Alfred State College completa la financiación de la construcción y operación inicial de su Centro de Desarrollo y Comercialización de Biorrefinerías

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Tipo de entrada: NOTICIA BREVE.

Alfred State, una residencia universitaria de tecnología del estado de New York (USA), está liderando una iniciativa para construir un Centro de Desarrollo y Comercialización de Biorrefinerías (“Biorefinery Development and Commercialization Center” o BDCC) que podría impulsar el sector de la bioeconomía forestal en el área de Southern Tier. El Gobernador Andrew Cuomo ha incluido 6,6 M$ para esta iniciativa en su propuesta de presupuesto (véase noticia, 12/01/2018). Este compromiso de incluir la financiación para el BDCC completa los 12,2 M$ requeridos para la construcción y operación inicial de las instalaciones. El centro dará la oportunidad de que los estudiantes se formen en una planta piloto de aprendizaje que permitirá mejorar los programas que ofrece la residencia.

El BDCC es un prototipo para demostrar un proceso de extracción con agua caliente (“Hot Water Extraction” o HWE) que genera productos químicos valiosos a partir de madera, cultivos energéticos y residuos agrícolas. Mediante esta tecnología, aproximadamente un 25% de la biomasa astillada se transforma en productos de alto valor añadido como biocombustibles avanzados y productos químicos sostenibles para plásticos. El 75% restante da lugar a astillas de madera modificada que presentan características mejoradas para ser utilizadas en productos de papel, pellets y tableros.

Figura 1. Astillas de madera antes y después de ser sometidas al proceso Hydro-Torrefaction (extraída de la página web de ABS)

El proceso ha sido patentado por Applied Biorefinery Sciences (ABS). Se llama Hydro-Torrefaction™ y cuece la biomasa leñosa en agua a temperaturas relativamente elevadas (150-200°C). Bajo presión y temperatura, la hemicelulosa y otros compuestos son liberados de sus enlaces en la estructura leñosa y migran hacia el baño de agua caliente. La agresividad del medio no basta para romper la matriz de celulosa. La biomasa residual, aunque de color más oscuro, permanece estructuralmente intacta.

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