INA submits a request of strategic investment status for the Sisak biorefinery project

By -

Type of post: NEWS.

INA has submitted a request to the Ministry of Economy of Croatia for the Sisak biorefinery project to be awarded strategic investment status.
Press release: “INA prijavila projekt Biorafinerije za status strateškog investicijskog projekta za Republiku Hrvatsku”, 23/6/2020.
Related posts:
- “DSEC signs basic engineering contract for the 2G ethanol biorefinery project of INA in Croatia”, 17/1/2020.
-  “INA chooses Futurol technology licensed by Axens for its 2G ethanol project in Croatia”, 12/3/2020.

Figure 1. Biomass availability and supply for the biorefinery project of INA in Sisak (extracted from “Concept of Converting Oil Refinery to Biorefinery”, IEA Bioenergy Task 43 Workshop, University J.J. Strossmayer, Osijek, March 27th, 2018)

The total investment is worth 250 M€ and part of that figure is expected to be covered from the EU innovations funds. INA confirmed that despite the challenging business climate, it is continuing strategic projects and the transformation of the Sisak refinery complex. One of the activities in Sisak would be to develop a biorefinery to produce 2G bioethanol along with green energy. The company underscored that support from the EU and the Croatian government is a key precondition to finally realise this significant project for Croatia and INA which entirely fits into Europe’s Green Deal energy strategy.

At the end of last year, INA signed an agreement with the Belgian De Smet Engineers & Contractors to design the integration of the biorefining unit in the existing refinery structure. And, in February, it selected Futurol technology for the 2G ethanol production process.

Regarding the establishing a feedstock supply chain, two harvests of the energy crop miscanthus were conducted on the demonstration field in Rugvica near Zagreb, in cooperation with the Bc Institute. The collected biomass of the first harvest was sent for testing within the BBI GRACE project (GRowing Advanced Industrial Crops on marginal lands for biorEfineries) and the results confirmed miscanthus as a good raw material for the production of 2G bioethanol. The second harvest of miscanthus was carried out in March this year, during which INA tested agricultural machinery of renowned EU manufacturers.

Popular Posts

New HVO plant enters into operation in China

By -
Image
Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. According to S&P Global Platts, last month, State-owned energy company Beijing Sanju Environmental Protection & New Materials launched a 400 ktons/year capacity HVO plant in Rizhao (Shandong, China) province. The biorefinery utilizes used cooking oil (UCO) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) as feedstocks. News (S&P Global Platts): “ China reinforces position in HVO market with launch of new 400,000 mt/year plant ”, 24/03/2021. Hydrotreating (HVO) – Concepts, feedstocks and specifications . HVO posts. Figure 1. Beijing Sanju, current and planned HVO plants (source: S&P Global Platts Analytics) The new HVO plant (Shandong Sanju Bioenergy) was the result of a cooperation agreement (07/04/2020) between Beijing Sanju (primary owner, investor and tech provider), Hainan Qilu Development (investor and subsidiary of Qilu Transportation Development Group) and the Juxian County Government (minority owner, fixed assets). Shandong Sanju Bio
Read more

Glucaric acid biorefineries

By -
Image
Publication date: 14/12/2015 Last update: 24/05/2017 Description 1,2,3,4 D-Glucaric acid, also called saccharic acid, is a chemical compound with formula C 6 H 10 O 8 and member of a large family of molecules known as oxidized sugars. It is a naturally occurring aldaric acid, typically found in small amounts in a variety of fruits and vegetables. It is a highly functionalized compound with four chiral carbons and a plethora of reaction pathways. Its commercial potential was unveiled in the report “Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass” from the Department of Energy of USA which described its use as a building block for a number of polymers, including new nylons and hyperbranched polyesters. Process technologies 1,3,4,5,6,7,8 The synthetic preparation of D-glucaric acid dates back to a report of Sohst and Tollens (1888) who carried out the nitric acid oxidation of D-glucose to D-glucaric acid. Current methods for its production are based on this process and in
Read more

Hydrotreating (HVO) – Concepts, feedstocks and specifications

By -
Image
Versión en Español Section: ADVANCED BIOFUELS Series: HVO - Hydrotreating (HVO) – Concepts, feedstocks and specifications - Hydrotreating (HVO) – Advantages over FAME and properties - Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) Biorefineries – The rise of renewable diesel - Posts: HVO                The acronym HVO stands for “ Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils ” or ” Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils ”. Key of the process: Treatment with hydrogen. In the HVO production process, hydrogen is used to remove the oxygen from the triglycerides producing a mix of linear paraffins, CO 2 and water. Then, the product of the first stage is isomerized, always in presence of hydrogen, in order to branch the linear chains for improving the cold flow properties of the final products. Thus, HVO are mixtures of paraffinic hydrocarbons, free of sulphur and aromatics and with a very high cetane number. The hydrocarbons created are similar to existing diesel fuel components which allows
Read more

Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) Biorefineries – The rise of renewable diesel

By -
Image
Publication date: 17/9/2015. Last update: 17/11/2019. Section: ADVANCED BIOFUELS Series: HVO - Hydrotreating(HVO) – Concepts, feedstocks and specifications - Hydrotreating(HVO) – Advantages over FAME and properties - Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) Biorefineries – The rise of renewable diesel - Posts: HVO Technologies Company Technology Axens Vegan Colabitoil - ENI and Honeywell UOP Ecofining Haldor Topsoe Hydroflex Neste NEXBTL REG BioSynfining Ryze Renewables - UPM Biofuels UPM BioVerno Other: ConocoPhillips, BP, PetroBras and Nippon Oil Used for co-processing or at low-scale Figure 1. HVO biorefinery of Neste in Singapore (extracted from Neste web page) Operational HVO biorefineries Location Owner Technology Production capacity (Mtons/year) Start-up Kilpilahti, Porvoo (F
Read more

Fotobiorreactores

By -
Image
El cultivo de microalgas no es algo novedoso, muchos de los métodos y conceptos que se usan hoy en día fueron desarrollados a finales del siglo XIX y principios de la pasada centuria. En décadas posteriores, se han ido refinando por la intervención de varias disciplinas que han trabajado de manera conjunta: biología, ingeniería de procesos, matemáticas y física. En los últimos 30 años, la industria biotecnológica de las microalgas ha crecido y se ha diversificado de manera significativa. Sin embargo, las aplicaciones comerciales existentes, todavía se hallan limitadas a comercios de bajo volumen y gran valor añadido como el de los suplementos alimenticios o el de los extractos (por ejemplo, el beta-caroteno). De acuerdo con un informe de IEA Bioenergy del 2010, la cantidad de biomasa algal producida comercialmente estaba en el entorno de las 9.000 toneladas. 1,2,3,4 Actualmente, el interés creciente que despiertan el empleo de las microalgas en la obtención de biocombustibles y e
Read more