The text presented in this chapter is fully based on the lectures given by AVEBE, ..... H. Reith. ECN. J.A. Rodenburg. Rodenburg Biopolymers. A.E. Rosheuvel.
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First workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry Held at hotel “De Wageningse Berg”, Wageningen, The Netherlands (16 June 2006)
Official minutes E. Annevelink (WUR) E. de Jong (WUR) R. van Ree (ECN) R.W.R. Zwart (ECN)
JULY 2006
Summary On June the 16th the first “workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry” was held, bringing together different Dutch stakeholders, and addressing common as well as conflicting technical and market issues with regard to biorefinery opportunities. The first-of-akind workshop provided a forum for a technical review of state-of-the-art research leading to the development of biorefinery technologies. Biorefining refers to fractionating biomass into various separated products that possibly undergo further biological, (bio)chemical, physical and/or thermal chemical processing and separation. By means of co-producing chemicals (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers) the production costs of secondary energy carriers (e.g. transport fuels, heat, power) potentially could become more profitable, especially when biorefining is integrated into the existing chemical, material and power industries. The workshop revealed that although the knowledge to overcome existing technological barriers in the development of biorefinery concepts is available in the Netherlands, real initiatives as well as a commonly accepted Biorefining Vision – and related Technology Roadmap (Strategic Research Agenda) – are lacking. Defining an RD&D Technology Roadmap based on a Commonly Accepted Vision could help to stimulate and activate further developments and implementation, as long as it does not focus too much on defining new definitions and concepts. It should raise consciousness on the importance of developing biorefineries and how to overcome technical, ecologic and economic barriers, not on defining innumerable alternative concepts to the existing ones. This Roadmap will certainly require a considerable effort of all parties involved, i.e. research institutes and industry as well as government and social organisations. The first step towards defining a Roadmap will be to become aware of each others existing problems (technical, ecologic as well as economic), and the possible solutions that can be provided by each one. A close cooperation of different participants with a broad variety of disciplines within the recently formed Dutch Network on Biorefinery – Biorefinery.nl – will enable research, development, demonstration and implementation of innovative biorefinery concepts. The founders of the Biorefinery.nl initiative and organisers of the first workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry – Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) – therefore invite parties to participate in the Dutch Network on Biorefinery, in order to share ‘up-to-date’ information about biorefinery activities, about promising combinations of products and fuels, and about expected production costs. This will enable them to establish their own company and marketing strategy as well as co-formulate a commonly accepted Vision on and RD&D Roadmap for Biorefining.
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Contents Summary
2
Contents
3
1.
Introduction
4
2.
Biorefineries 2.1 International status quo and future directions 2.1.1 The definition of biorefinery 2.1.2 The status quo 2.1.3 Future directions 2.2 Strategy for the Netherlands
5 5 5 5 6 7
3.
Opportunities for specific industries 3.1 The food industry 3.2 The energy sector 3.3 The chemical industry
8 8 9 9
4.
Specific technical and market issues 4.1 Primary products 4.2 Chemicals 4.3 Power production
11 11 11 12
5.
The future of biorefinery in the Netherlands 5.1 Theses 5.2 Conclusions
14 14 16
Appendix A
Biobased product flow-chart for biomass feedstocks
17
Appendix B
Biorefinery within the food industry (AVEBE)
18
Appendix C
Multi-purpose biorefinery (AVEBE)
19
Appendix D
List of participants
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1.
Introduction
The first “workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry” was held on June the 16th in Wageningen, bringing together different Dutch stakeholders and addressing common as well as conflicting technical and market issues with regards to biorefinery opportunities. Biorefining refers to fractionating biomass into various separated products that possibly undergo further biological, (bio)chemical, physical and/or thermal chemical processing and separation. By means of co-producing chemicals (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers) the production costs of secondary energy carriers (e.g. transport fuels, heat, power) potentially could become more profitable, especially when biorefining is integrated into the existing chemical, material and power industries. A close cooperation of different participants with a broad variety of disciplines within the recently formed Dutch Network on Biorefinery – Biorefinery.nl – will enable research, development, demonstration and implementation of innovative biorefinery concepts. The founders of the Biorefinery.nl initiative – Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) – therefore organised the first workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry. This first-of-a-kind workshop provided a forum for a technical review of state-of-the-art research leading to the development of biorefinery technologies. Furthermore, different industries came together and addressed common as well as conflicting technical and market issues with regard to biorefinery opportunities for the agro & food industry, the chemical industry and the energy sector.
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2.
Biorefineries
Biorefinery is not a definition for something completely new. Within the food industry biorefineries already exist when looking for example at the processing of potatoes (§3.1). In recent years, the term biorefinery has received a lot of attention in other industries and it is often expected that it might develop into a key industry of the 21st century. It could bring forth an industrial revolution because of the significance of its fundamental technologies and the effects it will have on the industrial paradigm. To preserve this attention, it will be necessary to start coordinating activities on biorefining. When different industries will keep developing different so-called biorefinery concepts in an unstructured manner the idea behind an optimised biorefinery might eventually fall out of favour.
2.1
International status quo and future directions
2.1.1 The definition of biorefinery In his outline of the international status of biorefining, Ed de Jong of Wageningen UR brings up a main issue: how to define biorefinery? A biorefinery might be a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, and value-added chemicals from biomass, analogous to today's petroleum refinery, which produce multiple fuels and products from petroleum (as defined by NREL). Recently Shell presented a coherent idea of adding pure plant oil into the existing traditional oil refineries. A biorefinery might also be considered as an overall concept of a processing plant where biomass feedstocks are converted and extracted into a spectrum of valuable products (as defined by the US-DOE). The Dutch definition within the EOS long term energy research strategy states biorefinery to be the separation of biomass into distinct components which can be individually brought to the market either directly after separation or after further (biological, thermochemical /chemical) treatment(s). In a broad definition biorefineries process all kinds of biomass (e.g. organic residues, energy crops, and aquatic biomass) into numerous products (e.g. chemicals, fuels, power & heat, materials, and food and feed). In general biomass consists of carbonhydrates (~75%), lignin (~20%), oils and proteins (~5%). These components can be used for the production of all kinds of bio-chemicals and bio-products (appendix A). Ed de Jong emphasizes that in most definitions of biorefinery two aspects are missing: (i) (ii)
Products considered should not only include chemicals, fuels, power and heat, but materials (fibres, starch, wood), food and feed as well; A biorefinery should at least be self-fulfilling with regards to heat and preferably also with regards to electricity.
2.1.2 The status quo Today’s biorefinery technologies are based on (1) utilization of the whole plant or complex biomass and (2) on integration of traditional and modern processes for utilization of biological raw materials1. In the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century large-scale utilization of renewable resources was focused on pulp and paper production from wood, saccharifcation of wood, nitration of cellulose for guncotton and viscose silk, production of soluble cellulose for fibres, fat curing, and the production of furfural for Nylon. 1
Kamm, B., Kamm, M., Gruber, P. (Eds.), 2005: Biorefineries - Biobased Industrial Processes and Products. Status Quo and Future Directions, WILEY-VCH, Weinheim, ISBN 3-527-31027-4.
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Furthermore, the technology of sugar refining, starch production, and oil milling, the separation of proteins as feed, and the extraction of chlorophyll for industrial use with alfalfa as raw material were of great historical importance. But also processes like wet grinding of crops and biotechnological processes like the production of ethanol as well as acetic, lactic and citric acid used to be fundamental in the 19th and 20th century. The dry milling ethanol plant, using grain as a feedstock, is an example of a “generation-I biorefinery”. It has fixed processing capability, and produces a fixed amount of ethanol, feed co-products, and carbon dioxide. As it has almost no flexibility in processing, this type can be used for comparable purposes only. An example of a “generation-II biorefinery” is the current wet milling technology. This technology uses grain feedstock, yet has the capability to produce a variety of end products depending on product demand. Such products include starch, highfructose corn syrup, ethanol, corn oil, plus corn gluten feed, and meal. This type opens numerous possibilities to connect industrial product lines with existing agricultural production units. New generation, or “generation III”, biorefineries will start with a mix of biomass feedstocks (agricultural or forest biomass) and will produce a multiplicity of various products (e.g. ethanol for fuels, chemicals, and plastics) by applying a mix of different (both small and large scale) technologies (e.g. extraction and separation, thermochemical or biochemical conversion). The fuel flexibility of these 3rd generation biorefinery concepts make them both beloved (i.e. economically) and hated (i.e. technically). However, the 3rd generation, more advanced, biorefineries have yet to be developed.
2.1.3 Future directions The (future) fuel-flexible 3rd generation biorefinery will most likely contain three basic steps. In the first step, the feedstock is separated by physical methods. The main products and the byproducts will subsequently be subjected to microbiological or chemical methods. The follow-up products of the main and by-products can also be converted or enter conventional refineries (figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 Basic principles of a generation III biorefinery (from Kamm and Kamm, 2005)
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Biobased products are prepared for economic use by an optimal combination of different methods and processes (physical, chemical, biological, and thermal). It is therefore necessary that basic biorefinery concepts are developed. Currently four 3rd generation biorefinery concepts are described in research and development: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
The lignocellulosic feedstock biorefinery (i.e. using nature-dry raw material, like for example cellulose-containing biomass and waste); The whole crop biorefinery (i.e. using raw material such as cereals or maize); The green biorefinery (i.e. using nature-wet biomasses such as green grass, alfalfa, clover, or immature cereal); The two platforms biorefinery concept (i.e. the sugar and syngas platform).
Detailed information on these concepts can be found in the presentation by Ed de Jong or in Biorefineries - Biobased Industrial Processes and Products. Status Quo and Future Directions by Kamm, Kamm and Gruber (2005). These concepts, however, were constructed on basis of specific biomass processing issues of specific feedstocks and do not fully serve the main goal of a biorefinery: the best possible economic and ecological conversion of biomass into chemicals, materials, fuels, and energy. Ed de Jong therefore suggests a revision of the biorefinery concepts into broader concepts, making a distinction between (i) the original feedstock processed (i.e. dry raw material versus fresh raw material) and (ii) the final intermediates/products obtained (i.e. functionalized versus “uniform/simple”). This broader concept makes it easier for chemists, biotechnologists, and engineers from different areas to commit to the overall concept and, hence, be able to improve the overall integration of the individual processing steps.
2.2
Strategy for the Netherlands
In a recent study on the long term potential for biomass in the Dutch economy by ECN and WUR (2006) for the Dutch Platform of Green Resources (PGG) the ambitions for replacing fossil fuel by biomass in different sectors (i.e. 60% in transport, 25% in power production, 20% in raw materials for chemicals and 17% for heat), were evaluated. Although the overall 30% substitution of primary energy in 2030, as suggested by PGG might not be realistic for several reasons, a 21–23% substitution might be achievable. This would require approximately 900 PJth of raw biomass (i.e. 60 Mton on dry basis), of which 60–80% has to be imported, even when considering specific domestic cultivation of crops. With these large amounts of biomass having (i) to be acquired on an emerging world market2 and (ii) to be imported to the Netherlands, minimising the negative environmental impact and maximising the economic added-value of the biomass is crucial. Hence, co-production of bioproducts, materials, chemicals, transportation fuels, power and/or heat in technically, economic and ecologically fully optimised integrated biorefinery systems will be required. In order to develop and start implementing such biorefinery systems René van Ree of ECN emphasizes the significance of working out a Common National Biorefinery Vision and Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), identifying and analysing: (i) (ii) (iii)
International sustainability opportunities and threats (e.g. IPs, IEA) Interests of major stakeholders (industry, agro-sector, government, R&D-institutes, universities, non-governmental organisations…) National strengths (knowledge-base, existing infrastructure, harbours, …)
This Vision and SRA have to be worked out by a joint effort of all stakeholders facilitated by the Dutch Network on Biorefineries: Biorefinery.nl.
2
The potential amount of biomass available world wide for both energy, food and construction purposes has been analysed to be sufficient, although major transitions still are required to exploit these potentials
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3.
Opportunities for specific industries
The text presented in this chapter is fully based on the lectures given by AVEBE, NUON and BTG. Therefore, it does not have to represent the opinion of ECN or WUR.
3.1
The food industry
In his presentation, Rob van Haren of AVEBE showed that biorefineries already exist within the food industry. With conventional processing methods potatoes already are refined into starch, fruit water and pulp, all with their own specific outlets (appendix B). However, innovations are expected in these conventional processes as well to improve the economic feasibility of the potato processing industry. These innovations may vary from simple and inferior combustion of residual stream for heat and power production to more advance and superior extraction of amino acids for pharmaceutical purposes. With current fossil fuel prices internal heat (and power) production from residual streams will become all the more important. Production of high-value pharmaceuticals might also be economically interesting, although it should be taken into account that there is a rather large discrepancy between the demand for and the potential of potato based production capacity of these high-value co-products. Besides innovations in the existing potato processing industry, AVEBE has been evaluating so called white biotechnology: green chemistry through biorefining of seed, leaf and tuber. A pilot plant at Foxhol was operated to explore the potential of grass to supply a range of fibre, protein and nutraceutical products. Although the results were promising, the pilot plant biorefinery of grass was not continued because a market for the fibres was lacking and the investment costs were too high at the moment. However, with subsidies being provided in Germany for the application of fibres in fire-resistant insulating materials new opportunities arise that are currently being evaluated within the Costa Due project. This project has the objective to enhance the Eemsmond region through the large-scale production and sale of green energy carriers in the chemical, transport and gas sectors. The combined efforts of both the Province of Groningen and the many contract partners who support the plan (and might share high investment costs) might result in the implementation of new biorefinery (e.g. green chemistry) concepts. As these concepts should be economically feasible, preferably without any subsidies as well, the new biorefinery concept should be fuel flexible and have a high annual availability as well as large throughput of at least 100,000 ton dry product. All residual streams of individual processing steps can then be used as feedstock for the production of heat, power or even specific (transportation) fuels (appendix C). Technological barriers in the development of such biorefinery concepts are (i) the separation (e.g. mild separation, micro sieves, nano filtration), (ii) substitution of process water by supercritical CO2, (iii) process intensification (e.g. high throughput, high pressure and temperature), (iv) catalytic conversion (enzymatic, metallo ceramic, metallic) and (v) commodifying of all residual streams. It is stated that although the knowledge to overcome these barriers is available in the Netherlands, real initiatives are lacking, as a result of which Dutch research is lagging behind on US, German and French research. At the end of April 2006 the Roquette company (France), for example, presented the BioHub program. The object of this program is to develop new production outlets for chemicals based on renewable agricultural raw materials such as grain, resulting in the creation of new integrated biorefineries from grain to chemicals. In ten years time the BioHub program should enable the use of 1.3 million tonnes of grain from 160,000 hectares. The new products produced by this research program are notably biopolymers, bio-solvents, bio-plasticizers, bio-complexing agents and active ingredients. The program is supported by, among others, Arkema and Sidel (France), DSM, TUE and Kluyver Centre (the Netherlands) and Cognis (Germany).
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The BioHub program as a whole represents an effort of 98 million euros over 7 years, 43 million of which will be funded in the form of subsidies and repayable loans.
3.2
The energy sector
Nuon is an energy company that serves nearly 3 million customers, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Since 1987, Nuon has been investing in new renewable energy production capacity (wind, solar, hydro and biomass) in order to increase the share of renewable electricity in total energy production. Through sustainability, fuel flexibility and increased national independence, Nuon wishes to contribute to the reliability of supply in both the shortand long term. In addition to its two existing biogas power stations, Nuon operates a biomass power station in Lelystad, and Nuon co-gasifies biomass at its existing facilities at the WillemAlexander coal-fired power station in Buggenum. The stand-alone CHP plant in Lelystad is operated on 100% biomass, and is based on fluidised bed combustion. It has been in operation since January 2000, mainly for the production of heat (6.5 MWth). The Buggenum power plant (252 MWe) is based on entrained flow gasification of coal. Gasification of coal and biomass creates a synthetic gas that can be converted into electricity with a high energy yield and low emissions. It is also technically possible (although not yet economically feasible) to isolate CO2 emissions and store them underground. This enables electricity to be generated with virtually no emission of harmful substances. Besides generation of electricity the syngas might also be used for the production of fuels, e.g. Fischer-Tropsch diesel or Synthetic Natural Gas. However, given the nature of Nuon, the syngas, initially, will be used for electricity production only. After the environmental permit became permanent, Nuon co-fired up to 30 wt% of biomass (including sewage sludge, chicken manure and other local waste streams). The main co-firing challenges at Buggenum were the availability of bio-fuels as well as the chemical (potassium, chloride, phosphor) and physical (moisture content 12-13%, seize ~1 mm) acceptability of these fuels. A large interim storage silo has been built near the port into which biomass from ships and trucks can be unloaded, enabling the plant to become fully operational in early 2006. In October 2005, Nuon announced the construction of a new 1,200 MW multi-fuel gasification power station that can process a mix of fuels such as gas, coal and biomass. The power station is expected to become operational early in 2011. The fuel flexibility will help to become more independent of gas. Coal and biomass in particular can be bought in many countries. Given the successful tests with biomass and coal gasification in the Buggenum power station, the new power station is expected initially to use up to 30 wt% of biomass as feedstock as well. However, in order to increase this amount of biomass the focus is on pre-treatment, torrefaction and blending of several biomass feedstocks in order to obtain a chemical and physical more acceptable fuel. As with the Buggenum plant focus is on fuel flexibility at the inlet (coal, gas, different biomass streams) and not (yet) at the outlet, hence initially the syngas will be used solely for the production of “green” electricity. This is off course partially caused by the commitments agreed upon in the Dutch coal covenant as well as the subsidies available for the production of green electricity.
3.3
The chemical industry
Wolter Prins of BTG presented an overview of the opportunities of biomass refineries for biomass-based industries. In the food & pharmaceutics as well as the sugar & starch chemicals sector fully developed bio-refineries already exist and opportunities might only be found in the application of some remaining residual streams. These residual streams are also present in the timber & pulp and paper sector where they are already used for combustion and gasification.
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One of the biggest opportunities lies in the current food crop related bio-ethanol and bio-diesel industry, i.e. the application of lignin residues and glycerol. The challenge is to produce energy and chemicals from these residual streams, but the main difficulty is that the residues cannot be de-polymerized into a single monomer building block for chemicals and fuels. Possible solutions might be: (i) (ii)
The complete thermal cracking to bio-syngas (CO, H2), as a basis for fuels and chemicals production. The partial thermal decomposition to (fast) pyrolysis oil (and by-products) as a feedstock for the existing chemical industry (as well as the energy sector). This bio-oil might contain significant amounts of potentially interesting chemicals (e.g. levoglucosan, acetic and formic acid, acetaldehyde, phenolics), but can be used within the bio-syngas route as well.
Some main drivers for the development of (fast) pyrolysis are: (i) the de-coupling of production and utilization, (ii) the favourable liquid properties and energy densification (e.g. for transport) and (iii) the homogenization and purification of the feedstock. As a developer of fast pyrolysis technology, BTG operates a 2 ton/hr demo plant in Malaysia. The scale of future plants will depend on the amount of biomass locally available but is expected to be between 2 and 10 ton/hr. The application of the bio-oil produced in Malaysia as feedstock for gasification as well as co-combustion has been demonstrated. activated carbon
char
carbon black meat browning agent smoke flavors
water sol. fraction
acids / road deicers biolime slow-release fertilizer
biomass residues
wood preservatives
bio-oil
boiler/engine/gasifier fuel adhesives hydroxyacetaldehyde
water insol. fraction
(glycolaldehyde) levoglucosan phenols (from lignin)
gas
furfural (from xylose) levulinic acid (from glucose) syngas (from bio-oil gasification)
Figure 3.1 Fast pyrolysis: stand-alone or part of a syngas based refinery BTG is involved in the EC supported BIOCOUP project focussing on co-processing upgraded bio-liquids in standard refinery units. The aim is to develop a chain of process steps, allowing liquefied biomass feedstock to be co-fed to a conventional oil refinery. Ultimately this will enable a seamless integration of bio-refinery co-processing products, such as transport fuels and chemicals, into the end-consumer market.
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4.
Specific technical and market issues
The text presented in this chapter is fully based on the lectures given by Koninklijke VNP, DSM, and Essent; it does not have to represent the opinion of ECN or WUR.
4.1
Primary products
Annita Westenbroek of the Koninklijke VNP gave a presentation about the biorefinery concept in the Dutch Paper and Board Industry. The main driver for the paper and board industry is their goal to halve their energy consumption in the next period. This ambitious target is caused by high energy costs. The general ‘Pulp mill biorefinery’ concept is aimed at full utilization of incoming biomass (i.e. trees) for simultaneous production of fibres for paper products, chemicals and energy. A modern Swedish kraft mill typically yields several by-products such as organic materials in black liquor, bark tall oil, and turpentine. However, this concept is not applicable in the Dutch Paper industry. The main reasons for this different situation in The Netherlands are that (i) no chemical pulping is done (so no lignin can be recovered), (ii) virgin fibres are mostly imported as ready made pulp, and only 5% is mechanically pulped from wood, (iii) 75% of the fibre raw materials is recycled. So biorefinery will have a different meaning for the Dutch paper industry. In the recently stated vision of the Koninklijke VNP the best concept for the Dutch Paper and Board Industry situation would be a ‘MultiPurpose Biorefinery’. This will have to be able to use different input sources, such as recycled paper, wood, residual wood and raw materials from the agricultural sector. On the output side it will first of all supply fibres and additives for the paper industry, which in turn will send back its waste materials for further processing. Furthermore, this MultiPurpose Biorefinery could also supply base materials and additives to other food industries and also use their waste materials. Finally it could supply energy and bio-chemicals. Therefore, this concept aims at an efficient and total usage of raw materials and by-streams, converting biomass into a broad range of high added value products. It requires a close cooperation in and between chains. Considering the ‘MultiPurpose Biorefinery’ concept, the Koninklijke VNP has defined three interdependent themes for the next few years: (i) co-operation in fibre raw material processing and use (virgin, recycled, alternative sources) towards tailor made raw materials for each process and product, (ii) conversion of its own by-products to valuable components, new products and/or energy, and (iii) processing of by-products from other industries into valuable raw materials and additives for the own industry. The main question at the moment is how to translate this vision into concrete and clear actions in the coming period. Furthermore, it is necessary to identify external parties that can contribute to the concept.
4.2
Chemicals
Peter Nossin of DSM Corporate Research highlighted the history of DSM, which began in 1902, when the Dutch government started coal-mining operations (Dutch State Mines) in the south east of the Netherlands. Following the discovery of natural gas in the north of the Netherlands, the coal-mining operations were phased out and Dutch State Mines revised its strategy, with chemical products becoming more prominent. By 1970 chemicals and fertilizers comprised the company's chief activity. Petrochemicals then took centre stage and diversification into highquality plastics and fine chemicals.
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During the 1990s, the company paid greater attention to creating a balance between commerce and research and developing value-adding processes and products, particularly products for the pharmaceutical and the food industries, and performance materials for the automotive and transport industry and the electrics and electronics sector. At the moment activities are grouped into four clusters: (i) nutritional products, (ii) life science products, (iii) performance materials and, (iv) industrial chemicals, the latter being commodities. Within the ongoing activities industrial or white biotechnology (i.e. the use of biotechnology in industrial processes) plays a significant role as white biotechnology offers enormous opportunities, not just for the economy (increasing cost spread in hydrocarbons versus carbohydrates), but also equally to environment and society (advances in science and technology). The target areas build upon DSM strength and focus on (i) biotech-based production routes, (ii) new bio-based products, and (iii) enzymes beyond food and feed, all mainly based on sugars or the “biochemical” sugar platform; DSM does not focus on the “thermochemical” syngas platform. The future biorefinery should have zero waste streams; hence by-products have to be valorised, preferably not by means of utilizing the energy value only. The biorefinery has to be fully integrated with closed loops of heat as well as carbon and nitrogen. Integration with existing facilities should be on a pipe-to-pipe basis, hence assuring (i) security of supply, (ii) no transport of sugar, and (iii) availability of low cost sugar. As these fully integrated future biorefineries involve several stakeholders, this will require adjustments to the existing business models. Peter Nossin emphasizes that in the long run (beyond 2015) the conventional renewable feedstocks will be complemented by fermentable sugars from (ligno)cellulose sources (e.g. agricultural waste, energy crops). According to DSM the main usage for these (ligno)cellulose based sugars will be for bio-fuel production (e.g. ethanol) in large-scale bio-refineries. Low cost fermentable sugars together with cheap electricity are expected to become available adjacent to these large-scale bio-refineries. The introduction of the biofuels will be mainly driven by national government’s legislation aimed at achieving various political goals.
4.3
Power production
In his in presentation on biomass as fuel for electricity generation Wim Willeboer of Essent indicates that although Essent, like most energy companies, does not implement or develop biorefinery concepts, it does process significant amounts of biomass for the production of ‘green’ electricity. This is (partially) driven by the commitments agreed upon in the 2002 Dutch coal covenant as well as the subsidies available for the production of green electricity. On an annual basis approximately 1150 ktonnes of biomass are either directly or indirectly co-fired in coal fired power stations (producing approximately 150 MWe). In total 150 ktonnes is gasified in a separate gasifier first before being (indirectly) co-fired. The main pure and simple lesson learned from processing biomass in existing facilities is that it is difficult to assure long-term biomass delivery. Especially with regard to the indirect co-firing facility obtaining the correct feedstock for the gasifier turned out to be difficult. Furthermore, it is not easy to apply feedstocks for which existing plants are not designed or optimised, hence integration of biomass/biorefineries into existing facilities or infrastructures might be more problematic than expected. This also applies to the biomass gasifier, which was designed for the application of demolition wood (type B), but after declaring this feedstock no longer sustainable, had to handle different types of feedstock (e.g. wood pellets, palm kernel paste, citrus pellets, dried olive pit pulp, ground cacao pods).
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In the energy sector problems arose both in biomass handling (i.e. adjustments required to the coal mills, new gas burners), the combustion (e.g. corrosion) and flue gas emissions (e.g. higher NOx emissions). Furthermore, changing legislation (i.e. subsidies for green electricity, banning of specific feedstock) made the production of green electricity more complicated. It also makes the request for economically feasible, logistically available and technically applicable biomass feedstock more difficult. Based on the past experiences of Essent with biomass processing, the economic and logistic advantages of multi-fuel input plants versus to be expected technical issues should be well deliberated upon. With regards to biorefinery the synthetic gas produced from biomass by the Essent gasifier might be a good basis for further back-end thermochemical refinery to other fuels. This type of refinery will only be feasible on a large industrial scale, similar to the production of electricity. Electricity companies like Essent have a lot of experience in conversion of solid fuels (and meanwhile also in the conversion of biomass) and in treating (flue) gases and other process streams. However, present quality of synthetic gas from biomass needs a lot of further treatment steps before it can be converted to e.g. a liquid fuel. Power producers like Essent are focused on generation of electricity and heat and not (yet) on synthetic fuels. Further development of refinery processes for biofuels might benefit from a partnership between the (bio)chemical industry and power producers. However, the government has to play its role as an important stakeholder by means of subsidies or other financial tools, similar to what is currently done for the production of ‘green’ electricity.
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5.
The future of biorefinery in the Netherlands
At the beginning of the three specific workshop sessions, intended for specific stakeholders to come together and address their specific technical and market issues, several theses were put forward for discussion. In §5.1 the theses that provoked the most discussions are outlined.
5.1
Theses
1. Biorefineries should start with processing residual streams from existing industries Although the ultimate biorefinery concept starts with the original biomass feedstock (i.e. the plant) it is agreed upon that processing residual streams first is both economically and ecologically more attractive, hence will quicken actual development and implementation of specific biorefinery steps. On the longer term, though, the whole chain from resources to final products will have to be optimised, hence residual streams should then no longer be considered as resource but as an intermediate product that has to be further upgraded/processed. This might also require adjustments to the preceding process in order to improve the quality of the residual stream and to optimise the further upgrading/processing. Residual streams nowadays are often treated extensively at high costs, whereas this might be counterproductive considering a whole chain analysis. However, this requires reciprocal actions from the involved industries and probably some adjustments to business models. 2.
Biorefineries are essential for the production of bioenergy at costs similar to fossil fuel based energy Thesis confirmed 3.
Biorefineries should be integrated in existing infrastructures or facilities in order to accelerate implementation Thesis confirmed 4. Biorefineries will only become interesting at large scales This thesis first raises the question what should be considered as large scale. However, it was agreed upon that some processing steps benefit significantly from economy of scale (e.g. power and heat production), hence should be constructed at large scales. Agriculture activities, however, are typically on a small scale. The ultimate biorefinery therefore will consist of a mix of small scale production/pre-treatment steps and large scale end-conversion steps. An example of this was already provided by Rob van Haren (AVEBE) during this workshop (§3.1 and appendix c). Furthermore, in case of speciality products large scale production will not make sense, as the market demand for these products often is limited. In an ultimate optimised biorefinery these products might benefit from economy of scale when being produced from side streams of large scale bulk production processes. 5. The economic market values of the different biorefinery products should be similar This thesis was not agreed upon, as ultimately economic feasibility is one of the main motives for implementing biorefineries. If this economic feasibility is improved by producing a “highvalue” specialty as co-product besides “low-value” bulk products, so be it.
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It is not even necessary for product quantities to be similar, as e.g. “high-value” specialties might be produced from (small) side streams of large scale bulk processes, as mentioned already by the previous thesis. 6.
Biorefinery concepts should comprehend the whole process from original feedstock to final products, hence requiring collaboration of numerous parties It was agreed upon that the ultimate biorefinery should comprehend the whole process and hence collaboration of specific parties could provide an impulse to the development and implementation of biorefineries. However, there also was a general concern for too many companies being involved, resulting in plenty of discussions and hardly any real progress made. Hence, developing specific steps with a restricted amount of relevant parties was preferred, bearing in mind the overall biorefinery concept. In most developments in the biorefinery field, such an overall vision on where to go is lacking. Too often, biorefinery seems to be more a hobby than an actual business. 7.
Biorefinery development is not driven by a GHG reduction motive, but by the oil depletion motive and the desire to broaden resources Closing the loop (i.e. no waste, CO2-neutral) is certainly a driver for biorefinery development, as are the Kyoto agreement, security of supply, agricultural policies, sustainability, etc. If only the GHG reduction motive is taken into account, biomass should favourably being used for power producing, substituting coal with the highest specific CO2-emissions. Therefore, one should not forget the main driver, i.e. economics. If there is hardly any economic feasibility, there will be hardly any development. Therefore, it might be necessary for governments to play a bigger role in the development of biorefinery by providing some economic compensation (thesis 8). 8.
The governments have to play their role as most important stakeholder by means of subsidies or other financial tools This thesis resulted in a debate on whether the government is the most important stakeholder and on whether or not subsidies should be provided. It was concluded that although government might be an important stakeholder, the industry is the most important as they ultimately benefit directly from a feasible biorefinery. Further more it was questioned whether subsidies are required. Ultimately a biorefinery should become economically feasible, even without any subsidies. From the food industry it was argued that increasing feasibility by improving existing processes can already be sufficient motive for developing biorefinery concepts. From the energy and chemical sector subsidies are considered essential in order for the biobased products to be economically competitive with their fossil fuel based rivals. These different visions might be explained by the fact that the food industry has been and still is continuously improving its already biobased production processes, whereas in the chemical and energy sector there always is the competition with the fossil fuel based processes. In order for bioenergy and biochemicals to become competitive the financial gap with fossil fuel based energy and chemicals has to be overcome. For the food industry it is rather a matter of improving competitiveness. As a result, the developments in chemical and energy sector are still limited. Within the energy sector, for example, syngas is produced from biomass and then combusted to generate subsidised green electricity. Further refining of the syngas to, e.g., transportation fuels or chemicals, is not yet done as subsidies for these products are lacking. The need for subsidies or other financial tools in the energy sector, however, is evident as without subsidies there would most likely be no green electricity.
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It is therefore obvious that in order to develop and implement biorefineries, the governments have to evaluate their currently provided subsidies or other financial tools and have to determine whether renewable electricity should be the main financially stimulated biobased product or other biobased products (and hence the development and implementation of them) should proportionally be stimulated as well. 9.
The future implementation of biorefinery concepts in the Netherlands requires current commonly accepted Biorefining Vision as well as an RD&D Roadmap All participants acknowledged that a commonly accepted biorefining vision is missing, but there was some scepticism with regards to the formulation of an official RD&D roadmap. When an official RD&D roadmap will be formulated, it is essential to actively involve different parties in the discussion and formulation of a biorefining vision. This vision should not focus too much on new definitions and concepts, but on how to stimulate and activate further developments and implementation. Although it was the general opinion that combined RD&D will be restricted to a small group of collaborations, the idea of sharing knowledge and keeping others informed on the progresses made, e.g. by means of the Dutch network on biorefineries Biorefinery.nl, is widely accepted, as it will favour the final implementation of biorefineries. Furthermore, general consciousness-raising of the importance of biorefining is considered to be essential for the further development and implementation of biorefineries.
5.2
Conclusions
Although the knowledge to overcome existing technological barriers in the development of biorefinery concepts is available in the Netherlands, real initiatives as well as a commonly accepted Biorefining Vision are lacking. Defining an RD&D Roadmap (Strategic Research Agenda) based on a commonly accepted Vision could help stimulate and activate further developments and implementation, as long as it does not focus too much on defining new definitions and concepts. It should raise consciousness on the importance of developing biorefineries and how to overcome technical, ecologic and economic barriers, not on defining innumerable alternative concepts to the existing ones. This Roadmap will certainly require a considerable effort of all parties involved, i.e. research institutes and industry as well as government and social organisations. The first step towards defining a Roadmap will be to become aware of each others existing problems (technical, ecologic as well as economic) and the possible solutions that can be provided by each one.
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Appendix A Biobased product flow-chart for biomass feedstocks From Top value added chemicals from biomass; Volume I – Results of screening for potential candidates from sugars and synthesis gas, PNNL, NREL, August 2004
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Appendix B Biorefinery within the food industry (AVEBE) From the presentation by Rob van Haren, AVEBE, at the 1st biorefinery.nl workshop, Wageningen, 16 June 2006
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Appendix C Multi-purpose biorefinery (AVEBE) From the presentation by Rob van Haren, AVEBE, at the 1st biorefinery.nl workshop, Wageningen, 16 June 2006
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Appendix D List of participants E. Annevelink P.A.C. Apeldoorn R.R. Bakker R. de Boer H. de Boon G.J. van den Born H. Brink M.J. van der Burgt I. van Daalen A.H. Drenth G. Eggink H.W. Elbersen A.C.M. Graumans R.J.G. van Haren B. Hasselo R. van Hedel H.J. Heidweiller T. van Herwijnen P. Hovius M. Jansen D. Joanknecht P. de Jong Rodenburg E. de Jong W. de Jong R. de Kler J. Koene A.J.W.M. Kuijstermans E.J.J. Löwik S. van der Lubbe Y. van der Meer J.A.A. van der Meijden G.W. Meindersma A. Mooibroek S.W. Moolenaar P. Nossin K. Olsthoorn E.K. Pinxterhuis A. Pot W. Prins R. van Ree H. Reith J.A. Rodenburg A.E. Rosheuvel J.P.M. Sanders M. Schenk C.T. Slingerland L.A.M. van der Wielen G. Verbruggen T.P. Vervloet W.M. de Vos M. Vreeburg A.P.H. Westenbroek W. Willeboer R. Wismeijer J. van der Zande R.W.R. Zwart
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Wageningen UR Provincie Noord Brabant Wageningen UR BOERenADVIES Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerijprodukten (VGB) Milieu en Natuurplanbureau (MNP) LTO-Noord Energy Consultancy BV HVC Agromiscanthus Wageningen UR Wageningen UR Agrix Avebe LTO-Noord Staatsbosbeheer TU Delft ETC Looije Agro Technics Purac Ministerie van LNV Biopolymers Wageningen UR TU Delft NUON Oost NV Hoofdproductschap Akkerbouw Currency Connect BV Ministerie van LNV NOW-ACTS Meneba Universiteit Twente Wageningen UR NMI BV DSM Raad voor het Landelijk Gebied Wageningen UR Cosun BTG ECN ECN Rodenburg Biopolymers BIOeCON BV Wageningen UR DOW Benelux BV ARCADIS Nederland BV TU Delft Universiteit Utrecht Universiteit Twente Wageningen UR AVR Afvalverwerking Rijnmond Koninklijke VNP Essent SenterNovem Havenbedrijf Rotterdam NV ECN
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