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US 9,783,861 B2Granted
Methods for treating lignocellulosic materials
AssigneeVirdia, Inc.
InventorsRobert Jansen, Philip Travisano, Lee Madsen, Neta Matis, James Alan Lawson, Noa Lapidot, Aharon M. Eyal, Timothy Allen Bauer, Ziv-Vladimir Belman, Bassem Hallac, Michael Zviely
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods of processing lignocellulosic material to obtain hemicellulose sugars, cellulose sugars, lignin, cellulose and other high-value products. Also provided are hemicellulose sugars, cellulose sugars, lignin, cellulose, and other high-value products.
Claims32
A method of producing high purity lignin from a biomass, comprising:
- (i) removing an acidic hemicellulose sugar stream from the biomass, thereby obtaining a lignin-containing remainder;
- wherein the lignin-containing remainder comprises lignin and cellulose;
- (ii) contacting the lignin-containing remainder with a lignin extraction solution to produce a lignin extract and a cellulosic remainder;
- wherein the lignin extraction solution comprises a limited-solubility solvent, an organic acid, and water;
- (iii) separating the lignin extract from the cellulosic remainder;
- wherein the lignin extract comprises lignin dissolved in the lignin extraction solution, and wherein the limited-solubility solvent and the water form an organic phase and an aqueous phase;
- (iv) removing the organic phase from the lignin extract, thereby obtaining a lignin-containing organic stream;
- wherein the lignin-containing organic stream comprises the limited-solubility solvent and the lignin;
- (v) washing the cellulosic remainder with the limited-solubility solvent and with new water, thereby obtaining cellulose pulp;
- (vi) contacting the cellulose pulp with an acid to produce an acidic hydrolysate stream comprising cellulose sugars;
- (vii) contacting the acidic hydrolysate stream comprising the acid and one or more cellulose sugars with an S1 solvent extractant to form a first mixture;
- (viii) separating from the first mixture an organic stream comprising the acid and the S1 solvent extractant and an aqueous stream comprising the one or more cellulose sugars;
- (ix) evaporating the aqueous stream comprising the one or more cellulose sugars to form a concentrated aqueous stream;
- (x) contacting the concentrated aqueous stream with the S1 solvent extractant to form a second mixture;
- and
- (xi) separating from the second mixture a second organic stream comprising the acid and the S1 solvent extractant, and a second aqueous stream comprising the one or more cellulose sugars.
13 more elements
A method of producing high purity lignin from a biomass, comprising:
- (i) removing an acidic hemicellulose sugar stream from the biomass, thereby obtaining a lignin-containing remainder;
- wherein the lignin-containing remainder comprises lignin and cellulose;
- (ii) contacting the lignin-containing remainder with a lignin extraction solution to produce a lignin extract and a cellulosic remainder;
- wherein the lignin extraction solution comprises a limited-solubility solvent, an organic acid, and water;
- (iii) separating the lignin extract from the cellulosic remainder;
- wherein the lignin extract comprises lignin dissolved in the lignin extraction solution, and wherein the limited-solubility solvent and the water form an organic phase and an aqueous phase;
- and
- (iv) contacting the organic phase with a strong acid cation exchanger to remove residual cations, thereby obtaining a purified lignin extract.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.