To achieve the above targets, BIOFOREVER established a collaboration infrastructure and website (www.bioforever.org) for a consortium of 14 leading industrial parties in feedstock supply, pre-treatment, downstream processing, techno-economic modelling and design, and market research. Within the consortium, new value chains from woody biomass to bio-based products, were developed, demonstrated and evaluated at different scales.
Four different woods were used in BIOFOREVER: spruce, poplar, waste wood A and waste wood B. These were transferred to the four pre-treatment partners who applied their proprietary technologies towards cellulosic sugars. Cellulosic sugar hydrolysates and their by-products were shipped to the application partners who executed bench-scale processes involving enzymatic conversions, fermentations and/or chemical-physical conversion towards 9 different types of products: carbon binders, butanol, ethanol, resin acids, fructose-FDCA, enzymes, vitamin B2, specialty sugars -xylose and lignin-based dispersing agents. Results have been assessed via multicriteria evaluation such as feedstock availability, processability, sustainability, regulatory requirements and costs resulting in preferred feedstock-pre-treatment-conversion combinations. The selected value chains were then demonstrated on pre-commercial scale, producing butanol, resin acids, cellulolytic enzymes, carbon binders, fructose, ethanol and specialty sugars.
Based on these results, a detailed techno-economic evaluation (TEA) was executed. Four competing pre-treatment processes were compared in detail in the TEA via a “black-box” approach; a more in-depth comparison could be possible if the engineering company involved was an independent party.
Although technically feasible, the economic feasibility of a wood-based biorefinery is challenging, mainly due to high market prices of spruce and poplar. Waste woods have acceptable prices but are associated with regulatory and /or quality limitations in several value chains.
From a Life-cycle analysis (LCA) perspective, cellulosic (2G) sugars can provide a CO2 reduction in certain scenarios compared to first generation (1G) sugars. Using the lignin fraction for energy production has a major contribution here. The combustion potential of the different BIOFOREVER lignin types was established based on composition and processability of the lignin.
A market study was done investigating the willingness of end users of bio-based products to pay a Green-Premium price. A limited premium of 10-20% appeared to be acceptable. After an in-depth consumers interview, the conclusion is that the consumers do not yet understand the bio-based concept. Educational programs and labelling systems are suggested to improve this.
Ethanol appears to be the most feasible outlet, given the current market situation. It serves as biofuel but can also be used as an intermediate chemical building block, a stepping stone towards a broader implementation of bio-based technologies. Lignosulfonate as by-product, showed to be a feasible replacer of coal tar pitch used currently as carbon binder. This bio-binder will be tested in a full-scale aluminum production plant as a follow up of BIOFOREVER, reducing Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) emissions to workers and GHG emissions.
Finally, three peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published, and one has recently been submitted, three articles have been published in web-magazines and representatives have participated in several conferences, workshops, stakeholders' meetings and exhibitions.
