VITO will build a pilot plant of bio-aromatics from lignin through the LignoValue Pilot project
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
VITO (Flemish
research organisation in the area of cleantech and sustainable development) and
other partners have launched the ERDF LignoValue Pilot project. This initiative
is aimed at building a pilot plant in Flanders for the production of bio-aromatics
from lignin. The pilot will meet the needs of various companies that have
expressed an interest in innovative molecules and a willingness to carry out application
testing.
Location
|
Flanders
(Belgium).
The pilot
is designed to be mobile, ensuring that interested companies can host and
experience the performance at their own site.
|
Feedstock
|
Lignin.
|
Products
|
Bio-aromatics.
|
Capacity
|
200
kg/day.
|
Technology
status
|
TRL 5-6.
The
majority of the involved technologies has already been proven at lab scale.
|
Expected
start-up
|
Q1 2021.
|
Project
budget
|
4.3 M€.
Co-funded
by ERDF, the province of Antwerp and the Flemish Department of Economy,
Science and Innovation.
VITO will
invest around 2 M€ euros.
|
Figure 1. VITO and other partners have launched
the ERDF LignoValue Pilot project
VITO takes part in a large number of projects
involving the conversion of lignin to bio-aromatics:
- Catalisti (the Flemish spearhead cluster for
chemistry and plastics) projects “MAIA”
and “ARBOREF”.
- Interreg project “BIO-HArT”.
To prepare the LignoValue Pilot project, a
study entitled ‘BioAromatics Feedstock and Technology Assessment (BAFTA) is
being executed in which VITO and KULeuven are performing a thorough landscape
analysis of technologies available all over the world for the direct conversion
of wood and the depolymerization of lignin into biobased aromatics and insights
are gained in the most preferential depolymerization technologies based on a
number of well-defined criteria (TRL, level of sustainability, yield…).
VITO is looking for partners to cooperate in application
testing, feedstock testing and building the demo plant. More info at the end of
the VITO announcement (LignoValue Pilot
Launched, 12/7/2018).