Reducing enzyme cost of cellulosic biofuels production

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "Reducing enzyme cost of cellulosic biofuels production"

Transcription

1 Reducing enzyme cost of cellulosic biofuels production J. van Hal February 2015 ECN-L

2 Reducing enzyme cost of cellulosic biofuels production Jaap W. van Hal, W. J.J. Huijgen and A.T. Smit The Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) Madrid January 22,

3 Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) What do we do: ECN develops market driven technology and know-how to enable a transition to a sustainable energy society Business units: Biomass & energy efficiency Solar energy Wind energy Policy studies Environment & energy engineering LignoFuels ECN ECN Independent research institute ~600 employees Locations: - Petten (HQ) - Amsterdam - Eindhoven - Brussels - Beijing 2

4 Biomass waste wood (agricultural) residues energy crops aquatic biomass LignoFuels ECN 3

5 Biomass activities Torrefaction: Biomass to commodity fuel High bulk & energy density Long shelf lifetime (hydrophobic) Combustion: Co-firing and residues Fuel behaviour during combustion Ashes, slags, agglomeration effects Biofuel residue utilization Gasification: Development of gasification technology: MILENA Tar removal (OLGA) and product synthesis Biorefinery: Fuels and chemicals production Lignocellulosic and seaweed biomass fractionation Conversion of fractions into marketable products biomass air LignoFuels ECN 4

6 Bringing the technology to the market

7 Biomass Gasification: Milena, Olga & Tara

8 Lignocellulosic biofinery

9 Lignocellulose Pretreatment Several physical-chemical pretreatment routes to promote enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis under development. Main pretreatment routes (demo/commercial-scale): (Dilute) acid pre-treatment. Steam explosion. Routes effective for cellulose, however: Lignin ends up in residue (with unconverted sugars, process chemicals, ash, ). Residue generally only suitable for CHP. Alternative: Separation of lignin prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. Preserving native chemical functionalities of lignin. Organosolv Harmsen et al. (2010), Literature review of physical and chemical pretreatment processes for lignocellulosic biomass, report ECN-E LignoFuels ECN 8

10 Organosolv based biorefinery Solvent recycling Biomass Organosolv Lignin separation Solvent separation Cellulose Lignin Hemi-cellulose BioFuels Lignin based Bio- Polymers BioFuels LignoFuels ECN 9

11 Ongoing and Future Work Lignin application tests with industrial partners. Development bench-scale organosolv reactor. Partnering for further technology development & commercialisation L 0.5 & 2 L 20 L Large biomass pretreatment reactor LignoFuels ECN 10

12 Organosolv Is feedstock flexible Hardwoods: e.g. poplar, birch, beech, willow,. Softwoods: pine, spruce, Residues: manure, bagasse, olive trimmings,.. Grasses: straws, bamboo,.. Is solvent flexible Ethanol, other alcohols Acetone, other ketones Organic acids Tunable cellulose High purity lignin Economics highly dependent on lignin price LignoFuels ECN 11

13 Phenol Formaldehyde Resins Successful replacement of phenol by lignin in phenol-formaldehyde resins. Substitution up to 50% w/w. Testing according to the EN314.1 standard Sample PF std PFL10 PFL20 Immersion in water of 20 C for 24h Shear strength, N/mm h boiling - 16h drying at 60 C- 4h in boiling water - 1h in cool water Shear strength, N/mm Formaldehyde emissions (test method: JIS A 1460), mg/l Papadopoulou et al. (2012) Thermosetting adhesives with renewable raw materials for wood-based products, UBIOCHEM-III, Thessaloniki, Greece LignoFuels ECN 12

14 Cellulase Saver

15 Cellulose Saver Spin-off organosolv development: Method to reduce enzyme costs in production of sugars. In particular applicable to herbaceous biomass. Pretreatment technology independent. More information: Patent info: Priority date: 18 dec 2012 (NL ) PCT patent application WO 2014/ International search report: No relevant prior art found. All claims considered novel, inventive & industrially applicable LignoFuels ECN 14

16 Principle Scientific literature: Irreversible binding of (cellulase) enzymes to residual lignin present in the pretreated biomass. Reduction of amount of enzyme available to hydrolyse the (hemi)cellulose higher enzyme costs. Possibility to add proteins (e.g., BSA) to reduce irreversible binding of enzymes to lignin by occupation of available sites. However, given costs of external proteins not an economic option to be implemented industrially. Cellulase Saver patent: Use (residual) proteins present in the lignocellulosic biomass itself instead of external proteins. Simply extract (part of) these proteins with water and add that water to the enzymatic hydrolysis step LignoFuels ECN 15

17 Process H 2 0 AFEX Steam Explosion Dilute acid Organosolv Hydrothermal treatment Etc. Biomass Protein extraction Pretreatment Enzymatic hydrolysis Glucose Dissolved proteins LignoFuels ECN 16

18 Effect Enzyme dose reduction by 25-50% demonstrated for hydrothermally and organosolv pretreated straws. Process can also be applied to other pretreatment technologies such as steam explosion and mild acid pretreatment. Removal of high molecular components by UF yields no improvement in hydrolysis rate, thus confirming hypothesis Conversoin LignoFuels ECN Time (hrs) 5 FPU/gr 5 FPU/gr + extract 10 FPU/gr 20 FPU/gr 17

19 How further? ECN is looking for parties interested in licensing or buying the technology. Step-in between. ECN would like to meet with companies interested in (experimentally) assessing the potential reduction in enzyme dose in their specific biomass pretreatment process LignoFuels ECN 18

20 Further information J. Blekxtoon Business Developer Biorefinery Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) Biomass and Energy Efficiency P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten +31-(0) LignoFuels ECN 19

21 Thank you for your attention Questions?

22 ECN Westerduinweg 3 P.O. Box LE Petten 1755 LG Petten The Netherlands The Netherlands T F info@ ecn.nl 8