Sunday, May 4, 2008
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Development of High Throughput Pretreatment Systems for Cellulosic Biomass

Jaclyn DeMartini1, Heather McKenzie1, Michael Studer2, and Charles Wyman1. (1) Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Center for Environmental Research and Technology, University of California, Riverside, 1084 Columbia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, (2) Center for Environmental Research and Technology, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California, Riverside, 1084 Columbia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521

High throughput (HTP) pretreatment systems could facilitate the rapid screening of many biomass feedstocks to identify those with enhanced features for biological conversion.  Such HTP systems must accomplish five steps: 1) the loading of milled biomass, water, and acid into the reactor; 2) pretreatment of the biomass; 3) separation of the solids and liquid following pretreatment; 4) washing of the solids; and 5) dispensing the washed solids and liquid into HTP systems for enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation.  This paper will evaluate several approaches that could be employed to deal with the challenges associated with linking these operations at a small scale.  For example, the pretreatment reactor can be designed either as a single pretreatment vessel that feeds the enzymatic hydrolysis system or as smaller reactors that each feed separate enzymatic hydrolysis systems.  Indirect, direct, or microwave heating can be used with either of these systems. Following pretreatment, solid-liquid separation can be accomplished either by filtration or centrifugation, and washing the solids can be achieved in either a batch or continuous process.  Several options are available for automatic and accurate weighing and dispensing of the solids for enzymatic hydrolysis. Advantages and disadvantages of each solution will be also be presented.

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