Process for the production of organic fuel

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The exact nature of the cellulosic starting material used in the process of this invention is not critical.
Virtually any organic material containing cellulose or hemicellulose can be used.
Representative materials include agricultural wastes (cornstalks, corn cobs, potatoes, grassy plants, straw, weeds, etc.
), sewage, manner, waste paper, wood waste, pulp (sulphite pulp, kraft pulp, soda pulp, etc.
), food wastes, waste liquors from pulp mills, and the like.
Thus, the starting material can contain non-cellulosic materials such as lignin, pectin, protopectin, proteins and other polypeptides, and various types of glycosides.
The glycosides can even contribute to the yield of useful products.
The proteins and other nitrogen-containing compounds can contribute to the value of the residue as fertilizer.
Another particularly useful ingredient in the raw material is starch.
Starch is generally much easier to hydrolyze than cellulose, and any of a variety of amylase enzymes or amylase-secreting organisms will typically break the starch down into single glucose units which serve as an excellent substrate for fermentation.
Despite the inherent utility of these non-cellulosic materials which may be included with the cellulose, it is generally preferred to expose the cellulose to enzymatic action.
For example, it is desirable to strip away lignin or pectinaceous sheaves or coverings which may impede hydrolysis of cellulose.
Cellulose can be better exposed to enzymatic hydrolysis through bacterial action (e.
g.
by treatment of the cellulosic raw material with a suitable Bacillus culture), but the preferred approach is mechanical in nature, e.
g.
pulverizing the starting material to provide a particulate mass which will pass a 50 U.
S.
mesh screen, more preferably a 100 mesh screen.
Conventional grinders, homogenizers, and the like are suitable for this purpose.
Grinding or shredding of the raw material apparently helps to liberate some of the cellulose and speed up the hydrolysis.
The resulting particulate mass is blended with water to provide a slurry-like mass which is preferably pumpable