US 12,152,267 B2
Method for treating a lignocellulosic biomass
Caroline Aymard, Rueil-Malmaison (FR); Severine Louesdon-Jeunet, Rueil-Malmaison (FR); Romain Rousset, Rueil-Malmaison (FR); and Damien Hudebine, Rueil-Malmaison (FR)
Assigned to INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT, Paris (FR); and IFP Energies Nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison (FR)
Appl. No. 17/425,418
Filed by INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT, Paris (FR); and IFP Energies Nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison (FR)
PCT Filed Jan. 20, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/051289
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/152105, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 30, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1900597 (FR), filed on Jan. 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2024/0026388 A1, Jan. 25, 2024
Int. Cl. C12P 7/06 (2006.01); C12P 7/04 (2006.01); C12P 7/16 (2006.01); C12P 7/28 (2006.01)
CPC C12P 7/06 (2013.01) [C12P 7/04 (2013.01); C12P 7/16 (2013.01); C12P 7/28 (2013.01); C12P 2201/00 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
 
1. A process for treating lignocellulosic biomass comprising the following successive steps:
a) conditioning the lignocellulosic biomass by at least one grinding step to obtain particles of ground biomass;
b) washing said particles with an aqueous solution having a pH of between 4 and 8.5, at a temperature of between 10° C. and 95° C., at atmospheric pressure, and for a period of between 1 and 300 minutes;
c) separating the aqueous solution from the washed biomass particles in order to obtain a lignocellulosic substrate having a dry matter content of between 15% and 70% by weight, and a used aqueous washing solution;
d) impregnating said lignocellulosic substrate with an acidic liquor, so as to obtain an impregnated lignocellulosic substrate having a pH of between 0.1 and 3;
e) carrying out a solid/liquid separation of the impregnated lignocellulosic substrate, in order to obtain a lignocellulosic substrate having a dry matter content of between 15% by weight and 70% by weight, and a liquid effluent;
f) pretreating said impregnated lignocellulosic substrate resulting from step e) by cooking, so as to obtain a pretreated lignocellulosic substrate;
g) carrying out an enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated lignocellulosic substrate with enzymes produced from fungus microorganisms, so as to obtain a hydrolyzate containing sugars;
h) carrying out a fermentation, by bacteria or yeast microorganisms, of the hydrolyzate resulting from step g) in order to obtain a fermentation must containing at least one biobased molecule;
a step of neutralizing the lignocellulosic substrate pretreated in step f), before or during the enzymatic hydrolysis step g), and at least one portion of the used aqueous washing solution separated in step c) is introduced into said neutralization step;
and introducing at least one portion of the used aqueous washing solution separated in step c) into a step of said biomass treatment process which is after the pretreatment step f), or into an enzyme production step or into a step of producing/propagating the microorganisms for steps g) or h) when at least one of these enzyme production or microorganism production/propagation steps is integrated into said biomass treatment process or a combination thereof.