Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12P—FERMENTATION OR ENZYME-USING PROCESSES TO SYNTHESISE A DESIRED CHEMICAL COMPOUND OR COMPOSITION OR TO SEPARATE OPTICAL ISOMERS FROM A RACEMIC MIXTURE
  • C12P7/00—Preparation of oxygen-containing organic compounds
  • C12P7/02—Preparation of oxygen-containing organic compounds containing a hydroxy group
  • C12P7/04—Preparation of oxygen-containing organic compounds containing a hydroxy group acyclic
  • C12P7/06—Ethanol, i.e. non-beverage
  • C12P7/08—Ethanol, i.e. non-beverage produced as by-product or from waste or cellulosic material substrate
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F11/00—Treatment of sludge; Devices therefor
  • C02F11/02—Biological treatment
  • C02F11/04—Anaerobic treatment; Production of methane by such processes
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F11/00—Treatment of sludge; Devices therefor
  • C02F11/12—Treatment of sludge; Devices therefor by de-watering, drying or thickening
  • C02F11/14—Treatment of sludge; Devices therefor by de-watering, drying or thickening with addition of chemical agents
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05D—INORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C; FERTILISERS PRODUCING CARBON DIOXIDE
  • C05D9/00—Other inorganic fertilisers
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05F—ORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C, e.g. FERTILISERS FROM WASTE OR REFUSE
  • C05F17/00—Preparation of fertilisers characterised by biological or biochemical treatment steps, e.g. composting or fermentation
  • C05F17/40—Treatment of liquids or slurries
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05F—ORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C, e.g. FERTILISERS FROM WASTE OR REFUSE
  • C05F17/00—Preparation of fertilisers characterised by biological or biochemical treatment steps, e.g. composting or fermentation
  • C05F17/50—Treatments combining two or more different biological or biochemical treatments, e.g. anaerobic and aerobic treatment or vermicomposting and aerobic treatment
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05F—ORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C, e.g. FERTILISERS FROM WASTE OR REFUSE
  • C05F5/00—Fertilisers from distillery wastes, molasses, vinasses, sugar plant or similar wastes or residues, e.g. from waste originating from industrial processing of raw material of agricultural origin or derived products thereof
  • C05F5/006—Waste from chemical processing of material, e.g. diestillation, roasting, cooking
  • C05F5/008—Waste from biochemical processing of material, e.g. fermentation, breweries
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05F—ORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C, e.g. FERTILISERS FROM WASTE OR REFUSE
  • C05F7/00—Fertilisers from waste water, sewage sludge, sea slime, ooze or similar masses
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C05—FERTILISERS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF
  • C05F—ORGANIC FERTILISERS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C05B, C05C, e.g. FERTILISERS FROM WASTE OR REFUSE
  • C05F9/00—Fertilisers from household or town refuse
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2103/00—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated
  • C02F2103/26—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated from the processing of plants or parts thereof
  • C02F2103/28—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated from the processing of plants or parts thereof from the paper or cellulose industry
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2103/00—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated
  • C02F2103/32—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated from the food or foodstuff industry, e.g. brewery waste waters
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A40/00—Adaptation technologies in agriculture, forestry, livestock or agroalimentary production
  • Y02A40/10—Adaptation technologies in agriculture, forestry, livestock or agroalimentary production in agriculture
  • Y02A40/20—Fertilizers of biological origin, e.g. guano or fertilizers made from animal corpses
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E50/00—Technologies for the production of fuel of non-fossil origin
  • Y02E50/30—Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
  • Y02P20/00—Technologies relating to chemical industry
  • Y02P20/141—Feedstock
  • Y02P20/145—Feedstock the feedstock being materials of biological origin
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W10/00—Technologies for wastewater treatment
  • Y02W10/30—Wastewater or sewage treatment systems using renewable energies
  • Y02W10/37—Wastewater or sewage treatment systems using renewable energies using solar energy
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
  • Y02W30/40—Bio-organic fraction processing; Production of fertilisers from the organic fraction of waste or refuse

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method of processing organic side flows and waste slurries in the manner described in the preamble of claim 1 and a fertilizer described in the preamble of claim 16.
• a method of a preferred embodiment of the invention is related to utilizing various agricultural, industrial and community waste and side flows.
• the method is applicable in connection with a pulp or paper mill due to considerable synergy between the pulp and/or paper mill processes and the method of the invention.
• known solutions include, among others, separating glass and metal from municipal waste for reuse as well as separating wood and plastic for energy production.
• the utilization of various industry waste and side flows is known.
• ethanol production from food industry biowaste has been started.
• Methanol can also be produced from biomass.
• bio fuels such as various hydrocarbons, bio ethanol, bio methanol, and biodiesel, using algae are known.
• Algae may be grown in waste waters of centers of population, cow houses, piggeries, or similar livestock facilities in which algae produce oil via photosynthesis from carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.
• Waste incineration may be mentioned as an example; in some cases, waste incineration is performed at a very low efficiency and, moreover, in such a way that combustion gases are allowed to be d i scha rged i nto th e atmosph ere i n a way th at i n creases environmental load in the form of either only carbon dioxide or possibly many other compounds, in some cases even toxic or almost toxic compounds. Incineration of the waste leads also to, in practice, final loss of nutrients, as combusting the waste or side flows normally means that the phosphorus from the flows remains in the ash that contains heavy metals to such an extent that the ash cannot be used but only as landfill in such a manner that plants cannot use the phosphorus.
• waste and side flows are carried directly off to landfill sites, where substances in these flows are released into nature and more or less wasted.
• agriculture slurries are transported to be treated together with industrial wastes, which include, for example, heavy metals or similar substances, which prevent solid matter utilization in a large scale.
• industrial wastes which include, for example, heavy metals or similar substances, which prevent solid matter utilization in a large scale.
• phosphorus carried along to community waste water treatment plants handling both community, agricultural and industry waste waters is lost for good, as it cannot be recovered for use as agriculture fertilizer due to heavy metals in the solid matter.
• a certain waste flow is taken, for example, to a bio ethanol plant, where specifically bio ethanol is sought to be recovered from the waste, the rest of the end product ending up as waste.
• the raw material is, for example, clean bakery waste, waste from an ethanol plant may be further used as livestock fodder.
• the raw material is some even slightly less pure ethanol raw material, the waste in ethanol production processes has been traditionally taken as waste slurry to municipal waste processing.
• US-A1 -2008050800 discusses a process where the raw materials for the process are, on the one hand corn and grain sorghum, and on the other hand waste water and/or manure from dairy or other livestock facility, and waste water from livestock processing or commercial or municipal waste water sources.
• the corn and grain sorghum are taken to the ethanol plant where the raw material is converted to extracted corn oil (taken to biodiesel plant), ethanol (taken either to biodiesel plant or out of the process), carbon dioxide (taken to algae reactor), wet distiller's grain (taken to livestock facility) and thin stillage or whole stillage (taken to anaerobic digester).
• the ethanol plant receives raw material from within the process. From the anaerobic digester the ethanol plant receives biogas and/or methane. From the algae reactor the ethanol plant receives algae solids and algae starch. And from biodiesel plant the ethanol plant receives glycerol.
• the algae reactor receives, in addition to the raw material received from the ethanol plant, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients from the anaerobic digester and flue gas from the power plant.
• the algae solids may be taken, in addition to the ethanol plant, also to the anaerobic digester, the power plant and the livestock facility.
• the algae reactor may also produce algae oil that may be used at the biodiesel plant.
• the anaerobic digester receives as raw material, in addition to those already discussed, waste water and/or manure from the dairy or other livestock facility, waste water from livestock processing or commercial or municipal waste water sources, glycerol from the biodiesel plant, and steam or waste hot water from the power plant.
• the anaerobic digester produces, in addition to the already listed products, ammonia, biogas and/or methane for the power plant, and biogas and/or methane for the biodiesel plant.
• the power plant is designed to produce electricity that may be taken out of the process.
• an object of the present invention is to raise the state of the art in the area of organic material recycling by introducing a method capable of minimizing at least some problems and drawbacks of prior art.
• a more detailed object of the present invention is to suggest a way to pick up waste and side flows that may safely be taken to a biorefinery.
• Another more detailed object of the present invention is to develop a regional waste and side flow processing model, in which a biorefinery for these flows is placed optimally in relation to both waste and side flows and other relevant factors in such a way that it is economically reasonable to both transfer and use the waste and side flows in question and to implement the end products of the process.
• Yet another more detailed object of the present invention is to take into account in the positioning of the biorefinery not only the organic waste and side flows, but also other factors having an influence on the economy of the biorefinery.
• a further more detailed object of the present invention is to find an affordable solution to the high water content of the waste and side flows.
• a still further object of the present invention is to consider the end products of the biorefinery keeping simultaneously in mind both the waste materials used and the end products, and their possible price level.
• biorefinery that is capable of treating all waste and side flows taken therein so that all raw materials may be utilized fully i.e. so that the biorefinery does not create any waste.
• bio-processing plant of the invention functions by the principles of oil refineries:
• soil depletion is prevented by recovering, among others, phosphorus into a biofertilizer, which reduces the need for chemical fertilizers nutrient cycle becomes more effective (for example, one is able to recover more phosphorus for reuse)
• total energy produced in the process is greater than the energy from separate processes
• the process could include two fertilizer lines, one producing organic fertilizer and another non-organic fertilizer
• organic fertilizer including phosphorus and nitrogen may be sold for organic farming
• Figure 1 illustrates schematically the general operational principle of a prior art waste treatment facility or biorefinery, which has been used as a starting point for the present invention
• FIG. 2 illustrates schematically the process according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• Fig u re 1 shows schematica l ly th e gen eral operationa l pri n ci ple of a comprehensive waste processing system of prior art discussed already above in the introductory part of the specification.
• the waste processing system is arranged in connection with the waste processing facility 10, or biorefinery including at least one or more of the following treatment processes: ethanol production in a fermentation reactor, biogas production in an anaerobic digester, algae farming in an algae reactor, biodiesel production, and power generation.
• the waste processing facility or biorefinery 10 receives as its raw materials industrial waste and side flows 2, municipal waste and side flows 4 and agriculture waste 6 including livestock facility wastes.
• the end products of the biorefinery 10 include at least some of the following: bio-oil 31 , bio ethanol 32, biogas 33, nitrogen 34, and fertilizer 35. Further, the process may also produce other types of utilizable substances 36, such as, for example, hydrogen or raw material for plastics.
• waste which include a sufficient amount of organic materials may be considered, such as food industry bio waste, as examples of which waste from bakeries, dairies, breweries and alcohol plants, sugar mills and other food processing plants may be mentioned.
• Applicable municipal wastes 4 include municipal waste water treatment slurries and municipal biowaste, which is understood as sorted or separately recovered organic biowaste that is, preferably but not necessarily at the biorefinery, disintegrated and mixed with water or to an appropriate liquid waste or side flow slurry.
• the raw materials for biowaste are sorted or recovered such that they are applicable either for organic fertilizer manufacture or at least ordinary fertilizer manufacture.
• plant derived wastes such as straws, potato, carrot, Swedish turnip, sugar beet etc. stems and tops etc.
• animal based manu re may be recovered as raw materials.
• Naturally also the grains, root crops etc. themselves may be used as raw material.
• the above mentioned particulate waste or side flows originating from agriculture are, preferably but not necessarily at the biorefinery, disintegrated and mixed with water or to an appropriate liquid waste or side flow slurries.
• Yet another organic raw material for the method of the present invention worth mentioning is fish.
• fish when fishing less valuable fish species from a lake the caught fishes may be used as any other particulate waste material as a source of organic material for the present invention.
• the municipal 4, agricultural and industrial waste and side flows 2 are very often collected in the form of dilute slurries, which is not a problem in the various treatments steps of the biorefinery, but is already a problem at an earlier stage, i.e. when the slurry has to be delivered to the processing plant, mainly because of the transportation costs, whereby thickening of the slurries have to be considered and taken into account.
• the water content is also a problem when the slurry has passed the processing steps and should be dumped in one way or another. Normally such slurry has still a significant amount of organic solids therein. The solids could thus be used as fuel in a combustion facility or as a fertilizer, but in both cases the solids should be dried.
• both the fermentation step, the anaerobic digester and the algae farming in the algae reactor has its own optimal operating temperature, which may not always be the same as the ambient temperature at the process plant. Therefore the processes have to be heated.
• the only option for heating the processes or evaporating the water from the waste solids has been to combust part of the ethanol or methanol or any other combustible end or intermediate product of the process or bring energy from outside for the heating purposes.
• the location of the biorefinery has to be considered very carefully.
• the first prerequisite is that the transportation distances of the various raw materials are kept in minimum, which suggests, as one option, that the biorefinery should preferably be located in the suburbs of a town or a city having enough inhabitants to ensure that sufficient amount of various types of municipal waste, and probably also industrial waste is available.
• the biorefinery should be preferably built in communication or in close cooperation with an industrial facility capable of providing the biorefinery not only with organic waste streams but also waste heat, flue gas, fly or boiler ash etc.
• the organic waste and side flows of the mill containing lignin, celluloses, hemicelluloses, i.e. fibre residues, and filler residues etc. may be used as raw material in either ethanol production or in the anaerobic digester, i.e. the waste and side flows may be utilized in full.
• An advantageous flow of a pulp mill that can be utilized by the method of the present invention is the filtrate collected from the washer or wash press located after the delignification stage at the pulp mill.
• the filtrate contains all the organic matter dissolved from pulp to the liquid phase in the numerous washing steps of the pulp mill bleaching and delignification stages.
• the water collected as delignification filtrate not only contains the organic matter and nutrients dissolved in the delignification but also in at least a few bleaching stages, as the liquid has been brought to the delignification stage washer/wash press counter currently from the bleaching stages.
• the prior art practice has been to introduce the filtrate of the delignification stage washer/wash press as washing liquid to the brown stock washer from where the filtrate has been taken to chemical recovery, whereby all the organic matter together with the nutrients in the filtrate has been combusted in the recovery boiler.
• the present invention suggests a novel method of utilizing the dissolved organic matter and nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) in the biorefinery.
• the excess heat from the pulp and/or paper mill may be used to heat the fermentation reactor, the anaerobic digester or the algae reactor to ensure that they are operating in their optimal temperature.
• the flue gases of the combustion equipment of the pulp and/or paper mill contain carbon dioxide.
• the C0 2 can be utilized in the algae reactor for growing algae mass.
• the boiler and/or fly ash of the industrial facility may be used for drying the solid residue of the biorefinery so that the residue may be used as a fertilizer. Adding of boiler and/or fly ash in the fertilizer does not only dry the fertilizer by binding the water therein, but it also improves the properties of the fertilizer so that the resulting fertilizer may be used not only as a fertilizer but also to replace the use of potassium as the soil improving agent.
• biorefinery of the invention provides two more or less separate production lines.
• One production line is producing organic fertilizer and the other line producing non-organic fertilizers.
• the other end products of the biorefinery like ethanol, biogas, hydrogen, etc. they can be collected as long as the process steps they are produced are kept separate.
• FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a biorefinery in accordance with a first and a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• the biorefinery has now been divided into three sub-processes: bio ethanol production 12 by a fermentation process, biogas production in an anaerobic process 14, and algae farming in an algae reactor 16.
• bio ethanol production 12 receives, in this embodiment of the present invention, carbohydrate rich waste liquid 21 from a sugar mill, i.e. in a broader sense side flow from food industry, and sorted municipal bio waste 41 as raw materials most suitable for ethanol production.
• the ethanol production may also utilize algae mass from algae farming.
• the bio ethanol production 12 mainly produces bio ethanol 32 and mash by using microbes in its fermentation process.
• the mash is preferably taken to the anaerobic biogas digester or production 14-i to be used as one of its raw materials.
• the anaerobic biogas production 14-i produces biogas 33, which may, as a preferred alternative of the present invention, be incinerated for producing district heat and electricity. Naturally, the heat of the incineration plant may also be used for various purposes requiring heating at the biorefinery itself, if needed.
• the anaerobic biogas digester ⁇ ⁇ also produces residual or waste slurry, the thickening of which produces filtrate, which is taken to the algae reactor.
• residual or waste slurry the thickening of which produces filtrate, which is taken to the algae reactor.
• some nitrogen has to be removed from the liquid circulation.
• the nitrogen is separated as ammonium sulphate 34 in a further denitrification reaction (some of the many useful alternatives include air stripping and H 2 S0 4 scrubbing).
• Bio fertilizer or organic fertilizer 35i is produced from the residual slurry when combined with, for instance, ash 25 from the pulp and/or paper mill and, preferably but not necessarily, also with the above mentioned ammonium sulphate 34, in a broader sense, with a n itrogen compou nd received from the biorefinery processes. Additionally, filtrate is collected from the biogas production 14-i, when the anaerobic biogas digester 14-i receives algae mass from the algae reactor 16i and thickens such to the dry matter appropriate for the biogas production 14-
• a second anaerobic digester 14 2 which receives, in this embodiment, as its raw material residual fibre suspensions 22 of a paper and/or cellulose mill, municipal waste slurries 42 originating from municipal waste water treatment facility, bio slurries 23 from paper and/or cellulose industry, as well as algae mass received from a second algae reactor 16 2 .
• the second anaerobic digester 14 2 produces biogas 33, which may, as a preferred alternative of the present invention, be incinerated for producing district heat and electricity. Naturally, the heat of the incineration may also be used for various purposes requiring heating at the biorefinery itself, if needed.
• the biogas received from the second anaerobic biogas digester 14 2 may be combined with the biogas from the first anaerobic biogas digester
• the second anaerobic biogas digester 14 2 also produces residual slurry, the thickening of which produces filtrate, which is taken to the algae reactor.
• residual slurry the thickening of which produces filtrate, which is taken to the algae reactor.
• some nitrogen has to be removed from the liquid circulation.
• the nitrogen is separated as ammonium sulphate 34 in a further denitrification reaction (some of the many useful alternatives include air stripping and H 2 S04 scrubbing).
• Non-organic fertilizer 35 2 is produced from the residual slurry when combined with, for instance, ash 25 from cellulose industry and, possibly, also with the above mentioned ammonium sulphate 34.
• the second anaerobic biogas digester 14 2 when receiving algae from the second algae reactor 16 2 creates filtrate by thickened the algae mass.
• the filtrate is returned to the second algae reactor 16 2 .
• the second algae reactor 16 2 receives nutrients in connection with the filtrate 24 of the paper and/or cellulose mill. Excess water, if any, from the second algae reactor 16i may be taken to the waste water treatment ponds 23 of the pulp and/or paper mill.
• the biorefinery is designed to be able to produce both organic and nonorganic fertilizer in two parallel process lines the facility needs two biogas plants, as the flows not acceptable for organic fertilizer production, like for instance slurries 42 originating from the municipal waste water treatment facilities or slurries produced by disintegrating slaughter house waste, has to be kept separate from the cleaner and more controlled slurries of the biorefinery.
• the need for a second algae reactor has to be considered on case-by-case basis.
• biorefinery of the present invention may have several variations, i.e. other embodiments, which will be discussed briefly in the following.
• the biorefinery may be formed of the mere ethanol production unit, and the fertilizer production unit, if the equipment needed for treating the incoming and outgoing flows are left out of the discussion.
• the biorefinery may be formed of a single anaerobic digester 14 and the fertilizer production unit if the equipment needed for treating the incoming and outgoing flows are left out of the discussion.
• the simplest biorefinery is formed of a bioreactor (either fermenter for ethanol production or anaerobic digester for biogas production) and the fertilizer production unit. It may also be formed of two parallel bioreactors
• the biorefinery of the second and third preferred embodiments may have an ethanol production arranged prior to the anaerobic digester 14 2 .
• the anaerobic digester receives mash from the ethanol production, and the ethanol production may receive slurries not acceptable for organic fertilizer production.
• anaerobic digester/s is/are used either alone or together with the fermenter/s of the ethanol production without an algae reactor, whereby all waste and side flows brought to the biorefinery are introduced to the anaerobic digester/s and/or to the ethanol production, which have to manage without algae mass.
• ash contains normally heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb, Ni, Zn, As, V) that originate from the combusted fuel.
• the national or community legislation limits the contents of heavy metals in the fertilizers.
• the mixture may be used as the fertilizer.
• the ordinary heavy metal content in ash results normally in too high a concentration of heavy metals in the fertilizer, whereby heavy metals should be removed from the ash.
• the facility must have, or has to be provided with, means for separating heavy metals from ash, unless the ash is originally substantially free of heavy metals.
• the heavy ash fraction of the hot cyclone may be used in the fertilizer production.
• the ash has to be treated to remove heavy metals at the combustion facility where it is created or at the biorefinery i.e. the heavy metal separation has to be arranged at the biorefinery.
• ash preferably fly ash
• boiler ash is another option, too, is not the only way of drying and granulating the residual slurry from the anaerobic digester and/or the ethanol production but also peat, straw, bark etc. may be used.
• all organic water binding materials may, after having been disintegrated to appropriate coarseness, be used for drying and granulating the residual slurry, as long as the resulting product meets the requirements set for fertilizers.
• the fertilizer production forms one further prerequisite for the location of the biorefinery. Naturally, it, again , relates to the transportation and storage of the fertilizers. In other words, it is advantageous if the farms and the like using the fertilizers were so close to the biorefinery that no separate transportation and storage arrangement were needed . However, normally th is is not a problem , as if the biorefinery uses manure from livestock facility as one of its raw materials, the biorefinery is close to the livestock facility, which most probably means that the facility is close to farms needing fertilizers, too.
• the applicability of the present invention has been studied by means of the following example.
• the biorefinery of the present invention is located in communication with a pulp mill located nearby two towns having 70000 inhabitants altogether.
• the towns have smallish food industry and the surrounding countryside including the parks and other green areas of the towns has a field area of 30 000 hectares.
• the fields are located at an average d istance of less than 25 km 's from the biorefinery.
• the applicable waste and side flows are mainly sufficient for providing the field area all the fertilizer they need. Thus, it is obvious that the produced fertilizer does not need any additional transportation or storage facilities.
• the waste heat produced by the pulp mill is sufficient for the various heating purposes of the biorefinery, whereby the hydrogen, ethanol and/or methanol the facility produces may be sold either as is or in the form of district heat and/or electricity.
• calculations show that, in practice, all the water introduced into the biorefinery may be bound in the fertilizer with the ash, whereby there are hardly any effluents from the pulp mill to the waterways.
• algae reactor covers all algae farming options. The algae may be grown in open ponds where the cultivation is highly dependent on local weather conditions. Also, the optional production of hydrogen in open or even covered ponds is questionable.
• photo-bioreactors which are normally closed transparent tubes arranged in buildings designed therefor.
• algae with high oil content or high hydrogen production capability may also be grown.
• oil could be extracted and refined for biodiesel; the hydrogen may be used as fuel and the residue algae mass used for ethanol or biogas production.
• the algae in the reactors are of different algae species. Different types of algae may be needed for producing different products (oil, hydrogen, etc.).
• biorefinery is preferably built in connection or at least in close communication with one or more industrial facilities offering synergistic advantages.
• a starting point could be that the biorefinery of the invention is placed to the proximity of an incineration facility, in which oil, peat, wood, natural gas or the like is incinerated. This is due to the fact that an essential part of the invention is the utilization of carbon dioxide in the algae reactor.
• the long-distance transfer of C0 2 in a scale corresponding to the needs of an algae reactor of the invention is more than questionable. Similarly, the long distance transfer of possible condensate or waste heat of the incineration plant is difficult.
• fly or boiler ash for drying the solid matter left from ethanol or biogas production is available from these facilities.
• the surroundings of a pulp and/or a paper mill are a very advantageous alternative for positioning the biorefinery of the present invention.
• the pulp and/or a paper mill produce various filtrates including organic matter that may be efficiently utilized in the present invention.
• side flows or waste flows it is the cellulose from wood, recycled paper, broke etc., and lignin and other organic compounds that have dissolved from the wood, which form an attractive raw material for the ethanol and/or biogas production.
• the waste and side flows of a paper mill may also contain various fillers, which may be introduced to the fertilizer production, and taken to fields to be used as soil enrichment product.
• various fillers which may be introduced to the fertilizer production, and taken to fields to be used as soil enrichment product.
• fillers mostly calcium carbonate, to landfill.

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• 2010
  • 2010-05-31 FI FI20105612A patent/FI20105612A/fi not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2011
  • 2011-05-27 WO PCT/FI2011/050491 patent/WO2011151511A2/en active Application Filing

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