Corbion, Uniper, RWE y la Autoridad Portuaria unen fuerzas por una nueva biorrefinería en Róterdam

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La escala ideal para un sistema específico de biorrefino depende de los límites marcados por aspectos como la logística, los costes de producción o el tamaño mínimo de los procesos individuales. En este sentido, es más probable que las grandes biorrefinerías integradas emerjan asociadas a los mayores puertos. En el Puerto de Róterdam, se manejan 465 millones de toneladas de carga al año, lo que lo convierten en el puerto más grande de Europa. Actualmente, el Puerto de Róterdam alberga una gran biorrefinería. Se trata de la instalación que Neste puso en marcha en 2011 y que está localizada en el distrito Maasvlakte del puerto (puedes aprender más sobre ella en el siguiente enlace: Rotterdam Biorefinery).

Sin embargo, puede que sea la única biorrefinería instalada en el puerto por poco tiempo. Corbion, Uniper, RWE y la Autoridad Portuaria de Róterdam están involucradas en el desarrollo conjunto de una nueva biorrefinería (ver la  nota de prensa). Corbion pretende incrementar su capacidad de producir bioplásticos, RWE y Uniper están buscando oportunidades para hacer más sostenible la generación de electricidad y la Autoridad Portuaria desea estimular el crecimiento de las bioindustrias en el área del puerto. La solución combinada es el concepto de biorrefinería (ver Figura 1) que el consorcio ha desarrollado para transformar biomasa leñosa en etanol, bioplásticos (PLA), calor y electricidad.

Figura 1. Concepto de biorrefinería desarrollado por el consorcio (extraído de la nota de prensa)

Actualmente, los socios están determinando que parte asumirá cada uno en la construcción de la biorrefinería. Para este fin, Corbion está presentado la Autoridad Portuaria y las empresas energéticas a varios contactos de su entorno. El blog seguirá con interés los progresos de este prometedor proyecto.

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