Processing biomass and petroleum containing materials

摘要

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
processing a petroleum-containing material that has been exposed to an ion beam generated by an accelerator, the accelerator having a filter to remove undesired species, to extract a hydrocarbon component from the petroleum-containing material; the ion beam effecting a chain scission reaction effective to provide a yield increase in the hydrocarbon component extracted at a temperature and pressure effective to extract the hydrocarbon component.