FRACTIONATED EXTRACTIVE PRODUCTS FROM PLANT BIOMASS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING SAME

• US 20130244293A1
• Filed: 05/02/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Board of Trustees of Michigan State University (Michigan State University)
• Original Assignee: The Board of Trustees of Michigan State University (Michigan State University)
• Inventors: Balan, Venkatesh, Chundawat, Shishir, Dale, Bruce E., Sousa, Leonardo, Cheh, Albert
• Application Number:
  US13/886,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20130244293A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/99
• CPC Class Codes: C07G 1/00 Lignin; Lignin derivatives
• CPC Class Codes: C08B 15/00 Preparation of other cellulose derivatives or modified cellulose , e.g. complexes
• CPC Class Codes: C08B 37/0057 beta-D-Xylans, i.e. xylosaccharide, e.g. arabinoxylan, arabinofuronan, pentosans; (beta-1,3)(beta-1,4)-D-Xylans, e.g. rhodymenans; Hemicellulose; Derivatives thereof
• CPC Class Codes: C08H 6/00 Macromolecular compounds derived from lignin, e.g. tannins, humic acids
• CPC Class Codes: C08H 8/00 Macromolecular compounds derived from lignocellulosic materials pretreatment thereof B27N
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 97/005 Lignin
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 197/005 Lignin
• CPC Class Codes: C09J 197/005 Lignin
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 5/44 on vegetable substances
• 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

Abstract

A method is provided comprising converting at least a portion of native cellulose I_β to cellulose III_I by treating plant biomass with liquid ammonia and/or one or more organic solvents to produce a treated plant biomass containing lignin and a lignin fraction; and extracting lignin and/or other plant cell wall components from the lignin fraction to produce a lignin extract capable of being fractionated. In one embodiment, the lignin extract is fractionated into separate components which are useful in a variety of applications.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

converting at least a portion of native cellulose I_β

to cellulose III_I by treating plant biomass with liquid ammonia and/or one or more organic solvents to produce a treated plant biomass containing lignin and a lignin fraction; and

extracting lignin and/or other plant cell wall components from the lignin fraction to produce a lignin extract capable of being fractionated.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein substantially all of the native cellulose I_β

is converted to cellulose III_I, further wherein β

-aryl ether bonds in the lignin are preserved.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the other cell wall components are selected from hemicellulose, arabinan, and combinations and degradation products thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the plant biomass is a monocot or dicot.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the extracting step is a pretreatment step.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the plant biomass comprises untreated plant biomass.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the extracting step is performed simultaneously with a pretreatment step.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the pretreatment step comprises liquid ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) pretreatment or gaseous AFEX pretreatment.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the gaseous AFEX pretreatment step is a packed bed-AFEX (PB-AFEX) pretreatment step.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the plant biomass comprises one or more densified biomass particulates.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid ammonia is selected from anhydrous ammonia, concentrated ammonia, dilute ammonium hydroxide and combinations thereof an the one or more organic solvents are selected from an alcohol, a ketone, an ester, and aromatic and any combinations thereof.

12. A product made according the process of claim 1.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the extracted lignin and/or other plant cell wall components are converted to resins, polymers, biofuels, biochemicals, heat and/or electricity.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises fractionating at least a portion of the lignin extract into four individual fractions based on differences in solubility in one or more polar or non-polar solvents and water.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said polar solvents comprise water, alcohol and combinations thereof and said non-polar solvents comprise hexane, toluene and combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the four individual fractions comprise an alcohol insoluble/water soluble fraction (F1), an alcohol insoluble/water insoluble fraction (F2), an alcohol soluble and water insoluble fraction (F3) and an alcohol soluble and water soluble fraction (F4).

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the alcohol is ethanol.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein F1 contains primarily minerals and F2 contains primarily oligomeric sugars, wherein F1 and F2 are both useful as a fertilizer.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein up to about 44% of the lignin in the plant biomass is extracted.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein F3 comprises at least 92% lignin and up to 32% of the lignin extracted from the plant biomass is from fraction F3.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein F3 has a mineral content less than 0.18% by weight and is useful in catalytic transformation using hydrogenation reactions.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein F3 contains primarily low molecular weight lignin components which are useful as antimicrobial agents in paints, adhesive binders and coatings.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising reducing the low molecular weight lignin components using catalytic hydrogenation.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein F4 contains primarily lignin degraded products together with oligomeric sugars, wherein F4 is useful as a polymer precursor.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the treated plant biomass is hydrolyzed to produce an insoluble lignin fraction (F5) and a hydrolyzed monomeric sugar fraction containing lignin (F6).

26. The method of claim 25 wherein fraction F5 is further processed to produce substantially pure lignin.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the substantially pure lignin is useful in carbon fiber production or energy generation.

28. A product made according to the process of claim 14.

29. A reactor system comprising:

a reactor adapted to convert native cellulose I_β

to cellulose III_I by treating plant biomass with liquid ammonia and/or one or more organic solvents to produce a treated plant biomass containing lignin and a lignin fraction and extract lignin and/or other plant cell wall components from the lignin fraction to produce a lignin extract; and

a monitoring system to monitor the reactor.