Process to produce a high quality paper product and an ethanol product from bamboo
AssigneeCompanhia Industreas Brasileiras Portela
InventorsEduardo J. Villavicencio, Jose B. Dos Santos
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of producing high quantities of ethanol and a high quality pulp to produce a variety of papers. The method comprises preparing the bamboo by chipping, shredding and washing. This bamboo fiber is then processed in two stages of prehydrolysis to separate the ethanol producing portion from the pulp producing portion. The ethanol producing portion is condensed and subject to enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation to produce an ethanol product. The pulp producing portion is processed in two stages of digestion to produce a pulp in high yield that is suitable to produce a variety of papers.
Claims16
A process for producing ethanol and a high quality pulp for papermaking comprising:
- (a) deaggregating bamboo pieces into a fibrous mass by shredding;
- (b) washing the deaggregated fibrous mass with water containing enzymes suitable to assist with sugar and starch solubilization;
- (c) removing wash water from the washed fibrous mass and flowing and retaining the remainder of the wash water for fiber washings;
- (d) conveying the fibrous mass at a pH of greater than about 6 to a first stage of continuous prehydrolysis with steam at a pressure of about 7.5 to 12 kg/cm.sup.2 for a first period of time;
- (e) discharging said fibrous mass from the first stage of prehydrolysis and rapidly decreasing the pressure on said fiber at least about 0.5 to 3 kg/cm.sup.2 ;
- (f) flowing said fiber mass into a second stage of continuous prehydrolysis at a pressure greater than about 7 kg/cm.sup.2 for a second and longer period of time;
- (g) decreasing the pressure on a prehydrolized fiber to atmospheric pressure and recovering (i) a liquid stream which contains substances for the production of ethanol, (ii) a fiber for papermaking and (iii) steam containing furfural;
- (h) processing said liquid stream by concentrating the substances for the production of ethanol and by contact with enzymes capable of converting such substances to ethanol, thereby converting substantial amounts of such substances to ethanol;
- (i) processing said fiber for papermaking by means of at least two stages of chemical digestion with a step of rapidly reducing the pressure between steps of digestion to produce a paper pulp;
- and
- (j) recovering a useful ethanol product and a pulped fiber useful in papermaking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.