Is figure 8 the top diagram? I haven’t read to much into the biopulping but here is something’s from a processing perspective.
Need a screw extruders possibly two. First feeding the chips into the Asepsis unit. They will need a automated control loop that is based on nutrient input to density of chips.
Second install on feeding the biopulping reactor from the Asepsis.
The Asepsis should be some sort of paddle wheel mixing reactor.
What is the temperature of humidity that is needed? Possibly a Low pressure steam kettle reboiler? This will help out with the bottom aeration. vapor path being hot air rising.
If figure 8 is a packed column than a can see the conveyer belt on top spiraling. packaging on the mid section of the column with bubble caps and other types of plated beds. The bottom is forced aeration? Hmm i never read the whole biopulping docs is there liquid at the bottom or open cavity that is just pushing air to the top of the the reactor? If it’s liquid i may have a solution.
It would be interesting to see this in action. The pleurotus genus comprises most oyster mushrooms, which are tasty food. Trametes Versicolor isn’t an edible, but contains some great compounds of interest for their anti cancer and immune boosting properties. I have made a really earthy and tasty decoction of these and reshi that I wild harvested, good for the health and adding flavor to food. Mushrooms that digest woody material come in two types, ones that feed on cellulose, and ones that feed on lignin. There could be many more options of different species to digest the lignin that could also give the benefit of gourmet or medicinal mushrooms as a byproduct.
@Future For your “Biopulping Draft Proposal” - who is the intended audience? Are you planning to privately pitch/get investment for the RnD facility, or rather a university, etc?
@Future do you envision in the future mega processing facilities using every aspect of the plant? IE, usable spent biomass like you show above, lipids/chlorophyll/sugars as their own product and stalks for rope/feed, etc.? Feels inevitable at scale and may be the key to profitability at some point.
There’s a company out of canada with a machine that runs a few million dollars, but it harvests hemp and separate stalk, seed, and flower, into separate bins, all while driving through a field like a standard combine. One was purchased in PA I believe. I’m leaning towards that as the future of the hemp industry, with appropriate processing to follow.
Edit: this machine does not operate like a combine as pointed out below.
Do you think the quality of the pulp used to make the paper would vary if you used differing ratios of fan leaves, spent flower, stems, and stalks? Should you avoid using one or the other? I was thinking stems and stalks would be the best choice. We extract our flower with ethanol so I was also curious if the degradation of the plant cells would be good and help for more clean cellulose recovery or if it would degrade the cellulose. I know you can produce ethanol from cellulose so if thats possible under the presence of ethanol I feel like that wouldn’t be a good thing for your pulp purity.
