BIOMASS GASIFICATION AND INTEGRATED PROCESSES FOR MAKING INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS THROUGH AN ACETIC ACID INTERMEDIATE
First Claim
1. An integrated process for producing ethanol from biomass, comprising:
- introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas, wherein the gasifier is operated at a pressure of at least 10 bar;
compressing the product gas at a compression ratio that is less than 5;
1 to form compressed product gas;
directing a first portion of the compressed product gas to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol;
directing a second portion of the compressed product gas to a gas separator to produce a hydrogen stream and a carbon monoxide stream;
reacting the carbon monoxide stream with the methanol to produce acetic acid; and
reacting the hydrogen stream with acetic acid to produce ethanol.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to integrated processes for producing industrial chemicals, such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters, aldehydes, olefins and polymers from biomass. In one embodiment, the invention is to a process comprising the steps of (a) introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas, wherein the gasifier is operated at a pressure of at least 10 bar; (b) compressing the product gas at a compression ratio that is less than 5:1 to form compressed product gas; (c) directing a first portion of the compressed product gas to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol; (d) directing a second portion of the compressed product gas to a gas separator to produce a hydrogen stream and a carbon monoxide stream; (e) reacting the carbon monoxide stream with the methanol to produce acetic acid; and (f) reacting the hydrogen stream with acetic acid to produce ethanol.
31 Citations
48 Claims
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1. An integrated process for producing ethanol from biomass, comprising:
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introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas, wherein the gasifier is operated at a pressure of at least 10 bar; compressing the product gas at a compression ratio that is less than 5;
1 to form compressed product gas;directing a first portion of the compressed product gas to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol; directing a second portion of the compressed product gas to a gas separator to produce a hydrogen stream and a carbon monoxide stream; reacting the carbon monoxide stream with the methanol to produce acetic acid; and reacting the hydrogen stream with acetic acid to produce ethanol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An integrated process for co-producing acetic acid and ethanol from biomass, comprising:
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introducing biomass and an oxygen stream to a pressurized gasifier and converting the biomass into a product gas having a hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of less than 1.8;
1, wherein the product gas is not subjected to a water gas shift reaction;separating a first portion of the product gas into a hydrogen stream and a carbon monoxide stream; directing a second portion of the product gas and a first portion of the hydrogen stream to an alcohol synthesis reactor to produce methanol; reacting the carbon monoxide stream with the methanol to produce acetic acid; and reacting a second portion of the hydrogen stream with less than 90% of the acetic acid to produce ethanol. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification