Bio Fuel
Production of biofuels from lignocelluloses biomass (LBM) would require mega scale plants and thus would require less energy intensive, high throughput continuous and scalable unit operations. Membrane filtration technologies such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) are therefore poised to prove cost effective solutions for separations, concentrations and recovery processes in the entire technology. Permionics have expertise of integrating membrane in the different stages of bio fuels process viz. alkali pre-treatment, acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, sugar concentrations and water recovery. We provide membranes along with complete system for Biofuels Technology with better recoveries/separations/concentrations compared to conventional technologies thus reducing the overall capital & operating expenses.
Acids / Alkali Recovery: We offer membranes for recovery of acidic or alkali that are used for pre-treatment or fractionation of lignocelluloses biomass in the biofuel technology. In processes that use acid/alkali treatments the extracts are can be composed of hemicelluloses or lignin depending on the pretreatment deployed and our membrane processes can be used to recover and concentrate these streams adding value. Acidic treatment for biomass is used in some case that converts biomass to dilute soluble sugars. We can provide membrane processes for concentration of these dilute sugars and recovery of acids that can be recycled back.
Membrane reactors for hydrolysis & enzymatic recovery: We provide membrane system (membrane reactor) for batch as well as continuous enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass i.e. cellulose / hemicelluloses to produce monomer sugars. The membrane system helps to recover the enzymes used in the hydrolysis process that can be reused multiple times and improves the economics.
Sugar concentration: The sugar stream resulting from the enzymatic hydrolysis process is dilute and needs to be concentrated to a desired level before fermenting to produce ethanol. Our membrane processes can concentrate these sugars and also recover water that can be recycled back.
Fermentation: We provide membranes for clarification of fermentation broth and can supply system for batch as well as continuous fermentation i.e. “high cell density recycle concept”. Integrating membrane for continuous cell recycles during the fermentation process increases the overall productivity and also makes the process continuous.
Permionics can provide complete solution to biofuels processes from lab to commercial scale adding value at each stage of the processes involved.
