Spent stillage remaining after the fermentation of a feedstock for ethanol production may be processed to recover, use, and/or recycle the constituent components of the stillage. Stillage may be mixed, heated, and held at a desired temperature for a period of time. The stillage may then be cooled and treated with an enzyme. The enzymatically treated stillage may be emulsified with oil and water, and then permitted to settle into discrete layers. Individual layers may then be processed.

The present invention provides a method that has been devised to overcome the two most important limitations for sustained biological hydrogen production, namely contamination of the microbial hydrogen-producing cultures with methane-producing cultures necessitating frequent re-start-up and/or other methanogenic bacteria inactivation techniques, and the low bacterial yield of hydrogen-producers culminating in microbial washout from the system and failure. The method includes biological hydrogen production, followed by a gravity settler positioned downstream of the CSTR, which combination forms a biohydrogenator. The biomass concentration in the hydrogen reactor is kept at the desired range through biomass recirculation from the bottom of the gravity settler and/or biomass wastage from the gravity settler's underflow. The gravity setter effluent is loaded with volatile fatty acids, as a result of microbiological breakdown of the influent waste constituents by hydrogen-producing bacteria, and is an excellent substrate for methane-forming bacteria in the downstream biomethanator.

The present disclosure relates to settling devices for separating particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields. The particle settling devices of the present disclosure may include a stack of truncoconical cones that may be arranged in opposite orientation, apex to base. Other embodiments include several concentric vertical tubes attached to conical surfaces at the bottom, with inclined settling strips attached to the vertical tubes in annular regions between the tubes. These devices are useful for separating small (millimeter or micron sized) particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields, such as biological (microbial, mammalian, plant, insect or algal) cell cultures, solid catalyst particle separation from a liquid or gas and waste water treatment.

A system for isolating a target molecule from a bioprocess fluid includes a single-use disposable separation device having a plurality of perimeter-bonded layers defining one or more mesofluidic channels of the separation device, wherein each layer includes a biocompatible polymer material, wherein the separation device is configured to separate at least a portion of particles from the bioprocess fluid to generate a substantially clarified bioprocess fluid, and a chromatography system fluidically coupled at the outflow of the separation device in a configuration for further processing the clarified bioprocess fluid.

Settling devices for separating particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields. The particle settling devices include a first stack of cones with a small opening oriented upwardly or downwardly. Optionally, the settling devices may include a second stack of cones with a small opening oriented downwardly or upwardly. The cones may be concave or convex. These devices are useful for separating small (millimeter or micron sized) particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields, such as biological (microbial, mammalian, plant, insect or algal) cell cultures, solid catalyst particle separation from a liquid or gas and waste water treatment.

The present disclosure relates to a method for separation of solid particles from a waterbody. Preferably, the present disclosure relates to a method, wherein a combination of chemicals including coagulant(s) and flocculant(s) are employed for said separation of solid particles, wherein suitable examples of solid particles are living organisms and non-living matter, wherein living organisms include autotrophs such as phototrophs, which are either microscopic or macroscopic in nature (algae). The disclosure thus particularly relates to method of chemical coagulation and flocculation for separating solid particles, preferably either algae or bacteria or both from a waterbody. The present disclosure also provides for an alternate method, wherein the aforesaid method of coagulation and flocculation is combined with electro-coagulation and/or pH modulation strategies for separation of said solid particles in any sequence.

A separation device, system and associated method are provided herein for separation of particulates form a base fluid. The separation device comprises a first microchannel comprising a fluid inlet and a mesofluidic collection chamber. The mesofluidic collection chamber has a first side and a second side, wherein the mesofluidic collection chamber is operatively coupled to the first microchannel on the first side, and wherein the mesofluidic collection chamber comprises a first fluid outlet at the second side, such that the fluid inlet, first microchannel, and first fluid outlet are in fluidic communication via the mesofluidic collection chamber.

The invention discloses a method and a device for treating cyanobacteria in a water area based on the principle of biological competition, the method comprising: finding an area where cyanobacteria most easily accumulate, i.e. a concave bank of a water area, and setting up an algae interception net around the area; quickly and largely clearing the cyanobacteria in the area by means of manual or mechanical catching; planting emerged plants on the shoreline of the water area to fundamentally improve water quality; and additionally, densely arranging treatment tanks in a larger water area to kill the cyanobacteria gradually, and collecting dead cyanobacteria to prevent them from polluting the water area subsequently; and collecting and treating the tanks regularly for recycling.

A separation device for separating a solid separation target contained in a suspension obtained by suspension culture of adherent cells by using a fine scaffold material, and a separation method. The separation device has a separation chamber having a first chamber and a second chamber, and the first chamber and the second chamber are divided by a mesh structure for separation. The mesh structure for separation has mesh-holes with a predetermined size to suppress passage of the separation target, and a mesh structure for separation is configured in the separation chamber such that the liquid in the aforementioned suspension has a vertically upward directional component in the advancing direction of the liquid when the liquid passes through the mesh-holes.

Settling devices for separating particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields. The particle settling devices include a first stack of cones with a small opening oriented upwardly or downwardly. Optionally, the settling devices may include a second stack of cones with a small opening oriented downwardly or upwardly. The cones may be concave or convex. These devices are useful for separating small (millimeter or micron sized) particles from a bulk fluid with applications in numerous fields, such as biological (microbial, mammalian, plant, insect or algal) cell cultures, solid catalyst particle separation from a liquid or gas and waste water treatment.