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One-Pot to Prep Biomass for Biofuels
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2013/08/13/one-pot-to-prep-biomass-for-biofuels/[font face=Serif][font size=5]One-Pot to Prep Biomass for Biofuels[/font]
[font size=4]Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Combine Pretreatment and Saccharification into Single Vat Process[/font]
August 13, 2013
Lynn Yarris (510) 486-5375 lcyarris@lbl.gov
[font size=3]The advantages of the “one-stop” shop have long been recognized in the retailing and services industries. Similar advantages would also be realized for the biofuels industry with the development of a “one-pot” processing system in which sugars could be extracted from biomass and turned into fuels in a single vat. A major step forward in this goal has now been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) who report the first demonstration of a one-pot, wash-free, process for the ionic liquid pretreatment and saccharification of switchgrass, one of the leading potential biofuel feedstocks.
“By combining ionic liquid pretreatment and saccharification into a single vessel we eliminate the excessive use of water and waste disposal currently associated with washing biomass that is pretreated with ionic liquids,” says chemical engineer Blake Simmons who heads JBEI’s Deconstruction Division. “We also drastically simplify the downstream sugar/lignin recovery process and enable the ionic liquid to be recycled; all factors that help drive down biofuel production costs.”
…
Advanced biofuels made from cellulosic sugars stored in the biomass of grasses and other non-food crops and agricultural waste could substantially reduce the use of the fossil fuels responsible for the release of nearly 9 billion metric tons of excess carbon into the atmosphere each year. More than a billion tons of biomass are produced annually in the United States alone and fuels from this biomass could be clean, green and renewable substitutes for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel on a gallon-for-gallon basis. Unlike ethanol, transportation fuels from biomass can be directly dropped into today’s engines and infrastructures without impacting performance.
…
To meet this challenge, JBEI researchers led by John Gladden, deputy director for fungal biotechnology, developed a compost-derived consortium of bacterium adapted to grow on switchgrass. They dubbed this consortium “Jtherm,” and it consists of several species of thermophiles, microbes that thrive at extremely high temperatures and alkaline conditions.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C3GC40545A[font size=4]Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Combine Pretreatment and Saccharification into Single Vat Process[/font]
August 13, 2013
Lynn Yarris (510) 486-5375 lcyarris@lbl.gov
[font size=3]The advantages of the “one-stop” shop have long been recognized in the retailing and services industries. Similar advantages would also be realized for the biofuels industry with the development of a “one-pot” processing system in which sugars could be extracted from biomass and turned into fuels in a single vat. A major step forward in this goal has now been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) who report the first demonstration of a one-pot, wash-free, process for the ionic liquid pretreatment and saccharification of switchgrass, one of the leading potential biofuel feedstocks.
“By combining ionic liquid pretreatment and saccharification into a single vessel we eliminate the excessive use of water and waste disposal currently associated with washing biomass that is pretreated with ionic liquids,” says chemical engineer Blake Simmons who heads JBEI’s Deconstruction Division. “We also drastically simplify the downstream sugar/lignin recovery process and enable the ionic liquid to be recycled; all factors that help drive down biofuel production costs.”
…
Advanced biofuels made from cellulosic sugars stored in the biomass of grasses and other non-food crops and agricultural waste could substantially reduce the use of the fossil fuels responsible for the release of nearly 9 billion metric tons of excess carbon into the atmosphere each year. More than a billion tons of biomass are produced annually in the United States alone and fuels from this biomass could be clean, green and renewable substitutes for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel on a gallon-for-gallon basis. Unlike ethanol, transportation fuels from biomass can be directly dropped into today’s engines and infrastructures without impacting performance.
…
To meet this challenge, JBEI researchers led by John Gladden, deputy director for fungal biotechnology, developed a compost-derived consortium of bacterium adapted to grow on switchgrass. They dubbed this consortium “Jtherm,” and it consists of several species of thermophiles, microbes that thrive at extremely high temperatures and alkaline conditions.
…[/font][/font]