MX2012015164A - Process for producing bio-ethanol from agavavceas leaves and the obtained product. - Google Patents

Abstract

The main characteristic of the invention is the use of agavaceae leaves as raw material, mainly from agave, for the manufacture of bio-fuel, mainly ethanol, intended to be commercialized to the USA, and Europe as alternate biofuel, the processing steps and manufacturing equipment being described for patenting the manufacture, the raw material and the equipment used for manufacturing the present invention. The use of the raw material (agavaceae leaves) is intended to use a non-human consumption material, which avoids the out-of-stock of food, providing a biofuel different from those manufactured with biological materials of human or animal consumption, in this case being organic matter of not human consumption.

Description

PROCESS TO PRODUCE BIO-ETHANOL FROM THE AGAVACEAS LEAVES AND THE PRODUCT OF SUCH PROCESS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an industrial process for producing bio-ethanol from by-products of agavaceae, preferably Tequilana Weber blue variety, which by its characteristics is considered a biotechnological patent.

BACKGROUND Conventionally, the production of ethanol is obtained from biological material in particular of certain plants or grains for the use of sugars and starches, which has been subject to a controversy of food shortage for the production of energy resources.

In this project our goal is the use of biological resources that do not have a considerable use as is the leaf of the agave which is practically discarded and we do not know if it has any alternative benefit yet, the same raw material will be used for the production of biomass that feed the boiler as well as the light generating equipment.

Among the by-products of the tequila industry we find biological remains such as the agave leaf that is discarded in the aforementioned industry, given that it does not have the same concentration of sugars to produce tequila as the case of the so-called "pineapple" of the agave; However, this by-product can be used in the production of biomass for boiler equipment that enables the generation of alternative sources of energy and lighting.

Bio-ethanol is obtained from sugar and starch, and production methods for its production use large amounts of energy which is intended to be produced from the biomass resulting from this bio-ethanol production process, using the remains of the starches and fibers that have been used in the process of obtaining bio-ethanol, with this resource the supply of the calorific, electrical and mechanical energy required by the process is intended.

Characteristics of bio-ethanol: Bio-ethanol has similar characteristics and chemical composition than hydrolyzed ethanol, the difference is its production process; being a chemical compound obtained through fermentations of sugars and starches, for the > Use as fuel alone or mixed with gasoline.

Its use is increasingly demanded for the oxygenation of gasoline since it allows replacing the methyl tertiary butyl ether which is responsible for a considerable part of the contamination of soil and water, in order to reduce pollution by up to 85%. %.

Among the benefits of bio-ethanol obtained with the process are: The development of a renewable resource with the use of biological remains to make bio-ethanol.

Boiling point 78 ° c Formula CH3-CH2-OH (C2H60) Clear colorless appearance Volatile Among the closest and existing technologies in the state of the art, we find MX 2012001601 (A) and MX 2009008453 (A) that protect Escherichia coli strains modified by metabolic engineering for the manufacture of chemical compounds from hydrolyzed ligno cellulose, pentoses , hexosas or other carbon sources; these have as main objective the production of strains for the fermentation and transformation of biological material (glucose lactose or xylose) for the elaboration of chemical compounds; However the The process that is integrated into this invention consists of the use of these strains, but not the genetic material that composes it.

Another relevant technology is CU 22622 (A1), which consists of a process for obtaining higher alcohols from the agave henequen plant and obtaining formulations that have activity as a growth regulator in plants; which has as main objective the application of the formulations in the agronomy for the growth of the plants, which in this sense differs from the procedure included in this application.

Now BR P1091329032 A2 is a procedure for the production of bio-diesel, bio-ethanol from algae by means of distillation to obtain bio fuels in particular from the distillation of algae and the use of the vinasse and C02 gases for the creation of biofuels by means of algae distillation; however the means of development and manufacture of bio fuels is from algae and the use of waste from distillation, such as vinasse and gases emitted by fermentations for the production or use as energy sources, such as obtaining biodiesel , bio ethanol from said waste.

Another procedure is contained in the technology MX2009001466 (A) and it is an enzymatic procedure to obtain fructose syrups from the fructuanas contained in the leaves and pineapple of the agave tequilana weber blue; in this process, the complete agave is used and consequently the concentration of sugars is higher, but it also causes an affectation in the tequila industry, since it uses the entire plant to produce the biomass.

MX 2008011581 (A) Biological treatment with phanerochaete of lignocellulosic agroindustrial waste from the tequila and mezcal industry (leaves and agave gabazo) to increase its digestibility as a food supplement for ruminants Our novelty is more than anything the use of raw material which is the leaf of the agávaceas and in particular that of the agave that at present is in the plantations of the agavaceas without being taken advantage of and its degradation extends to several years so that it has a decomposition in its environment, requiring the use of machinery to be threshed and removed for its more rapid degradation.

The use of agave leaves for the production of ethanol being the raw material that our company intends to use for the production of a product that today is very necessary in other countries for the absorption of pollutants by combining gasoline with ethanol, wasted in our region (Jalisco) and with the amount of agave that is processed by the tequila industry, it has raw material of agave leaves which is intended to concentrate all that amount of agave leaves that are waste, which for our industry is matter premium that we will use for the production of ethanol.

This procedure is used throughout the world for the production of ethanol and alcohol from cane and other raw materials, which is a matter of judgment for the use of food products for the production of bio-fuels.

Our use of raw material the use of organic material that has been processed to give it a use and above all for the production of a biofuel without the use of food products for such manufacture, with which it is intended to make use not only of the extract of the leaves, but also the use of fibrous matter for the production of biomass which will be used to generate heat and lower production costs since said raw material has very little ethanol production compared to sugarcane or fructose a large production margin of sugars. However, when we meet in a tequila zone and a large amount of agave is sown and a large quantity of agave is harvested, we gives as margin a large amount of raw material for the production of our product that has not been used yet.

For the production of ethanol, the distillation method is well known by means of distillation towers or rectification towers, milling, hydrolyzing, fermentation and purification.

RAW MATERIAL Leaves of the plant of the family Agaváceas in particular tequilana weber blue variety, which are fibrous long leaves, of lanceolate form, of bluish color, which is profitable for the elaboration of bio-ethanol.

Seeing the amount of existing raw material there is an overproduction this year of 250 million agaves that have no where to process them. And the amount of agaves processed is much higher, which tells us that there is organic matter left in the fields without their use.

When making an evaluation of the raw material available for the production of bio-ethanol, it has been confirmed that there is a large supply and, above all, that as regards the agave planting, which is our required raw material, we have a constant and planned plantation , thanks to the tequila regulatory council has among its objectives the statistics of agave crops that exist for the production of tequila and above all that has been declared as a designation of origin to this territory, giving us the opportunity to take advantage of the leaves of the agave that for the tequila industry has no use, on the other hand for our project if there is the opportunity to give it a use and processing for biofuel production.

There is the opportunity to use another type of raw material, referring to waste of another type of mezcal or lechuguilla. Or in terms of purchase costs of raw material if it is viable to buy full agave or another type of agave that gives us the opportunity to extract sources of use that are useful for the function of our company.

DESCRIPTION The characteristic details of this novel process to produce bio-ethanol from agave leaves, are clearly shown in the following description and the accompanying figures, as well as the attached illustrations, where following the description of that and the same signs of reference to indicate the parts and figures shown.

Brief description of the figures: The process to produce bio-ethanol from agave leaves, comprises the following phases: 1. Grinding: When the raw material is brought to the factory, the grinding process is carried out by means of a shredder which is formed by blades that cut into sections of an approximate diameter between 50 microns and 5000 microns to remove the material that can be fermentable and later to a centrifugal mechanism whose main function is to extract the amount of water that is concentrated in the fibers and as the main objective is the separation of starches and sugars from the leaves of agavaceae, leaving only fibers for use in the production of biomass.

For a better use of the raw material the remaining fibers will be passed through a second centrifugal mechanism with the quality of removing molecules having the function of the separation of solids and fermentable liquids, the solids will later be used for the biomass production which will be used for the production of motive and electric power.

The mill has the function of cutting the leaves of the agavaceans in sections for processing by entering the hopper (a) and then passing them to the blades (b) that are responsible for splitting the leaves that subsequently pass through a centrifugal system (c) which is in charge of separating the fibers of the starches and sugars that have been extracted, leaving the hopper (d) to pass to the pipeline (e) of transportation to be used as biomass specified in figure 1 Hydrolysis: Using a heat exchanger apparatus consisting of a hopper (a) where the juice is deposited with the starches that have to be hydrolyzed, on one side there is a tube which feeds the steam to the heat input (b) that handles a pressure range that oscillates between 0.5 kgs. and 2.75 kgs. with what has a regulation in relation to the flow that is administered for its proper hydrolyzing, the condensate outlet that is in the lower part is a tube (c), the space of hydrolysis concentration (d) which is responsible for the exchange of reducing sugars and starch in raw material ready for fermentation, the chamber of saturation and heat (e) is responsible for making the exchange of heat for the change of state from liquid to gaseous and the chamber of exchange (f) is responsible for converting the gaseous product into liquid of a gradual way which prevents the chains of unfolded sugars from fracturing the hydrolysed product on the opposite side to the inlet we have the exit of product (g) hydrolyzed that leaves in a hopper that later passed to the resting chamber which function is of maintain the temperature occupied by the fermentation, which ranges between 25.3 ° C and 41.5 ° C, specified in figure 2 The exchanger apparatus described above, can be at least one step which handles a hydrolysis temperature of 0 to 135 ° in a time of 35 to 60 seconds in a flow for hydrolysis of 50 to 200 liters per second for the operational needs we require and at least one can be used.

The purpose of the heat exchanger used is to hydrolyze the quantity that is being processed in the grinding phase, in which it has the objective of hydrolyzing the juice and starches for the conversion of reducing sugars into saturated sugars to obtain ethanol, Fermentation: The previously hydrolyzed juice will be fermented by means of enzymes from which lyophilized yeasts are used and as main Penicilüum purpurogenum. The fermentation of the juice will be applied anaerobically.

The enzyme mainly used is Penicillium purpurogenum, this fungus is a plant pathogen, secretor of multiple hemicellulolytic enzymes that are produced to hydrolyse the plant cell wall and incorporate the products into their metabolism.

The geographical and climatic conditions for this type of enzyme which presents particular characteristics for the best performance in ethanol production, being that the elaborated samples provide an advantage of 91% to 99.7 of the total sugars and starches and in a time of 36 to 42 hours with total fermentations.

For the best performance of this enzyme, the air conditioning has been applied to avoid abrupt temperature changes, referring to the temperature drops during the night, this allows to maintain a constant temperature of 25.3 to 41.5 ° C, with oscillations of plus minus 2. ° C, obtaining as a result stable fermentations and with a yield of 91 to 99.7% total.

The fermentations are monitored every three hours to see the behavior of the increase and decrease in acidity and alkalinity, same time as analyzing samples of the amount and development of the enzymes in the fermentation process.

These fermentations are applied in concentrations of 20 units per cubic centimeter in the process of initiation, and with the passage of fermentation, it reproduces 10 times, with a concentration of 200 to 205 units per cubic centimeter, which, with a separation process, yields a strain for subsequent fermentations with which only 15% of new yeast is required for its preservation.

The fermentations are stored in closed tanks, each of which has an input e product (d) with access of a flange (c) that allows its observation and analysis as well as a breathing duct (b) that allows the flow of air and bioxide that occupies and emits said (a) fermentation, as well as the heating system (f) that regulates the temperature, providing a more adequate environment for the fermentation, indicating it with the thermometer (e) and also the outlet duct ( g) for the pumping of the fermentation, specified in figure 3 Distillation: The distillation or rectification will be elaborated by means of a rectification tower for a quality of a range of 96 to 99 vol.

The use and quantity of finished product defined by means of the rectification tower. Which in each of the stages or modules is an analysis to see the concentration of alcohol in vol. And so define the amount of heat entered and the flow rate of fermented liquid in which the proportion increases or decreases depending on the flow and the alcoholic degree obtained from the must that will be applied for proper distillation, each module consists of 20 kettles responsible for increasing the temperature in each of the stages through which passes the fermented liquid for preheating and alcohol in vol. It concentrates in each of these steps, the number of modules make the procedure for the ethanol production, after the passage of the condensers we will have a product with a quality of 96% to 99%.

The rectification tower is made of stainless steel to comply with safety and hygiene standards, with a production of 400 liters per hour of finished product with a concentration of 96% to 99% vol. Alcohol, this is the processing of 10,000 liters of fermented product for distillation per hour.

Later, the fermentation will be distilled, which takes place in rectification towers to have an efficiency ranging from 96% to 99% alcohol in vol. This procedure is already used by the cane alcohol industry, which presents no problem for the extraction of ethanol.

The distillation consists of the evaporation of the volatile alcohols a and the proportion gives us a high alcoholic degree and at the same time with purity, this process is based on the rectification of each separator which is it evaporates and condenses in each one of them giving rise to the obtaining of the finished product.

The parts that have a rectification tower is the entrance of ferment (a) which is responsible for feeding the fermented juice for distillation by means of a tube, with the passage of the ferment passes through the plates or separators (b) having contact with the kettles which are in each of the plates or separators having as objective to heat in each of the separators coming to the boil of the ferment which oscillates at a temperature of 45 to 90 degrees preferably in a range of 55 to 80, increasing in each of the separators up to this temperature the passage of each separator indicates the flow of the ferment (d) I finish the passage through all the separators reaches the output of vinasses (e) by means of a tubes that have been distilled and no longer have alcoholic strength that will be processed to avoid contamination to the environment, with the kettles the separation of the ethanol and the water is obtained, the ethanol passes through the s ethanol ally (f) the cua goes out through the ganzo neck which is a tube (i) which passes through the condensers that will be in charge of cooling the ethanol for storage, to the condensers it is applied cold water of a range of the -10 to the 15 degrees Celsius by the entrance of cooling system (g) and with the cooling step of the ethanol the water is heated leaving the outlet to the cooling tower (h) which is in charge of cooling the water to its incorporation into the condensers to repeat the cooling process, specified in figure 4 Purification: For the purification of the finished product it will be filtered by means of 0.5 and 0.3 micron filters which have the capacity to retain most of the impurities.

Subsequently, it is filtered by means of a sieve constituted by alkaline metals whose function is to separate the remaining impurities and the retention of aqueous liquids that have retained the final product.

Claims (4)

CLAIMS Having sufficiently described my invention, what I consider a novelty and therefore, claim of my exclusive property contained in the following claims:

1 . A process for producing bio-ethanol from agavaceae leaves and the product of said process, characterized in that it comprises the following stages: i. Grinding: When the raw material is brought to the factory, the grinding process is carried out by means of a shredder which is formed by blades that cut into sections of an approximate diameter between 50 microns and 5000 microns to remove the material that can be fermentable and later to a centrifugal mechanism whose main function is to extract the amount of water that is concentrated in the fibers and the main objective is the separation of starches and sugars from the leaves of agavaceae, leaving only the fibers for use in the production of biomass; for a better use of the raw material the remaining fibers will be passed through a second centrifugal mechanism with the quality of removing molecules having the function of the separation of solids and fermentable liquids, the solids will later be used for the production of biomass which will be used for the production of motive and electric power; the mill has the function of cutting the leaves of the agavaceans in sections for processing by entering the hopper (a) and then passing them to the blades (b) that are responsible for splitting the leaves that subsequently pass through a centrifugal system (c) which is in charge of separating the fibers of the starches and sugars that they have been extracted, leaving by the hopper (d) to move to the pipeline (e) of transportation to be used as biomass; Hydrolysis: Using a heat exchanger apparatus, which can be of at least one step which handles a hydrolysis temperature of 0 to 135 ° in a time of 35 to 60 seconds in a flow for hydrolysis of 50 to 200 liters per second for the operational needs we require and at least one can be used; The purpose of the used heat exchanger is the hydrolysis of the quantity that is being processed in the grinding phase, in which it has the objective of hydrolyzing the juice and starches for the conversion of reducing sugars into saturated sugars to obtain ethanol; Fermentation: The previously hydrolysed juice will be fermented by means of enzymes from which lyophilized yeasts are used and as main Penicillium purpurogenum. The fermentation of the juice will be applied anaerobically; The main enzyme used is Penicillium purpurogenum. This fungus is a plant pathogen, secretor of multiple hemicellulolytic enzymes that are produced to hydrolyse the plant cell wall and incorporate the products into their metabolism; the geographical and climatic conditions for this type of enzyme which presents particular characteristics for the best performance in ethanol production, being that the elaborated samples provide an advantage of 91% to 99.7 of the total sugars and starches and in a time of 36 to 42 hours with total fermentations; for the best performance of this enzyme the air conditioning has been applied to avoid abrupt temperature changes, referring to the temperature drops during the night, this allows to maintain a constant temperature of 25.3 to 41.5 ° C, with oscillations of plus minus 2 ° C, obtaining as a result stable fermentations and with a 91 to 99.7% total yield; the fermentations are supervised every three hours to see the behavior of the increase and decrease of the acidity and alkalinity, at the same time as to analyze samples of the quantity and development of the enzymes in the fermentation process; These fermentations are applied in concentrations of 20 units per cubic centimeter in the process of initiation, and with the passage of fermentation, it reproduces 10 times, with a concentration of 200 to 205 units per cubic centimeter, which, with a separation process, produces a strain for subsequent fermentations with which only 15% of new yeast is required for its preservation; the fermentations are stored in closed tanks; Distillation: The distillation or rectification will be elaborated by means of a rectification tower for a quality of a range of 96 to 99 vol; the use and quantity of finished product defined by means of the rectification tower. Which in each of the stages or modules is an analysis to see the concentration of alcohol in vol. And so define the amount of heat entered and the flow rate of fermented liquid in which the proportion increases or decreases depending on the flow and the alcoholic degree obtained from the must that will be applied for proper distillation, each module consists of 20 kettles responsible for increasing the temperature in each of the stages through which passes the fermented liquid for preheating and alcohol in vol. Concentrating on each of these steps, the number of modules make the procedure for the production of ethanol, after the passage of the condensers we will have a product with a quality of 96% to 99%; The rectification tower is made of stainless steel to comply with safety and hygiene standards, with a production of 400 liters per hour of finished product with a concentration of 96% to 99% vol. Alcohol, this is the processing of 10,000 liters of fermented product for distillation per hour; later it will pass to the distillation of said fermentation which is carried out in rectification towers to have an efficiency of a range between 96% and 99% alcohol in vol. This procedure is already used by the cane alcohol industry, which presents no problem for the extraction of ethanol; the distillation consists of the evaporation of the volatile alcohols and the proportion gives us a high alcoholic degree and at the same time with purity, this process is based on the rectification of each separator which evaporates and condenses in each one of them giving rise to the obtaining of the finished product; v. Purification: For the purification of the finished product it will be filtered by means of 0.5 and 0.3 micron filters which have the capacity to retain most of the impurities; subsequently, it is filtered by means of a sieve constituted by alkaline metals, whose function is to separate the remaining impurities and the retention of aqueous liquids retained by the final product.

The heat exchanger apparatus used in the hydrolysis phase of the process to produce bio-ethanol from the agave leaves of claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a hopper (a) where the juice is deposited with the starches that have to be hydrolyzed , on one side there is a tube which feeds the steam to the heat input (b) that handles a pressure range that oscillates between 0.5 kgs. and 2.75 kgs. with what has a regulation in relation to the flow that is administered for its proper hydrolysis, the condensate outlet that is in the lower part is a tube (c), the hydrolysis concentration space (d) which is responsible of the exchange of reducing sugars and starch in raw material ready for fermentation, the chamber of saturation and heat (e) is in charge of making the exchange of heat for the change of liquid to gaseous state and the chamber of exchange (f) is responsible for re-converting the gaseous product into liquid in a gradual manner which prevents the chains of split sugars from fracturing the product hydrolyzed by the Opposite side to the entrance we have the output of hydrolysed product (g) that leaves in a hopper that later will pass to the resting chamber which function is to maintain the temperature occupied by the fermentation which oscillates between 25.3 ° C and 41.5 ° C;

3. The closed tank used in the distillation phase of the process to produce bio-ethanol from the agave leaves of claim 1, characterized in that each of them has an input e product (d) with access of a flange (c) that allows its observation and analysis as well as a breathing duct (b) that allows the air and bioxide flow that occupies and emits said (a) fermentation, as well as the heating system (f) that regulates the temperature providing a environment more suitable for fermentation by indicating it with the thermometer (e) and also the outlet duct (g) for the pumping of the fermentation;

4. The rectification tower used in the distillation phase of the process to produce bio-ethanol from the agave leaves of claim 1 characterized in that the parts that have a rectification tower is the entrance of ferment (a) which is responsible for feed the fermented juice for its distillation by means of a tube, with the passage of the ferment it passes through the plates or separators (b) having contact with the kettles which are in each of the plates or separators having as objective in heating in each of the separators reaching the boiling point of the ferment which oscillates at a temperature of 45 to 90 degrees preferably in a range of 55 to 80, increasing in each of the separators reaching this temperature the step of each separator indicates the flow of the ferment (d) I finish the passage through all the separators reaches the output of vinasse (e) by means of a tube which have been distilled and no longer have alcoholic degree that will be processed to avoid contamination to the environment, with kettles the separation of ethanol and water is obtained, the ethanol passes through the ethanol outlet (f), which exits through the ganzo neck which is a tube (i) which passes through the condensers that In charge of cooling ethanol for storage, cold water is applied to the condensers in a range of -10 to 15 degrees Celsius by the cooling system inlet (g) and with the step of cooling the ethanol the water coming out through the outlet to cooling tower (h) which is responsible for cooling the water for its incorporation into the condensers to repeat the cooling process;