Use of polyamines in the pretreatment of biomass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12492155-B2
Application number	US-202318393900-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2023
Priority date	Dec 11, 2020
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

The present invention provides for a method to deconstruct a biomass: the method comprising: (a) introducing a solvent comprising a polyamine, or a mixture of polyamines, to a biomass to dissolve at least part of solid biomass in the solvent, wherein the polyamine is a Brønsted or Lewis base, and/or the polyamine is a hydrogen bond donor and/or acceptor; (b) optionally introducing an enzyme and/or a microbe to the solubilized biomass mixture such that the enzyme and/or microbe produces a sugar from the solubilized biomass mixture; (c) optionally separating the sugar from the solubilized biomass mixture; and (d) optionally separating the lignan from the solubilized biomass mixture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method to deconstruct a biomass, the method comprising: (a) introducing a solvent comprising a polyamine to a biomass to dissolve at least part of solid biomass in the solvent, wherein the polyamine is a Brønsted or Lewis base, and/or the polyamine is a hydrogen bond donor and/or acceptor; wherein the polyamine lacks an oxygen atom.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising separating the polyamine from the solubilized biomass mixture by distillation.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the polyamine has the chemical structure:

wherein X is C or N; and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , and R 4 , are each indepedently —H, —NH 2 , alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, alkyl amine, alkenyl amine, alkynyl amine, or aryl amine.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the solvent has a viscosity having a value equal to or less than about 50 cP at a temperature of about 90° C.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the solvent has a boiling point having a value equal to or less than about 200° C.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the polyamine is diamine, triamine, 1,5-diaminopentane, 1,4-diaminobutane, 1,3-diaminopropane, 1,2-diaminoethane, 1,2-diaminopropane, and 1,4-diaminobutane, ethylenediamine (ethane-1,2-diamine), diethylenetriamine, 1,3-diaminopropane (trimethylenediamine), 1,4-diaminobutane (putrescine), 1,5-diaminopentane (cadaverine), 1,2-diaminopropane, spermine (N1, N1′-(butane-1,4-diyl)bis(propane-1,3-diamine)), spermidine (N1-(3-aminopropyl)butane-1,4-diamine), 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine, diethylenetriamine, spermine, or a mixture thereof.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the polyamine has a longest chain having 2 to 20 nitrogen atoms.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the polyamine has a longest chain having 2 to 15 nitrogen atoms.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the polyamine has a longest chain having 2 to 10 nitrogen atoms.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the polyamine has a longest chain having 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 nitrogen atoms.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the polyamine has a longest chain having 2, 3, or 4 nitrogen atoms.

Assignees

• Univ California
• Nat Tech & Eng Solutions Sandia Llc

Inventors

• Achinivu Ezinne
• Mohan Mood
• CHOUDHARY Hemant
• Das Lalitendu
• Pidatala Venkataramana R
• Magurudeniya Harsha D
• Huang kaixuan
• Gladden John M
• Simmons Blake A

Classifications

• C12P19/14

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

• C12P2201/00

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

• C07G1/00

  Low-molecular-weight derivatives of lignin (high-molecular-weight derivatives of lignin {C08H6/00}) · CPC title

• C07C7/08 Primary

  by extractive distillation · CPC title

• C12P19/02 Primary

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