Patent ID: 9644222
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: C08B,C12P,Y02E,Y02P

Claim:
1. A method for pretreating lignocellulosic biomass comprising: adding gaseous ammonia to a pressurized reactor containing lignocellulosic biomass wherein the gaseous ammonia is added to the reactor at a pressure from about 6.8 to about 50 atm; allowing the gaseous ammonia to condense on the biomass and react with water present in the biomass to produce pretreated biomass, wherein the pressure of the reactor is released to about atmospheric pressure, and reactivity of polysaccharides present in the biomass is increased during subsequent biological conversion as compared to the reactivity of polysaccharides present in biomass which has not been pretreated; and removing residual ammonia present in the reaction vessel.