Patent ID: 8704016

Claim:
A multi-raffinate simulated moving bed (SMB) process for the separation of ethanol and butanediol from an aqueous biomass effluent stream from a fermentor, said biomass effluent stream comprising water, ethanol, butanediol, acetic acid, and suspended solids, said multi-raffinate SMB process having an SMB zone comprising a desorption zone, a rectification zone, an adsorption zone, and at least one regeneration zone, said process comprising: a. passing the aqueous biomass effluent stream to a pretreatment zone including a naturation zone and a filtration zone to provide an SMB feed stream; b. passing the SMB feed stream at an effective feed temperature and a mobile phase desorbent stream at an effective desorbent temperature, said mobile phase desorbent stream comprising a C 1 to C 3 alcohol to the SMB zone comprising a plurality of n adsorbent beds each adsorbent bed having a top and a bottom, wherein the desorption zone, rectification zone, adsorption zone, and the at least one regeneration zone comprise one or more of the adsorbent beds containing a stationary phase adsorbent selected from the group consisting of a fluorinated carbon adsorbent and a modified C18 silica gel, and wherein each of the adsorbent beds of the desorption zone, rectification zone, adsorption zone are disposed in a serial configuration wherein the bottom of each adsorbent bed is in fluid communication with the top of the i+1 adsorbent bed, to provide an extract stream comprising ethanol and butanediol withdrawn from the desorption zone and a primary raffinate stream withdrawn from the adsorption zone, c. passing at least a portion of the primary raffinate stream to the at least one regeneration zone to provide at least one secondary raffinate stream; and, d. passing the extract stream to a product recovery zone to separate and recover ethanol and butanediol products from the extract stream.