(242a) Using Extraction Columns for Recovery of Valuable Products From Biomass

In recent years there has been a large emphasis on the production of organic chemicals from biomass generated via such processes such as fermentation and algae treatment.  Most of these processes produce low concentrations of organic chemicals that are higher boiling than water, and as such distillation is not a viable first step for the recovery and purification process.  Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) is an ideal unit operation for the removal of many of these compounds either directly from the broth itself (whole broth) or from the broth after some pre-treatment step to separate the “bad acting” components such as cell mass, lignins, etc.  Selection of the type of column is critical in order to optimize the performance and cost for the extraction process.  This paper will present case studies of several different biomass feed materials that were tested in pilot plant columns.  For each case, results from the pilot plant testing will be presented, including both the raw data and the expert evaluation of the hydraulic behavior in the column.  Both types of information are very important in selecting the best column for a given application and then using the pilot data to scale up to a demonstration plant or a full scale production plant.  The conclusions from this paper will reinforce the need for pilot plant testing each individual process, especially for complication systems such as biomass.