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US 7,931,784 B2Granted
Processing biomass and petroleum containing materials
AssigneeXyleco, Inc.
InventorMarshall Medoff
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.
Claims30
A method, comprising:
- directing accelerated charged particles having a mass greater than or equal to the mass of a proton and an energy of at least 1 MeV/u to pass through a fluid,
- directing the charged particles to be incident on a biomass material, and
- combining the biomass material with a microorganism and/or an enzyme, the microorganism and/or enzyme utilizing the biomass material to produce a product.
A method of treating biomass, the method comprising:
- forming a plurality of negatively charged ions, and accelerating the negatively charged ions to a first energy;
- removing a plurality of electrons from at least some of the negatively charged ions to form positively charged ions;
- accelerating the positively charged ions to a second energy of at least 1 MeV/u, and directing the positively charged ions to be incident on the biomass, and
- combining the biomass material with a microorganism and/or an enzyme, the microorganism and/or enzyme utilizing the biomass material to produce a product.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.