System for the treatment of biomass to facilitate the production of ethanol

• US 9,034,620 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2011
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Poet Research Inc.
• Original Assignee: Poet Research Inc.
• Inventors: Narendranath, Neelakantam V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao, Manjunath
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIU, SAMUEL W
• Application Number:
  US13/638,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20130143290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 435/165
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 21/12 for producing fuels or solvents C12M21/04 takes precedence; liquid carbonaceous fuels C10L1/00, solid fuels C10L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 45/02 by mechanical forces; Stirring; Trituration; Comminuting crushing, pulverizing, disintegrating in general B02C
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 45/04 Phase separators; Separation of non fermentable material; Fractionation
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 45/06 by chemical means or hydrolysis
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 19/02 Monosaccharides 2-ketogulonic acid C12P7/60
• 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: C12P 2201/00 Pretreatment of cellulosic or lignocellulosic material for subsequent enzymatic treatment or hydrolysis
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/10 substrate containing cellulosic material
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/10 Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel

Abstract

A method for treating biomass to be supplied to a fermentation system for the production of a fermentation product is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of pre-treating the biomass into pre-treated biomass; separating the pre-treated biomass into a first component comprising glucan and a second component comprising sugars; providing a combined component comprising at least a portion of the first component and at least a portion of the second component; and treating the combined component of the pre-treated biomass into a treated component comprising glucose by application of an enzyme formulation. A system for treating biomass to be supplied to a fermentation system for the production of a fermentation product is also disclosed. The system comprises an apparatus configured to pre-treat the biomass; a separator configured to separate the pre-treated biomass; and a vessel configured to contain a combined component.

Claims

1. A method for treating biomass to be supplied to a fermentation system for production of a fermentation product comprising the steps of:

pre-treating the biomass into pre-treated biomass;

separating the pre-treated biomass into a first component comprising glucan and a second component comprising glucan and sugars;

steam exploding the first component;

providing a combined component comprising at least a portion of the steam exploded first component and at least a portion of the second component;

treating the combined component of the pre-treated biomass into a treated component comprising glucose by application of an enzyme formulation, wherein the treated component comprises about 2% to about 15% glucose by weight; and

wherein the biomass comprises lignocellulosic material comprising at least one of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves, and corn plant stalks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the treated component comprises a hydrolysate.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the hydrolysate is treated to increase a concentration of sugars prior to fermentation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first component of the pre-treated biomass comprises about 40% to about 60% glucan by weight and the hydrolysate comprises about 2% to about 15% glucose by weight.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the treated component comprises hydrolyzed biomass to be supplied to the fermentation system and the fermentation product comprises ethanol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the glucan comprises cellulose and the enzyme formulation is capable of converting glucan to glucose.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of pre-treating the biomass is conducted at a temperature in a range of about 25°

C. to 63°

C. and at a pH of about 4 to 6.3 and for a time of between about 60 and about 160 hours.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of treating the second component to remove inhibitors.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of treating the second component to increase a concentration of xylose.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the combined component comprises about 1% to about 8% glucan.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the combined component comprises about 1% to about 6% xylan.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the combined component comprises no less than about 75% water.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the first component of the pre-treated biomass comprises about 40% to about 60% glucan.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of treating the combined component of the pre-treated biomass is conducted at a temperature in a range of about 47°

C. to 53°

C. and at a pH of about 5.4 to 5.6 and for a time of between about 90 and about 120 hours.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the combined component comprises glucose and xylose.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the combined component comprises glucan and lignin.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the combined component comprises xylan.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the combined component comprises at least about 4% solids by weight.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the combined component comprises at least about 1% glucan by weight.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the enzyme formulation comprises enzyme protein and is provided to the combined component in a concentration of between about 4.0 and 18 milligrams of the enzyme protein per gram of glucan in the combined component.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component comprises a solids component of the lignocellulosic material.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the second component comprises a liquid component of the lignocellulosic material.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the lignocellulosic material consists essentially of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves, and corn stalks.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass comprises cellulose and further comprising the step of fermenting glucose in the treated component to produce the fermentation product.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the biomass comprises hemi-cellulose and the fermentation product has been produced by fermentation of xylose.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the treated component comprises xylose.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the treated component comprises about 1% to about 4% lignin.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of treating the combined component of the pre-treated biomass is conducted at a temperature in a range of about 40°

C. to 55°

C. and at a pH of about 1.5 to 6 and for a time of between about 70 and 120 hours.

29. A system for treating biomass to be supplied to a fermentation system for production of a fermentation product comprising:

an apparatus configured to pre-treat the biomass into pre-treated biomass;

a separator in fluid communication with the apparatus, wherein the separator is configured to separate the pre-treated biomass into a first component comprising glucan and a second component comprising sugars and glucan;

a steam explosion device in fluid communication with the separator to receive the first component, wherein the steam explosion device is configured to subject the first component to steam explosion;

a vessel in fluid communication with the separator and the steam explosion device, wherein the vessel is configured to contain a combined component comprising at least a portion of the steam exploded first component and at least a portion of the second component and to be supplied with an enzyme formulation so that a treated component comprising glucose can be created by enzyme hydrolysis of the combined component;

wherein the biomass comprises lignocellulosic material; and

wherein the lignocellulosic material comprises at least one of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves, and corn plant stalks.

30. A method for hydrolyzing lignocellulosic biomass comprising:

pre-treating the lignocellulosic biomass into pre-treated biomass, wherein pre-treating comprises applying an acid to the lignocellulosic biomass to form a pre-treated biomass;

separating the pre-treated biomass into a liquid component and a solid component, wherein the liquid component comprises xylose and glucan and solid component comprises glucan;

steam exploding the solid component;

combining at least a portion of the steam exploded solid component, at least a portion of the liquid component, and an enzyme formulation to enzymatically hydrolyze the glucan;

wherein the biomass comprises lignocellulosic material comprising at least one of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves, and corn plant stalks.