Patent ID: 8877098
Filing Date: 2014-11-04
Classification: B01J,B09B,C10B,C10J,C10L,Y02E,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A hydrothermal process for treating a wet biomass feedstock comprising biomass, inorganic contaminants, soluble sulfate contaminants, and sub-critical liquid water, the process operated at temperatures and pressures that maintain the wet biomass feedstock in liquid phase without forming a supercritical fluid and characterized by: heating under pressure the wet biomass feedstock to a pre-treatment temperature sufficient for organic constituents in the feedstock to decompose, for precipitates of inorganic wastes to form, and for preheating the wet feedstock in preparation for removal of the soluble sulfate contaminants; reacting the soluble sulfate contaminants with cations present in the feedstock to yield a sulfate-containing precipitate; and separating the precipitates of inorganic wastes and the sulfate-containing precipitates out the wet biomass feedstock to yield a liquid of the wet biomass feedstock having a decreased sulfate content.