Pilots

The long-term goal of the demo case is the establishment of a European value chain from lignocellulose to end products using biotechology to provide green building blocks to the chemical industry. The demo case aims to achieve a large scale conversion of lignocellulose into chemical building blocks and fuels. This will be realized through the conversion of woodpellets, agro residues and other lignocellulose sources to C5-C6 sugars and lignin.

The future steps for the coming year is the finalization of the pre-feasibility of the business case in the Biobased Delta (South-West of the Netherlands), called “REDEFINERY”, the development of a MoU between stakeholders for setting up the pre-treatment demo-plant in Scotland, building on existing infrastructure (an existing paper mill), and the development of a concrete roadmap for eventually realizing a commercial scale-plant (based on set-up and fed by results of pilot plants).

The long term objective is to set up several value chains, starting at the feedstock side (lignocellulose refineries), moving via thermochemical biomass treatment, sugar conversion or lignin de-polymerization lines to drop in and innovative molecules (large attention to functionalities), and finally to new applications in the field of chemicals, materials and products. Applications are in the field of polymers, textile, resins, glues, coatings, surfactants, emulsifiers, anti-oxidants, dispersants, adhesives, panel boards/laminates, tires, cosmetics, paints/inks and with applications in aromas and fragrances, food and feed, pharma, fine chemicals, panel boards/laminates, tires, paints and inks, polymeres and finally composites.

The future steps for the coming year is to set up a business plan for new companies and new products, production of test samples with existing facilities in Europe for biobased aromatics, set up of an application lab, set up of pilots for production (5 tons/year), demonstration plants and commercialization

The general goal of the pilot is to showcase the potential of the use of industrial waste gases to produce chemicals via (syn)gas conversion with a particular focus on new technologies for the conversion of industry’s waste gases into synthetic chemicals with high added value.

The future steps for the coming year is to set up a network of key research infrastructure, gathering unique and highly specialized infrastructures and expertise related to gas fermentation to create a culture of cooperation and information/knowledge sharing, develop an action plan/strategy to build a consortium capable of setting up a pilot and/or demo facility for the conversion of industrial solid waste into chemicals via (syn)gas fermentation in the Flanders region, set up a new value chain to make the best out of the pilot system, and tokick-start the elaboration of an Innovation Deal.

The main goal of this demo case is to accelerate the development of the biogas industry towards less dependency on public incentives and a larger range of market products, including energy, fuels, chemicals and materials by developing and implementing projects which either focus on the improvement of the techno-economic performance of biogas production or the improvement of valorization routes for the digestate.

The future steps for the coming year is to explore the opportunities for the development of one or several projects targeting the improvement of the techno-economic performance of biogas production, set up a network of companies, research centres, stakeholders and public authorities committed to the implementation of this strategy, based on a shared vision, explore the opportunities for the development of one or several projects targeting the improvement of valorization routes for the digestate.

The future availability of bio based jet fuel in all European airports will be a challenge, involving the production of biomass, conversion and distribution. A gradual scale up of conversion capacity and biomass supplies over the coming decades will be required to meet the aviation requirements. Biomass production and supply capacity needs to be developed in balance with improved agricultural and forestry management to avoid conflicts with food supply and biodiversity. To meet the needs of the competitive aviation industry regional, existing facilities and strengths have to be utilized and new business models developed. The long-term goal of the pilot is to develop a European interregional value chain that focuses on promoting larger scale aviation biofuel production.

The ambition is to upscale the demo case (TRL 5/6), which requires different steps on both project and process level, as described in the OGSM table. For each step, the specific objectives for 2017 are defined as follows:

• To assess the most promising routes for the production of bio-aviation fuels based on pilot results obtained so far.
• To prepare for a demonstration plant based on the most promising bio-aviation fuel technologies.
• To create a market for bio-aviation fuels and prepare for a commercial scale plant.

Microalgae are amongst the most promising sustainable feedstocks that can be used as ingredients for a large range of sectors (e.g. food, feed, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, pharma, chemistry, energy), offering specific advantages with respect to their synthetic and traditional alternatives. Unfortunately production costs of microalgae bio products are still relatively high in comparison to chemical synthesis or extraction from plants as the main technical challenge lies in the scaling up of the whole production process. The demo case will focus on the production of food supplements/nutraceuticals and other pharma bioactive compounds, which have important markets worldwide for human and animal use The goal of this pilot is to set up a demonstration site for cultivation and scaling up of microalgae cultures in photobioreactors, using purified industrial CO2 as carbon source, in order to produce at large scale food (nutraceuticals), feed (protein) and pharma compounds (antibiotics).

The specific objective for 2017 is to set up the technical requirements for the Demo Case at the pilot level, identified the appropriate partners and search for funding resources to develop it in the coming years. Based on the demo case’s implementation in 2018 (based on a successful funding application), a scale-up is foreseen which will be prepared and implemented throughout 2019 and 2020.