Patent · US10518220B2 · B2 · US
Processing materials
- (11) Publication number
- US10518220B2
- (21) Application number
- 16/050,797
- (22) Filing date
- 2018-07-31
- (30) Priority date
- 2013-03-08
- (43) Publication date
- 2019-12-31
- (45) Date of grant
- 2019-12-31
- (51) IPC
- B01D 15/02; B01D 53/32; B01D 61/44; B01J 19/08; B65G 27/00; B65G 53/04; B65G 53/40; C07C 29/149; C07C 31/12; C10G 1/00; C10L 1/02; C10L 9/08; C12M 1/00; C12P 19/02; C12P 19/14; C12P 7/04; C12P 7/06; C12P 7/10; C12P 7/52; C12P 7/56; C13K 1/02; C13K 13/00; D21C 9/00; E04B 1/92; G21F 7/00; G21K 5/04; H01J 37/317
- (52) CPC
- B01D Separation: 15/02, 53/02, 53/32, 53/46, 61/44, 61/445
- B01J Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus: 19/085, 2219/0869, 2219/0879, 2219/0886
- B65G Transport or storage devices, e.g. conveyors for loading or tipping, shop conveyor systems or pneumatic tube conveyors: 27/00, 53/04, 53/40
- C07C Acyclic or carbocyclic compounds: 29/149, 31/12
- C08B Polysaccharides; derivatives thereof: 1/00
- C10G Cracking hydrocarbon oils; production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures, e.g. by destructive hydrogenation, oligomerisation, polymerisation; recovery of hydrocarbon oils from oil-shale, oil-sand, or gases; refining mixtures mainly consisting of hydrocarbons; reforming of naphtha; mineral waxes: 1/00
- C10L Fuels not otherwise provided for; natural gas; synthetic natural gas obtained by processes not covered by subclasses C10G or C10K; liquified petroleum gas; use of additives to fuels or fires; fire-lighters: 1/023, 1/026, 2200/0469, 2200/0476, 2290/36, 9/08
- C12M Apparatus for enzymology or microbiology; {apparatus for culturing microorganisms for producing biomass, for growing cells or for obtaining fermentation or metabolic products, i.e. bioreactors or fermenters}: 47/00, 47/10
- C12P Fermentation or enzyme-using processes to synthesise a desired chemical compound or composition or to separate optical isomers from a racemic mixture {}: 19/02, 19/14, 2201/00, 2203/00, 7/04, 7/06, 7/10, 7/52, 7/56
- C13K Saccharides obtained from natural sources or by hydrolysis of naturally occurring disaccharides, oligosaccharides or polysaccharides: 1/02, 13/002
- D21C Production of cellulose by removing non-cellulose substances from cellulose-containing materials; regeneration of pulping liquors; apparatus therefor: 9/007
- E04B General building constructions; walls, e.g. partitions; roofs; floors; ceilings; insulation or other protection of buildings: 1/92, 2001/925
- G21F Protection against x-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation or particle bombardment; treating radioactively contaminated material; decontamination arrangements therefor: 7/00
- G21K Handling of particles or ionising radiation not otherwise provided for; irradiation devices; gamma ray or x-ray microscopes: 5/10
- H01J Electric discharge tubes or discharge lamps: 2237/202, 2237/31, 2237/3165, 37/317
- Y02E Reduction of greenhouse gas [ghg] emissions, related to energy generation, transmission or distribution: 50/10, 50/16, 50/17, 50/30, 50/32, 50/343, 60/16, 60/17
- Y02P Climate change mitigation technologies in the production or processing of goods: 20/133, 20/136
- Y02W Climate change mitigation technologies related to wastewater treatment or waste management: 10/33, 10/37, 10/40
- (73) Assignee
- Xyleco Inc
- (72) Inventors
- Marshall Medoff; Thomas Craig Masterman; Robert Paradis
- (54) Title
- Processing materials
- (57) Abstract
Biomass feedstocks (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) are processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, novel systems, methods and equipment for conveying and/or cooling treated biomass are described.
- Full text
- View on Google Patents
Claims (20)
- A method of processing a biomass material, the method comprising; using a screw conveyor to deliver a biomass material to a first treatment cell equipped with a first electron beam device, irradiating the biomass material with electron beams using the first electron beam device, and conveying the biomass material with a screw conveyor from the first treatment cell.
- The method of claim 1, further comprising conveying the biomass material to a second treatment cell equipped with an second electron beam device and irradiating the biomass material with an electron beam using the second electron beam device.
- The method of claim 1, further comprising comminuting the biomass material during delivery to the first treatment cell.
- The method of claim 1, further comprising cooling the biomass material while conveying the biomass material from the first treatment cell.
- The method of claim 4, wherein interior portions of the screw conveyor used to convey the biomass material from the first treatment cell are cooled using a chilled liquid.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the cooling reduces the temperature of the biomass material by between about 1° C. and 110° C.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the cooling reduces the temperature of the biomass material by between about 10° C. and about 75° C.
- The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 1 and 200 Mrad.
- The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 10 Mrad and about 50 Mrad.
- The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 20 Mrad and about 40 Mrad.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the biomass material during the irradiation does not exceed about 160° C.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the biomass material during irradiation increases by between about 75° C. and about 150° C.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass comprises a lignocellulosic material.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass is selected from the group consisting of wood, particle board, sawdust, agricultural waste, sewage, silage, grasses, rice hulls, bagasse, cotton, jute, hemp, flax, bamboo, sisal, abaca, straw, corn cobs, corn stover, switchgrass, alfalfa, hay, coconut hair, seaweed, algae, and mixtures thereof.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the screw conveyor comprises two or more screws.
- The method of claim 1, wherein irradiating with the first electron beam delivers a dose at a rate of at least 1 Mrad per second to the biomass material.
- The method of claim 2, wherein irradiating with the second electron beam device delivers a dose at a rate of at least 1 Mrad per second to the biomass material.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the screw conveyor has a material inlet and a material discharge, and wherein a difference in temperature of the biomass material between the material at the inlet and at the discharge is less than about 110° C.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass material is comminuted while it is conveyed.
- The method of claim 5, wherein the interior portions are cooled using water or glycol water mixtures.
Description
Many potential lignocellulosic feedstocks are available today, including agricultural residues, woody biomass, municipal waste, oilseeds/cakes and seaweed, to name a few. At present, these materials are often under-utilized, being used, for example, as animal feed, biocompost materials, burned in a co-generation facility or even landfilled.
Lignocellulosic biomass includes crystalline cellulose fibrils embedded in a hemicellulose matrix, surrounded by lignin. This produces a compact matrix that is difficult to access by enzymes and other chemical, biochemical and/or biological processes. Cellulosic biomass materials (e.g., biomass material from which the lignin has been removed) is more accessible to enzymes and other conversion processes, but even so, naturally-occurring cellulosic materials often have low yields (relative to theoretical yields) when contacted with hydrolyzing enzymes. Lignocellulosic biomass is even more recalcitrant to enzyme attack. Furthermore, each type of lignocellulosic biomass has its own specific composition of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.
Generally, the inventions relate to methods, equipment and systems for processing materials, such as biomass. For example, processes are disclosed herein for saccharifying or liquifying a biomass material, e.g., cellulosic, lignocellulosic and/or starchy feedstocks, by converting biomass material to low molecular weight sugars, e.g., saccharifying the feedstock using an enzyme, e.g., one or more cellulase and/or amylase. The invention also relates to converting a feedstock to a product, e.g., by bioprocessing, such as fermentation.
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Record as JSON
{
"publication_number": "US10518220B2",
"country": "US",
"kind": "B2",
"title": "Processing materials",
"abstract": "Biomass feedstocks (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) are processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, novel systems, methods and equipment for conveying and/or cooling treated biomass are described.",
"claims": [
"1. A method of processing a biomass material, the method comprising; using a screw conveyor to deliver a biomass material to a first treatment cell equipped with a first electron beam device, irradiating the biomass material with electron beams using the first electron beam device, and conveying the biomass material with a screw conveyor from the first treatment cell.",
"2. The method of claim 1, further comprising conveying the biomass material to a second treatment cell equipped with an second electron beam device and irradiating the biomass material with an electron beam using the second electron beam device.",
"3. The method of claim 1, further comprising comminuting the biomass material during delivery to the first treatment cell.",
"4. The method of claim 1, further comprising cooling the biomass material while conveying the biomass material from the first treatment cell.",
"5. The method of claim 4, wherein interior portions of the screw conveyor used to convey the biomass material from the first treatment cell are cooled using a chilled liquid.",
"6. The method of claim 1, wherein the cooling reduces the temperature of the biomass material by between about 1° C. and 110° C.",
"7. The method of claim 1, wherein the cooling reduces the temperature of the biomass material by between about 10° C. and about 75° C.",
"8. The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 1 and 200 Mrad.",
"9. The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 10 Mrad and about 50 Mrad.",
"10. The method of claim 1, wherein a total dose delivered is between about 20 Mrad and about 40 Mrad.",
"11. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the biomass material during the irradiation does not exceed about 160° C.",
"12. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the biomass material during irradiation increases by between about 75° C. and about 150° C.",
"13. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass comprises a lignocellulosic material.",
"14. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass is selected from the group consisting of wood, particle board, sawdust, agricultural waste, sewage, silage, grasses, rice hulls, bagasse, cotton, jute, hemp, flax, bamboo, sisal, abaca, straw, corn cobs, corn stover, switchgrass, alfalfa, hay, coconut hair, seaweed, algae, and mixtures thereof.",
"15. The method of claim 1, wherein the screw conveyor comprises two or more screws.",
"16. The method of claim 1, wherein irradiating with the first electron beam delivers a dose at a rate of at least 1 Mrad per second to the biomass material.",
"17. The method of claim 2, wherein irradiating with the second electron beam device delivers a dose at a rate of at least 1 Mrad per second to the biomass material.",
"18. The method of claim 1, wherein the screw conveyor has a material inlet and a material discharge, and wherein a difference in temperature of the biomass material between the material at the inlet and at the discharge is less than about 110° C.",
"19. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass material is comminuted while it is conveyed.",
"20. The method of claim 5, wherein the interior portions are cooled using water or glycol water mixtures."
],
"description_excerpt": "Many potential lignocellulosic feedstocks are available today, including agricultural residues, woody biomass, municipal waste, oilseeds/cakes and seaweed, to name a few. At present, these materials are often under-utilized, being used, for example, as animal feed, biocompost materials, burned in a co-generation facility or even landfilled.\n\nLignocellulosic biomass includes crystalline cellulose fibrils embedded in a hemicellulose matrix, surrounded by lignin. This produces a compact matrix that is difficult to access by enzymes and other chemical, biochemical and/or biological processes. Cellulosic biomass materials (e.g., biomass material from which the lignin has been removed) is more accessible to enzymes and other conversion processes, but even so, naturally-occurring cellulosic materials often have low yields (relative to theoretical yields) when contacted with hydrolyzing enzymes. Lignocellulosic biomass is even more recalcitrant to enzyme attack. Furthermore, each type of lignocellulosic biomass has its own specific composition of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.\n\nGenerally, the inventions relate to methods, equipment and systems for processing materials, such as biomass. For example, processes are disclosed herein for saccharifying or liquifying a biomass material, e.g., cellulosic, lignocellulosic and/or starchy feedstocks, by converting biomass material to low molecular weight sugars, e.g., saccharifying the feedstock using an enzyme, e.g., one or more cellulase and/or amylase. The invention also relates to converting a feedstock to a product, e.g., by bioprocessing, such as fermentation.",
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"assignees": [
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],
"inventors": [
"Marshall Medoff",
"Thomas Craig Masterman",
"Robert Paradis"
],
"filing_date": "2018-07-31",
"publication_date": "2019-12-31",
"grant_date": "2019-12-31",
"priority_date": "2013-03-08",
"application_number": "US-201816050797-A",
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