Bioenergy

 week  script  7.7  Bio  refineries  and  Future  Developments  

The   world   still   depends   on   fossil   fuels   to   satisfy   the   ever   growing   global   need   for   energy,  
food,  feed  and  materials.  

In   particular,   fossil   oil   plays   a   prominent   role   as   feedstock   which   is   processed   in   petro-­‐
chemical  refinery  complexes.  

However,   oil   prices   have   been   fluctuating   and   its   availability   becomes   increasingly  
challenging,   giving   rise   to   pressure   on   prices,   our   environment   and   the   global   political  
situation.  

Biomass  can  play  a  key  role  in  substituting  fossil  energy  carriers  and  fossil-­‐based  products  as  
it  is  available  in  abundance.  

The   drivers   for   a   biomass-­‐based   economy   are   clean   and   sustainable   environmental  
development,  economic  growth,  and  green  policy  development.  

In   such   biobased   economy,   biorefineries,   the   equivalent   of   fossil-­‐oil   based   refinery  

complexes,  will  be  of  paramount  importance.  

Here  we  can  see  the  basic  concepts  of  a  biorefinery.  

It   starts   with   biomass   feedstock   input,   which   can   be   very   versatile,   for   example   grains,  
lignocellulosic   biomass,   like   grasses   and   harvest   residues,   forest   biomass   and   biomass  
fractions  from  municipal  solid  waste.  

Central  in  the  biorefinery  are  Processing  Technologies.  

 
These   processes   are   quite   diverse,   ranging   from   low   temperature   bioprocesses,   purely  
chemical  processes,  thermochemical  and  thermal  processes  occurring  at  high  temperatures  
to  purely  physical  processes  like  pressing  or  drying.  

Finally,  there  is  the  generation  of  Products,  Substances  and  Energy.  

These   can   be   widely   differing   regarding   their   end   uses,   for   example   fuels,   chemicals,  
materials   (such   as   plastics),   specialities,   commodities   and   goods   can   be   produced   in  
biorefineries.  

Different  definitions  have  been  formulated  for  a  biorefinery.  

NREL,   a   USA   based   institute,   defines   a   biorefinery   as   follows   :   “A   biorefinery   is   a   facility   that  
integrates   biomass   conversion   processes   and   equipment   to   produce   fuels,   power,   and  
chemicals  from  biomass”.  

Please  be  aware  thus  that  other  formulations  have  been  given  in  literature,  covering  aspects  
of  for  example,  self-­‐supply  of  biorefineries  concerning  power  and  heat.  

Also,  the  co-­‐production  of  food  and  feed  compounds  are  sometimes  missing.  

In   biorefinery   development,   different   stages   can   be   discriminated,   which   can   be   ranked   into  
three  generations  as  has  been  worked  out  by  Kamm  and  Kamm  already  in  2004:  

Generation  I  biorefineries  are  characterized  by  the  lowest  flexibility  because  feedstock  type  
and  products  as  well  as  resulting  by-­‐products  are  fixed.  

An  example  is  the  dry-­‐milling  ethanol  plant  using  grain  as  feedstock.  

Here  one  sees  type  of  feedstock  and  ethanol  as  well  as  dried  distiller’s  grains  as  products.  

 
  

Generation  II  biorefineries  are  more  flexible  in  the  end  products,  for  instance,  a  wet-­‐milling  
ethanol  production  plant  can  produce  different  products  depending  on  demand,  which  may  
include  ethanol,  starch,  high-­‐concentration  fructose  syrups,  oils,  and  animal  feed.  

Generation   III   biorefineries   are   the   most   flexible,   as   these   can   process   a   multitude   of  
biomass  feedstocks  into  variable  end  products.  

Given   the   situation   that   often   a   single   type   of   biomass   feedstock’s   availability   within   a  
reasonable   distance   might   not   be   sufficient   to   operate   a   plant   at   full   capacity   during   the  
entire  year,  this  flexibility  will  become  more  and  more  necessary.  

A  biorefinery  can  be  categorized  according  to    

Feedstock,   Processing   Technology   steps,   intermediate   key   chemicals   called   Platform  

components  and    

Final  Products.  

For  a  biorefinery  based  on  an  agricultural  oil  crop  to  biodiesel  and  byproducts  the  following  
scheme  can  be  drawn.  

Each  of  the  four  categories  has  an  own  symbol.  

It  starts  with  the  feedstock,  in  this  case  for  example  rape  seed.  

In  a  physical  pressing  step  oil  is  recovered.  

The  oil  is  a  key  intermediate,  a  platform  component.  

 
  

The   oil   is   further   reacted   via   esterification,   a   catalytic   reaction   with   methanol,   in   which  
biodiesel  is  formed  with  glycerol  as  by-­‐product.  

The   oil   thus   has   two   products,   a   main   energy   carrier   product   biodiesel   (the   ester   of   fatty  
acids  and  methanol)  and  glycerol.  

The   pressing   step   also   yields   a   filter   cake,   a   solid   product   which   is   rich   in   proteins   and   is  
therefore  used  as  cattle  feed.  

For  the  future  I  foresee  that  biomass  will  be  key  in  substituting  fuels  that  are  fossil  based.  

In   particular   transportation   fuels   for   the   heavy   transportation   sector   targeting   at   trucks,  
heavy  ships  and  planes,  will  be  increasingly  replaced  by  biomass-­‐derived  fuels.  

Next  to  this  I  foresee  biorefineries  to  play  an  essential  role  in  replacing  oil  precursors  for  the  
production  of  chemicals  as  biomass  is  the  only  renewable  carbon  source.