Biphasic supercritical carbon dioxide-water pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9637765-B2
Application number	US-201113638338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2011
Priority date	Mar 30, 2010
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A process for pretreatment of a biomass material, comprising subjecting a biomass material to a biphasic mixture of water and supercritical CO 2 at a temperature in the range of 150° C. to 250° C. under high pressure for a time of from 10 seconds to 100 minutes. In particular embodiments, the process is performed as a two-stage temperature process wherein an initial short high-temperature stage is conducted at a temperature of at least 200° C. for up to 20 minutes and a subsequent longer low-temperature stage is conducted at a temperature of at least 140° C. and up to 190° C. for 10-120 minutes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for pretreatment of a biomass material, comprising subjecting a biomass material to a biphasic mixture of water and supercritical CO 2 under high pressure in a two-stage temperature process wherein an initial short high-temperature stage is conducted at a temperature of at least 200° C. for up to 20 minutes and a subsequent longer low-temperature stage is conducted at a temperature of at least 150° C. and up to 190° C. for 10-120 minutes to provide a pre-treated biomass material, and subjecting the pre-treated biomass material to enzymatic hydrolysis to produce monosaccharides, wherein said enzymatic hydrolysis results in a sugar yield of at least 50% and a furfural yield of no more than 20%.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein said high pressure is at least 74 bar.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said high pressure is 150-225 bar.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said high pressure is 190-210 bar.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biomass material is selected from the group consisting of hardwood, softwood, grass, hull material, paper products, and combinations thereof.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein said grass is comprised of a perennial grass.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein said perennial grass is selected from switchgrass, big bluestem, miscanthus, alfalfa, orchard grass, and reed canarygrass.

8. The process of claim 5 , wherein said hull material is comprised of corn stover.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biomass material is a mixture of biomass materials.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biphasic mixture is formed by first mixing said biomass material with water to obtain a slurry having a moisture content of at least 10% and not more than 85%, and providing liquid or supercritical CO 2 to said slurry in a closed reactor.

11. The process of claim 10 , wherein said moisture content is not more than 80%.

12. The process of claim 10 , wherein said moisture content is not more than 60%.

13. The process of claim 10 , wherein said slurry has a solids content of at least 20 wt %.

14. The process of claim 10 , wherein said slurry has a solids content of at least 40 wt %.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biphasic mixture is formed by injecting a mixture of water and carbon dioxide into a reactor containing said biomass material, wherein said biomass, before being contacted with said mixture of carbon dioxide and water, has a moisture content of no more than 10%.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein said moisture content is no more than 5%.

17. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biphasic mixture is formed by injecting a mixture of water and carbon dioxide into a reactor containing said biomass material, wherein said biomass, before being contacted with said mixture of carbon dioxide and water, has a moisture content of no more than 60%.

18. The process of claim 1 , wherein said pre-treatment and said enzymatic hydrolysis are conducted in a reactor in a continuous processing manner.

19. The process of claim 1 , further comprising converting said monosaccharides to ethanol, a liquid alkane biofuel, or a commodity starting material.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein said enzymatic hydrolysis results in a furfural yield of no more than 15%.

21. The process of claim 1 , wherein said enzymatic hydrolysis results in a furfural yield of no more than 10%.

22. The process of claim 1 , wherein said enzymatic hydrolysis results in a furfural yield of no more than 5%.

23. The process of claim 1 , wherein said initial short high-temperature step is conducted at a temperature of at least 210° C. for up to 20 minutes.

24. The process of claim 1 , wherein said longer low-temperature step is conducted at a temperature of at least 150° C. and up to 180° C. for 30-120 minutes.

25. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biomass is a grass, and said initial short high-temperature step is conducted at a temperature of at least 210° C. for up to 5 minutes and said longer low-temperature step is conducted at a temperature of at least 150° C. and up to 180° C. for 30-120 minutes.

26. The process of claim 1 , wherein said enzymatic hydrolysis results in a sugar yield of at least 60%.

Assignees

• Luterbacher Jeremy
• Walker Larry P
• Tester Jefferson W
• Univ Cornell

Inventors

• Luterbacher Jeremy
• Walker Larry P
• Tester Jefferson W

Classifications

• C12P19/02 Primary

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

• Y02E50/16

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• C12P17/04

  containing a five-membered hetero ring, e.g. griseofulvin {, vitamin C} · CPC title

• Y02P20/544

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02E50/17

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic