The present disclosure provides processes and systems for dehydrating a byproduct stream 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 first byproduct stream. The first byproduct stream is contacted with a molecular sieve unit, thereby forming a product stream. The molecular sieve unit is cyclically contacted with at least a portion of the product stream to regenerate the molecular sieve unit and form one or more regenerate streams. A second byproduct stream including at least one of (1) the regenerate streams and (2) at least a portion of the fusel oil stream is contacted with a separation system, thereby forming a permeate and a retentate. At least a portion of the retentate is forwarded into the product stream.

The present disclosure relates to scalable processes for extracting, refining and remediating extracts of natural products, such as plant material and for providing well controlled refined extract.

A method to produce insect frass, water-depleted insects, lipid-depleted insects, and insect lipids is described. The method includes feeding a feedstock to insects to produce grown insects and insect frass, harvesting and removing water from the grown insects, and extracting lipids from the water-depleted insects to produce lipid-depleted insects and insect lipids. The method further comprises mixing the feedstock with water, a mineral enhancer, or a vitamin enhancer, followed by sifting the grown insects, contacting the grown insects with water, separating water from the insect lipids, and distilling, hydrogenating, esterifying, and saponifying the insect lipids. Methods for analyzing, tracking, and shipping the grown insects are described. Producing a multifunctional composition from the insects, and shaping, cooking, flavoring, and production of animal foods or an insect-burger patty is disclosed. The insect production system may be placed within a space station in low Earth orbit, in outer space, or on Mars.

A heat and mass transfer system configured to be a passive system using gravitational force to form a thin liquid film flow on an outer surface of a flow distribution head and downstream conduit member to subject the thin liquid film to heat transfer mediums. The at least partially spherical flow distribution head creates a uniform thin flow of liquid on the outer surface increasing the efficiency of the heat and mass transfer system. The heat and mass transfer system may include a heat transfer medium supply system in fluid communication with internal aspects of the downstream conduit such that a heat transfer medium flows within the downstream conduit while the liquid film flows on the outer surface of the downstream conduit. Rather than conventional sheet flow on inner surfaces of a conduit, the flow distribution head enables sheet flow to be formed on an outside surface of a component.

The present invention relates to a process for producing high-purity para-xylene, comprising a single step of separation by adsorption in an SMB, with a subsequent step of separation by distillation in a first three-fraction distillation column producing at least two raffinates and optionally of two isomerization steps, making it possible to improve the overall para-xylene yield of the aromatic loop and to minimize the economic impact.

The present disclosure relates to scalable processes for extracting, refining and remediating extracts of natural products, such as plant material and for providing well controlled refined extract.

This disclosure provides a water purification system for recovery of purified water from liquid wastewater. The liquid wastewater is converted to a contaminated gas stream using a water distillation technique. The contaminated gas stream is passed through a gas phase photolytic oxidation reaction chamber. An ultraviolet (UV) source in the gas phase photolytic oxidation reaction chamber exposes the contaminated gas stream to UV radiation to remove various contaminants in the gas phase and/or biological pathogens. The gas phase photolytic oxidation reaction chamber forms a purified gas stream from the contaminated gas stream, where the purified gas stream contains water vapor and is substantially free of contaminants. In some embodiments, an ionomer membrane may be placed downstream of a source of the liquid wastewater and upstream of the gas phase photolytic oxidation reaction chamber to treat the contaminated gas stream prior to UV exposure.

A heat and mass transfer system configured to be a passive system using gravitational force to form a thin liquid film flow on an outer surface of a flow distribution head and downstream conduit member to subject the thin liquid film to heat transfer mediums. The at least partially spherical flow distribution head creates a uniform thin flow of liquid on the outer surface increasing the efficiency of the heat and mass transfer system. The heat and mass transfer system may include a heat transfer medium supply system in fluid communication with internal aspects of the downstream conduit such that a heat transfer medium flows within the downstream conduit while the liquid film flows on the outer surface of the downstream conduit. Rather than conventional sheet flow on inner surfaces of a conduit, the flow distribution head enables sheet flow to be formed on an outside surface of a component.

A process of purifying 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO) from a fermentation broth including separating solid materials, salts and water, and subjecting the resulting material to a two, three or four column distillation system, that can include a wiped film evaporator to produce a purified 1,4-butanediol.

A mathematical model was developed to lead to the design of a novel membrane, which can operate in membrane distillation at a small trans-membrane temperature gradient, including at low feed water temperature range. The novel membrane design can be described as a super-hydrophobic nano-porous/micro-porous composite membrane. This membrane will significantly decrease the energy requirements of the MD process since it can operate at very low inlet feed temperatures.