Method of obtaining inorganic salt and acetate salt from cellulosic biomass
First Claim
1. A process, comprising:
- a) pretreating the cellulosic biomass by adding a base to the cellulosic biomass to produce a pretreated cellulosic biomass comprising the acetate salt;
b) adding an acid to the pretreated cellulosic biomass to adjust the pretreated cellulosic biomass to a pH of 4.0 to 6.0, thereby producing a neutralized cellulosic biomass;
c) hydrolyzing the neutralized cellulosic biomass with cellulase enzymes to produce a crude sugar stream;
d) separating insoluble residue from the crude sugar stream to produce a clarified sugar stream; and
e) feeding an aqueous stream obtained from the pretreated cellulosic biomass, an aqueous stream obtained from the neutralized cellulosic biomass, the clarified sugar stream, or a combination thereof, to an ion exclusion chromatographic separation to produce the salt stream comprising inorganic salt and acetate salt, which ion exclusion separation is performed at a pH range between 5.0 and 10.0 using a cation exchange resin.
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Abstract
A process for obtaining inorganic salt and acetate salt from cellulosic biomass is disclosed. The cellulosic biomass is pretreated by adding one or more than one acid or base to produce a pretreated cellulosic biomass comprising acetic acid or acetate salt. One or more than one base or acid is then added to the pretreated cellulosic biomass to adjust the pretreated cellulosic biomass to a pH of about 4.0 to about 6.0 to produce a neutralized cellulosic biomass comprising inorganic salt and acetate salt. The neutralized biomass is then hydrolyzed by cellulase enzymes to produce a sugar stream. Streams arising from the processing of the cellulosic biomass to sugar are subjected to ion exclusion chromatography performed at pH 5.0 to about 10.0 to produce a stream comprising an inorganic salt and an acetate salt.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A process, comprising:
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a) pretreating the cellulosic biomass by adding a base to the cellulosic biomass to produce a pretreated cellulosic biomass comprising the acetate salt; b) adding an acid to the pretreated cellulosic biomass to adjust the pretreated cellulosic biomass to a pH of 4.0 to 6.0, thereby producing a neutralized cellulosic biomass; c) hydrolyzing the neutralized cellulosic biomass with cellulase enzymes to produce a crude sugar stream; d) separating insoluble residue from the crude sugar stream to produce a clarified sugar stream; and e) feeding an aqueous stream obtained from the pretreated cellulosic biomass, an aqueous stream obtained from the neutralized cellulosic biomass, the clarified sugar stream, or a combination thereof, to an ion exclusion chromatographic separation to produce the salt stream comprising inorganic salt and acetate salt, which ion exclusion separation is performed at a pH range between 5.0 and 10.0 using a cation exchange resin. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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2. A process for obtaining ethanol or butanol by processing a cellulosic biomass, the process comprising:
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a) pretreating the cellulosic biomass by adding a base to the cellulosic biomass to produce a pretreated cellulosic biomass comprising acetate salt; b) adding an acid to the pretreated cellulosic biomass to adjust the pretreated cellulosic biomass to a pH of 4.0 to 6.0, thereby producing a neutralized cellulosic biomass comprising inorganic salt; c) hydrolyzing the neutralized cellulosic biomass with cellulase enzymes to produce a crude sugar stream; d) separating insoluble residue from the crude sugar stream to produce a clarified sugar stream; e) feeding the clarified sugar stream to an ion exclusion chromatographic separation to produce a salt stream comprising inorganic salt and acetate salt and a purified sugar stream, which ion exclusion separation is performed at a pH range between 5.0 and 10.0 using a cation exchange resin; f) fermenting the purified sugar stream to produce ethanol or butanol in a fermentation broth; and g) isolating the ethanol or butanol produced in step (f).
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Specification