Processing biomass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9605287-B2
Application number	US-201615183579-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2016
Priority date	Apr 30, 2008
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

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

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
(a) irradiating a recalcitrant biomass with an electron beam in a recalcitrance-reducing dose, thereby providing a treated biomass material having a reduced recalcitrance, wherein the recalcitrant biomass comprises lignocellulosic, cellulosic or starchy biomass;
(b) converting the treated biomass material having a reduced recalcitrance into a plastic, wherein the plastic is a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) obtained by culturing said treated biomass with Alcaligenes eutrophus bacteria; and
(c) obtaining said plastic.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recalcitrant-reducing dose comprises a total dosage of between about 10 Mrad and about 100 Mrad.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein treating further comprises an additional step selected from sonication, oxidation, pyrolyzing, or steam-explosion.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method generates at least one of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate and poly-β-hydroxyvalerate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recalcitrant biomass comprises cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials.

6. A method comprising:
(a) obtaining a treated biomass having a reduced recalcitrance, wherein the treated biomass is a material obtained from a process comprising irradiating a recalcitrant biomass with an electron beam in a recalcitrance-reducing dose, thereby providing a treated biomass having a reduced recalcitrance, wherein the recalcitrant biomass is a lignocellulosic, cellulosic or starchy biomass;
(b) converting the treated biomass material having a reduced recalcitrance into a plastic, wherein plastic is a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) produced by culturing the treated biomass with Alcaligenes eutrophus bacteria; and
(c) obtaining said plastic.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the method generates at least one of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate and poly-β-hydroxyvalerate.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the recalcitrant biomass comprises cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials.

Assignees

• Xyleco Inc

Inventors

• Medoff Marshall

Classifications

• Y02A40/818

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