skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Continuous countercurrent chromatographic separator for the purification of sugars from biomass hydrolyzate. Final project report, July 1, 1996--September 30, 1997

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/563823· OSTI ID:563823

Production of pure sugars is required to enable production of fuels and chemicals from biomass feedstocks. Hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose (principal constituents of biomass) produces sugars that can be utilized in various fermentation process to produce valuable chemicals. Unfortunately, the hydrolysis process also liberates chemicals from the biomass that can be toxic to the fermenting organisms. The two primary toxic components of biomass hydrolyzate are sulfuric acid (catalyst used in the hydrolysis) and acetic acid (a component of the feed biomass). In the standard batch chromatographic separation of these three components, sugar elutes in the middle. Batch chromatographic separations are not practical on a commercial scale, because of excess dilution and high capital costs. Because sugar is the {open_quotes}center product,{close_quotes} a continuous separation would require two costly binary separators. However, a single, slightly larger separator, configured to produce three products, would be more economical. This FIRST project develops a cost-effective method for purifying biomass hydrolyzate into fermentable sugars using a single continuous countercurrent separator to separate this ternary mixture.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-83CH10093
OSTI ID:
563823
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP-580-23907; ON: DE98001776; TRN: 98:000697
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Dec 1997
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Novel Simulated moving bed technologies
Technical Report · Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 EST 2003 · OSTI ID:563823

Isolation of sugarcane bagasse hydrolyzate-tolerant yeast mutants by continuous selection
Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Biotechnol. Bioeng. Symp.; (United States) · OSTI ID:563823

Sugar-Based Ethanol Biorefinery: Ethanol, Succinic Acid and By-Product Production
Technical Report · Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · OSTI ID:563823