ERIFORE Case Studies

Jonas Joelsson (Processum)

Klaus Niemelä (VTT), Ingemar Svensson (Tecnalia), Roman Tschentscher (SINTEF)

et al.

Case studies

• Preparation of case-study plans will

– Generate understanding of operations within the proposed distributed infrastructure.

– Identify bottlenecks

– Provide input for formulation of business models for the distributed infra-structure.

Case study process

STEP 2: Shortlist

WORKSHOP

IN LEUNA

STEP 1: Brainstorm

• Suggestion of a

(large) number of

case studies

• Start from value

chains proposed by

Foresighting study

~20 proposed case

study proposals

STEP 3: Detail

3 detailed case

study proposals

6 pre-proposals

• Selection of 6-8

topics

• Development of pre-

proposals (2-4

pages)

• Selection of 3-4 final

studies

• Development of full

case study proposals

(~20 pages)

INTERNAL

WORKSHOP IN

SAN SEBASTIAN

Selected case studies

1. Production of sugars from wood and their conversion into valuable commodities

2. Dissolution with ionic liquids and production of new technical textiles via nanospinning

3. Forest derived Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) with increased outdoor durability and fire resistance containing lignin

Lignin platformFibre platformSugar platform

Addressed challenges

Lignin platform

Fibre platform

Sugar platform

– Need for cost-effective biomass fractionation technologies– Upgrading of the purity of the sugar streams– Enhanced integration and intensification of processes– More effective DSP separation technologies

– Efficient and environmentally friendly dissolution and processes– Process for nonvowens directly from solution

– Lignin as a material is still not fully known– Large scale lignin production and secure feedstock supply– Activation, modification, plastification– Purification, odor, color

Case 1from wood to commodities via the

sugar platform

Feedstock with varying

complexity

Processes with varying purity requirement

Commodities

Case study setupC

hal

len

ges Produce low-cost

sugars (TRL 5-9)

Fermentation to butanediol -> MEK, butadiene (TRL 7)

Production of furans -> FA, FDCA (TRL 8/9 and 5/6)

Production of proteins (TRL 5-9)

Ob

ject

ives

Optimization of primary processing

Sugar stream quality specifications

Illustrate capability for integrated biorefineries

Imp

lem

enta

tio

n Pre-projects and screening at lab/bench

Validate process steps, narrow operation window

Test campaigns at pilot scale

Demonstrate value chains at pilot scale

Detailed analysis• Integrated biorefinery demo plant with

possibility to run steam explosion hydrolysis• Pilot scale enzymatic fibre hydrolysis plant• Demo-scale Fermentation bioreactors (up

to 2x15 m³• Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation 50-

10 000 L • Pilot scale fermentation units allowing a

step-wise scale-up to 10 m3 with integrated downstream processing

• Pilot scale reactors for chemical conversion under high pressure, with or without catalyst

• Large scale separation equipment• Dryers, filters, crystallizers• large crystallization line up to 300 kg

crystals/day• Evaporators up to 5 ton water/h of

evaporation• Extraction units• Distillation columns

Infrastructure gaps

• No major equipment gaps identified

• Weak point is large, high-pressure, corrosion resistant reactors

– Expensive to build for piloting

– Could be possible to rent from existing chemical industry production plants

Project risks

Risk description Proposed risk-mitigation measures

Costly transport between pilot units

Select infrastructure covering large parts of the value chain

Poor comparability of dataSynchronization of test and analysis protocols

Competition between infrastructure sites

Clarify differences between facilities and optimal set of facilities for each case

Case 2Engineered wood-plastic composites

with lignin

Case study setupC

hal

len

ges Viable lignin

selection and extraction methods

Render lignin thermoplastic or mixable with other polymers.

Fibre compatibilization using lignin

Adaptation composite processing methods

Ob

ject

ives

Improved durability and applicability of WPCs

Obtain a 100% forest based product

Imp

lem

enta

tio

n Laboratory verification and adaptation of processes

Scaling up in pilot-plants

Produce demonstrators

• Extruded bulk product (e.g. decking)

• Injection molded drinking cup

Infrastructure gaps

• No major equipment gaps identified

Case 3:Ioncell-F technology for new cellulosic technical textiles via electrospinning

Current status of Ioncell-F

2016

Case study setupC

hal

len

ges Water removal and

impurity control for the solvent recovery (TRL 2-4)

Complexity of the electrospinning parameters (TRL 2-4)

Tailored spinning solutions (TRL 2-4)

Ob

ject

ives

Up-scale the solvent recycling process

Specifications for tailored solutions for electrospinning

Suitability of Ion-cell-F technology for novel technical textiles and various spinning methods

Imp

lem

enta

tio

n Recycle process design based on the impurity analyses

Extensive sets of pilot-scale runs

Lab-scale electro-spinning studies with tailored solutions and product tests

TRL 6-7

Basic chemistry/technology project

Spin

nin

g s

olu

tio

n p

rep

arat

ion

TRL 5

TRL 3-4 Laboratory

ProcessDevelopment

(Integration, Collection of data,

Techno-Economicalcalculations)

Pilot(Medium scale

Verification)

Elec

tro

spin

nin

g p

aram

eter

s

Pro

du

ct

test

s

Up

-sca

ling

so

lven

t r

ecyc

ling

Demo(Large scaleVerification)

TRL 8 WP4WP3WP2WP1

Evaluate complete value chain including LCA, TE, business models, etc. WP5&6

Infrastructure gaps

• The solvent recycling system will be composed of evaporationand impurity removal steps. For the final design, more data is still needed on the main impurity types and concentrations.

• For the final construction, a tailored evaporation unit will beneeded, capable of handling ~1000’s litres solution a day.

• For electrospinning, a small-scale production-level unit is needed. Potential collaboration with equipment suppliers?

Project risks

Risk description Proposed risk-mitigation measures

Limited stability of the solvent in the recycling process

In case of stability problems, optimise for milder process conditions

Variation in the IL cellulose

solution preparation

To minimise variation risks, solutions forthe electrospinning partners would come from the same place

Various technical problems in the elecrospinning systems

Modify or further optimise the applied technology and processing conditions

Conclusions

• Most required equipment available– Coordination is the bottleneck

• Local agglomerations of lab-pilot-demo infrastructureefficient configurations

• Coordination could guide future development and specialisation– Redundancy still required!

• Action plan for coordinating bioeconomy RI investments is needed

• Distributed infrastructure reaches regional stakeholders

• Public and private funding are both important

Acknowledgement

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654371.

Consortium:

ERIFORE Workshop 27.3.2017 │Stockholm, Sweden