Transforming sawdust with ultrasound
Bio-Sep can break down biomass and extract valuable molecules without damaging them
Extracting valuable platform chemicals from waste biomass is an important part of the path to developing a circular, sustainable materials economy. But doing it is tricky, says Andy West, chief chemist at Bio-Sep.
‘The process should be straightforward, but it’s not,’ he says. ‘Plants, in general, don’t want to be degraded, they want to stay rigid and upright so fractionating is difficult. And so is maintaining the quality of the compounds.’