(285c) Optimizing and Improving Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Lignocellulose Biomass to Derive Sugars C5 and C6 for Production of Fuels and Biochemcials

Lignocellulose biomass is heterogeneous in nature have different ratios of xylans and cellulose sugars , and  requires processing to closely homogeneous fractions and consistency for its application in the production of  variety of fuels and biochemical. The breakdown of  biomass is a key first step in the conversion of cellulosic  sugars ,and this process has posed the great challenge to the economically viability of recovering sugars and its application for fuels and biochemicals.

This presentation will review Sweetwater Energy’s overall  process of optimizing  dilute acid pretreatment conditions of  various heterogeneous  biomass feedstocks .  Importance of optimizing and methods of  pretreatment conditions [time , temperature , pressure  and particle size ]  will be reviewed.  Intent is to   generate  homogeneous,  uniformly exploded and cooked, consistent  particle size post treatment. Deriving a  uniformly sized pretreated feedstock enabled and   improved enzyme saccharification  yields . In addition,  specific  challenges  in controlling  inhibitors  sugar syrup  will  be discussed in details . Finally in technology  scale up and  accelerating  the path to process commercialization and  finally  direct applications  of SWE sugars in ethanol , biochemical and advanced fuels,  will be reviewed  .