Biorefining sector highlights of 2015
2015 comes to its
end and I would like to take advantage to wish all the readers a merry
Christmas and a prosperous 2016. The blog took its first steps in the beginning
of 2014 and this year has supposed its consolidation. In last months, the main contents
(Biobased Chemical Building Blocks, Advanced Biofuels, Biorefinery Platforms and Algal Biorefinery) were structured in sections that will be continuously updated. Also,
the majority of the posts were published in English and Spanish in order to
reach a larger audience.
This post pretends
to be a short journey along some highlights of the year in the biorefinery
industry through the posts of the blog. In 2016, the blog will keep on tracking
the biorefining sector and the green chemical processes. Thank you for
following it!
New facilities
January
Lappeeranta Biorefinery (Commercial).
Owner: UPM
Biofuels / Feedstock: Tall oil / Product: Biodiesel / Capacity: 100,000 ton/y.
April
Lestrem Isosorbide Unit (Commercial)
Owner: Roquette / Feedstock:
Sorbitol / Product: Isosorbide / Capacity: 20,000 ton/y (Post only in Spanish).
May
EMPYRO fast pyrolysis plant (Demonstration)
Owner: BTG-BTL / Feedstock:
Woody biomass / Products: Electricity, process steam, fuel oil and organic
acids / Capacity: 76 tons pyrolysis oil per day.
July
Caserta Levulinic Acid Biorefinery (Commercial)
Owner:
GFBiochemicals / Feedstock: Cellulosic biomass / Product: Levulinic Acid /
Capacity: 10,000 tons per year (scale up to full capacity by 2017).
Stockton Glucaric Acid Mini-Plant (Pilot Plant)
Owner: Johnson
Matthey Process Technologies and Rennovia Inc.
August
Sarnia Succinic Acid Biorefinery (Commercial)
Owners: BioAmber
and Mitsui & Co / Feedstock: Glucose sourced from southern Ontario
agricultural suppliers / Product: Succinic Acid / Capacity: 30,000 ton/y.
September
Vielle-Saint-Girons tall-oil biorefinery (Commercial)
Owner: DRT /
Feedstock: Tall Oil / Products: rosin and turpentine / Capacity: 100,000 ton/y.
October
Nevada Biorefinery (Commercial)
Owner: DuPont /
Feedstock: Corn stover/ Product: Cellulosic ethanol / Capacity: 30 million
gallons per year.
Danville Glucaric Acid Biorefinery (Comercial)
Owner: Rivertop
Renewables and DTI / Feedstock: Various sugars and sugar alcohols / Capacity: 4,500
ton per year of glucarate-based products.
Announcements of new projects
March
Bio-On and Pizzoli will collaborate to build Italy's
first PHAs bioplastic production plant (2,000 ton/y, expanding to 4,000 ton/y in the future) using waste product
from the potato agro-industrial process. The new plant will start production in
2017. (Post only in Spanish).
April
Total to transform the La Mède refinery into a
biorefinery. The plant will produce
500,000 ton/y of high quality paraffinic renewable diesel, treating used oils
as well as other renewable feedstocks. Axens will provide Vegan™ technology
license, basic engineering, catalysts, proprietary equipment and related
services (training, unit start-up and follow-up).
May
Abengoa was selected by Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. to
build a biorefinery using gasification technology to convert Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW) into syncrude and upgrade it into jet fuel. The Sierra BioFuels Plant is scheduled to begin commercial operations
in 2017 with the production of more than 10 million gallons of renewable
transportation fuel.
Novozymes announced a deal to supply enzyme technology
to a new biorefinery that will be built by St1 in Kajaani (Finland). The plant will be constructed and operated using the
pre-treatment and the process technologies called Cellunolix®. Production of 10
million liters expected to start in 2016.
Global Bioenergies and Cristal Union announced that
they had formed IBN-One, a joint venture to build and operate the first plant
in France converting renewable feedstock into isobutene. Global Bioenergies has granted IBN-One a non-exclusive
license to use its isobutene process for a 50,000 tons capacity plant to be
located in France.
July
DuPont and New Tianlong Industry Co., Ltd. signed
historic deal to bring cellulosic ethanol technology to China. The agreement allows NTL to license DuPont’s
cellulosic ethanol technology and use DuPont™ Accellerase® enzymes, to produce
renewable biofuel from the leftover biomass on Jilin Province’s highly productive
corn farms.
Green3Power Operations Inc. (G3P), wholly owned
subsidiary company of BioPower Operations Corporation, won an award to build a
plant that will convert waste into ultra-low sulfur synthetic green No. 2
diesel fuel. The biorefinery will be
erected at the existing St. Lucie County Solid Waste Management Facility in
Florida (USA) and will transform approximately 1,000 tons per day of municipal
solid waste, construction and demolition debris, used tires and yard waste to
synthetic diesel fuel.
August
Pernambuco announced its first biorefinery project producing
biobased kerosene and diesel. The biorefinery was
baptised as the “Plataforma Pernambucana de Bioquerosene e Diesel Verde”. It will
be focused on the production of renewable fuels to be used in planes that fly
in and out of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha Archipelago.
October
Beta Renewables, Novozymes and CVC India signed MoU
for 2G biorefinery. The Government
of the Indian State of Punjab signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
the consortium of Beta Renewables, Novozymes and CVC India Infrastructure Pvt.
Ltd. for building a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery using wheat and paddy straw
as feedstock.
November
Renmatix will develop its first commercial biorefinery
next year. The Bioneer™ biorefinery will produce between
100,000 tons to 300,000 tons of sugars annually and it will suppose the first
commercial iteration of its Plantrose process.
December
