US 12,129,503 B2
Carbon sequestration in soils with production of chemical products
Zarath Morgan Summers, Prospect Heights, IL (US); and Sean Dennis Simpson, Evanston, IL (US)
Assigned to LanzaTech, Inc., Skokie, IL (US)
Filed by LanzaTech, Inc., Skokie, IL (US)
Filed on Aug. 9, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/446,758.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/370,988, filed on Aug. 10, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0052377 A1, Feb. 15, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. C12M 1/107 (2006.01); C12M 1/00 (2006.01); C12N 1/20 (2006.01); C12N 1/22 (2006.01); C12N 1/32 (2006.01); C12P 7/04 (2006.01); C12P 7/06 (2006.01); C12P 7/10 (2006.01)
CPC C12P 7/10 (2013.01) [C12N 1/20 (2013.01); C12N 1/22 (2013.01); C12N 1/32 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
 
1. A method comprising:
a) introducing a feedstock to an anerobic digestion process to generate at least a biogas effluent comprising methane, wherein the feedstock comprises biomass and optionally supplemental bio-derived material, wherein the biomass comprises harvested biodiverse above-ground plant material comprising at least about 10, 12, 15 or 20 different species of plants from a prairie or grassland; wherein the biodiverse above-ground plant material is harvested no more than one, two, or three times in a 12 month period of time; and wherein harvesting the biodiverse above-ground plant material no more than one, two, or three times in a 12 month period of time stimulates sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in soil of the prairie or grassland;
b) passing a stream comprising oxygen and at least a portion of the biogas effluent to a methane conversion process operating at methane conversion conditions to generate a syngas stream comprising CO2, CO, and H2;
c) passing the syngas stream to a microbial gas fermentation process comprising at least one C1 fixing microorganism and a nutrient solution in at least one bioreactor;
d) culturing the C1 fixing microorganism in the bioreactor by fermentation to generate a fermentation broth comprising at least one chemical product; and
e) separating the at least one chemical product from the fermentation broth;
wherein the anerobic digestion process, the methane conversion process, and the microbial gas fermentation process are co-located with the prairie or grassland.