BioRefineries Blog

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.  Biofine Developments Northeast Inc. (Biofine) and Sprague Resources LP (Sprague) have signed a purchase agreement for the production and marketing of ethyl levulinate (EL). The first market application for the EL is as a sustainable heating fuel. Future opportunities may include the fields of the marine and jet fuels. The Biofine technology enables the production of high value fuels and chemicals from cellulosic residues, including non-food feedstock such as wood, agricultural residues and municipal waste fiber.  Press release: “ Biofine and Sprague work together to market next generation of biofuels ”, 20/10/2020.  Related post: “ Levulinic acid biorefineries ”.  Figure 1. EL combustion test (photo credits: NORA). National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA), National Energy and Fuels Institute (NEFI) and other trade associations support the use of the EL as an advanced biofuel.  Biofine is focused on esta...

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE. Técnicas Reunidas (TR) is a Spanish multinational known worldwide for being a general contractor, engaging in the engineering, design and construction of various types of industrial facilities for a broad spectrum of customer, mainly, oil and gas companies. However, it is not so well-known, even in Spain, that TR owns a facility where new technologies for different fields are developed: José Lladó Technological Centre. There, clearly, hydrometallurgy is the star. For more than 40 years, the Proprietary Technology Development Division has been establishing a series of in-house metal recovery technologies. Figure 1. José Lladó Technological Centre (courtesy of TR) Also, there is room for biorefining processes: transformation of rice straw into levulinic acid, lignin valorization or biobutanol production. Regarding to the first one, TR has coordinated the project WALEVA funded by the Programme LIFE of the European Commission. At the end of ...

NOTE: The press release about the news collected in this post was issued on 24 March, however the link has been removed from the web page of GFBiochemicals. At this point, the information has not been denied officially so I will summarize the main available data down below and I will update the status of these news in the future. American Process Inc. (API) and GFBiochemicals have entered into a joint development agreement to create world-class integrated biorefinery. It is one of the more exciting announcements in the biorefining sector so far this year, not only because it is an alliance between two important players in the bioproduct industry but because their complementary competencies can result in a high-integrated process. They will be cornerstone members of a consortium to develop the plant by repurposing an old industrial site that has an existing biomass supply chain. The proposed biorefinery will have the advantages of large scale, good logistics and the use of pat...

Nombre / Name Caserta Levulinic Acid Plant Empresa / Company GFBiochemicals  ( gfbiochemicals.com ) Localización / Location Caserta (Italy) Categoría / Category Comercial / Commercial Estado / Status Operación / Running Plataformas / Platform Azúcares C5/C6 / C5/C6-sugars Materia prima / Feedstock Biomasa celulósica / Cellulosic biomass Producto / Product Ácido levulínico  / Levulinic acid Puesta en marcha de la producción comercial / Commercial production start-Up Verano 2015 / Summer 2015 GFBiochemicals es la primera empresa en producir ácido levulínico a escala comercial a partir de biomasa. La producción comercial comenzó en el verano de 2015 en su Planta de Caserta, la planta de ácido levulínico más grande del mundo. La planta será escalada a su capacidad total de 10.000 toneladas métricas al año en 2017 .  GFBiochemicals is the first comp...