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Method and System for Hydrolytic Saccharification of a Cellulosic Biomass

a cellulosic biomass and hydrolysis technology, applied in the direction of oligosaccharides, glucose production, pressurized chemical processes, etc., can solve the problems of difficult to cool a large amount of supercritical or subcritical water in a short time, difficult to put this method into practice in view of the economic aspect, etc., to save the required calorie, high yield, and low cost

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-07-15
KAWASAKI HEAVY IND LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0100]According to the present invention, cellulose and / or hemicellulose contained in a cellulosic biomass can be hydrolyzed into saccharides in a high yield at a low cost with use of plural pressure vessels. Also, the present invention can save the required calorie by about 60% and hence has a very excellent economical merit because waste heat can be easily recovered from a pressure vessel performing another step and utilized for preheating to a suitable temperature for hydrolytic saccharification reaction.
[0101]By charging a cellulosic biomass into the water-permeable vessel and encapsulating the water-permeable vessel and water into each pressure vessel, it is possible to prevent piping and the like from being stained as well as to improve the operating efficiency further.

Problems solved by technology

The cost of such a treatment makes it difficult to put this method into practice in view of the economical aspect.
However, this method has a drawback that without cooling immediately after the completion of hydrolysis, saccharides produced thus far would degrade into organic acids or the like because the use of supercritical or subcritical water causes cellulose and hemicellulose to hydrolyze into saccharides completely in several seconds to several minutes by its strong oxidative power.
With an industrial-scale hydrolysis system, however, it is very difficult to cool a large amount of supercritical or subcritical water in a short time.
For this reason, the cellulosic biomass hydrolysing method using high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical or subcritical water, when applied to a plant-scale system, will give a low yield of saccharides, which forms one of the factors that prevent this method from being put to practice.
In using a large amount of supercritical or subcritical water, the slurry has to be heated with a large amount of energy, which forms a factor raising the processing cost.
The cellulosic biomass hydrolyzing method, which subjects a slurry containing alcohol or the like as a solvent to hydrolysis under a supercritical or subcritical condition, requires a very high vapor pressure, hence, requires a larger amount of energy and has to use a system having a high pressure resistance.

Method used

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embodiment 1

[0109]Referring to FIG. 1, description will be made of a procedure for operating a hydrolytic saccharification system configured to perform five process steps in total and use five pressure vessels according to embodiment 1.

[0110]First, a cellulosic biomass (for example, a vegetation biomass comprising bagasse, sugar beet residue, straws or the like) is ground to sizes of not more than several millimeters and then mixed with water or a dilute ethanol aqueous solution (2 to 10 mol %) to prepare a slurry having a solid matter concentration of about 30%. The slurry thus obtained (raw slurry) is charged into pressure vessel No. 1, as shown in FIG. 1(a) (charging step). Since there is no thermal energy released from any other pressure vessel at the time the hydrolytic saccharification system starts operating, the raw slurry cannot be preheated by heat exchange.

[0111]Pressure vessels Nos. 1 to 5 each repeatedly perform the sequence of process steps: charging step→heating-up step→hydrolyzi...

embodiment 2

[0129]Referring to FIG. 3, description will be made of a time schedule for operating a hydrolytic saccharification system as a sequencing batch system, the hydrolytic saccharification system being configured to perform four steps in total and use four pressure vessels each configured to perform the discharging step and the charging step in parallel as a discharging and charging step in a steady operation. In FIG. 3, the time required to complete each step is five minutes.

[0130]Initially, pressure vessel No. 1 performs the first charging step Co and, subsequently, pressure vessels Nos. 2 to 4 perform the first charging step Co sequentially with a time lag of five minutes from one pressure vessel to the next one. When the system starts operating, the system performs the same charging step as does the hydrolytic saccharification system shown in FIG. 1. For this reason, the discharging and charging step performed first is referred to as “first charging step Co” in FIG. 3. In steady oper...

embodiment 3

[0138]Referring to FIG. 5, description will be made of a time schedule for operating a hydrolytic saccharification system as a sequencing batch system, the hydrolytic saccharification system being configured to perform five steps in total and use eight pressure vessels. This system is adapted to cases where a cellulosic biomass is difficult to hydrolytically saccharificate under the subcritical condition and, hence, the hydrolyzing step cannot but be performed for a longer time than the other four steps. In FIG. 5, the time required to complete the hydrolyzing step is 20 minutes and that required to complete any other step is five minutes.

[0139]Initially, pressure vessel No. 1 performs the charging step and, subsequently, pressure vessels Nos. 2 to 8 perform the charging step sequentially with a time lag of five minutes from one pressure vessel to the next one. Each pressure vessel repeats the five sequential steps: [C]→[PH]→[GL]→[F]→[DC]. Here, the time required to complete the ste...

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Abstract

A method and system for hydrolyzing cellulose and / or hemicellulose contained in a biomass into monosaccharides and oligosaccharides by using high-temperature and high-pressure water in a subcritical condition is provided. In hydrolyzing cellulose or hemicellulose into saccharides by using high-temperature and high-pressure water in a subcritical condition, a large amount of slurry is cooled into a condition below the subcritical condition by subjecting the slurry contained in a pressure vessel under a high-temperature and high-pressure condition to flash evaporation in a pressure vessel charged with a slurry of a cellulosic biomass and heated halfway. It is possible to prevent saccharides from degrading into organic acids and to save energy by recovery of thermal energy. The cellulosic biomass is charged into a water-permeable vessel and then the water-permeable vessel is encapsulated into the pressure vessel together with water.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a hydrolyzing method and system for efficiently producing saccharides from biomasses, particularly cellulosic biomasses, used as raw materials.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]As part of biomass energy utilization, attempts have been made to obtain ethanol (bioethanol) by hydrolyzing cellulose or hemicellulose, which are major constituents of plants. Ethanol thus obtained is planned to be utilized as a fuel to be mixed into an automotive fuel or as an alternative fuel for gasoline.[0005]Major constituents of plants include cellulose (a polymer of glucose, which is a C6 saccharide comprising six carbon atoms), hemicellulose (a polymer of a C5 saccharide comprising five carbon atoms and a C6 saccharide), lignin, starch, and the like. Ethanol is produced from saccharides, such as a C5 saccharide, C6 saccharide, and oligosaccharide which is a complex of these saccharides, used as...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C13K1/02B01J3/04
CPCC07H3/02C07H3/04C07H3/06C13K1/02C08J2301/00C12P2201/00C08J3/00Y02P20/59
Inventor NAGAHAMA, TAKESHIIZUMI, NORIAKI
Owner KAWASAKI HEAVY IND LTD
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