JP2010188288A - Biomass crushing method, biomass crusher, and method of manufacturing sugars - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a crushing treatment, a hydrothermal treatment, and a sterilization treatment of biomass with a high efficiency without commingling of impurities and with reduced energy consumption. <P>SOLUTION: A slurry of biomass discharged from a high-pressure pump 2 is pneumatic-transported continuously to a nozzle 5 while being heated by a heating device 6 provided between the nozzle 5 and the pump, by which the slurry of biomass is converted into a superspeed jet flow in the nozzle 5, the motion energy of the superspeed jet flow is utilized as atomization energy to crush the biomass in the slurry, for example, into an average particle size of 1 μm or less. In such a manner, by crushing the biomass in a high-pressure and high-temperature liquid environment, the crushing treatment, the hydrothermal treatment, and the sterilization treatment are carried out at the same time. Further, preferably the slurry of the biomass discharged from the nozzle 5 is cooled rapidly in a cooling system 7 to suppress a heating deterioration of an objective component contained in the biomass. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a biomass pulverization method, a biomass pulverization apparatus, and a saccharide production method for pulverizing biomass.

  In order to build a de-petrochemical society, it is essential to produce energy and materials using biological resources called biomass. Among them, plant biomass that can effectively use solar energy and carbon dioxide by photosynthesis is strongly desired to be effectively used as a so-called carbon neutral resource that does not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

  Biomass is a mixture composed of various components, and in order to utilize the target component, it is necessary to pulverize and increase the surface area to facilitate separation of impurities. For example, in order to recover and utilize cellulose from wood, biomass is pulverized using a pulverizer such as a vibration mill (see Patent Documents 1 and 2), a cutter mill, or the like.

  Furthermore, in order to use the target component in biomass for chemical reaction such as hydrolysis, heating high pressure treatment (hydrothermal treatment) is performed. For example, when a useful component such as glucose is obtained by hydrolyzing cellulose, heating and high pressure treatment may be performed by an apparatus such as an autoclave (see Patent Documents 3, 4, and 5).

  Moreover, when using biomass for a foodstuff or cosmetics use, the emulsified material may be heat-sterilized and processed into a product (refer patent document 6). Furthermore, a material such as brown rice may be pulverized and then heat sterilized to process the product (see Patent Document 7).

  However, when biomass is processed by these methods, so-called batch processing is used, in which a process for pulverizing and emulsifying biomass and a process for heating and high-pressure processing are used separately, so that continuous processing is not possible and energy efficiency is reduced. However, there was a drawback that the apparatus was large. Furthermore, since the biomass as a raw material is kept under heating conditions for a long time, there is a drawback that the components in the biomass are deteriorated by heating.

  As a method of pulverizing under heated high-pressure water, a method of generating pressurized hot water in a batch pulverizer such as a ball mill (see Patent Document 8) has been proposed. In this case, the batch pulverizer is used. However, the continuous processing is not possible because the inlet and outlet valves are closed, the energy efficiency is poor, the heat energy loss due to the heating of a large pulverizer, and the heat deterioration of the components remain. there were.

  Furthermore, when biomass is used for applications where the presence of impurities such as food and cosmetics leads to a reduction in product quality, or when aseptic hygienic biomass processing is required for enzyme or microbial treatment, these conventional methods Since the principle of bringing biomass into contact with other pulverizing balls or rods is used, there is a drawback in that so-called contamination occurs in which materials of the pulverizer such as balls are mixed as impurities. In addition, since it is a batch process, it is difficult to continuously supply the biomass after the heat treatment to the next process in an aseptic and hygienic manner.

  In addition, as a method capable of continuous treatment, a method using a continuous extruder in a fine fibrous cellulosic material and a method for producing the same (see Patent Document 9) has been proposed. However, since the continuous extruder has a large pulverizer and heating / pressurizing unit for rotating a very heavy screw having one or more axes, the problem of increasing thermal energy loss has not been solved. Furthermore, it does not address the disadvantages of mechanical contamination.

  Also, there is a biomass treatment method using heated high pressure water such as supercritical water (see Patent Document 10), but it does not support other treatments other than heated high pressure treatment. There is a problem that a device using a special material that can withstand the condition is required.

JP 07-223208 A JP 2004-188833 A JP 2006-136263 A JP 2007-301472 A JP 2008-248202 A JP 2003-199519 A JP 2008-079596 A JP 2006-263570 A JP 2008-274247 A JP 2003-213037 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that a biomass pulverization method, a biomass pulverization process, a hydrothermal treatment, and a sterilization process can be performed with high efficiency without contamination of impurities and with low energy consumption. It is to provide a manufacturing method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is configured to simultaneously perform pulverization and hydrothermal treatment by pulverizing biomass in a high-pressure and high-temperature liquid environment. In this way, biomass pulverization and hydrothermal treatment can be carried out with high efficiency without mixing impurities and with less energy consumption. Moreover, sterilization can also be performed simultaneously by grind | pulverizing biomass in a high temperature liquid environment.

  Specifically, a slurry in which biomass and liquid are mixed is pumped into a nozzle by a high-pressure pump and converted into an ultra-high-speed jet flow, and the kinetic energy of the high-speed jet flow is used as atomization energy in the slurry. It is better to grind the biomass.

  At this time, the liquid heated to high temperature is mixed with the biomass to make a slurry of high temperature biomass and pumped with a high pressure pump, or the biomass slurry may be heated and pumped with a high pressure pump. A heating device for heating the biomass slurry discharged from the high-pressure pump may be provided between the nozzle and the nozzle. In this way, the biomass slurry can be efficiently heated immediately before the nozzle.

  Furthermore, it is good to provide the cooling device which cools the slurry of biomass discharged | emitted from a nozzle. If it does in this way, the ground biomass can be cooled rapidly and the heat deterioration of the target ingredient contained in biomass can be controlled.

As the liquid to be mixed with biomass, any one liquid or a mixture of two or more of water, an acidic liquid, an alkaline liquid, and an organic solvent may be used.
If the biomass pulverization method of the present invention is used, the biomass can be pulverized to an average particle size of 1 μm or less.
As the biomass to be pulverized in the present invention, for example, plant biomass may be used, and any woody, herbaceous, or cellulose biomass can be pulverized.

  The biomass pulverized by the biomass pulverization method of the present invention may be used, for example, as a raw material for producing foods and cosmetics, or after saccharifying the pulverized biomass to recover saccharides, fermentation and ethanol or butanol A liquid fuel such as lactic acid or succinic acid may be produced. According to this, saccharides, ethanol, and the like can be efficiently produced from woody, herbaceous, and cellulosic biomass.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a biomass crusher (Examples 1 and 2). 2A and 2B are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the collision type nozzle. FIG. 2A is a perspective view of two hard plate members, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the nozzle. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of the penetrating nozzle. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the degradation rate of the cellulose sample mixture after pulverization at various temperatures by the enzyme (Example 1). FIG. 5A is an electron micrograph of untreated cellulose (Example 1). FIG. 5B is an electron micrograph of cellulose pulverized at room temperature (Example 1). FIG. 5C is an electron micrograph of cellulose pulverized at 180 ° C. (Example 1). FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the degradation rate of cellulose contained in cedar ground at room temperature and 180 ° C. by an enzyme (Example 3). FIG. 7A is an electron micrograph of untreated cellulose (Example 3). FIG. 7B is an electron micrograph of cellulose pulverized at 180 ° C. (Example 3).

Hereinafter, examples embodying the mode for carrying out the present invention will be described. The present invention is not limited to the following examples.
First, the configuration of the biomass crusher will be described with reference to FIG.
The biomass pulverizer includes a hopper 1 into which a slurry made by mixing a liquid as a raw material with a liquid is charged. The biomass in the slurry charged into the hopper 1 is coarsely pulverized to a maximum particle size of 1 mm or less (more preferably, a maximum particle size of 500 μm or less) using an appropriate pulverizer in advance.

  As biomass to be pulverized, for example, plant-based biomass may be used, and for example, woody, herbaceous, or cellulose-based biomass may be used. As the liquid to be mixed with biomass, any one liquid or a mixture of two or more of water, acidic liquid, alkaline liquid, and organic solvent may be used.

  The biomass slurry in the hopper 1 is supplied to a high-pressure pump 2 such as a plunger pump, and the high-pressure pump 2 pressurizes the slurry to a predetermined pressure, for example, 50 to 250 MPa, and discharges it to the nozzle 5 side. Check valves 3 and 4 are provided at an inlet port and an outlet port of the high-pressure pump 2, respectively. The high-pressure pump 2 pumps the biomass slurry into the nozzle 5 to convert it into an ultra-high-speed jet stream, and uses the kinetic energy of the high-speed jet stream as atomization energy to convert the biomass in the slurry to an average particle diameter of 1 μm, for example. Grind to:

  A heating device 6 (heat exchanger) for heating the biomass slurry discharged from the high-pressure pump 2 is provided between the high-pressure pump 2 and the nozzle 5, and the heating device 6 discharged from the high-pressure pump 2. The biomass slurry is pumped to the nozzle 5 while being heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, 100 to 300 ° C. (more preferably 150 to 250 ° C.). Thus, by pulverizing biomass in a high-pressure and high-temperature liquid environment, it is possible to simultaneously perform pulverization, hydrothermal treatment, and sterilization.

  The shape of the nozzle 5 is, for example, a collision type (cross groove type), a through type (orifice type) described in Japanese Patent No. 2788010, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-201521, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-201522, etc. Any of (long tube type, heat generation suppression type, etc.) may be used.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the collision type nozzle 5 a has two through holes 13 formed in two hard plate materials 11 and 12 and opposed surfaces of the two hard plate materials 11 and 12. Further, a groove 14 communicating with the two through holes 13 is formed, and the two hard plate materials 11 and 12 are overlapped so that the two grooves 14 cross each other, and are discharged from the high pressure pump 2. The high-pressure biomass slurry flows through the two grooves 14 toward the center at an ultra high speed and collides with them to atomize the biomass in the slurry.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the penetrating nozzle 5 b has a configuration in which a plurality of orifices 16 are provided in a cylindrical nozzle body 15, and the high-pressure biomass slurry discharged from the high-pressure pump 2 is cylindrical. A turbulent flow is generated when the nozzle body 15 flows through the nozzle 16 at an ultra high speed and passes through each orifice 16, and the biomass in the slurry is atomized by the energy of the turbulent flow.

  The nozzle 5 that can be used in the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In short, an ultrahigh-speed jet flow of the biomass slurry is generated, and the biomass in the slurry is finely divided by the shear energy and the collision energy. Any material that can be crushed is acceptable. Furthermore, it is more preferable if it is finely pulverized to an average particle diameter of 1 μm or less.

  As shown in FIG. 1, on the outlet side of the nozzle 5, a cooling device 7 (heat exchanger) that cools the biomass slurry discharged from the nozzle 5 to a predetermined temperature or lower, for example, 100 ° C. or lower (more preferably 50 ° C. or lower). ) Is provided. Thereby, the pulverized biomass can be rapidly cooled to suppress the heat deterioration of the target component contained in the biomass.

  On the outlet side of the cooling device 7, a pressure adjusting valve 8 that adjusts the pressure of the biomass slurry is provided, and the pulverized biomass slurry that has passed through the pressure adjusting valve 8 is recovered in the recovery unit 9. A pressure sensor 10 that measures the pressure of the biomass slurry is provided on the inlet port side of the pressure regulating valve 8. A pressure sensor 24 that measures the pressure of the biomass slurry is also provided on the discharge port side of the high-pressure pump 2.

  Between the heating device 6 and the nozzle 5, between the nozzle 5 and the cooling device 7, and between the cooling device 7 and the recovery unit 9, temperature sensors 21, 22, and 23 that measure the temperature of the biomass slurry are respectively provided. Is provided.

  The biomass pulverized using the biomass pulverization apparatus having the above-described configuration may be used as a raw material for producing foods and cosmetics, for example. Alternatively, the pulverized biomass is saccharified to recover saccharides and then fermented. Alternatively, a liquid fuel such as ethanol or butanol may be produced, or a plastic raw material such as lactic acid or succinic acid may be produced. If it does in this way, saccharides, ethanol, etc. can be efficiently manufactured from woody, herbaceous, and cellulosic biomass.

  Since the present inventors conducted a biomass crushing test using the biomass crusher having the above-described configuration, the test results will be described below.

  The sample mixture (slurry) charged into the hopper 1 was continuously pumped to the nozzle 5 at a flow rate of about 2.4 mL per second by the high-pressure pump 2. The volume of the portion heated by the heating device 6 is very small, including a pipe portion connecting the high-pressure pump 2 and the nozzle 5 and the nozzle 5, and a total of 10 mL or less, and the sample performs processing such as pulverization and emulsification under the heating high pressure. It took 4 seconds or less.

  A continuous treatment test was performed under various heating conditions from a processing pressure of 150 MPa and a heating temperature of room temperature to 180 ° C. It mixed so that it might become water: crystalline cellulose = 99: 1 by weight ratio, the cellulose liquid mixture was adjusted and it used for the test. The average particle size of the sample put into the hopper 1 was 74.4 μm, and the average particle size of the discharged sample was pulverized from 13.1 to 14.1 μm and reduced (see Table 1).

  In addition, cellulose in the sample mixture before pulverization immediately precipitated in water, but the cellulose after pulverization was emulsified and hardly precipitated due to improved affinity for water. When these crushed samples were subjected to an enzymatic hydrolysis test, the α-cellulose degradation rate (glucose (g) / α-cellulose (g) × 100) increased in a heat test section of 150 ° C. or higher, and 180 In the heating test group at 82 ° C., the value was about twice that of the non-heating test group after 82 hours (see FIG. 4).

  The amount of glucose in the liquid was measured using the glucose oxidase method. Observation of untreated cellulose, cellulose treated at room temperature and cellulose treated at 180 ° C. by electron micrographs shows that the shape of cellulose changes from block to fiber by 180 ° C. treatment, and the surface area increases. It was confirmed (see FIGS. 5A to 5C).

  The continuous treatment test was repeated up to 30 times under two conditions of a treatment pressure of 150 MPa and a heating temperature of room temperature and 180 ° C. It mixed so that it might become water: crystalline cellulose = 99: 1 by weight ratio, the cellulose liquid mixture was adjusted and it used for the test.

The average particle size of the sample was as small as 14.1 μm after the treatment at room temperature once, but then became as large as 29.6 μm after the treatment for 5 times.
In the observation result of the electron micrograph, there was no difference between the size of the one-time treatment and the five-time treatment. Therefore, it was considered that an apparently large value was shown due to aggregation.
On the other hand, in the test under the heating condition at 180 ° C., it was confirmed that the average particle diameter decreased as the number of treatments increased and decreased to 0.127 μm after 30 treatments.

The sample mixed so that water: cedar = 99: 1 was subjected to the test for continuous treatment as in Example 2. The maximum particle size of the cedar sample treated at 180 ° C. was 22.0 μm, and the maximum particle size of the cedar sample treated continuously at room temperature was 21.3 μm. Samples after these treatments were subjected to an enzymatic hydrolysis test, and α-cellulose degradation rate (glucose (g) / α-cellulose (g) × 100) and holocellulose degradation rate (%) in the liquid (total sugar (g) / Holocellulose (g)).
In addition, the glucose oxidase method was used for the amount of glucose in the liquid, and the phenol sulfate method was used for the total amount of sugar.

  FIG. 6 shows the value of the degradation rate after 111 hours of enzyme treatment. Both the α-cellulose degradation rate and the holocellulose degradation rate showed a value that is at least twice as large for cedar treated at 180 ° C. as compared to cedar treated at room temperature. Observations of room temperature treated cedar and 180 ° C. treated cedar by electron micrographs confirmed that the cedar shape changed to a finer fiber by continuous treatment at 180 ° C., and the surface area increased ( (See FIGS. 7A and B).

  A continuous treatment test was performed a maximum of 5 times under two conditions of a treatment pressure of 150 MPa and a heating temperature of room temperature and 180 ° C. The mixture was mixed so that water: tomato stem = 99: 1 by weight ratio, and the mixed solution of tomato stem was prepared and used for the viable cell count test. The number of viable cells was measured by a plate method using a standard agar medium, and the culture temperature was 30 ° C.

The viable cell count of the untreated tomato mixture was 2.0 × 10 ⁷ / g. Moreover, the viable cell counts of the tomato mixture obtained by continuous treatment once and five times at room temperature were 4.7 × 10 ⁷ / g and 3.8 × 10 ⁷ / g, respectively, and the bactericidal effect was recognized. I couldn't. On the other hand, the viable cell counts of the tomato mixture obtained by continuous treatment at 180 ° C. once and five times were 5.2 × 10 ² / g and 300 or less / g, respectively. .

  The present invention can provide a system for continuously treating plant-based biomass under heating and high pressure conditions. Furthermore, the components contained in the plant biomass pulverized under heating and high pressure can be extracted with less energy consumption than in the prior art. The components to be extracted can be provided as a high-quality component that is hardly deteriorated by heating and does not contain sterilization or mechanical impurities. In addition, saccharides contained in plant biomass can be produced with energy saving, and biofuels and biomaterials using saccharides can be provided with less energy consumption.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Hopper, 2 ... High pressure pump, 3, 4 ... Check valve, 5, 5a, 5b ... Nozzle, 6 ... Heating device, 7 ... Cooling device, 8 ... Pressure regulating valve, 9 ... Recovery part, 10 ... Pressure sensor , 11, 12 ... Hard plate material, 13 ... Through-hole, 14 ... Groove, 15 ... Nozzle body, 16 ... Orifice, 21, 22, 23 ... Temperature sensor, 24 ... Pressure sensor

Claims (13)

  A biomass pulverization method, wherein pulverization, hydrothermal treatment, and sterilization are simultaneously performed by pulverizing biomass in a high-pressure and high-temperature liquid environment.   The slurry produced by mixing the liquid with the biomass is pumped into a nozzle by a high-pressure pump and converted into an ultra-high-speed jet flow, and the kinetic energy of the high-speed jet flow is used as atomization energy for biomass in the slurry. The biomass pulverizing method according to claim 1, wherein:   The biomass pulverization method according to claim 2, wherein a heating device is provided between the high pressure pump and the nozzle to heat biomass slurry discharged from the high pressure pump.   The biomass pulverization method according to claim 2, further comprising a cooling device that cools the biomass slurry discharged from the nozzle.   5. The liquid according to claim 2, wherein the liquid to be mixed with the biomass is any one of water, acidic liquid, alkaline liquid, and organic solvent, or a mixed liquid of two or more. The biomass grinding method as described.   The biomass pulverization method according to claim 1, wherein the biomass is pulverized to an average particle size of 1 μm or less.   The biomass pulverization method according to claim 1, wherein plant biomass is used as the biomass.   The biomass pulverization method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein any one of woody, herbaceous, and cellulose-based biomass is used as the biomass.   A saccharide production method comprising producing a saccharide by saccharifying the biomass pulverized by the biomass pulverization method according to claim 1.   A biomass pulverization apparatus characterized by performing pulverization, hydrothermal treatment, and sterilization simultaneously by pulverizing biomass in a high-pressure and high-temperature liquid environment.   The slurry produced by mixing the liquid with the biomass is pumped into a nozzle by a high-pressure pump and converted into an ultra-high-speed jet flow, and the kinetic energy of the high-speed jet flow is used as atomization energy for biomass in the slurry. The biomass pulverizing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the biomass pulverizing apparatus is pulverized.   The biomass pulverization apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a heating device is provided between the high-pressure pump and the nozzle to heat the biomass slurry discharged from the high-pressure pump.   The biomass crusher according to claim 11 or 12, wherein a cooling device for cooling the biomass slurry discharged from the nozzle is provided.

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