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Flocculants for Separation and Purification of Hot Water Extracts
About
Lignocellulosic materials such as wood are renewable and sustainable alternative resources for the production of fuels and plastics. Accelerated industrial development around the globe has resulted in strong demand for petroleum as a fuel and also as a source for plastics and chemicals. Lignocellulosic feedstocks present an alternative to alleviate some of this pressure on petroleum resources in a particularly sustainable way. They present a significantly carbon neutral solution since biomass sequesters atmospheric carbon during its growth phase which is released during its combustion. Moreover, lignocellulosics present a source of fuels such as ethanol relieving the stress on corn, grain and such agricultural food sources. Societal awareness of such positive environmental benefits in addition to its obvious economic advantages has made the development and implementation of biobased energy from lignocellulosics imperative. Biomass processing is expected to occur in large biorefineries manufacturing a spectrum of fuel, chemical and material products in a scale efficient manner. The current invention developed by researchers at SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry is a series of novel flocculating agents that can be used to preferentially separate out lignin and lignin derived compounds from sugar containing hot water extracts in the paper and pulp industry. The method is simple and effective and will allow companies to add value to their current production with nominal capital investment. KEY ELEMENTS The addition of chemical agents acting as flocculants at low amounts (ppm) results in aggregation of lignin and lignin derived compounds that can be removed by sedimentation resulting in relatively pure lignin and a clear sugar containing supernatant. The method is more energy efficient than separating lignin from sugars by microfiltration using membranes and avoids expensive membrane filtration equipment (lower capital costs). Patents: U.S. 9,751,781; CA2868154A1 SUNY-ESF-1848
Key Benefits
(1) Lower energy use that microfiltration. (2) Lower capital costs than microfiltration. (3) Produces a relatively pure lignin sediment.
Applications
Pure lignin preparation.