(United States. Patent and Trademark Office, 2014-07-01) Holtzapple, Mark T.; Madison, Maxine Jones; Ramirez, Rocio Sierra; Deimund, Mark A.; Falls, Matthew; Dunkleman, John J.; The Texas A & M University System
Methods and apparatus for treating biomass that may include introducing a biomass to a chamber; exposing the biomass in the chamber to a shock event to produce a shocked biomass; and transferring the shocked biomass from the chamber. In some aspects, the method may include pretreating the biomass with a chemical before introducing the biomass to the chamber and/or after transferring shocked biomass from the chamber.