Co-solvent to produce reactive intermediates from biomass
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsCharles M. Cai, Charles E. Wyman, Taiying Zhang, Rajeev Kumar
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Abstract
The disclosure provides a system for production of reactive intermediates from lignocellulosic biomass. The reactive intermediates can be used as platform chemicals for biological conversions or can be further catalytically upgraded to be used as “drop in” reagents for fuels. The disclosure provides methods and compositions useful for processing biomass to biofuels and intermediates.
Claims31
A method for production of reactive intermediates from biomass, comprising:
- treating a biomass with a composition comprising an aqueous co-solvent mixture containing 50-75% tetrahydrofuran (THF), water, and 0.05-0.1M acid catalyst at a treatment temperature between 120° C. to 200° C. conditions to produce a liquid phase comprising dissolved monosaccharides, furfurals, and lignin;
- and a solid material comprising glucan;
- and
- wherein treatment of the biomass removes greater than 70% of the lignin from the biomass,
- removing and/or recovering THF from the liquid phase to produce a solid lignin product.
A method for the combined solubilization and catalytic conversion of biomass to produce reactive intermediates from biomass, comprising:
- treating a biomass with a composition comprising an aqueous co-solvent mixture containing 66%-83% tetrahydrofuran (THF), water, and 0.1-0.2M acid catalyst at a treatment temperature between 170° C. to 220° C. conditions to produce a liquid phase comprising furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, levulinic acid, and lignin;
- and
- removing and/or recovering THF from the liquid phase to produce a solid lignin product by removing greater than 70% of the lignin from the biomass, wherein
- (i) the co-solvent mixture is monophasic at Standard Temperature and Pressure and during treatment;
- (ii) the acid catalyst is selected from the group consisting of mineral acids, organic acids, metal halide acids, and solid acid catalysts;
- (iii) the acid catalyst is selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, trifluoroacetic acid, FeCI3, AICI3, CUCI2 and any combination thereof;
- (iv) further comprising removing and/or recovering THF from the liquid phase after co-solvent treatment of the biomass;
- (v) further comprising removing and/or recovery of lignin from the co-solvent treatment of the biomass by precipitation as a solid after the distillation of THF from the liquid phase;
- (vi) further comprising removing and/or recovering furfural and/or 5-HMF from a liquid phase of the co-solvent treatment of the biomass by distillation;
- (vii) further comprising removing and/or recovery furfural during and/or after co-solvent treatment by boiling and/or steam stripping, or
- (viii) further comprising extracting and/or recovering furfural and/or 5-HMF from a liquid phase of the co-solvent treatment of the biomass by a water-immiscible organic solvent.
A method for production of reactive intermediates from biomass, comprising:
- treating a biomass with a composition comprising a single phase co-solvent mixture of aqueous tetrahydrofuran (THF) and an acid catalyst under conditions to produce a liquid phase comprising biomass-derived, monomeric sugars, oligosaccharides, and lignin products and a solid material comprising biomass-derived polysaccharides;
- and
- removing and/or recovery of lignin from the co-solvent treated biomass by precipitation as a solid after the removal of THF from the liquid phase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.