3 March 2015
ABOUT RENMATIX PLANTROSE PROCESS
The patented Plantrose process
uses supercritical water to reduce costs
in conversion of biomass to cellulosic sugars,
the critical intermediary for
second generation biofuels and biochemicals.
With faster reactions and no associated consumable-expenses,
Renmatix’s supercritical hydrolysis economically
enables a multitude of renewable process technologies
to address the market needs
for ‘high volume, low cost, broadly sourced’ cellulosic sugars
that persists today.
Plantrose™: A Two Step Process
The water-based Plantrose™ Process consists of two core steps.
The first is
fractionation of biomass and separation of the remaining solids
which contain cellulose and lignin.
The second is
cellulose hydrolysis of the pretreated solids
under elevated conditions utilizing supercritical water,
or water at higher temperatures and pressures,
as the primary solvent.
The relative ease of hydrolysis of the hemicelluloses
compared to the recalcitrant cellulose
necessitates this two-step process in order to
preserve the C5 sugar that would be rapidly destroyed
under the more severe conditions necessary
for cellulose dissolution into C6 sugar.
The biomass first undergoes size reduction, as necessary,
and is then conveyed to a storage silo. The stored solids
are slurried with water and pumped and heated
to reaction temperature and then fed to the fractionation reactor
where the reaction takes place.
The products from the fractionation reactor
are then sent to solid/liquid filtration and stored.
The solids from the fractionation process
consist predominantly of cellulose and lignin.
These solids are sent to a blend tank
where they are re-slurried by mixing with water and
then pumped into the system at pressure and preheated.
The preheated slurry is further treated with
hot compressed water and undergoes a rapid reaction.
The products from this reaction are then cooled and filtered.
Remaining solids, in the form of clean, odorless, lignin,
are collected.
Where necessary,
the separate C5 and C6 soluble oligomer streams
are easily and quickly transformed to monomers
through a catalytic process.
We have also developed processes to concentrate our sugars
as necessary to
meet the particular specifications of different partners.
DETAILS
the leader in affordable cellulosic sugars,
announced an investment by
the New Energies Division of Total, and
the signature of a joint development agreement (JDA)
between Total [NYSE: TOT] and Renmatix.
Under the agreement, Renmatix and Total will
utilize Renmatix’s proprietary Plantrose process
with specific feedstocks to extract sugar for use
in production of biobased products of interest to Total.
In concert with the investment and R&D projects,
Total also joins the Renmatix Board of Directors.
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