COMBINED TANGENTIAL SHEAR HOMOGENIZING AND FLASHING APPARATUS HAVING A UNIFORM ROTOR/STATOR GAP DIMENSION

摘要

A combined tangential shear homogenizing and flashing apparatus for destructuring pretreated biomass comprises a housing connectable to a source of pressurized pretreated biomass, and a stator and a rotor mounted within the housing. The stator and rotor being confrontationally disposed and spaced apart by a predetermined uniformly dimensioned axial gap. In use, rotational movement of the rotor with respect to the stator imparts a tangential shear to a volume of pretreated biomass. The tangential shear homogenizes the volume of pretreated biomass while a pressure difference causes a partial phase separation of the homogenized biomass into vapor and liquid phases such that the pretreated biomass undergoes at least a three-fold total volumetric increase and a weight transition to a vapor of at least one percent (1%).