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US 8,454,803 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.
Claims25
A method comprising:
- combining an irradiated lignocellulosic material with a microorganism and/or an enzyme, the microorganism and/or enzyme utilizing the irradiated lignocellulosic material to produce a product, the irradiated lignocellulosic material having been produced by exposing a lignocellulosic material to a plurality of electrons that have been accelerated by directing each of the electrons to make multiple passes through an accelerator cavity comprising a time-dependent electric field to provide the lignocellulosic material with a radiation dose of greater than 10 Mrad.
A method comprising:
- combining an irradiated lignocellulosic material with a microorganism and/or an enzyme, the microorganism and/or enzyme utilizing the irradiated lignocellulosic material to produce a product, the irradiated lignocellulosic material having been produced by exposing a lignocellulosic material to a plurality of electrons that have been accelerated by directing the electrons to pass through an acceleration cavity comprising multiple electrodes at different potentials to provide the lignocellulosic material with a radiation dose of greater than 10 Mrad.
A method comprising:
- combining an irradiated lignocellulosic material with a microorganism and/or an enzyme, the microorganism and/or enzyme utilizing the irradiated lignocellulosic material to produce a product, the irradiated lignocellulosic material having been produced by exposing a lignocellulosic material to a plurality of electrons that have been accelerated by an electron beam generating device selected from the group consisting of electrostatic generators, cascade generators, transformer generators, low energy accelerators with a scanning system, low energy accelerators with a linear cathode, linear accelerators, and pulsed accelerators to provide the lignocellulosic material with a radiation dose of greater than 10 Mrad, wherein the electrons contact the lignocellulosic material in the form of a shower.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.