Biomass fractionation process for bioproducts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10801051-B2
Application number	US-201715407378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2017
Priority date	Nov 13, 2009
Publication date	Oct 13, 2020
Grant date	Oct 13, 2020

Abstract

A fractionation process for producing value-added products from a lignocellulosic biomass, comprises: a) mechanically refining the lignocellulosic biomass under mild refining conditions to form a refined biomass pulp with enhanced susceptibility to separation of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin, and enhanced digestibility of carbohydrates in hydrolysis b) separating hemicellulose and sulfur-free high-quality lignin from cellulose in the refined biomass, and, optionally c) producing various bioproducts from the above said process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mechanical fractionation process for producing lignin and sugar from a lignocellulosic biomass comprising lignin and carbohydrates, the process comprising the steps of:
i) mechanically refining the lignocellulosic biomass in a mechanical refiner under refining conditions to disintegrate and reduce the particle size of the lignocellulosic biomass and form a refined biomass comprising said lignin and carbohydrates, said refining conditions being carried out at a refining energy of 720 to 4320 MJ/t (200 to 1200 kWh/t) and a pressure of 100 to 600 kPa (1-6 bars);
ii) enzymatically hydrolysing carbohydrates in the refined biomass to sugars to form a mass comprising a sugar fraction and a lignin fraction;
iii) separating the lignin fraction from the sugar fraction, and
iv) recovering said lignin fraction and recovering said sugar fraction.

2. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising v) fermenting said sugar fraction to form sugar bioproducts selected from biofuels, sugar alcohols and sugar acids.

3. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of biological or chemical treatment of the lignocellulosic biomass.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein the treatment is a chemical treatment and is after step i).

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein said lignocellulosic biomass has a particle size range 0.1 mm to 100 mm.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step ii) comprises enzymatically hydrolysing cellulose in the refined biomass to sugars.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step i) is carried out at 1080 MJ/t to 2520 MJ/t (300 to 700 kWh/t) and 200 to 400 kPa (2 to 4 bars).

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step i) is carried out at a biomass consistency of 20% to 50% by weight.

9. The process according to claim 7 , wherein step i) is carried out at a biomass consistency of 20% to 50% by weight.

10. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising a chemical treatment prior to step i) to facilitate the separation of the refined biomass in the subsequent hydrolyzing and separating steps.

11. The process according to claim 4 , further comprising a chemical treatment prior to step i) to facilitate the separation of the refined biomass in the subsequent hydrolyzing and separating steps.

12. The process of claim 9 , further comprising a step of extracting a hemicellulose fraction from the refined biomass of step i) to leave a residual biomass containing lignin, and recovering the hemicellulose fraction as a product.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein said enzymatically hydrolyzing is at a temperature of 10° C. to 80° C.

14. The process of claim 4 , wherein said enzymatically hydrolyzing is at a temperature of 10° C. to 80° C.

Assignees

• Fpinnovations

Inventors

• Yuan Zhirun
• Browne Thomas Carl
• Zhang Xiao

Classifications

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title

• C12P2201/00

  Pretreatment of cellulosic or lignocellulosic material for subsequent enzymatic treatment or hydrolysis · CPC title

• C12P19/14 Primary

  produced by the action of a carbohydrase {(EC 3.2.x)}, e.g. by alpha-amylase {, e.g. by cellulase, hemicellulase} · CPC title

• C12P17/06

  containing a six-membered hetero ring, e.g. fluorescein · CPC title

• C12P19/04

  Polysaccharides, i.e. compounds containing more than five saccharide radicals attached to each other by glycosidic bonds · CPC title