Biorefining – Introduction, Opportunities and Challenges

1. Biorefining – Introduction, Opportunities and Challenges Robert Bevan European Innovation Manager How biorefineries and green products will make their mark

2. What are Biorefineries? • Biorefineries are facilities that convert biomass feedstocks to bio-based energy, fuels, materials and chemicals Conversion Technologies Biomass Feedstock Product Stream Sugar/Starch Crops:e.g. sugar cane / corn Energy:e.g. heat, electricity Thermal processes:e.g. pyrolysis, gasification Oil Crops:e.g. rapeseed, soybean Fuels:e.g.biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas Chemical processes:e.g. classical catalysis Lignocellulosic Biomass: e.g. forestry& agricultural wastes Chemicals:e.g. bulk, intermediate, final Biotransformation:e.g. fermentation, enzymatic catalysis Industrial wastes: brewers spent grain, potato pealing's etc… Materials:e.g.polymers

3. Classical Chemistry Gasification / Pyrolysis Oils / Syn-Gas Existing Products Brewers Spent Grain Fermentation Chemo- / Bio-Tech Bio-Based Products Sugars

4. Why are biorefineries important? • Growing demand for energy, fuel, materials and chemicals (growing market) • Finite availability of fossil fuel resources (continued price rises) • Overdependence of many countries on imported resources (national security) • Reality of climate change and need to reduce greenhouse gases (societal demand for eco-production) • Competitiveness within the global economy • Need to stimulate growth within rural economies

5. First Generation Biorefineries • Target production of a single product stream from the biomass feedstock • A number of first generation biorefineries exist today: • Rapeseed oil to biodiesel • Sugar cane to bioethanol • Corn starch to polylactic acid • Gasification of biomass to syngas followed by chemo- / bio- transformation to bioethanol (INEOS)

6. Limitations of First Generation Biorefineries • Generate high volumes of by-products that have limited commercial value (e.g. animal feed, energy recovery) • Poor competitiveness compared to optimised petrochemical equivalents that derived multiple product streams and utilise ~100% of feedstocks • Require feedstock crops rich in the target sugar / starch / oil fraction, typically in competition with food (cereal, oilseed) First generation biorefineries are largely being driven through legislative targets and favourable taxation for biofuels

7. Second Generation Biorefineries • Multiple product streams from sustainable biomass feedstocks – similar to petroleum refineries • Lignocellulose based biorefineries

8. HEMICELLULOSE CELLULOSE LIGNOCELLULOSE LIGNIN

9. LIGNOCELLULOSE BIOMASS CELLULOSE C6 SUGARS • Fuels • Platform & Intermediate Chemicals • Polymers C5 SUGARS OLIGOMERS • Functional food & feeds • Medicinal / pharma HEMICELLULOSE LIGNIN MONOMERS • Aromatic platform chemicals (BTX / vanillin) LIGNIN LIGNIN MACROMOLECULES • Bio-resins • Functional additives BULK EXTRACTIVES • Organic / fatty acids • Resins DIRECT EXTRACTABLES FINE EXTRACTIVES • Essential oils • Phytosterols

10. Advantages of Second Generation Biorefineries • Complete valorisation of feedstocks, thereby: • enabling optimal use of available resources • generating highest value return • Integration of multiple processes leading to competitiveness in line with petrochemical refineries • Enable use of more sustainable feedstocks (agricultural, forestry & industrial wastes) • Viability at small to medium scale: • Flexible configuration (niche markets) • Rural development capitalising on regional diversity

11. Hemi-cellulsoe to functional food ingredients Lignin to adhesives & additives Brewers Spent Grain Cellulose to biopolymer

12. Key limitations / Research Challenges (1) • Cost effective pre-treatment processes enabling recovery of all three lignocellulose fractions in a form suitable for subsequent downstream processing • Methodologies for the valorisation of hemicellulose: • Hemicellulases for controlled hydrolysis to building block sugars • Engineering of microorganisms enabling fermentation of C5 sugars • Methodologies for the controlled and selective depolymerisation and transformation of lignin to macromolecular and aromatic platform chemical product streams

13. Key limitations / Research Challenges (2) • Demonstration of potential for scale-up and integration of new and emerging technologies within existing and future biorefineries • End-user knowledge for use of the resulting bio-based chemicals and materials • Petrochemical: • Simple-reduced platform chemicals • Established processes for building up complexity • Strong end-user knowledge base for use • Bio-Based: • Complex multifunction -oxidised platform chemicals • Emerging non-optimised transformation processes • Limited end-user knowledge base for use vs

14. Potential Global Market By 2020

15. Case Study 1 - MicroGrass • Microwave plasma pre-treatment process for the rapid breakdown of lignocellulose to sugars for fermentation of ethanol • Objectives: • Increased sugar yield = >90% (SOA = <40%) • Quicker Process = <0.5 days (SOA = ~2 days) • Reduced energy = <90% of existing processes • Result = prototype demonstrator

16. Case Study 2 - BioSonic • Ultrasonically assisted organosolv pre-treatment of lignocellulose biomass targeting recovery of minimally degraded cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin fractions • Objectives: • Efficient recovery of all three fractions with minimal degradation • Quicker process times • Reduced energy consumption & cost • Environmentally friendly / non-toxic solvents • Result = prototype demonstrator

17. Case Study 3 - AquaCell • A novel microbial fuel cell process for conversion of industrial organic wastewaters to value product streams (electricity & hydrogen) • Objectives: • Extract value from wastewater • Reduce energy and sludge disposal costs • Eliminate micro-pollutants and enable water re-use (non-potable) • Result = prototype demonstrator

18. Vision of the Future • Companies will adopt biorefineries to valorise their waste, either directly or via centralised facilities • Second and third generation technologies will be key to success • Continued growth within biofuels market, but also those markets where biorefineries are able to make products better and/or cheaper • Biorefineries will help to drive global competitiveness and differentiation

19. Useful Documents for Further Information • The Future of Industrial Biorefineries – World Economic Forum • European Biorefinery Joint Strategic Research Roadmap – www.star-colibri.eu/publications • Bio-based Chemicals: Value Added Products from Biorefineries – IEA Bioenergy – Task 42 Biorefinery