18-04: Scaling up the Borregaard BALI™ concept

Over the last 50 years Borregaard has evolved into one of the world's most advanced biorefineries in operation. In recent years Borregaard has directed substantial resources into developing the biorefinery concept BALI™. The concept is inspired by a sulfite cooking process and yields a water soluble lignin which can easily be separated from the cellulose pulp. The cellulose pulp is then treated in a subsequent novel process for enzymatic hydrolysis running at high total solids concentrations. The low viscosity achieved allows a high throughput and the use of conventional equipment. This in combination with identified applications for all streams makes for an attractive process economy. In January 2011 it was decided to scale up the BALI™ concept to 50 kg/h. The 25 MUSD pilot plant is being built as a mini plant where all unit operations are connected and scaled accordingly. The plant will be fully operational by Q4 2012 and an update on the current status will be given.