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Oral Presentation 3-04
An Advanced
Fractionation Technology for
Converting
Biomass into Multiple Product Streams
Richard
Wingerson, Ed Lehrburger, and Carl Lehrburger
PureVision Technology, Inc. 511 N. McKinley Ft. Lupton, CO 80621
Telephone: (303) 857-4530; Fax: (303) 857-0323; E-mail:
info@purevisiontechnology.com PureVision Technology, Inc. (PureVision) is
developing a unique biomass fractionation process for pre-treating biomass
prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. The PureVision fractionation process converts
lignocellulosic biomass into three distinct fractions: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, each
with a wide range of uses and by-products including sugars, ethanol, energy and
other chemical products. Before
scaling up to a continuous-feed pilot, PureVision and Western Research
Institute (WRI) are undertaking pre-pilot testing of the biomass fractionation
reactor using a washed batch reactor to optimize operating conditions of the
PureVision reactive fractionation process.
The fractionation reactor, which separates and cleans cellulose from
hemicellulose and lignin prior to enzymatic hydrolysis, is the heart of an
integrated approach for converting lignocellulosic biomass into useful products
in bio-refineries.
This
paper describes the bio-refinery and reactive fractionation technology under
development by PureVision. The
PureVision/WRI pre-pilot program, initiated in September 2001 with co-funding
from the U.S. Department of Energy, will be highlighted. Project objectives, technical challenges and
milestones are detailed. Results will
be presented by PureVision for fractionating and processing corn stover.
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