BioRefineries Blog

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. De Smet Engineers & Contractors (DSEC) has announced its participation in the implementation of UBQ Materials ’ new facility in the Netherlands to convert Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into climate-positive thermoplastic. Press release: “ UBQ Materials’ new facility to convert MSW into the world’s most climate-positive thermoplastic ”, 05/08/2021. Figure 1. DSEC will participate in the implementation of UBQ plant to convert MSW into thermoplastic Based on UBQ’s patented technology and a pilot plant in Israel, this flagship will turn 95 ktons/year of waste into 72,000 ktons/year of thermoplastic tablets through a clean and efficient conversion process, to create a material that is made of 100% recycled content and carries a substantial climate-positive environmental footprint. DSEC’s mandate is a partial EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) set-up aiming to develop detailed process integration engineering wh...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Fulcrum BioEnergy has announced that it has completed construction on its first commercial-scale plant converting household garbage into transportation fuels. Press release: “ Fulcrum BioEnergy Completes Construction of the Sierra BioFuels Plant ”, 06/07/2021. Related posts: - “ Abengoa to start the construction of a biorefinery producing biofuels from MSW in Nevada ”, 09/11/2017. - “ Fulcrum to build its second waste-to-fuels plant in Indiana ”, 03/01/2019. - “ Fulcrum and Essar intend to build a waste-to-fuels plant in UK ”, 22/02/2021. Figure 1. Fulcrum’s first garbage-to-fuels facility, Sierra BioFuels, located near Reno (taken from Fulcrum’s website) With construction complete, start-up and commissioning on the plant has commenced and fuel production is expected to begin during the fourth quarter of 2021. The Sierra BioFuels Plant located east of Reno (Nevada) will convert 175 ktons of prepared municipal solid waste (MSW) into approx...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. The joint venture Ecoplanta Molecular Recycling Solutions ( Agbar , Enerkem and Repsol ) will build a waste to chemicals plant in Tarragona (Spain). The project has been selected to move into stage 2 of the European Union Innovation Fund, which focuses on highly innovative technologies and big flagship projects within Europe to bring on significant emission reductions. Press release: “ Repsol to join Enerkem and Agbar to build a waste to chemicals plant in Tarragona ”, 27/04/2021. Related posts: - “ Enerkem begins production of cellulosic ethanol from MSW at its Edmonton biorefinery ”, 18/09/2017. - “ Enerkem y Suez team up to set up a waste-to-methanol plant in Spain ”, 10/05/2018. - “ Enerkem and NOVA Chemicals partner to transform MSW into ethylene ”, 14/05/2020. The plant will process around 400,000 tons of non-recyclable municipal solid waste from its surrounding regions and produce 220,000 tons of methanol. This methanol will be used ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Toyo Engineering Corporation (Toyo) has been awarded a contract for the project to construct a pilot plant to produce ethylene from waste-derived ethanol, planned by Sumitomo Chemical Company at its Chiba Works. Press release: “ TOYO Awarded Ethylene Pilot Plant Project in Japan Using Waste-derived Ethanol as Raw Material ”, 13/04/2021. Related post: “ Biobased polyolefins - Biobased Polyethylene (bio-PE) ”, 27/05/2020. Figure 1. Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical has formed a strategic alliance to deploy technology for manufacturing polyolefins using waste as feedstock (extracted from a Sumitomo press release ) Toyo has worked with Sumitomo Chemical since the basic design of the plant and currently carries out the detail engineering, procurement, and construction under a lump-sum contract, aiming to start demonstration operation of the plant for a short period. In February 2020, Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical agreed to form a stra...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Essar Oil UK Ltd (Essar) has joined forces with Fulcrum BioEnergy Limited (Fulcrum) and Stanlow Terminals Limited (Essar’s subsidiary company) to create a new facility which will convert non-recyclable household waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use by airlines operating at UK airports. Press releases: - “ Fulcrum and Essar Oil Announce Plans for Waste-to-Fuels Plant in the North West of England ”, 15/02/2021. - “ Fulcrum Selects Site and Launches Development on its First UK Waste-To-Fuels Plant ”, 16/02/2021. Related posts: - “ Abengoa to start the construction of a biorefinery producing biofuels from MSW in Nevada ”, 09/11/2017. - “ Fulcrum to build its second waste-to-fuels plant in Indiana ”, 03/01/2019. Figure 1. The first Fulcrum’s waste-to-fuels plant (Sierra BioFuels) is being constructed in Storey County, approximately 20 miles east of Reno (Nevada, USA) Name of the project Fulcrum NorthPoint ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Repsol, through its private equity investment fund, Repsol Corporate Venturing, and the Spanish metallurgical company IMECAL have created a new company, PERSEO Biotechnology . The resulting company is a spin-off of IMECAL’s innovation department, and it combines all the assets spun off from its parent company associated with a novel patented technology called PERSEO Bioethanol®. Press release: “ PERSEO Biotechnology, the new tech company of IMECAL and Repsol for waste valorisation ”, 11/02/2021. Related posts: - “ WASTE2BIO project - From the organic fraction of the MSW to bioethanol through the PERSEO process ”, 16/05/2017. - “ URBIOFIN and PERCAL projects – The urban biorefinery model in action ”, 27/07/2017. Figure 1. IMECAL and Repsol creates the new company PERSEO Biotechnology for waste valorisation The development and optimization of this technology, consisting in hydrolysis and fermentation of the raw material in a single step, rep...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Urbaser y Socamex (Urbaser subsidiary) will build and operate a commercial biorefinery for urban solid waste and sewage sludge. The project is called CIRCULAR BIOCARBON and a total of 11 partners from 5 European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will be involved. Press release: “ La biorrefinería Circular Biocarbon, una iniciativa de economía circular ”, 09/02/2021. Figure 1. Partial view of the facilities of the Alfonso Maíllo Waste Treatment Technological Innovation Center where the new biorefinery will be located Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the press release, all the signs are that this project has been approved for funding as a Flagship action in the last BBI JU call. Construction of the biorefinery will begin next year at the Urbaser “Alfonso Maíllo” R&D&i Center and at the Zaragoza Urban Waste Treatment Complex (thanks to the collaboration of the Zaragoza City Council) and will have a glob...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.  Together with the initiative partners ( SUEZ Belgium and IVAGO ) and other supporting partners ( city of Ghent , Ghent University association RE-Source.Bio and Flanders circular ), GLIMPS.bio calls for pioneers, researchers and entrepreneurs with a plan to take part in the urban biorefinery challenge for the city of Ghent.  Website: Urban Biorefinery .  Figure 1. Examples of organic waste quantities generated in Flanders: 45 million kg/year of coffee grounds, 69 million kg/year of bread and 96 million kg/year of orange peels.  The challenge  The amount of organic waste generated in Flanders per year is enormous, requiring a bold plan to tackle this challenge of turning waste into something new and useful. Urban Biorefinery will contribute to design that plan to turn the city waste into valuable resources and new opportunities.  The hackathon  Dates: 19-20 October 2020.  Venue: 13th cen...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Group Op de Beeck Materials & Treatment (Group Op de Beeck) and TripleW Ltd. (TripleW) will collaborate on the conversion of organic waste into biobased plastics. News (TripleW website): “ Group Op de Beeck & TripleW Collaboration ”, 20/4/2020. Figure 1. Group Op de Beeck processing site in the port of Antwerp where the trials will be performed (taken from the website of the company) TripleW (formerly known as 3PLW) has developed a technology that treats food waste as renewable feedstock for the production of pure "polymer grade" lactic acid (building block of PLA bioplastic). Group Op de Beeck is a Belgian company focused on processing organic wastes and by-products to produce new high-quality raw materials. Group Op de Beeck is an ideal, complementary partner for TripleW’s process scale-up. Over the next 18 months, TripleW will perform various large-scale trials on the processing site of Group...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Chemical engineers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are strengthening efforts to convert waste into advanced biofuels, in order to lower reliance on fossil fuels and cut the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) going into landfills. They have been recently awarded 1,995 k$ grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and 275 k$ grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Press release: “ WPI Professor Expands Green Energy Research with $2M DOE Grant ”, 22/1/2020. Figure 1. Professor Timko is researching on converting MSW into advanced biofuels (extracted from the press release) Background The US generated more than 262 Mtons of MSW in 2015, about 34% of which was made up of food and green waste. Typically, they are disposed of in landfills. The problem is that landfill space is reaching existing limits and there are leaks of water pollutants, toxins and greenhouse gases. The main process currently used to va...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. According to a recent press release, the Biomass Department of CENER (National Renewable Energy Centre) is working on 4 specific initiatives related to technologies for the valorisation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). This portfolio of technologies will make it possible to lay the foundations for future integrated urban biorefineries within the framework of the circular bioeconomy. Press release: “ CENER desarrolla tecnología aplicable a futuras biorrefinerías urbanas, para avanzar hacia una bioeconomía circular ”, 4/3/2019. Figure 1. Biochemical module of the Biorefinery and Bioenergy Centre (BIO2C) of CENER Initiative Funded by Initiative aim CENER actitvity "Biorrefinería Urbana Circular en Navarra" Government of Navarre To design a new concept of integral and cascade valorisation of the different fractions that comprise OFMSW. - Development of fraction...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. The end of 2018 was full of announcements. Thus, the Blog will begin the year by catching up with some interesting news in brief of the last month. The first of them is coming from USA. It is well known that Fulcrum BioEnergy is building a commercial-scale waste-to-fuels plant (Fulcrum Sierra BioFuels) near Reno (Nevada). It is expected that the operations begins in early 2020. Now, the company has announced its second project in the country. Press release: “ Fulcrum targets Northwest Indiana for the location of its next waste-to-fuel plant ”, 13/12/2018. Related posts: - “ Abengoa to start the construction of a biorefinery producing biofuels from MSW in Nevada ”, 9/11/2017. - “ BP and Johnson Matthey license its Fischer-Tropsch technology to Fulcrum BioEnergy ”, 1/10/2018. Figure 1. Fulcrum to build its second waste-to-fuels plant in Indiana Data available: Name Centerpoint BioFuels Plant. Location Gary (...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Fulcrum BioEnergy is building a waste-to-fuels plant in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (Nevada, USA). The plant was initially scheduled to start operations in 2017. However, the company broke ground on the Sierra BioFuels Plant (Sierra) last May and the new expected data for the start-up is the first quarter of 2020. Sierra will convert approximately 175,000 tons of household garbage into more than 10.5 million gallons of fuel each year. Related posts: - “ Recent biorefinery contracts to produce biofuels from MSW in the USA ”, 12/7/2015. - “ Abengoa to start the construction of a biorefinery producing biofuels from MSW in Nevada ”, 9/11/2017. The plant will be based on gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) processes to produce jet fuel. It was already known that Fulcrum had licensed the gasification system from ThermoChem Recovery International. Now, BP and Johnson Matthey (JM) have signed an agreement with Fulcrum to license their FT ...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Sustane Technologies Inc. (Sustane) is a cleantech company focused on waste transformation that has developed a set of disruptive processes to transform municipal solid waste (MSW) streams into high value fuels and recyclable materials. This Canadian firm is building a plant designed to transform up to 70,000 tons per year of MSW into 35,000 tons of biomass pellets, 3.5 million litres of diesel fuel and recyclable metals. The project was launched in September 2016 with an agreement between Sustane and the District of the Municipality of Chester (Nova Scotia, Canada) to divert the landfill destined MSW to the new facility and broke ground in March 2017. It is located 20 km north of Chester in Lunenburg County. Figure 1. The Sustane Chester project broke ground in March 2017 (extracted from Sustane website) Sustane has already received permits for the overall project but was required to submit an environmental study for the pyrolysis pla...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Enbridge Gas Distribution and the City of Toronto will build and install equipment that will turn the city's organic waste into clean energy (see press release , 20/7/2018). Location It will be located at Dufferin Organics Processing Facility (Toronto, Canada). Feedstock Organic waste (apple cores, egg shells, coffee grounds…). Products and production capacity 5 million cubic metres of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). The methane produced by anaerobic digestion will be captured, cleaned and injected into the natural gas distribution system to feed the very trucks that picked up the green bin waste. It would be enough to fuel 132 garbage trucks (90% of the city's fleet). Expected start-up 2019. Figure 1. Creating energy from organic waste (extracted from the press release) The Ontario Ministry of Energy believ...

Despite its vulnerable financial position, Abengoa will construct the biorefinery of Fulcrum Bioenergy in Nevada (USA). As it is widely known, Abengoa filed an insolvency proceeding on November 25, 2015. The debt restructuring plan presented by the company to avoid bankruptcy included the sale of all non-core assets, such as the first generation biofuels business units. For instance, if we focus on USA, Abengoa Bioenergy sold its ethanol plant in Colwich (Kansas) to ICM in August 2016 for 3.1 M$ (more information about the current status of the facility here: ICM to build a state-of-the-art biorefinery in Colwich ). The crisis also affected its second generation ethanol business. In fact, Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas sold the Hugoton cellulosic ethanol plant to Synata Bio by late 2016 for 48.5 M$. The company has been immersed in a deep reform process. Figure 1. Biorefinery of the Sierra Biofuels Project (extracted from Fulcrum website) However, yesterday, Abengo...