Pretreatment and fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass
AssigneeSuganit Systems, Inc.
InventorsPraveen PARIPATI, Anantharam Prasad DADI
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method and apparatus for enhanced production of sugars and lignin via fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass through sequential ionic liquid pretreatment and mild alkaline treatment. The resulting biomass is easily fractionated and amenable to efficient and rapid hydrolysis and catalytic conversion to valuable products with high recovery of the enzymes used in the hydrolysis.
Claims28
A method for the treatment of lignocellulosic biomass comprising
- (a) mixing lignocellulosic biomass with an ionic liquid for a sufficient time and temperature to swell the lignocellulosic biomass without dissolution of the lignocellulosic biomass in the ionic liquid;
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- (b) treating the swelled lignocellulosic biomass under mild alkaline treatment for about 1-60 minutes to separate the lignin from the cellulose and hemicellulose.
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A method for conversion of the carbohydrates of lignocellulosic biomass to sugars comprising
- (a) mixing lignocellulosic biomass in an ionic liquid (IL) swell but not dissolve the biomass;
- (b) applying radio frequency (RF) heating to the lignocellulosic biomass to heat to a target temperature range;
- (c) applying ultrasonics, electromagnetic (EM), convective, conductive heating, or combinations thereof, to the lignocellulosic biomass to maintain the lignocellulosic biomass at said target temperature range of about 50-220° C.;
- (d) washing the treated lignocellulosic biomass;
- (e) subjecting said lignocellulosic biomass to mild alkaline treatment for about 1-60 minutes to release lignin from the cellulosic components;
- (f) washing the treated lignocellulosic biomass;
- (g) recovering said lignin;
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- (h) hydrolyzing the cellulosic components to yield sugars.
A method for treatment of lignocellulosic biomass comprising
- (a) incubating a biomass in a sufficient amount of an ionic liquid (IL) for a sufficient time and temperature to swell the lignocellulosic biomass without dissolution of the lignocellulosic biomass in the IL;
- (b) applying radio frequency (RF) heating to the lignocellulosic biomass to heat to a target temperature range;
- (c) applying ultrasonic heating to the lignocellulosic biomass to maintain the biomass at said target temperature range;
- (d) washing the pretreated lignocellulosic biomass;
- (e) subjecting said lignocellulosic biomass to mild alkaline treatment for about 1-60 minutes to release lignin from the cellulosic components;
- (f) washing the treated lignocellulosic biomass with a liquid non-solvent for cellulose that is miscible with water and the IL;
- (g) recovering said lignin;
- and
- (h) contacting said washed treated lignocellulosic biomass with an aqueous buffer comprising enzymes capable of hydrolyzing cellulose and hemicellulose to produce sugars.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.