Valmet Ab

Francois Lambert

Patrik Pettersson

Johan Carlsson

Peter Björklund

Andreas Averheim

Stefan Mellander

Anders Thyr

Krister Sjöblom

Rolf Boman

Mattias Erixon

Lars Fredriksson

Carlos Sobredo

A method for continuously treating biomass material includes: feeding the biomass material into a substantially vertically arranged pressurized vessel; adding steam to said pressurized vessel for hydrothermal treatment of the biomass material, wherein said adding steam comprises adding steam at a lower portion of the pressurized vessel; discharging the biomass material from a bottom portion of the pressurized vessel using a discharge device; withdrawing vapor from a top portion of the pressurized vessel, and adding said vapor to the discharge device; controlling differential pressure between said top portion of the pressurized vessel and said discharge device by controlling a flow of said vapor; and determining a minimum flow of steam needed to heat the biomass material in the pressurized vessel to a predetermined temperature, wherein said adding steam comprises adding steam at a flow that is higher than said minimum flow.

Method and system for continuously treating biomass material

A reactor vessel () for biomass material, wherein said reactor vessel () is a pressurized reactor vessel, said reactor vessel being elongated and comprising: a substantially tubular vessel part (); two gables () connected one to each end () of the tubular vessel part (), hereby enclosing a vessel internal compartment (); and a material transporting screw () comprising a central shaft () provided within the vessel internal compartment () extending between the two gables () along a central axis (A) of the reactor vessel (), wherein said material transporting screw further comprises screw flight () provided around the shaft (), wherein said material transporting screw is configured for transporting the biomass material through the reactor vessel, wherein both gables () are inwardly dished.

Reactor vessel for biomass material

A screw feeder includes a pipe, feed screw, rotatory shaft, dewatering holes, anti-rotation bars extending inside the pipe and protruding towards the feed screw, an inlet to receive solid-liquid mixture, and an outlet to discharge partially dewatered solid. The pipe includes at least one pipe section having a first peripheral zone in a vertically lower area with dewatering holes but no anti-rotation bars and a second peripheral zone in a vertically upper area with anti-rotation bars. A pipe profile includes two differently shaped profiles, a first and second pipe profile are selected from a square-shaped, partly circular, and a partly elliptically-shaped profile. The first pipe profile is selected to enable outer edges of the feed screw to remove material overlying the dewatering holes, and the second pipe profile is selected to prohibit contact between the outer edges of the feed screw and the anti-rotation bars.

Screw feeder

The invention relates to a method for treating biomass (). Biomass () is fed to a pressurized prehydrolysis reactor unit () by means of a feeding system (), wherein by means of the feeding system () the biomass () is compressed. A filtrate is squeezed out of the biomass () by means of the feeding system (), in particular by a first plug screw () or a second plug screw () of the feeding system (). The biomass () is then thermally treated in the pressurized prehydrolysis reactor unit (), discharged from the pressurized prehydrolysis reactor unit () afterwards, diluted with the filtrate before or after the discharge, and treated with an enzyme subsequently.

Method and device for treating biomass

A reactor arrangement for pre-hydrolysis of biomass material. The reactor arrangement comprises a reactor vessel arranged substantially horizontally, wherein the vessel comprises an inlet for receiving the biomass material arranged at an upper portion of the vessel. The inlet may be arranged at a first longitudinal end of the vessel. The vessel may furthermore comprise an outlet at a second longitudinal end of the vessel. The reactor arrangement further comprises a set of steam injection orifices arranged to inject or supply steam into the reactor vessel. The set of steam injection orifices comprises at least two orifices arranged below the inlet at a distance from each other. The at least two orifices may be arranged at a distance from each other in the lateral direction of the reactor vessel. Furthermore, a method for pre-hydrolysis treatment of biomass in a substantially horizontal reactor vessel is provided.

Reactor arrangement and method for pre-hydrolysis of biomass material

The invention relates to a method for treating biomass (). In a step (S), biomass () and an impregnation liquid are fed into a first reactor unit () such that the biomass () is impregnated with the impregnation liquid while the biomass () is transferred through the first reactor unit () by a conveyor means (). In another step (S), the impregnated biomass () is transferred from the first reactor unit () to a separation unit (), wherein at least a part of the impregnation liquid is separated from the impregnated biomass () within the separation unit. In a step (S), the separated impregnation liquid is discharged from the separation unit (), such that a first part () of the impregnation liquid is recirculated back to the first reactor unit (). The invention further relates to a system for treating biomass ().

Method and system for treating biomass

A method for processing lignocellulose materials comprising the steps of hydrothermal treatment of the material with saturated or superheated steam in a hydrothermal pressure vessel, wherein the steam is provided by means of a steam boiler. The treatment is performed at a pressure of 5-30 bars, and at a temperature of 160-240&#xb0; C. for a duration of 1-20 minutes. The method further comprises discharging hydrothermally treated lignocellulose material and steam from the pressure vessel by means of rapid pressure reduction, separating the steam and vapours released from the lignocellulose material, and burning the vapours together with additional fuel and combustion air in the furnace of said steam boiler. Furthermore, a corresponding system is provided.

Method and system for processing lignocellulose material

The invention relates to a method for treating biomass (). In a step (S) of the method, the biomass () and an amount of water () is fed into a first reactor unit () such that the biomass () is impregnated using the amount of water () while the biomass () is transferred through the first reactor unit () by a conveyor means (). In another step (S), the impregnated biomass () is transferred from the first reactor unit () to a separation unit () in which at least a part () of the amount of water () used for impregnation can be separated from the impregnated biomass (). In another step (S), the impregnated biomass () is transferred from the separation unit () into a second reactor unit () in which the impregnated biomass () is subjected to a predetermined pressure (S). The invention further relates to the use of the method for treating non-wood material as well as to a device for treating biomass ().

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Sundsvall, Sweden

Francois Lambert