Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M21/00—Bioreactors or fermenters specially adapted for specific uses
  • C12M21/02—Photobioreactors
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M23/00—Constructional details, e.g. recesses, hinges
  • C12M23/02—Form or structure of the vessel
  • C12M23/06—Tubular
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M23/00—Constructional details, e.g. recesses, hinges
  • C12M23/38—Caps; Covers; Plugs; Pouring means

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for producing biomasses of all species of microalgae and cyanobacteria, and more generally of all microorganisms whose growth is based on photosynthesis in a liquid medium.
• Such a device and such a method are particularly suitable for industrial agri-food, chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetological and energy production.
• closed devices or photobioreactors either laboratory or industrial, are of low capacity, generally less than one thousand liters. They operate using artificial resources providing light, heat, and mechanical agitation. They are used for intensive or super-intensive production of small masses of biomass of very high quality in terms of purity or composition. This quality is obtained thanks to the permanent control of almost all crop parameters and thanks to a strict limitation of polluting intrusions in crops such as macro and micro organisms, dust and gas.
• open systems consist of open basins of medium or large capacity, from several thousand to several million liters. They operate primarily using natural resources such as the sun that provides light and heat, resulting in limited control over culture parameters that depend on it. They are sometimes covered, most often installed in a greenhouse to limit polluting intrusions, and to improve the control of the temperature.
• the coverage of basins of more than one thousand square meters with a capacity of about two hundred cubic meters involves the implementation of imposing structures that have the disadvantage of a significant wind resistance, or the implementation of structures more modest that require the installation of supports inside the basins.
• Such devices compensate for medium or low productivity by a large size. They favor the amount of biomass produced. They have the disadvantage of satisfying only imperfectly the quality requirements of the agri-food or pharmaceutical industries using biomasses.
• the invention proposes a device for producing biomasses of all species of microalgae and cyanobacteria, and more generally of all microorganisms whose growth is based on photosynthesis in a liquid medium which makes it possible to supply the major quantities of biomass as they can be obtained from open systems, whose size it approaches, with the degree of quality that is characteristic of closed photobioreactor systems.
• this device has two nested confinement enclosures built in situ:
• the first confinement enclosure consists of a photobioreactor composed of two juxtaposed and interdependent sub-devices which are: a) a culture chamber that is airtight and watertight, permeable to visible light on its upper part, and an interior volume ideally greater than fifty cubic meters, built longitudinally on a flat and profiled floor;
• this technical unit comprising all the technical equipment for conducting and controlling the cultivation of biomass, thermal regulation and circulation of the set of fluids used.
• the second containment enclosure groups together the technical blocks of several photobioreactors juxtaposed, this second enclosure containing all the technical means necessary on the one hand for normal operation of photobioreactors and on the other hand for the harvesting and treatment of biomass harvested.
• said biomass is harvested so as to maintain production in a controlled and controlled atmosphere until the final stage of its conditioning, prior to its subsequent use as defined by the operator of the device.
• the device has a U-shaped culture chamber provided with two free juxtaposed ends, these ends are connected to the photobioreactor technical unit.
• the photobioreactor technical block is positioned below the ground level and below the level of the culture chamber.
• the culture chamber contains air and gases which are kept under pressure.
• the upper cover of said culture chamber (1) consists of a flexible material, and the level of overpressure of the air and - A - gas is adapted to keep raised this upper part over its entire surface and keep it away from the free surface of the liquid content.
• this culture chamber having a height and a track width, this height is less than 25% of the track width.
• the safety of the device in case of high wind can be ensured by the momentary stopping of the overpressure of the air and the gases contained in the culture chamber.
• the cover is placed on the surface of the liquid medium contained in the culture chamber, which considerably reduces the wind resistance of the device which is thus secured.
• the securing of the device in case of storm can be enhanced by the implementation of place a layer of water over the upper cover of the previously laid culture chamber, as previously described.
• the resumption of the overpressure of the air and the gases contained in the culture chamber causing the reflux of this layer of water and its expulsion at the periphery of said cover.
• this culture chamber can be positioned on a shallow natural or artificial body of water.
• Another object of the invention is also to propose a method for producing biomass using this device.
• the method comprises at least one of the following phases:
• the invention overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks in that it makes it possible to produce the large quantities of biomass as obtained in open systems whose size it approaches while improving productivity, and to attain the high quality which is the clean closed systems.
• FIG. 1 represents a view from above of the arrangement of the elements of the photobioreactor: culture chamber and technical block
• FIG. 2 represents a view from above of the arrangement of a production unit comprising several photobioreactors
• FIG. 3 represents a sectional view along AA of FIG. 2.
• FIG. 4 represents a view in section along BB of FIG. 1 with reference to one of the particular embodiments of the invention.
• Figures 1 and 2 show a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• the invention is based on the creation in situ, on bare, level, plane and horizontal ground, obtained by the appropriate civil engineering works known to those skilled in the art, of two nested enclosing enclosures.
• Said first containment chamber is constituted by an independent unit constituting a large photobioreactor which is composed of two sub-devices juxtaposed and interdependent:
• a technical block (2) juxtaposed to said culture chamber (1) at one of its ends (4), to which it is sealingly connected.
• Said technical block (2) includes all the technical equipment for driving and crop control, thermal regulation and circulation of all fluids. It is the only point of entry and exit of all fluids and materials to and from said photobioreactor.
• Said first containment chamber contains only the growing biomass and the constitutive elements of its culture medium. Said enclosure is not accessible for routine operations to the staff in charge of the operation of the site.
• Said second confinement enclosure (5) groups together the technical blocks (2) of several juxtaposed photobioreactors.
• Said second enclosure (5) contains all the technical means necessary firstly for the normal operation of said photobioreactors and secondly for the harvesting and treatment of the biomass harvested so as to maintain production in a controlled and controlled atmosphere until the final stage packaging for use as defined by the operator.
• Said second enclosure (5) for containment is normally accessible for routine operations to the staff in charge of the operation of the site.
• each photobioreactor is constructed as follows:
• Said culture chamber (1) U-shaped is built on a bare ground, flat and horizontal, leveled and profiled by civil engineering works according to the rules of art.
• the realization of the support slab involves drawing and leveling two parallel tracks of equal lengths, spaced apart and wide, for example according to different embodiments of the invention from less than one to several tens of meters. These two paths are connected by an elbow at one of their ends (3).
• each lane is made to obtain a longitudinal slope of zero to ten percent and a very flared V-shaped transverse profile with a double axial slope of zero to twenty degrees as described in Figure 4.
• the longitudinal slopes may be of the same or opposite directions.
• Said culture chamber (1) of each photobioreactor has a total developed length of between twenty and two thousand times its width.
• Said culture chamber (1) which must contain said liquid culture medium is carried out by any appropriate means in accordance with the following rules:
• Said culture chamber (1) is in the form of a tube or channel covered, U-shaped, airtight and water-tight throughout its length, permeable to visible light on its upper part and capable of withstanding an internal gas or air overpressure of less than five hundred millibars.
• the upper part of said chamber (1) can be made of any rigid or flexible material, consisting of either a single piece or by juxtaposition of a plurality of elements. Said upper part is made so as to allow the bend (3) of said culture chamber (1) free passage of fluids in the liquid phase and / or gas between the two straight portions constituting the channels or U-shaped branches of said device.
• the liquid content (7) of said culture chamber (1) occupies from ten to seventy percent of the lower portion of the cross section of said culture chamber (1), as shown in FIG. 4. Free circulation air and gases (6) are freely provided over the entire length of said culture chamber (1), in the upper part of said cross section not occupied by said liquid content (7).
• said culture chamber (1) it is maintained in internal air pressure, by any appropriate technical means such as compressor, turbine, fan. Said overpressure makes it possible to avoid, in the event of leakage in one of the walls of said culture chamber (1), that external fluids, gas or liquid, can penetrate by these leaks inside said culture chamber ( 1).
• said culture chamber (1) can be made by any assembly of flexible or rigid materials, or by assembly of flexible sections associated with rigid sections. According to a particular embodiment of the invention, said culture chamber (1) can be positioned entirely on a shallow natural or artificial body of water.
• said upper part When using a flexible material for producing the upper part of said culture chamber (1), said upper part is kept away from the free surface of the liquid content (7) by adaptation of the overpressure of the air content. This overpressure makes it possible to lift the mass of said upper part over the entire surface of said culture chamber (1).
• said upper part of said culture chamber (1) is dimensioned and arranged so as to be able to rest in the deflated position without tension on the bottom of said chamber.
• culture (1) empty of any liquid contents (7).
• Said upper part can thus be, if necessary, voluntarily flooded and covered with a layer of water several centimeters which secures said device against the destructive effects of high winds.
• Each of said two open ends (4) juxtaposed with said culture chamber is permanently and tightly connected to said technical block (2).
• Said technical block (2) according to the embodiment of the invention is a compact device whose dimensions, variable according to the particular embodiments are within the following limits: its length is at most equal to the width of the two support channels of said culture chamber (1) increased by that of the space separating them, its width is less than three meters and its internal volume is between one and twenty per thousand of the maximum volume of said culture chamber (1) to which it is connected.
• said technical block (2) is positioned in such a way that, according to the particular embodiments of the invention, its base is between zero and three meters below the ground support level of said culture chamber (1) and its summit is at an altitude greater than that of said culture chamber (1).
• Said technical block (2) is an integrated assembly, closed, which contains all the technical devices necessary for the proper operation of the photobioreactor. It performs the following functions:
• thermometer thermometer
• flowmeter pH-meter
• conductivity meter conductivity meter
• extraction of the inorganic or organic waste from said culture chamber (1) from any suitable device such as by way of non-exhaustive examples: pump, filter, decanter, centrifuge,
• the second containment enclosure (5) is constituted by a building, of shapes and dimensions adapted to particular embodiments, produced according to the rules of the art. Said second chamber (5) occupies an area less than five percent of that of all the photobioreactors it groups.
• said second enclosure contains the devices necessary to perform the following functions:
• biomass contained by any suitable device known to those skilled in the art, such as by way of non-exhaustive examples: rotary drum filter, vibrating screen filter, vacuum filter, filter moving cloth, centrifuge,
• said second containment enclosure (5) under the ground level and where are positioned said culture chambers (1), or to arrange in this enclosure, at the location of each technical block (2), a pit for positioning it there.
• said culture chambers (1) are made from a sheath of flexible material that is impervious to water and air, permeable to visible light and inflatable by being likely to withstand an internal air or gas overpressure of less than five hundred millibars.
• a sheath of translucent agricultural polyethylene film of a minimum thickness of twenty hundredths of a millimeter, obtained by the known industrial process of extrusion, is by way of nonlimiting example a material suitable for the construction of said device.
• the length of said sheath is between twenty and two thousand times its width.
• the length required for this particular embodiment of the invention can be obtained by butt-welding and joining by welding or gluing by any appropriate technical means known to those skilled in the art of several identical sheaths of widths. and lengths less than required.
• a coating of the leveled support slab as described above can be made according to the rules of the art by the implementation of any suitable material, such as by way of example non-limiting: sand, concrete, bitumen, wood, tiles.
• This coating provides the main function of protecting the physical integrity of said flexible sheath, deemed fragile.
• This protection can be enhanced by the insertion of a protective layer between said sheath and said support slab, coated or not.
• Said layer may be composed of a plastic film, a felt, a geomembrane, a geotextile or any other material or material adapted for this purpose.
• the mass of the liquid constituting the culture medium once introduced into the sheath ensures, taking into account the transverse profile of the support slab the necessary ground anchoring of the device.
• the culture chamber is maintained at a slight overpressure of air or gas of the order of a few tens of millibars obtained from a suitable air compression device located in said technical block (2) juxtaposed to said chamber of culture (1).
• the internal overpressure is continuously adapted to allow deformations of said culture chamber (1) under the effect of wind or pressure exerted by any means on the outer face of said sheath.
• the device according to the invention is particularly intended for the equipment of production sites of large biomasses of photosynthetic aquatic microorganisms, with an operational area of at least one hectare.

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• 2007
  • 2007-07-03 FR FR0704847A patent/FR2918387B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2008
  • 2008-07-02 EP EP08806152A patent/EP2171033A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-07-02 CN CN200880105319A patent/CN101796178A/zh active Pending
  • 2008-07-02 NZ NZ582811A patent/NZ582811A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-07-02 CA CA002691534A patent/CA2691534A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-07-02 BR BRPI0813490-1A2A patent/BRPI0813490A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-07-02 US US12/666,420 patent/US20100190236A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-07-02 WO PCT/FR2008/051228 patent/WO2009007646A2/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2008-07-02 AU AU2008273973A patent/AU2008273973A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2009
  • 2009-12-22 TN TNP2009000533A patent/TN2009000533A1/fr unknown
• 2010
  • 2010-01-14 IL IL203310A patent/IL203310A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-02-01 MA MA32569A patent/MA31575B1/fr unknown
  • 2010-02-01 ZA ZA201000733A patent/ZA201000733B/xx unknown

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