Use of metal salts and deep eutectic solvents in a process to solubilize a biomass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12241104-B2
Application number	US-202117220846-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2021
Priority date	Apr 1, 2020
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

The present invention also provides for a method to deconstruct a biomass: the method comprising: (a) introducing a solvent to a biomass to dissolve at least part of solid biomass in the solvent, wherein the solvent comprises (i) a metal salt, and (ii) an ionic liquid (IL) or deep eutectic solvent (DES), or mixture thereof, to form a solubilized biomass mixture; (b) optionally introducing an enzyme and/or a microbe to the composition such that the enzyme and/or microbe produce a biofuel and/or chemical compound from the solubilized biomass; and, (c) optionally the biofuel and/or chemical compound is separated from the composition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to produce a biofuel or chemical compound from a biomass, the method comprising: (a) introducing a biomass and a metal-based deep eutectic solvent (mDES), or mixture thereof, into a vessel to form a composition, wherein the biomass forms 20% to 50% solid loading of the composition and the mDES, or mixture thereof, solubilizes the biomass; and, (b) introducing a cellulase to the composition to release a sugar from the solubilized biomass; wherein the introducing step (b) produces a sugar yield of about 90% or more.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mDES further comprises: (a) a metal halide; and, (b) a polyol or amine.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the metal halide is a metal chloride.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metal halide is a transition metal chloride.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transition metal chloride is ZnCl 2 , CuCl 2 , FeCl 3 , CoCl 2 , NbCl 5 , AlCl 3 , NiCl 2 , or CrCl 3 .

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polyol is a glycol.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the glycol is ethylene glycol.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the amine is 1,2-diaminopropane, 1,3-diaminopropane, diethylenetriamine, putrescine, cadaverine, ethylenediamine, 2-methylethanolamine, 1-amino-2-propanol, bis(3-aminopropyl)amine, morpholine, or ethanolamine.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the mDES comprises a 1:4 molar ratio of ZnCl 2 :ethylene glycol.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein the mDES comprises a 1:4 molar ratio of ZnCl 2 :glycerol.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the mDES comprises a ZnCl 2 molar concentration having a range from 2.44% to 20%.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein the biomass and mDES composition of step (a) comprises a ZnCl 2 molar concentration having a range from 2% to 16%.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition of step (a) has a temperature of from about 100° C. to about 212° C.

14. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising: (c) introducing a microbe to the composition such that the microbe consumes the sugar released from the introducing step (b) to produce a biofuel or chemical compound, and (d) the biofuel or chemical compound is separated from the composition.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the introducing step (a) results in formation of an aqueous layer comprising the sugar and an mDES layer comprising lignin; and the method further comprises: (c) separating the aqueous layer from the mDES layer.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the biomass forms 20% to 35% solid loading of the composition.

Assignees

• Univ California
• National Tech And Engineering Solutions Of Sandia Llc
• Nat Tech & Eng Solutions Sandia Llc

Inventors

• Das Lalitendu
• CHOUDHARY Hemant
• Gladden John M
• Simmons Blake A

Classifications

• C12P19/02

  Monosaccharides (2-ketogulonic acid C12P7/60) · CPC title

• C12P2201/00

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

• C12P7/10

  substrate containing cellulosic material · CPC title

• C12P7/06

  Ethanol, i.e. non-beverage · CPC title

• Y02E50/10

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