Process for treatment of biomass for pulping and biorefinery applications

A process for the treatment of biomass, comprising:

• sizing of biomass followed by pre-treatment or optionally soaking and then pre-treating biomass, in a first reaction vessel so as to form a pre-treated biomass material;
• squeezing and washing the pre-treated biomass material to remove a liquor ‘A’ followed by cooking in a second reaction vessel using a high boiling solvent A to provide a pulp, the high boiling solvent A comprising at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of di-ethylene glycol (DEG), ethylene glycol (EG), and propylene glycol (PG);
• squeezing and washing the pulp using a hot high boiling solvent B at a temperature in a range from 140 to 200° C. in a counter current fashion to provide a black liquor, the hot high boiling solvent B comprising at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of di-ethylene glycol (DEG), ethylene glycol (EG), and propylene glycol (PG);
• diluting the black liquor to precipitate lignin out and separating a supernatant liquor ‘B’;
• the supernatant liquor ‘B is collected and concentrated using an evaporator to form a concentrated liquor ‘B’, followed by recycling the concentrated liquor ‘B’ to the reaction vessel for cooking of the pretreated biomass along with the high boiling solvent B,
• wherein the biomass subsequent to soaking or pre-treatment is cooked in a recycled stream based on the concentrated liquor ‘B’, a mass ratio of the high boiling solvent B to water to hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to furfural in the recycled stream being in a range from 48:50:2:4 to 50:47:1:2,
• wherein the biomass is crop residue like selected from the group consisting of rice straw, wheat straw, husk, or combinations thereof,
• wherein the process is a batch process.