Process to produce biofuels from biomass

摘要

A method to produce biofuels from biomass is provide by contacting the biomass with an aqueous media to form an extracted biomass, separating at least a portion of an aqueous liquor from the extracted biomass thereby providing the aqueous liquor stream comprising soluble carbohydrates; contacting the aqueous liquor stream with a purification substrate effective to remove sulfur compounds and nitrogen compounds thereby producing a treated carbohydrate stream having less than 35% of the sulfur content and less than 35% of the nitrogen content of the untreated aqueous liquor feed, based on the untreated aqueous liquor stream, then contacting the treated carbohydrate stream directly with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenolysis catalyst to form a plurality of oxygenated intermediates; and processing at least a portion of the oxygenated intermediates to form a liquid fuel.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
(i) providing a biomass containing celluloses, hemicelluloses and lignin; (ii) contacting the biomass with an aqueous media to form an extracted biomass comprising celluloses, hemicelluloses, soluble carbohydrates and lignin and an aqueous liquor comprising soluble carbohydrates; (iii) separating at least a portion of the aqueous liquor of step (ii) from the extracted biomass thereby providing an aqueous liquor stream comprising soluble carbohydrates, nitrogen compounds and sulfur compounds, and an extracted biomass solids stream comprising celluloses, hemicelluloses, and lignin; (iv) contacting the aqueous liquor stream from step (iii) with a purification substrate effective to remove sulfur compounds and nitrogen compounds while inert to the soluble carbohydrates thereby producing a treated carbohydrate stream having less than 35% of the sulfur content and less than 35% of the nitrogen content, based on the aqueous liquor stream before contact with the purification substrate; (v) contacting the treated carbohydrate stream from step (iv) directly with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenolysis catalyst to form a plurality of oxygenated intermediates; and (vi) processing at least a portion of the oxygenated intermediates to form a liquid fuel.