2nd generation bioethanol production

[JTD]

Reserachers at DTU (Technical Universityof Denmark) in Copenhagen has introduced the worlds first 2nd generation bioethanol production facility.

Maxifuels: Bringing second generation bioethanol to the market

Birgitte Kiær Ahring

BioCentrum-DTU, BST



The MaxiFuels project is constructed to solve the major barriers for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic materials by cost efficient conversion of the raw material, maximizing the amount of biofuels and minimizing the disposal of process water.



Efficient and optimized use of the raw materials with an environmentally friendly technology is the key to future success for the 2nd generation bioethanol production. Therefore the overall process outline for MaxiFuels has been defined to yield the maximum amount of bio-fuels per unit of raw material and to increase the process benefit by utilization of the resi-dues for further energy conversion and by-product refining.



The main product is bioethanol - but the focus on production of other biofuels such as meth-ane (from a biogas process), hydrogen (from xylose fermentation) and other valuable by-products from the parts of biomass not suitable for ethanol production add full value to the overall process benefit. This focus exploits an environmentally friendly way of producing bioethanol where recirculation and reuse of all streams produced in the process have been fully integrated. For example, reuse of the process water is possible with the integration of the biogas process.



Output from 1,000 kg straw:

* Bioethanol: 310 litre
* Biogas: 90 m3
* Solid biofuel: 230 kg

Estimated price per litre bioethanol: 0.31 euro

EDIT: A bit more info: http://www.biogasol.dk/default-en.htm

[Brian Ellis]

I note there is no mention of the energy required to make it, compared with the energy available from the fuels produced.

[GNEP]

Indeed: the usual blocker for these plants is the transport (energy) cost of the dry fuel to the plant. Straw is less dense than mycanthus, and that certainly made no sense in terms total-lifecycle net energy production when my father looked at it (google for mycanthus and transport costs for loads of papers that conclude the same thing).