Organosolv fractionation

What is it?
Organosolv fractionation effectively splits lignocellulosic biomass such as wheat straw, birch, poplar, willow and spruce into its major fractions hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin with a mixture of water and ethanol at 160-200°C.

What does it mean for the customer?
The resulting hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin fractions are of good quality for further conversion into biochemicals, biomaterials and biofuels. For example, lignin is the second most abundant biopolymer and the major source for the production of aromatic chemicals.

What can ECN do for you?
ECN can produce test samples (up to 1 kg) of pure cellulose, aqueous hemicellulose extracts and pure lignin, using 0.5, 2, 20 liter autoclaves and a 1 kg/hr continuous pretreatment reactor.

ECN can participate and offer specialised expertise in private partnerships, and in national and international biorefinery projects. Partners are the chemical industry, the agricultural and construction sector and research institutes and universities.

More information?
A general overview of ECN's biorefinery activities can be downloaded here.