THE BiAR PROCESS: TRANSFORMING LOW-VALUE BIOMASSES INTO HIGHLY VALUABLE FOR ENERGY-RECOVERY FUELS

Project Information

BIAR

Grant agreement ID: 807140

DOI

10.3030/807140

Project closed

EC signature date 2 February 2018

Start date 1 March 2018

End date 30 June 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

INSER ENERGIA SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIAR (THE BiAR PROCESS: TRANSFORMING LOW-VALUE BIOMASSESINTO HIGHLY VALUABLE FOR ENERGY-RECOVERY FUELS)

Reporting period: 2018-03-01 to 2018-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

BiAR is an innovative process that transforms low-value ash-rich biomass (sewage sludge and agro-forestry residues such as barks and rice husks) into ash-free biomass fuels for energetic use. The main objective of our current project BiAR is the industrial adaptation and scale-up of our Biomass Ash Removal pilot plant and its commercialization in the biomass industry, which is subject to a stringent legislation regarding ash content. Accordingly, we have assessed the BiAR process scale-up approach and design along with its KPIs and operational parameters definition. Also, we have considered further optimization towards validation.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In our feasibility study we have defined the scale-up, the main key parameters to be controlled and the optimization of sizing to attain optimized process conditions, the residence time of slurry inside the reactor and the filtration step.
For commercial deployment for our process complying for ENplus certification under ISO17225-2, pellet producers and associations have been identified as target users. We have defined our total addressable market providing us a market share of 1.40% of total EU-28 pellet production.
In our financial feasibility we have established that BiAR will be sold by licensing the process, the expected financial forecast and the estimated budget to reach the market.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The novelty of the BiAR process lays the complete conversion by solvolysis at moderate temperatures of ash-rich biomass and wastes to high-value ash-free pellets for energetic use. This is the only cost-efficient process able to separate inorganic from organics compounds at large scale.
Nowadays, the only method economically viable at industrial level to separate the inorganic compounds from organic compounds is burning. New emerging techniques are arising to reduce the biomass ash content; however, they are at an experimental stage. Due to the low percentages of separation, these techniques are not the solution for the efficient removal of ashes from biomass feedstocks. Moreover, none of these techniques are applicable to the range of biomass waste and residues types such as sludge and agro-forestry residues. As a result, ash-rich biomasses are currently being used ineffectively or still largely disposed. BiAR is the only economically viable process able to convert low value biomass waste and residues into highly value biomass for energetic use and with the lowest environmental impact.

BiAR process: transforming low-value biomass into highly valuable for energy-recovery fuels