Page 72 - North American Clean Energy July August 2015

biopower

Safe and eficient

chemical transfer
PSG’s Almatec E-Series AODD pumps fea-
ture polyethylene (PE) and polytetraluoro-

ethylene (PTFE) solid-block construction,
Putting Waste to Work
the durability of which makes them a solu-
tion for dangerous-chemical handling and
Developing a more eficient way to produce biofuels
transfer. Other features include diaphragms

with an integrated metal core, which reduc-
es leaks; stainless-steel containment rings by Gabrielle Bauer
for enhanced sealing; automatically adjust-
ing pulsation dampeners for consistent low
GARRET MUNCH RADIATES ENTHUSIASM, especially when he gets a he program provides R&D training, professional skills training,
rate; and PE/PTFE conductive models for chance to talk about his passion: clean energy. “You have to admit,” career development and networking opportunities, and funding for
use in ATEX atmospheres.
says the University of Manitoba graduate student, as though R&D initiatives within the academic, public, and private sectors in
PSG, a Dover company | www.psgdover.com
anticipating an objection, “biofuels are cool.”
Canada, and beyond.

When Munch began working on his Master’s degree in engineer- Student exchanges such as the one that brought Munch and Dr.
ing, he had his sights set on producing biodiesel. Fresh from an un- Rehmann together seek to strengthen interactions within the biofu-
dergraduate degree in biochemistry, he was eager to apply his science els community, transfer knowledge between labs, expose young pro-
background to the real world. he idea of using vegetable sources of fessionals to diferent problem-solving approaches, and strengthen

biodiesel quickly caught his fancy. He was convinced it was the great- Canada’s exposure to the international biofuels scene.
est idea since lux capacitators; it was the future, and he was going to he exchange bore ample fruit for Munch: Drawing on Dr. Re-
be part of it. His enthusiasm ran into the hard wall of reality when hmann’s experience and research facilities, he was able up his pro-
he read this sentence: Increasing demand for vegetable-based bio- duction scale to a 100-L pilot-scale reactor system. He breathed a

diesel has caused an increase in food prices worldwide. He decided he sigh of relief when his yeast came through with lying colors, allow-
didn’t want to contribute to the problem.
ing for even bigger production tests.
Munch wasn’t about to give up on his dream, though; he just had
Integrated scrubber to ind a diferent way to grow his biodiesel precursors. Enter a little- Back to the drawing board
package
known yeast strain called Rhodosporidium diobovatum. Another As it happens, “going bigger” isn’t as simple as using larger quanti-
Bionomic Industries, Inc. has announced student in his lab group had published a paper on the ability of dif- ties of starting materials. When working with just a liter, the process
availability of their Series 7000/8000 in a ferent yeast strains to produce the fatty acids that serve as precur- can be straightforward, but as the system gets larger, the surface
new version - a fully integrated pre-engi- sors to biofuels and it turned out the diobovatum was one of the area-to-volume ratio changes, which makes it more challenging to

neered package complete with recirculation high producers.
get oxygen into the system. Moreover, using a larger impeller [the
pump, piping networks, instrumentation, Munch wasted no time putting the strain to the test in Dr. Cicek’s rotating component of a centrifugal pump] increases the shear stress
and automated controls - all factory as- lab. He soon found it had star quality: not only did it grow very fast on the yeast, which can lead to cell breakdown. In other words, it’s
sembled and tested to drastically lower and produce fatty acids in abundance, but it could metabolize a num- not given that a procedure which works in a beaker will also work in

engineering, installation, and project costs ber of diferent carbon sources, one of them the glycerol recovered, a bioreactor. hat’s why it’s important to take small ideas and move
while reducing lead times for quicker in- ironically enough, from the sludge left over after producing biodiesel them up to a semi-industrial scale.
stallation and on-time operation. Units from vegetable oil.
he inal step will be to determine whether the process has eco-
destined for outdoor installation are avail- he hard-working yeast strain also intrigued Munch’s project su- nomic legs. his will depend on several factors, including the price of

able with a freeze protection package for pervisor, University of Manitoba engineering professor, Dr. Nazim fossil fuels and the availability of industrial partners. he research
operation in cold weather climates. hese Cicek. Munch had proven the strain’s worth in a laboratory lask. group eventually plans to expand the project, to include other sourc-
pre-engineered systems come complete But what kind of yield would it produce on a larger scale? In bottom- es of waste to feed the yeast. Ideally, they can eventually link up with
with all necessary dimensional, weight, and
line terms, they wanted to scale up the process to ind out if it had a biofuel production company which generates the waste they use as
instructional information along with a sys- commercial potential, while allowing Munch to learn what post- fuel. A win-win scenario if ever there was one.
tem P&ID and process low diagram giving treatment looks like.
Munch has recently accepted a PhD position in Dr. Rehmann’s
all material balances.
Munch knew just where to turn. Some months earlier, he had at- lab where he will work on ine-tuning the growth conditions for his

Series 7000/8000 integrated scrubber tended a meeting where he met a student of Dr. Lars Rehmann, an yeast strain in hopes of achieving even higher fatty acid yields.
packages enable meeting PM 10 and PM
assistant professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the Munch is right where he wants to be. He’s still growing fuel, just
2.5 particulate emission standards and of- University of Western Ontario in London. As the two grad students as he set out to do. he only diference is that his ‘labour force’ is
fer low-maintenance operation. hey are chatted about their respective projects, Munch learned that Dr. microscopic. Munch says, “ I think it’s amazing that the waste I’m us-

also available in a variety of materials to Rehmann’s chief interest lay in optimizing bioreactor performance. ing in the process comes from biodiesel production itself. Talk about
enable operation on corrosive or erosive gas As such, he had the equipment and expertise to pilot-test Munch’s closing the loop!”
contaminant streams. An advanced throat bioprocess on a larger scale.
design and diverging section provides high Gabrielle Bauer is a freelance writer for BioFuelNet Can-

collection eiciencies at reduced pressure Training the future
ada. BioFuelNet Canada (BFN) is an integrated com-
drops. hroat sections are available for man- his led to Munch applying for a BioFuelNet (BFN) exchange grant, munity of academic researchers, industry partners, and
ual operation or can be equipped with an op- which funded an eight-week stint in Dr. Rehmann's lab. Such grants government representatives who engage in collaborative
tional automatic adjustment mechanism for are an integral part of BFN’s ongoing education and training pro- initiatives to accelerate the development of sustainable

lexibility in meeting the required collection gram. Programs such as this, help train and launch a large number advanced biofuels.
eiciency and gas volume operating range. of young professionals, dubbed High Quality Personnel, who will
Bionomic Industries | www.bionomicind.com
develop the Canadian biofuels industry to its full extent.
BiofuelNet Canada | www.biofuelnet.ca

72 JULY/AUGUST 2015 nacleanenergy.com