by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Belgium, the BIOFOREVER consortium of 14 European companies emerged from stealth with the news that they have started their demonstration project for the conversion of woody biomass to value adding chemical building blocks.
BIOFOREVER intends to demonstrate the feasibility of various new value chains from lignocellulosic feedstocks to chemical building blocks like butanol, ethanol, 2, 5 – furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) on an industrial scale.
A number of pre-treatment and subsequent conversion technologies will be demonstrated, including delivering commercialization routes for the most promising value chains.
The demonstration project starts in September 2016 and will run for 3 years. The overall budget is € 16.2 million with a € 9.9 million contribution from BBI JU. Woody biomass, including waste wood will be converted to lignin, (nano-) cellulose and (hemi-) cellulosic sugars, and further converted to lignin derivatives and chemicals like butanol, ethanol and FDCA on industrial scale, where feedstocks will be benchmarked with crop residues and energy crops.
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- Building new value chains based on the development of sustainable biomass collection and supply systems with increased productivity and improved utilization of biomass feedstock (incl. co- and by- products);
- Unlocking the utilization and valorization of waste and ligno-cellulosic biomass;
- Bringing existing value chains to new levels, through optimized use of feedstock and industrial side-streams while offering innovative added value products to the market, thus creating a market pull and reinforcing the competitiveness of EU agriculture and forest based industries.
- Bringing technology to maturity through research and innovation, by upgrading and building demonstration and flagship biorefineries that will process biomass into a range of innovative products
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The name? It stands for a longer name that at one stage threatened to run forever. In all, the group’s formal name is BIO-based products from FORestry via Economically Viable European Routes. READ MORE and MORE (www.polymerupdate.com/BIOFOREVER)