Alfred State College completes the funding for the construction and initial operation of its Biorefinery Development and Commercialization Center
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
Alfred State,
a residential college of technology of the New York State (USA), is leading the
efforts to build a Biorefinery Development and Commercialization Center (BDCC) that
could boost the forest bioeconomy sector in the Southern Tier area. The
Governor Andrew Cuomo has included 6.6 M$ for this initiative in his proposed
budget (see news, 12/01/2018). This commitment to include BDCC
funding in the state budget completes the full 12.2 M$ required for the
construction and initial operation of the facility. The center will provide the
opportunity to be involved in a learning factory to enhance student programs at
the college.
The BDCC is a prototype to demonstrate a Hot
Water Extraction (HWE) process that produces valuable chemical assets from
wood, energy crops and agricultural residuals. Through this technology,
approximately 25% of the chipped biomass is converted into value-added products
such as advanced fuels and biobased chemicals for plastics. The remaining 75% produces
modified wood chips that have improved qualities to be used in paper, fuel
pellets and particleboard.
Figure 1. Wood chips before and after being
subjected to Hydro-Torrefaction (extracted from ABS website)
The process has been patented by Applied Biorefinery Sciences (ABS). It is called Hydro-Torrefaction™ and cooks
woody biomass in plain water at relatively elevated temperatures (150-200°C). Under
heat and pressure, hemicellulose and other compounds are freed from their bonds
inside the woody biomass and migrate into the hot water bath. The aggressiveness
of the environment is not sufficient to break down the cellulose matrix. The
residual biomass, although darker in color, remains structurally intact.