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Missions
Sustainable Separations Technology for Tomorrow
Building a Cleaner Earth and Better Bottom Line
At one time, clean technologies were an expensive proposition, often a burden, for companies. Today, thanks to next-generation technologies, they are a way to add value, increase profits and do something good for the planet at the same time.
Separations, ranging from extractions to adsorptions to distillations, are a key part of many production processes. Conventional large scale separation methods, such as steam distillation and solvent extraction, generally require large amounts of energy and have negative environmental impacts. The rising costs of energy and potential cost of emissions (i.e., carbon credits) have led many companies to look closely at clean technologies, including supercritical separation.
Supercritical separation methods have advantages over competing new technologies, such as membranes and thin films, due to their ability to scale well and handle a variety of materials. MOR firmly believes that their breakthroughs in the cost structure and energy use of supercritical separations will lead to a sea change in separations technology over the next decade and beyond - solving a multi-billion dollar problem for a variety of industries seeking to minimize environmental impact and conserve natural resources.
Sustainable Solutions for Corn-Based Food and Fuel
Reducing Costs, Adding Value
MOR Supercritical’s corn oil extraction technology provides an important piece of the solution for the corn-based ethanol industry. This technology, when used in conjunction with MOR Technology’s corn milling systems, provides an important, and many say necessary, change to the way corn-based ethanol is produced. Combined, the technologies provide a host of economic benefits to the plant, by reducing energy costs and producing human-food from the same corn that is used to produce ethanol.
Additionally, MOR’s technology adds further value to the U.S. agricultural system by producing value-added products (many high-value nutraceuticals and essential oils) from a number of traditional agriculture feedstocks, including:
- corn bran
- rice germ
- wheat germ
- oat bran
- grape seed
- clover
- alfalfa
Together, MOR Supercritical and MOR Technology are working to bring clean and sustainable processing solutions to American agriculture.
Replacing Solvent Extraction for Food Products
Solvent extraction, typically using h-hexane and isohexane, is used to produce over 95% of the food-grade natural and vegetable oils extracted in the United States. A chemical by-product of petroleum refining, hexane is affordable and available, but its downsides are just as plentiful.
Solvent plants have a bad reputation for a number of reasons:
- Hexane is classified as both a hazardous air pollutant and a toxic air contaminate by the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Even with the best available emissions technology, studies have shown that a typical facility may still release as much as 6,000 lbs. of hexane per day into the environment.
- Hexane is a suspected carcinogen, and can remain in trace amounts within the products exposed to it. That includes nearly all soybean meal (a primary source of animal feed) and most of the food-grade vegetable oils sold in the United States. In 2005, the EPA attempted to quantify the toxic effects for “chronic oral exposure” to hexane, but a lack of detailed data has prevented additional regulations to date.
- Although highly explosive and volatile, hexane is stored and used in large amounts at solvent extraction plants. The plants utilize several processes that are continuously at risk to create heat, sparks, and/or excess air conditions that can result in severe explosions. The largest solvent extraction plants process over 4,000 tons per day of raw material, and the employees and those living in surrounding areas are constantly exposed to explosion risks.
Hexane is problematic for business too. Because of the numerous public concerns, the permitting process for these plants is lengthy and it is increasingly difficult to garner government and local public support for the necessary operating permits.
To date, criticisms from the consumer food side have not been severe, but many Americans remain unaware of the potential risks of hexane in their food supply. Hexane has been all but eliminated (and replaced by supercritical CO2) in a number of other food products including coffee, tea, and hops (used for beer production) due to consumer safety concerns. MOR Supercritical’s technology, for the first time in history, is giving the industry and consumers an alternative to this dangerous product.
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