Patent ID: 11905341
Assignee: GRANBIO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY HOLDINGS, LLC
Field: Textile and paper machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  D  Y | IPC C  D

Claim 0:
1. A process for producing a nanocellulose material, said process comprising:
(a) providing a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock;
(b) chemically fractionating said feedstock at a fractionation temperature selected from 110° C. to 220° C., a fractionation pressure selected from 1 atm to 20 atm, and a fractionation time selected from 15 minutes to 720 minutes, in the presence of a solution consisting of a solvent for lignin and water, to generate a solid phase of cellulose-rich solids and a liquid containing hemicellulose and lignin, wherein said solvent for lignin is selected from the group consisting of oxygenated organic compounds, aliphatic alcohols, aromatic alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, ethers, non-oxygenated alkanes, non-oxygenated olefins, non-oxygenated aromatic hydrocarbons, ionic liquids, and combinations thereof, wherein step (b) does not include introducing an acid, and wherein said solvent for lignin is not an acid catalyst;
(c) following step (b), physically separating said cellulose-rich solids from said liquid, thereby generating separated cellulose-rich solids;
(d) following step (c), mechanically treating said separated cellulose-rich solids to form a nanocellulose material comprising cellulose nanofibrils and/or cellulose nanocrystals, and
(e) recovering said nanocellulose material.