Abstract: There is described a method of processing biomass which comprises the steps of: (i) processing biomass material in an aqueous system in the presence of an oxalic acid catalyst to produce a slurry; (ii) subjecting the slurry to an acidified organosolv liquor and optionally de-aerating the resulting mixture before exposing the mixture to ultrasound in a pretreatment step; and (iii) completing the fractionation process using thermal digestion, followed by separation of the constituents into lignin, hemi-cellulose (monosaccharides) and cellulose with the addition of water.

Abstract: There is described a method of fractionating a biomass material comprising: (i) blending the biomass material with an acid catalyst to form a slurry; (ii) mixing the slurry with an organosolv reagent optionally under an inert atmosphere to form a pre-treatment mix; (iii) subjecting the pre-treatment mix to sonication; (iv) optionally heating the product of step (iii) in an autoclave under pressure; (v) separating the solid and liquid components of the fractionation mix; (vi) optionally washing the solid; (vii) optionally drying the solid component; (viii) separating the liquid component into organic and aqueous components; and (ix) isolating lignin from the organic component and/or isolating hemi-cellulose from the aqueous component.

Abstract: There is described a method of processing biomass which comprises the digestion of biomass material in an aqueous solvent system subjected to ultrasonic waves and separating the biomass into its constituents of lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. There is also described a system for the processing of biomass which comprises the digestion of biomass material in an aqueous solvent system subjected to ultrasonic waves and separating the biomass into ins constituents of lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose.