PROCESS FOR BIOMASS CONVERSION

• US 20100297704A1
• Filed: 02/18/2010
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rongxiu Li
• Original Assignee: Rongxiu Li
• Inventors: LI, Rongxiu
• Application Number:
  US12/707,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20100297704A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/72
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 19/14 produced by the action of a carbohydrase (EC 3.2.x), e.g. by alpha-amylase , e.g. by cellulase, hemicellulase
• CPC Class Codes: D21C 1/04 with acid reacting compounds
• CPC Class Codes: D21C 5/00 Other processes for obtaining cellulose, e.g. cooking cotton linters obtaining fibres for spinning D01C; Processes characterised by the choice of cellulose-containing starting materials

Abstract

The present invention relates to a clean process of preparing high grade biomass products, and their use in the production of health care products, bio-energy products, biochemicals, bio-originated chemicals and biodegradable plastics.

Claims

1. A process for converting biomass into soluble and insoluble fractions, said process comprising:

(i) incubating the biomass with an aqueous acidic liquor;

(ii) separating the acidic liquor from the resulting solid residue of the biomass, wherein the acidic liquor contains the soluble fraction and the solid residue contains the insoluble fraction; and

(iii) collecting the products of the biomass conversion.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said incubation with the acidic liquor produces a soluble product, or a combination of products, separated from the biomass and dissolved in the acidic liquor.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the acidic liquor is recovered after step (ii) for reuse.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein said biomass comprises a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein said biomass is selected from the group consisting of woody plants, gramineous plants, and herbage plants, or a combination thereof.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein said biomass is converted to products selected from the group comprising of cellulose, hemicellulose, xylose polymer, xylose oligomer, xylose monomer, glucose, lignin, and other lignocellulosic products, or a combination thereof.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein said converted products are further converted to bioenergy, biochemicals, or other bulk materials, or a combination thereof.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein said acidic liquor in step (i) comprises a low-boiling point organic acid or an inorganic (mineral) acid, or a combination thereof.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein said organic acid in step (i) is selected from the group consisting of formic acid, acetic acid, 2-hydroxypropionic acid, propionic acid, acrylic acid, propylene-2-carboxylic acid, n-pentanoic acid, lactic acid, trifluoromethane sulfonic acid, methyl acrylic acid and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), or a combination thereof.

13. The process of claim 10, wherein said inorganic acid in step (i) is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and nitric acid, or a combination thereof.

14. A composition comprising fractions produced by the process of claim 1.

16. The process of claim 1, wherein in step (i) said biomass is incubated with an aqueous acidic liquor comprising 0.1%-100% dilute acid.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein the aqueous acidic liquor comprises 0.1%-5.0% dilute acid.

18. The process of claim 1, wherein in step (i) said biomass is incubated at about 50°

C.-160°

C.

19. The process of claim 1, wherein the soluble products converted from said biomass in step (vi) is glucose with a purity of at least 90%.

20. The process of claim 1, wherein the insoluble products converted from said biomass in step (vi) is lignin with a purity of at least 90%;

37. A process for converting lignocellulosic biomass feedstock into bioenergy, biochemicals, or other bulk materials, the process comprising:

(i) preparing xylose products using the processes of any one of the above claims;

(ii) culturing at least one species of microbes in a broth containing the prepared xylose products;

(iii) fermenting the composition of step (ii); and

(iv) collecting bioenergy, biochemicals, or other bulk materials, or a combination thereof, from the fermentation broth.

38. The process of claim 37, wherein said microbes comprise Pichia pastoris GS115.

39. The process of claim 37, wherein said fermentation of the microbe culture is used for said conversion.

44. A lignocellulosic composition of products produced by the process of claim 37.

48. A lignocellulosic feedstock processing system comprising a set of devices capable of carrying out the process of claim 1.

49. The lignocellulosic feedstock processing system of claim 48, wherein said system further comprises a feedstock handling device and a preconditioner capable of receiving said feedstock from said handling device, wherein said preconditioner is in communication with said set of devices of claim 48.

4. A process for converting biomass into soluble and insoluble products, said process comprising:

(i) incubating the biomass with an aqueous acidic liquor so that a soluble product, or a combination of soluble products, are separated from the biomass and dissolved in the acidic liquor;

(ii) separating the acidic liquor containing the soluble product(s) from the resulting solid residue of the biomass;

(iii) recovering the soluble products from the acidic liquor;

(iv) recovering the acidic liquor from the separated liquid and the solid residue for reuse;

(v) grinding the insoluble solid residue recovered from step (ii) and further hydrolyzing the insoluble solid residue with cellullase enzyme; and

(vi) recovering the resulting soluble products and the insoluble lignin products from steps (ii)-(iii) and the resulting solid residue.

6. A process for converting lignocellulosic biomass feedstock into lignocellulosic products, the process comprising:

(i) incubating the lignocellulosic biomass feedstock with an acidic liquor comprising an acid or a combination of acids so that a soluble product, or a combination of products, are separated from the biomass and dissolved in the acid(s);

(ii) separating the resulting liquid from the resulting solid residue, wherein the liquid contains the soluble lignocellulosic products and the solid residue contains the insoluble lignocellulosic fraction;

(iii) recovering the soluble lignocellulosic products from the separated liquid;

(iv) recovering the acidic liquor from the separated liquid for reuse;

(v) grinding the insoluble lignocellulosic solid fraction recovered in step (iii) and further hydrolyzing the insoluble lignocellulosic solid residue with cellullase enzyme; and

(vi) recovering the resulting soluble products and the insoluble lignin products as in steps (ii)-(iii) and the resulting solid residue.

21. The process of claim 6, wherein said lignocellulosic biomass feedstock comprises fragmentated feedstock.

22. The process of claim 6, wherein said lignocellulosic biomass is capable of passing through about 8-64 mesh filters.

23. The process of claim 6, wherein the weight:

volume ratio of said lignocellulosic biomass feedstock vs. acid is 1;

2-1;

20.

24. The process of claim 6, wherein in step (i) said lignocellulosic biomass feedstock is incubated for 1-16 hours.

27. The process of claim 6, wherein in step (i) said lignocellulosic biomass feedstock is incubated with 0.1%-5% dilute acid at 50°

C.-90°

C. and in step (v) the insoluble lignocellulosic solid fraction is conditioned before grinding at temperature 120°

C.-160°

C.

28. The process of claim 6, wherein the separated liquid in step (iii) contains soluble xylose polymer, xylose oligomer, or xylose monomer, or a combination thereof, in the concentration of at least 90%.

29. The process of claim 27, wherein the insoluble lignoscellulosic solid fraction conditioned in step (v) is heated for 3-6 hours.

30. The process of claim 6, wherein in step (v) said hydrolysis comprises an incubation with cellulase at 10°

C. to 90°

C.

31. The process of claim 6, wherein in step (v) cellulase is used for hydrolysis to produce soluble products comprising glucose, wherein the concentration of produced glucose is at least 90%.

32. The process of claim 6, wherein in step (v) cellulase is used for hydrolysis and the resulting solid residue comprises lignin, wherein the concentration of lignin in said solid residue is at least 90%.

33. The process of claim 6, wherein the recovered lignin products are further converted into lignin-related products.

34. The process of claim 33, wherein the recovered lignin products are heated with or without catalyst to 300°

C.-500°

C.

35. The process of claim 33, wherein the recovered lignin products are heated to 450°

C. under vacuum for 12 hours to produce a resulting liquid comprising at least 5 compounds with a total concentration of at least 75%.

36. The process of claim 33, wherein the recovered lignin products are mixed with Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ as catalyst and heated to 400°

C. under vacuum for 12 hours to produce a resulting liquid comprising at least 5 compounds with a total concentration of at least 79%.

40. A process for converting lignocellulosic biomass feedstock into xylose oligomer, the process comprising:

(i) preparing soluble lignocellulosic products using the process of claim 6; and

(ii) separating xylose oligomers from the soluble lignocellulosic products in step (i).

41. The process of claim 40, wherein said separation is through ethanol precipitation.

42. The process of claim 41, wherein the concentration of ethanol is 30%-90%.

43. The process of claim 40, wherein the average degree of polymerization of xylose oligomers is 1.3-5.6.

45. A lignocellulosic composition comprising at least 90% of xylose polymers, xylose oligomers, xylose monomers, or a combination thereof, produced by the process of claim 6.

46. A lignocellulosic composition comprising at least 90% of glucose, produced by the process of claim 6.

47. A lignocellulosic composition comprising at least 90% of lignin, produced by the process of claim 6.

12. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

25-26. -26. (canceled)