Green Chemistry and the Biorefinery - The Economic Utilisation of Food Co-Products - page 4

used (e.g. woody lignocellulose, grains and straw from cereals, green grass).
In 2011 this approach is often still only operating at pilot or demonstration stage
(e.g. a lignocellulosic biorefinery in Leuna, Germany). However, a lot of research
and development will lead to implementation on a commercial scale in 2030.
Preferably these biorefinery plants for new industrial value chains should be
integrated in an already existing industrial park to profit from the infrastructure.
In any case, the sustainability and the competitiveness of the different value
chains will always rely on a close collaboration within industry sectors and also
on a high level of integration between the different production processes.

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1.1.2 Biorefinery Scale
The choice of the optimal biorefinery scale has to accommodate the constraints
that arise from logistics, production costs and processes. The chosen scale will
have a major impact on the emergence of industrial biorefineries and their
distribution;

Large-scale integrated biorefineries, mainly based on thermochemical
process, are likely to emerge in Northern Europe and/or in industrial
harbours.
Small/medium-scale integrated biorefineries, mainly based on biotech
processes, are likely to emerge in rural areas in ''mid'' Europe (western,
central and eastern Europe).
Decentralised biorefineries will also emerge in both regions, based on the
development of a network of pretreatment units.

.

As a consequence, the scale has a major impact on the technology choice and
on the industrial strategies as it could limit the size of the production facilities
(limited biomass quantity per industrial unit). Basically, three possibilities are
offered:

small/medium-sized production facility;
medium-sized/large production facility linked to a network of decen-
tralised biorefineries (biomass fractioning and/or concentrating units);
very large production facility,

located on industrial harbours with

importation of biomass.

1.1.3 Biomass Supply: Harbour (Import of Biomass or
Intermediates) or Rural (Locally Produced Biomass)
As a consequence of the biomass supply form, there will be not one but several
biorefinery types in Europe, with a predominance of certain types according to
the geographical biomass location.

The biorefineries based on wood (locally produced biomass) are likely to be
developed in Northern Europe or in dense forested area in ''mid-Europe''.