Combined tangential shear homogenizing and flashing apparatus having a non-uniform rotor/stator gap dimension and a parameter responsive to a variable rotor/stator gap dimension

A combined tangential shear homogenizing and flashing apparatus for destructuring pretreated biomass comprising:

• a housing having an inlet and at least one outlet, the housing having an axis extending therethrough, the inlet being connectable to a source of pressurized pretreated biomass while the outlet is connectible in direct fluid communication with a downstream utility;
• and
• a stator and a rotor mounted within the housing, the stator and rotor being confrontationally disposed and spaced apart by an axial gap thereby to define a mixing zone communicating with the inlet and the outlet, the axial dimension of the gap varying at positions radially outwardly from the axis with the least axial dimension between the rotor and the stator being defined at a predetermined radial position, the least axial dimension between the rotor and stator defining a restriction to a biomass flow;
• the rotor being connectable to a motor operative to rotate the rotor with respect to the stator, such that, in use, with a predetermined pressure difference defined between the inlet and the outlet, rotational movement of the rotor with respect to the stator imparts a tangential shear to a predetermined volume of pretreated biomass introduced into the mixing zone at a predetermined pressure and temperature while the biomass is moving through the mixing zone in the direction of the pressure difference,
• the tangential shear being able to homogenize the biomass and the pressure difference being able to cause a partial phase separation of the homogenized biomass into vapor and liquid phases such that the pretreated biomass undergoes at least a three-fold total volumetric increase.