Bio-renewable materials

Jan E.G. van Dam Seminar UTM 03 10 2011

Food and Biobased Research at WUR

Marketing and

Sensory studies

Functional Ingredients

Structure and

Technology

Mild Conservation

and Food Safety

Design and

development of

foodstuffs based

on consumer

preferences

Biobased Products

Development of:

industrial processing

industrial products

Based on:

renewable plant and animal

resources

„Green‟ chemistry

Dutch situation

Densely populated

Restricted land area for bulk production

Specialized high productivity farming

Highly industrialized

Logistic organisation

Long trading tradition

Bio-economy

….the solution for

sustainable developments

...?...

Dutch challenges: Milenium development goals

Reduce oil dependency

Imports of biomass

Collecting and on site pre-processing systems

Biorefineries analogue to petrochemical refining

Exports of value added “green chemicals”

Dutch Government and Industries & Bioeconomy

Advise for CO2 neutral production

Alternative biomass farming

Energy crops /

Marine crops / algae / seaweeds

Suitable sources for imports for fuel and chemistry

and biobased products

Carbon emission trade

Development aid and CDM

Bio-economy & Sustainable developments

CO2 neutral production

Transition process

Renewable resources for energy and

industries

Exploitation of biomass from agro-industrial

residues

Value addition in materials, and „green‟

chemicals

Growing demand for biomass resources

Agricultural crops

sugar ethanol

fats and oils biodiesel

Forestry crops

wood fuel

charcoal

What are the biomass resources

where are those available

at what costs

??

Transition to bio-economy

Underutilised biomass resources

Agricultural crops Agricultural

residues

Food industry wastes

Forestry crops Forestry residues

Black liquor

Waste paper

Animal waste Manure

Municipal solid waste Sewage

Marine crops

Various Crops and Regions

Cotton

Cotton

Corn

Sugarcane Soya

Sugar beet

Palm oil Coconut Coconut

Cassava

Algae

Soft Wood Soft Wood Soft Wood

Cotton

Hard Wood

Hard Wood

Wheat

Soya

Rice

Wheat

Eucalypt Eucalypt

Cacao

Soya

Palm oil EFB, POME, fibre, shell, trunk, leaves

Rubber wood / latex residues

Rice straw / hull

Sugar cane bagasse, molasse

Cocoa shell, residue

Coconut husk, shell, water

Banana raqui, stems

Pineapple tops

Etc.

Agroresidues of food and non-food crops

Biobased materials

Biomass for energy returns quickly CO2 in the

atmosphere

Carbon sequestration can be achieved in durable goods:

Bioplastics (PLA, PHA/PHB and other),

Cellulose and Starch plastics (CDA, cellophane),

Char

Composites

Building materials (wood and fibre boards)

What’s Happening to Climate and Why

1,000 Years of Carbon Emissions,

Atmospheric Concentrations,

and Temperature Change

CO2 concentrations

Human-induced Sources of Heat-trapping Gases

How Climate Change Will Affect Us

Current Population Density

Climate Change Effects on Human Health

An Urgent Need for Climate Policy

Energy Efficiency Programs

Low Carbon Energy Supply

Forests and Agriculture

Building Industries large contribution to CO2

Concrete

Steel

Aluminum

Glass

Synthetic polymers (PVC, PUR, PIR, PP)

Sustainable building developments

Energy saving (insulation)

Renewable energy (solar / wind)

Recycling of materials

recently

„green‟ building

Green architecture

Cradle to Cradle C2C

W. McDonough M. Braungart

Remaking the way we make things

Eco-efficient / effective design of products

Reuse of waste to produce new products

Waste becomes food.. Ever lasting cycles

Ford / NIKE / …many industries are following (?)

Bio-based economy and C2C

• Green Architecture and building

• Automotive industries … sustainable trade and industry

• Nutrient Upcyling, Triple-Top-Line,

Eco-effectiveness, Industrial design,

• Technical and biological resources for

..everlasting consumption.. (?)

Green architecture

Ecological building

Adobe

Ecolonia

Wood frame building

(c) Meertens Inst

Agrodôme

demonstration

project

Wageningen

• Materials and building method selection

• ranking • sustainable produced wood or agro raw material

• processed wood or agro-products

• reuse of building materials

• mineral resources (cement / lime / bricks / stone)

• metals

• petrochemical synthetic polymers

Agrodôme experimental building project

Biodegradable building materials

(c) Meertens Inst

Agrodôme

Agrodôme

Prefab elements, high demands on insulation

Agrodôme

Inventory Renewable building materials

Catalogue of products, methods and suppliers

Wood products

Wood fibre panels and boards

Non-wood products

Adhesives, coatings and building chemicals

Application of renewable resources

• wood - (wood frame construction)

– softwood / protected by coatings

– hardwood / eco-lable

• wood based reassembled (glued) products:

– fibre boards: HDF / MDF / particle boards

– multiply veneer panels, OSB

– cellulose insulation

• other non-wood products

Multiply constructions

Application of non-wood building products

• Bamboo and bamboo composites

• Fibre crops (flax, hemp, jute, kenaf, etc)

• non-woven insulation

• shives particle boards

• Wheat, rice straw bales / compressed panels (MDF)

• Reed / canes /palm fronts for thatched roofs

• Coir fibre mats and compressed (binderless) board

• Cork (and other bark residues)

Straw bale building

Fire hazard

Protect against attack of moulds and insects

Application of non-wood building products

• sheep wool insulation

• shell lime mortar

• whole-shell underfloor moisture barrier

• silica ash as substitute for cement

Roof insulation with sheep wool

(c) Dosha

Application of non-wood building products

• coatings and adhesives

– latex based coatings

– plant oil coatings / alkyl resins

– starch based adhesives

– protein coatings and adhesives

– lignin / furan adhesives (bio-oil)

• natural dyes

Application of non-wood building products

• biopolymers

– rubber

– thermoplastic starch, cellulose acetate

– polyesters (PLA/PHA)

– thermosets (lignin / furan / pyrolysis oil)

• composites

– fibre reinforcement / filler

– biopolymer matrix

Application of non-wood building products

• paper pulp products

– corrugated boards

– honey comb light weight laminates

– cylinder / tube

– pressed massive board (recycled pulp)ing

– wall paper cover

– cellulose spray coating

Paper tube constructions

Bamboo structures Simon Velez

Bamboo traditional constructions

Bamboo plywood construction

Renewable building materials

• foundation

• ground floor

• outer walls • inside walls

– massive wall - supporting

wall

– cavity wall - partition wall

• floors / ceiling

• roofing material

– pitched or flat

Renewable building materials

• ground floor

– whole shells / expanded clay as damp absorbent

(in crawl space)

– wooden beams

– sandwich panels

– prefab concrete extruded slabs (bio-crete)

Renewable building materials

• outer walls

• wood or wood composites covering

• shingles / rabat profiles / boards

• massive wall

• straw bales / loam

• recycled bricks

• cavity wall

• fibre insulation (cellulose / flax / wool)

Renewable building materials

• inner walls

• supporting walls

• wood frame construction with insulation and finishing

• concrete (biocrete) slabs

• partition walls

• particle boards

• laminate (fibre) boards

• paper boards

Renewable building materials

• floors / ceiling

– wooden beams

– multiply

• coir / cork insulation

– sandwich panels / fibre board

– prefab concrete extruded slabs (bio-crete)

• finishing

– marmoleum

– parquet / bamboo / cork

Renewable building materials

• roofing material

• pitched roof • thatched and fibre board panneling

• shingles

• photovoltaic cells

• flat roof • green roofing / substrate

• bitumen substitute

• cork insulation

Biomass from agro-industrial residues

World production capacity coconut husk

15-20

million tons /

year

Husk storage Mill Transport Dryer

Hot press Mat former Trimmer

Overview continuous pilot line

Building and construction materials

Building system development

New Design and Architecture

Supply chain

Product diversification

Sustainable building

Renewable materials

High performance

Competing for quality

for comfort

for safety

Low cost housing design (URBOX)

Dirk Smets (c)

Modular design (URBIX)

Dirk Smets (c)

Oil Palm (Malaysia, Indonesia)

ca 46 millions tons palm oil per year (2010)

25% of the World‟s vegetable oil production

Extensive global expansion (from 2 to 7

million ha in last 20 years)

80% of the World production on account of

Malaysia and Indonesia

Palm oil and palm kernel oil are the only

“products” (9% of the produced biomass),

the rest is “waste”

Biomass from agro-industrial residues

palm oil residues

ca 40 million tons biomass

720 PJ of (primary) energy

low utilisation rate

Utilisation of Palm oil residues

Lignocellulosic fibres at estate

fronts (10.5 tons /ha/yr)

trunks (70 tons / ha / 25 yr)

Residues at palm oil mill

empty fruit bunch (1 ton / ton palm oil)

mesocarp fibre (0.6 ton / ton)

shells (0.4 ton / ton)

effluent (0.4-1.0 ton/ton)

partly used as boiler fuel

Options for sustainable residue utilisation

Bio-diesel (residual oil / pressing cakes)

Bio-gas, H2 / ABE and ethanol fermentation

Bio-polymers (PLA, PHA)

Bio-oil pyrolysis

Charcoal

Fibres for paper, building boards and composites

Dissolving cellulose

Binderless board (intrinsic lignin)

“green” chemicals (furfural adhesives)

Utilisation efficiency

“The palm oil industry is one of those rare industries where very

little attempt is made to save energy” Husain et al (2003)

Malaysian methane emission from open of effluent ponds amount

to 225.000 tons = 5,17 million tons of CO2.

Piling up of waste biomass = CH4 production,eutrophication of

surface water, illegal burning (CO2), soil mining of plantation

EFB from Malaysia ( 30 wt% dm)

Empty Fruit Bunches

Left after removal of fruits

Regularly collected and discharged

at palm oil mills

Returned to plantation sites as compost

Used to be burnt at the mills; practically banned

EFB cellulose

Low grade

Fuel / ethanol

Particle boards

Composites

Medium grade (pulp)

Paper and board

High grade (dissolving cellulose)

Viscose / Rayon

Cellulose derivatives (CDA, HEC, CMC)

Conclusions

• Application of renewable building materials is

• technically feasible

• labor intensive and more expensive

• only small scale production

• More demonstration projects required for architects,

building industries and commissioners

• Ecological building has broad public interest

Conclusions

• Research needs for development of renewable building

materials • innovative building systems design

• supply chain

• indoor climate control

• functional life time control (protection against moisture,fire

and degradation)

• Building systems fitting in current building practice • education

• product promotion and publicity

Conclusions

By-products utilisation for added value is beneficial

to the sustainability of palm oil production

Essential for certifying the sustainability of the palm

oil biomass energy and products.

Multi-stakeholder involvement needed.

Include outsider (food vs non-food) industries

involved in energy and fibre products

Conclusion

There is no need for waste

when it’s bio-based