16-05: Tailor made process equipment and equipment scalability

Lignocellulosic biomass, e.g. wheat straw, corn stover, poplar, sugarcane bagasse, are potential sustainable substrates for usage within second generation biofuel industry and chemical production. For feasible biomass utilization a proper pretreatment is necessary. However, different pretreatment strategies are needed for different lignocellulosic biomass. Strategies may vary within temperature, reaction time, additives and concentration of the additives. Furthermore, strategies may also vary with regard to the end product in mind.

BioGasol has specialized in the construction and scaling up of continuous pretreatment equipment for lignocellulose utilization. The equipment can be tailor made for each strategy needed from a costumer with regard to biomass, end product and capacity. Continuous pretreatment equipment for a great variety of purposes requires thorough optimization by statistical design, followed by scalability and feasibility studies.

To optimize the pretreatment with regard to the various products, statistical design modeling was used. The results obtained from the statistical design enables the processing to be directed towards maximal release of desired biomass constituents. Furthermore, when choosing the optimal pretreatment conditions, production of degradations products inhibitory for downstream processing, must be taken into consideration. The choice of process parameters is thus dependent on both release and degradation.

This presentation will show results of the experimental design and sweetspot analysis carried out on several types of biomass, and how the biomass pretreatment was scaled up from lab scale to pilot scale to demonstration scale.