Introduction

Another important objective of the BABET-REAL5 project is the evaluation of the techno-economic and environmental performances of an industrial ethanol unit (plant) processing 30 000 t equivalent dry biomass per year.

The targeted performances of the plant are:

• Ethanol production rate: 300 l/ton of equivalent dry biomass or 9 000 m3 per year for 30 000 t biomass.
• Energy efficiency: ≤ 0.5 MJ consumed/MJ produced.
• GHG emissions: ≤ 30 g equivalent CO2/MJ produced (60% saving on carbon foot print from fossil fuels for installations starting industrial production after 2017 in agreement with EU Directive 20009/28/EC).
• P&L statement profitable with incomes from ethanol and biogas sales at current perspectives for sales prices of the bioenergy products (ethanol ≤ 0,5 €/l and biogas ≤ price for natural gas as defined in the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative – EIBI)