Bench-Scale System

The components of this bench-scale system are designed for the pretreatment of cellulosic biomass that is used as feedstock to produce ethanol and renewable chemicals. This equipment can process up to 11 kg/h of materials, and is a suitable replacement for batch steam guns commonly used by researchers in universities and technology-development companies. The system has a 5-cm-dia. screwfeeder and a reactor that measures 15 cm dia. by 1.4 m long. Its wetted pressure components are made of corrosion-resistant Alloy 825 and are capable of operating at 20 bar at up to 215_C. Built on a platform truck, the system includes a control panel with a microprogrammable logic controller and a color touchscreen human-machine interface. It can be connected via either a serial cable or Ethernet to a data acquisition system. Installation requires only a source of steam and electrical power. It joins similar versions available from this company, including: lab scale, 75 kg/h; pilot scale, 190 kg/h; and commercial scale, 600 ton/d.