The present invention pertains to a process for biologically utilizing carbon dioxide and heat that are generated in exothermic aerobic fermentation processes in which carbon dioxide is formed for the growth of chlorophyllose plants in greenhouses.
It is known that, in exothermic aerobic fermentation processes, especially those used for the production of yeast cells and similar protein-containing products that are to be used for food and fodder by the cultivation of yeasts and other microorganisms, large quantities of carbon dioxide as well as correspondingly large quantities of heat are generated. Dependent upon the medium that is cultured, between 3000 and 10,000 kilogram-calories of heat and a correspondingly large quantity of carbon dioxide are generated for each kilogram of solid material that is produced in most such aerobic fermentation processes. This heat must be withdrawn by cooling means and the carbon dioxide is generally released or vented from the fermentor with the exhaust air. As an example, it might be mentioned that, in a fermentor having a capacity of 200 cubic meters, in which approximately 20,000 kilograms of solid yeast is produced daily for fodder, and in which 300 cubic meters of air are charged per minute, 432,000 cubic meters of exhaust air are vented daily. This exhaust air contains between 2 and 10% by volume of carbon dioxide gas, dependent upon the products being made. This is an enormous amount of carbon dioxide which is normally vented or released to the atmosphere as waste.
On the other hand, likewise dependent upon the product being made, between approximately 60 and 200 million kilogram-calories of heat must be withdrawn daily by the said cooling means. As is known, such yeast, or bacterial or fungal, products are being produced in increasingly greater quantities for use as food and animal fodder by fermentation in this manner. Many times in those regions in which such fermented protein-containing products must be produced, or in which the chlorophyllose vegetational type of food and fodder crops have failed, or at least are available only in inadequate amounts, it would be of great importance to achieve a symbiosis or mutual cooperation between the growth of yeasts in such exothermic aerobic fermentation processes in which carbon dioxide is produced and the cultivation and growth of chlorophyllose plants and vegetation.