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CYTUVA

Pilot plant for biomass fractionation in supercritical water by means of high-speed reactors.

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Contact Information

Basic Information

  • UniversityUniversidad de Valladolid
  • Center
  • DepartmentChemical Engineering and Environmental Technology
  • Investigation GroupPressure Process Engineering


Description

Pilot plant to study the fractionation and hydrolysis of biomass in supercritical water with the capacity to operate up to 20 kg/h of biomass suspensions at temperatures greater than 370 °C, pressures greater than 22 MPa, and reaction times lower than 1 s. The following innovative aspects can be mentioned: 1. Biomass pressurization and impulsion system with the capacity to operate with biomass suspensions up to 500 μm of particle diameter. 2. High-speed continuous flow reactors to operate with residence times lower than 1 s, able to separate solids flow (lignin) and a liquid effluent formed by hydrolyzed sugars. 3. Multi-injection mixer to reduce the biomass heating time, improving the dissolution speed. 4. Solids recovery system to recover lignin and an automatic depressurization valve. 5. Residence time control system using desuperheaters to take advantage of the effluent pressure energy and to be able to operate with high concentrations of biomass or solids in the reactor effluent.


Other information

Number of researchers:

3

Development status:

Developed but not marketed

Intellectual Property Rights:

Solicitud de patente

Differentiation in the market:

Novelty

Applicability of technology:

Yes

Companies and markets:

Development of commercial equipment that operates with this technology.

Advantages:

The main advantage that this plant offers regarding existing hydrolysis plants on the market is the continuous work with supercritical water in high-speed reactors, which allows to reduce the reaction time several orders of magnitude. This results in much smaller equipment, which allows the decentralization of the process in addition the reduction of the cost of the equipment. Therefore, it is possible to implement a hydrolysis plant at all points where biomass is available. The second advantage of this process is the exclusive use of biomass and water as raw materials. Thus, possible pollution generated from chemical products and greenhouse gas emissions is prevented. The plant has been designed to efficiently operate from an energy point of view. Because of that, the implementation of superheaters (process elements widely used in the industry) allows to recover both the pressure energy and the kinetic energy, reducing therefore the plant’s global energy consumption. Finally, the use of hydrocyclonic reactors makes it possible to hydrolyze the biomass and simultaneously separate the solid fractions, basically lignin, which are not hydrolyzed. This fact creates a more efficient process and prevents the need for subsequent separation stages to recover the non-hydrolyzed lignin. It is concluded that the equipment presented in this patent is a sturdy and versatile commercial equipment with a large implementation market.

Additional Information:

Premio Prometeo 2016 (Award organized by the University of Valladolid)

UNESCO Code:

3303 - Chemical technology and engineering

Other members:

Luis Vaquerizo Martín
Celia Martínez Fajardo

Photos

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