A hemp composite includes hemp, paper, and oil. Making a hemp composite includes processing hemp to yield a processed hemp. The processed hemp includes water. Making a hemp composite further includes combining the processed hemp with paper and oil to yield a hemp mixture, removing at least some of the water from the hemp mixture, and drying the hemp mixture to yield the hemp composite.

A hemp composite includes hemp, paper, and oil. Making a hemp composite includes processing hemp to yield a processed hemp. The processed hemp includes water. Making a hemp composite further includes combining the processed hemp with paper and oil to yield a hemp mixture, removing at least some of the water from the hemp mixture, and drying the hemp mixture to yield the hemp composite.

This disclosure relates to methods of making novel dissolving wood pulps by processes comprising acid prehydrolysis, pulping, and a multi-stage bleaching process comprising oxidation with a catalyst and peroxide under acidic conditions, as well as to products made therefrom having a combination of medium-purity, low viscosity, and improved reactivity, filterability, and/or clogging that can be used as a substitute for traditional high-purity dissolving pulps in a wide variety of applications.

This disclosure relates to methods of making novel dissolving wood pulps by processes comprising acid prehydrolysis, pulping, and a multi-stage bleaching process comprising oxidation with a catalyst and peroxide under acidic conditions, as well as to products made therefrom having a combination of medium-purity, low viscosity, and improved reactivity, filterability, and/or clogging that can be used as a substitute for traditional high-purity dissolving pulps in a wide variety of applications.

A piece of natural plant material is subjected to one or more chemical treatments to remove substantially all lignin therefrom, thereby allowing the extraction of delignified, cellulose-based fibers. For example, the natural plant material can be a grass, such as bamboo or gladiolus. Subsequent drying of the extracted fiber densifies the structure, yielding improved mechanical properties. In some embodiments, the extracted fibers can be used, either alone or in combination with other materials, as a structural material. For example, the extracted fibers can be embedded within, infiltrated with, coated by, or otherwise combined with a polymer or concrete to form a composite material.

A process for increasing digestion efficiency of lignocellulosic material in a treatment vessel includes providing lignocellulosic material comprising lignocellulosic biomass, providing an alkyl polyglycoside, an alkoxylated alcohol, and a white liquor comprising sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, combining the lignocellulosic material, the alkyl polyglycoside, the alkoxylated alcohol, and the white liquor to form a mixture, and heating the mixture in the treatment vessel to a temperature of from about 125° C. to about 185° C. to digest at least a portion of the lignocellulosic material. The alkyl polyglycoside and the alkoxylated alcohol are present in the mixture in a weight ratio of actives from about 5:95 to about 95:5, respectively. The mixture is free of added surfactants that are not the alkyl polyglycoside and/or the alkoxylated alcohol. The process has increased digestion efficiency as compared to a process that does not utilize a combination of the alkyl polyglycoside and the alkoxylated alcohol.

A process for increasing digestion efficiency of lignocellulosic material in a treatment vessel includes providing lignocellulosic material comprising lignocellulosic biomass, providing an alkyl polyglycoside, an alkoxylated alcohol, and a white liquor comprising sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, combining the lignocellulosic material, the alkyl polyglycoside, the alkoxylated alcohol, and the white liquor to form a mixture, and heating the mixture in the treatment vessel to a temperature of from about 125° C. to about 185° C. to digest at least a portion of the lignocellulosic material. The alkyl polyglycoside and the alkoxylated alcohol are present in the mixture in a weight ratio of actives from about 5:95 to about 95:5, respectively. The mixture is free of added surfactants that are not the alkyl polyglycoside and/or the alkoxylated alcohol. The process has increased digestion efficiency as compared to a process that does not utilize a combination of the alkyl polyglycoside and the alkoxylated alcohol.

A method for manufacturing bleached pulp from a feedstock that includes recycled paper. The method includes steps of: (1) impregnating the feedstock with cooking liquor to yield an impregnated material having a liquor-to-fiber mass ratio of at most about 4:1; (2) cooking the impregnated material to remove at least a portion of the lignin within the impregnated material, thereby yielding a cooked pulp; and (3) bleaching the cooked pulp.

A method for producing a biofuel by continuous or discontinuous steam cracking of lignocellulosic biomass, comprises: —recording a digital model of the optimal steam cracking parameters as a function of the typology of the plant constituents of the biomass; —supplying the steam cracking reactor with heterogeneous biomass; —measuring at least once during the treatment the typology of the plant constituents of the biomass; and —controlling the adjustment of the steam cracking parameters as a function of the typology of the plant constituents of the measured biomass and of the digital model.

Methods and systems for preparing agricultural residue or other agricultural feedstock for use as a pulp. The method includes providing non-wood agricultural residue (e.g., corn stover) or other agricultural feedstock that includes agricultural fibers, chemically pulping the agricultural fibers in a preliminary alkaline chemical pulping process at a low consistency and at a low temperature to produce partially pulped agricultural fibers, such step including separating lignin and hemicellulose from the partially pulped agricultural fibers, introducing the partially pulped agricultural fibers into a first reactor, wherein the first reactor operates at a low temperature of less than 100° C. (e.g., 65° C.), introducing the agricultural fibers from the first reactor into a second reactor, where the second reactor operates at a low temperature, of less than 100° C. (e.g., 94-96° C.), the second reactor operating at a higher temperature than the first reactor, to produce pulped agricultural fibers.