Pressure valve processing
AssigneeApalta Patents OÜ
InventorSharon SAMJITSINGH
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A valve assembly wherein the inner wall of the valve body comprises at least one opening for the entry of a liquid under pressure following output of a slurry or liquid from a tube or pipe. The valve assembly is particularly useful in maintaining a semi-continuous or continuous pressurized flow of biomass from an extruder and extending the reaction zone downstream from the extruder. An advantage of having an extended reaction zone allows for a complete treatment of materials without further wear on the extruder and also allows manipulation of the upstream treatment of materials in the tube or pipe.
Claims24
A system for pretreating a biomass comprising:
- (a) an extruder comprising one or more screws, wherein an internal plug of the biomass is formed due to action of the one or more screws, thereby forming an upstream end of a pressurized reaction zone for pretreatment of the biomass;
- and
- (b) a valve assembly attached at an output end of the extruder, wherein the valve assembly forms a downstream end of the reaction zone and adds a liquid to the reaction zone.
2-4. (canceled)
14-16. (canceled)
25-50. (canceled)
A method of pretreating a biomass, the method comprising:
- (a) conveying the biomass through an extruder from a feeder zone of the extruder to a reaction zone of the extruder, wherein the feeder zone and the reaction zone are separated by a biomass plug formed downstream of the input zone and upstream from the reaction zone;
- (b) adding steam and/or a chemical to the biomass in the reaction zone to partially treat the biomass;
- (c) conveying the partially-treated biomass into a valve assembly attached to an output end of the extruder, and treating the partially-treated biomass in the valve assembly, thereby producing a pretreated biomass;
- and
- (d) discharging the pretreated biomass through the valve assembly.
53-101. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.