Biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, temperature control method thereof, and organic raw material production system using biomass material

A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus body that brings a solid biomass material into counter contact with a pressurized hot water and hydrothermally decomposes the solid biomass material so as to dissolve hot-water soluble fractions of the solid biomass material into the hot water;
• a biomass material inlet that supplies the solid biomass material into the apparatus body, the biomass material inlet being provided on one side of the apparatus body;
• a pressurized hot water inlet that supplies the pressurized hot water into the apparatus body, the pressurized hot water inlet being provided on other side of the apparatus body;
• a biomass solid outlet that discharges a biomass solid of the solid biomass material, the biomass solid outlet being provided on the other side of the apparatus body;
• a hot-water effluent outlet that discharges the hot-water soluble fractions as a hot-water effluent, the hot-water effluent outlet being provided on the one side of the apparatus body;
• a plurality of pairs of an internal-temperature maintaining unit and a first temperature measuring unit that are provided between the pressurized hot water inlet and the hot-water effluent outlet of the apparatus body to form an effective reaction region, each of the internal-temperature maintaining units of the plurality of pairs feeding a heating medium via a heating medium valve so as to maintain a temperature of the pressurized hot water, the internal temperature maintaining unit and the first temperature measuring unit of each of the pairs being provided at the same level with respect to a vertical direction of the apparatus body;
• a plurality of pairs of an internal-temperature cooling unit and a second temperature measuring unit that are provided between the pressurized hot water inlet and the hot-water effluent outlet of the apparatus body to form a temperature drop region and a gradual cooling region, each of the internal-temperature cooling units of the plurality of pairs feeding a cooling medium via a cooling medium valve so as to rapidly drop a temperature of the pressurized hot water, the pairs of the internal temperature cooling unit and the second temperature measuring unit of each of the pairs being provided at the same level with respect to the vertical direction of the apparatus body;
• and
• a controller that controls the heating medium valves and the cooling medium valves based on a series of temperature measurement results obtained by the first and second temperature measuring units to form the effective reaction region and the temperature drop region, wherein
• the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus is a vertical apparatus,
• in the effective reaction region, the solid biomass material is hydrothermally dissolved and a lignin component and a hemicellulose component are transferred from the solid biomass material into the pressurized hot water,
• in the temperature drop region excessive decomposition of the hemicellulose component is suppressed, and
• the effective reaction region, the temperature drop region and the gradual cooling region are sequentially formed in the apparatus body from the pressurized hot water inlet to the hot-water effluent outlet.