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EnergyX 2016 7.7 Biorefinerie
EnergyX 2016 7.7 Biorefinerie
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.
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.
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.
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.
Final Products.
For
a
biorefinery
based
on
an
agricultural
oil
crop
to
biodiesel
and
byproducts
the
following
scheme
can
be
drawn.
It starts with the feedstock, in this case for example rape seed.
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.