Engineers India Limited (EIL) has received a patent from the Indian Patent Office for its innovative design titled “Distillation Column Internals Design for 2G Ethanol BioRefinery with Very Low Lignin Biomass Feed.” Remarkably, this patent was granted in under two years, making it one of the fastest awarded to EIL.
The company stated that this patent marks a significant step for EIL in establishing its footprint in bio-technologies with a carbon-negative impact. This achievement positions EIL to offer Net Zero technologies to both bio-refineries and conventional refineries within the oil and gas sector.
The patented design addresses a major challenge in second-generation (2G) ethanol production—managing lignin-rich ethanol broths during distillation. It enables efficient recovery and purification of ethanol from complex fermentation broths, accommodates various biomass feedstocks used across India, enhances reliability, reduces downtime in 2G bio-refineries, and supports India’s Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP).
In addition, EIL recently secured a patent for another innovation, the “Air Distribution Duct System for a Fired Heater System,” known as “EngUniflowChakra.” This design improves air distribution in fired heater systems and resolves issues found in conventional models.
The new system ensures uniform air delivery to each burner without requiring expansion joints, thereby lowering maintenance costs and simplifying manufacturing. By following specific geometric principles, the design also eliminates the need for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and expensive internal duct modifications, making it a highly cost-effective solution.
