SixRing Inc.

A process to manufacture dissolving pulp grade cellulose comprises providing a lignocellulosic material; providing a modified Caro's acid; exposing the lignocellulosic material to the modified Caro's acid for a period of time sufficient to allow the modified Caro's acid to delignify the lignocellulosic material and yield a solid cellulosic portion and a liquid portion with a high dissolved lignin content. Additional steps include separating the solid cellulosic portion from the liquid portion; exposing the solid cellulosic portion to a caustic solution yielding causticized solids; filtering the causticized solids; re-slurrying the causticized solids and neutralizing such to yield a dissolving pulp cellulose; and washing said dissolving pulp cellulose with water

A composition useful as a fuel additive or as a fuel blend component, said composition including: aliphatic diesters: esters of aromatic monomers; and esters of short aromatic oligomers. Also disclosed are processes to make fuel additives and fuel blend component compositions.

A process to perform a controlled exothermic delignification of biomass comprises providing a system having a first vessel and a second vessel, providing a biomass comprising lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose fibers placed into the first vessel, providing an aqueous acidic composition comprising a sulfuric acid component, providing a modifier component and providing a peroxide component. The biomass is exposed to the sulfuric acid component and peroxide component, thereby creating a reaction mass. The reaction mass is mixed and the sulfuric acid, modifier and peroxide components are allowed to come into contact with the biomass for a period of time sufficient for a delignification reaction to occur and to remove a predetermined amount of the lignin from the biomass. The predetermined amount is assessed by testing a first kappa number of the biomass. When the first kappa number of the biomass is reached, the biomass is transferred to the second vessel.

A method for converting a lignin-derived material into at least one esterified lignin derivative, the method including the steps of: providing the lignin-derived material selected from the group of lignin monomers, lignin depolymerization products, and combinations thereof; adding a strong acid such as, sulfuric acid; providing an amount of peroxide component in quantity sufficient to obtain up to a 1:1 mole ratio with the strong acid; adding the peroxide component to the lignin-derived material and the strong acid to allow an oxidation reaction to take place for a pre-determined period of time sufficient to yield a composition comprising a pre-treated lignin-derived material; wherein the pre-treated lignin-derived material comprises at least one oxidized specie; and performing an esterification reaction on the composition comprising a pre-treated lignin-derived material, the esterification reaction including the steps of: providing an acidic composition having a pH of less than 1, the acidic composition including an acid selected from sulfuric acid, an alkylsulfonic acid, and an arylsulfonic acid, and an alcohol selected from C 1 -C 8 linear alcohol and C 3 -C 8 branched alcohol and mixtures thereof; combining the pre-treated lignin-derived material with the acidic composition into an esterification reaction mixture; heating up the esterification reaction mixture to a temperature ranging from 25° C. to 120° C.; and allowing sufficient time for an esterification reaction to occur to yield an esterified composition comprising the at least one esterified lignin derivative; wherein the esterified composition has an average molecular weight of less than 4000, as determined by gel permeation chromatography.

A method of condensing a lignin-derived material and converting at least a portion thereof into at least one esterified lignin derivative, the method including the steps of: providing the lignin-derived material present in a LHDO composition, wherein the lignin-derived material is selected from the group consisting of: lignin monomers; lignin depolymerization products; and combinations thereof; adjusting the LHDO composition to a pH less than 1; heating the LHDO composition for a period of time sufficient to yield a heat-treated LHDO comprising at least one condensed aromatic structure; wherein the heat-treated LHDO has a higher molecular weight average than the LHDO composition; performing an esterification reaction on the heat-treated LHDO, the esterification reaction including the steps of: providing an acidic composition having a pH of less than 1, the acidic composition including an acid selected from sulfuric acid, an alkylsulfonic acid, and an arylsulfonic acid, and an alcohol selected from the group consisting of: C 1 -C 8 linear alcohol and C 3 -C 8 branched alcohol and mixtures thereof; combining the heat-treated LHDO with the acidic composition into an esterification reaction mixture; and heating up the esterification mixture to a temperature ranging from 25° C. to 120° C. to convert at least some of the lignin-derived material and/or the at least one condensed aromatic structure present in the heat-treated LHDO into the at least one esterified lignin derivative.

A process for the liquefaction of cellulose, said process comprising: providing a source of cellulose; wherein said source of cellulose comprising cellulose and hemicellulose, wherein said source of cellulose is non-flowable; adding said source of cellulose to a mixing vessel; wherein said mixing vessel comprises a mixing apparatus selected from the group consisting of: a horizontal single helicoid auger flight; a horizontal double helicoid auger flight; a vertical single helicoid auger flight; a vertical double helicoid auger flight; a horizontal single ribbon auger flight; a horizontal double ribbon auger flight; a vertical single ribbon auger flight; a vertical double ribbon auger flight; a horizontal single sectional auger flight: a horizontal double sectional auger flight; and a vertical single sectional auger flight; a vertical double sectional auger flight; adding a solution to said mixing vessel containing said source of cellulose to yield a reaction mixture wherein said source of cellulose is present in a concentration of solids ranging from 5% to 50% of the total mass of said reaction mixture; mixing said reaction mixture in said mixing vessel until said reaction mixture has undergone liquefaction to yield a resulting mixture comprising oligomers and monomers from the degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose and wherein said resulting mixture has a resulting viscosity of no more than 15 Pa·s; and optionally, separating said resulting mixture into a liquid stream used for subsequent processing and a solid stream that is introduced back into the mixing vessel for further processing.

A process to manufacture a value added product by blending a stream of cellulose-based hydrolysate with a non-cellulose based hydrolysate, wherein said process comprising the steps of: providing a high purity cellulose comprising of less than 1.5% lignin; exposing said high purity cellulose to a saccharification process to produce a cellulosic hydrolysate comprising sugars obtained from the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose; exposing said cellulosic hydrolysate to another sugar hydrolysate obtained from a saccharification of a non-cellulose based sugar source material, thus obtaining a combined hydrolysate stream; processing said combined hydrolysate stream to produce SAID value-added product; and optionally, purifying and/or separating said at least one value-added product from the rest of the fermentation stream to yield a purified value-added product.

Method of delignification of plant material, said method including: providing said plant material comprising cellulose fibers and lignin; exposing said plant material requiring to a composition comprising: alkanesulfonic acid; a compound comprising an amine moiety and a sulfonic acid moiety (such as taurine); and a peroxide, wherein said alkylsulfonic acid and said peroxide are present in a molar ratio ranging from 1:1 to 15:1 and the time of exposure is sufficient to remove substantially all of the lignin present on said plant material. Compositions capable of achieving delignification are also disclosed.

A one-pot process to separate lignin from a lignocellulosic feedstock, where the process involves the steps of: providing a vessel; providing the lignocellulosic feedstock; providing a composition that includes: an acid; a modifying agent including a compound containing an amine group; and a peroxide; exposing the lignocellulosic feedstock to the composition in the vessel for a period of time sufficient to remove at least 80% of the lignin present in the lignocellulosic feedstock; and, optionally, separating and removing a liquid phase that includes dissolved lignin fragments from a solid phase containing cellulose fibres.

A one-pot processes to separate lignin from a lignocellulosic feedstock include providing a vessel; providing a lignocellulosic feedstock; providing a composition comprising an acid, a modifying agent comprising a heterocyclic compound, and a peroxide; and exposing the lignocellulosic feedstock to the composition in the vessel for a period of time sufficient to remove at least 80% of the lignin present in the lignocellulosic feedstock.