Systems and methods for enhancing microbial conversion of biomass using mechanical augmentation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10533194-B2
Application number	US-201514968765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Jun 14, 2013
Publication date	Jan 14, 2020
Grant date	Jan 14, 2020

Abstract

A system and method for converting biomass with no chemical pretreatment is disclosed. Combination of a microbial system and the use of mechanical disruption during fermentation may help achieve high conversion rate without the extra cost and undesirable by-products typically associated with the pretreatment process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for converting biomass into ethanol or other products, said method comprising, in sequential order:
a) adding said biomass and at least one microorganism to a reactor to form a suspension comprising said biomass and said at least one microorganism,
b) fermenting said biomass with the at least one microorganism to form a first fermented product comprising fermented biomass and the at least one microorganism, which is a lignocellulosic particle-containing slurry in the reactor,
c) mechanically disrupting said first fermented product of step (b), wherein the mechanically disrupting comprises mechanical milling,
d) fermenting the mechanically disrupted product of step (c) in the reactor of step (b),
wherein said steps (b)-(d) are repeated N times before obtaining said ethanol or other products, N being an integer equal to or greater than 1.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein no reinoculation of said at least one microorganism is included.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reactor is operated in batch or continuous mode.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanically disrupting is performed with a disrupting device external to the reactor, wherein the method comprises a step of withdrawing the lignocellulosic particle-containing slurry from the reactor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reactor is a closed reactor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein more than 60% of sugar in said biomass is solubilized after said biomass is fermented for 5-day in each of steps (b) and (d).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one microorganism is at least one member selected from the group consisting of Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium claraflavum, Clostridium cellulolyticum, Caldicellusiruptor bescii, Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum, Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum and combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method does not utilize yeast or purified cellulase.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein no chemical treatment is applied to said biomass prior to step (b) to increase the accessibility of said biomass to said at least one microorganism.

Assignees

• Dartmouth College

Inventors

• Lynd Lee R
• Paye Julie M D
• Balch Michael

Classifications

• C12P7/10 Primary

  substrate containing cellulosic material · CPC title

• C12M45/02

  by mechanical forces; Stirring; Trituration; Comminuting (crushing, pulverizing, disintegrating in general B02C) · CPC title

• C12P2203/00

  Fermentation products obtained from optionally pretreated or hydrolyzed cellulosic or lignocellulosic material as the carbon source · CPC title

• C12M21/12 Primary

  for producing fuels or solvents (C12M21/04 takes precedence; liquid carbonaceous fuels C10L1/00, solid fuels C10L5/00) · CPC title

• C12P7/065

  with microorganisms other than yeasts · CPC title