JP2009124973A - Method for producing ethanol raw material and ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a practical and economical process for the production of ethanol, while suppressing the energy cost. <P>SOLUTION: The method for producing an ethanol raw material from a lignocellulosic biomass comprises a step of coarsely crushing a raw material containing lignocellulose, a step of finely crushing the roughly crushed material produced by the roughly crushing step, and a dehydration step for dehydrating finely crushed material, produced by the finely crushing step. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to effective use of woody biomass (forest residues or waste materials such as wood and bark) and grassy biomass (agricultural residues such as rice straw), and more specifically, woody biomass and grassy biomass. The present invention relates to a method for efficiently producing a raw material for producing ethanol from ethanol (referred to as “ethanol raw material”) and an efficient method for producing ethanol using the raw material.

  To produce ethanol from lignocellulose such as wood and grass (forestry residues, waste materials, agricultural residues, fishery residues, etc.), the cellulose and hemicellulose in lignocellulose are first hydrolyzed to free sugars or oligosaccharides. Thereafter, the free sugar or oligosaccharide is fermented and converted to ethanol, and ethanol is recovered from the obtained fermentation broth and purified to a predetermined quality.

  In the first hydrolysis step, hydrolysis with an acid such as sulfuric acid is generally used. However, in such a method, acid recovery, treatment neutralization, neutralized product (for example, when sulfuric acid is used) In addition to the need for a reaction vessel for the treatment of gypsum and the corrosion resistance, there is a limit to the saccharification yield due to the excessive decomposition due to the sequential progress of the hydrolysis reaction. In addition to hydrolysis with an acid, saccharification using an enzyme such as cellulase is used. This method is expected as an environmentally friendly method because of its high selectivity (ie, no excessive decomposition) and the reaction proceeds at normal temperature and pressure. However, saccharification hardly proceeds even if saccharification enzyme is allowed to act on lignocellulose as it is. Therefore, when this method is adopted, pretreatment for enzymatic saccharification is necessary.

  Various methods have been proposed as a pretreatment for enzymatic saccharification, but as a method that does not use chemicals such as acid, mechanical treatment such as pulverization (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2), high temperature and high pressure (For example, see Patent Documents 3 and 4) using water (pressurized hot water or subcritical water). There is also a method for improving efficiency by combining hydrothermal treatment and mechanical treatment (see, for example, Patent Documents 5 and 6).

In the enzymatic saccharification process, the enzyme price is high and there is an economic problem. In the ethanol fermentation process, there is a problem of pentose fermentation in lignocellulose, and studies such as genetic recombination are underway (see, for example, Patent Documents 7 and 8).
JP 2007-185117 A (published July 26, 2007) JP 2006-88136 A (published April 6, 2006) JP 2006-255676 A (published September 28, 2006) JP 2005-168335 A (published June 30, 2005) JP 2006-136263 A (published June 1, 2006) JP 2006-263570 A (released on October 5, 2006) JP 2006-246789 A (published September 21, 2006) Announcement of Special Table 2004-513632 (announced on May 13, 2004)

  However, the technologies described in Patent Documents 1 to 4 require a large amount of power required for mechanical treatment, and in particular, high-temperature and high-pressure water treatment cannot increase the problem of overdegradation, the generation of fermentation inhibitors, and the concentration of raw materials. There are issues such as. Moreover, the technique regarding patent documents 5-6 also has the subject regarding raw material density | concentration. Furthermore, the pentose fermentation described in Patent Documents 7 to 8 still have problems such as a long fermentation time and a high substrate concentration.

  In the ethanol recovery and purification process, although methods such as membrane separation have been proposed, solid fermentation such as yeast is contained in the fermentation broth, and crude distillation is essential. In the distillation process, the stock solution needs to be heated, and much energy is consumed.

  When a series of steps of saccharification pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, ethanol fermentation, crude distillation, and dehydration (purification) are considered as the overall process, the fermentation tank for the unit product ethanol becomes large when the substrate concentration is low in the ethanol fermentation step. In addition, the ethanol concentration in the fermentation solution is lowered, leading to an increase in the size of the distillation column and an increase in required heat energy in the rough distillation process. On the other hand, when trying to increase the substrate concentration, the solid / liquid ratio in the enzymatic saccharification step increases, and there is a contradiction that enzymatic saccharification cannot be performed.

  In order to solve the economics of the enzymatic saccharification process, it is necessary to reduce the cost of enzyme procurement and the amount of enzyme used. Although there is a method for producing an enzyme on-site to reduce enzyme procurement costs, this is determined by the price difference from external purchase costs. On the other hand, pulverization treatment is more suitable than hydrothermal treatment for reducing the amount of enzyme used. However, as described above, pulverization treatment requires a lot of power and energy cost (ie, economic efficiency). Will make it worse. Hydrothermal treatment can not only reduce the amount of enzyme used, but also causes excessive decomposition as described above to produce a fermentation inhibitor. There is a problem that the raw material concentration cannot be increased in the case of continuous processing.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is based on process engineering in ethanol production, pretreatment without using acids and / or chemicals, enzymatic saccharification, ethanol fermentation, and ethanol recovery. / To provide a practical and economical process of refining with reduced energy costs.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that the problems can be solved by improving the method for producing an ethanol raw material, and have completed the present invention.

  That is, the production method according to the present invention is a method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in a coarse pulverization step and a coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose. A fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing the produced coarsely pulverized product, and a dehydration step for dehydrating the finely pulverized product produced in the fine pulverization step.

  The production method according to the present invention is a method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass, the coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing the raw material containing lignocellulose, and the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step. A manufacturing method including a hydrothermal treatment step for heat treatment, a fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing a hydrothermal treatment product generated in the hydrothermal treatment step, and a dehydration step for dehydrating the finely pulverized product generated in the fine pulverization step. Good.

  The production method according to the present invention is a method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass, which comprises roughly pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, and finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step. Even a manufacturing method including a pulverizing step of pulverizing, a hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the finely pulverized product generated in the fine pulverizing step, and a dehydrating step of dehydrating the hydrothermally processed product generated in the hydrothermal treatment step Good.

  The production method according to the present invention is a method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass, which comprises roughly pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, and finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step. A first pulverizing step for pulverization, a hydrothermal treatment step for hydrothermally treating the finely pulverized product produced in the first fine pulverization step, a second fine pulverization step for further finely pulverizing the hydrothermally treated product produced in the hydrothermal treatment step, And a dehydration step of dehydrating the finely pulverized product produced in the two fine pulverization steps.

  Moreover, the manufacturing method which concerns on this invention may be a manufacturing method which makes solid content concentration of a fine ground material 14 mass% or more in the said dehydration process.

  In the production method according to the present invention, the coarsely pulverized product may pass through a sieve having a size of 1 mm or more.

  The production method according to the present invention may be a production method in which the hydrothermal treatment step is performed at a saturated vapor pressure of 0.98 MPa or less.

  The production method according to the present invention may be a production method in which the finely pulverized product has a major axis of 5000 μm or less and a minor axis of 1 μm or less.

  The ethanol production method according to the present invention is characterized by using an ethanol raw material obtained by a method for producing an ethanol raw material from the above lignocellulosic biomass.

  The ethanol production method according to the present invention includes an enzyme saccharification step in which the ethanol raw material is saccharified with a saccharification enzyme, an ethanol fermentation step in which the saccharification product produced in the enzyme saccharification step is ethanol-fermented, and a fermented product produced in the ethanol fermentation step. It may be a production method including a crude distillation step of roughly distilling and a purification step of purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation step.

  The ethanol production method according to the present invention may be a production method in which the enzyme saccharification step and the ethanol fermentation step are performed in a single culture tank.

  The saccharifying enzyme may be produced by filamentous fungi using the pretreated product, the finely pulverized product, or the hydrothermally treated product as a raw material. That is, the ethanol production method according to the present invention further includes a step of producing a saccharifying enzyme used in the enzymatic saccharification step with a filamentous fungus using the pretreated product, the finely pulverized product or the hydrothermally treated product as a raw material. Also good. Moreover, the microorganisms used in the ethanol fermentation step may be those cultured using the saccharified product as a raw material. That is, the ethanol production method according to the present invention may further include a step of culturing the microorganism used in the ethanol fermentation step using the saccharified product as a raw material. Such a microorganism is not particularly limited as long as it has an ethanol fermentation ability, but yeast (in particular, a genetically modified yeast added with a pentose fermentation ability) can be suitably used.

  In the ethanol production method according to the present invention, in the crude distillation step, the ethanol concentration is preferably 80% by mass or more by a combination of simple distillation and continuous distillation.

  In the ethanol production method according to the present invention, it is preferable to obtain anhydrous ethanol by membrane separation or an adsorbent in the purification step.

  By using the present invention, it is possible to construct an economical and practical ethanol production process with reduced energy costs.

  An ethanol production method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the following, an embodiment of the present invention will be described as an ethanol production method including an ethanol raw material production method according to the present invention. However, the present invention includes only the ethanol production method according to the present invention. And a method for producing an ethanol raw material is also included.

  Here, “lignocellulose-based biomass” means biomass (biologically derived organic resources) mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Lignocellulosic biomass includes woody biomass, woody waste, herbaceous biomass, herbaceous waste, and the like. Here, examples of lignocellulosic biomass include wood, rice straw, wheat straw, bagasse, bamboo, pulp, corn stover, rice husk, palm eggplant residue, cassava residue, hemp, etc., and refers to biomass having other plant fiber. .

  The ethanol production method according to the first embodiment is a process including the following steps 1 to 7. In the figure, the step is abbreviated as “S”. Specifically, the raw lignocellulosic biomass is coarsely pulverized (step 1), the obtained coarsely pulverized product is finely pulverized (step 2), and the obtained finely pulverized product is dehydrated to dehydrate the enzyme. A pre-treated product is obtained (step 3), this pre-treated product is enzymatically saccharified (step 4), followed by ethanol fermentation (step 5), and the obtained fermented product is distilled (crude distillation) (step 6). The ethanol is purified by purifying the distillate (step 7).

  In the coarse pulverization step (step 1), the raw material may be pulverized, and the specific method is not limited, and publicly known means and optimum conditions thereof may be adopted after appropriate examination. In this embodiment, in order to suppress the pulverization power, it is preferable to use a coarsely pulverized product having a size that passes through a sieve of 1 mm or more. FIG. 3 shows the simulation results of the relationship between the size of the coarsely pulverized product (“crude pulverized product sieve passing diameter”) and the energy required for the ethanol production process. In this simulation, if the energy required for the ethanol production process is less than the energy (23 MJ / L) of the ethanol produced, it can be determined that the process is practical. According to FIG. 3, it was found that the size of the coarsely and finely pulverized product that is less than 23 MJ / L is 1 mm or more.

  The fine pulverization step (Step 2) is a step of further finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product, and the specific technique thereof is not particularly limited, and publicly known means and optimal conditions thereof may be adopted after appropriate examination. For example, a known wet disk mill (wet grinding type pulverizer) can be preferably used. By using a wet disk mill (wet grinding type pulverizer), the pulverization power can be suppressed. Table 1 shows the processing capacity (“scale” in Table 1) and energy required for operation (“necessary energy” in Table 1) of various types of pulverizers.

  According to Table 1, it can be seen that the wet grinding type pulverizer is particularly excellent in terms of processing capacity and energy required for operation. In addition, you may implement this process combining a wet disk mill and a fiber cutter as needed. In the present embodiment, the finely pulverized product after the fine pulverization step preferably has a major axis of 5000 μm or less (more preferably 100 μm or less) and a minor axis of 1 μm or less. Whether or not the finely pulverized product has a desired size can be confirmed by microscopic observation.

  The dehydration step (step 3) of the present embodiment is not particularly limited as long as it is a method capable of dehydrating the finely pulverized product obtained in the fine pulverization step (step 2). The optimum conditions may be adopted after appropriate examination. According to the study by the present inventors, when ordinary centrifugal separation using a centrifuge tube is used for dewatering the finely pulverized product, it is difficult for the fine powder to settle and the desired degree of dewatering is performed. It was sometimes difficult. On the other hand, when a known centrifugal dehydrator was used, dehydration could be performed efficiently. Therefore, a centrifugal dehydrator can be suitably used for this step. Examples of the centrifugal dehydrator include those manufactured by Tsukishima Kikai Co., Ltd., Sakai Kogyo Co., Ltd. and Kotobuki Kogyo Co., Ltd. Furthermore, a dehydration process may be implemented using a well-known screw press and a belt press. There are various types of centrifugal dehydrators, screw presses, and belt presses, but there is no particular limitation in the present invention. The solid concentration of the finely pulverized product after dehydration is not particularly limited, but the solid concentration of the finely pulverized product is preferably 14% by mass or more (more preferably 20% by mass or more). By adjusting the solids concentration to the above preferred range, the size of the fermenter can be suppressed, and the ethanol concentration in the fermentation broth after ethanol fermentation can be increased to reduce the energy required in the rough distillation process. It becomes. FIG. 4 shows the result of the simulation of the relationship between the solid concentration of the finely pulverized product and the energy required for the ethanol production process by the present inventors. In this simulation, if the energy required for the ethanol production process is less than the energy (23 MJ / L) of the ethanol produced, it can be determined that the process is practical. According to FIG. 4, it turned out that the solid substance density | concentration used as less than 23 MJ / L is 14 mass% or more.

  In the enzymatic saccharification step (step 4), cellulose or hemicellulose is hydrolyzed to free sugar or oligosaccharide by the saccharifying enzyme. As the saccharifying enzyme, those well known in the art may be used, and commercially available products may be used, or those produced on-site within the process according to the present embodiment may be used. As saccharification conditions, conventionally known methods can be appropriately employed. When producing a saccharification enzyme on-site, the saccharification enzyme may be produced by a filamentous fungus. For the growth of this filamentous fungus, the finely ground product obtained in Step 2 or the pre-treatment product obtained in Step 3 is used. It is preferable to use it.

  In the ethanol fermentation process (step 5), the saccharified product is converted into ethanol using a microorganism having ethanol fermentation ability. As such a microorganism, yeast is preferable, and a genetically modified yeast added with pentose fermentation ability may be used. In this embodiment, the saccharified product obtained in the enzymatic saccharification step (step 4) can be used for the pre-culture of the microorganism (eg, yeast). That is, the enzymatic saccharification step (step 4) and the ethanol fermentation step (step 5) can be performed in a single culture tank. In this case, the saccharification enzyme and the microorganism may be simultaneously added to the culture tank (simultaneous saccharification and fermentation), or the saccharification enzyme may be added in advance to saccharify the pretreated product, and then the microorganism may be added and fermented. Which of these methods is adopted is easily selected by a person skilled in the art based on the suitability of the biomass raw material and the properties of the pretreatment product.

  In the crude distillation step (step 6), the ethanol concentration is set to 80% by mass or more. Although various types are mentioned as a distillation system, it is not specifically limited. In order to prevent contamination of the distillation tower, it is desirable to separate the solid and the liquid in advance by simple distillation.

  In the purification step (Step 7), the required quality of ethanol is purified. In this purification, a membrane separation or an adsorbent is preferably used, but is not particularly limited.

  As described above, the ethanol production method according to the first embodiment includes a coarse pulverization process for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, a fine pulverization process for finely pulverizing a coarsely pulverized product generated in the coarse pulverization process, and a fine pulverization process. Moisture adjustment step for adjusting the water content of the finely pulverized product produced in the process, enzyme saccharification step for saccharifying the pre-treated product after the water content adjustment step with saccharification enzyme, ethanol fermentation for saccharification product produced in the enzyme saccharification step for ethanol fermentation It can be said that it includes a process, a crude distillation process of roughly distilling the fermented product produced in the ethanol fermentation process, and a purification process of purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation process.

  The ethanol production method according to the second embodiment further includes a hydrothermal treatment step (step 8) in which the finely pulverized product is hydrothermally treated. As shown in FIG. 1, in the second embodiment, step 8 is performed between steps 2 and 3 of the first embodiment.

  The hydrothermal treatment step (step 8) is preferably performed under a pressure of 0.98 MPa or less (as saturated steam, about 180 ° C. or less) in order to suppress excessive decomposition. Moreover, the construction cost of a reactor can also be reduced by making a pressure into 0.98 Mpa or less. Furthermore, the hydrothermally treated product obtained in Step 8 can also be used for the growth of filamentous fungi used when producing saccharifying enzymes on-site.

  Such a hydrothermal treatment step may be performed between the coarse pulverization step and the fine pulverization step. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the ethanol production method according to the third embodiment includes steps 1, 9, and 10, and subsequently includes steps 3 to 7 as in the first and second embodiments. To do.

  Moreover, a fine grinding process may be performed before and after the hydrothermal treatment process. That is, the ethanol production method according to the fourth embodiment includes steps 1, 2, 9, and 10 as shown in FIG. 1, and subsequently steps 3 to 7 as in the first to third embodiments. Is included. The hydrothermally-treated product obtained in Step 9 can also be used for the growth of filamentous fungi used in producing saccharifying enzymes on-site.

  As described above, the ethanol production method according to the second embodiment includes a coarse pulverization step of roughly pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, a hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the coarsely pulverized product generated in the coarse pulverization step, and a hydrothermal treatment. A finely pulverizing step for finely pulverizing the hydrothermally-treated product generated in the step, a dehydrating step for dehydrating the finely pulverized product generated in the finely pulverizing step, an enzymatic saccharification step for saccharifying the pre-treated product after the dehydrating step with a saccharifying enzyme, an enzyme An ethanol fermentation process for ethanol fermentation of the saccharified product produced in the saccharification process, a crude distillation process for crude distillation of the fermented product produced in the ethanol fermentation process, and a purification process for purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation process It can be said that it should be included.

  Further, the ethanol production method according to the third embodiment includes a coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, a fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing a coarsely pulverized product generated in the coarse pulverization step, and a fine pulverization step. Hydrothermal treatment process for hydrothermal treatment of the finely pulverized product, dehydration process for dehydrating the hydrothermal treatment product generated in the hydrothermal treatment process, enzymatic saccharification process for saccharifying the pre-treated product after the dehydration process with a saccharifying enzyme, enzymatic saccharification process Including an ethanol fermentation process for ethanol fermentation of the saccharified product produced in step 1, a crude distillation step for crude distillation of the fermentation product produced in the ethanol fermentation step, and a purification step for purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation step. You can say that.

  Furthermore, the ethanol production method according to the fourth embodiment includes a coarse pulverization step of coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose, a first fine pulverization step of finely pulverizing a coarsely pulverized product generated in the coarse pulverization step, Hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the finely pulverized product produced in the fine pulverization step, second fine pulverization step of further finely pulverizing the hydrothermally treated product produced in the hydrothermal treatment step, and fine pulverization produced in the second fine pulverization step Dehydration process for dehydrating products, enzymatic saccharification process for saccharifying saccharification enzyme from pre-treated product after dehydration process, ethanol fermentation process for ethanol fermentation of saccharification product generated in enzyme saccharification process, fermented product generated in ethanol fermentation process It can be said that it may include a crude distillation step of roughly distilling and a purification step of purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation step.

  In the present invention, the stage in which the hydrothermal treatment step is performed can be appropriately selected by those skilled in the art based on the suitability of the biomass raw material to be handled.

  The ethanol production method according to the present invention may be a method including further steps, or may be a method including the steps described above. For example, the ethanol production method according to the present invention may further include a step of producing a saccharifying enzyme used in the enzymatic saccharification step by a filamentous fungus using the pretreated product, the finely pulverized product, or the hydrothermally treated product. A step of culturing a microorganism used in the ethanol fermentation step using the saccharified product may be further included.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Moreover, all the academic literatures and patent literatures described in this specification are incorporated herein by reference.

[Example 1]
(Method)
A wood powder coarsely pulverized to 2 mm or less by a commercially available cutter mill was mixed with water so as to be 5% by mass to prepare a slurry. Next, this slurry was put into a disk mill (MKZA10-15J) manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd. and finely pulverized. At this time, slurry was added in accordance with the processing speed of the disk mill. The finely pulverized product slurry obtained by this treatment was again put into the disk mill, and pulverized again (finely pulverized product: major axis: 100 μm or less, minor axis: 1 μm or less). This operation was repeated 5 times or more to obtain a jam-like fine fiber slurry. Note that the number of repetitions of the fine pulverization process varies depending on the state of the raw material and the performance of the pulverizer.

  The slurry (solid concentration 5 mass%) after the wet pulverization treatment was dehydrated with a centrifugal dehydrator at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. The solid concentration of the slurry after dehydration was 24% by mass. Acremonium cellulase (manufactured by Meiji Seika Co., Ltd., addition concentration: 40 FPU / g-dried wood flour) and cellulosin GM5 (manufactured by HBI Corporation, addition concentration: 1 v / v%) are added to the slurry obtained above after dehydration. And kept at 45 ° C. for 3 days.

  The glucose and mannose concentrations in the slurry after the above treatment were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (Jasco PU-2080 RI-2031, column: Bio-Rad Aminex HPX-87H).

(result)
Production of glucose and mannose was confirmed from the slurry to which saccharifying enzyme was added (383 mg / g-dried wood flour). On the other hand, no monosaccharide was detected by liquid chromatography from the slurry to which saccharifying enzyme was not added. Therefore, it was shown that the ethanol raw material manufactured by the present Example can be monosaccharified with cellulase and hemicellulase, resulting in a sugar solution having a concentration that allows normal yeast to undergo ethanol fermentation.

[Example 2]
In order to carry out the ethanol production method according to the present invention, the basic design of the process flow shown in FIG. 2 was carried out.

200 kg (about 1 m ³ ) of lignocellulosic biomass (hereinafter “raw biomass”) containing wood flour, bagasse, etc. is received in a small silo (102) with a flexible container bag. A small silo will be equipped with a screw-type cutting conveyor. Raw material biomass is cut out from the small silo (102), and the coarse pulverizer 1 (equivalent to Masuko Sangyo) (104) and the coarse pulverizer 2 (equivalent to Masuko Sangyo) (105) are passed through the weighing machine (107). The coarse pulverization step (step S1 in FIG. 1) is performed.

  In order to realize the process of S2 → S9 → S10 shown in FIG. 1, a batch type vibration mill (corresponding product made by Chuo Kako Co., Ltd.) (311) is arranged for the (first) pulverization process.

  In order to carry out the hydrothermal treatment step (steps S8 and S9 in FIG. 1), a hydrothermal treatment device (equivalent to Kato Steel Works) (201) is arranged. In order to transfer the raw material biomass between the coarse pulverization step / (first) fine pulverization step and the hydrothermal treatment step or the coarsely pulverized product directly into the fine pulverization step, a wood powder transfer device (air flow type) (106) is provided. Thereby, the combination of various processing steps shown in FIG. 1 can be realized.

  The coarsely pulverized product subjected to hydrothermal treatment, the (first) finely pulverized product, or the coarsely pulverized product which has not been hydrothermally treated by the hydrothermal treatment apparatus (201) is charged into the slurry tank (305). And raw material biomass is mixed with water so that it may become 5 mass%, and a slurry is prepared.

  The slurry is finely pulverized using an MC processing apparatus (manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.) (301 and 302).

  The finely pulverized product slurry obtained by this treatment is put into a cutter mill (equivalent to Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.) (303) and subjected to pulverization again to obtain a finely pulverized product (major axis 100 μm or less, minor axis 1 μm or less). Can be obtained.

  In order to dehydrate the finely pulverized slurry (solid concentration: 5% by mass), the slurry is dehydrated by a centrifugal dehydrator (402). The solid content concentration of the slurry after dehydration is adjusted to 20% by mass by adjusting the rotation speed and processing time of the centrifugal dehydrator. Thereby, the ethanol raw material of Claims 1-8 and Example 1 can be manufactured.

  This dehydration slurry (ethanol raw material) is put into the main saccharification and fermentation tank (501) and the filamentous fungus main culture tank (521). Culture tanks of various capacities (equivalent to Maruryo Bio-Engineering Co., Ltd.) are arranged in the processes related to the saccharification process and fermentation process. That is, pre-culture of the enzyme-producing bacteria is performed in the filamentous fungus pre-culture tank (apparent volume 60 L) (511), and the enzyme is produced in the filamentous fungus main culture tank (apparent volume 400 L) (521). Ethanol-fermenting yeast is precultured in a yeast preculture tank (apparent volume 100 L) (531), and saccharification and fermentation are carried out in a main saccharification and fermentation tank (apparent volume 2000 L) (501). The saccharification operation and the fermentation operation can be performed at the same time or by shifting the date.

  The fermented liquor after ethanol fermentation (ethanol concentration of about 4 to 5% by weight) is subjected to primary distillation in a mash tower (601) and concentrated to an ethanol concentration of about 10 to 20% by weight. Thereby, solid-liquid separation can be performed simultaneously.

  The concentrated liquid is distilled using a continuous distiller (lab continuous distiller) (equivalent to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.) (611) to obtain a crude distillate having an azeotropic concentration of 90% (v / v) or higher in ethanol concentration. .

  The crude distillate can be purified with a membrane dehydrator (equivalent to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding) (621), and finally 99.5% (v / v) ethanol can be obtained.

  By using the present invention, it becomes possible to construct an economical and practical process while suppressing the energy cost, and the biomass can be effectively used at a low cost.

It is a flowchart of the ethanol manufacturing method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart of an ethanol production method in Example 2. It is a graph which shows the result of having simulated the relationship between the magnitude | size of a coarsely pulverized material, and the energy required for an ethanol manufacturing process. It is a graph which shows the result of having simulated the relationship between the solid substance density | concentration of a fine ground material, and the energy required for an ethanol manufacturing process.

Explanation of symbols

104 Coarse grinder 1
105 Coarse grinder 2
311 Batch type vibration 201 Hydrothermal treatment equipment 301 MC treatment equipment 1
302 MC processing equipment set 2
303 Cutter mill 402 Centrifugal dehydrator 501 Main saccharification and fermentation tank 611 Laboratory continuous distiller 621 Membrane dehydrator

Claims (11)

A method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass,
A coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose;
A fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step, and a dehydration step for dehydrating the fine pulverized product produced in the fine pulverization step;
Manufacturing method. A method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass,
A coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose;
Hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step,
A fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing the hydrothermal treatment product generated in the hydrothermal treatment step, and a dehydration step for dehydrating the fine pulverized product generated in the fine pulverization step,
Manufacturing method. A method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass,
A coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose;
A fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step,
A hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the finely pulverized product produced in the fine pulverization step; and a dehydration step of dehydrating the hydrothermal treatment product produced in the hydrothermal treatment step;
Manufacturing method. A method for producing an ethanol raw material from lignocellulosic biomass,
A coarse pulverization step for coarsely pulverizing a raw material containing lignocellulose;
A first fine pulverization step for finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized product produced in the coarse pulverization step,
A hydrothermal treatment step of hydrothermally treating the finely pulverized product produced in the first fine pulverization step;
A second fine pulverization step for further finely pulverizing the hydrothermally treated product generated in the hydrothermal treatment step, and a dehydration step for dehydrating the fine pulverized product generated in the second fine pulverization step;
Manufacturing method.   The manufacturing method of any one of Claims 1-4 which makes the solid density | concentration of a finely ground material 14 mass% or more in the said dehydration process.   The manufacturing method of any one of Claims 1-5 which is a magnitude | size which the said coarsely pulverized material passes a 1 mm or more sieve.   The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the hydrothermal treatment step is performed at a saturated vapor pressure of 0.98 MPa or less.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the finely pulverized product has a major axis of 5000 μm or less and a minor axis of 1 μm or less.   The manufacturing method of ethanol using the ethanol raw material obtained by the manufacturing method of any one of Claims 1-8. An enzymatic saccharification step of saccharifying the ethanol raw material with a saccharifying enzyme;
An ethanol fermentation process in which the saccharified product produced in the enzymatic saccharification process is ethanol-fermented;
The production method according to claim 9, comprising a crude distillation step of roughly distilling the fermented product produced in the ethanol fermentation step, and a purification step of purifying the crude distillate produced in the crude distillation step.   The manufacturing method of Claim 10 which performs the said enzyme saccharification process and the said ethanol fermentation process in a single culture tank.

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