Small Scale Continuous Biomass

Pretreatment Reactor Development:

A Case Study Dale Monceaux1 and Richard C. Agar, AdvanceBio, LLC, Milford, OH, USA

2013 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology

June 16-19, 2013 Montréal, Canada

• Company intro

• Feedstock characterization

• Technology scaleup

• Pretreatment reactor design

• Learnings

AdvanceBio

AdvanceBio, LLC

• Formed in 2007

• Provide technology, engineering

and process design services for first

generation starch and sugar based

ethanol production.

• Provide consulting services in

support of project development.

• Consult and provide services

related to first and second

generation biofuels and.

• Application of process simulation

modeling of ethanol plants to

support efficiency and technology

upgrades and capacity expansion.

AdvanceBio Systems,

LLC

• Formed in 2009

• Exclusive rights to IP related to the

mechanical design of biomass

processing equipment used in the

pulp & paper and biomass to

chemicals at capacities to 700 bdtp

• Scaled the process down to meet

the immediate needs of the current

market.

• Design, engineer, fabricate and

supply biomass pretreatment

reactors and ancillary equipment.

• Provide design, engineering and

fabrication of small scale skid-

mounted process equipment based

on non-ABS IP.

AdvanceBio

• Core group of technologists and engineers

with each with over 30 years of development,

design and operations experience

• Technology development and consulting

services for biofuels and biochemicals projects

– Conventional

• starch and sugar

• plant capacities up to 100 mm gpy

– Advanced

• lignocellulosic

ENZYME

PROD

FEEDSTOCK

SIZE

REDUCTION

Context for Pretreatment

CONDITION

PRETREAT

FERMENT

SACCHARIFY

IMPREGNATE

FEEDSTOCK

CLEANING

RESIDUAL

PRODUCT

RECOVERY

FEEDSTOCK

PROD &

HARVEST

Pretreatment has a

central role and

pervasive impact on

all other processes

How to Reduce Uncertainty/Risk

•Successive scale-up to bench, pilot, modules,

demonstration processes before commercial

plant – historical industrial approach

– Provides data valued by investors

– Time consuming

– Costly

– Private investors reluctant to incur costs, risks, long

time horizons

5

Feedstock Bulk Density

6

720

Developmental Scale Equipment

Overall Glucose and Xylose Yields

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Pretreatment time (min)

Yie

ld (

% o

f o

rig

ina

l g

luco

se +

xy

lose

)

Maximum potential glucose

Maximum potential xylose

8

Combined

Glucose in

Stage 1

Xylose in

Stage 2

Maximum glucose yield – even more

challenging for low enzyme loadings

Maximum xylose yield

Maximum total yield

Dilute Acid Pretreatment and Subsequent Enzymatic Hydrolysis

160oC with 0.49% H2SO4

Design Basis Considerations

–Reaction Chemistry – Catalyst

–Reaction Conditions • Time

• Temperature / Pressure

–Liquid Solids Ratio

–Bulk Density

–Feedstock Composition

–Conversion Efficiencies

–Plant Capacity

9

Reactor Volumetric Capacity

10

per 10 minutes of residence at 50% active volume per 100 mm lpy of Ethanol

Bagasse

CornStover

WheatStraw

RiceStraw

Reed

Bamboo

Hardwood

So wood

750 800 850 900 950 1,000

ODtpd

Thermal Conductivity

11

Scaleup………Scaledown

12

VISUALIZE

DESIGN

Commercial Scale Biomass to Sugars

13

Sugarcane Bagasse

14

Commercial Reactors for Making Furfural

15

Commerical-Scale Process

AdvanceBio Reactor Design Basis Criteria

•Continuous feed and discharge

•Temperature control (pressure)

•Time control

•Feedstock flexibility

•High solids

•Catalyst flexibility

Reactor Metallurgy

•Metals-

– High pH

• Carbon steel

• 304

• 316

– Low pH

• Alloy 825

• Alloy C-276

• Monel® 400

• Zirconium

•Commercial

– Corrosion rate

– Erosion

– Cost

•Research

– Corrosion

– Cost

18

Operating

Life

Scope of Supply

By AdvanceBio

• Feedstock flow control

mechanism

• Reactor

– Feedstock flexibility

– Chemistry flexibility

– Residence time control

– Temperature control

• Discharge mechanism

• Flash separation

• Steam generation capacity

• Control system

• Mobile skid package

By Owner

• Boiler feedwater

• Instrument air

• Electricity

• Catalyst

• Feedstock

• Process conditions

Design Basis Criteria

• Nominal Capacity: 10 dry kg/hr at 10 minutes

retention

• Raw Material: Shredded biomass – Length: Less than 12 mm

• Reaction Conditions: – Retention Time: 2.0 to 60 minutes

– Operating Temperature: Typical 120° to 190°C

– Operating Pressure: 11.5 bar at 190°C

– Catalyst Chemical: Mixed with solids before feeding

– Design Feedstock Density: Typical 80 dry kg/m3

Bench Scale Pretreatment Reactor

Small Scale System

Mechanical

Considerations

22

Biomass Bulk Density Variability

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

5

5.1

3.4 27.0 216.0 729.0

Bu

lk D

en

sit

y

(lb

/ft3

)

Container Size (in3)

3.0 30.0 300

Corrosion - Errosion

Other Learnings

•Catalyst feed rates at ultra-low

throughput rates are not conducive to

continuous feed and good distribution.

•Apparent minor changes in equipment

can have a significant impact on the

overall design and fabrication schedule.

• “Standard design” will generally require

custom features.

•The direction of research groups will

change. 25

Generation 2 Bench Reactor

26

Lab Scale Reactor

27

Future…

• Continue to focus on optimizing the design and

fabrication of bench, lab and pilot units with

learnings transferable to commercial systems.

• Currently working on non-liquid catalyst recovery

systems.

• Providing small, self-contained equipment skids for

process technologies other than biomass

pretreatment.

• Developing reactors optimized for producing,

furfural, etc.

28