Biorefinery of the Future 2012 – We’re scaling up r… · working with The Bioreﬁnery of the Future, have studied spruce and pine chips using image analysis in the near-infrared

Biorefinery of the Future 2012

– We’re scaling up

2 Biorefinery of the Future | Activity Report 2012

At the time of writing, Processum is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and our cluster has been working on promoting biorefinery development on a broad front since 2005. It is therefore the ideal time to pause and consider what we have achieved so far. The research has been a great success – in fact we are about to decide on our 100th R&D Council project. Our development work has contributed to around 10 new processes, as many as 30 new products and prototypes, and just over 30 patent applications. Together with our member companies and educational institutions, we have also established a growing creative research environment along the coast of Norrland in the field of biorefineries. Over the past year, we have completed 11 pilot projects to scale up the most promising research, with a view to achieving a commercial scale in the near future. Another key role that The Biorefinery of the Future has played, together with companies in the cluster such as Domsjö Fabriker, BioEndev and SEKAB, has been to show that the biore-finery is a realistic alternative to conventional mills in the forest industry. The word biorefinery is now on everyone’s lips, with extensive R&D activity among our member companies and more broadly across the entire forest industry. I believe that our work has set an example and driven progress on a national basis. So what challenges are we now facing? Scaling up to full scale has proven more difficult than expected across the industry. A number of sizeable investments, particularly in the production of biofuels, have been put on hold or shut down over the past year. The area is promising in technological terms, but the

long-term demand and willingness to pay for green solutions has not been able to justify the investment. Lasting ground rules in the form of compulsory quotas for biofuel or some form of long-term tax relief on green solutions are needed right now! Sweden and Europe have political targets regarding a fossil free society, but so far our politicians have not created any realistic tools for achieving those targets. The next step for Processum and the biorefinery field is to focus on full-scale plants, but this requires the joint commitment of industry and government. In China, Brazil and the US, the two sides are already cooperating; the question is how do Sweden and Europe want to move forward? I believe that it is the greatest challenge facing the in-dustry as it strives to get large-scale solutions up and running so they can make a difference, in terms of industrial policy and the climate. As a step in the right direction, our pilot equipment resource is ready and many of our cluster’s technical development projects are currently be-ing scaled up. This Activity Report offers plenty more on this exciting work and the op-portunities for The Biorefinery of the Future. Enjoy the read!

Lea

de

r We have a lot to celebrateClas Engström

CEO, Processum

The Kempe Foundations

We make it possible

3Biorefinery of the Future | Activity Report 2012

Visions and a tradition of collaboration prompt further investment from VinnovaVinnova’s investment in the Biorefinery of the Future as part of the VINNVÄXT pro-gramme involves a long-term commitment over 10 years. Following a review by a group of international experts, in 2012 Vinnova decided to provide additional funding.

t is the capacity to combine all the region’s strengths in this emerging area that impressed the foreign panel

of experts who examined and assessed The Biorefinery of the Future. Here the collaboration is not only between strong companies, but also with other stakehold-ers such as universities and municipalities.

“The Biorefinery of the Future lies at the cutting edge when it comes to making new use of forest raw materials. This region has managed to bring together an incredible pool of talent in the field. Strong leaders who work across company boundaries, political courage and clear

PROCESSUM HAS BEEN NAMED Eco company of the year in Örn-sköldsvik. The honour was accompanied by a picture on the subject of the forest and the environment, created by Year 3 school children at Örnsköldskolan. With Processum also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the prize was a particularly good birthday present.

In his acceptance speech, Processum’s CEO, Clas Engström, gave particular thanks to Carl Kempe, Elvy Söderström and Peter Blomqvist, who have all made vital contributions to Processum and The Biorefinery of the Future, as well as to the Domsjö site.

“This is a magnificent and welcome testament to the environmental work of Processum and all our member companies and other stake-holders,” commented Clas Engström. “Locally, it also recognises the work done in the Domsjö area over the past 10 years by companies such as Domsjö Fabriker, Sekab, AkzoNobel and MoRe Research to develop successful biorefinery activities.”

Clas Engström was also named Business leader of the year, not least for his ability to unite the stakeholders in the cluster and drive the organisation forward.

traditions are a recipe for success that has turned Sweden and Örnsköldsvik into a global centre of excellence. That’s an impressive and unique achievement,” says Lars-Gunnar Larsson, VINNVÄXT.

FUNDING FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

The Biorefinery of the Future got off the ground as part of VINNVÄXT in 2005, when it was adopted on the grounds that the area was considered to have major future growth potential. Now Lars-Gunnar Larsson is able to report that the faith in the project was well founded.

“As far as we’re concerned, The Biorefin-ery of the Future shows that it’s possible to create profitable bio-based products for areas where we traditionally used oil. It is also impressive to see the way the invest-ment that Vinnova injected has generated funding from several other stakeholders. It just goes to show how important long-term investment can be.”

COLLABORATION ACROSS BORDERS

The new funding that has been promised on the back of the positive assessment will create new opportunities for additional col-laborations both regionally and nationally. Vinnova is keen to see more examples of combining industries where there has tradi-tionally not been any cooperation before.

“There is expertise that forward-looking projects like The Biorefinery of the Future can draw on from completely different areas, including the oil-based industry. It is just a case of overcoming the historical resistance that exists between the two areas,” says Lars-Gunnar Larsson.

ILars-Gunnar Larsson, VINNVÄXT

Photo: Anette Andersson


We make it possible

Processum – Eco company of the year


EXTRACTIVE SUBSTANCES SHOW UP UNDER INVISIBLE LIGHTIdentifying and classifying the volume of extractive sub-stances contained in the wood-chips makes it more efficient to separate mature wood from juvenile wood, for example. The technique used to separate the individual chips is NIR (near infrared radiation).

RESEARCHERS at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Umeå, working with The Biorefinery of the Future, have studied spruce and pine chips using image analysis in the near-infrared spectrum. The researchers studied the raw mate-rial’s extractive substances, which occur in the heartwood of both spruce and pine, where the wood is classified as juvenile or mature. “The outcome of our research is a technique showing that it is possible to charac-terise individual wood chips. At the moment, chips with high levels of extractive sub-stances are a concern in the industrial process, so it is important to be able to sort out as many as possible of those wood chips, in order to increase throughput in the process,” explains Torbjörn Lestander, who heads the research team at SLU in Umeå.

Researchers and companies have their sights set on the long-awaited torrefaction pilot in Umeå. The technology being developed here is paving the way for refining forest raw materials and residue streams from industrial processes into green products.

ioEndev AB, which runs the torrefaction pilot in Umeå, has spent many years developing, applying for and securing patents on the technology for refining biomass

through heat treatment. Torrefaction involves chips, bark and other residual products from thinning and clearing being heated to between 290 and 340°C in an oxygen-free environment. This gives the material new properties: higher energy value, greater hydrophobia, more easily ground, more homogeneous, there is no biodegrading activity in them and they become much drier (total moisture content of two to five percent). After compacting, the material also takes on a higher energy density, which reduces logistical costs. Moist, fresh, wet or dry raw materials can be refined to replace normal pellets or be turned into brand new green products.

EXTRA CAPACITY

In 2012, the pilot plant was moved from Röbäcksdalen to Umeå Energi’s premises at Norrland University Hospital’s boiler plant, and at the same time capacity was increased from 20 to 200 kgTS/h. There are several interesting projects associated with the new pilot, partly by commercial contractors, but also from academia. BioEndev, which is part-owned by Umeå Energi, is working to scale up the trials in the pilot and create a demo facility for torrefaction at Dåva CHP plant.

“It’s incredibly exciting to see how our technology works in a real-world context,” says Ingemar Olofsson, development engineer and co-owner of BioEndev. “We began with a small pilot plant in 2008. During 2012, Processum invested in a torrefac-tion drum that complements our pilot, which we are grateful for. The old pilot was too small to run many compacting tests, for example, particularly any that required large amounts of material.

B

GREEN COALTo run a trial, you really need at least 200 kilos, but preferably 500 kilos of material. It took us a week to generate that from the old pilot, but now we do it in a morning.”

GREAT BENEFIT TO MEMBERS

The pilot plant is of interest to several of The Biorefinery of the Future’s member companies, since it involves refining forest raw materials and residual products from industrial processes and converting them into green products.

“There are many new markets and new applications to consider for torrefied material, with more immediate examples including co-incineration with fossil coal dust and conversion of oil-fired peak load boilers to black biodust. The intention in the long term is for the basic raw material to be residual products from forestry activities, which will also increase the ash content. It is up to the market to determine whether the pelleted product will then be seen as a viable replacement for ordinary pellets,” says Ingemar Olofsson.

Torrefaction pilot for production of


innova increased its funding for The Biorefinery of the Future in 2012, raising it by SEK 2 million

from SEK 4 million to SEK 6 million. The co-financing partners (Processum’s mem-ber companies, Västernorrland County Administrative Board, Region Västerbot-ten, the municipality of Örnsköldsvik and the municipality of Umeå) have matched that increase to give a total of SEK 4 million in additional investment for the initiative. The cluster has also secured considerable funding from the EU’s Struc-tural Funds, which gives The Biorefinery of the Future greater long-term core funding than it had before.

“We’re now funded until 2016. The extra money means that we can and will broaden our current operations. In fact, we’re already following several new paths,” states Processum’s CEO, Clas Engström, mentioning initiatives such as joint branding, new companies, col-laboration with the Swedish chemicals industry (see separate article) and major EU projects.

A NORRLAND BRAND

In order to further strengthen the Norrland partnership on pilot equipment and biorefinery issues, there are plans for a

V

GREATER core funding enables more activities

A greater, stronger collab-oration within the frame-work of The Biorefinery of the Future will generate new companies, new raw material chains and major international EU projects.

joint brand to market the region. Work on this will be run by BioFuel Region, which works across municipal boundaries.

“The aim is for everyone to know that there is cutting-edge expertise of international class in Norrland. Using the same concept when we present ourselves will improve our chances of success. The important thing is to come up with a con-cept that everyone can feel comfortable with,” says Engström.

NEW COMPANIES

Another focus area is spin-offs and new companies.

“We’re building an industry around areas such as green chemicals and feeds. This requires new facilities to be built on a smaller scale than in the existing chemicals industry. It also

takes capital to start your own business and that’s where we come in. It would be a shame not to try and make best use of good ideas.”

Some of the new funds will therefore be used to build up a structured partnership with bodies such as Uminova and Åkroken Science Park, which already run this type of incubator activity, aimed at project work and product portfolios in the cluster.

MAJOR EU PROJECTS

Seeking out major EU projects within research programmes is also high up on the agenda for Processum’s CEO.

“We already have extensive experience in Structural Fund projects. Now we also want to run and lead projects under the Seventh Framework Programme. We have greater scope to do this thanks to our research partnership within Bio4Energy.”

A few such projects were launched in 2012, with the cluster playing an active role. One example is the four-year Nano-Select project, which is developing bio-degradable water treatment filters made from nanocellulose. The project is being led by Luleå University of Technology, with

Processum, MoRe Research and Sekab contributing on the

raw material front.


THE FOREST AND CHEMICALS industries join forces

“We have the will, the ability and the desire to make this important, right and enjoyable!” These were the words in the application that the cluster companies Hållbar Kemi 2030 and Processum submitted to Vinnova’s campaign aimed at bringing industries closer to each other. The application went down very well and work is now proceeding in a major technical feasibility study with SEK 10 million in co-financing from Vinnova.

he forest industry is seeking out new applications and wants to learn more about the chemicals

market. The chemicals industry wants to switch from fossil to green. Now West Sweden’s cluster for sustainable chemis-try and The Biorefinery of the Future are combining resources. The Skogskemi (Forest Chemistry) project involves assessing the scope for collaborations across the industries.

“As a result of work in 2012, we’re proceeding with three lines of enquiry aimed at making basic chemicals for Stenungsund from the Swedish forest. The three areas being investigated are methanol, olefins and butanol,” explains

T Processum’s CEO Clas Engström, who is project managing the forest chemistry initiative together with Lena Heuts at Chal-mers University of Technology.

Within the Biorefinery of the Future cluster, potential suppliers include Sekab, SCA, Holmen Skog and Domsjö Fabriker. When it comes to recipients, the cluster Hållbar Kemi 2030 has Perstorp, INEOS, Borealis, AkzoNobel and AGA – major chemicals companies that manufacture polyethylene, PVC and specialist chemical products. A total of 19 parties are involved in the project, with academia represented by Bio4Energy, Chalmers and SP Techni-cal Research Institute of Sweden.“Today’s basic chemicals are fossil-based,

but we intend to replace them with a green supply. The products, however, will be the same. We’re examining the existing structure and its proven technolo-gy, to see whether we can find any viable logistical and commercial solutions that can be combined in a new way. In an ideal world, some of the solutions will appear so attractive that we will be able to source further funding to build a plant,” says Engström.

POSITIVE IMPRESSION

Initial contact between the clusters was made back in August 2011. The project participants have now attended a number of meetings and both sides are making positive noises about the collaboration.

“We found each other, you might say. This is not just about technology, but about people. We all want something and find this fun and exciting. We also trust each other,” comments Lars Josefsson, who chairs Hållbar Kemi 2030 and is also chairman of INEOS Sweden.

Both Clas Engström and Lars Josefs-son are in no doubt that the forest chem-istry project will lead to other projects, as the participants find each other’s strengths and see opportunities opening up.

PRE-FEED TO PROVIDE ANSWERS

Over 2.5 years, the technical feasibility study, pre-FEED, will provide answers as to which technology will be used, where the plants will be sited and what it will all cost to build and operate. The potential business models are a key facet of the study, since both the forest industry and

Part 2: Olefins Project manager: BorealisContributors: Ineos, SEKAB, Perstorp, Domsjö, SCA, MoRe, Bio4Energy

Part 2: Methanol Project manager: ProcessumContributors: Metso, Perstorp, Holmen, Domsjö, SCA, MoRe

Part 2: Butanol Project manager: Perstorp Contributors: SEKAB, Domsjö, Holmen, MoRe, Bio4Energy

Part 3: System analysis Project manager: SPContributors: All Part 4: Discussion

platform Project manager: ProcessumContributors: All

Part 1: Sugar Project manager: B4EContributors: SEKAB, Borealis, Holmen, Perstorp, SCA, Processum, Chalmers

Part 1: Synthesis gas Project manager: CITContributors: Borealis, Perstorp, Domsjö, Holmen, SCA, Bioendev, Chalmers, Bio4Energy

Projektöversikt - Skogskemi


Today’s basicchemicals are

fossil-based, but we intend to replace them with a green supply”

THE INTERNET IS AN IMPORTANT information source in today’s society, which is why The Biorefinery of the Future has made a conscious effort to improve and simp-lify access through its new website and by setting itself up on Facebook.

The websites for The Biorefinery of the Future and Processum have also been merged into one, clarifying the relationship between the company and the cluster and making it easier for visitors to find the information they want.

There has been a positive response, with the website seen as easy to navigate and rich in content. Visitor statistics also confirm the sense that the new design has been a success. The Biorefinery of the Future’s website in particular is attracting many visitors both from Sweden and from many other countries.

Nowadays, many people opt to search for static information on websites, while updated and interactive information goes via social me-dia. This is why The Biorefinery of the Future has also chosen to set up a Facebook page.

TWO BECAME ONE ON THE INTERNET

NORWAY HAS ITS OIL, Sweden has its forest. The conditions may be different, but across the Nordic Green Belt there is a shared interest in finding green alternatives in the biorefinery field. In 2012 this prompted a cross-border project, Bioraffina-deri Mitt-Skandinavien (Biorefinery Mid-Scandinavia), run by Processum in Sweden and PFI (Papir-og Fiberinsti-tuttet AS) in Norway.

The purpose of the Bioraffinaderi Mitt-Skandinavien project is to gener-ate growth in the Nordic Green Belt: Västernorrland, Jämtland, Sør-Trøn-delag and Nord-Trøndelag.

The experience, pilot equipment, expertise, contact network and other biorefinery resources that are available across this geographical belt are set to create exciting innovations. The aim is to identify and set up a number of joint R&D projects, with two projects already on the starting blocks.

The Bioraffinaderi Mitt-Skandinavien project will continue for two years, with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund, via the programme Interreg Sweden-Norway, Vinnova, Västernorrland County Admin-istrative Board and the counties of Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag.

BIOREFINERY ACROSS BORDERS

MODIFIED MOLECULE IN DEGREE PROJECT

the chemicals companies need to benefit from using the forest for green chemicals.

“Every company has to be profitable. We’re doing this for the environment, but also to improve the competitiveness of our companies and of Swedish industry as a whole. The competitive advantag-es will come both through reducing the greenhouse effect and replacing fossil raw materials. Its forests offer Sweden a unique opportunity,” says Lars Josefsson.

DIALOGUE NEEDED

So far, the study has shown that replacing all three chemicals is entirely realistic, but many questions remain. A life cycle analysis will determine how good the various solu-tions are for the environment in terms of transport, alternative uses of the forest and so on. If none of the lines of enquiry prove possible to implement in practice, the pro-ject will provide a system analysis that can tell politicians what changes are needed to make a green revolution possible.

The participants in Skogskemi have already presented the ongoing work to decision-makers and politicians, including Sweden’s Minister for Rural Affairs, Eskil Erlandsson, and Minister for Enterprise Annie Lööf – and the reactions have been positive.

“The politicians we’ve talked to and meetings we’ve attended have been incredibly positive. This is a concrete way to meet Sweden’s political objective of a biobased society. Whether it’s enough to make the systematic changes we want re-mains to be seen,” concludes Josefsson.

CAN BETULIN BE modified to create a brand new material from a renewable source?That was the question and focus of the degree project conducted by Julia

Forsberg in partnership with Processum. “Betulin is a molecule that occurs naturally in birch bark. I made several different

changes to my starting molecule to try and create a new material. The most success-ful result produced a solid, colourless product,” says Julia Forsberg, who praises Processum for its professional support during her degree project.

Processum funded the degree project and helped supervise it, with Tomas Gustafsson at FOI taking up supervisory duties.

Borealis supplies polyethylene, which is used to make this type of high tension cable.

Karin Øyaas, Research Manager Paper and Novel Materials PFI and Yvonne Söderström, project manager for Processum


T

A pilot plant is the next step, once it is time to leave the lab-oratory environment and scale up the experiments, without necessarily going as far as industrial production. With sup-port from the EU’s Regional Structural Fund, Processum, its member companies and its academic partners have created a unique pilot equipment resource comprising 11 pilots aimed at boosting development in the biorefinery field.

he 11 items of equipment have been selected after discussions in our cluster on what needs

the resource should meet, according to Yvonne Söderström, who is project man-ager for the creation of the pilot equip-ment resource. The most important focus has been on not building something that already exists, as well as ensuring that the pilots are flexible, with plenty of opportu-nity to test different reactions, chemicals and materials, and that they can be used in concert as far as possible.

The region is seeing extensive research and development work in the field of biorefinery, aimed at exploiting renewable raw materials in various ways for a long list of products such as chemicals and fuels. Once experiments have succeeded on

a laboratory scale, these trials then need to progress to a larger scale. To facilitate this upscaling, in 2012 Processum set up and brought on stream 11 pilot equipment facilities for biorefinery development.

The location of the pilots has been based on where expertise and comple-mentary equipment is available in the specific areas. As such, SLU’s algae pilot is situated on Umeå Energi’s site at Dåva, the torrefaction pilot can be found at BioEn-dev’s plant and the dryer pilot is at SLU-BTC, all in Umeå. The other eight pilots are sited at MoRe Research in Örnsköldsvik.

The pilot equipment is available to Processum’s members and stakeholders in The Biorefinery of the Future, but can also be used by other universities and companies.

Pilots in Örnsköldsvik

BIOREACTOR. For growing microorganisms, fermenting sug-ars into green chemicals, hydrolysis of various lignocelluloses and using residue streams as a growth medium.

ATEX-CLASSIFIED PILOTS. Reactors for chemical synthesis.

CONTINUOUS EXTRACTION. Continuous extraction be-tween two immiscible liquids.

DECANTER CENTRIFUGE. Continuous separation of solid matter.

FACTSPilot investments

Bioreactor. Decanter centrifuge. Grinder.

PILOTIT TAKES A

TO LIFT OFF


GRINDER. Grinding various materials, biomass or resi-dues from other processes.

FILTER PRESS. Separates solid matter in water-based slurry from the liquid phase.

HIGH SPEED CENTRIFUGE. Separates microbial cells and/or liquids of different densities.

VISCOSE SPINNING PILOT. Spinning viscose thread for evaluation of process and product properties.

Pilots in Umeå

DRYER PILOT. Precision-controlled drying of materials such as bark, energy crops or industrial by-products.

TORREFACTION DRUM. For torrefying biomass.

ALGAE PILOT. Treating leachate, residue streams or waste water using algae and then producing biomass from these algae.

Continuous extraction.

FlexEx reactors. Yvonne Söderström, project manager for the pilot equipment resource, in front of the flexible reactor system FlexEx.

Spinning pilot.

OT

High speed centrifuge.Algae pilot.


Demand for fish is expected to rise sharply over the next few decades and the only way to meet that demand is to farm fish. The problem at the moment is that much of the feed for the farms derives from fish meal, which puts extreme pressure on fish stocks. The Biorefinery of the Future is working to develop a possible solution to aspects of the problem.

Mixing biofibres with plastic creates a strong composite material. The problem is that it is hard to mix a water repellent material with one that does not repel water. OrganoClick’s method chang-es the properties of the fibres, making them more inclined to mix with other materials.

Turning forest residues into

FISH FEED

Strength from superhydrophobic fibres

ish meal is the dominant protein source in fish food, but its production is an environmental threat in itself since large quantities of fish are

harvested from the sea and ground down. The ex-pected shortage in protein has to be met with alterna-tive protein sources, which need to be economically and environmentally sustainable, high quality and not compete with human food production.

PROTEIN FROM MICROORGANISMS

The Biorefinery of the Future is currently running an EU/Eurostar project (Microfeed) focused on producing Single Cell Protein (SCP) from forest industry side

streams. The project’s main aim is to develop a replacement product for fish meal.

The idea of producing SCP from industrial side streams is in fact nothing new. During the First and Second World Wars, some research went into produc-ing SCP, although primarily as a human food. The rea-son that the SCP concept would work today, when it failed before, is the current eco-awareness, combined with the sharp price rises caused by the prospect of the protein raw material, i.e. fish, running out.

There have been other experiments, with mixed results, in which the fish proteins were replaced with soya protein, for example. The benefit of SCP is that the protein comes from microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts, algae and filamentous fungi. Genet-ically, they are closer to animals and humans than plants such as soya are. They also reproduce and double their populations very quickly. A couple of kilos of microorganisms can grow to a weight of several tonnes in a day.

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH

After just over a year, the project has moved from the laboratory phase to the pilot phase.

“Here in Örnsköldsvik we’re sitting on a goldmine when it comes to equipment for industrial biotech-

2012 project originated from OrganoClick’s idea of cre-ating a strong composite material by mixing plastic with fibre. In the project, OrganoClick investigated the possi-

bility of making fibres from Domsjö Fabriker water resistant using their own fibre modification technique. OrganoClick’s patented method involves changing the properties of the fibres by natural chemical processes. Adding natural chemicals changes the molecular composition of the cellulose, giving the fibres entirely new properties. Only substances that are safe and biodegradable are used.

F

A

Björn Alriksson and Andreas Hörnberg, research and development engineers at Processum.


Turning forest residues into

FISH FEED

nology,” states Björn Alriksson, a research and deve-lopment engineer at Processum. “We have access to equipment for industrial biotechnology on a lab scale, pilot scale and demo scale all in the same place. There are only a few locations in the world like that. We’ve run BioBo (the bioreactor) for maybe 80 days, 24 hours a day, and the filter press, decanter centrifuge, high speed centrifuge and grinder have also been used in the project.”

As well as members of The Biorefinery of the Fu-ture (Sekab E-technology, Domsjö Fabriker and Umeå University), the project also involves two companies and a research institute in Iceland.

“What we’re doing now,” explains Björn, “is that we’ve produced a few kilos of the protein and sent it to our colleagues in Iceland. They’re testing out replacing different proportions of the fish meal with the protein and feeding it to the fish. Then they’re comparing this with traditional feeds to see whether it

produces better or worse growth, whether it’s harmful to the fish and so on.”

SCALING UP PROTEIN PRODUCTION

The project is now shifting up a gear from manufactur-ing around 50 litres to upwards of 10,000 litres at the demo plant. At the same time, the marketing potential for the product is also under the microscope.

“This is a new area for us,” says Björn. “We haven’t worked on this specifically before, so we’ve learned a great deal by testing how different organisms react to the different streams, what happens when we scale things up and what problems that brings. Now we’re moving to the next phase, where the product is tested on a larger scale and we see what it would take to begin commercial production.”

The EU project will come to an end in autumn 2013.

FACTSOrganoClick is an innovation company with its own production, and techno-logy based on natural chemistry, i.e. how different functions are structured in trees, fruit and plants. Their pro-ducts include rot resistant and flame retardant timber and water repellent textiles. OrganoClick was established in 2006 and now has 10 employees. The company’s offices, lab and pro-duction are based in Täby, Sweden.

“We copy nature’s chemistry to bind substances into the fibres and change their performance. We look, for example, at how trees make leaves water resist-ant, and then we replicate that process. The new properties of the fibres may be water resistance, improved mechanical properties or flame retardance,” states Mårten Hellberg, CEO of OrganoClick.

FINDING APPLICATIONS

The project was a success and Organo-Click was able to prove that the method

worked. The fibres became hydropho-bic and extremely water repellent.

“The next step is to find the most appropriate applications for these fibres. We and Domsjö Fabriker are working with a plastic composite man-ufacturer to see how our fibres work in their product. I hope we’ll see this material being used in manufacturing, for example,” says Mårten.

The follow-up project of finding applications should be completed in summer 2013.

Here in Örnsköldsvik we’re sitting on a goldmine

when it comes to equipment for industrial biotechnology.”


The development engineers at The Biore-finery of the Future have regular contact with member companies and other key partners as a means of identifying needs and new ideas. They can also help to formulate project proposals and structure the format of the projects.

So far, 126 proposed projects have been considered by the R&D Council and 97 of them have been awarded funding totalling SEK 14.4 million. The preference is for small-scale feasibility studies that will hopefully lead to bigger things in the future.

LUBRICANT for research and development

Innovation requires protection

The R&D Council has a greatly expanded role as a broker of contact and information between member companies and other parties. Its task is to foster and support exciting new ideas associated with the biorefinery field and in-crease collaboration between business and academia.

The Biorefinery of the Future is very busy with its patent activities. As R&D work moves forward and ever more new products and processes are invented and commercialised, the need for support on patent issues also grows.

uch of the work carried out within The Biorefinery of the Future is about initiating and

promoting new ideas for products and processes that use forest raw materials as efficiently as possible. Since 2010, the R&D Council has been responsible for overseeing and steering the organisation’s research and development work.

A FASCINATING ENVIRONMENT

The R&D Council comprises five mem-bers, representing industry and academia. Current members of The Biorefinery of the Future, as well as external companies and universities, are able to seek financial

In 2011, a number of member companies within the project (Processum, Domsjö Fabriker, MoRe Research, PulpEye and Sekab) therefore joined forces to employ a patent engineer. This venture has proven an effective solution for all parties. Patents and knowledge of competitors’ patents are impor-tant for various reasons, with companies selling their own

backing from the R&D Council for inter-esting ideas and projects. Sune Wänn-ström, who has a background in R&D management in the forest and chemicals industry, chairs the R&D Council.

“A large part of what makes Proces-sum and The Biorefinery of the Future tick is research and development, which has created an incredibly fascinating en-vironment. Our aim at the R&D Council is to spot good ideas, assess their potential and then decide on any funding. We are supposed to act as a lubricant, oiling the mechanisms that get companies and researchers to work together, and I think we’re doing a good job,” he says.

R&D COUNCIL PROMOTES

COLLABORATION

The proposed projects vary in character, from complete plans that can be assessed and decided on immediately to ideas in their infancy. The R&D Council has drawn up a number of criteria that a project should meet in order to be taken forward. The main requirements are that the project relates to biorefinery development, has clear benefits for members and is a collaborative project involving two or more parties from industry and/or academia.

MFACTSDo you have a good idea?The Biorefinery of the Future is al-ways looking for new proposals for R&D projects. So do you have any ideas, thoughts or rough sketches on a serviette? If so, contact one of the development engineers. You’ll find their contact details at www.bioraffinaderi.se.

technology needing to be sure that they are covered by patent protection. For others, it is important to know their room for manoeuvre, so that nothing derails the company’s business. Monitoring existing patents in your own industry is therefore important to avoid patent disputes and to keep up with developments.

Within The Biorefinery of the Future, nine new national patent applications were submitted in Sweden and Europe during 2012. In addition, 10 international PCT (Patent Co-operation Treaty) applications have been submitted either to the Swedish Patent and Registration Office or the European Patent Office for consideration.


The next step will be to find a really smart application for dried green liquor sludge”

GREEN LIQUOR SLUDGE dried using flue gases

T alkaline. Using flue gases to dry green liquor sludge creates a brand new product that is easier to handle.

“We’ve tested the actual drying technology before and looked at theoretical solutions for the use of flue gases as an energy source. The new and unique feature of this project work is that we’ve investigated the practicalities of using the lime kiln’s flue gases as an energy source. The challenge when producing dried sludge is to find a sufficiently cheap method that makes financial sense,” says Gunnar Westin, project manager for Processum.

A REAL-WORLD PROJECT

Students gathered data from SCA Obbola and studied the tem-perature, flows and dry matter content of the flue gases. For the students, this was an opportunity to work on a real, current case. Maria Sundberg was one of the students involved in the project.

“The best thing about it was working on a real-world project at SCA Obbola. I also enjoyed getting to work on something that might be of practical use,” she says.

A number of observations were made during the course of the project, and the conclusion was that enough energy can be recovered from the flue gases to dry green liquor sludge.

FINDING SMART APPLICATIONS

The students submitted a complete report on their project work at the start of 2013, and the research results have been passed on to all the members of The Biorefinery of the Future who pro-duce green liquor sludge as a result of their pulp process.

“The next step is to find a really smart application for dried green liquor sludge, for example in the mining industry or as a dust suppressing product for gravel roads. The project is a great help in getting us ready to start using dried green liquor sludge in practice,” says Gunnar Westin.

he Biorefinery of the Future worked up theories about exploiting waste energy to produce dried green liquor sludge. Contact between Processum and Umeå Univer-

sity then produced a project to examine the possibility of drying green liquor sludge using the often wasted energy in flue gases from lime kilns. The project ran during autumn term 2012, and was led by Processum and SCA Obbola within the framework of The Biorefinery of the Future. The studies were conducted by six students in their fifth year on Umeå University’s Master’s programme in Energy Engineering.

EASIER TO HANDLE DRY PRODUCT

The manufacture of paper pulp creates the residual product green liquor sludge. In its original form, this is difficult to handle and transport, since it contains a lot of water and is also strongly

There are major economic and environmental benefits in using the flue gases from the sulphate factories’ lime kilns to dry green liquor sludge. The question is whether it is practically viable. In a project within the framework of The Biorefinery of the Future, students at Umeå University have investigated whether it is possible to use the energy in the flue gases to dry material.

Students at Umeå University conducted their investigations at SCA Obbola.


KNOTTERPULP HEATS ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK

notter pulp is a residual product from Domsjö Fabriker’s cooking process, and is made up of the knots in the wood that are decomposed in the cooking process.

Chemical residues from the same process have made it difficult to find new applications. The pulp has therefore been piled up at the mill or sent off to other companies, sometimes a long distance away.

During 2012, Övik Energi, Domsjö Fabriker, Eurocon and Processum ran a project to investigate whether the knotter pulp is suitable as a fuel for Övik Energi’s CHP plant, and whether it needs to be washed, dried, ground or processed in some other way to make it viable.

“The collaboration within The Biorefinery of the Future gives us a contact network that we can talk to about these issues,” ex-plains Rickard Pellny, production manager at Övik Energi. “If the other companies in the cluster take a component and refine it, we can often use what is left over as fuel. This gives us a cheaper fuel source and the industry avoids sending to landfill something that’s not actually waste.”

Rickard Pellny also stresses the value of Processum as a neutral moderator in these discussions.

“With The Biorefinery of the Future as a platform, we find it easi-er to set aside our mutual business interests for a moment and talk about the future and opportunities from a broader perspective.”

THOROUGH INVESTIGATIVE WORK

As expected, analyses of the knotter pulp showed levels of sul-phur, sodium and potassium that limited the blend to a maximum of five percent by volume of the total fuel amount. In terms of size, it proved suitable for combustion in Hörneborgsverket in its existing state, without having to be ground, crushed or pelleted.

“Once the report was completed, we saw the potential to proceed with a technical study, an environmental study and a logistical study. The logistics were important as we need an even blend of knotter pulp,” says Rickard Pellny.

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In The Biorefinery of the Future, everyone wants to really make use of the whole tree – some to get rid of residual products, others to increase the value added and a third group to obtain fuel at a lower cost. Everyone plays their part and it is a win-win situation – not least for the environment. Now there is yet another successful example of this collabora-tion, with the use of knotter pulp as a fuel at Övik Energi’s CHPplant, Hörneborgsverket.


KNOTTERPULP HEATS ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK

Despite the low percentage blend, the calculations showed that everything Domsjö Fabriker produced per year could be used by Hörneborgsverket.

TRIAL COMBUSTION POSITIVE

After a dialogue with and approval from the boiler supplier Metso, Övik Energi applied to the County Administrative Board and ob-tained an environmental permit to combust knotter pulp on a trial basis. The combustion trials showed that a continuous blend of small quantities works well, but places demands on the process.

“Taking the plunge and mixing in a new fuel requires a great deal from our operators and engineers. The greatest challenge was achieving an even blend of knotter pulp over time. Getting it right over a trial week is no problem, but it has to work day in, day out,” comments Pellny.

PERMANENT LICENCE

A permanent licence was issued for the combustion of knotter pulp at the end of 2012, and Övik Energi now blends three per-cent knotter pulp by energy value at the Hörneborgsverket plant. This is enough to keep pace with the knotter pulp generated by Domsjö Fabriker’s process as well as using up small amounts from the waste piles. The low concentration blend also allows the operators to monitor the process and ensure that the grains of sand in the boiler do not react chemically with the sodium and potassium to form stony clumps (clinker).

“In this respect, the fact that the knotter pulp contains sulphur is actually an advantage. It’s good for the combustion process and combats the clinker problem.”

Övik Energi has long burned peat, which also contains sulphur, so there is already a flue gas condenser in place to deal with the sulphur effectively.

“We’re now cutting back on our use of peat, as it has become less profitable due to political decisions on emission rights. The good thing is that we can easily increase the amount of knotter pulp instead.”

MAJOR SAVINGS

The Hörneborgsverket power plant only burns biofuel and fuel is by far its largest running cost. Rapid savings can therefore be made by finding cheap fuel that works well.

“We buy around 750 GWh of fuel per year. Using the knotter pulp saves the company millions, even at such low concentrations. This reduces our need for the more expensive fuel, which can also be used for something with higher value added. In this case it’s roundwood chips, which can instead be turned into pulp.”

Övik Energi sees the project as a huge success that quickly brought cost benefits.

“To keep the power plant economical, we need to follow up, and in fact take the lead, on this development. We always have to be aware of the opportunities we have and try out new residual products. Now we have the bit between our teeth and we’re already thinking about what comes next,” concludes Rickard Pellny.

The greatest challenge was achieving an even blend of knotter pulp over time”

Photo: Håkan Nordstöm/Nordströmbild


What began with two tubes and a few plastic bottles is now an internationally renowned biorefinery pro-ject. Now algae are cleaning waste water and flue gases before becoming biofuel with a number of possible appli-cations, under the leadership of Francesco Gentili at the Swedish University of Agri-cultural Sciences (SLU).

rancesco Gentili is driven by a de-sire to find environmental improve-ments. This led him, via agronomy

and the Department of Plant Physiology at Umeå University, to a PhD in nitrogen fixation at SLU in Umeå. Francesco is also the man who started investigating algae, as he realised that they tolerate extremely high levels of carbon dioxide.

“I thought about the greenhouse effect

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and agriculture, because I’m an agrono-mist. When you compost different types of waste, 45-55 percent of the carbon goes up into the air, which makes an impact on the environment. In my tests of compost and the degradation of waste by algae, the algae reduced the carbon dioxide levels by 95 percent. That was when I realised I was onto something interesting.”

FROM BOTTLES TO PONDS

Backed up by his results, Francesco approached Uminova Innovation, which helps researchers to take their ideas forward. They believed in his project – and most people have continued to do so.

“Scaling up my project required nutrient-rich water and carbon dioxide, so I thought: who has lots of water and who has lots of energy? In 2007 I made contact with local water company Umeå Vatten och Avfall (UMEVA) and Umeå Energi.

With support from the Swedish Energy Agency, and from Avfall Sverige, we launched the partnership that has gone from growing algae in small bottles to

aquariums, to greenhouses and now, with Structural Fund money via Proces-sum, to a large pilot plant. Next to Umeå Energi’s CHP plant Dåva there are now four cultivation ponds totalling 80 square metres.

The algae thrive on a combination of nutrients from untreated sewage or indus-trial waste water and carbon dioxide from the CHP plant’s flue gases – helping to clean these along the way. They are then filtered and sedimented out to create high value biofuel.

FROM PROJECT TO PILOT

The collaboration between Francesco Gentili’s SLU project and The Biorefinery of the Future arose in 2010 out of a mutual interest in expanding the treatment of water to also include waste water from the pulp industry.

“We tested algae growth in water from Domsjö Fabriker and SCA Obbola. The trials went well, particularly in the rather softer water from the sulphate pulp mill,” relates Francesco Gentili.

AN AGRONOMIST’S

DREAM became a large-scale algae plant

Photo: Johan Gunséus

Francesco Gentili with cooperation partner Henrik Bristav from Umeå Energi.


“But the really big collaborative project is naturally the algae pilot that we had up and running by July 2012.

NEW PLATFORMS CREATED

The pilot has taken the algae project to a whole new level and over the past few years a number of new partnerships have been established.

“Since we’re producing more, we can test more. We now have four ponds – two in greenhouses and two out in the open – where we can run parallel trials, with the same type of algae and different water, or with the same water and different types of algae. We’re getting answers to a whole host of questions,” says Francesco, who also praises Processum for the platform created via The Biorefinery of the Future.

“We were invited to visit the pilot park in Örnsköldsvik, where we met the other member companies and brilliant researchers. As we talked to each other, we found links and connections that led to new partnerships, for example within Bio4Energy.”

Some of the key focuses of the research are the extraction of bio-oil and biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas. In focusing on biomass and the environ-ment, Francesco Gentili does not want to commit to a particular type of biofuel or

FACTSDuring 2011-2012 collaborations and dialogue were conducted with:

and leachate from the process.

combustion.-

nology and Umeå University on bioethanol production.

Linköping and PhD students at Mälardalen University on biogas.

on major projects concerning the use of algae for water treatment and biofuel.

crude oil.

could be used to produce feed from biomass.

Stefan Löfven cuts ribbonAt the launch of the algae pilot on 22 October 2012, Social Democratic Party chairman Stefan Löfven was im-pressed by the plant, whose research project was selected by the government as one of 13 leading examples of Swedish eco-technology. He also praised the excellent climate of collaboration within The Biorefinery of the Future.

“Cooperation is a must if research projects are to succeed. The algae pilot is a prime example of a partnership between society, researchers and business that really works.”

end-product until the pilot has been able to show which approaches yield the best results. He also believes that local condi-tions must be taken into account.

“In the case of biogas, for example, digesters and other infrastructure are already in place, which pave the way for local use of the biomass, so the local situation is important.”

RIDING THE WAVE

So what are the major challenges for the future?

From a scientific perspective, it is about ensuring stable algae production even during the dark times of year and finding the “dream algae” for this. It is also a question of being able to stress the algae to increase their oil content, which would be good for the production of biodiesel.

The practical challenge is to get more people who can handle all the collabora-tive projects that the pilot is now ready for.

“The ideal would be a PhD student and a post-doctoral employee with research experience. That would allow us to tackle more issues and delve more deeply into the projects. We’re seeing a wave of interest in what we’re doing. The key is to harness the power of that wave. Our success depends on it.”


The ground biomass and a carrier gas are released into the top of the externally heated cyclone. In the pyrolysis phase, wood is converted into vapour (tar), gas and the solid residual product coke. The coke is separated from the gas stream using centrifugal force, so that the solid material drops down to the bottom of the cyclone, where it can be collected. The vapour condenses into a combustible liquid, while the gas can be used to keep the reactor at the right temperature.

HOW A CYCLONE REACTOR WORKS

Liquid biofuel to make fuel oil superfluous

The Biorefinery of the Future supports research into flash pyrolysis – a way of upgrading a solid biofuel such as stump-wood, branches and treetops, into liquid pyrolysis oil. This opens up the fuel to wider applications and may in the long term replace fuel oil and diesel.

esearch into pyrolysis oil is being conducted all over the world, including at the Energy Technology Centre (ETC) in Piteå, Sweden,

a research institute that offers academia, society and industry tailor-made experiments, calculations and investigations.

ETC developed a cyclone reactor suitable for processing biofuel back in 2000, in partnership with Luleå University of Technology. This prompted an ambition to build a laboratory and establish a new process for the production of pyrolysis oil. With sup-port from Sveaskog, the Swedish Energy Agency and Norrbotten County Administrative Board, Processum, Smurfit Kappa, Bio4Energy and Solander Science Park, this is now becoming a reality.

“In the first phase of the project, the goal is to show that the studied process has advantages over the pro-cesses that have come closer to commercialisation,” explains Henrik Wiinikka, head of R&D at ETC.

“One advantage is that this method also allows you to use the coke that is produced. Depending

on the purity and carbon content of this, there are several potential applications with high value added. Examples include active carbon for industrial process-es, energy-rich powdered fuel for CHP boilers and pressing into briquettes or pellets.”

FIRST STEP TAKEN

A subsidiary aim of the ETC laboratory has been to build a process verification rig based on the cyclone principle. In autumn 2011 and spring 2012, this was achieved with funding from Processum. The rig allows researchers to study the properties of the oil and how it can be used.

“Without the rig, we can’t test anything. It was essential to have it in place,” says Henrik Wiinikka, whose team have now put the facility into operation and tested it.

The pyrolysis oil has a higher energy density than both wood chips and pellets. Combusting it would mean reduced transport costs and cleaner emissions. However, fuel oil and diesel require high standards

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from the pyrolysis oil. The oil has to have a low concentration of particles and metals since these cause deposits during combustion. Too great an accumulation of deposits can cause stoppages and breakdowns.

Despite initial teething trouble, the test results show that it is possible to manufacture a combustible pyrolysis oil in a cyclone reactor.

“The tests we’ve conducted look promising. The oil is extremely pure, it contains no sand and has a relatively low metal content. The oil also has a good thermal value.”

TIME FOR UPSCALING

Work will now focus on running continuous experi-ments to see how the oil behaves when produced on a large scale, how best to store it and what commer-cial potential the technology has.

“So far, we’ve only used stumpwood, but in the long term the aim is for us to be able to use willow, branches, roots, treetops, bark and other residue streams,” says Wiinikka.

If the project goes well, ETC will proceed with a demo project where around five tonnes of biomass per day will produce 1,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil per year.

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SUCCESSFUL cellulose conferenceThe Cellulose Conference is a central meet-ing place for researchers in the fields of regenerated cellulose and cellulose deriva-tives. The research is more topical than ever, with researchers and product developers around the world showing great interest in getting involved. When the conference was threatened with closure, Domsjö Fabriker took the initiative to preserve it within the framework of The Biorefinery of the Future.

FACTSThe cellulose conference was first held in 2003 and takes place every two years. Domsjö Fabriker, Processum, Bio4energy and Borregaard support the conference, which is organised by Karlstad University and Umeå University. The delegates come from universities and industries around the world. 90 delegates from 16 countries attend-ed in 2012, which is a record since the conference began.

ovember 2012 saw the fifth international cellulose conference, titled ”The Workshop on Cellulose, Regene-rated Cellulose and Cellulose Derivatives”. The location

for the conference was Örnsköldsvik and over 90 delegates from 16 countries took part. The event was previously hosted by Karlstad University, but when the conference was threatened with closure, Domsjö Fabriker and others stepped in to make sure the conference lived on.

The conference is unique in that it focuses on using cellulose in areas other than paper and pulp. In Sweden, research into regenerated cellulose reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, before interest tailed off. However, the field of research is more topical than ever, and has been for a few years now. The rising interest is due primarily to growing demand in the textile industry that cotton production is not managing to meet.

“We felt it was important to keep the conference going. It’s a key focal point for researchers in universities and product developers in the industry. It’s also an area that has gone from no interest to becoming an extremely hot topic, with new industries setting up and research really starting to take off. It would have been a mistake to discontinue the conference and we wanted to help keep it going,” says Kristina Elg Christoffersson, head of Dominnova at Domsjö Fabriker.

The 2012 conference included 19 different lectures and seve-ral opportunities for delegates to share current and international cellulose research. The delegates showed great interest in new methods and eco-friendly techniques to dissolve dissolving pulp and developing the textile products of tomorrow.

“At the conference, we got to see examples of how previous research results have been revisited and led to new conclusions. We’re now able to conduct reviews using models that were not available then, which is important and interesting, while also opening up a good discussion among researchers,” states Kristina Elg Christoffersson.

The next cellulose conference will take place in Karlstad in 2014.

The tests we’ve con-ducted look promising. The oil is extremely pure.”


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Bio4Energy – driving research forward

TALENT FOR FUTURE BIOREFINERIES IS TRAINED HERE

The Bio4Energy project has received SEK 200 million from the Swedish government to conduct leading research in the field of bioenergy and bio-refineries. Three universities, several research institutes and around 20 industrial com-panies are behind the project, with The Biorefinery of the Future as one of the partners.

Bio4Energy is launching its own graduate school to ensure multidisciplinary depth and greater collaboration between PhD students and the business world.

io4Energy is a five-year project that began in 2010, with the aim of bringing together researchers

and industry to establish new uses for the enormous resources of the forest.

“We at Bio4Energy decided to focus on developing new products, materi-als and energy options from our forest resources,” explains Stellan Marklund, Professor of Chemistry at Umeå Univer-sity. “We want to show that the forest is about more than just paper and pulp.”

Umeå University, Luleå University of Technology (LTU) and the Swedish Uni-versity of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) are all involved in Bio4Energy. By the end of 2012, over 50 researchers were linked to

the project and several research projects set up and realised.

Research breakthroughs have been made in producing new renewable materials that can replace plastics and aluminium in food packaging. World-class technology has also been developed for the catalysis and separation of gases and liquids, with flue gas cleaning as one application. First-class research is ongoing in the gasification of forest residues and residual products from pulp manufacture. These are turned into clean, renewable fuels at LTU’s facilities in Piteå. On the development side, there have been trials of large-scale bioethanol production.The first evaluation of Bio4Energy showed

he graduate school is aimed at all PhD students within the Bio4Energy sphere, i.e. students from Umeå Uni-versity, SLU and Luleå University of Technology with

an interest in researching and developing forest-based bio-refineries. The aim is to give the PhD students the technical and scientific skills to help drive forward the development of effective and sustainable biorefineries in their various capa-cities. As a bonus, the school will strengthen the cohesion of the postgraduate group, whose members will gain a unique insight into work at today’s pilot plants and industrial facilities.

To create a graduate school with a clear profile, two courses will be held annually: the Biorefinery Pilot Research Course, worth 7.5 higher education credits and System Perspective on Bioresources, worth 7.5 HE credits.

The Biorefinery Pilot Research Course is the graduate school’s signature course, where participants visit the pilot and demonstration facilities located along the Norrland coast. The aim is to give the PhD students an idea of where forest-based biorefinery technology is at, and the challenges and opportuni-ties that the field presents. Business links will be made through representatives of companies and industry bodies actively tak-ing part in the course. Processum is one of the representatives.

The steering committee of the graduate school comprises people from the three universities involved in Bio4Energy and from the business world.

that the three universities are good at the research side of things but could improve their contact and collaboration with the business world. This therefore presents a key challenge over the coming years.

“One university can’t do everything itself,” says Stellan, “which is why we have contact with each other and, above all, why we work with the industry. It’s important that we liaise with those already working in the industry, that we find ways to commercialise our research in order to avoid the results languishing in a drawer somewhere.”

According to Stellan Marklund, the collaboration with The Biorefinery of the Future provides several valuable synergies. The Biorefinery of the Future supports, initiates and gives start-up grants to inter-esting new research projects, as well as identifying potential new research tasks.

“The research within Bio4Energy covers the entire production chain, from tree to finished product in the form of biofuels, bioenergy and green chemicals. The vision is to create eco-friendly and sustainable technology that makes it pos-sible to replace today’s oil refineries with biorefineries. We’re now two years away from the review that will show whether we’ve succeeded. All being well, we can look forward to becoming a permanent operation with annual funding from the government of SEK 50 million.”

Photo: Mikael Lundgren/Bio4Energy


Focus on supplyForest biomass is the raw material of the future for sustainable products – a resource for producing almost entirely carbon-neutral fuels and products. Demand from biorefineries for forest biomass is set to rise in the future. One problem is that the supply of raw materials is costly and not ready to meet the quality requirements of new industries. The collaborative project Forest Refine has the key task of honing the raw material supply to the biorefineries.

F orest Refine is a cross-border part-nership between eight partners in Sweden and Finland, countries that

lead the world in developing biorefinery processes. The project involves research-ers in the areas of forestry and chemistry, with a focus on sustainability and using the whole potential of the forest. At the same time, energy consumption and envi-ronmental impact has to be minimised.

“The most important driver behind the project is the climate. Using forest biomass, we can produce sustainable fuels and green products. We also know that oil is not an infinite resource. We need to start finding alternatives to it now and not wait 10-20 years for the problem to become acute,” says Magnus Matisons, project manager for Forest Refine.

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY

The project looks at everything from future access to forest raw materials, efficient provision, chemical and physical require-ments to system analyses and energy balances when supplying biorefineries. A specific target group for the project is biorefineries.

“They want to secure their future access to raw materials. At the moment, raw materials account for around half of their costs. We have rather ambitiously

FACTSForest Refine is a joint venture bet-ween BioFuel Region, Processum, the Department of Forest Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the Unit of Biomass Techno-logy and Chemistry at SLU, the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Kannus, Kokkola University Consor-tium Chydenius, Centria University of Applied Sciences and Central Ostrobothnia Rural Institute. The project is coordinated by BioFuel Region. Funding: EU’s Botnia-Atlantica programme, Region Västerbotten, Västernorrland County Administra-tive Board, Regional Council of Ostrobothnia and Regional Council of Central Ostrobothnia. Project areas: Västerbotten county, Västernorrland county and Central Ostrobothnia.

said that the project will cut the cost of sourcing raw materials by 15 percent. If we succeed, forest biomass may become extremely attractive to biorefineries,” explains Magnus Matisons.

USE EVERYTHING

There is a great deal to be gained from finding new ways of using all the forest’s resources. Traditional logging only har-vests part of the raw material. However, the branches, stumps and so on that are left behind after felling can be converted into valuable raw materials in their own right, as long as their handling consumes as little energy as possible and does not impact negatively on the forest environ-ment.

“The stumps are worth considering, because interesting chemicals can be extracted from them. But if you lift up the stumps with a digger, that will have a neg-ative environmental impact. Using an alter-native method that only harvests the core of the stumps, we can source stumps that are free from contamination and at the same time have a minimal effect on the ground,” says Magnus Matisons.

The project began in early 2012 and a final report is due to be submitted in 2014. The aim is for the project’s results to speed up the development of forest bio-

The project participants, which come from Sweden and Finland, have complementary expertise in chemical and forest research.

mass for use in biorefineries. The results are also intended to form the basis for decisions on the design and geographical location of planned biorefinery plants.


KTH chooses Domsjö Development ParkDomsjö Development Park in Örnsköldsvik is the best place in Sweden to give students on KTH’s course in biofibre chemistry a concrete picture of the opportunities that lie ahead of them, according to Professor Monica Ek.

or three years in a row, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) has held a study visit to Domsjö Development Park. Staff at Processum organise the visit and help to set up contacts in advance.

“Örnsköldsvik and Umeå provide an opportunity to see the whole value chain that our course focuses on, from the forest as a raw material to the processes that separate the fibres and the components of wood into cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin,” explains Monica Ek, Professor of Wood Chemistry at KTH. “And all this can be found on an industrial or pilot scale within a relatively small area.”

Over two busy days, the students visit a number of companies, everything from Holmen Skog’s nursery to Domsjö Fabriker, Processum, Sekab, Domsjö Fiber, MoRe Research and AkzoNobel.

“The study visits give our students a concrete idea of what engineers work on, what type of jobs they can expect and what opportunities are out there,” says Mon-ica Ek. “They also show where the research frontier lies in these areas and increase understanding of what we’re doing in our research projects at KTH, making them easier to relate to.”

Processum is happy to receive students and other visitors. It is a way to show what opportunities and needs there are when it comes to developing the biorefinery field. The study visits are also interesting for member companies from a recruitment perspective, as well as establishing important contacts for the future, as students progress in their careers. This further expands the cluster’s network.

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ERIK BÄCKLUND, CEO Airgrinder “Being a member has given us a broad and valuable network of con-tacts. There are many projects within The Biorefinery of the Future that are of interest to us, plus our membership allows us to run our own develop-ment projects.”

WHY ARE YOU MEMBERS OF THE BIOREFINERY OF THE FUTURE?

NILS GILENSTAM, environmen-tal and process engineer at SCA Obbola “As members, we gain access to experience and expertise that we don’t have ourselves. It’s based on collaboration with other members. We’re currently involved in a number of projects that we expect to improve our business.”

ANN-BRITT EDFAST, head of R&D at Sveaskog“It’s important for Sveaskog to find new applications for forest raw mate-rial. The Biorefinery of the Future is a good network, as we can work with others and share in current develop-ments. The cluster is also a locus for good, forward-thinking talent.”


Right skills thanks to

UNIQUE TRAININGIn autumn, Umeå University is launching a new engineering course called Bioresource Technology. The course was designed in close collaboration with the business world, including companies in The Biorefinery of the Future, in order to develop skills in the area of green raw materials and their potential.

he unique feature of the new course is the combination of biology, chemistry and engineer-

ing. The students get to follow the whole chain from how the tree grows to how the raw material can be refined. The course focuses on how, in the future, we can use biological raw materials, primarily from the forest, not just in traditional areas such as pulp and paper, but in a range of brand new applications.

“This is a career for the future,” says Tomas Hedlund, head of the Bioresource Technology programme. “There is already demand for these skills and that demand is set to continue rising. Many of the chemicals we use today are based on oil, which we all know is not sustainable forever. We need new chemicals and new products based on renewable raw materials, and that’s what our students will specialise in, specifically the use of the forest as a source of raw materials.”

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The right skills are a critical issue for the future of the member companies within The Biorefinery of the Future. The Biore-source Technology programme is tailored to the needs of the forest industry and the chemicals industry, with several key stakeholders supporting the initiative.

“This is a new way to try and attract the next generation of talent,” states Jennie Söderström, who is responsible for skills and innovation at Processum. “For members of The Biorefinery of the Future, this type of workforce is incredibly important. So far, it has been relatively easy to find people for current vacancies, but looking a few years ahead, demand for the right skills is set to skyrocket.”

The course lasts five years, with a green focus running through the whole programme. Students interested in how to achieve sustainable production and exploit bio-resources in the future and who see the potential in

developing new methods for achieving this will find the course a perfect fit. In fact, there is no other like it at the moment.

The first doctoral thesishas been defendedAs a result of a collaboration between Processum, Domsjö Fabriker, AkzoNobel and Umeå University’s Industrial Doctoral School, Peter Strunk has defended his thesis on dissolving cellulose. This is a milestone for Processum, since Peter is the first PhD student to reach this stage within the framework of the cluster.

eter Strunk is one of several PhD students to have start-ed out with Processum. Processum and The Biorefinery of the Future work actively to create a postgraduate envi-

ronment that gives researchers a context and a platform to start from, even if the actual research work takes place at one or more of the other member companies. The proximity to industry, both geographically and via the contact network that The Biorefinery of the Future cluster provides is a major benefit to the students.

The thesis being defended has clear links with the biorefin-ery field and results from a collaboration between several member companies and Umeå University. The subject of the thesis is the characterisation of cellulose pulps and the influence of their properties on the process and production of viscose and cellulose ethers. The work has provided a greater understanding of how the production process for dissolving cellulose affects the properties of the viscose produced. Another concrete outcome is that Processum has invested in a spinning pilot which, together with the pilots at MoRe Research, will cover the whole chain from wood to finished thread on a pilot scale.

As other industries choose to cut back their research departments, Processum has always been determined to invest and that is starting to bear fruit.

-medlemsföretagen


Funding

Intressera.se

– member companies

Documents

Biorefinery of the Future 2012 – We’re scaling up r… · working with The Bioreﬁnery of the Future, have studied spruce and pine chips using image analysis in the near-infrared