ABOUT US

History of the Company

Electrosep, Inc. has vast expertise in engineering design of electrolytic membrane technologies and industrial processes. Some years ago, the company started work on research and development of economical and sustainable electrolytic processes for production of green hydrogen, advanced biofuels, cellulosic fibers, natural sugars, and other products.

The company was founded in 1997 for the purpose of designing and developing new electrolytic membrane technologies capable of producing hydrogen and advanced biofuels and at the same time recover chemicals from process and waste streams in the biofuels and pulping industries. Some NASA researchers (4) have included a procedure based on the membrane fouling control mechanism designed by our company in their quest for an effective technology capable of replacing the conventional evaporation process presently used on wastewater treatment at the NASA Space Station. The company has completed the design of a commercial electrolytic membrane technology based on company awarded patents ‘982 (1), ‘300 (2) and ‘005 (5). New patent applications are in progress.

ABOUT US

Evolution of Our Technology

The new electrolytic technology is modular in design and can be easily expanded in performance capacity.

Several of our technologies were awarded patents on electrolytic membrane and direct osmosis processes conceived as early as 1987 (1). The initial lab scale tests on electrolytic membrane applications were carried out by a sister company named Osmotek, Inc. The initial research included membrane processes conceived by Ricardo F. Caro, P.E. and his technical staff. The work involved electrolytic caustic recovery and H2 production from industrial alkaline streams in the industry. The research also included direct osmosis (DO) membrane processes in combination with reverse osmosis (RO) for wastewater treatment and water purification.

Some years ago, the company started work on research and development of economical and sustainable electrolytic processes for production of hydrogen, advanced biofuels, cellulosic fibers, natural sugars, and other products. As early as 1987, the initial lab scale tests on electrolytic membrane applications were carried out by a sister company named Osmotek, Inc.

The initial research included membrane processes conceived by Ricardo F. Caro, P.E. and his technical staff. The work involved electrolytic caustic recovery and H2 production from industrial alkaline streams generated in several industry sectors. The early research included direct osmosis (DO) membrane processes in combination with reverse osmosis (RO) for wastewater treatment and water purification. The electrolytic technology testing recently concluded with excellent results from pilot and lab work that included H2 production, conversion of biomass to natural sugars, cleaned cellulose fiber, cellulosic ethanol (advanced biofuel), and other products starting with a number of raw biomass feedstocks and resulting in high yields and great quality products.

ABOUT US

Evolution of the Company

1. 1997 through 2000s

The company obtained full ownership of the electrolytic technologies that were being designed by Osmotek Inc. in 1997. The development work was continued in the following years. The company started pilot-scale development of electrolytic chemical recovery in the pulp and paper industry (1) (2) (5). In the following years, the company performed a number of pilot tests on electrolytic recovery of caustic soda, hydrogen, and other products from a number of lignocellulosic biomass alkaline liquors generated by industries in the US and abroad.

Several NASA researchers started performing tests using a Direct Osmosis (DO) or Forward Osmosis (FO) process as originally designed by R.F. Caro, P.E.(1)(4). The NASA research included direct osmosis in combination with RO as an alternative to conventional evaporation processes used on wastewater treatment at NASA Space Station (4). At that time, Osmotek, Inc. and Electrosep obtained new patents involving fouling control in electrolytic membrane cells (2) and other filtration technologies.

The company completed its first onsite electrolytic pilot-project on H2 production and recovery of caustic from black liquor at a Boise Cascade pulp mill in Wallula, WA (5) (7) (8). That project was sponsored by the U.S. Energy Department under grant agreement #DE-FC36-93CH10551. The overall cost of the project was about US $2.5 million.

R.F. Caro, P.E. was project director. At that time, the company also completed a pilot project at Fort James Corp. (company name at the time) in Green Bay, WI (USA). The testing included electrolytic recovery of caustic and other products from black liquors generated in alkaline pulping at a recycled cardboard plant.

The company completed a pilot test at Evanite hardboard products in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. The pilot included electrolytic recovery of lignin, H2, and hemicellulose from whitewater effluents (8) at hardboard plants.

The company performed a pilot test on chemical recovery with wheat straw liquor from a pulping process in Turkey (7).

The company performed a pilot test on electrolytic chemical recovery and hydrogen extraction from sugarcane bagasse liquors involving the government in Dominican Republic (7) (15). See Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTI3saBwqak

The company performed pilot tests on caustic, hydrogen, and lignin from eucalyptus wood liquor at a pulp and paper plant in Uruguay, South America (6) (7).

The company completed cell-design and small scale electrolytic processes using a technology based on company patents -US ‘982, ‘300, and EP ‘005 (1)(2)(5).Also at that time, the company designed, built, and installed an electrolytic module at a pulping plant near Chandigarh, India. The module was designed for recovery and production of caustic, H2, lignin, and sugars, i.e. xylan, glucose from biomass materials. The module performed treatment of alkaline black liquor streams generated in pulping industries. The feedstock consisted of sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, wheat straw and wood materials. J. H. Lora (7) was the local manager and R.F. Caro, P.E., general manager of the project. The commercial module may contain from 1 to 8 electrolytic membrane cells and can operate with up to 10 MT/day of agricultural biomass, as a forward looking estimate. The black liquors generated during pulping or during biomass pretreatment operations can be readily treated with the new electrolytic modules to produce advanced biofuels and renewable H2. The standard electrolytic module is designed for a forward looking estimated daily capacity of up to 875 gallons of distilled cellulosic ethanol and 25 gge gallons of green hydrogen from lignocellulosic biomass.

The company designed and installed an electrolytic EL-pilot unit in Quebec, Canada to provide electrolytic test data on caustic recovery, production of hydrogen, renewable fuels and other products. The technology can produce green hydrogen, cellulosic sugars, advanced biofuels, caustic, cellulose fiber, and lignin from lignocellulosic biomass materials.

The company continued working on design and development of the technology. The work includes performance tests on recalcitrant lignocellulosic biomass with alkaline electrolytic pretreatment for advanced biofuels production, caustic soda recovery, and electrolytic hydrogen generation via ‘water-splitting’. The tests determine technical parameters that accomplish high yields and economical production of hydrogen, caustic recovery, cleaned cellulose fiber, fermentable sugars, lignin, and other valued products. The products and byproducts can be readily produced from most types of lignocellulosic biomass. The fermentable sugars can be used for advanced biofuels production such as cellulosic ethanol, biobutanol, green-diesel, jet fuel and other valued products. The alkaline pretreatment is followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. Some of the hydrolysis tests on pretreated fibers were performed together with M. H. Penner, PhD, associate professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, USA (9) (10) (11) (12) (13). Data on electrolytic pretreatment of raw recalcitrant biomass showed effective enzyme penetration into the structure of the cleaned fiber of most types of lignocellulosic biomass.
References

(1) Caro, Ricardo F., et. al., “Membrane Separation Apparatus and Method”, Tubular Membrane, United States patent 4,787,982 (1988)
(2) Membrane separation flow cell, Flat Membrane, United States pat. ‘300 and European pat. ‘005 (1997)
(3) D. R. Keshwani, Jay J. Cheng, Joseph C. Burns, Laigeng Li, Vincent Chiang (NC State University) “Microwave Pretreatment of Switchgrass to Enhance Enzymatic Hydrolysis” (2007) Presentation at ASABE Annual International Meeting at Minneapolis Convention Center, 17-20 June 2007 (ASABE)
(4) Tzahi Y. Cath, Sherwin Gormlya, Edward G. Beaudry (Osmotek, Inc.), Michael T. Flynn, V. Dean Adamsa, Amy E. Childress, (NASA) “Membrane contactor processes for wastewater reclamation in Space, Part I Direct Osmotic concentration, as Pretreatment for Reverse Osmosis”, J. Membrane Science 257 (2005) 85-98, Elsevier.
(5) Caro, Ricardo F.; et al., Boston Tappi Conference, Economic Benefits derived from Recovering Chemicals and Reducing Viscosity of Liquor w/ Electrolytic Process at Kraft Pulp Mills, 2000, Paper presentation at TAPPI Engineering/Finishing & Converting Conference, Boston MA, November 5, 2000.
(6) Caro, Ricardo F.; Hurter, R, “Lowering Cost of Bio-ethanol Production using Electrolytic Process”, TAPPI Engineering, Pulping and Environmental Conf., Tappi Press, Aug. 28 2005 Marriott Philadelphia, PA
(7) Lora, J. H., Caro, R.F., and Cloutier, J. N., Philadelphia Tappi Conference Paper-2, The Treatment of Nonwood Black Liquors by Electrolysis and Lignin Precipitation, 2005, Paper presentation at TAPPI Engineering, Pulping and Environmental Conference, Aug. 28, 2005 Philadelphia, PA Marriott
(8) Caro, R.F., St Petersburg FL Electrosynthesis Conference, Electrosep Inc., Recovering Chemicals and Reducing Viscosity of Liquor w/ Electrolytic Membrane Process at Kraft Pulp Mills, Paper presentation at Electrosynthesis Conference in St Petersburg FL, Nov. 2000
(9) Penner, Mike, “Biomass Energy and Biofuels Technology in Oregon Forests”, (2006), Oregon Forest Resources Institute, 1-48 – 1-65
(10) Kohlmann, K.L., Sarikaya, A., Westgate, P.J., Weil, J., Velayudhan, A., Hendrickson, R., Ladisch, M.R., 1995. Enhanced enzyme activities on hydrated lignocellulosic substrates In: Saddler, J.N., Penner, M.H. (Eds.), Enzymatic Degradation of Insoluble Carbohydrates. ACS Publishing, pp. 237–255
(11) Wyman, C.E., 1995b. Economic fundamentals of ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass In: Saddler, J. N., Penner, M. H. (Eds.), Enzymatic Degradation of Insoluble Carbohydrates, ACS Symposium Series, and vol. 618. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, pp. 272–290.
(12) Qian Deng, Michael H. Penner, and Yanyun Zhao, Chemical composition of dietary fiber and polyphenols of 5 different varieties of wine grape pomace skins, (2011), Food Res Int. Journal, vol. 44, no. 9, pp. 2712-2720
(13) Stefanie K Nguyen, Supaporn Sophonputtanaphoca, Eugene Kim, and M. H. Penner, Hydrolytic methods for the quantification of fructose equivalents in herbaceous biomass, (2009), Applied biochemistry and biotechnology (Impact Factor: 1.94) 04/2009; 158(2):352-61.
DOI: 10.1007/s12010-009-8596-x
(14) Torget, R. W., Kidam, K. L., Hsu, T.-A., Philippidis, G. P., Wyman, C. E., 1998. Prehydrolysis of lignocellulose United States Patent number 5,705,369
(15) Video Electrosep, Inc., study of caustic recovery, hydrogen, clean cellulose fiber and sugars from cellulosic biomass using electrolysis in Dominican Republic project https://youtu.be/PTI3saBwqak

Collaborators References

1- Michael H. Penner, Ph.D., Oregon State University
2- Jean Noel Cloutier, MBA, M.S. Chem. Eng., Quebec, Canada
3- George P. Philippidis, Ph.D., University of South Florida Polytechnic
4- J. H. Lora, Ph.D., GreenValue SA, Lausanne, Switzerland