GREEN PROCESS TO HYDROLYZE CARBOHYDRATES FROM TOBACCO BIOMASS USING SUBCRITICAL WATER

1 . A process for fractionating carbohydrates and lipids or oils in tobacco plants comprising:

providing a biomass of tobacco plants mixed with one or more lignocellulosic feedstocks and subcritical water at a first temperature to a reactor;

hydrolyzing the biomass of tobacco plants with the subcritical water at the first temperature of greater than 180° C. and up to about 200° C., wherein the hydrolyzing of the biomass is essentially free of chemicals other than the subcritical water;

recovering a liquid product and a solid product from the reactor, wherein the liquid product contains water-soluble sugars and ranges in pH from 6.2 to 6.9;

recycling the solid product to the reactor with subcritical water at a second temperature;

further hydrolyzing the solid product with the subcritical water at the second temperature of greater than 280° C. and up to about 305° C. wherein the hydrolyzing of the solid product is essentially free of chemicals other than the subcritical water ; and

recovering a second liquid product and a second solid product from the reactor, wherein the second liquid product contains additional water-soluble sugars,

wherein hydrolyzing occurs in an absence of cellulose enzymes.

2 . (canceled)

3 . (canceled)

4 . The process of claim 1 further comprising:

extracting oil from the solid product.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The process of claim 1 further comprising:

extracting oil from the second solid product.

7 . (canceled)

8 . (canceled)

9 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the biomass is prepared by wet-grinding the tobacco plants.

10 . A process for fractionating sugars and nicotine from a tobacco biomass comprising:

feeding a biomass of tobacco plants and subcritical water to a reactor;

performing a single hydrolyzing of the biomass of tobacco plants with the subcritical water at a temperature between about 200° C. and 305° C.; and

recovering a liquid product and a solid product from the reactor, wherein the liquid product contains water soluble sugars and nicotine,

wherein the hydrolyzing occurs in an absence of cellulose enzymes.

11 . The process of claim 10 further comprising:

extracting oil from the second solid product.

12 . The process of claim 10 , wherein greater than 70 wt % of the solids in the tobacco plants are converted to liquid product.

13 . The process of claim 10 , wherein hydrolyzing is performed in an acidic environment to optimize nicotine recovery.

14 . The process of claim 10 having a residence time of between 1 minute and 10 minutes to optimize nicotine recovery.

15 . The process of claim 10 having a residence time between 5 and 30 seconds to optimize sugar recovery.

16 . (canceled)

17 . The process of claim 10 , further comprising recovering the nicotine from the liquid product.

18 . The process of claim 10 , further comprising recycling the water back to a water supply.

19 . The process of claim 10 , wherein the hydrolyzing of the biomass of tobacco plants with the subcritical water is a continuous process.

20 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the lignocellulosic feedstock comprises one or a combination of corn stover and switchgrass.

21 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising recycling the water back to a water supply.

22 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising recovering a majority of heat from the subcritical water to improve the overall efficiency of the process.

23 . The process of claim 1 , wherein hydrolyzing the biomass with the subcritical water at the first and second temperatures is a continuous process.

24 . The process of claim 23 , wherein the continuous process has a residence time of 5 seconds to 15 minutes.

25 . The process of claim 23 , wherein the continuous process is integrated into a single reactor.

26 . The process of claim 25 , wherein the reactor is installed at a site of the biomass of tobacco plants.

27 . The process of claim 25 , wherein the reactor is a tubular reactor.