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Bioenergy Australia Conference 2016 14-15 Nov. 2016 - Brisbane

Michael Mandl

Overview on Biorefining Activities in Austria

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Overview on biorefining projects in Austria

Details on 3 selected biorefiniery examples

(1) Ligno-cellulose biorefinery at LENZING AG (productions scale)

(2) OPTFUEL; optimising methane yield of an anaerobic digestion process (pilot scale)

(3) Green Biorefinery Utzenaich; producing amino acids & lactic acid and biogas from grass silage (pilot scale)

Recommendations on biorefining

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Outlook

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In a nut shell, biorefiney activities focus on

agricultural (waste) streams e.g. wheat straw,

Process residues of food/ feed production residues starch production (e.g. fist gen. bioethanol biorefinery, AGRANA), wheat bran, pomace (wine and different fruits), oil press cakes, de-lactosed whey permeate…

Co-products valorisation and pulp production Biorefinery concepts for chemicals, bioethanol, materials

Other biomass (grass, intercrops, algae ..)

Pyrolysis / gasification (e.g. pant in Güssing)

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Biorefining Activities in Austria

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Good source of information concerning national levels

Biorefining country reports Austria download via IEA Bioenergy Task 42 webpage

http://www.iea-bioenergy.task42-biorefineries.com/en/ieabiorefinery/Country-Reports.htm

Webpage operated by Austria R&D funding bodies covering activities for sustainable development https://nachhaltigwirtschaften.at/

via search option die abstract and contact persons of project can be found….

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(1) Ligno-cellulose Biorefinery at Lenzing AG, Austria

Source: Karin Fackler 2016

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Lenzing AG is a global producer of wood-based cellulose fibers

Produced from the raw material wood Natural wearing properties of natural fibers combined with the advantages of synthetic fibers such as purity and consistent quality

Source: Karin Fackler 2016

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Understanding the biorefinery Lenzing

Sustainable processing of beech wood into a spectrum of marketable products (chemicals, materials) and energy (power, heat)

Source: Karin Fackler 2016

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Pulp production at Lenzing

Source: Karin Fackler 2016

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Lenzing biorefinery summary

Main product is pulp but recovery of co-products is operative more than 10 years at industrial scale

Co-products strengthen the entire process chain and deliver significant revenues

Recovery of furfural and acetic acids has significantly reduced the CSB of waste water and treatment costs

Xylose separation is made by an industrial partner

Revenue from products are much higher than the caloric value

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(2) OptFuel

Opt-Fuel project at Asten/Linz in Austria

Optimising an

anaerobic digestion process to

fully exploit organic carbon of feedstock

for maximum methane production at

pilot scale

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Biogas production and utilisation

State of the Art: Biogas + CHP

State of the Art: Biogas + gas cleaning/upgrading process

Source: J. Lindorfer 2016

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OptFuel Approach

Goal: Full conversion of biomass`s carbon to energy carrier

Integrate additional processes (1) H2 production (2 stage fermentation, power-to-gas (2) Methanation (3) Gas membranes to separate methane and recycle C02

Source: J. Lindorfer 2016

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~ 55 % CH4

~ 45 % CO2

H2

CH4

methanation 4 H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2 H2O

Pro

ject p

artne

r

biogas = CH4 + CO2

Additional methane yield by methanation

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Biogas production Methanation Gas processing

fermentation of biowaste materials 2-stage (vs. single-stage)

hydrogen stage methane stage

simple process control mesophilic, unsterile, mixed culture, no additives

chemical catalytic catalyst commercially available

process optimization process pressures space velocities loads methane in educt gas

raw gas conditioning drying and adsorption

gas processing by membrane separation technology operation optimization & simulation

H2-fermentation 30-60 °C; pH 4-6

HRT 5-50 h

Vf 150 L

methanationCH4-fermentation30-60 °C; pH 6-8

HRT 15 – 30 d

Vf 2.500 L

compressor

adsportioncondenser

membrane separation

H2

digestate

biogasmix CH4/CO2/H2

recycle

CH4 >96 vol-%

~ 105 NL/h

H2/CO2 CH4/CO2

condenser

5 L/h slurry5.3 – 11.7 % DM

66-82 % oDM

~ 5 L/h

Piloted process concept

Source: J. Lindorfer 2016

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Results of economic assessment

*Full cost caluculation for the OptFuel-process concept for a scale of 90 Nm³/h CH4-Output

Central european prices and cost structures anticipated

Technological learning and electrolyser / electricity input cost reduction is responsible for estimated cost degradtion

Fossil benchmarks based on IEA and EU prognosis

• Cost competitiveness is primarily reachable in the transport segment

• Additional income for waste disposal, capacity increase and balancing energy possible

6.1 5.9 3.8

9.2 11.2

9.0

13.0

5.5 4.1

1.4

1.4

1.4

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

€-C

en

t/kW

hL

HV

taxes & duties

price (excl. taxes)

2016* 2030*

8.3 7.0

4.1

7.4

13.5 11.7

9.8

5.5

4.1

1.4

1.4

1.4

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

€-C

en

t/kW

hL

HV

taxes & duties

price (excl. taxes)

Source: J. Lindorfer 2016

tbw research GesmbH office@tbwresearch.org

Results of OptFuel pilot project

Proof of concept accomplished: Integration of unit operation from 3 Partners to one continuous operation

Gas quality according to Austrian standard (ÖVGW G31) was achieved under moderate test campaign conditions

The operation of the overall system was possible with fluctuating biogas composition

Process was able to handle extremely high fluctuations in composition of the bio-waste feedstock

Methane from the Optfuel process has significant reduction potentials of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil benchmarks (if power from renewable resources is used)

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(3) Green Biorefinery

Green Biorefinery processes green biomass for products & energy targeting on utilizing

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Proteins (amino acids)

Soluble sugars (or products after fermentation of sugars; e.g. lactic acid)

Ligno- cellulose fraction ( e.g. fibres)

Special/ fine chemicals

Minerals (e.g. fertilizer)

Energy (e.g. biogas)

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Motivation for Green Biorefinery

Grass has become a surplus biomass in some regions due to change in agricultural sector

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„..from cow

to

„technical cow“

From grass for cattle towards grass for bio-industry

Food Products milk, beef and manure

Biobased Products food/feed, materials,

bulk and fine chemicals,

biofuels and energy…

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Set-up of Pilot Green Biorefinery in Utzenaich/ Austria

Grass Biomass (Grass, Clover, Lucerne)

Silage

Pre-treatment

and pressing

Press-

cake

Amino acid

separation

Lactic acid

separation

Residues

Anaerobic

digestion

Fibre-

utilisation

Conversion to

liquid biofuels

Amio acids high grade

Lactic acid food grade

Fertilizer

Biogas CHP, BioCNG

Fibre

Juice

2nd gen.

biofuels

Demonstration plant Utzenaich

tbw research GesmbH office@tbwresearch.org page 20

Primary processing

First step: Mechanical fractionation to generate a

juice and a solid fraction from grass silage

Juice for product

separation

Solids feedstock

for biogas

Grass

Silage feedstock

quality

important

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Down stream processing of silage juice

Combination of different separation processes:

Ultra & nano filtration

Electro dialysis

Reversed osmosis

Ion exchange

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Results Green Biorefinery Pilot

Process Quality of grass silage is very important Grass contains all 20 essential amino acids! (BCAAs >25%)

Economy Economic feasibility of processing is possible at moderate scales (app. 10.000 DM/a feedstock) Required revenue for amino acid mixture > 4-6 €/kg Co-valorisation of grass press cake has strong effect on economics (Green power tariffs for biogas CHP)

Implementation AA products from grass are new! USP: Vegan source of AAs

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Conclusions / Take home message

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Biorefineries are essential to transfer towards circular bioeconomy

More development is still needed to make impact; bottle neck is at pilot/demonstration stage

There is NO general biorefinery solution but the NEED of customised - reginal embedded solutions

Feedstock logistics determine size of a biorefinery

Clip-on biorefineries have high potential (valorisation of process wastes, extending existing processing etc.)

Cross-sectorial cooperation is key for implementation

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Aknowledgments/ Contacts

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Thanks for you kind attention! DI Michael Mandl tbw research GesmbH, Vienna m.mandl@tbwresearch.org

Special thanks for contributions from

We kindly acknowledge support, grants and funds provided by Austrian Research Promotion Agency

Dr. Karin Fackler Lenzing AG k.fackler@lenzing.com

Dr. Johannes Lindorfer Energieinstitut an der J. Kepler Universität Linz lindorfer@energieinstitut-linz.at