NEW Websites of SUPRABIO and EMPYRO research projects now online!

In the last few weeks BTG went live with 2 brand new websites of research projects co-funded under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission.

The main objective of the project Sustainable products from economic processing of biomass in highly integrated biorefineries (SUPRABIO) is to research, develop and demonstrate novel intensified unit operations that can be integrated into economic and sustainable biorefinery options for the production of second generation biofuels, intermediates and high value products. BTG is the Dissemination Manager of this four-year project that will run from February 2010 to January 2014. The SUPRABIO website is available here.

The project Polygeneration through pyrolysis: Simultaneous production of oil, process steam, electricity and organic acids (EMPYRO) aims at building and demonstrating a 25 MWth poly-generation pyrolysis plant to produce electricity, process steam and fuel oil from woody biomass. The project also aims at developing and demonstrating the recovery of acetic acid from the aqueous organic acid solution that is produced as part of the pyrolysis oil stabilization process. BTG is the Coordinator of this four-year project that will run from December 2009 to November 2013. The EMPYRO website is available here.

NEW Pyrolysis based biorefinery

BTG’s and BTG-BTL’s newest brochure focuses on the pyrolysis based biorefinery.

Biorefinery based on pyrolysis of biomass is an important step in the transition towards a sustainable economy. The BioLiquids Refinery makes maximum use of the existing infrastructure of our agriculture and the (petro)chemical industry, facilitating a smooth and cost-effective greening of our economy. To find out more about the pyrolysis based biorefinery, click here and download our brochure.

New publications on pyrolysis development

Recently two articles were published on the developments with the pyrolysis technology, BTG was involved in the development and writing of these articles. They can be downloaded here.

BTG developed the publication: Navigating Bioenergy for UNIDO

BTG Biomass Technology Group has written the Navigating Bioenergy, Contributing to informed decision making on bioenergy issues for and under overall direction of UNIDO. It has been published recently, and can be downloaded here.

Navigating Bioenergy is intended to give the reader an initial balanced view of eight selected topics:

1. Jatropha—the feedstock of the future? 
2. Biomethane—is it an underestimated energy source? 
3. Energy from Municipal Solid Waste—can this potential be realized? 
4. The Biorefinery Concept—how relevant is it for developing countries? 
5. Competition with Food—what are the facts in the food versus fuel discussion? 
6. Sustainability and Certification of Biomass—what are the benefits? 
7. Clean Development Mechanism—how does it work? 
8. Success Stories

It is hoped that the publication will be of use to those policy makers in developing countries who are in the process of initiating and expanding their bioenergy programmes. Navigating Bioenergy aims to provide an array of valuable information that will contribute to informed policy discussions by decision makers dealing with bioenergy.

Promotion film for Biocoup and Empyro

The Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs has developed several 3 minute films on Dutch projects that are financially supported by the EU. The movies give a realistic view on the up- and downsides of these innovative projects, and give insight information on the importance of such financing. BTG Biomass Technology Group and BTG Bioliquids were selected as one of the example projects with both their Biocoup EU project and the Empyro EU Project.



The movie can also be found here.

Vacancies!

BTG published another new vacancy to strengthen the team, you can check the vacancies here.

Czech BioEnergy Portfolio of BTG delivers 532,000 AAUs and ERUs to Dutch Government

Enschede (Netherlands) / Prague (Czech Republic), Wednesday October 14, 2009

Today, an amount of 432,000 AAUs and 100,000 ERUs will be transferred to the Dutch Government. These 532,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emission reductions result from BTG’s ‘Biomass Energy Portfolio for the Czech Republic’, a Joint Implementation project for the Dutch Emission Reduction Unit Procurement Tender (ERU-pt1, 2001).

The portfolio contains 14 biomass energy subprojects. These projects consist of replacement, renewal, extension or new construction of municipal or industrial heating and power systems, where clean biomass residues (wood and straw) fired boilers replace old coal or gas-based boiler systems. The owners of the systems are mainly municipalities, three of them are private companies. In two projects a cogeneration (CHP) system was installed. The thermal capacity of the installations ranges from 500 kWth to 9 MWth. The total thermal capacity of the portfolio amounts to 56 MWth (an equivalent to 2500 Dutch households). The first were implemented in 2001 and the last in 2004.

The portfolio was developed by BTG BioHeat International B.V. and BTG Central Europe s.r.o., both daughter companies of the Dutch based Biomass Technology Group BV (BTG). BTG is entirely focused on energy and fuels from biomass and has been active in Czech Republic since 1995. Building on the Czech-Dutch funded demonstration project in Hostetin (implementation of a wood fired boiler in a small village of 80 households), a jointly developed portfolio of 14 biomass energy projects has been realized.

The Dutch Government, represented by SenterNovem, is one of the early movers in the field of carbon emission reduction projects and has launched the ERU-PT programme in 2000. The Czech Portfolio of BTG was one of the first projects contracted under the ERU-PT program, which makes it the first contracted and operating Joint Implementation BioEnergy portfolio in the world.

Since 2003, the project generates emission reductions, which, generated between 2003 and 2007, are sold as ‘early credits’ (AAUs). The emission reductions contracted between 2008 and 2012 are sold as ERUs. Today all the AAUs and the ERUs generated in 2008 have been transferred to the Netherlands. Between 2009 and 2012 another 420,000 ERUs will follow. The Dutch Government uses the AAUs and ERUs to meet its international emission reduction obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

Pyrolysis plant at AkzoNobel Hengelo site

BTG-BTL has plans to build a pyrolysis plant at Hengelo's AkzoNobel site. The letter of intent was signed at the end of September by AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals, Empyro and BTG Bioliquids. In the new plant wood will be converted to oil. The plant will also deliver steam to AkzoNobel and generate electricity for delivery to the public grid.

Largest pyrolysis plant in Europe
The Empyro plant, owned by the shareholders Tree Power and BTG Bioliquids, will convert 5 metric tons of dry wood into oil, steam and electricity, per hour. This conversion takes place on a commercial scale and uses a technique, owned by BTG Bioliquids. This technique has already proven itself in Malaysia, where a plant uses residual products of a palm oil plant. The new pyrolysis installation will be the largest in Europe and building it will require an investment of approximately 13 million Euros. A substantial part of the investment will be covered by an European subsidy because it is a pilot project. The installation will be built on a piece of land of 1 hectare and will be 20 meters high. Next to the plant a number of smaller buildings will be established for amongst other things the storage of biomass, a steam turbine and tanks for oil. It is expected that the construction can start in the second quarter of 2010. The planning depends primarily on the license procedures and the overall funding of the plant. One year after the start of the construction the plant has to be operational.

Steam for salt production
AkzoNobel rents out the land and also supplies various utilities and possibly supporting staff when the plant operates on a stable level. The steam, which becomes available as a by product of the production of the oil, will also be used by the salt plant. We expect that in future 5% of the steam required for the salt production is supplied by the new installation, which further ‘greens’ the manufacturing process.

BTG-BTL Pyrolysis Brochure

BTG-BTL has published a brochure on its pyrolysis technology. The brochure briefly touches upon the process, its advantages and applications, and BTG and BTG-BTL's activities and experiences in the field of the pyrolysis technology. You can access the electronic version of the brochure here.

BioEnergyCluster East Netherlands launched a pyrolysis dedicated newsletter!

The BioEnergyCluster East Netherlands launched its new newsletter (June 2009) totally dedicated to the pyrolysis technology and pyrolysis in the East of the Netherlands.

Unfortunately this newsletter is only available in Dutch.