Lignocellulosic biomass can be fractionated for the purpose of increasing cellulose purity in the pulp, increasing native lignin content of the isolated lignin, and improving cellulose hydrolysis, by performing the steps of: (a) extracting the biomass with an extracting liquid comprising at least 20 wt % of a first organic solvent at a temperature below 100° C.; (b) treating the extracted biomass with a treatment liquid comprising a second organic solvent selected from lower alcohols, ethers and ketones, optionally water and optionally an acid, at a temperature between 120° C. and 280° C., and, optionally: (c) subjecting a cellulose-enriched product stream resulting from step (b) to enzymatic hydrolysis. The first and second organic solvent may be different or the same; in particular they comprise ethanol or acetone.

Lignocellulosic biomass can be fractionated for the purpose of increasing cellulose purity in the pulp, increasing native lignin content of the isolated lignin, and improving cellulose hydrolysis, by performing the steps of: (a) extracting the biomass with an extracting liquid comprising at least 20 wt % of a first organic solvent at a temperature below 100° C.; (b) treating the extracted biomass with a treatment liquid comprising a second organic solvent selected from lower alcohols, ethers and ketones, optionally water and optionally an acid, at a temperature between 120° C. and 280° C., and, optionally: (c) subjecting a cellulose-enriched product stream resulting from step (b) to enzymatic hydrolysis. The first and second organic solvent may be different or the same; in particular they comprise ethanol or acetone.

The present disclosure provides methods for generating sugars from a cellulosic biomass. The methods combine treatment of the biomass using a high-shear milling device and saccharification of the biomass to partially hydrolyze the biomass. The biomass can be saccharified either after or simultaneously with the high-shear milling treatement. The partially hydrolyzed biomass is then separated into a solids stream with saccharification enzymes, and a liquid stream with sugars. The solids stream and associated enzymes are further incubated under saccharification conditions to produce additional sugars, or are recycled and added to fresh biomass, which is saccharified under high-shear milling conditions. The methods result in improved conversion of cellulosic biomass to glucose.

The present disclosure provides methods for generating sugars from a cellulosic biomass. The methods combine treatment of the biomass using a high-shear milling device and saccharification of the biomass to partially hydrolyze the biomass. The biomass can be saccharified either after or simultaneously with the high-shear milling treatement. The partially hydrolyzed biomass is then separated into a solids stream with saccharification enzymes, and a liquid stream with sugars. The solids stream and associated enzymes are further incubated under saccharification conditions to produce additional sugars, or are recycled and added to fresh biomass, which is saccharified under high-shear milling conditions. The methods result in improved conversion of cellulosic biomass to glucose.

A device for converting cellulose to sugar has a reaction chamber with a plurality of control components, and a control assembly. The control assembly is operatively connected to the reaction chamber, a drive assembly and control components to transmit and receive interoperability signals. The device has an inlet hopper with a detector, a crusher, an outlet hopper, a sensor assembly, a steam inlet, and a carbon dioxide inlet. The inlet hopper is configured to receive and analyze proportion data of matters in a feedstock and catalyst mixture via the detector. The crusher receives and grinds the mixture from the inlet hopper to induce chemical reaction for producing sugar. The outlet hopper is configured to determine a proportion data of matter in the grinded mixture. The control assembly is configured to determine adjustments need to be performed on the components and drive assembly to optimize the sugar production.

A device for converting cellulose to sugar has a reaction chamber with a plurality of control components, and a control assembly. The control assembly is operatively connected to the reaction chamber, a drive assembly and control components to transmit and receive interoperability signals. The device has an inlet hopper with a detector, a crusher, an outlet hopper, a sensor assembly, a steam inlet, and a carbon dioxide inlet. The inlet hopper is configured to receive and analyze proportion data of matters in a feedstock and catalyst mixture via the detector. The crusher receives and grinds the mixture from the inlet hopper to induce chemical reaction for producing sugar. The outlet hopper is configured to determine a proportion data of matter in the grinded mixture. The control assembly is configured to determine adjustments need to be performed on the components and drive assembly to optimize the sugar production.

The present invention relates to an improved method and device for treating biomass in which thermally treated biomass is discharged from a pressurized reactor and introduced into a blow tank, wherein the absolute pressure in the blow tank is maintained below atmospheric pressure. The slurry of biomass separated in the blow tank is then enzymatically treated.

The present invention relates to an improved method and device for treating biomass in which thermally treated biomass is discharged from a pressurized reactor and introduced into a blow tank, wherein the absolute pressure in the blow tank is maintained below atmospheric pressure. The slurry of biomass separated in the blow tank is then enzymatically treated.

The present invention relates to a method for solubilising arabinoxylan-containing material (particularly insoluble arabinoxylan-containing material), comprising admixing a xylan-containing material with a xylanase comprising a polypeptide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2, SEQ ID No. 1, SEQ ID No. 9, SEQ ID No. 10. SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15, or a variant, homologue, fragment or derivative thereof having at least 75% identity with SEQ ID No. 3 or SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1 or SEQ ID No. 9 or SEQ ID No. 10 or SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15; or a polypeptide sequence which comprises SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2, SEQ ID No. 1, SEQ ID No. 9, SEQ ID No. 10. SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15 with a conservative substitution of at least one of the amino acids; or a xylanase which is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12. SEQ ID No. 13. SEQ ID No. 14. SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18, or a nucleotide sequence which can hybridize to SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12, SEQ ID No. 13, SEQ ID No. 14. SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18 under high stringency conditions, or a nucleotide sequence which has at least 75% identity with SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12, SEQ ID No. 13, SEQ ID No. 14, SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18, or a nucleotide sequence which differs from SEQ ID No. 6 or SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4 or SEQ ID No. 12 or SEQ ID No. 13 or SEQ ID No. 14 or SEQ ID No. 16 or SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18 due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, or a xylanase obtainable (or obtained) from Fusarium verticilloides. The present invention also relates to a novel xylanase comprising (or consisting of) a polypeptide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1, or a variant, homologue, fragment or derivative thereof having at least 99% identity with SEQ ID No. 3 or SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1; or a xylanase which is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4, or a nucleotide sequence which can hybridize to SEQ ID No. 4 or SEQ ID No. 5 under high stringency conditions, or a nucleotide sequence which has at least 97.7% identity (preferably 98% identity) with SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4. The present invention yet further relates to methods relating to feedstuffs, malting and brewing, processing of grain-based materials such as during the production of bioethanol or biochemical (e.g. bio-based isopropanol), or wheat gluten-starch separation processes and the like.

The present invention relates to a method for solubilising arabinoxylan-containing material (particularly insoluble arabinoxylan-containing material), comprising admixing a xylan-containing material with a xylanase comprising a polypeptide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2, SEQ ID No. 1, SEQ ID No. 9, SEQ ID No. 10. SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15, or a variant, homologue, fragment or derivative thereof having at least 75% identity with SEQ ID No. 3 or SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1 or SEQ ID No. 9 or SEQ ID No. 10 or SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15; or a polypeptide sequence which comprises SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2, SEQ ID No. 1, SEQ ID No. 9, SEQ ID No. 10. SEQ ID No. 11 or SEQ ID No. 15 with a conservative substitution of at least one of the amino acids; or a xylanase which is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12. SEQ ID No. 13. SEQ ID No. 14. SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18, or a nucleotide sequence which can hybridize to SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12, SEQ ID No. 13, SEQ ID No. 14. SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18 under high stringency conditions, or a nucleotide sequence which has at least 75% identity with SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 12, SEQ ID No. 13, SEQ ID No. 14, SEQ ID No. 16. SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18, or a nucleotide sequence which differs from SEQ ID No. 6 or SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4 or SEQ ID No. 12 or SEQ ID No. 13 or SEQ ID No. 14 or SEQ ID No. 16 or SEQ ID No. 17 or SEQ ID No. 18 due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, or a xylanase obtainable (or obtained) from Fusarium verticilloides. The present invention also relates to a novel xylanase comprising (or consisting of) a polypeptide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1, or a variant, homologue, fragment or derivative thereof having at least 99% identity with SEQ ID No. 3 or SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 1; or a xylanase which is encoded by a nucleotide sequence shown herein as SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4, or a nucleotide sequence which can hybridize to SEQ ID No. 4 or SEQ ID No. 5 under high stringency conditions, or a nucleotide sequence which has at least 97.7% identity (preferably 98% identity) with SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 5 or SEQ ID No. 4. The present invention yet further relates to methods relating to feedstuffs, malting and brewing, processing of grain-based materials such as during the production of bioethanol or biochemical (e.g. bio-based isopropanol), or wheat gluten-starch separation processes and the like.