Bio Base Europe Pilot PlantTurning Grams into Tonnes

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology

July 21, 2015

Montreal

Hendrik WaegemanBusiness Development Manager

Hendrik.Waegeman@bbeu.org

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Mission statement

To enable the transition to a sustainable

bio-based economythrough

Development, scale-up and custom manufacturing

of bio-based product and processes

About BBEU

Multi-purpose pilot- and demonstration facility for bio-based products and processes

Fact and figures

– Founded in 2008 as a joint initiative between Ghent Bio-Economy Valley and Biopark Terneuzen

– Turnover in 2014: 4,2 M€

– Current number of employees: 43

– No industrial shareholders

5 years BBEPP

A one-stop-shop

Pretreatment

Biocatalysis FermentationGreen

Chemistry

Downstream Purification

Examples

Corn stover

Paper pulp

Oils and fats

Husks, bran, straw

Agro Industrial by-products

Bagasse, beet pulp, seed press cakes

Algae

Non-food crops

Syngas

Defined media: glucose, sucrose, etc.

...

Bio-chemicals

Bio-based building blocks

Industrial Enzymes

Solvents

Polymers

Flavors and fragrances

Protein concentrates

Surfactants

Nutraceuticals

Fuels

Specialty carbohydrates

Current infrastructure

Process Hall 2: Fermentations and DSP

Lab Hall 1: fermentation, analysis

Process Hall 1: Pretreatment, DSP and biocatalysis

Process Hall 3: Green chemistry (ATEX)

Maintenance Hall

Biomass Pretreatment

• Steam Injection

• Organosolv

• Acid/Alkaline treatment

• Pressure reactions

• Enzymatic hydrolysis

• Solid/Liquid separation

• Multi tonne scale

Biomass Pretreatment: auxiliaries

Biocatalysis

• Aqueous, Two-phase and Three-phase Systems

• Batch, Fed-batch, Continuous

• High solids contents

• Reactors up to 50 m³

• Immobilization

• Whole cell biocatalysts

• Enzyme production

Fermentation

• Batch, Fed-batch, Chemostat

• Bacteria, Yeast, Fungi

• Aerobic, Anaerobic

• 6*7 L, 2*50 L, 4*150 L, 1*4.5 m³

Fermentation

• Batch, Fed-batch, Chemostat

• Bacteria, Yeast, Fungi

• Aerobic, Anaerobic

• 6*7 L, 2*50 L, 4*150 L, 1*4.5 m³

• Brand new!!!: 2*1.5 m³ and 2*15 m³

Green Chemistry

• Glass lined Reactors up to 5 m³

• Filter Dryer, Conical Dryer

• Liq-Liq extraction column, Sol-Liq extraction

• Crystallisation, filtration

For

Chemical reactions

Solvent based DSP

Corrosive conditions

Downstream Purification• High speed separators

• Membrane filtration

• Ion exchange, activated carbon treatment

• ATEX solvent extraction, precipitation

Downstream Purification

• Evaporation

• Crystallisation

• Drying

Why outsourcing pilot activities?

• For SME’s (and even larger businesses)

– No infrastructure

– No necessary permits

– No skilled personnel

• Better to outsource piloting

– FASTER LEARNING CURVES

– PRODUCTS CAN BE LAUNCHED ON THE MARKET SOONER

ACCELERATING GROWTH OF SME’s

• Scottish technology company

• Aim: convert side-streams from the whisky industry in bio-based products

• Raw materials:– Draff: the residue of husks after fermentation of

the grain

– Pot ale: residue in the pot after distillation

– Mixed and used as animal feed

• Partnership with BBEU for scale up

• Awarded Europe’s most innovative SME

ACCELERATING GROWTH OF SME’s (2)

• Global biotechnology company, HQ in Florida, R&D in The Netherlands

• Aim: discovery, development, manufacture and sale of enzymes and other proteins for the bioenergy, biochemical, industrial enzyme and biopharmaceutical industries.

• Patented and proprietary technology based on C1 fungus exploitation

• Partnership with BBEU for scale up• One of the collaborations we have: 2G-BIOPIC

project: – Aim: build a 24 tpd lignocellulosics to

bioethanol/biolignin demo plant near Toulouse– 35 M€ support– Role BBEU: scale up enzyme production– Other partners: CIMV (Fr), Dyadic (Nl), CRITT (Fr),

Rolkem (Fr), Taurus Energy (Se), TWB (Fr)

Go beyond...

• 8 partners

• 5 countries

Support by Bio Base North West Europe

• € 6,4 Mio• 3 years (2013-2015)

ENABLING INVESTMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL BIOTECH

• Largest Steel manufacturer in the world

• Gigantic contributor to CO2 emissions globally

• Plant in Ghent, Belgium: accounts for 8 % of Belgian CO2 emissions!!!

• Solution: convert steel mill gases (CO/H2) into chemicals using micro-organisms instead of burning

• 2012-2013: BBEU-AM collaboration on technology scouting and TEA

• 2013-…: BBEU-AM research and pilot project on producing other chemicals from steel mill gases

Syngas to ethanol demo plant

50 m€ investment (phase I) + 42 m€ investment (phase II)

16 kta – 47 kta ethanol

36,8 - 108 kta CO2 emissions reduced

50 direct and indirect jobs

Project Steelanol at AM Gent

Take home messages

• Independent development: we do not sell equipment or compete with own production processes

• Faster learning curves and product sooner on market

• Proven track record: dozens of industrial collaborations

• Development and scale up under on roof: we know what works on large scale

• State of the art equipment on different scales

• Flexibility

– Equipment: modular, pilot lines

– Personnel: ‘fast response, excellent organization’ (quote Evonik)

Questions?