Title:
Biolyfe: Industrial Demonstration of 2G Bioethanol Production in Italy
Author(s):
Chiaramonti, D., Giovannini, A., Frattini, A., Ferrero, S.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
The EU BIOLYFE project aims at demonstrating the whole lignocellulosic ethanol chain at industrial scale: within BIOLYFE a demo industrial-scale second generation bioethanol production plant has been built, with a design output of approx.40,000 tons ethanol per year. Further than BIOLYFE, which investigates hydrolysis and fermentation and is supported by the EC FP7 Programme (DG Energy), the research activities on the pretreatment phase are developed with the support of the Italian National Programme "Industria 2015" through the project PRIT. The groundbreaking event took place in April 2011 in Crescentino (Vercelli Province, Italy), the commissioning phase started around mid-2012 and the start up started by the end of 2012, initially with the successful production of electrical power send to the grid and then with the whole lignocellulosic-to-ethanol plant. Chemtex has developed the process and designed the industrial unit. It is the first 2nd generation bioethanol plant of that industrial scale with a short supply chain, as approximately 4500 ha of marginal land are available in this area for cultivation. The overall industrial and technological development (named PRO.E.SA.TM) started in 2007-2008: today it is exclusively licensed worldwide by BETA RENEWABLES (a joint venture between M&G, TPG and Novozymes). Beta Renewables embed Novozymes’ enzymes in the PROESATM technology installed at Crescentino. The main feedstocks chosen within the BIOLYFE project for lignocellulosic ethanol production are Giant Reed (Arundo donax) and wheat straw (and other agriculture residues available in the area will be used according to necessity). Contracts with the first land owners are in place from 2011. Within BIOLYFE, crop cultivation was implemented at demonstration level (around 25 ha per feedstock plant) in order to compare and optimise the whole feedstock supply chains, including sowing / planting, harvest mechanisation, as well as storage and logistics solutions. The final aim is to provide around 180,000 tons of dry biomass per year to the demonstration bioethanol production plant. The new advanced pretreatment concept developed by the BIOLYFE project is thought to 1)by-pass the inhibitor formation drawback of standard steam explosion processes; 2)increase the extraction of hemi-cellulose and cellulose. A pilot plant was built at Chemtex labs and is operating in continuous mode since June 2009. It can be fed with several materials of a size up to 5 cm: the system (20-50 kg/h biomass input) has demonstrated at pilot scale that differents feedstock show similar behaviour during pretreatment. In order to demonstrate the full supply chain for second generation ethanol and to demonstrate the advantages of the technology, BIOLYFE included the setup of a fuel distribution infrastructure with E85 fuel pump plus E10 pump, this is run in Tortona (AL) nearby Crescentino since spring 2012. The final goal is to promote Flexi Fuel Vehicles (FFV) among local end-consumers, both private users, and public and company fleets. In addition, the produced fuel is under test in a dedicated test fleet of 4 vehicles, one used by the Tortona Municipality and 3 of them used by Chemtex employees. BIOLYFE provides a multi-criteria evaluation of the 2° generation bioethanol technological, environmental, economic and social aspects: the whole. This integrated assessment will generate descriptions and conclusive assessments of sustainability of both the basic and the optimised bioethanol systems. In addition, SWOT analyses will be performed in order to reveal the most sustainable pathways for bioethanol from lignocellulose materials. This plant will avoid approximately the production of 50.000 ton of CO2 each year, which is the CO2 production of 7000 vehicles.
Keywords:
second generation biofuel, lignocellulosic bioethanol
Topic:
R&D on Processes for Solid, Liquid and Gaseous Fuels from Biomass
Subtopic:
Bioethanol production and sugar release from lignocellulosic biomass
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
3EO.3.2
Pages:
1425 - 1431
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-3EO.3.2
Price:
FREE
