Patents by Inventor Karlheinz Brunner

Karlheinz Brunner has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20070077635
    Abstract: Process and device for obtaining fatty acids or fatty acid esters from native oils and fats by their enzymatic hydrolysis and optional simultaneous esterification with alcohols, especially n- and iso-alcohols Process and device for obtaining fatty acids or fatty acid esters from native oils and fats, in which lipases, as biocatalysts for hydrolysis of oils or fats, are caused to act on a mixture of an oil or fat, water, and optionally an oil- or fat-soluble alcohol to hydrolyze the oil or fat and optionally to form an ester, where the reaction mixture thus formed is placed in an self-discharging centrifuge for separation into a glycerol-containing aqueous phase and an organic phase, the centrifuge is adjusted so that a lipase-enriched intermediate phase collects in the centrifuge between the aqueous that is drained off and the organic phase that is drained off, and the centrifuge is emptied at specified times and the discharged drum contents from the centrifuge are returned to the combined hydrolysis or optio
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2002
    Publication date: April 5, 2007
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Rainer Ricker, Corinna Kaske, Dirk Kilian
  • Patent number: 7109363
    Abstract: A method for the production of fatty acid esters of primary and/or secondary alcohols from raw, unpurified oils or fats containing free fatty acids and slimy substances or from waste oils loaded with free fatty acids from the food industry. Acidic catalytic esterification is performed on the free fatty acids along with extensive deactivation of the slimy substances present with respect to the disadvantageous emulsion-forming property thereof, whereby a water-free primary and/or secondary alcohol and a highly acidic hygroscopic catalyst are added to the starting substance in the form of crude oil or fat or waste oil, the reaction product is rinsed with glycol from a prior alkaline transesterification, whereupon alkaline transesterification occurs for the unmodified remaining glyceridically bound fatty acids in the reaction product of the acidic-catalytic esterification process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Rainer Ricker
  • Patent number: 6960673
    Abstract: A method for pretreating crude oils and fats for subsequent alkaline transesterification with primary and/or secondary alcohols. The raw oil or fat loaded with slimy substances is treated with a mixture used at 0.15 wt. % in relation to the oil or fat comprising an alcohol and concentrated acid, and preferably is subsequently rinsed with an alkaline glycerol phase arising from an alkaline transesterification reaction of the above-mentioned type. After the rinsing process, the glycerol phase which is loaded with slimy substances and soaps of free fatty acids is separated as a heavy phase of neutral oil liberated from free fatty acids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Rainer Ricker
  • Patent number: 6933139
    Abstract: Method for the enzymatic splitting of oils and fats for obtaining fatty acids and glycerol by using lipases being added to a mixture containing an oil or fat and water, wherein the splitting reaction is performed only up to a splitting degree at which slowing-down of the splitting reaction is still below a preset value using discontinuously operated loop reactors, wherein the fatty acids to be obtained are separated from the reaction mixture that is only partially split, by first separating an aqueous glycerol-containing phase from a partially split organic phase containing split fatty acids, in a self-cleaning centrifugal separator and, afterwards, the fatty acids are separated from the partially split organic phase and the residue of the organic phase freed from the free fatty acids is fed back into the splitting process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: T+T Oleochemie GmbH
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Dirk Kilian
  • Publication number: 20040102640
    Abstract: A method for the production of fatty acid esters of primary and/or secondary alcohols from raw, unpurified oils or fats containing free fatty acids and slimy substances or from waste oils loaded with free fatty acids from the food industry. Acidic catalytic esterification is performed on the free fatty acids along with extensive deactivation of the slimy substances present with respect to the disadavantageous emulsion-forming property thereof, whereby a water-free primary and/or secondary alcohol and a highly acidic hygroscopic catalyst are added to the starting substance in the form of crude oil or fat or waste oil, the reaction product is rinsed with glycol from a prior alkaline transesterification, whereupon alkaline transesterification occurs for the unmodified remaining glyceridically bound fatty acids in the reaction product of the acidic-catalytic esterification process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2003
    Publication date: May 27, 2004
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Rainer Ricker
  • Publication number: 20040054206
    Abstract: A method for pretreating crude oils and fats for subsequent alkaline transesterification with primary and/or secondary alcohols. The raw oil or fat loaded with slimy substances is treated with a mixture used at 0.15 wt. % in relation to the oil or fat comprising an alcohol and concentrated acid, and preferably is subsequently rinsed with an alkaline glycerol phase arising from an alkaline transesterification reaction of the above-mentioned type. After the rinsing process, the glycerol phase which is loaded with slimy substances and soaps of free fatty acids is separated as a heavy phase of neutral oil liberated from free fatty acids.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2003
    Publication date: March 18, 2004
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Rainer Ricker
  • Patent number: 6512131
    Abstract: A process for carrying out a multi-phase reaction in a continuously operated tube reactor operated according to the counter current principle in which reactor components of a liquid phase flowing downwards as a thin film in said tube reactor and components of a continuous gas flowing upward in said tube reactor are brought to material transfer, or reaction respectively. The gas phase is pulsed, by repeated temporary pressure lowering at the gas entry into said tube reactor and/or repeated temporary pressure increase at the gas exit from said tube reactor, to counteract film thickness growth and liquid phase stagnation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Dr. Frische GmbH
    Inventors: Bernd Best, Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Dirk Kilian, Joachim Seemann
  • Publication number: 20020197687
    Abstract: Method for the enzymatic splitting of oils and fats for obtaining fatty acids and glycerol by using lipases being added to a mixture containing an oil or fat and water, wherein the splitting reaction is performed only up to a splitting degree at which slowing-down of the splitting reaction is still below a preset value using discontinuously operated loop reactors, wherein the fatty acids to be obtained are separated from the reaction mixture that is only partially split, by first separating an aqueous glycerol-containing phase from a partially split organic phase containing split fatty acids, in a self-cleaning centrifugal separator and, afterwards, the fatty acids are separated from the partially split organic phase and the residue of the organic phase freed from the free fatty acids is fed back into the splitting process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2002
    Publication date: December 26, 2002
    Inventors: Karlheinz Brunner, Rainer Frische, Dirk Kilian
  • Patent number: 5928696
    Abstract: The extraction of native products is rendered difficult by the fact that attraction forces act between the liquid native products which are not water-soluble and the tissue incorporating them, and that other constituents are dissolved or present in the form of particles in suspension in the products during the extraction process. The initial substance mixture is, therefore, processed together with a water-soluble, organic solvent and optionally water to form a paste. The addition of the water-soluble, organic solvent enables the substance mixture to be separated cleanly into an aqueous phase and an organic phase in the centrifugal field, no further cleaning being necessary for the organic phase. The process according to the invention has a wide area of application. In principle, it can be applied to all substance mixtures containing liquid, organic substances, in particular to vegetable and animal tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Dr. Frische GmbH
    Inventors: Bernd Best, Karlheinz Brunner, Katja Hegwein, Rainer Ricker, Rainer Frische
  • Patent number: 4451247
    Abstract: A continuous, completely jacketed countercurrent centrifugal extractor of the type utilized to mix and separate two liquids that have different specific gravities and enter through separate inlets. The extractor has at least one overflow weir in a mixing zone between the inlet for the specifically lighter and the inlet for the specifically heavier liquid phase and a division of the mixing zone into mixing-and-separation compartments. Access channels empty into the vicinity of the inner surface of a drum jacket and into that of the heavier phase, to conduct the lighter phase out of the compartment inside the hub of a conveyor worm into the initial mixing-and-separation compartment. One or more overflow channels also empty into the vicinity of the heavier phase, in the overflow weir to divert the lighter phase separated in the initial mixing-and-separation compartment into another and subsequent mixing-and-separation compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 1983
    Date of Patent: May 29, 1984
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Willi Ostkamp, Karlheinz Brunner, Friedrich Wibbelt