Processing biomass to obtain hydroxylcarboxylic acids

Abstract

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful intermediates and products, such as hydroxy-carboxylic acids and hydroxy-carboxylic acid derivatives.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 786,388, filed Oct. 22, 2015, which is a National Stage entry of International Application No. PCT / US2014 / 035467, filed Apr. 25, 2014, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 816,664, filed Apr. 26, 2013, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]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.[0003]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 biolog...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Optionally, when the polymerization method is direct condensation, the polymerization can include utilizing coupling agents and / or chain extenders to increase the molecular weight of the polymer. For example, the coupling agents and / or chain extenders can include triphosgene, carbonyl diimidazole, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, diisocyanate, acid chlorides, acid anhydrides, epoxides, thiirane, oxazoline, orthoester, and mixtures of these. Alternatively, the polymer can have a co monomer which is a polycarboxylic acid or polyols or a combination of these.

[0025]The methods describe herein are also advantageous in that the starting materials (e.g., sugars) can be completely derived from biomass (e.g., cellulosic and lignocellulosic materials). In addition, some of the products described herein such as polymers of hydroxy-carboxylic acids (e.g., poly lactic acid) are compostable, biodegradable and / or recyclable. Therefore, the methods described herein can provide useful materials and products from renewable sources (e.g., biomass) wherein the products themselves can be re-utilized or simply safely returned to the environment.

Problems solved by technology

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.

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.

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