BioRefineries Blog

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Praj Industries has ensured an order to expand the capacity of the sugarcane ethanol plant of Godavari Biorefineries Ltd (GBL) in Karnataka. As a part of this project, Praj will expand the existing ethanol manufacturing capacity (400 kL per day) to 600 kL per day. Press release: “ Praj to set up India’s largest capacity sugarcane syrup based ethanol plant for Godavari Biorefineries ”, 12/04/2021. Related posts: - “ USA’s first bagasse-based biorefinery will deploy Praj’s Enfinity technology ”, 07/09/2019. - “ Praj and Sekab team up to accelerate a green transition ”, 25/05/2020. Figure 1. Godavari biorefineries selects Praj to expand the capacity of its ethanol plant in Karnataka When commissioned, this will become India’s largest capacity syrup-based ethanol plant. This capacity expansion planned by GBL is in line with the Government’s Biofuel policy to increase the ethanol manufacturing quantity in India using various sugary f...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Summit Agricultural Group has announced the creation of Summit Carbon Solutions, a new business platform that will address the global challenge of decarbonization by developing the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project. In doing so, Summit Carbon Solutions will accelerate the transition toward sustainable, renewable energy by dramatically lowering the carbon footprint of biorefineries and other carbon dioxide emission sources throughout the Midwestern region of the United States. Green Plains has already confirmed that three of its biorefineries have entered into a long-term carbon offtake agreement with Summit Carbon Solutions. Press releases: - “ Summit Agricultural Group announces the creation of Summit Carbon Solutions and world's largest carbon capture and storage project ”, 18/02/2021. - “ Green Plains Announces Carbon Sequestration Partnership with Summit Carbon Solutions ”, 18/02/2021. Summit Carbon Solutions is p...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. After years of hard and intense work, the promoters of the Barcial del Barco (Zamora, Spain) Multifunctional Biorefinery have announced that they have managed to attract investors to finance the project. The information contained in this post has been summarized from a press release provided by the project promoters. Related posts: - “ Rural development and biorefineries – The case of Barcial del Barco ”, 6/1/2016. - “ Update on the progress of the Barcial del Barco Biorefinery Project ”, 7/10/2016. Figure 1. Barcial del Barco Multifunctional Biorefinery project raises funding at a valuation of 178 M$ 160 M€ are required for the construction and commissioning of the first industrial phase and EA Green Energy (current name of the project developer) has ensured an investment of 178.08 M$ with foreign investors. It has the firm commitment of institutional investors from the USA and the support of internationally pr...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. The European Investment Bank (EIB), with the support of the European Commission, has granted a 75 M€ loan to ArcelorMittal for the construction of two ground-breaking projects (worth 215 M€ in total) at its Ghent site to considerably reduce its carbon emissions (up to 350,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year in the first phase) by converting waste and by-products into valuable new products. Press release: “ EU supports ArcelorMittal with EUR 75m EIB loan to scale up breakthrough technology to reduce carbon emissions ”, 19/5/2020. Related posts: - “ Sulzer to provide the distillation equipment for the waste gas to ethanol plant of ArcelorMittal in Belgium ”, 17/1/2019. - “ Air Liquide to provide the purification technology for the waste gas to ethanol plant of ArcelorMittal in Belgium ”, 28/10/2019. Figure 1. 3D model of the new plant (taken from the press release) The EIB investment is supported by InnovFin Ene...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. ED95 is a fuel grade containing up to 95% ethanol that can be used in certain heavy-duty vehicles. According to eP URE ( European Renewable Ethanol Association), it can deliver the energy efficiency of a diesel engine while reducing emissions of CO, NO x  and CO 2  over the full fuel lifecycle compared to fossil diesel. Press release: “ ED95: An ethanol blend to fuel Europe's heavy-duty transport ”. Infographic . Figure 1. ED95 (extracted from the Infographic) A study conducted in 2018 found that using ED95 to fuel heavy-duty transport would bring benefits for GHG emissions reduction, air quality and energy efficiency (“ Mesures des émissions de polluants des autocars Euro 6 au gaz naturel, à l’éthanol et au diesel ”, ADEME and Scania). ED95 can be used in heavy-duty vehicles equipped with a specially designed engine. These vehicles can only run on ED95. Swedish manufacturer Scania is the pioneer in the fi...

Versión en Español Type of post: RESEARCH NEWS. A team of researchers at the University of Sydney , University of Exeter and University of Adelaide has found that the agave plant (used to make tequila) could be established in semi-arid Australia as an environmentally friendly solution to Australia’s transport fuel shortage. News (University of Sidney): “ ' Tequila' powered biofuels more efficient than corn or sugar ”, 2/4/2020. Article (Journal of Cleaner Production): “ Agave: A promising feedstock for biofuels in the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) nexus ”. Related post: “ Queensland’s BAP endorses the new biorefinery of MSF Sugar ”, 13/7/2017. Figure 1. Associate Professor Daniel Tan in Ayr (Queensland) in front of agave plants (extracted from the news) University of Sydney agronomist Associate Professor Daniel Tan with international and Australian colleagues have analysed the potential to prod...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Air Liquide is partnering with ArcelorMittal in a pilot project to capture carbon gas from the steelmaking process and recycle it into advanced bioethanol. Air Liquide Engineering & Construction will provide a technology solution that purifies the offgas coming from the blast furnace. The purified gases will then be injected into a bioreactor to produce bioethanol. Press release: “ Air Liquide partners with ArcelorMittal in pilot project to capture and recycle carbon ”, 17/10/2019. Figure 1. ArcelorMittal site in Ghent (Belgium) The project is led by ArcelorMittal and its partner Lanzatech . Construction of the facility is underway at the ArcelorMittal site in Ghent (Belgium) and the plant is planned to become operational at the end of 2020. It is expected to produce 80 million litres of bioethanol annually. Extended information on the project: “ Sulzer to provide the distillation equipment for the waste gas to ...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Praj Industries (process and project engineering company headquartered in India) and Dedini S/A Indústrias de Base (engineering and manufacturing company based in Brazil) have entered into a Cooperation Agreement to provide ethanol production technologies to the Brazilian market. Press release: “ Praj and Dedini join hands in Brazil ”, 12/8/2019. Related posts: - “ Green light to Praj for the commence of the activities of other cellulosic ethanol biorefinery project in India ”, 19/5/2018. - “ Gevo and Praj team up to commercialize renewable isobutanol, jet fuel and isooctane in India ”, 11/4/2019. Figure 1. Dedini and Praj join forces in Brazil to provide ethanol production technologies to the Brazilian market The agreement paves the way for Dedini to market Praj’s novel technology solutions to set up ethanol production facilities using grain-based feedstock and modernize existing ethanol plants in Brazil. Praj’s scope includes tech...

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE. Meeting the growing demand for proteins will be one of the challenges of the near future. The EU is suffering from a major deficit in vegetable proteins and is dependent on imports from third countries. There is an urgent need for technology breakthroughs to increase local protein production. And, this seems to be one of the priorities of the BBI JU. The two flagship projects of its 2018 call are focused on the protein issue. At the end of June, the Blog featured one of them, the FARMYNG project (fully-automated flagship industrial plant to produce premium proteins from insects). Now, it is the turn of the PLENITUDE project. The initiative addresses the protein challenge by integrating two established processes into a flagship, large-scale, first-of-its-kind, biorefinery producing bioethanol and sustainable food protein. The process takes a proportion of the sustainable cereal crops that feed the biorefinery to create a feedstock for the fermen...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Greenbelt Resources Corporation (Greenbelt) and New Age Renewable Energy, LLC (NARE) have announced a technology collaboration agreement to provide a cost-effective solution for converting dairy processing wastes into bioproducts. Press release: “ Greenbelt Resources and New Age Renewable Energy Team Up for Joint Project Sales Collaboration ”, 2/7/2019. Figure 1. Greenbelt ECOsystem (organic waste to ethanol) set up in New South Wales (taken from the press release) NARE (a privately held upstate New York based company) has developed a formulation to convert acid whey, whey permeate and other milk derivatives into bioethanol and a high quality protein concentrate.  However, adoption of the technology has been challenged by supply chain issues, scalability and operational expenses. Collaboration with Greenbelt resolves those challenges. Greenbelt’s modular design (ECOsystem) enables low cost operations and provides an ideal platform f...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. On June 25, the foundation ceremony of the Spanish Bioethanol Association took place. This association is born to promote the use of biofuels that substitute gasoline in the mobility sector. These are two of the first specific objectives of the association: - To promote an adequate training and information on this renewable fuel in such a way that its advantages are known by the administrations and the whole society. - To achieve that the final user can find the blend known as E85 (85% bioethanol, 15% gasoline) in the Spanish refuelling stations. Figure 1. E85 pump The press release issued states that: "Bioethanol is a renewable fuel produced from sustainable crops that provides undoubted environmental improvements, contributes to the development of the rural economy and the maintenance of jobs in the agricultural sector and is a transition towards a low carbon economy, without the need to put at risk the European automotive ...

Type of post: NEWS. A private team of international promoters is working on the development of  agribusiness projects in Mexico, with great environmental, economic and social potential impact, that will be based on the production of bioethanol. Recently, they have registered a Mexican company called Meta Bioetanol S.A de C.V. whose objective is to make these projects a reality, which means a great step for the promotion of the rural bioeconomy in the Mexican zones where they are finally installed. In this post, we will know the background and the current status of this initiative. Those interested in participating in the investment opportunity described below, can write to the Blog ( info@biorefinno.com ) to obtain direct contact with the promoters. Background In Mexico, the boost to the bioethanol industry has been gradual and modest, in comparison with other countries in the region, concentrating mainly on the demand side with regulations that allow its incorporati...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Celignis (Ireland-based analytical service provider to clients in the bioeconomy) and Ibiocat (Illinois-based small private start-up aimed to expand the use of technological innovation by providing advanced biorefinery solutions ) have come together to develop bespoke solutions for clients that are looking to add value to their process residues generated from first- and second-generation ethanol plants. The partnership will be presented at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Indianapolis (USA) on June 11-12 where Ibiocat and Celignis will share exhibition stand 1702. Press release: “ Celignis Collaboration with Ibiocat ”, 4/6/2019. Figure 1. Celignis and Ibiocat team up to develop solutions for the next generation of biorefineries Chemical composition and process are tightly intertwined and detailed feedback is required at each stage of the conversion process in order to develop a commercially-viable technology. The collaboration between both...

Type of post: NEWS. FS Bioenergia is a joint venture between Tapajós Participações (formerly, Fiagril) and Summit Agricultural Group that operates the first large-scale corn ethanol production plant in Brazil . The facility was officially opened in August 2017 to produce corn-based ethanol and coproducts in the town of Lucas do Rio Verde (state of Mato Grosso). FS Bioenergia was a pioneer in a national ethanol sector traditionally dominated by sugarcane. The venture was favourably propelled by the situation in Mato Grosso. The farmers of the state produce corn above the domestic needs and the majority of that corn is exported out of distant Brazilian ports. The high transport costs have convinced the stakeholders that it is more profitable to process the corn into value added products. Figure 1. Main entrance of the FS Bioenergia plant in Lucas do Rio Verde (taken from the company website) The first plant has been performing good results, with sales of ethanol and DDG...