Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Sugar
feedstocks
Sugar platform
“
Biochemical
”
Residues
Fuels,
chemicals,
and
materials
Combined
heat and
power
Biomass
Clean gas
Syngas platform
“
Thermochemical
”
Conditioned
gas
Figure 14.1
The biorefinery concept.
From National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), n.d.
Picture 14.1
Ethanol production plant in Pekin, Illinois, a Phase I biorefinery.
Courtesy of US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Photographer Warren Gretz).
The Phase III biorefinery is still in a conceptual stage. The idea is to have a facility that can
use multiple agricultural feedstocks and produce a variety of fuels and chemicals via different
processes (Fig. 14.2). Phase III biorefineries are classified in four groups: the whole-crop,
green, lignocellulosic feedstock, and two-platform biorefinery (Clark and Deswarte, 2008).
