Since the start in September 2016 work has been carried out along the whole chain from biomass sourcing up to the end-use of the fractions. In addition to the technical development work, a number of activities have been initiated like business, market and environmental assessments.
Biomass samples were selected from different sectors being agricultural (e.g. straw), food/feed processing (e.g. sunflower husk) and forestry (e.g bark). Samples were tested in bench-scale units. Of all samples tested three feedstocks were selected for further pilot plant processing (poplar slabs, wheat straw and sunflower husk). CAPAX evaluated potential locations in Europe for a pyrolysis-fractionation unit using these biomasses (“Virtual plants”). Sites in France, the Netherlands, Finland and Romania are further evaluated.
Initially BTG has fractionated the pyrolysis oils on lab-scale to gain a better understanding of the process as well as providing sufficient material for product development. Pyrolytic sugar and lignin samples were provided as such or further treated depending on the end-users demands.
A main deliverable of the project is the construction of a fractionation demo-plant. The design capacity is 3 ton of pyrolysis liquid per day producing pyrolytic sugar and lignin. The pyrolysis oil needed for the operation of the plant will be produced in BTG’s fast pyrolysis pilot plant or provided by the Empyro pyrolysis oil production plant. The pilot plant was commissioned in Q3 of 2018 and test runs were started in Q4 of 2018. Full plant capacity has been achieved and the required quantities of the fractions for the consortium partners have been supplied. The obligations concerning REACH registration of the individual fractions have been assessed and registration has been initiated.
The focus of TFC is on the use of the pyrolytic sugars in formulations for wood modification and foundry resins. A large number of small, standardized wooden sticks have been impregnated with different formulations containing varying amounts of pyrolytic sugars. Next, the durability and eco-performance of the wood-samples were tested, and the results were positive. The most promising formulation were identified for wood modification as well as foundry resins. Wood modification runs on pilot scale have been performed by Foreco, and several field demonstrations have been carried out.
The use of pyrolytic lignin was evaluated by Derbigum and Hexion. The aim of Derbigum was to develop a sustainable roofing material using pyrolytic lignin. However, due to the lack of convincing results, Derbigum couldn’t justify the scale-up of the process as originally foreseen in the project. As a consequence, this work has been discontinued. Hexion started with a detailed physical/chemical analysis of the pyrolytic lignin to get a better insight in the properties, and also to evaluate the differences in reactivity between the lignin derived from various biomass resources. Hexion aims to use pyrolytic lignin to partially replace fossil phenol in a variety of its existing resin formulations, with possible applications in the automotive industry, insulation, steel industry/metal casting, household products, abrasives and plywood manufacturing. Especially good results were obtained for foam- , molding- and plywood resins. Multiple large batches and batches on pilot scale will be produced and tested by multiple potential customers.
Biomass sustainability and product Life Cycle Assessments are being prepared by BTG for various entire value chains. GHG emission calculations for the complete value chains (from biomass production to pyrolysis, fractionation and end-use) show a high potential for reducing the overall GHG emissions. The economic assessment was led by E4Tech with promising results, but costs associated with REACH obligations might have a very significant impact. A business and market evaluation has been carried out by Van der Meer & Tilburg including the identification of new markets. The main products from the fractionation process are lignin and sugars, but also smaller quantities of so-called extractives (“pyrolytic tall oil”) are obtained. These extractives do have interesting properties, and potentially address a new product line. Greenovate! Europe is responsible for project communication and dissemination. Besides project branding, website and templates an interesting movie was produced concerning the Bio4Products concept.
