Method for Separating Cellulose

Abstract

A method for separating cellulose from a wood-based raw material including hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin as principal components, in which the wood-based raw material is injected into a dissolution reservoir 1, 100, 300 in which ethylene glycol is stored as a separating agent, and the separating agent in the dissolution reservoir is heated at normal pressure to a temperature in a range of 260° C. to 280° C., and the wood-based raw material is reacted with the separating agent, a hemicellulose component that evaporates from the separating agent is condensed, a pH value of a condensate which changes from an acid value to a neutral value as a temperature of the separating agent increases is monitored, a temperature of the condensate is held at a temperature at which a change in the pH value of the condensate decreases, lignin is dissolved in the separating agent, and crude cellulose that floats in the separating agent is separated and collected.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.