DIRECT OXYGEN INJECTION FOR THE ENERGY INDUSTRY
Injecting growth into your biofuel & biochemical production
Traditional aerobic fermenters use air as the source of oxygen for biofuel production. But because air contains only 21% oxygen, this process actually inhibits mass oxygen transfer from air to liquid broth, reducing efficiency and threatening organism respiratory function and growth. At Praxair, our proprietary direct oxygen injection process offers commercial microbial fermentation operations a more sophisticated means of introducing oxygen, than simple air enrichment, to improve both dissolution efficiency and process economics. When you combine our direct oxygen injection technology with your existing aerobic fermenters, you can cost-effectively increase the capacity of existing fermenters, improve productivity by up to 65% and reduce costs. This technology is an efficient, cost-effective means to improve oxygen mass transfer rates and production capacity for a variety of biologic products.
Our proprietary direct oxygen injection process is innovative because it performs two important functions. It supplements your existing air injection system and it provides the controlled dissolution of high purity oxygen into the fermentation broth. The high purity oxygen provides improved control of dissolved oxygen levels while supporting the production of primary and secondary metabolites. It also enables customers to increase the capacity of their oxygen-limited aerobic fermentation vessels while avoiding capital outlay, electrical infrastructure and power costs associated with new air blowers or expanded agitation systems. Other adverse conditions, such as foaming or gas flooding, can also be reduced. The high-efficiency oxygen injection process and related injector are direct results of our extensive experience in developing mass transfer and dissolution technologies.