Hydrothermal Processing (HTP) of Algae Grown in HTP Waste Streams

Abstract

A process for the conversion of organic waste to biofuel is provided comprising cultivating organisms in the aqueous product of the HTP conversion process.

1 . A process for conversion of organic biowaste to biocrude oil comprising:
 providing a concentrated biosolid fraction and a bypass liquid fraction obtained from organic biowaste;   subjecting the concentrated biosolid fraction to a hydrothermal process under conditions sufficient to obtain a biocrude oil product, an aqueous residual product, and a gaseous residual product;   cultivating an organism in a culturing media to obtain a cultivated mixture;   recovering a concentrated cultivated organism fraction from the cultivated mixture; and   introducing the concentrated cultivated organism fraction and optionally the concentrated biosolid fraction to the hydrothermal process.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the culturing media comprises the aqueous residual product. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the culturing media further comprises the bypass liquid fraction. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 3 , wherein at least 50% of the culturing media by volume is bypass liquid fraction. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising separating a concentrated biosolid fraction and a bypass liquid fraction from organic biowaste. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 3 , further comprising separating a concentrated biosolid fraction and a bypass liquid fraction from organic biowaste. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 5 , wherein the bypass liquid fraction is at least 50 percent of the organic biowaste on a total volume basis. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 5 , wherein the bypass liquid fraction is at least 80 percent of the organic biowaste on a total volume basis. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated biosolid fraction comprises at least 5 percent total solids by weight. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated biosolid fraction comprises at least 10 percent total solids by weight. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated cultivated organism fraction comprises at least 5 percent by weight total solids. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated cultivated organism fraction comprises at least 10 percent by weight total solids. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of concentrated cultivated organism fraction to concentrated biosolid fraction introduced to the hydrothermal process is greater than about 5 percent on a total solids basis. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 6 , wherein the ratio of concentrated cultivated organism fraction to concentrated biosolid fraction introduced to the hydrothermal process is greater than about 5 percent on a total solids basis. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of concentrated cultivated organism fraction to concentrated biosolid fraction introduced to the hydrothermal process is greater than about 25 percent on a total solids basis. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 6 , wherein the ratio of concentrated cultivated organism fraction to concentrated biosolid fraction introduced to the hydrothermal process is greater than about 25 percent on a total solids basis. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising introducing the gaseous residual product to the culturing media. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 6 , further comprising introducing the gaseous residual product to the culturing media. 
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the organic biowaste is animal waste. 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the organic biowaste is human waste from a municipal sewage stream. 
     
     
         23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the organism is algae or bacteria. 
     
     
         25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the organism is  Chlorella  or  Spirulina.    
     
     
         28 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the algae comprises less than 20 weight percent lipid. 
     
     
         29 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the hydrothermal process is carried out at a temperature less than 320° C. and at a pressure above 0.5 MPa. 
     
     
         30 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the biocrude oil product is characterized by a heating value of at least 25,000 kJ/kg. 
     
     
         31 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated cultivated organism fraction comprises algae and bacteria. 
     
     
         32 . (canceled) 
     
     
         33 . A process for conversion of organic biowaste to biocrude oil comprising:
 separating a concentrated biosolid fraction and a bypass liquid fraction obtained from organic biowaste; wherein the organic waste is selected from the group consisting of animal waste, human waste and food processing waste;   introducing the concentrated biosolid fraction to a hydrothermal process under conditions sufficient to obtain a biocrude oil product, an aqueous residual product, and a gaseous residual product; wherein the hydrothermal process is carried out at a temperature less than 320° C. and at a pressure above 0.5 MPa;   cultivating an organism comprising algae in a culturing media comprising the aqueous product and the bypass liquid fraction to obtain a cultivated mixture;   recovering a concentrated cultivated organism fraction from the cultivated mixture;   introducing the concentrated cultivated organism fraction to the hydrothermal process;   wherein the ratio of concentrated cultivated organism fraction to concentrated biosolid fraction introduced to the hydrothermal process is greater than about 25 percent on a total solids basis.