Thermo-Mechanical Fractionation of Green Biomass

Abstract

Green biomass can efficiently be separated into a fiber-rich fraction and a green juice with the TAMD process. This process combines a mechanical pressing and a moderate heating of the walls of the apparatus. This work aims to investigate the influence of the biomass water potential on the kinetic and to identify the optimal processing conditions. If the TAMD process is used as a pre-treatment for fodder dewatering, 70°C and 300 kPa are the optimum conditions to reach a high separation yield (+25.5% compared to current processes) in short times. For biorefining purposes, a lower wall temperature is required.

Keywords:

• Alfalfa
• Dewatering
• Extraction yield
• Process intensification
• Water potential

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has been supported by the French National Agency (ANR) in the frame of its Technological Research CP2D program (Produluz, project n°ANR-07-CP2D-16-02). The authors would like to acknowledge Bernard AUDUC for kind technical assistance in the construction and development of the experimental set-up.