Feasibility of small scale production of bulk chemicals Rules for the biobased production of bulk chemicals on a small scale CLIB, Monheim, 3 April 2014 Johan Sanders, DLO/Biobased Products
The new challenges in a biobased Economy: 1st Agro logistics Food pretreatment Foodconversion Food production Food Healthy, tasty, sufficient Biomass production Biomass sources Agro-food production By products & waste Logistics&storage NL production Imports Existing conversion New production Performance materials Base&platform chemicals Performance chemicals Bio Energy Existing production Biobased Products Biobased materials Bio-based chemicals Bio-fuels Bio-energy Existing non- food: Paper Construction wood Additives Fibres/ clothes Wood for cooking.
Many drivers for the Biobased Economy Shortage of cheap oil High energy prices Security of energy supply Climate change by green house gasses Rural development Developing countries Geo-political conditions
Biomass use today and in 2050 Mton Food incl. feed* 4 5000 Wood, paper, cotton 2000 Wood for cooking 4000 30% of 1000EJ in 2050= 20 000 All bulkchemicals in 2050 600(= 2000 input!) * Excluding grass and seafood
How can we cope with these challenges? Increase field yield but keep components on the field that are required for soil fertility Use all biomass components and choose the right raw material Use each component at its highest value: (molecular) structure is much better than caloric Reduce capital cost to speed up innovation and to benefit from small scale without the disadvantages
Production costs /GJ end product How biomass can best compete with fossil feedstocks 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Cost of fossil products Raw material costs Capital Oil/gas Coal Value of biomass is 10 times higher as chemical building block than to use it for biogas or bio-electricity
Capital intensive processes in upper quartile; low capital intensiveness in bottom quartile Lower scale dependence
40 chemicals analysed
Capital cost ( /ton) Capital costs per ton of bulkchemical product vs heat dissipation 1600 1200 800 400 0-400 0 20 40 60 80 100 Raw material cost -800-1200 Energy input product caloric value (GJ/ton)
Capital cost ( /ton) ( /ton) Capital costs per ton of bulkchemical product vs heat dissipation 1600 1200 800 400 Capital Raw material 0 0 20 40 60 80 100-400 -800-1200 Energy input product caloric value Energieverlies (GJ/ton) (GJ/ton)
Epichlorohydrin H 2 C CHCH 3 + Cl 2 C H 2 CHCH 2 Cl HOCl + HCl Price: 1300-1500 per tonne H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl O Ca(OH)2 H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl Cl OH + H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl OH Cl Volume: 0.5 mln tonnes per annum Solvay Epicerol process: glycerol to epichlorohydrin
Chemical production in the Port of Rotterdam High energy density Low energy density heat exchange means capital costs! mass loss and/or energy loss <--O energy loss and heat exchange -4-3 -2-1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 methane ethene MEG sugar citric acid CO2 ethanol BDO succinate ethane butanol Terephthalic acid xylene
Aim of today Under what conditions can (bulk) chemicals be produced on a small scale? What the approach is What problems have been encountered What principles and assumptions have been used Are they acceptable? Can they be improved upon? Discussion and feedback for better insight
Traditional Reactor engineering challenges Maximizing gas transfer Especially with gasses going in and out Oxygen transfer Maximizing cooling capacity Preventing substrate and product inhibition Fed batch In situ product recovery Minimizing costs for product recovery 25
Anaerobic fermentations Aerobic Anaerobic Productivity Limited by O 2 transfer No O 2 required Substrate efficiency Limited by cooling capacity High biomass production Complete oxidation of substrate to CO 2 Low heat production Low biomass production No complete oxidation 30
Optimal situation, novel approach: Anaerobic bubble column No stirring, low pressures, no oxygen addition Low cooling capacity required Low biomass production: high yield No gasses in, only out No gas transfer limitations: High productivity Batch: high substrate tolerance High product tolerance / in situ product removal Separation based on phase differences 28
What type of fermentation? Ethanol: 0.95 J/J Anaerobic: Lactate: 0.95 g/g Aceton+ butanol+h2: 0.95J/J Aerobic: L-glutamic acid: 0.62 g/g Itaconic acid: 0.47 g/g 29
Anaerobic fermentations: challenges Glucose Glucose O 2 Glucose Glucose Electrons Electrons Electrons 2 Pyruvate 2 Pyruvate 2 Pyruvate Electrons Electrons 2 CO 2 Electrons 2 CO 2 2 Lactate Succinate Water Succinate Succinate Aerobic Anaerobic 31
3-hydroxybutyric acid Monomer of the polyester PHB PHB competes with polyethylene Anaerobic production: 2 glucose 3-hydroxybutyric acid + 2 ethanol + 4 H 2 + 4 CO 2 33
Anaerobic fermentations Yield: 0.95 g/g or J/J Productivity: up to 5 times higher 4 projects running 34
However, Metabolic engineering required 27
Phase separations Liquid/liquid Making water immiscible compounds Gas/liquid Volatile compounds, high temperature fermentations Solid/liquid Making polymers: Cyanophycin, polyhydroxyalkanoates Crystals: Calciumlactate No/less product inhibition! 5 projects running 40
Aerobic Sugar processes 1250 / tonne LC processes 1350 /ton Lower scale dependence
Anaerobic sugar processes 500 / tonne LC based processes 550 / tonne Lower scale dependence
Take-home message: Production costs of fermentation products can be reduced below that of bioethanol if we use cell engineering to solve classical reactor engineering challenges 44
Bulkchemicals can be produced on small scale The combined value of biorefinery fraction enables to compete with fossil resources as well as biomass resources from Brazil. Small scale processes will lower the innovation barrier Anaerobic fermentation as well as chemical conversions of well chosen building blocks such as amino acids offer the possibility to manufacture bulkchemicals on small scale. Biomass as raw material will increase employability quite a lot. Earthscan, ISBN 978-1-84407-770-0