SixRing Inc.

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.

In one example, a process to make biogas includes providing a digester which comprises at least one organic material rich in nitrogen and at least one inoculum capable of converting a portion of said at least one organic material into methane under anaerobic conditions; providing a biomass which is depleted of lignin; adding said biomass to said digester; allowing sufficient time for the digester to degrade at least a portion of said biomass and at least a portion of said organic material to yield a biogas composition comprising methane; capturing said biogas composition; and storing said biogas. Also disclosed, are methods and uses associated with the use of a cellulosic component processed to be depleted of lignin which comprises approximately between 10% to 50% of the amount of lignin present in a biomass component prior to a delignification treatment, as additive to organic waste in a bio-digester.

In one example, a method includes providing a recalcitrant biomass; exposing said highly recalcitrant biomass to a delignification reaction wherein said delignification reaction comprising the exposure of said highly recalcitrant biomass to an acidic composition comprising a modified Caro's acid for a period of time sufficient to yield a treated cellulose which has a final lignin content of up to 100% less than the initial lignin content of the biomass; providing a digester whose contents comprises at least one inoculum comprising a microbial community capable of converting organic material into methane under anaerobic conditions; adding said treated cellulose to said digester; allowing sufficient time for the digester to degrade at least a portion of said treated cellulose and optionally, at least a portion of said organic material to yield a biogas composition comprising methane; capturing said biogas composition; and storing said biogas.

A method for converting a lignin-derived material into at least one esterified lignin derivative, said method comprising the steps of: providing said lignin-derived material selected from the group consisting of: lignin monomers; lignin depolymerization products; and combinations thereof; providing an acidic composition having a pH of less than 1, said acidic composition comprising: an acid selected from the group consisting of: 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 said lignin-derived material with said acidic composition into a reaction mixture; heating up said mixture to a temperature ranging from 25° C. to 120° C.; and allowing sufficient time of reaction to convert at least a portion of said lignin-derived material into said at least one esterified lignin derivative.

A process to hydrolyze cellulose into cellobiose comprises providing a reaction vessel and providing an inoculum of a bacteria or fungus capable of expressing one or more endo or exo-β-glucanase into reaction vessel. The bacterium or fungus is exposed to a source of cellulose having a kappa number of less than 10 and a hemicellulose content of less than 15% in an aqueous medium of pH between 5 and 9 at a temperature ranging from 20° C. to 40° C. for a period of time ranging from 1 to 30 days. The cellobiose is exposed to a bacterium or fungi or yeast, or combination which converts cellobiose to glucose or ethanol.

A process to obtain glucose from a pretreated lignocellulosic biomass comprises providing a lignocellulosic biomass and contacting said lignocellulosic biomass to a modified Caro's acid composition for a period of time necessary to remove more than 98.5% of the lignin present in the lignocellulosic biomass and thus obtaining a solid stream and a liquid stream. The solid stream is exposed to an enzyme blend to produce a hydrolysate comprising sugars obtained from the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose. Optionally, the hydrolysate may be fermented to produce value-added products.

A method of obtaining ethanol from a lignocellulosic biomass comprises delignification of a lignocellulosic biomass using a modified Caro's acid. Next a solid portion of the delignification reaction mixture is recovered wherein the solid portion comprises a substantially hemicellulose-free cellulosic component which includes at most, up to 15% w/w hemicellulose. Next, the recovered solid portion of the resulting reaction mixture is exposed to an enzyme mix comprising cellulase enzymes to create a saccharification system that breaks down the cellulose into a saccharified composition such as oligosaccharides. The saccharified composition is then fed to an organism, such as yeast, with the ability to ferment sugars into ethanol.

A process to increase the amount of methane produced from a bio-digester comprises providing a digester to receive a feed and to capture a biogas composition resulting from bio-digestion. Organic material is added to the digester along with at least one inoculum capable of converting a portion of the organic material into methane under anaerobic conditions. A biomass is provided that is substantially free of lignin in an amount that ranges between 0.1 to 5% w/w of the total feed, the biomass further having another organic material. The biomass is added to the digester. Sufficient time is allowed for the digester to degrade the biomass and the organic material to yield a biogas composition that includes methane. Optionally, the biomass that is substantially free of lignin is added in an amount that ranges between 0.1 to 5% w/w of the total feed of the biomass having the other organic material.

An aqueous composition comprising: sulfuric acid; a compound comprising an amine moiety; a compound comprising a sulfonic acid moiety; and a peroxide. Said composition being capable of delignifying biomass.