System for fermentation of biomass for the production of ethanol
First Claim
1. A method for producing a fermentation product in a fermentation system from a biomass comprising the steps of:
- (i) pre-treating the biomass with an aqueous composition comprising an effective concentration of acid for reducing formation of inhibitors at a temperature of about 130°
C. to about 170°
C. for a period of time sufficient to produce a solids component and an aqueous component, which aqueous component comprises xylose and acetic acid;
(ii) supplying the aqueous component to the fermentation system;
(iii) providing yeast to the fermentation system in a concentration in the range from 5 to less than 150 grams of yeast on a dry basis per liter of the aqueous component, wherein the yeast can ferment the xylose into the fermentation product;
(iv) maintaining the aqueous component and yeast in the fermentation system at a temperature of between about 26°
C. and about 37°
C. and at a pH of between about 4.5 and about 6.0 for a time of no less than 18 hours; and
(v) recovering the fermentation product from the fermentation system;
wherein the biomass comprises lignocellulosic material.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A biorefinery and a system for producing a fermentation product from biomass are disclosed. The biorefinery comprises a preparation system to prepare the biomass into prepared biomass; a pre-treatment system to pre-treat the prepared biomass with a dilute acid for separation into a first component from which pentose can accessed for fermentation and a second component from which hexose can be made available for fermentation; a first treatment system to treat the first component into a treated first component by removing removed components from the first component; a first fermentation system to produce a first fermentation product from the pentose; a distillation system to recover ethanol from the first fermentation product; and a treatment system to process removed components. The biomass comprises lignocellulosic material, which comprises at least one of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves and corn plant stalks.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method for producing a fermentation product in a fermentation system from a biomass comprising the steps of:
-
(i) pre-treating the biomass with an aqueous composition comprising an effective concentration of acid for reducing formation of inhibitors at a temperature of about 130°
C. to about 170°
C. for a period of time sufficient to produce a solids component and an aqueous component, which aqueous component comprises xylose and acetic acid;(ii) supplying the aqueous component to the fermentation system; (iii) providing yeast to the fermentation system in a concentration in the range from 5 to less than 150 grams of yeast on a dry basis per liter of the aqueous component, wherein the yeast can ferment the xylose into the fermentation product; (iv) maintaining the aqueous component and yeast in the fermentation system at a temperature of between about 26°
C. and about 37°
C. and at a pH of between about 4.5 and about 6.0 for a time of no less than 18 hours; and(v) recovering the fermentation product from the fermentation system; wherein the biomass comprises lignocellulosic material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification