Process for the treatment of lignocellulosic biomass

摘要

A process for the treatment of biomass to render structural carbohydrates more accessible and/or digestible using hot ammonia vapor and water vapor is described. The process preferably uses steam to strip ammonia from the biomass for recycling. The process yields of monosaccharides from the structural carbohydrates are good, particularly as measured by the enzymatic hydrolysis of the structural carbohydrates. The monosaccharides are used as animal feeds and energy sources for ethanol production.