Profile: AgriChemWhey project – An integrated biorefinery to transform dairy side streams into biobased chemicals

By -


Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE.

Last year, the Blog published a post about the flagship projects of the BBI JU (“BBI JU flagship projects - The new generation of European advanced biorefineries”, 17/7/2017). They are initiatives that support the launch of an innovation that has been demonstrated but not yet deployed on the market and include the establishment of a first-of-a-kind, large-scale facility. To the date of writing that post, 5 flagship grant agreements between the BBI JU and project consortia have been signed and it was supposed that a sixth flagship was going to be stablished under 2016 call. At the beginning of this year, the details of that agreement were disclosed, a new advanced biorefinery at commercial scale will be built in Ireland. This post shows a profile of the project.

The problem addressed

The European dairy industry, as by-products of whey protein manufacture, produces substances known as whey permeate (WP) and delactosed whey permeate (DLP). These major side-streams of dairy processing lack effective disposal routes and represent a sustainability bottleneck for the expansion of milk production in Europe in the “post-milk-quota era”.

The solution provided

The AgriChemWhey project proposes to convert the aforementioned sidestreams into added-value products for growing global markets: l-Lactic acid, polylactic acid, minerals for human nutrition and biobased fertiliser. In order to do that, a first-of-a-kind, industrial-scale biorefinery, that will valorise over 25 ktons (100% dry matter) per annum of excess WP and DLP, will be constructed.

The Flagship plant will prove the techno-economic viability of the innovative WP/DLP-to-lactic acid biorefinery process. The technology will be optimised by reducing production times and increasing yields. Also, the new biorefinery will establish a new value chain for industrial symbiosis with other local actors for the production of high value sustainable food and feed products from other side streams. In this way, society and industry benefit from for greater resource efficiency: less food waste, more products from the same starting material (milk) and integration of food and non-food material production.

AgriChemWhey will develop a blueprint of an economic sustainability concept and replication plans for other regions across Europe, contributing towards the blossom of the European bioeconomy to promote rural growth, competitiveness and job creation. Exploitation strategies that will ensure the wider uptake of the biorefinery technology.

Figure 1. Glanbia Ingredients milk tanker. This Irish company is the leader of the project.

Key data

Main objective
The main objective of AgriChemWhey is to develop the world’s first integrated biorefinery for converting food-processing residues to bio-based chemicals. The plant will be stablished in Ireland. The project will see a new value chain for lactic acid from dairy production residues.
Call and topic
- H2020-BBI-JTI-2016.
- BBI-2016-F01 - Valorisation of by-products or waste-streams from the food processing industry into high added-value products for market applications.
- Type of action: Innovation Action – Flagship.
- Value Chain: VC4 – organic waste.
Duration
From 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2021.
Total cost
29,949,323 €
BBI JU contribution
22,007,931 €
Project leader
Glanbia Ingredients (Ireland)
Consortium
University College Dublin (Ireland)
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
Commercial Mushroom Producers Co-operative Society Ltd (Ireland)
PNO Consultants Ltd (UK)
GIG Karasek GmbH (Austria)
Tipperary County Council (Ireland)
Teagasc - The Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Ireland)
Greenwin Wallonie (Belgium)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
EW Biotech GmbH (Germany)

Expected impacts

The AgriChemWhey project aims for the following impacts:
- Developing rural communities by creating local jobs. Replicating AgriChemWhey biorefineries has the potential to create over 1,000 rural jobs within four years of project completion.
- Securing the future for dairy farming by making milk production more sustainable and increase the amount that farmers can earn from their outputs.
- Improving the EU trade balance through greater resource efficiency and by reducing current EU l-lactic acid imports (currently 80,000 tons per annum).
- Providing inspiration and encouraging society and industry to embrace the growth and competitiveness of a European circular bioeconomy.
- Saving between 18,000 and 89,000 tons of CO2eq/year, depending on the number of AgriChemWhey-style biorefineries.

Popular Posts

Mini-plant for production of glucaric acid from glucose starts up successfully

By -
Image
Recent news about one of the DOE’s 12 Top Biobased Molecules. Rennovia Inc. and Johnson Matthey Process Technologies announced on July 16 that they have successfully started-up a mini-plant for production of glucaric acid from glucose using jointly developed technology. In March 2014, these companies embarked on a collaboration to develop, demonstrate and commercialize catalytic process technologies for the production of bio-based glucaric acid and adipic acid. Under the collaboration, Rennovia and JM Process Technologies work together in processes based on Rennovia’s technology for the catalytic aerobic oxidation of glucose to glucaric acid and the catalytic hydrogenation of glucaric acid to adipic acid. The final goal of the collaboration is to license a package enabling commercial production of these chemical products. The successful operation of this mini-plant is a major milestone in the journey to achieve this goal. The facility is located at the Johnson Matthey Process ...
Read more

Biorefinery models - Lignocellulosic biorefinery

By -
Image
Publication date: 25/04/2016 Last update: 25/04/2016 ABOUT THE SERIES OF POSTS “BIOREFINERY MODELS” This post belongs to a series called “ Biorefinery Models ”. This series is devoted to briefly describe the models or concepts of advanced biorefineries which have emerged in the last few years and that are rising currently. These models are simplified representations which enable us to understand in a simple way the structure and characteristics of a general biorefinery type. Some of these models refer to the type of feedstock while other focus on the technologies involved. A biorefinery may resemble these models or be the result of variations and combinations of them. It should be noted that although these paradigms are very useful and instructive, they show limitations in describing and classifying complex systems with high level of integration. In order to define and describe a specific complex case, the blog recommends use the classification proposed by IEA Bioenerg...
Read more

Hidrotratamiento (HVO) – Conceptos, materias primas y especificaciones

By -
Image
English version Sección: BIOCOMBUSTIBLES AVANZADOS Serie: HVO - Hidrotratamiento (HVO) – Conceptos, materias primas y especificaciones - Hidrotratamiento(HVO) – Ventajas sobre el biodiesel convencional y propiedades - Biorrefinerías de Aceites Vegetales Hidrotatados (HVO) – El auge del diésel renovable - Entradas: HVO                El acrónimo HVO significa en inglés “ Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils ” (“Aceites Vegetales Hidrotratados”) o ” Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils ” (“Aceites Vegetales Hidrogenados”). Clave del proceso: Tratamiento con hidrógeno. En el proceso de producción de HVO, el hidrógeno se usa para eliminar el oxígeno de los triglicéridos produciendo una mezcla de parafinas lineales, CO 2 y agua. Posteriormente, el producto de la primera etapa se isomeriza, siempre en presencia de hidrógeno, para ramificar las cadenas lineales con el propósito de mejorar las propieda...
Read more

Biofuels from algae

By -
Image
In my opinion, the production of biofuels and biobased chemicals from algae is one of the most fascinating topics in the sector of the biorefineries and it will be one of the niches of opportunity with highest potential in the medium and the long terms. This post pretend to be a very basic approach to the topic Algae-to-Biofuels through three general key points. Algae 1,2,3,4,5 Algae include a wide variety of photosynthetic organisms capable of transforming light, water and specific nutrients into products that can be used with commercial and industrial purposes. We can say that algae are sunlight-driven factories with potential to convert CO 2 into biofuels, high-value biochemical, food and feed. There are four algae cultivation technologies currently in use for commercial algae cultivation and proposed for algal biofuel production: extensive or open ponds, intensive or raceway ponds, closed photobioreactors in many designs and closed fermenter systems. Algal biof...
Read more

Biobased acrylic acid

By -
Image
Versión en Español Type of post: Fact sheet. Series: Biobased chemicals – Organic acids. Publication date: 05/05/2021. Last update: 05/05/2021. Description - Organic acid with 3 carbon atoms. - It is a clear, colourless, corrosive liquid with a characteristic acrid or tart smell. - Other names: prop-2-enoic acid. Applications - Formation of homopolymers or copolymers which are used in the manufacture of various adhesives, coatings, diapers, detergents, paints, plastics and textiles. The main use of crude acrylic acid is the generation of acrylate esters, followed by the production of polyacrylic acid, used mostly in superabsorbent polymers. - Chemical intermediate in multiple industrial processes. Conventional petrochemical route - Cracking of fossil naphtha to produce propylene / Oxidation of propylene. Main biobased routes - [3-HPA via] Fermentation of sugars to produce 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HPA) / Dehydration of 3-HPA. - [Biobased naphtha via] Cracking of biobased naphth...
Read more