Method of producing hodge carbonyls and oligomeric lignin
View Patent ↗A method of treating biomass feed by pyrolyzing it in the presence of superheated steam at a selected temperature for a sufficient time to produce at least one product stream.
1. An improved fast pyrolysis method of the type used to decompose biomass into a non-bio-oil product, said fast pyrolysis method characterized by the steps of i) combining the biomass, a carrier gas, and a particulate solid source of heat in a pyrolysis chamber, ii) allowing the biomass to decompose during an apparent vapor residence time, and ii) collecting a product, wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
Step (a) directing superheated steam into the pyrolysis chamber;
Step (b) applying to the pyrolysis chamber sufficient heat from an external source to raise the temperature in the chamber to at least about 430° C.;
Step (c) collecting a stream containing char;
Step (d) collecting an aerosol stream;
Step (e) producing a gas stream and a condensables stream from the aerosol stream of Step (d); and,
Step (f) separating the condensables stream of Step (e) into i) an aqueous product stream and ii) oligomeric lignin.
2. The improved method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous product stream of Step (f) includes at least one Hodge' carbonyl.
3. The improved method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous product stream of Step (f) includes at least one product selected from the group consisting of hydroxyacetaldehyde, glyceraldehydes, acetol, pyruvaldehyde, glyoxal, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfurals, formaldehyde, and water-soluble phenolics.
4. The improved method of claim 1 wherein the apparent vapor residence time is approximately 1 second.
5. The improved method of claim 4 wherein the temperature of Step (b) is between approximately 430° C. and approximately 570° C.
6. The improved method of claim 1 wherein the temperature of Step (b) is between approximately 430° C. and approximately 570° C.
7. The improved method of claim 1 wherein the biomass includes a cellulosic material.
8. The improved method of claim 7 wherein the cellulosic material is selected from the group consisting of cellulosic pulps, cellulosic sludges, and micro-crystalline cellulose powders.
9. The improved method of claim 1 wherein the biomass includes at least one lignocellulosic material.
10. The improved method of claim 9 wherein the heat applied at Step (b) is sufficient to produce a temperature in the pyrolysis chamber in the range of approximately 430° C. to approximately 550° C.
11. The improved method of claim 1 further comprising:
Step (g) absorbing the oligomeric lignin of Step (f) onto the char of Step (c) whereby a composite of the oligomeric lignin and the char is produced.
12. Oligomeric lignin produced by the method of claim 1 .
13. A solid fertilizer having a coating, wherein said coating comprises the oligomeric lignin of claim 1 .
14. The composite of oligomeric lignin and char produced by the improved method of claim 11 .