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Lignocellulosic Biorefineries
BURGO
18 June 2012
Jean-Luc WERTZ
Plan1. Definitions2. Biomass3. Analogy with classical refinery4. Biomass conversion processes
- Biochemical platform- Thermochemical platform
Biorefining- Definition
• Biorefining is the sustainable processing of biomass into biobased products (food, feed, chemicals and materials) and bioenergy (fuels, power, heat)
• Its objective is to optimize the valorization of all plant components
Biorefineries
• Two types: first-generation biorefineries and second-generation biorefineries
• Two variants: biorefineries focused on products and biorefineries focused on energy
First- and second-generation biorefineries
• First generation: refining from food biomass (sugar cane, corn grains, vegetablel oil…)
• Second generation: refining from non-food biomass (agriculture and forest residues, a fraction of municipal and industrial waste…)
Product and energy-focused biorefineries
• Product-focused biorefineries: biomass is fractionated into high-value products with low environmental impact, by-products being used for energy
• Energy-focused biorefineries: biomass is first used for energy, and by-products are sold for feed or converted
Molecular structure of cellulose
• Straight linear polysaccharide forming microfibrils• Glucose units linked by β 1-4 glycosidic linkages• One reducing end and one non-reducing end
From oil refinery to biomass refinery
Crude oilFuels
(Energy) Building blocks
(Petrochemistry)Specialties
(e. g. lubricants)
From oil refinery to biomass refinery
BiomassBiofuels
(Bioenergy) Building blocks
(Agro-bio chemistry)Specialties
(e. g. biolubricants)
Conversion processes
• Biochemical platform- Acid hydrolysis (diluted or concentrated)- Enzymatic hydrolysis
• Thermochemical platform- Combustion- Gasification- Pyrolysis & hydrothermal treatment
Biochemical platform Challenges
- Biomass pretreatment- Cost and efficiency of enzymes- Fermentation of C5 and C6 sugars - Lignin valorization
Selected biomass pretreatments
- Steam explosion- Organosolv with ethanol- Organosolv with acetic/formic acid
to be compared with alkaline hydrolysis used by papermaking (Kraft)
Lignol ethanol-based organosolv process
Source: Lignol
Process effect: - stong removal of lignin- weak removal of hemicelluloses
Steam explosion
- Biomass rapidly heated with high-pressure steam- Mixture held for a period of time to promote hemicellulose hydrolysis- Rapid reduction of steam pressure to obtain an explosive decompression- Process effect: strong removal of hemicelluloses
Source: N. Jacquet et al., GxABT
Borregaard’s biorefinery concept
Source: BorregaardCharacteristics:- Sulfite process involving lignosulfonates- Sugars fermented to ethanol- Vanillin from lignosulfonate
Thermochemical platformGasification + Fischer-Tropsch
Biomass conversion into synthesis gas, which is then
converted into liquid biofuels (BtL)
Thermochemical platformPyrolysis + catalytic conversion
Biomass conversion into bio-oil, which is then converted into liquid biofuels
UPM biorefinery
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Source: UPM
5 process steps:- Making tall oil- Pretreating tall oil- Hydrotreatment (H2)- Recycle gas purification- Fractionation: biodiesel
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