Biomass Steam Pretreatment

The infrastructure consists of three different pretreatment systems, two batch reactors (4 liter and 10 liter) and one continuous SuPR2G reactor from advance biosystems. All systems can be used in both acidic and alkaline conditions. The smaller reactor has the capability of indirect heating in addition to heating by direct steam injection. The characteristics of the biomass pretreatment is fast heating by direct injection of steam and fast cool-down which is achieved by a rapid decrease in pressure (Steam explosion). Typical operating conditions are between 180 degrees and 225 degrees (205 degrees in the continuous reactor). Lower temperatures can be handled.

The equipment was originally developed for producing materials or sugar solutions within the ethanol research programme, but the operation has since expanded into a wider biorefinery research infrastructure.

Additional analytical capabilities, biomass conditioning and downstream processing such as filtration and evaporation is also available.