{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41620"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41620","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Technical review and economic evaluation: steam- explosion/fractionation of biomass","abstract":"A series of process design and economics models have been created which calculate the process cost for several scenarios in steam-explosion/fractionation of wood. Steam -explosion pulping may prove to be an alternative to currently practiced standard pulping processes which require large capital investments, cause significant environmental problems, and produce a narrow range of products. In addition, steam-explosion/fractionation technology may offer the opportunity to produce chemicals and materials from biomass at a lower raw material and process cost than the alternative petrochemical feedstocks. The models are a series of modular computer simulations, where each module summarizes a particular group of unit operations with respect to mass balance, energy requirements, and process cost including utilities, capital, labor, and other related costs. These modules are compiled into 3 groups of scenarios: 1) unprocessed steam-exploded wood for use as enzyme! acid hydrolysis feedstock, hardboard production, or as unbleached pulp, 2) water extracted steam-exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides and a lignocellulosic fiber, and 3) water and aqueous solvent (alkali or ethanol) extracted steam -exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides, lignin polymers, and a cellulose -rich, unbleached fiber. For the base case evaluated, the cost of producing a 50% moisture, based on total weight, steam-exploded fiber is the raw material cost, dry basis, plus 3.5 cents! Lb of raw material consumed, dry basis. For Southwestern Virginia hardwoods at 2 cents/Lb ($40 per ton), dry basis, the total process cost is 5.5 cents/ Lb.","abstract_html":"A series of process design and economics models have been created which calculate the process cost for several scenarios in steam-explosion/fractionation of wood. Steam -explosion pulping may prove to be an alternative to currently practiced standard pulping processes which require large capital investments, cause significant environmental problems, and produce a narrow range of products. In addition, steam-explosion/fractionation technology may offer the opportunity to produce chemicals and materials from biomass at a lower raw material and process cost than the alternative petrochemical feedstocks. The models are a series of modular computer simulations, where each module summarizes a particular group of unit operations with respect to mass balance, energy requirements, and process cost including utilities, capital, labor, and other related costs. These modules are compiled into 3 groups of scenarios: 1) unprocessed steam-exploded wood for use as enzyme! acid hydrolysis feedstock, hardboard production, or as unbleached pulp, 2) water extracted steam-exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides and a lignocellulosic fiber, and 3) water and aqueous solvent (alkali or ethanol) extracted steam -exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides, lignin polymers, and a cellulose -rich, unbleached fiber. For the base case evaluated, the cost of producing a 50% moisture, based on total weight, steam-exploded fiber is the raw material cost, dry basis, plus 3.5 cents! Lb of raw material consumed, dry basis. For Southwestern Virginia hardwoods at 2 cents/Lb ($40 per ton), dry basis, the total process cost is 5.5 cents/ Lb.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Avellar, Brecc K."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Chemical Engineering","degree_department":"Chemical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Glasser, Wolfgang G."],"committee_members":["Michelsen, Donald L.","Velander, William H."],"year":1990,"date_issued":"1990-06-04","date_published":"1990-06-04","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:19Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-03142009-040725"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-03142009-040725","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/41620","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Glasser, Wolfgang G."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Michelsen, Donald L.","Velander, William H."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Chemical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Avellar, Brecc K."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T21:31:46Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T21:31:46Z","2009-03-14"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1990-06-04"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Chemical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-03142009-040725"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/41620"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A series of process design and economics models have been created which calculate the process cost for several scenarios in steam-explosion/fractionation of wood. Steam -explosion pulping may prove to be an alternative to currently practiced standard pulping processes which require large capital investments, cause significant environmental problems, and produce a narrow range of products. In addition, steam-explosion/fractionation technology may offer the opportunity to produce chemicals and materials from biomass at a lower raw material and process cost than the alternative petrochemical feedstocks. The models are a series of modular computer simulations, where each module summarizes a particular group of unit operations with respect to mass balance, energy requirements, and process cost including utilities, capital, labor, and other related costs. These modules are compiled into 3 groups of scenarios: 1) unprocessed steam-exploded wood for use as enzyme! acid hydrolysis feedstock, hardboard production, or as unbleached pulp, 2) water extracted steam-exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides and a lignocellulosic fiber, and 3) water and aqueous solvent (alkali or ethanol) extracted steam -exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides, lignin polymers, and a cellulose -rich, unbleached fiber. For the base case evaluated, the cost of producing a 50% moisture, based on total weight, steam-exploded fiber is the raw material cost, dry basis, plus 3.5 cents! Lb of raw material consumed, dry basis. For Southwestern Virginia hardwoods at 2 cents/Lb ($40 per ton), dry basis, the total process cost is 5.5 cents/ Lb."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["BTD"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Technical review and economic evaluation: steam- explosion/fractionation of biomass"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Glasser, Wolfgang G."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Michelsen, Donald L.","Velander, William H."],"dc:contributor.department":["Chemical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Avellar, Brecc K."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T21:31:46Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T21:31:46Z","2009-03-14"],"dc:date.issued":["1990-06-04"],"dc:description.abstract":["A series of process design and economics models have been created which calculate the process cost for several scenarios in steam-explosion/fractionation of wood. Steam -explosion pulping may prove to be an alternative to currently practiced standard pulping processes which require large capital investments, cause significant environmental problems, and produce a narrow range of products. In addition, steam-explosion/fractionation technology may offer the opportunity to produce chemicals and materials from biomass at a lower raw material and process cost than the alternative petrochemical feedstocks. The models are a series of modular computer simulations, where each module summarizes a particular group of unit operations with respect to mass balance, energy requirements, and process cost including utilities, capital, labor, and other related costs. These modules are compiled into 3 groups of scenarios: 1) unprocessed steam-exploded wood for use as enzyme! acid hydrolysis feedstock, hardboard production, or as unbleached pulp, 2) water extracted steam-exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides and a lignocellulosic fiber, and 3) water and aqueous solvent (alkali or ethanol) extracted steam -exploded wood for recovery of pentosan polysaccharides, lignin polymers, and a cellulose -rich, unbleached fiber. For the base case evaluated, the cost of producing a 50% moisture, based on total weight, steam-exploded fiber is the raw material cost, dry basis, plus 3.5 cents! Lb of raw material consumed, dry basis. For Southwestern Virginia hardwoods at 2 cents/Lb ($40 per ton), dry basis, the total process cost is 5.5 cents/ Lb."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["BTD"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-03142009-040725"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/41620"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Technical review and economic evaluation: steam- explosion/fractionation of biomass"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.dcmitype":["Text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Chemical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:19Z"}