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From Mills to Refineries
The Evolution of Biorefining
BBNet Conference 2023
Green Futures” What’s next for biorefineries?

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A specialist business consultancy with 20
years of bioeconomy experience
to provide clients with a strategic view of feedstock,
technology, policy and market development across
the bioeconomy, enabling them to make informed
business decisions and develop sustainable
business strategies.

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Political enthusiasm for renewable transport fuels is running
high. The EU, UK, and US have all proclaimed they would like
to use less oil and more biofuels, both to mitigate climate
change and improve their energy security.
Biofuels are seen as the best large-scale substitute for fossil
transport fuels in the short and medium term.
A discussion covers the current technologies and co-products;
the concept of biorefinery; chemicals produced from biomass,
e.g., glycerol, lactic acid, epichlorohydrin, and 1,3-
propanediol; economic and environmental consequences of
biomass transport; and aims and vision for biomass
production.
Renewables: Bring on the biorefinery, Chemical Engineer, September 2007
M. Simpson-Holley, A. Higson and G. Evans

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The International Energy Agency (IEA) describes the biorefinery as “the sustainable processing of biomass into
a spectrum of marketable products (food, feed, materials, chemicals)
and energy (fuels, power, heat)”.
This means that biorefinery can be a concept, a facility, a process, a plant, or even a cluster of facilities
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) uses the following definition “ A biorefinery is a facility
that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power and chemicals from
biomass. The biorefinery concept is analogous to today’s petroleum refineries….
What is a biorefinery anyway?

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Jämsänkoski pulp mill late 1880s
Albion plantation sugar factory c.1890
Stockhausen Inc soap factory
(Evonik)
Reinventing the wheel!

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Oil refineries, large, complex yet simple.
Most refineries are in the range of 10-250 thousand
barrels/day (~0.5-12.5 million tonnes per year)
The Nelson complexity index (NCI) is a measure to
compare the secondary conversion capacity of a
petroleum refinery with the primary distillation capacity.
The index provides an easy metric for quantifying and
ranking the complexity of various refineries and units.
By Walter Siegmund (talk) - Own work, CC BY 2.5,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3413544

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Vive la difference!
https://task42.ieabioenergy.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/10/2009/07/T42_Classification-paper-BIOFPR.pdf
Crude Oil versus biomass refineries
Feedstock diversity
Feedstock sourcing
Process technology
Scale of operation
Product slates

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What’s in a name?
https://task42.ieabioenergy.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/10/2009/07/T42_Classification-paper-BIOFPR.pdf
The lignocellulosic feedstock biorefinery
The whole crop biorefinery
The green biorefinery.
The two-platform concept biorefinery
The conventional biorefinery
The thermochemical biorefinery
The marine biorefinery.
The liquid-phase catalytic processing biorefinery
The forest-based biorefinery

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The generation game…..
First-generation biofuels are directly related to a biomass
that is generally edible.
Second-generation biofuels are defined as fuels produced
from a wide array of different feedstock, ranging from
lignocellulosic feedstocks to municipal solid wastes.
Third-generation biofuels generally relate to algal biomass
but could to a certain extent be linked to utilization of
CO2 as feedstock.
https://academic.oup.com/af/article/3/2/6/4638639
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755008418303259

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Bringing order to chaos
https://task42.ieabioenergy.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/10/2009/07/T42_Classification-paper-BIOFPR.pdf

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Survival of the fittest….
The Kellner Partington
Paper & Pulp Company Limited
Established 1889 in Manchester,
England
https://www.borregaard.com/company/

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Evolve and adapt…..
Packaging Materials &
Solutions
Wood Products: Building
Solutions
Biomaterials Innovations
https://www.storaenso.com/en/about-stora-enso/our-strategy
https://www.upmbiofuels.com/about-upm-biofuels/upm-lappeenranta-biorefinery/

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Taking to the skies…..
Hydrotreating oils and fats to produce diesel or jet fuel is the basis of significant biorefinery development.
Paris — September 24, 2020 — Total will
convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne)
into a zero-crude platform.
By 2024, following an investment totalling more
than €500 million, the platform will focus on
four new industrial activities:
Renewable diesel and SAF
Biobased plastic
Chemical recycling
Two photovoltaic solar power plants.

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Making the most of what you’ve got…
Biobased naphtha producers
such as Neste and UPM
Supplying to Ineos, Borealis,
BASF, Solvay etc
Allocating to polypropylene,
polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene
etc
Sold as mass balanced or bio-
attributed https://www.iscc-system.org/about/circular-economy/mass-balance-approach/

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Birds of a feather…..
Outputs
Amino acid L-lysine
EPA+DHA omega-3 fatty
acid oil
Stevia
Lactic acid and
derivatives
Polylactic acid
Ethanol
Enzymes
Blair, Nebraska, 100 million bushels of corn per year
Natureworks

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Where there’s muck…..
21 MW capacity plant, produces electric
energy using vinasse and filter cake,
sugarcane by-products
Raizen to build second biogas plant (plans to
have 39 biogas plants in operation at its mills
by March 2031.
Yara plan to use 20mn m³/d of biomethane
output for the production of green ammonia
and hydrogen.
https://www.raizen.com.br/en/press-office/raizen-inaugura-planta-de-biogas-e-
consolida-portfolio-de-energias-renovaveis
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2325476-brazils-raizen-to-build-second-biogas-plant

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Caution to the wind….
Marathon uses wind power to lower CI of
Dickinson biorefinery.
• The turbines are expected to generate more than 40
million kWh of energy each year, providing
approximately 45% of the renewable diesel facility’s
electricity needs.
Renewable Energy Group Breaks Ground on
Wind Turbine in Albert Lea.
• The project, to be constructed and operated by
Minnesota-based Juhl Energy, will save approximately
68,000 tons of carbon dioxide over the first 10 year.
Gevo switches to wind at Luverne biorefinery
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200922005365/en/
This rendering shows the location of four of the five wind
turbines to be installed at MPC’s Dickinson renewable diesel
facility.
https://www.marathonpetroleum.com/Newsroom/Company-News/Marathon-Petroleum-
announces-wind-power-agreement-for-Dickinson-renewable-diesel-facility/

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Not just hot air….
Calgren Ethanol Plant
Pixley, California
Plant produces 55 million gallons of
ethanol, 400,000 tons of WDGS and 1.5
million gallons of corn oil each year.
AD operation linked to cattle ranch manure.
Export of electricity to the grid
Heat battery installed 2023

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Putting the pieces together…..
Fuel products are expected to achieve a net-zero GHG
footprint across the whole life-cycle.
Wind power is expected to offset 100 percent of the
electricity needs and help decarbonize the regional grid.
Much of the thermal demand is expected to be met by
burning of on-site waste streams.
Green hydrogen is expected to be made from water and
renewable electricity.
Optionality to bring additional Renewable Natural Gas
(RNG), further lowering the GHG footprint.
https://gevo.com/net-zero-projects/

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Location, Location, Location,
Relative to fossil feedstock, biomass is
small scale and distributed.
How does existing infrastructure meet the
need for consolidation of raw materials or
distribution of intermediates?

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Put a lid on it…
Map shows the proposed route for Wolf Carbon Solution's 280-mile
carbon dioxide pipeline project through Eastern Iowa. CREDIT IOWA
UTILITIES BOARD
ADM signs CO2 pipeline deal to capture,
store ethanol plant emissions
CC used for enhanced oil recovery.
The only large-scale BECCS facility is the ADM,
Illinois Industrial CCS facility. Based at ADMs
Decatur corn ethanol plant, up to 1Mtons of CO2
capture capacity per year.
CCS provides an opportunity for negative
emissions.
CCS Pipelines allow transport and consolidation of
feedstock for CCU projects.

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Waste not, want not
Avoided
production
How to treat CO2 emissions?

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The need for carbon…..
The flow of the 11 most widely used polymers from production into six
end-use applications for the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017.
What to Do about Plastics? Lessons from a Study of United Kingdom Plastics Flows
Michał P. Drewniok, Yunhu Gao, Jonathan M. Cullen, and André Cabrera Serrenho
Environmental Science & Technology DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c00263 EU Biomass Use in a Net-Zero Economy: A course correction for EU
biomass – Material Economics 2021

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It's what's inside that counts…..
The competitiveness of
biobased materials is likely to
increase as other, CO2 -
intensive materials (e.g.,
petrochemicals and cement)
face higher production costs
https://renewable-carbon-initiative.com/

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Upcycling carbon dioxide…..
Making the most of carbon resource
https://hifglobal.com/
https://hydrogencouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Path-to-
Hydrogen-Competitiveness_Full-Study-1.pdf

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What comes next…..
Circular Bio-based Europe Joint
Undertaking
Created over 20,000 direct and
indirect jobs
Attracted €5.2 of private
investment per each €1 of CBE
JU funding
Stimulated €1.3 billion in
private investment
https://www.cbe.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
03/A%20competitive%20bioeconomy%20for%20a%20sustainable%20future.pdf

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Final thoughts
Biorefineries are not new and the same economic considerations of feedstock choice,
process capacity/complexity, market access and risk appetite apply to fossil and biogenic
refineries.
Increasing use of renewables for on site energy production – opportunities for hydrogen
production and integration, potential for CCS and CCU; but at what scale?
The use of mass balance certification has changed the nature of the biobased chemical
industry, but questions of scalability need addressing.

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Thank You
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