Patent Application
20080035036
The present invention relates to the collection of food and energy production units with attendant processing units into an integrated system capable of substantially boosting the efficiency and economics of food and energy production while greatly reducing the impact on the environment. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the system and process further includes sufficient land area for crop production and uptake of nutrients and water.
The definitions and nomenclature provided below are used to help describe the invention.
A collection of processing and production units integrated to take advantage of shared resources of products and energy in and between units, typically where the units are within a limited geographical location (perhaps, for example, about a five to ten mile radius).
A major component of the IFEPS, whose operation contributes a principle processing and production function of the IFEPS.
An agricultural-industrial complex within and/or part of the IFEPS comprising up to six Units for biofuel production, for food and commercial product production, for environmental management of wastes, for energy conversion and production, for animal production, and land to receive residual nutrients and water and in some instances residual solids. All six Units are not required for a CAPP. For example, a CAPP need not include a food and commercial product Unit. In the preferred configuration, the CAPP comprises an ethanol biofuels unit (Unit 1 as defined below), a fluid milk bottling or cheese production food and commercial products unit (Unit 4 as defined below), a contiguous, adjacent or very nearby dairy animal production unit (dairy animal housing, feeding, milk parlor and associated operations or Unit 2 below) (such that materials can be transported between Units without substantial processing and transportation), a renewable energy conversion unit (Unit 6 as defined below) to convert energy and supply heat, steam and potentially other energy forms to the other Units in the CAPP through the combustion of biological solids (and in some cases biogas containing methane), an environmental management unit utilizing the Bion Technology or some equivalent, with or without various other processes to address environmental control requirements (Unit 3 as defined below), and nearby land in agricultural production receiving residual nutrients and water as a soil crop unit (Unit 5 as defined below), which may in turn produce forage for input into the dairy's cattle ration.
Other embodiments of the invention could potentially include a CAPP without a fluid milk bottling or cheese production food and commercial products unit (Unit 4 as defined below), a CAPP without a soil crop unit (Unit 5 defined below), and a CAPP without either a Unit 4 or a Unit 5.
Facilities preferably with the primary function being animal production (thus including an animal production unit), such as a dairy. A SAF also includes the attendant environmental management Unit for the animal production unit to handle wastes and for environmental controls, an energy conversion unit, and perhaps a soil crop unit. The primary difference between a SAF and a CAPP is that a SAF does not contain a biofuel unit whereas a CAPP does. SAFs may be integrated into the IFEPS and share resources with the CAPP, sending materials and energy to and receiving materials (and in some cases also energy) from the CAPP. Thus, a SAF is a separate complex of units geographically distinct from the CAPP but in close association therewith.
Six processing and production functions (or functional units) within an IFEPS, include, but are not limited to:
1) Fluid Biofuel Unit—facility for the production of biofuels, e.g., ethanol, butanol, biodiesel, etc.
2) Animal Production Unit—livestock facilities such as dairy, beef feeders, friers, broilers, and swine feeders, shrimp, catfish, for the production of food and products therefrom, such as, milk, eggs, animals, etc.
3) Environmental Management Unit—a waste treatment system/process utilizing the Bion Technology or other technologies capable of achieving comparable environmental treatment results and reduced land requirements. Possible alternative technologies may include deep well injection of slurried wastes or treated wastewater effluents and/or membrane separation of waste streams.
4) Food and Commercial Products Unit—production facility or entity generating milk, cheese, or non-food products (e.g., paper), or non-biological products, such as, for example, organic chemicals or organic plastics.
5) Soil Crop Unit—land and surrounding air and soil for remaining or residual nutrient utilization, the primary purpose being the uptake of water and processing of nutrients on agriculturally productive land.
6) Energy Conversion Unit—facility converting gas and/or solids to various forms of energy, such as, for example, steam, heat energy for use to heat materials, streams, flows, etc. through transfer in exchangers, etc.
The current invention is a group of production and processing units (as defined above) collected into an Integrated Food and Energy Production System. In a system according to the invention, an IFEPS has a minimum of four Units, but could include as many as all six of the Units defined above. The Units are configured within a Central Agricultural Production Park (CAPP) and could also include a number of Satellite Associated Facilities (SAF) with additional Units. Preferably, all Units of an IFEPS exist on one piece of property with no SAFs. However, the amount of land required to enable an IFEPS to operate on a single piece of available land may render such a system impractical, thus engendering the use of SAFs to obtain the needed land.
By collecting Units (usually all six of them, but the invention is not limited to all six) in an IFEPS, the Units are able to share and utilize resources that would otherwise require either costly, relatively inefficient, further processing or be lost as waste products and waste heat. Applicants have found that because these Units can be functionally interrelated and their ability to share resources (by-products, wastes and energy) can be quantitatively related to the amounts processed in each Unit and useable by all Units able to share resources, if the amount to be produced in either of the Fluid Biofuel Unit (Unit 1) or the Animal Production Unit (Unit 2) is set, then the size of all the attendant units (e.g., Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5 and Unit 6) collected into an IFEPS can and will be determined by the interrelationships, and a series of external boundary conditions or constraints (prices of corn, prices of energy, transportation costs, climate conditions, etc.). Thus, the Units of an IFEPS form a defined system.
It may also be possible for an IFEPS to have more than one of a specific unit type. For example, in the case where the first Animal Production Unit 2 is not large enough (because insufficient contiguous land is available) in a CAPP to appropriately balance the resources of the CAPP, then a second, unconnected Animal Production Unit 2 can be added within the CAPP. So long as the distance of the additional Animal Production Unit 2 is close enough to the other Units within the CAPP to allow sharing of resources without significant processing for storage and transport, a CAPP could include a second Animal Production Unit 2.
A second Animal Production Unit 2 could also be added to an IFEPS in a SAF. If in a SAF, the second Animal Production Unit 2 will primarily share resources with other Units within the SAF, specifically the Environmental Management Unit 3 and the Energy Conversion Unit 6, as opposed to the Units within the CAPP. Accordingly, in such an embodiment of the invention with multiple Animal Production Units 2's, additional functional units may be included in the SAF, such as, for example, the Environmental Management Unit 3. The production size of additional Animal Production Units (Unit 2) or Energy Conversion Unit(s) (Unit 6) in one or more SAFs can be determined by balancing resources and the interrelationships.
The interrelationships considered when balancing the units in an IFEPS include, but are not limited to: a) liquid or slurry streams produced; b) separated solid materials (usually organics) generated; c) high grade heat value generated in the form of steam or high temperature heat transfer medium; d) biogas containing methane generated that may be used as a source for high grade heat; and e) low grade heat value as exchangeable stack gas heat, fluid streams discharged, and hot solid materials.
A system network model could be constructed and utilized to help determine the amounts produced within each unit, the amounts shared between units, the amounts shared between a CAPP and one or more SAFS (if present), and ultimately, balance the IFEPS. The interrelationships between units become component branches in the system network model of the CAPP which is incorporated into a network model of the IFEPS which contains the network models of all SAFs. The system network model may then be subjected to standard optimization techniques to determine optimal economic and functional design for the system and all component units.
Intra-unit relationships, the first echelon, occur within the boundaries of each functional unit. Since these inner workings of functional units can change for different IFEPS principle products and resulting component unit configurations due to the resulting different resources and by-products available for sharing within units generating different products, these details are not directly addressed here or in the figures. Furthermore, operation of each of these functional units individually, outside the IFEPS, is within the ability of one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the operational requirements of CAFO dairies, CAFO feedlots, milk bottling plants, cheese production plants, ethanol production plants, and forage production fields are well known to those in each of these established commercial businesses.
With regard to the Environmental Management Unit 3, preferably, an IFEPS would utilize the Bion Technology as presented in
The second echelon of IFEPS interrelationships for system network modeling is Inter-unit or between functional units. These relationships are those within the CAPP complex and/or within the SAF(s) complex(es) portraying the exchange or sharing of resources from one Unit to another.
The broadest, highest or third echelon of system network modeling for an IFEPS is that between the CAPP complex and any integrated SAF complex(es) as illustrated by
Together these three echelons or levels of interrelationships comprise the IFEPS system network model. Once the boundaries of an IFEPS and its interrelationships are established for a specific system, the system network model can be appropriately used for system design. By way of example, without limitation, the materials included with the provisional patent application to which this application claims priority, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/811,150, filed on Jun. 5, 2006, were used to size a 40,000 dairy cow integrated ethanol production facility using the Bion Technology.
Typically, model runs set the Unit 1 production size as the primary independent variable. In the case of the ethanol example, the number gallons of fuel ethanol to be produced annually could be set as the primary independent variable. The model then solves for the size of an Animal Production Unit 2 required to use the Fluid Biofuel Unit 1 key by-products and energy. This would usually be the number of dairy animals needed to consume all distillers grains produced by the Fluid Biofuel Unit 1. The model could then be used to determine the size of all other units to balance shared resources and product, byproduct, and waste product use and reuse. Knowing the magnitude of order for these principle relationships, the model may be then run with Unit 2 size as the independent variable and Unit 1 and all others as dependent. Repeated heuristic use of the model allows optimal system unit configurations to be determined. For example, the number of cows, animal bedding and main operating parameter for the Animal Production Unit 2 could be set such that a set low percentage of excess energy will be available to the entire IFEPS during the coldest time period of the year. This approach allows the system to be continually refined for dependable operation and optimal economics.
Once designed, an IFEPS can also be operated using the system network model.
Applicants have discovered that the best way to achieve a practical balance occurs only when the area required for residual nutrient management is greatly decreased from current practice, atmospheric releases are controlled and appropriate byproduct dryness and density for transport and energy recovery are achieved through the optimized application of the Bion Technology as the key component of the subject Environmental Management Unit.
The example configuration and drawings presented here are not exhaustive. Rather, they are intended to illustrate the many opportunities presented when potentially six units of an IFEPS are integrated into a single operating system according to the invention. It is not intended to illustrate all the possible configurations, interactions, interdependencies and advantages to be realized by a full IFEPS. Although each IFEPS is uniquely designed, three criteria of the invention are preferable to practice the invention, namely,
1) utilization of the Bion Technology to remove practical and economic available land area and environmental control constraints for the installation of an IFEPS or utilization or alternative technologies with comparable attributes,
2) sharing of energy for drying and processing solids, and
3) obtaining solids of the appropriate moisture content and density such that the impact of logistics and logistical distances are reduced, while increasing the net energy available and ration value of those solids after transport, and utilizing energy sharing.
The embodiments of the invention shown in
In
Preferably, Applicants invention would only contain a single (by definition only) CAPP complex 10 and no SAF complexes 15 & 20 in the IFEPS 5. However, using current biofuel production technologies (ethanol, for example) the amount of land required for consumption of the resulting distillers grain is so large that it is nearly impractical to have a single CAPP complex without any SAF complexes. As an example, the smallest practical fuel ethanol unit applying optimum technologies currently available may be a unit producing on the order of about 40 million gallons of ethanol per year. The by-product solids (distillers grains produced) 25 & 30 from such a Unit 150 will require a dairy (Unit 255) of about 40,000 milk cows (or more) to consume the distillers grains in balance with the about 40 million gallons annual ethanol production. Even with all IFEPS efficiencies realized by the present invention though application of the Bion Technology, this IFEPS comprised of a single CAPP complex would require a 40,000 head dairy and as much as approximately about 4,000 to 8,000 acres of property in a Soil Crop Unit 570 to land apply the treated wastewater effluent (as opposed to 40,000 to 80,000 acres for a conventional land application). This requires very nearly 100% of the available land in about a 1.4 to about 2 mile radius using the industry (CAFO) standards for the agronomic uptake of nutrients and water (depending upon specific crops, the climate, soil, cropping practices and geography). Therefore, it is more likely that most, if not nearly all, IFEPS envisioned by Applicants will be comprised of a CAPP complex with one or more SAF complex(es). The more likely CAPP with SAF(s) configuration may economically serve a five to ten mile radius.
The Environmental Management Unit 3 in each SAF complex (61 & 62) and in the CAPP complex (60) will each produce by-product organic solids 35 & 40. All of the total solids generated in the CAPP's Environmental Management Unit 360, will be used within the CAPP complex 10 (discussed below). A portion of the total solids generated in the Environmental Management Unit 3 within a SAF complex as indicated in
The six component functional Units (Unit 150, Unit 255, Unit 360, Unit 465, Unit 570, and Unit 675) in the CAPP complex 10, are graphically shown in
The Fluid Biofuel Production Unit, Unit 1, converts raw materials into biofuel products. Unit 1 therefore contains all raw input processing, biological and physical chemical conversion processes, distillation and/or other liquid product sequestering and/or purifying operations, and the handling and processing of final solids and liquid streams which could include mass evaporators for biofuels units having near zero wastewater discharge, necessary for the biofuel production process. In the case of typical current fuel ethanol units, Intra-unit (internal) processes usually include corn milling, fermentation, distillation, stillage treatment resulting in distillers grains usable in dairy rations, and other distillation by-products.
The main Inter-unit relationships between Unit 1 and the other functional units of the IFEPS are illustrated in
Low grade heat 100 may also be shared between Unit 150 and Unit 255 in the form of spent steam or exhaust gas. Possible uses of the low grade heat 100 in Unit 255 include use through heat exchangers to supply warmth for the animal housing units or other areas within the dairy operating unit.
In a similar fashion, low grade heat 115 from Unit 150 may be used in the Environmental Management Unit 360 to warm process wastewater for more efficient treatment within the Environmental Management Unit 360, or perhaps to assist drying or other processes. Depending on the nature of the goods produced by the Food & Commercial Products Unit 465, opportunities may also exist to use low grade heat 135 from Unit 150 in Unit 465. For example, spent steam, condensate or warm distillation water may be used to preheat or otherwise provide energy to any number of food processing components, such as, for example, warmth for cheese production, heat for sanitizing or wash water, etc. Wastestreams and solids 120, and/or fluids and slurries 125 produced by Unit 150 will also be transported to Unit 360 for processing.
Although all of the distillers grains produced by Unit 150 is preferably transferred to the Animal Production Unit 255 for consumption by livestock in the preferred embodiment, it may be possible that the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 will produce more biological solids (distillers grains and condensed solubles) than can be used by the Animal Production Unit 255 for rations 105. In that case, excess biological solids (distillers grains and condensed solubles) 145 can be transferred directly to the Energy Conversion Unit 675 for combustion or other energy extraction processing. The predominant form of these solids is most likely to be excess distillers grains and condensed solubles. In turn, the Energy Conversion Unit 675 will convert these solids along with solids from the Environmental Management Unit 360 or other sources into high grade heat from direct fire for boilers, steam production, or heat exchanged to other heat exchange media 150 for use by the Fluid Biofuels Unit 150. It may also be feasible for a portion of the fluid fuel production 332 from the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 to be used in the Energy Conversion Unit 675. Product from the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 in the form of ethanol, butanol or other fermentation products or processed biofuel 136 could potentially be inputs to the Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 processes as needed for the specific product being produced, for example into beverage grade ethanol, organic chemicals or organic plastics.
While production of animal products, such as animals for slaughter and fluid milk is the core function of the Animal Production Unit 2, its use of the by-product organics from Fluid Biofuel Unit 1 in an IFEPS is a significant benefit of the invention. Animal production in Unit 2 includes all housing, animal feeding and nutrition, cleaning, animal health, animal moving and waste handling functions. In a dairy unit, this would also include the harvesting of fluid milk and all handling and cleaning appurtenances thereto, and for a poultry egg laying unit the appurtenances needed to gather and handle eggs produced.
The main Inter-unit relationships between Unit 2 and the other IFEPS functional units are graphically shown in
As detailed previously, the number of animals used in the Animal Production Unit 255 is dependent on the capacity and thus quantity of distillers grains output from the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 in order to allow optimum utilization of the distillers grains produced. In most cases, these distillers grains 105 will be transported to the Animal Production Unit 2105 as produced, but in some cases further processing may be required to facilitate transport. Low grade heat from Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 may also be shared with the Animal Production Unit 255 in the form of spent steam or exhaust gas 100 that may be used through heat exchangers to supply warmth for the animal housing units or other areas within the dairy operating unit. When a Food and Commercial Products Unit 465 is present, opportunities may exist for incorporating byproducts into the animal ration 175. In the example of cheese processing, whey, whey proteins or other whey solids may become a valuable component of the animal ration 175. Forage or other ration constituents 180 may be grown and harvested from the Soil Crop Unit 570 and supplied to Unit 255. Bedding solids and other wastes 185, and manure and cleaning waste slurries 190 are transported to the Environmental Management Unit 360 for processing with some of these solids returned in the form of renewed or recycled bedding materials 195. The description above details the interrelationships in general. However, when an Animal Production Unit 256/57 is located in one or more SAF(s) 15/20 complexes as shown in
The Environmental Management Unit 3 provides important functions that help enable the present invention, making an entire IFEPS practical and economic. More specifically, the Environmental Management Unit 3 prevents substantial atmospheric pollution, avoids the release of excessive greenhouse gases and odors, and prevents nuisance and health complaints, by substantially reducing the release of troublesome gasses such as ammonia, methane, oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds as compared to conventional practice. Preferably, the Environmental Management Unit 3 utilizes the Bion Technology to treat waste streams in an environmentally safe and compliant manner. The Environmental Management Unit 3 also allows for reduced land requirements for livestock facilities. For example, without limitation, for Environmental Management Unit 3's utilized for CAFOs, herd concentrations are preferably greater than about 3 cows per acre of land, and more preferably, greater than about 20 cows per acre of land.
In the embodiment graphically shown in
The Environmental Management Unit 360 has substantial relationships with all other IFEPS units. Referring to
As shown in
In some instances, the Environmental Management Unit 360 may include an Anaerobic Process Component 11 before the Coarse Solids Separation Component 1. Inclusion of anaerobic processing creates biogas containing methane that can be extracted advantageously and economically for valuable energy production. A portion of the biogas produced will be used to maintain the Anaerobic Process Component's 11 reactor temperature. Excess gas available 205 can be distributed via 215, 220 and/or 225 to the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 within Unit 360, to an Energy Conversion Unit 676/77 located within a SAF complex 15/20, or to Energy Conversion Unit 675 located at a CAPP complex 10. For an Environmental Management Unit 360 with an Anaerobic Process Component 11 the warm stream is directed via 210 to the Coarse Solids Separation Component 1 and, depending on the energy requirements of a specific embodiment, the stream may receive low grade heat 230 from the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 to boost or maintain process stream temperature. For any specific installation, the low grade heat exchangers capturing energy from the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 (as shown by 230 in
The Biological Process Component 2 within Unit 360 is preferably a biological treatment process described in detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/600,936, filed on Jun. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,495 and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/709,171 filed on Nov. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,274, and/or U.S. Ser. No. 11,106,751 filed on Apr. 15, 2005, and/or U.S. Application No. [not yet known]entitled Low Oxygen Biologically Mediated Nutrient Removal filed on Nov. 3, 2006, a low oxygen biologically mediated conversion process that is an effective processing approach for rapid, substantially odorless, biologically mediated conversion of the wastes (including nutrients). When the influent oxygen loading and the dissolved oxygen concentration in a biological treatment process are suitably regulated to maintain a dissolved oxygen concentration of less than about 2.0 mg/L, preferably less than about 0.1 mg/L in the process, a series of compatible, and overlapping and simultaneously occurring, ecological niches are formed. These niches so formed promote the growth and coexistence of desirable major populations of facultative heterotrophic fermentors, autotrophic nitrifiers, facultative heterotrophic denitrifiers, and autotrophic ammonium denitrifiers to the growth inhibition of other microbial populations such as heterotrophic aerobes, which usually dominate the bacteria present in conventional wastewater treatment processes.
The Coarse Solids Separation Component 1 of Unit 360 captures larger, mostly organic materials present in stream 210 composed mostly of cellulosics from the animal ration, and recycled bedding in some embodiments. The effluent stream from this separation process is conveyed via 235 to the Biological Process Component 2. The separated coarse largely cellulosic solids 240 have value for the energy they contain and potentially, once they are dried appropriately, as bedding for the animals 195. Distillers grains in excess of animal ration needs 120 from Unit 150 are also high in energy containing cellulosics, fats and oils. As discussed above, the proper moisture content and density required to optimally use these solids will be determined by the unique configuration of each IFEPS' network model. Nevertheless, Applicants invention includes the process to obtain these solids and the resulting high energy solids resulting from that process.
In addition, solids to be used as bedding must be processed to the correct dryness and to reduce bacterial levels. These functions are performed by the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4. Paper or other largely dry cellulosic or compatible solids from Unit 255, via 185, the coarse separated solids via 240 and excess solids from Unit 150, via 120, are processed in component 4 for transport via 245 to nearby SAF Unit 676/77 or via 250 to the CAPP Unit 675 or returned via 195 to Unit 255 for use as recycled animal bedding. In turn, a portion of the energy obtained from the combustion of these solids 254 in the SAF Unit 6's 76/77 is used as high grade heat in the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 to treat coarse solids via 255 and fine solids via 260. In a similar fashion, SAF Unit 676/77 low grade heat energy 258 from stack gas or other exchangers may also be captured and utilized in the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 as shown by 256 and 257.
After the Biological Process Component 2 the treated stream flows via 265 to a Fine Solids Separation Component 3 of Unit 360. The fine solids separated contain a high proportion of microbial solids and are thus high in nitrogen and crude protein. The Fine Solids Separation Component 3 also captures particulate phosphorus from the stream, thus the fine solids also contain significant levels of phosphorus. Typically these fine solids are generated at a high moisture content and are directed via 270 to the Solids Drying and Processing Component 4 for drying and perhaps further processing (granulation, pelletizing, etc.) for eventual high value uses 275, such as organic fertilizer or animal rations 280. Further processing of the solids, such as, for example, compaction or compressing, may be preferred to optimize transport for further processing at the CAPP 285. The final fate of the fine solids intermediates processed at the CAPP is use off-site as organic fertilizer or animal rations as shown 290. The final treated wastestream with the majority of the nitrogen, phosphorus and other troublesome materials removed is then directed via 295 to furnish irrigation water and fertilizer value for plant nourishment and growth to the Soil Crop Unit 570. Depending upon the specific technologies applied in each unique IFEPS situation, nitrogen and phosphorus removals from about 70% to 90% and even higher are achieved. Air emissions are controlled by up to about 98% reduction depending on the comparison's basis.
Actual implementation of an IFEPS requires the ability to transport materials between the CAPP and the SAFs (when present). Wet distillers grains are continuously trucked from the CAPP to the SAFs. Accordingly, the benefit and viability of a CAPP is affected by the transportability of the dried coarse solids and the wet distillers grain. The efficiency of an IFEPS is enhanced by the balancing of the transportation and handling capability/requirements of the coarse solids and the wet distillers grain. The transportation and handling of the coarse solids is enhanced by the ability to increase solids density through mechanisms such as, for example, compaction, pressing, etc. Ideally, the density and transportation and handling requirements of the dried coarse solids from the SAFs can be tailored to meet the requirements (e.g., the same number of trucks per day or, use same transport mechanism) for back hauling of wet distillers grain to the CAPP.
In its simplest form, an Environmental Management Unit 3 comprising only a means to separate the biological solids that come from an Animal Production Unit 2. The separated solids could then be utilized as an energy source in the Energy Conversion Unit 6. Alternatively, and perhaps equally simple, is an Environmental Management Unit 3 that dries separate biological solids from an Animal Production Unit 2. The dried solids could then be utilized as an energy source in the Energy Conversion Unit 6. Preferably, the biological solids are dried to at least 20 percent solids prior to transport to the Energy Conversion Unit 6.
There are many food and commercial production facilities and businesses that can be advantageously incorporated into an IFEPS. In particular, food processing enterprises such as, for example, fluid milk bottling, cheese production, ice cream production, vegetable canning, vegetable freezing, fruit juice production, wine, soft drink bottling, egg breaking, egg processing, meat packing, etc. are possibilities. Many commercial entities may also be candidates. A saw mill, paper or specialty products facility may add to the solids energy conversion inputs to Unit 6, or bedding for animals. Ideal candidates can utilize one or more products or by-products from the Fluid Biofuel Units 150 and/or the Animal Production Unit 255 and potentially contribute products or by-products to the Fluid Biofuel Units 150 and/or the Animal Production Unit 255 as well.
The Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 could receive inputs directly from the Animal Production Unit 255 via 176, such as fluid milk from a dairy to a cheese processing unit, or biofuel from the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 via 136, which could be ethanol, butanol or other fermentation products or processed biofuel. The Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 processes inputs as needed for the specific product being produced, for example, ethanol or other biofuels 310 into beverage grade ethanol, organic chemicals or organic plastics, see
There will often be other inputs to the Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 such as other organic chemicals 295, fruit juices, etc., and/or raw or partially in liquid form or solid partially processed input materials 300 such as tree logs, animal carcasses or meat, eggs, other grains, flour, etc. In most cases some significant water 305 will also be required for the process at the Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465. Heat energy may be used in the form of low grade spent steam or exhaust gas 321 from the Solids Drying Components 4 of the Environmental Management Unit 360. In many potential Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 facilities, low grade heat may also be shared from processes 321 with Unit 360. Many Food and Commercial Processing Unit 465 facilities will produce wash-down, sanitizing and other fluid spent process residues 200 and waste solids 320 as well, which will all be managed by the Environmental Management Unit 360. By its proximity to the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150, Unit 465 may also take advantage of low grade heat energy 135 from Unit 1.
Depending upon the type of products made in Unit 465, there may be substantial solid residue by-products that could be used directly in the Energy Conversion Unit 675 via 342. This could be sawdust for direct input via 342 or moist cellulosics requiring drying via 320 in Unit 360 before being sent to Unit 675 from Unit 360 via 250 (see
As is the case for many agricultural endeavors, uptake of water and processing of nutrients on agriculturally productive land is the preferred method for utilizing the major by-products of an IFEPS. As shown graphically in
A Soil Crop Unit 570 produces forage or other valuable crops 180 that are the prime route of resource recovery and reuse of nutrients by the Animal Production Unit 255. Relatively minor but significant nutrient and mineral inputs to the soil in the Soil Crop Unit 570, comes in the form of ash 350 remaining after the combustion of organic solids or other materials in the Energy Conversion Unit 675. The treated water 295 from the Environmental Management Unit 360 and any additional water 335 needed by the actively growing crop in a Soil Crop Unit 570 moves onto and through the soil and the plant's rooted zone. The rate at which these liquids 295 and 335 are applied and the nutrients carried by the Environmental Management Unit 360 discharge 295, along with any supplemental nutrients added 333 is matched to the crops needs in Soil Crop Unit 570. Thus, the amount of nutrient passing through and out of the crop's rooted zone is insignificant and any water in excess of the crops needs enters the groundwater 340 (in some instances this water may be collected by under drains and returned to surface waters). The balance of the water applied to the Soil Crop Unit 570 is either incorporated into the crop harvested 180 or returns to the atmosphere by surface evaporation or plant evapotranspiration 345.
The Energy Conversion Unit 675 serves as the supplier of renewable energy to the IFEPS.
When located within the CAPP 10 as shown in
For an Energy Conversion Unit 675 operating as part of the CAPP 10, most of the energy produced is sent to the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 as high grade heat energy in the form of steam or heat transfer media 150 and depending upon the products produced in the Food and Commercial Products Unit 465, it may consume a portion of the high grade heat 325 produced as well. In a similar fashion, a CAPP 10 Energy Conversion Unit 675 may share low grade heat 330 with the Fluid Biofuel Unit 150 and the Food and Commercial Products 465.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/811,150, filed on Jun. 5, 2006, which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/600,936, filed on Jun. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,495 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/709,171 filed on Nov. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,274, and U.S. Application No. [not yet known]entitled Low Oxygen Biologically Mediated Nutrient Removal filed on Nov. 3, 2006, are each expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60811150 | Jun 2006 | US |
