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

2. What are Biorefineries?
Biorefineries are facilities that convert biomass feedstocks to bio-based energy, fuels, materials and chemicals
Biomass Feedstock
Conversion Technologies
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. Gasification / Pyrolysis
Classical Chemistry
Existing Products
Gasification / Pyrolysis
Oils / Syn-Gas
Brewers Spent Grain
Sugars
Chemo- / Bio-Tech
Fermentation
Bio-Based
Products

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. LIGNIN
HEMICELLULOSE
CELLULOSE
LIGNOCELLULOSE

9. LIGNOCELLULOSE BIOMASS LIGNIN MACROMOLECULES
C6 SUGARS
Fuels
Platform & Intermediate Chemicals
Polymers
C5 SUGARS
HEMICELLULOSE
OLIGOMERS
Functional food & feeds
Medicinal / pharma
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. Brewers Spent Grain 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 –
Bio-based Chemicals: Value Added Products from Biorefineries – IEA Bioenergy – Task 42 Biorefinery