The present invention relates to a homogeneous polysaccharide with an immunoregulation activity and a preparation method thereof. The homogeneous polysaccharide with the immunoregulation activity is a single chromatographic peak and has a molecular weight of 688050 Da and an optical rotation value of 158.40.5. An infrared spectrum has an -configuration sugar characteristic absorption peak at 847.6 cm.sup.1. Hydrogen-proton characteristic chemical shifts in hydrogen spectra of the polysaccharide are 5.40, 3.95, 3.84 and 3.61. Carbon signal characteristic chemical shifts in carbon spectra are 99.6, 76.6, 73.3, 71.5, 71.1 and 60.4. The homogeneous polysaccharide has an effect of enhancing body immunity, can achieve excellent anti-tumor, antiviral and anti-infection effects and the like in regulation of immunity-related diseases, and has potential development values in drug and health care product industries for treatment and prevention of the diseases.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing fructose or xylulose from biomass comprising glucose or xylose, and a method for separating a mixture of glucose and fructose and a mixture of xylose and xylulose.

Methods are provided for the conversion of isosorbide to isoidide, wherein the isosorbide contains sorbitan impurities. The impurities in the isosorbide subjected to epimerization are converted to hydrodeoxygenation products. A method for synthesizing isoidide, comprising, providing an isosorbide containing one or more sorbitans; and, epimerizing the isosorbide to form an epimerization product comprising isoidide and hydrodeoxygenation products.

A process for enabling the production of a particulate composition containing crystalline trehalose dihydrate is provided. Including allowing an -glycosyltrehalose-forming enzyme to act on liquefied starch derived from a microorganism of the genus Arthrobacter and a trehalose-releasing enzyme derived from a microorganism of the genus Arthrobacter along with a starch debranching enzyme and a cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase; allowing glucoamylase to act on the resulting mixture to obtain a saccharide solution containing ,-trehalose; precipitating crystalline ,-trehalose dihydrate from the above saccharide solution; collecting the precipitated crystalline ,-trehalose dihydrate by a centrifuge; and ageing and drying the collected crystals. Cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase derived from a microorganism of the genus Paenibacillus or a mutant enzyme thereof is used to increase the ,-trehalose content in the saccharide solution to over 86.0% by weight, on a dry solid basis, without passing through a fractionation step by column chromatography.

The present invention discloses a method for isolating and purifying anhydrogalactose. Using the method for isolating and purifying anhydrogalactose including the steps of preparing a sugar mixture containing anhydrogalactose produced through chemical synthesis and hydrolysis; and isolating anhydrogalactose by performing recycling preparative liquid chromatography (recycling-prep-LC) with the sugar mixture, highly pure anhydrogalactose can be efficiently isolated and purified in large amounts.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for treating plant based raw material with an enzymatic hydrolysis, in which the plant based raw material (1) is treated to form lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) and the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) or its fraction (10) is conducted into the enzymatic hydrolysis (4), wherein the method comprises at least one treatment stage (2a,2b,2c) in which the plant based raw material (1) is treated so that the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) contains over 80% fine solid particles which are fiber-like or indefinable particles smaller than 0.2 mm, defined by an optical measurement device, the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) or at least one fraction (10) of the lignocellulosic material is supplied into the enzymatic hydrolysis (4) for forming a lignin based material (5), and at least one solid-liquid separation stage (6) after the enzymatic hydrolysis (4) in which a lignin fraction (7) and a soluble carbohydrate containing fraction (8) are separated. Further, the invention relates to the soluble carbohydrate containing fraction, the lignin fraction, the lignin based material, the liquid fraction and the solid fraction, and their uses.

Disclosed herein is a method of producing D-psicose. The method of producing D-psicose includes subjecting D-fructose to D-psicose epimerization to produce a D-psicose-containing solution, subjecting the D-psicose-containing solution to first cooling and ion purification, subjecting the purified D-psicose-containing solution to first concentration and second cooling, subjecting the D-psicose-containing solution, which has been subjected to first concentration and second cooling, to chromatography to obtain a D-fructose-containing mother liquor and a D-psicose-containing separated solution, and subjecting the D-psicose-containing separated solution to second concentration and third cooling to obtain D-psicose crystals, wherein the D-fructose-containing mother liquor produced by chromatography is reused in the D-psicose epimerization.

In one aspect, catalytic membranes are described herein. In some embodiments, a catalytic membrane comprises a surface functionalized with a polymer, the polymer comprising cellulose solubilization functionalities and acid functionalities for the catalytic hydrolysis of cellulose and/or hemicellulose.

Provided is a process for purifying an aqueous solution, wherein the aqueous solution comprises one or more sugars and additionally comprises furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, or a mixture thereof; wherein the process comprises passing the aqueous solution through a collection of resin particles; and wherein the resin particles comprise covalently bound acid functional groups.

Methods are provided for the purification of isoidide. The methods comprise subjecting an at least partially deionized isoidide composition comprising isoidide and other isohexides to chromatographic separation of isoidide from other isohexides, removal of solvent from the isoidide, and crystallization of the isoidide. Isoidide of monomer-grade purity is obtained.