Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100227369 | System for Fermentation of Biomass for the Production of Ethanol - 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. | 09-09-2010 |
20100233771 | SYSTEM FOR PRE-TREATMENT OF BIOMASS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL - A system for the pre-treatment of biomass for use in a biorefinery to produce ethanol and other bioproducts is disclosed. The system comprises a method comprising the steps of preparing the biomass into prepared biomass; pre-treating the prepared biomass into pre-treated biomass by application of a dilute acid having a concentration of about 0.8 to 1.1 percent by weight at a temperature of about 130 to about 170 degrees Celsius for a period of time in a range of about 8 to 12 minutes. The system also comprises an apparatus for separating the pre-treated biomass into a liquid component comprising pentose and a solids component comprising cellulose and lignin; a fermentation system configured to produce the fermentation product; and a distillation system. The fermentation product comprises ethanol. The biomass comprises lignocellulosic material, comprising corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves and corn plant stalks. | 09-16-2010 |
20110079219 | BIOMASS PRETREATMENT - A system for pre-treating biomass for the production of ethanol is provided. The system comprises a method for pre-treating biomass. The method comprises supplying biomass to a steaming bin, wherein the biomass is mixed with water, and inputting the steamed biomass to a first pretreatment reactor, wherein the steamed biomass comprises liquids and solids. The method also comprises removing a bulk of liquids from the solids and feeding the solids into a second pretreatment reactor. The method further comprises applying a pressure drop to the solids in the second pretreatment reactor, wherein the pressure drop opens up a structure of the solids, and sending the solids to a fermentation process for ethanol processing. | 04-07-2011 |
20120129234 | SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF BIOMASS TO FACILITATE THE PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL - A method for treating fermented lignocellulosic biomass to be supplied to a distillation system for production of ethanol is provided. The method includes pre-treating lignocellulosic biomass into pre-treated biomass and separating the pre-treated biomass into a liquid component comprising sugars and a solids component comprising cellulose and lignin. The method also includes hydrolysing the solids component of the pre-treated biomass into a hydrolysed biomass comprising sugars and lignin and fermenting the hydrolysed solids component of the pre-treated biomass into a fermentation product comprising ethanol and lignin. The method also includes treating the fermentation product and distilling the treated fermentation product to recover the ethanol. The lignocellulosic biomass comprises cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin. | 05-24-2012 |
20130065289 | SYSTEM FOR THE TREATMENT OF BIOMASS - A system for treating biomass for the production of ethanol is disclosed. A biorefinery for producing a fermentation product from biomass is disclosed. The biorefinery comprises a system for preparing the biomass into prepared biomass and a system for pre-treating the biomass into pre-treated biomass. The biorefinery comprises a separator, a first treatment system, a second treatment system, and a fermentation system. A method for producing a fermentation product from biomass is disclosed. | 03-14-2013 |
20130337521 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REDUCING THE LEVEL OF ONE OR MORE IMPURITIES THAT ARE PRESENT IN A PRETREATED CELLULOSIC MATERIAL AND/OR DISTILLATE - The present invention relates to methods and systems for remediating one or more impurities (e.g., diacetyl) that are present in manufacturing an alcohol (e.g., ethanol) from cellulosic biomass. The methods and systems include reacting the one or more impurities with at least one treatment compound (e.g., an oxidizing agent, an alkali compound, or a mixture thereof) to form a reaction product that can be separated from the alcohol. | 12-19-2013 |
20140065700 | SYSTEM FOR MANAGEMENT OF YEAST TO FACILITATE THE PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL - A system and method for managing an ethanologen for use in biorefinery is disclosed. The method for propagating ethanologen for use in the production of a fermentation product from biomass comprises the steps of providing a medium for propagation of ethanologen; supplying a first cell mass of ethanologen to the medium; supplying xylose to the medium as a carbon source for the ethanologen; and maintaining the medium comprising the first cell mass of ethanologen at a pH of between about 5.0 and 6.0 and at a temperature of between about 26 and about 37 degrees Celsius so that the first cell mass of ethanologen is propagated into a second cell mass of ethanologen. The second cell mass of ethanologen is larger than the first cell mass of ethanologen. The system for propagating ethanologen for use in the production of a fermentation product from biomass comprises a first stage comprising a first vessel configured to maintain a medium comprising ethanologen; a second stage comprising a second vessel configured to maintain a medium supplied from the first stage; a source of xylose to be provided to the medium as a carbon source for ethanologen in the first stage; and a source of xylose to be provided to the medium as a carbon source for the ethanologen in the second stage. The ethanologen has a first cell mass when supplied to the first stage and the ethanologen has a second cell mass when supplied from the first stage to the second stage and the ethanologen has a third cell mass when supplied from the second stage. The second cell mass is at least 200 times larger than the first cell mass. The third cell mass is at least 20 times larger than the second cell mass. | 03-06-2014 |
20140311480 | BIOMASS PRETREATMENT - A system for pre-treating biomass for the production of ethanol is provided. The system supplies biomass to a steaming bin, wherein the biomass is mixed with water, and inputting the steamed biomass to a first pretreatment reactor, wherein the steamed biomass comprises liquids and solids. The system removes a bulk of liquids from the solids and feeding the solids into a second pretreatment reactor. The system applies a pressure drop to the solids in the second pretreatment reactor, wherein the pressure drop opens up a structure of the solids, and sending the solids to a fermentation process for ethanol processing. | 10-23-2014 |
20150072390 | SYSTEM FOR FERMENTATION OF BIOMASS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL - A system for fermentation of biomass is disclosed. The system comprises a method for producing a fermentation product in a fermentation system from biomass that has been pre-treated and separated into a first component and a second component. The method comprises the steps of supplying the first component to the fermentation system; providing an ethanologen to the fermentation system; maintaining the first component and ethanologen in the fermentation system; and recovering the fermentation product from the fermentation system. A fermentation system configured to produce a fermentation product from biomass that has been pre-treated and separated into a first component and a second component is disclosed. The system comprises a first vessel configured to receive the first component and an ethanologen and a second vessel configured to propagate the ethanologen for supply to the first vessel. A biorefinery for producing a fermentation product from biomass is also 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; the lignocellulosic material comprises at least one of corn cobs, corn plant husks, corn plant leaves and corn plant stalks. The first component comprises pentose; the pentose comprises xylose. The ethanologen is capable of fermenting xylose into ethanol. | 03-12-2015 |