American Science and Technology
1367 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, Illinois, United States

American Science and Technology Corporation (AST) is a full service shared piloting facility, available to industry and dedicated to helping our clients develop innovative biorefinery and chemical technologies to convert lignocellulosic biomass into high-value, bio-based chemicals and products.    The AST facility, located in Wausau (WI), operates from laboratory level to multi-ton scale and is equipped with a wide range of material handling and biomass processing equipment to provide a unique opportunity for collaboration to accelerate the advancement of the bio-based economy. 

OPERATING FROM LAB TO MULTI-TON SCALE 

Moving from lab to pilot scale can present major risks to many companies due to the high cost of equipment and expertise, with no guarantees for successful commercialization.  AST provides a flexible and advanced pilot plant for bio-based products and processes that can assist clients in different phases of a project, from research to product.  By taking advantage of ASTs equipment and services, clients are able to immediately move from laboratory to pilot phase, helping them to not only minimize their financial risks, but to also considerably speed up their progress.   Through our ongoing collaborations with two Fortune 500 clients, ASTs facilities and services are currently being used to develop innovative processes to convert their particular lignocellulosic biomass into line board pulp, high quality lignin, and C6 sugar.

ORGANOSOLV PULP

When applied to lignocellulosic materials, ASTs proprietary organosolv process produces high quality pulp demonstrating very similar properties to pulp produced by other traditional methods such as Kraft or sulfite. The required lignocellulosic materials come from annual plants, grown locally, providing additional benefits to AST pulp.

Some advantages of AST pulp include:

• Commercial quality pulp products that can be used in industry, immediately.
• Produced from locally grown lignocellulosic material, replacing pulp that is mostly being imported from other regions of the world.
• Local harvests and local production create local jobs and strengthens local and rural economies

ORGANOSOLV LIGNIN

The AST organosolv process also produces pure lignin, as a byproduct, which has been successfully blended with other polymers to produce plastic parts and products, without compromising their mechanical properties.   This advantage allows AST to add further value to its clients biomass by blending the recovered lignin with various polymers including poly lactic acid, polypropylene, and polyethylene.  AST has developed three proprietary processes to produce lignin:

CELLULOSIC SUGAR

Concentrated sugar syrup is an important element in producing chemicals and fuel, in a cost effective manner. Current processes involve distilled diluted sugar from cane sugar, beets, and enzymatic hydrolysis.  AST has tested and proven its organosolv process during ongoing collaborations with some of its Fortune 500 clients by successfully converting their lignocellulosic biomass into refined fermentable sugars (the same sugar being used to produce-ethanol, butanol, hydrocarbon fuels, and other valuable chemicals). This process reduces production costs, reduces the use of external energy, and reduces the amount of water required and expensive distillation setup.   Most of the feedstock used by our units come from paper mill, logging, and farm waste which, when processed efficiently, can produce great profit for both the feedstock suppliers as well as the biomass plants.  AST also has a patented process to break down wood chips to hemicelluloses, celluloses, and lignin. The advantage in this process is that all the fractions are collected separately and utilized separately to make this process profitable.