Processing biomass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9309545-B2
Application number	US-201414333675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2014
Priority date	Apr 30, 2008
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, microbial, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as food products and amino acids.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing to an animal an electron beam irradiated, densified animal feed, the method comprising:
changing the molecular structure of polysaccharides of a biomass comprising polysaccharides in the form of cellulose, hemicellulose, or starch, by exposing the unprocessed biomass to at least 5.0 Mrad of radiation provided by multiple treatments with one or more electron beam devices, where at least one of the electron beam devices operates at a power of at least 5 kW, to produce a processed biomass in which the polysaccharides have a number average molecular weight of from about 3,000 and 50,000 Daltons, the processed biomass having a nutrient availability of protein or amino acid, greater than the nutrient availability of protein or amino acid in the untreated biomass,
wherein nutrient availability is determined by feeding equal amounts of the processed and unprocessed biomass to at least two distinct groups of one or more animals, and comparing fecal loss of protein or amino acid for the at least two distinct groups of one or more animals,
densifying the processed biomass to produce an animal feed, and
providing the animal feed to an animal for consumption by the animal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the animal is a human.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the processed biomass is a feed material for use in agriculture.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the animal feed further comprises an enzyme.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more electron beam devices has a power of at least 10 kW.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more electron beam devices has a power of at least 20 kW.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more electron beam has a power of at least 50 kW.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more electron beam devices has a power of at least 100 kW.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more electron beam devices applies electron beam radiation to the biomass at a dose rate of greater than 1 Mrad/s.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the dose rate is from about 1 Mrad/s to about 10 Mrad/s.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposing comprises moving the unprocessed biomass past the one or more electron beam devices or multiple times to obtain the multiple treatments with the one or more electron beam devices.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the exposing the unprocessed material to said multiple treatments comprises moving the unprocessed biomass past the one or more electron beam devices multiple times by a feedstock transport device transporting the unprocessed biomass material in a first direction past the one or more electron beam devices to obtain a first pass biomass material, then transporting the first-pass biomass material in a second direction reverse of the first direction thereby producing said processed biomass.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the unprocessed biomass comprises a lignocellulosic material.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the lignocellulosic material is selected from the group consisting of grasses, rice hulls, bagasse, jute, hemp, flax, bamboo, sisal, abaca, straw, corncobs, corn stover, alfalfa, hay, coconut hair, seaweed, algae, and mixtures thereof.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the lignocellulosic material comprises corn cobs and/or corn stover.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the processed biomass comprises lignin.

Assignees

• Xyleco Inc

Inventors

• Medoff Marshall

Classifications

• A61P31/04

  Antibacterial agents · CPC title

• A61K8/9789

  Magnoliopsida [dicotyledons] · CPC title

• C12P2201/00

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

• C12P13/04

  Alpha- or beta- amino acids {(other amino acids C12P13/005)} · CPC title

• A23L5/36

  using irradiation with frequencies of more than 10 MHz · CPC title