{"id":5747,"date":"2018-05-18T15:43:55","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T13:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/?p=5747"},"modified":"2018-06-26T15:51:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T13:51:43","slug":"bioenergy-and-biofuels-innovation-and-technology-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/bioenergy-and-biofuels-innovation-and-technology-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Bioenergy and Biofuels: Innovation and Technology Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emerging new biofuels obtained from sustainable biomass either from\u00a0biochemical-based pathways or thermochemical-based pathways are at\u00a0advanced stage of development and new investments in Europe will be\u00a0boosted by the new legislative EU framework for the next 10 years.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Challenges connected to\u00a0biomass logistics, trade\u00a0and end-use can be\u00a0overcome by upgrading\u00a0to standardized and more\u00a0energy-dense bioenergy carriers.\u00a0Technologies like pelletization,\u00a0torrefaction (solid products) and\u00a0pyrolysis (bio-oils) can play a\u00a0significant role in this respect.\u00a0Such energy carriers can facilitate\u00a0the conversion of fossil plants to\u00a0biomass on large scale, thereby also\u00a0contributing to the grid stability in\u00a0view of the increase of variable RE\u00a0power production. This increase in\u00a0the availability of RE power also\u00a0opens up for hybrid plants using\u00a0RES power to produce hydrogen\u00a0for use in other biofuels plant or\u00a0for the conversion of CO2 stream to biofuels or renewable fuels,\u00a0depending on the source of the\u00a0CO2.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both thermochemical and\u00a0biochemical conversion routes will\u00a0be deployed in the coming decade\u00a0to produce biofuels directly such as\u00a0ethanol, methanol and FT-diesel.\u00a0Also, thermochemically-produced\u00a0intermediates such as bio-oils will be\u00a0produced by processes like pyrolysis\u00a0and, regarding high-moisture\u00a0content feedstocks, by hydrothermal\u00a0liquefaction. Such intermediates\u00a0will predominantly be converted\u00a0to drop-in biofuels by refinery-like\u00a0processes, either as an integrated\u00a0biofuel value chain or as a co-feed\u00a0to a fossil refinery value chain.\u00a0Key innovations on bioenergy for the\u00a0next 10 years are expected to occur\u00a0C both by evolution of technologies\u00a0now being demonstrated or piloted\u00a0and by development of new\u00a0technologies that will in some years\u00a0possibly reach such a stage. Some\u00a0recent technological progress on\u00a0bioenergy and biofuels are described\u00a0in the next sections, aligned with\u00a0European Technological and\u00a0Innovation Platform on Bioenergy\u00a0(ETIP-Bioenergy) current value\u00a0chains for advanced biofuels and\u00a0heat and power (Fig. 1).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fig.1 – Current value chains of ETIP – Bioenergy Strategic and Research and Innovation Agenda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Improving current bioenergy: from 1st to 4th value chain by means of gasification and thermochemical processes<\/span><\/h4>\n

The gasification technologies, i.e.\u00a0where the dried biomass feed is\u00a0converted to a gas at temperatures\u00a0of 800-1,500\u00b0C at pressures\u00a0between 0.1 and 4 MPa, have\u00a0had difficulties to come to the first\u00a0industrial plants, e.g. the large\u00a0projects (100-200 MW of products)\u00a0proposed in the EU as a part of the\u00a0NER 300 program despite several\u00a0pilot developments have been or are\u00a0operated. Instead, there are some\u00a0more modest capacity plants in\u00a0operation commissioning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The GoBiGas plant<\/strong> in Gothenburg\u00a0with an output of 20 MW biomethane\u00a0based on a Topsoe process,\u00a0has recently reached its nominal\u00a0capacity after debottlenecking\u00a0the gas cleaning trains. It has also\u00a0succeeded in raising the longest\u00a0uninterrupted run from around\u00a01,500 hours on several occasions\u00a0to 1,800 hours. Unfortunately,\u00a0the plant will be soon mothballed\u00a0because of economic reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other developments in the\u00a0production of bio-methane by the\u00a0gasification route is the 4-MW plant\u00a0from GoGreenGas<\/strong>, now under\u00a0construction in the UK. This plant is\u00a0an industrial demonstration for the\u00a0APP plasma gasification technology\u00a0using RDF as the fuel, the gas being\u00a0fed to the AMEC Foster Wheeler\u00a0VESTA methanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is also a planned industrial\u00a0project in the Netherlands, Ambigo<\/strong>,\u00a0featuring the Milena gasification,\u00a0OLGA tar removal and ESME\u00a0membrane synthesis processes, and\u00a0where the final investment decision\u00a0is pending. This project will have a\u00a0capacity of 4 MW of bio-methane\u00a0too.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Enerkem RDF<\/strong> gasification\u00a0plant in Edmonton Canada has\u00a0had the last methanol-to ethanol\u00a0stage installed in 2017 and can now\u00a0produce 38,000 m3 of ethanol or\u00a0an equivalent volume as methanol.\u00a0A study is being made with i.a.\u00a0Akzo Nobel for a plant with over\u00a0five times the above capacity for the\u00a0port of Rotterdam.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the\u00a0RDF Fulcrum Bioenergy<\/strong> plant\u00a0in Nevada and Red Rock Biofuels\u00a0woody biomass plant in Oregon\u00a0both were successful in securing\u00a0financing during late 2017, after\u00a0the Department of Defense funding\u00a0in 2014. These plants will be\u00a0producing 40 million litres and 57\u00a0million litres, respectively, of dropin\u00a0hydrocarbon biofuels via the FT\u00a0process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning pyrolysis technology,\u00a0i.e. the conversion of biomass to\u00a0pyrolysis oil, char and gases at\u00a0450-550 \u00b0C, the Fortum plant<\/strong> at\u00a0Joensuu and the Empyro plant<\/strong> in\u00a0the Netherlands both have started\u00a0operation. These oils are primarily\u00a0used as substitutes for fuel oil, but\u00a0there has been a limited number\u00a0of pilot scale tests of the upgrading\u00a0of such oils to drop-in biofuels.\u00a0Current developments are related\u00a0to hydrocatalytic and catalytic\u00a0pyrolysis at pilot scale to obtain\u00a0a bio-oil intermediate with less\u00a0oxygen than by the conventional\u00a0fast pyrolysis process.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years, hydrothermal\u00a0liquefaction (HTL), which is a\u00a0technology operating at 250-350\u00a0\u00b0C and pressures high enough to\u00a0maintain the solvent, mostly water,\u00a0in liquid phase (20-35 MPa), has\u00a0advanced. A demo plant is being\u00a0planned in Norway by Silva Green\u00a0Fuels<\/strong> and in Canada by Canfor<\/strong>\u00a0using forest and pulping residues by\u00a0means of the Steeper and Licella\u00a0technologies, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as it concerns electricity\u00a0production, nowadays there are\u00a0numerous installations to produce\u00a0power and heat from biomass at a\u00a0small scale (e.g. 0.01-5 MWe). These\u00a0plants use gasifiers in combination\u00a0with internal combustion engines\u00a0at efficiencies higher than obtained\u00a0from steam cycles at a comparable\u00a0scale. Higher power efficiency\u00a0approaching larger power plants\u00a0requires that state-of-the-art gas\u00a0engines is replaced with fuels\u00a0cells or some other innovations.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the heat being generated need to be utilized to obtain a high\u00a0total efficiency. The integration of\u00a0biomass gasification with biogas or\u00a0solar and wind power (RES-Hybrids)\u00a0offers interesting alternatives for\u00a0production of renewable energy at\u00a0farm and village scale, in both rural\u00a0and agricultural areas of Europe.\u00a0Gasification followed by various\u00a0forms of gas cleaning can also be\u00a0applied to generate clean gaseous\u00a0fuels from low-grade fuels such as different wastes and straw.\u00a0Removing gas contaminants prior\u00a0to combustion either minimizes\u00a0corrosion and deposition in boilers\u00a0or makes the gas more suitable for\u00a0industrial furnaces.\u00a0The commercialization of\u00a0gasification systems for larger scale\u00a0power generation has been slow\u00a0and promising technologies, such\u00a0as biomass integrated gasification\u00a0combined cycle (IGCC), have not\u00a0found their way to the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

The biological and chemical approach<\/span><\/h4>\n

These three biomass value chains\u00a0comprise a range of biological\/\u00a0biochemical based technologies\u00a0towards production of alcohols,\u00a0hydrocarbons or fatty acids from\u00a0biomass, both lignocellulosic or\u00a0aquatic biomass (e.g., algae).\u00a0The value chain of cellulosic\u00a0ethanol production implies\u00a0fractionation and hydrolysis of\u00a0the biomass to sugars and lignin,\u00a0followed by the fermentation\u00a0of the sugars to ethanol. This\u00a0technique is being used in a handful of plants (Biochemtex, Poet\/\u00a0DSM, Ra\u00edzen, GranBio, etc.<\/strong>) at\u00a0industrial scale (40-110 million liters\u00a0per year), but also other developers\u00a0are trying to come to this milestone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such first industrial plants, having\u00a0solved some technological problems\u00a0associated with e.g. biomass feeding\u00a0and pre-treatment, are paving the\u00a0way to reach an industrially mature\u00a0biochemical value chain for wider\u00a0deployment. However, in addition\u00a0to technical issues and low energy\u00a0prices, some of the first-of-its-kind\u00a0plants have also been subject to\u00a0collateral damage from financial\u00a0problems or strategic changes in the\u00a0parent entities (e.g., M&G group-\u00a0Biochemtex, DuPont, Abengoa<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n

The production of higher alcohols,\u00a0e.g., iso-butanol or butanol, has\u00a0advantages over ethanol. Their\u00a0energy content is higher than that of\u00a0ethanol and closer to that of gasoline\u00a0and, more importantly, it has no\u00a0compatibility, miscibility or material\u00a0problems. The US company Gevo\u00a0Inc<\/strong>., was the first investor to build\u00a0a pilot machinery for iso-butanol\u00a0plant at Luverne, Minnesota, USA\u00a0using a recombinant yeast strain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Butamax<\/strong>, which is a joint venture\u00a0between BP and Dupont, have also\u00a0developed a similar technology at\u00a0pilot scale in the UK.\u00a0Some technologies developed to\u00a0convert alcohols to hydrocarbons\u00a0have reached pilot scale and this\u00a0conversion pathway has overall\u00a0won acceptance for hydrocarbons\u00a0production for blending into jet fuel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving from the ethanol or\u00a0higher alcohols value chain to\u00a0hydrocarbons via biological\u00a0pathways, Global Bioenergies<\/strong> is\u00a0the only European-based company\u00a0that has a fermentation process\u00a0for converting sucrose directly\u00a0into hydrocarbons. It is currently\u00a0operating a 100 tonnes per year\u00a0demonstration plant in Dresden\u00a0(Germany) after successfully\u00a0developed its engineered yeast\u00a0strain in a pilot plant in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their objective is to operate a\u00a0bio-isobutene plant of 50,000\u00a0tonnes in 2018. Isobutene is a key\u00a0compound for ETBE production\u00a0and up to now it has been only\u00a0available from fossil origin. It can\u00a0also be chemically converted in\u00a0isooctane and isododecane, which\u00a0are gasoline additives too. Global\u00a0Bioenergies have already produced a significant batch sample of such\u00a0fuels for testing by Audi.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of Europe, other\u00a0biochemical pathways for the sugarto-\u00a0hydrocarbon pathways are being\u00a0pursued. DSM has a production\u00a0plant in Brazil, formerly owned by\u00a0Amyris, where farnesene can be\u00a0produced among a range of other\u00a0non-fuel products. This component\u00a0can be blended into jet fuel at a\u00a0rate of 10% after hydrogenation\u00a0to farnesane. However, Amyris<\/strong>\u00a0technology is still based on sugars\u00a0from crops (e.g., sugarcane) and\u00a0it has not been not tested on\u00a0lignocellulosic sugars yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last value chain to address\u00a0here is the use of light and CO2 for\u00a0production of energy carriers and\u00a0upgrading them for biofuels. In spite\u00a0of intense effort in R&D in algae\u00a0in recent years, the development\u00a0and the transition to the desired\u00a0scale of demonstration have not\u00a0been so accelerated as expected in\u00a0Europe and worldwide. The main\u00a0EU microalgae for energy project\u00a0is the ALL-GAS project<\/strong>, located\u00a0in Southern Spain (Chiclana de\u00a0la Frontera). The Prototype plant\u00a0is in continuous operation since\u00a0September 2014. It comprises 1,000\u00a0m2 cultivation area plus around 200\u00a0m2 downstream processes such as\u00a0harvesting, anaerobic digesters,\u00a0biogas upgrading, dewatering and\u00a0biomass boiler. The Demo plant,\u00a0which has almost 3 hectares of\u00a0microalgae cultivation, started\u00a0the operation in 2017. It aims\u00a0at demonstrating sustainable\u00a0biomethane production from\u00a0microalgae biomass grown on\u00a0wastewaters fed into open raceways\u00a0ponds at large scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning the\u00a0use of algae for sugar (macroalgae)\u00a0or oil (microalgae) production,\u00a0only the latter one has some pilot\u00a0facilities in EU (e.g., Buggypower,\u00a0Porto Santo; Camporosso, Italy) but\u00a0none of them is actively focused on\u00a0bioenergy. To date, the number of\u00a0demonstration facilities to produce\u00a0bioenergy vectors from micro\u00a0and macro-algae, solar radiation\u00a0and CO2 as well as for upgrading\u00a0biofuels for carrier sector use is\u00a0limited worldwide and the available\u00a0data are scarce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other technologies in development<\/span><\/h4>\n

The rapid build-up of RE power\u00a0capacity and the associated\u00a0reduction in cost has generated an\u00a0interest for using energy to produce\u00a0hydrogen from electrolysis. Such\u00a0component can later be used as\u00a0a bio-fuel, as a co-feedstock in the\u00a0production of other biofuels by\u00a0thermochemical pathways or for\u00a0chemical conversion of e.g. alcohols\u00a0of lipids or even to recycle CO2\u00a0captured from industrial process by\u00a0conversion to fuels like methane or\u00a0methanol. The latter technology,\u00a0named power-to-gas or power-toliquids\u00a0(PtG, PtL) is being tested at\u00a0pilot scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many technological options for\u00a0novel biofuels are being studied at\u00a0laboratory scale. One interesting\u00a0and challenging technology is\u00a0to harness solar energy by biosolar\u00a0cell factories (BSCF). By this\u00a0technique, phototrophic microorganisms\u00a0(e.g. cyanobacteria<\/em>,\u00a0eukaryotic algae<\/em>) directly catalyze\u00a0the conversion of CO2 and H2O\u00a0into oxygen and chemical energy\u00a0(e.g., fuel) in a CO2-neutral way\u00a0and they bypass the production of a\u00a0biomass intermediate. Another approach\u00a0for the future is the use of\u00a0extremophiles microorganisms\u00a0that\u00a0could be engineered as bio-solar\u00a0cell factories, since their ability to\u00a0grow at extreme conditions (high\u00a0temperature, high saline, high\/low\u00a0pH values) minimizes the risk of\u00a0microbial contaminations at open\u00a0ponds as well as in closed unsterile\u00a0photobioreactors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Direct solar energy can also be\u00a0utilized in many alternative ways to\u00a0provide the required process heat\u00a0for thermochemical conversion\u00a0processes. These systems were\u00a0studied and evaluated in detail\u00a0already in the 1980s, but only\u00a0now interesting applications\u00a0are reported in development of\u00a0renewable fuels from solar energy.\u00a0Such implementations reach an\u00a0energy conversion efficiency of\u00a018%, defined as the ratio of the\u00a0heating value of the syngas being\u00a0produced to the solar radiative\u00a0energy input and the heating value\u00a0of the feedstock.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cost-benefit analysis as a key feature to bioenergy development<\/span><\/h4>\n

As indicated above, there is a variety\u00a0of technologies utilizing biomass\u00a0to produce bio-fuels and other\u00a0energy carriers, and which are at\u00a0different technology readiness levels.\u00a0However, while promising R&D\u00a0at laboratory scale can often reach\u00a0validation or pilot stage rather easily,\u00a0it becomes increasingly difficult\u00a0and time-consuming to reach the\u00a0demonstration phase and first\u00a0industrial plant.\u00a0Often, main barriers to take-up of\u00a0new high-efficiency technologies\u00a0have been of an economic nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is therefore a strong need to\u00a0continue to support demonstration\u00a0activities to come to industrial scale.\u00a0Especially the balance between\u00a0risk and benefits of the first\u00a0demonstration and flagship plants is\u00a0very challenging. Despite long-term\u00a0incentives such as feed-in-tariffs,\u00a0tradable certificates or carbon\u00a0taxation etc., there is the necessity\u00a0to go from flagships to a wider\u00a0deployment.\u00a0The main cost drivers in biofuel and\u00a0bioenergy conversion systems are\u00a0the feedstock cost and the capital\u00a0related cost, while the main benefit is\u00a0the GHG reduction. Since, overall,\u00a0biomass resources are limited,\u00a0optimization calls for allowing\u00a0the use of a variety of feedstocks\u00a0including low cost, low quality\u00a0materials in cost-efficient plants.\u00a0This becomes a trade-off between\u00a0the cost of the installation and\u00a0the biomass conversion efficiency\u00a0together with the greenhouse-gas.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is therefore a need for a\u00a0market mechanism to prioritize\u00a0the importance of GHG savings to\u00a0compensate for the most often higher\u00a0cost of biofuels relative to fossil fuels.\u00a0But, in this context one should also\u00a0acknowledge that there are also\u00a0other and wider benefits and creating\u00a0income for all the stakeholders of the\u00a0entire value chain from field or forest\u00a0to ready-for-use fuels.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article is by Lars Waldheim, Waldheim Consulting, Chair of WG2-Conversion of ETIP-Bioenergy, and\u00a0Francisco G\u00edrio, LNEG, Bioenergy Unit, Vice-Chair of WG2-Conversion of ETIP-Bioenergy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emerging new biofuels obtained from sustainable biomass either from\u00a0biochemical-based pathways or thermochemical-based pathways are at\u00a0advanced stage of development and new investments in Europe will be\u00a0boosted by the new legislative EU…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,5,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5747"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6205,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5747\/revisions\/6205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}