The present disclosure provides processes and systems for heat integration in ethanol production. In one embodiment, a feed mixture is distilled with one or more distillation units to remove at least a portion of the water, and form a distillation unit bottom stream, a vaporous overhead stream, and a fusel oil stream. Molecular sieve units are regenerated by vacuum or a combination of vacuum and optionally a portion of the product stream to form one or more regenerate streams. A feed tank is configured to receive at least one selected from a condensed portion of the regenerate streams and a portion of a vaporous depressure stream, to form a feed stream. The energy contained in the depressure vapor is recovered by the depressure vapor contacting the feed tank and heating up at least one stream forwarded into the feed tank.

The disclosure is directed to an apparatus and method for recovering ethanol from a fermentation broth. The fermentation broth comprises microbial biomass, ethanol, methanol, ethyl acetate, at least one thiol, and at least one compound having 3 or more carbon atoms. The method comprises separating at least microbial biomass from the fermentation broth to generate a process stream; removing, in any order, from the process stream: ethyl acetate by reacting ethyl acetate with a base compound followed by distillation; at least one thiol by adsorption or reaction to disulfide; methanol by distillation; compounds having 3 or more carbon atoms by distillation; and recovering ethanol by distillation; wherein the distillations may be conducted in a single column or two or more columns.

A method for producing bioacrolein using renewable glycerol as a feedstock as well as a method for producing bioacrylic acid using bioacrolein as a feedstock are provided in the present invention. Also provided in the present invention are recombinant microbial cells useful in producing 3-hydroxypropionaldhyde from glycerol, method of converting the 3-hydroxypropionaldhyde into bioacrolein and a process for recovering acrolein using a fractional distillation process.

The present invention relates to processes of recovering oil after liquefaction and/or from thin stillage and/or syrup/evaporated centrate from a fermentation product production process by adding a thermostable protease to the whole stillage, thin stillage and/or syrup.

Processes and systems are provided to compress vapors produced in distillation and recover the heat of condensation through vapor compression and to derive mechanical, thermal, and electrical energy from a combined heat and power system, while maintaining the plant's original ability to operate. The plant's existing distillation system, steam generation, and electrical demand determine the design basis for the retrofit system that is targeted at an optimized combination of energy usage, energy cost, and environmental impact. Vapor compression (by mechanical vapor recompression and/or thermal vapor recompression) minimizes the total energy usage. Optionally, combined heat and power provides a means of converting energy between fuel, electricity, and thermal energy in a manner that best complements plant requirements and energy economics and minimizes inefficiencies and energy losses.

The invention is directed to a method for recovering at least one product from a fermentation broth. The invention relates to the use of a vacuum distillation vessel to recover products, such as ethanol, from a fermentation broth, where the fermentation broth comprises viable microbial biomass, and where the recovery of the product is completed in such a manner to ensure the viability of the microbial biomass. The invention provides for product recovery at an effective rate so as to prevent the accumulation of product in the fermentation broth. To ensure the viability of the microbial biomass, the invention is designed to reduce the amount of stress on the microbial biomass. By ensuring the viability of the microbial biomass, the microbial biomass may be recycled and reused in the fermentation process, which may result in an increased efficiency of the fermentation process.

The invention relates to a process for the production of 1,4-butanediol comprising the preparation of a fermentation broth comprising 1,4-butanediol from renewable sources and water, separation of a liquid fraction comprising said 1,4-butanediol and water from one or more solid fractions, said liquid fraction comprising 2-pyrrolidone in an amount higher than 80 ppm, one or more passages of the resulting liquid fraction through a bed comprising one or more cation-exchange resins thereby providing an output pH of said liquid fraction from 4 to 2, one or more passages of the resulting liquid fraction through a bed comprising one or more anion-exchange resins thereby providing an output pH of said liquid fraction from 8 to 11, and the distillation of the liquid fraction thereby provided so as to obtain a composition having a concentration of said 1,4-butanediol higher than 99.0% by weight and comprising 2-pyrrolidone in an amount lower than 6 ppm. The resulting composition should exhibit an APHA color value after ageing of less than 30.

Processes and systems are provided to compress vapors produced in distillation and recover the heat of condensation through vapor compression and to derive mechanical, thermal, and electrical energy from a combined heat and power system, while maintaining the plant's original ability to operate. The plant's existing distillation system, steam generation, and electrical demand determine the design basis for the retrofit system that is targeted at an optimized combination of energy usage, energy cost, and environmental impact. Vapor compression (by mechanical vapor recompression and/or thermal vapor recompression) minimizes the total energy usage. Optionally, combined heat and power provides a means of converting energy between fuel, electricity, and thermal energy in a manner that best complements plant requirements and energy economics and minimizes inefficiencies and energy losses.

The invention relates to a process for the production of 1,4-butanediol comprising the preparation of a fermentation broth comprising 1,4-butanediol from renewable sources and water, separation of a liquid fraction comprising said 1,4-butanediol and water from one or more solid fractions, said liquid fraction comprising 2-pyrrolidone in an amount higher than 80 ppm, one or more passages of the resulting liquid fraction through a bed comprising one or more cation-exchange resins thereby providing an output pH of said liquid fraction from 4 to 2, one or more passages of the resulting liquid fraction through a bed comprising one or more anion-exchange resins thereby providing an output pH of said liquid fraction from 8 to 11, and the distillation of the liquid fraction thereby provided so as to obtain a composition having a concentration of said 1,4-butanediol higher than 99.0% by weight and comprising 2-pyrrolidone in an amount lower than 6 ppm. The resulting composition should exhibit an APHA color value after ageing of less than 30.

Systems and methods in accordance with the present invention provide for the efficient distillation of ethanol in an ethanol plant including a beer column. Heat is captured in the distillation process and utilized to drive operations in the ethanol plant.