BioRefineries Blog

Type of post: NEWS. Last week, Sappi issued a press release to commemorate 20 years of a biorefinery investment carried out together with Borregaard : the lignin extraction plant in Umkomaas (KwaZulu Natal, South Africa). Let us seize the opportunity to know more about the history of the facility and its high value-added products that generates export revenues for South Africa and has a positive impact on the environment. Press release: “ Sappi and Borregaard celebrate 20 years of biorefinery investment ”, 8/4/2019. Figure 1. Lignin extraction plant in Umkomaas (taken from Google Maps) Timeline 1997: LignoTech South Africa was established as a partnership joint venture owned by Borregaard (50%) and Sappi (50%). The plant was designed to generate revenue from a previously-unused component of the effluent stream from Sappi’s Saiccor mill. The location in South Africa was chosen because of the ready availability of a sustainable supply of raw materials, effective i...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. A newly established initiative in South Africa, the Biorefinery Research Consortium (BRC), will develop opportunities for the beneficiation of wastes from forestry, timber, pulp and paper industries (see press release from the South African Government News Agency, 20/09/2018). The consortium is a partnership between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Tshwane University of Technology , the University of the Witwatersrand and Sekolong Sa Dimelana (a rural-based bioenterprise). The BRC will use the recently launched Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) that supports innovation in a range of industries (including forestry, agro-processing and other biomass-based industries) at the CSIR's Durban campus (see “ The South African Government launches the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility in Durban ”, 26/3/2018). The consortium has been envisaged with a strong emphasis on the full value chain and will p...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Last month, Sappi confirmed that it will construct a demonstration plant to further scale-up its novel Xylex® technology for the production of xylitol and furfural (see press release , 18/7/2018). Location The plant will be located adjacent to the existing sugars and lignin extraction facility at Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill (South Africa). The mill produces 330,000 tons of paper pulp, 210,000 tons of dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and 380,000 tons of paper (newsprint and kraft linerboard used for packaging) per year. Feedstock C5 sugars. Products - Xylitol: Sappi’s strategic intent is to enter the xylitol value chain with a world-scale production plant. - Furfural: Sappi intends to pursue various partnerships in the furan chemical value chain. Timeline - 2016: Investment in a demo plant at Ngodwana Mill to extract hemicellulose sugars and lignin from DWP. - 2017: The plant was com...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. The South African government has launched the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) campus in Durban on 20 March 2018 (see press release , 20/3/2018). With an investment of 37.5 million South African rands (approximately 2.6 M€), the facility will support innovation and assist the industry efforts for scale new processes from the laboratory to the commercial scale. The facility is the third Industry Innovation Partnership Fund (IIPF) initiative to be launched by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the CSIR. The other two are the Biomanufacturing Industry Development Centre and the Nanomaterials Industrial Development Facility. The BIDF will work with the forest and the agro-processing sectors and other biomass industries to improve manufacturing technologies and to develop and implement biorefinery processes to create additional high value products from waste...

Ethiopian Sugar Corpor ation and Eugen Schmitt Company signed a joint investment agreement to set up an ethanol plant on May 25, 2017. The press release was published some time ago but it was only recently that the story was aired by media. I have considered that it could be interesting to bring it to the Blog in order to know more about the reality of the sector in Africa. A company called “Wonji Ethanol Technology Share Company” was established based on the agreement with a working capital of more than 46 M€ both in cash and in kind. According to the press release, Eugen Schmitt Company is a veteran German firm with vast experience in ethanol sector but I could not find any reliable information about it. Oher three shareholders would have reached an agreement to work within the partnership, their names are not known. Eugen Schmitt and the Sugar Corpor ation own 83% and 14% of the shares respectively while the rest three shareholders have 1% each one of them. Factsheet ...

Introduction The Blog has recently launched a new section about small-scale biorefining , a platform to promote small-sized biorefinery concepts and highlight their importance for the bioeconomy (it is complemented by a LinkedIn Group to share information and experiences). One of the resources available in the section is a list with references of companies and projects related to this field. This list will include a short overview and a link to a monographic post (profile) featuring in detail the company or the project. This post about Dutch AgriculturalDevelopment & Trading Company BV (DADTCO) is the first of the series. The company Web page: https://dadtco-philafrica.com/ . Twitter: @dadtconl. Facebook: Dadtco. DADTCO is a social enterprise pursuing poverty alleviation with entrepreneurial zeal, business methods and innovative courage. It was established in The Netherlands in 2002. It has its support office in that country and local offices in Nigeria, Mo...

It is not usual that the blog can bring news coming from Africa. However, in this occasion it is reporting about not one but two biorefinery projects that will invigorate rural zones in that continent. China New Energy (CNE) announced at the beginning of this month ( press release , December 4 th 2015) that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with Sunbird Bioenergy for the construction of two biorefineries, one each in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The MoU was signed in the context of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ( FOCAC , 6th Ministerial Conference and Summit) in Johannesburg. In Zimbabwe, CNE will assist Sunbird Bioenergy to develop a biorefinery project that, at full capacity, is intended to deliver 120 million liters of fuel grade ethanol for the Government’s biofuel blending programme. The Zimbabwe project is expected to use mixed feedstocks like cassava and molasses. Construction is estimated to start in 2016 and commercial operations in late 2017, hel...

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) published on August 21 a request for Expression of Interests (EoIs) to provide consultancy services for the construction of a cellulosic biorefinery in Nigeria. Green Energy & Biofuels (GEB) has received a grant from the AfDB to finance the feasibility, technical, business and environmental studies as a lead up to the construction of a biorefinery in Lagos. The grant of US $580,000 was approved by the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and it will support the scaling-up of GEB operations, particularly the waste-to-ethanol cooking fuel production and distribution in Nigeria. GEB intends to apply the grant for payments of consultancy services to be procured under this project and invites consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing those services. September 7 is the deadline to deliver the EoIs. Those interested can obtain a copy of the Terms of Reference through info@gebiofuels.com (more information in this link ). ...