Patents by Inventor Minoru Genta

Minoru Genta 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).

  • Patent number: 10792588
    Abstract: An organic material production system includes: a pretreatment device (12) that pulverizes a biomass material (11); a hydrothermal decomposition apparatus (14) that hydrothermally decomposes a pulverized biomass (13) by causing it to countercurrently contact with hot compressed water (15), elutes lignin components and hemicellulose components into the hot compressed water (15), and separates the lignin components and the hemicellulose components from a biomass solid residue; a first enzymatic hydrolysis device (19-1) that treats cellulose in a biomass solid residue (17), discharged from the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, with an enzyme (18) to enzymatically hydrolyze it to a sugar solution containing hexose; a fermenter (21) that produces ethanol by fermentation using a sugar solution (20) obtained by the first enzymatic hydrolysis device (19-1); and a refiner 25 that refines an alcohol fermentation liquid (22), so as to separate it into ethanol (23) and a residue (24).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignees: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LTD., NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, INCORPORATED ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY NATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESEARCH ORGANIZATION
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Kinya Fujita, Tsuyoshi Sakaki, Noriyuki Yamada, Katsuichi Saito, Naoto Hashimoto, Yasuhiro Hasa
  • Patent number: 10174281
    Abstract: This biomass treatment system includes: a hydrothermal decomposition section for decomposing the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contained in a biomass as a raw material under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions in a main section, namely a tank having a gas-liquid interface, and thus removing a lignin component and a hemicellulose component from the biomass; a discharge section for discharging a biomass solid (a component insoluble in hot-water) obtained by the decomposition; a slurrying tank which is connected to the discharge section and in which the discharged biomass solid is slurried in water fed thereinto to form a biomass slurry; and a solid-liquid separation apparatus including both a settling tank which is provided on a discharge line for discharging the biomass slurry and in which the biomass slurry is settled and a scooping-up and conveying means for scooping up the biomass solid deposited at the bottom of the settling tank and separating the solid biomass component from water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryosuke Uehara, Seiji Kobayashi, Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura
  • Patent number: 9994996
    Abstract: A raw-material supply device for supplying a biomass raw material under pressure, wherein the device is provided with: a screw body, provided inside a screw feeder and adapted for compressing, rotating, and transporting the powdered biomass raw material using a motor from a normal-pressure feed section for the fed biomass raw material to a high-pressure discharge section; and a pressing plug provided on the tip section side of the screw body, the pressing plug having a plug tip for maintaining a high-temperature/high-pressure field against the discharge force of compressed consolidated biomass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9982283
    Abstract: Provided is a biomass hydrothermal decomposition system which includes: a biomass supply unit that supplies a biomass raw material; hydrothermally decomposing the biomass raw material using pressurized hot water; a hydrothermal decomposition unit that dissolves lignin components and hemicellulose components in the pressurized hot water; a biomass solid fraction discharge unit that discharges a biomass solid fraction from the hydrothermal decomposition unit; an enzymatic liquefaction tank that is in connection with the biomass solid fraction discharge unit, and in which the discharged biomass solid fraction is introduced, and an enzyme is supplied to the biomass solid fraction to liquefy the biomass solid fraction; and a discharge unit that discharges the liquefied biomass solid fraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9868932
    Abstract: A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus that feeds a solid biomass material 11 from one side of an apparatus body 42, feeds pressurized hot water 15 from the other side, to hydrothermally decompose the biomass material 11 while bringing the biomass material 11 into counter contact with the pressurized hot water 15, dissolves hot-water soluble fractions in hot water, discharges the pressurized hot water to outside from the one side of the apparatus body 42 as a hot-water effluent 16, and discharges a biomass solid 17 to the outside from the other side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LTD
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Hideo Suzuki, Seiichi Terakura
  • Patent number: 9434971
    Abstract: A saccharide-solution producing apparatus 11A according to the present invention is a saccharide-solution producing apparatus for producing a saccharide solution 22 derived from a carbohydrate-based material 21, and includes a saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A that controls the saccharide solution derived from the carbohydrate-based material 21, a cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 that saccharifies hydrothermally treated biomass obtained by hydrothermally decomposing a cellulosic biomass material 35 that contains a lignin component and a hemicellulose component, and produces a diluted saccharide solution 37, and a diluted-saccharide-solution supply pipe L11 that mixes the diluted saccharide solution 37 produced by the cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 into the saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A. With this configuration, it is possible to improve production efficiency of the saccharide solution 22 and to realize cost reduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo, Michio Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 9404135
    Abstract: To include a hydrothermal decomposition unit that transports a fed biomass material from one side (a lower side) to the other side (an upper side) by a screw 14 in an apparatus body, feeds pressurized hot water, hydrothermally decomposes the biomass material, transfers hot-water soluble fractions into a hot-water effluent and separates a lignin component and a hemicellulose component from the biomass material, and also to include a biomass discharging unit. Further, a scraping unit is provided at an end of a flight of the screw positioned within an installation area of the solid-liquid separator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Yasushi Kageyama, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9315840
    Abstract: A biomass processing system includes: a hydrolysis processing unit that decomposes, under a high-temperature/high-pressure condition, biomass feedstock in a processing tank having a gas-liquid interface, and removes a lignin component and a hemicellulose component; a biomass solid content discharge unit that discharges a biomass solid content 20 which is a hot water insoluble element; a slurrying vessel that subjects the discharged biomass solid content to slurrying; and a hot water discharge liquid introducing line L2 that introduces, into the slurrying vessel 21, a hot water discharge liquid 16 including a biomass hot-water soluble element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Yoshio Kuromi, Yoshitaka Kimura
  • Patent number: 9238827
    Abstract: A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus includes, a biomass feeder (31) that feeds biomass material (11) under normal pressure to under increased pressure, a hydrothermal decomposition device (41A) that allows the fed biomass material (11) to be gradually moved inside a gradient device main body (42) from a lower end thereof with a conveyor screw (43), and also allows hot compressed water (15) to be fed from an other end of a feed section (31) for the biomass material into the main body (42), so as to cause the biomass material (11) and the hot compressed water (15) to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, and that transfers a lignin component and a hemicellulose component into the hot compressed water, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from the biomass material (11); and a biomass discharger (51) that discharges, from the upper end of the device main body (42), a biomass solid residue (17) under increased pressure to an un
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Kinya Fujita, Setsuo Omoto, Wataru Matsubara, Yoshio Seiki
  • Publication number: 20160010051
    Abstract: This biomass treatment system includes: a hydrothermal decomposition section for decomposing the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contained in a biomass as a raw material under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions in a main section, namely a tank having a gas-liquid interface, and thus removing a lignin component and a hemicellulose component from the biomass; a discharge section for discharging a biomass solid (a component insoluble in hot-water) obtained by the decomposition; a slurrying tank which is connected to the discharge section and in which the discharged biomass solid is slurried in water fed thereinto to form a biomass slurry; and a solid-liquid separation apparatus including both a settling tank which is provided on a discharge line for discharging the biomass slurry and in which the biomass slurry is settled and a scooping-up and conveying means for scooping up the biomass solid deposited at the bottom of the settling tank and separating the solid biomass component from water.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Publication date: January 14, 2016
    Inventors: Ryosuke UEHARA, Seiji KOBAYASHI, Minoru GENTA, Seiichi TERAKURA
  • Publication number: 20150368862
    Abstract: A raw-material supply device for supplying a biomass raw material under pressure, wherein the device is provided with: a screw body, provided inside a screw feeder and adapted for compressing, rotating, and transporting the powdered biomass raw material using a motor from a normal-pressure feed section for the fed biomass raw material to a high-pressure discharge section; and a pressing plug provided on the tip section side of the screw body, the pressing plug having a plug tip for maintaining a high-temperature/high-pressure field against the discharge force of compressed consolidated biomass.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Publication date: December 24, 2015
    Inventors: Minoru GENTA, Seiichi TERAKURA, Ryosuke UEHARA, Seiji KOBAYASHI
  • Patent number: 9102956
    Abstract: A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus that feeds a solid biomass material 11 from one side of an apparatus body 42, feeds hot water 15 from the other side, to hydrothermally decompose the biomass material 11 while bringing the biomass material 11 into counter contact with the hot water 15, dissolves hot-water soluble fractions in hot water, discharges the hot water to outside from the one side of the apparatus body 42 as a hot-water effluent 16, and discharges a biomass solid (a hot water insoluble) 17 to outside from the other side. The biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus includes an effective reaction region A formed from the other side to the one side of the apparatus body 42, in which a feeding temperature of the hot water 15 (for example, 200° C.) is maintained for a predetermined period of time to cause hydrothermal decomposition, and a temperature drop region B in which a temperature is rapidly dropped to a temperature (for example, 140° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Hideo Suzuki, Seiichi Terakura
  • Patent number: 9102965
    Abstract: A saccharide-solution producing apparatus 11A according to the present invention is a saccharide-solution producing apparatus for producing a saccharide solution 22 derived from a carbohydrate-based material 21, and includes a saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A that controls the saccharide solution derived from the carbohydrate-based material 21, a cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 that saccharifies hydrothermally treated biomass obtained by hydrothermally decomposing a cellulosic biomass material 35 that contains a lignin component and a hemicellulose component, and produces a diluted saccharide solution 37, and a diluted-saccharide-solution supply pipe L11 that mixes the diluted saccharide solution 37 produced by the cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 into the saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A. With this configuration, it is possible to improve production efficiency of the saccharide solution 22 and to realize cost reduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo, Michio Nishiyama
  • Publication number: 20150211038
    Abstract: Provided is a biomass hydrothermal decomposition system which includes: a biomass supply unit that supplies a biomass raw material; hydrothermally decomposing the biomass raw material using pressurized hot water; a hydrothermal decomposition unit that dissolves lignin components and hemicellulose components in the pressurized hot water; a biomass solid fraction discharge unit that discharges a biomass solid fraction from the hydrothermal decomposition unit; an enzymatic liquefaction tank that is in connection with the biomass solid fraction discharge unit, and in which the discharged biomass solid fraction is introduced, and an enzyme is supplied to the biomass solid fraction to liquefy the biomass solid fraction; and a discharge unit that discharges the liquefied biomass solid fraction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9074232
    Abstract: A saccharide-solution producing apparatus 11A according to the present invention is a saccharide-solution producing apparatus for producing a saccharide solution 22 derived from a carbohydrate-based material 21, and includes a saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A that controls the saccharide solution derived from the carbohydrate-based material 21, a cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 that saccharifies hydrothermally treated biomass obtained by hydrothermally decomposing a cellulosic biomass material 35 that contains a lignin component and a hemicellulose component, and produces a diluted saccharide solution 37, and a diluted-saccharide-solution supply pipe L11 that mixes the diluted saccharide solution 37 produced by the cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 into the saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A. With this configuration, it is possible to improve production efficiency of the saccharide solution 22 and to realize cost reduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo, Michio Nishiyama
  • Publication number: 20150044729
    Abstract: A biomass processing system includes: a hydrolysis processing unit that decomposes, under a high-temperature/high-pressure condition, biomass feedstock in a processing tank having a gas-liquid interface, and removes a lignin component and a hemicellulose component; a biomass solid content discharge unit that discharges a biomass solid content 20 which is a hot water insoluble element; a slurrying vessel that subjects the discharged biomass solid content to slurrying; and a hot water discharge liquid introducing line L2 that introduces, into the slurrying vessel 21, a hot water discharge liquid 16 including a biomass hot-water soluble element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Yoshio Kuromi, Yoshitaka Kimura
  • Patent number: 8334113
    Abstract: An organic material production system using biomass material includes: a hydrothermal decomposition apparatus that causes the biomass material and hot compressed water to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from a biomass solid residue; a cellulose enzymatic saccharification device that treats, cellulose in the biomass solid residue, so as to enzymatically saccharify the cellulose to a first sugar solution containing hexose; an alcohol fermenter that produces alcohols by fermentation using the obtained first sugar solution; a sulfuric acid decomposition device that decomposes the hemicellulose component in hot water discharged from the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, which contains the eluted lignin component and the eluted hemicellulose component, so as to decompose the hemicellulose component to a second sugar solution containing pentose; and a second alcohol fermenter that produces, usi
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mechatronics Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiichi Terakura, Kinya Fujita
  • Publication number: 20120315677
    Abstract: A saccharide-solution producing apparatus 11A according to the present invention is a saccharide-solution producing apparatus for producing a saccharide solution 22 derived from a carbohydrate-based material 21, and includes a saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A that controls the saccharide solution derived from the carbohydrate-based material 21, a cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 that saccharifies hydrothermally treated biomass obtained by hydrothermally decomposing a cellulosic biomass material 35 that contains a lignin component and a hemicellulose component, and produces a diluted saccharide solution 37, and a diluted-saccharide-solution supply pipe L11 that mixes the diluted saccharide solution 37 produced by the cellulosic biomass saccharifying unit 16 into the saccharide-solution controlling unit 15A. With this configuration, it is possible to improve production efficiency of the saccharide solution 22 and to realize cost reduction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2011
    Publication date: December 13, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS,LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Seiichi Terakura, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo, Michio Nishiyama
  • Publication number: 20120178154
    Abstract: An organic material production system using biomass material includes: a hydrothermal decomposition apparatus that causes the biomass material and hot compressed water to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from a biomass solid residue; a cellulose enzymatic saccharification device that treats, cellulose in the biomass solid residue, so as to enzymatically saccharify the cellulose to a first sugar solution containing hexose; an alcohol fermenter that produces alcohols by fermentation using the obtained first sugar solution; a sulfuric acid decomposition device that decomposes the hemicellulose component in hot water discharged from the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, which contains the eluted lignin component and the eluted hemicellulose component, so as to decompose the hemicellulose component to a second sugar solution containing pentose; and a second alcohol fermenter that produces, usi
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2012
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiichi Terakura, Kinya Fujita
  • Patent number: 8163517
    Abstract: An organic material production system using biomass material includes: a hydrothermal decomposition apparatus (13) that causes the biomass material (11) and hot compressed water (12) to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, and that transfers a lignin component and a hemicellulose component into the hot compressed water, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from a biomass solid residue; a cellulose enzymatic saccharification device (17) that treats, with an enzyme, cellulose in the biomass solid residue, so as to enzymatically saccharify the cellulose to a first sugar solution containing hexose; an alcohol fermenter (18) that produces alcohols by fermentation using the obtained first sugar solution; a sulfuric acid decomposition device (33) that decomposes, with sulfuric acid, the hemicellulose component in hot water (30) discharged from the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, which contains the eluted lignin component and the elut
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Minoru Genta, Ryosuke Uehara, Seiichi Terakura, Kinya Fujita