biomass Archives

Hamrick Engineering granted patent for extracting sugars and nanocellulose from biomass

Plantations International News Hamrick Engineering, a US-based start-up, has received a broad patent for extracting sugars and nanocellulose from lignocellulosic biomass by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This new technology uses an environmentally benign technique of vacuum infusion of hydrolysis catalysts into biomass. ‘This ground-breaking patent describes how to extract sugars and nanocellulose from lignocellulosic biomass using a low-cost process. It provides a foundation for technologies to produce low-cost sugars, transportation fuels, and nano-crystalline cellulose from wood chips and waste paper,’ says Edward Hamrick, president of Hamrick Engineering. ‘We completely re-thought the way to extract sugars and nanocellulose from [...]

MBI receives biomass pre-treatment technology patent

Plantations International News MBI, a US-based biotech company, has been granted a patent (patent no. 9,102,964) for its Afex biomass pre-treatment technology by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Afex technology enables energy producers to utilise the nearly 2 billion tonnes of biomass left on the fields annually after the harvest of crops such as corn, wheat, and rice and turn it into feedstock for cellulosic biofuels and animal feed. The newly issued patent expands the Afex technology intellectual property portfolio, which Michigan State University (MSU) – and later MBI, who is commercialising the technology on behalf of MSU – have been developing since MSU Distinguished [...]