PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOFUEL FROM PLANT MATERIALS
First Claim
1. A process for the treatment of plant material, comprising:
- (a) contacting a continuous flow of the plant material with a co-current or counter-current continuous flow of an aqueous ethanol solution at a first elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to produce plant pulp material and a mixture comprising ethanol, ethanol-soluble lignin and water, wherein the plant pulp material is depleted of lignin and has a high concentration of cellulose;
(b) separating the plant pulp material from the mixture and recovering the ethanol-soluble lignin from the mixture;
(c) contacting the plant pulp material with water at a second elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to remove hemicellulose sugars from the plant pulp material;
(d) separating the water from the plant pulp material and recovering water-soluble sugars, acetic acid and/or furfural from the water; and
(e) contacting the resulting plant pulp material with;
(i) an aqueous solution comprising cellulase, β
-glucosidase and temperature-tolerant yeast, (ii) yeast growth media, and (iii) buffer, whereby cellulose present in the plant pulp material is hydrolyzed to glucose.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated process for the production of ethanol from woody plant material is provided, the process comprising: contacting a continuous flow of the plant material with a counter-current continuous flow of an aqueous ethanol solution at elevated temperature and pressure to provide plant material depleted of lignin; removing ethanol from the lignin-depleted plant material; contacting a continuous flow of the lignin-depleted plant material with water at elevated temperature and pressure to solubilize xylose within the plant material; and hydrolyzing cellulose present in the plant material to form glucose, which in turn is fermented to produce ethanol.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A process for the treatment of plant material, comprising:
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(a) contacting a continuous flow of the plant material with a co-current or counter-current continuous flow of an aqueous ethanol solution at a first elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to produce plant pulp material and a mixture comprising ethanol, ethanol-soluble lignin and water, wherein the plant pulp material is depleted of lignin and has a high concentration of cellulose; (b) separating the plant pulp material from the mixture and recovering the ethanol-soluble lignin from the mixture; (c) contacting the plant pulp material with water at a second elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to remove hemicellulose sugars from the plant pulp material; (d) separating the water from the plant pulp material and recovering water-soluble sugars, acetic acid and/or furfural from the water; and (e) contacting the resulting plant pulp material with;
(i) an aqueous solution comprising cellulase, β
-glucosidase and temperature-tolerant yeast, (ii) yeast growth media, and (iii) buffer, whereby cellulose present in the plant pulp material is hydrolyzed to glucose. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An integrated process for the treatment of plant material, comprising:
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(a) contacting the plant material with an aqueous ethanol solution at a first elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to produce plant pulp material and a mixture comprising ethanol, ethanol-soluble lignin and water, wherein the plant pulp material is depleted of lignin and has a high concentration of cellulose; (b) separating the plant pulp material from the mixture and recovering the ethanol-soluble lignin from the mixture; (c) contacting the plant pulp material with water at a second elevated temperature and pressure for a period of time sufficient to remove hemicellulose sugars from the plant pulp material; and (d) separating the water from the plant pulp material and recovering water soluble sugar, acetic acid and/or furfural from the water. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for propagating plants of a Salix species, the method comprising:
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(a) culturing at least one shoot of a first plant selected from the group consisting of Salix species and collecting at least one cutting from the shoot, wherein the cutting contains at least one node; and (b) cultivating the cutting in a composition for a period of time sufficient to form a second plant, wherein the composition comprises benzyladenine, activated charcoal and at least one medium selected from the group consisting of;
Murashige and Skoog medium and McCown Woody Plant medium. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification