1140results about "Cellulose treatment using microorganisms/enzymes" patented technology

The present invention relates to a method of producing a cellulose based paper, the paper itself and the use thereof where the paper exhibits enhanced mechanical properties. The method involves providing a suspension of well dispersed modified cellulose at a low concentration. The properties and the chemical structure of the paper make it suitable for in vivo applications such as implant material.

A method for treatment of chemical pulp for the manufacturing of microfibrillated cellulose includes the following steps: a) providing a hemicellulose containing pulp, b) refining the pulp in at least one step and treating the pulp with one or more wood degrading enzymes at a relatively low enzyme dosage, and c) homogenizing the pulp thus providing the microfibrillated cellulose. According to a second aspect of the invention a microfibrillated cellulose obtainable by the method according to the first aspect is provided. According to a third aspect of the invention, use of the microfibrillated cellulose according to the second aspect in food products, paper products, composite materials, coatings or in rheology modifiers (e.g. drilling muds) is provided.

An omnibus process of pulping and bleaching lignocellulosic materials in which a charge of a lignocellulosic material is biopulped and/or water extracted prior to pulping and bleaching. The lignocellulosic material may be mechanically pulped and bleached in the presence of an enzyme that breaks lignin-carbohydrate complexes. The aqueous extract in embodiments including a water extract step is separated into acetic acid and hemicellulose sugar aqueous solutions.

The invention relates to a process of detoxifying pretreated lignocellulose-containing material comprising washing the pretreated lignocellulose-containing material in a washing solution and treating the used washing solution to remove an enzyme inhibitor and/or an inhibitor of a fermenting organism before recycling the used washing solution.

The present invention discloses methods of bleaching chemical pulp that combine xylanase enzymes with hydrogen peroxide, peracids, or a mixture. The method comprises the steps of carrying out a chemical pulping operation, optionally followed by delignifying the pulp with oxygen, then combining xylanase enzymes with hydrogen peroxide, peracids, or a mixture to bleach the pulp. The method allows the mill to use both xylanase and peracids in a single bleaching tower to decrease the usage of chlorine dioxide and other bleaching chemicals. The pulp bleaching method of the present invention may be performed in a pulp mill as part of a complex pulp bleaching process.

A scalable, energy efficient process for preparing cellulose nanofibers is disclosed. The process employs a depolymerizing treatment with one or both of: (a) a relatively high charge of ozone under conditions that promote the formation of free radicals to chemically depolymerize the cellulose fiber cell wall and interfiber bonds; or (b) a cellulase enzyme. Depolymerization may be estimated by pulp viscosity changes. The depolymerizing treatment is followed by or concurrent with mechanical comminution of the treated fibers, the comminution being done in any of several mechanical comminuting devices, the amount of energy savings varying depending on the type of comminuting system and the treatment conditions. Comminution may be carried out to any of several endpoint measures such as fiber length, % fines or slurry viscosity.

The present invention is directed to materials containing an enzyme inhibitor, including treated fibers, nonwovens, functional particles and processes for making these materials. These materials are useful in reducing or delaying onset of odor generation from various waste materials including human and animal elimination products.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a system for processing biomass includes a water-impermeable bottom liner, a gravel layer supported by the bottom liner, a drain pipe disposed within the gravel layer, a biomass input device operable to deliver biomass over the gravel layer to form a biomass pile, a lime input device operable to deliver lime to the biomass for pretreating the biomass, a distribution pipe elevated above the gravel layer, and a pump operable to circulate water through the biomass pile by delivering water to the distribution pipe and receiving water from the drain pipe after it has traveled through the biomass pile.

According to another embodiment, a method for biomass pretreatment with alkali, conducted at ambient pressure for approximately 4-16 weeks at temperatures ranging from approximately 25° C. to 95° C. Biomass may be lignocellulosic biomass and may be rendered suitable for enzymatic digestion or pulp production.

The process for the treatment of ligno-cellulosic biomass comprises the steps of:

• • A) Soaking a ligno-cellulosic biomass feedstock in vapor or liquid water or mixture thereof in the temperature range of 100 to 210° C. for 1 minute to 24 hours to create a soaked biomass containing a dry content and a first liquid;
  • B) Separating at least a portion of the first liquid from the soaked biomass to create a first liquid stream and a first solid stream; wherein the first solid stream comprises the soaked biomass; and
  • C) Steam exploding the first solid stream to create a steam exploded stream comprising solids and a second liquid.

A method for fractionating a lignocellulosic material, the method comprising; contacting (2) the lignocellulosic material with an ionic liquid (3) and dissolving the lignocellulosic material therein, providing a second liquid (7) which is immiscible with the ionic liquid and is also a non-solvent for cellulose, adding the second liquid to the ionic liquid so as to form a biphasic system (6) which comprises an ionic liquid phase essentially free of lignocellulose and a second liquid phase comprising lignin in solution and cellulose as a precipitate, separating the two phases and recovering (8) the precipitated cellulose from the separated second liquid phase.

Formulations for pitch control, and methods of making and using thereof, are described herein. The formulations contains one or more 1,3-selective lipases. 1,3-selective lipases catalyze the hydrolysis of the terminal ester groups in triglycerides leaving the internal ester group intact. The enzyme formulations can contain one or more additives, such as dispersants, metal ions, absorbents, adsorbents, cationic polymers, and combinations thereof. The enzyme formulation is typically applied as a solution to the pulp stock. The enzyme formulations can be applied at any of one or more various points during the pulping and paper manufacturing processes. The use of selective lipase(s) decreases the total concentration of fatty acids in the system, and catalyzes the formation of monoglycerides, which are more effective at dispersing fatty acids than glycerol, the product of non-selective lipases, thereby improving pulp and paper machine runnability and pulp and paper quality.

The present invention relates to the cloning and high level expression of novel cellulase proteins or derivatives thereof in the in a host cell. Further aspects of the present invention relate to transformants that express the novel cellulases, and expression vectors comprising the DNA gene fragments or variants thereof that code for the novel cellulases derived from Actinomycete using genetic engineering techniques. The present invention is also directed to novel cellulase compositions and methods of use therefore in industrial processes. In particular, the present invention is related to treating textiles with a novel cellulase derived from Actinomycete spp. The present invention also relates to the use of cellulase derived from Actinomycete spp. to enhance the digestibility of animal feed, in detergents, in the treatment of pulp and paper and in the production of starch and treatment of by-products thereof.

The present invention relates to a deinking composition and a method of deinking wastepaper by using a mixture of enzymes that act on constituents of all three waste paper components involved in ink retention on final pulp. The first component represents substrates located on the surface and in the internal waste paper structure. The second component represents substrates located in the interface between paper and ink, usually formed by coatings or size-press (starch containing or not) applied layers. The third component represents substrates located in the ink and/or toner compounds. This method provides improved performance in relation to conventional methods, or current deinking with enzymes, which acts on a limited number of substrates involved in ink retention on final pulp.

The present invention concerns a process for reducing the susceptibility of lignocellulosic material to unwanted yellowing, particularly yellowing caused by light and heat. According to the invention, the fibres are activated enzymatically or chemically and then contacted with a modifying agent capable of bonding to the oxidized fibre material, rendering the lignocellulosic fibre material improved resistance to brightness reversion. By means of the invention, brightness reversion caused by light or heat or a combination thereof can be retarded and even stopped.

A thermally modified microbial-derived cellulose material is described for use as an implantable material in general surgery, plastic surgery and neurosurgery.

The invention provides a pulp making technology through performing biological enzyme softening lignin removal twice combined with a mechanical method. The pulp making technology comprises the following steps: step 1) material preparation; step 2) biological enzyme softening preimpregnation for the first time; step 3) mechanical pulp making and thread separation; step 4) biological enzyme softening lignin removal and bleaching for the second time; step 5) fine purification of made pulp. According to the pulp making technology disclosed by the invention, a composite permeating softener and a composite biological enzyme preparation are used for performing the preimpregnation working procedure and the bleaching working procedure, and a new pulp making technology through biological enzyme softening lignin removal twice combined with the mechanical method is obtained. According to the pulp making technology disclosed by the invention, the conventional alkaline pulp making technology, the conventional mechanical pulp making technology and the biological pulp making technology which is in the process of exploration are changed, so that the defects of conventional pulp making technologies are overcome, the method is simple and effective, the pertinence is high, the maneuverability is high, high-temperature cooking is not needed in the lignin degradation process, hazardous substances such as caustic soda are not added, and black liquor is not produced.

Processes disclosed are capable of converting biomass into high-crystallinity nanocellulose with surprisingly low mechanical energy input. In some variations, the process includes fractionating biomass with an acid (such as sulfur dioxide), a solvent (such as ethanol), and water, to generate cellulose-rich solids and a liquid containing hemicellulose and lignin; and mechanically treating the cellulose-rich solids to form nanofibrils and/or nanocrystals. The total mechanical energy may be less than 500 kilowatt-hours per ton. The crystallinity of the nanocellulose material may be 80% or higher, translating into good reinforcing properties for composites. The nanocellulose material may include nanofibrillated cellulose, nanocrystalline cellulose, or both. In some embodiments, the nanocellulose material is hydrophobic via deposition of some lignin onto the cellulose surface. Optionally, sugars derived from amorphous cellulose and hemicellulose may be separately fermented, such as to monomers for various polymers. These polymers may be combined with the nanocellulose to form completely renewable composites.

The present invention relates to a composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose, mono-, di- or oligo-saccharides and a pigment in order to achieve a composition with improved rheological properties such as a low viscosity even at high dry content. The present invention further relates to process for the production of said composition. The microfibrillated cellulose is produced by at least partly enzymatic treatment of cellulosic fibers such that even mono-, di- or oligo-saccharide is formed.

Methods and systems of the present invention use cellulose-containing materials, which may include post-consumer waste garments, scrap fabric and/or various biomass materials as a raw feed material to produce isolated cellulose molecules having desirable properties that can be used in the textile and apparel industries, and in other industries. A multi-stage process is provided, in which cellulose-containing feed material is subjected to one or more pretreatment stages, followed by a pulping treatment, to isolate cellulose molecules. The isolated cellulose molecules may be used in a variety of downstream applications. In one application, isolated cellulose molecules are extruded to provide regenerated cellulose fibers having desirable (and selectable) properties that are usable in various industrial applications, including textile production.

Methods for reducing energy required for a pulp refining processes by treating a mechanical pulp with a hemicellulase composition are presented. The enzymatic treatment can be carried out at a temperature of from about 10° C. to about 90° C., and/or at a pH of from about 2 to about 10. Paper made from the treated pulp has improved strength over paper made from untreated pulp.

The invention discloses a bamboo chemimechanical pulp bioenzyme pretreatment method. The bamboo chemimechanical pulp bioenzyme pretreatment method comprises the following steps: feeding bamboo pieces into a steaming cabin for normal-pressure pre-steaming after screening the bamboo pieces, and then carrying out first-stage screw extrusion; adding bioenzyme in an extruded material for pretreatment, then carrying out high-temperature deactivation, washing and dewatering, then carrying out first-stage and second-stage chemical pre-impregnating in sequence, then carrying out first-stage high-consistency normal-pressure pulp grinding by using a high-consistency disc refiner of which rho is 300, and completing bleaching reaction by enabling pulp to stay in a high-consistency reaction cabin for about 50 to 60 minutes; then carrying out follow-up pulp grinding by using a disc refiner, preparing pulp samples in different Canadian freeness degrees by controlling and inputting different pulp grinding energy consumptions, respectively recording the pulp grinding energy consumption needed for preparing each pulp sample, and using the different pulp samples for paper pulp performance testing after respectively carrying out latent elimination, acidification, washing, screening and dewatering concentration. According to the bamboo chemimechanical pulp bioenzyme pretreatment method disclosed by the invention, by carrying out pretreatment on bamboo bioenzyme, compared with a traditional PRC (Preconditioning Refiner Chemical)-APMP (Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulping) technology, the difference in respects of pulp grinding energy consumption and pulp performance can be observed, and a reference technology is provided for preparing chemimechanical pulp by using bamboos as raw materials.