Solvent-based lignocellulose pretreatment for high-yield
This technology provides a chemical process for breaking down plant-based materials like agricultural waste, wood, or energy crops into their three core components: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. It uses polyphosphoric acid as the primary digestive agent, then separates the components using a co-solvent system and steam or vacuum stripping. The result is highly reactive, amorphous forms of cellulose and hemicellulose that convert efficiently into fermentable sugars at unusually high concentrations — over 100 grams per liter. The process is designed to be cost-competitive through low solvent use and modest operating conditions, making it more economically attractive than many competing biomass pretreatment approaches.
What you could build
A licensed pretreatment process module sold or sublicensed to cellulosic ethanol producers, biochemical manufacturers, or pulp-and-paper companies seeking to upgrade biomass feedstocks into high-yield sugar streams; buyers would be bioenergy project developers and industrial biorefinery operators.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia forestry and agricultural waste streams (timber residues, switchgrass, crop residue) make this relevant to Virginia-based biorefinery developers or forestry product companies exploring value-added processing.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Y.H. Percival ZHANG
- Granted
- March 4, 2014
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 8663392
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.