product. Such methods have a chemical energy efficiency to produce the product that is greater than the chemical energy efficiency of a solely biological conversion process to produce the product and that is greater than the chemical energy efficiency of a process in which all of the material is initially subjected to a thermochemical conversion step as part of the process to produce the product.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.