EBIO aims to develop sustainable routes to upgrade industrial bio liquids in order to simplify storage, transport and further processing to fuels and platform chemicals. Specifically EBIO targets the convorsion of instable compounds into stable intermediates, the removal of acids and the depolymerisation of high molecular weight fractions.
EBIO’s innovative concept focuses on electrochemical upgrading of two typical industrially available biomass-based liquefied feedstocks, i.e. black liquor and fast pyrolysis oil, through successive hydrogenation and decarboxylation. Process design and optimisation includes electrode materials, reaction cells, separation / purification, upscaling and integration into existing pulp mills and pyrolysis processes. Products aimed at specifically will have a higher energy density and stability, a lower averaged molecular weights, and less diverse oxygen functionalities in the molecules, as compared to the original feeds. This allows better blending / mixing with existing refinery streams and results in higher overall yields (in terms of carbon in the product, such as chemicals and biofuels).
EBIO’s key expected achievements are:
- Near-seamless integration of electrochemistry into biorefinery processes by combination of all the data using data treatment tools for flow sheeting, design, and impact analyses (yields and reaction rate/kinetics, energy balance, process efficiency, empirical links between the investigated process parameters/descriptors);
- Full process design, including integration of the prototype unit (for example hydrogen excess for final upgrading), integration over the value chains (for example oxidation – reduction vs reduction-oxidation), and integration with existing utilities (for example hydrogen for refinery; oxygen for pyrolysis; recycling option pyrolysis unit; chemicals recovery in pulp mill, energy integration);
- Detailed techno-economic evaluation to provide a realistic estimation of the manufacturing cost (substrates availability and supply chain, future end-users and economic sustainability of the process);
- Assessment of societal and environmental challenges and impacts, including barriers for social acceptance, impact of induced transport, as well as potential benefits (innovation potential, value added, employment) for regional economies, etc.
The objectives are:
Objective 1: Develop sustainable process designs for integration into pulp and pyrolysis plants
Objective 2: Establish an optimised electrochemical system for pyrolysis and lignin value chains
Objective 3: Develop optimised electrocatalysis & electrode design for pyrolysis oil & lignin value chains
Objective 4: Validate the technology for production of energy dense carriers at lab-scale (TRL4)