Patent ID: 7652131
Filing Date: 2010-01-26
Classification: C07C,C08B,C11B

Abstract:
1. A method of producing organic compounds from plant material, comprising: providing a plant material; destarching the plant material to form a starch fraction and a destarched plant byproduct material having at least 80% less starch relative to the plant material; forming a mixture comprising the destarched plant byproduct material and water; heating the mixture; filtering the mixture and collecting a filtrate comprising components including hemicellulose and fragments of hemicellulose; after the filtering, performing a treatment of the filtrate comprising one or more of ultrafiltration, carbon filtration, anion exchange chromatography, cation exchange chromatography, and chemical adjustment followed by precipitation and subsequent separation, where chemical adjustment is pH adjustment or addition of a divalent cation; contacting the filtrate with a catalyst to chemically reduce at least some of the hemicellulose and fragments of hemicellulose contained in the filtrate by catalytic hydrogenation; fragmenting of at least some of the hemicellulose and fragments of hemicellulose in the presence of a hydrogenolysis catalyst to produce smaller fragments by catalytic hydrogenolysis; and wherein the organic compounds produced comprise one or more of glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and lactic acid.