Green Chemistry and the Biorefinery - The Economic Utilisation of Food Co-Products - page 7

second-generation biofuels. Since huge investments are needed to set up a large-
scale industrial unit, the best candidates will be either energy companies or
traditional oil companies, because of the infrastructure availability and the
economy of scale. In 2030 oil companies will have installed large-scale
biorefineries based on thermochemical process into their existing oil refineries
located in the main European harbours. The required biomass (wood, forest
residues, dedicated lignocellulosic crops or urban wastes) will be imported and
also collected locally. Another interest of the traditional oil companies will be
the utilisation of hydrogen from syngas as a source for hydrogenation of heavy
crude oil. The gasification units will also be used to produce higher-value
chemicals by catalysis processes.

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1.1.4.5 Green Biorefinery
A Green Biorefinery processes wet biomass, such as grass, clover, lucerne and
alfalfa (BIOPOL, 2009). The wet biomass is pressed to obtain two separate
products: fibre-rich press juice and nutrient-rich press cake. The press cake
fibres can be utilised as green feed pellets or as a raw material for chemicals.
The press juice contains valuable compounds, such as proteins, free amino
acids, organic acids, minerals, hormones and enzymes. Lactic acid and its
derivatives as well as ethanol, proteins and amino acids are the most favourable
end-products from press juice. 3 The bio-organic residues in press juice are
mainly used to produce biogas with subsequent generation of heat and
electricity.
An example in 2011 of a pilot of this future biorefinery concept is the
production and demonstration plant of the Biowert GmbH in Brensbach,
Germany, where insulating material, reinforced composites for production of
plastics and biogas for heat and power are generated from grass in an inte-
grative process. In 2030 many of these smaller-scale Green Biorefineries will be
established in regions that traditionally produce high quantities of wet biomass
(like grassland areas).

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1.1.4.6 Future Lignocellulosic Biorefineries
The lignocellulosic biorefinery concept based on dry biomass is not only
applicable for previously described pulping process. Two different approaches
can be distinguished in 2030 for the lignocellulosic biorefinery: thermochemical
and biochemical.
The thermochemical approach is based on gasification of lignocellulosic
feedstocks, and further processing the syngas to transportation fuels and
chemicals. Many different biomass types are taken into consideration as raw
material for this type of lignocellulosic biorefinery concept: dry agricultural
residues (e.g. straw, peelings, husks), wood, woody biomass, and biogenic
residues (e.g. waste paper, lignin).
Another option is the biochemical approach, that is based on the biochemical
fractionation of

the lignocellulosic raw material (cellulosic agricultural