COMBINED TANGENTIAL SHEAR HOMOGENIZING AND FLASHING APPARATUS HAVING ROTOR/STATOR GAP DIMENSION WITH UNIFORM AND NON-UNIFORM REGIONS

摘要

A combined tangential shear homogenizing and flashing apparatus for destructuring pretreated biomass comprises a housing connectable to a source of pressurized pretreated biomass, and a stator and a rotor mounted within the housing. The stator and rotor being confrontationally disposed and spaced apart by an axial gap. The gap as a radially outer region having a uniform dimension and a radially inner region having at least one section exhibiting a non-uniform dimension. The radially outer region defines a valve. In use, rotational movement of the rotor with respect to the stator imparts a tangential shear to a volume of pretreated biomass. The tangential shear homogenizes the volume of pretreated biomass while a pressure difference causes a partial phase separation of the homogenized biomass into vapor and liquid phases such that the pretreated biomass undergoes at least a three-fold total volumetric increase and a weight transition to a vapor of at least one percent (1%).