The BABET-REAL5 project at EUBCE 2018

26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14 to 18 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark

On 16 May 2018, Ingo Ball from WIP Renewable Energies, Germany, presented the results from Germany for a sustainable feedstock provision for the 2G bioethanol concept that is being worked on in the BABET-REAL5 project. Comparable case studies were also elaborated in Argentina, Uruguay and in two different regions in France.
In all studies, a sustainable biomass supply has been investigated, considering long-time average yield values of lignocellulosic biomass residuals, technical potentials for harvesting the biomass, (soil carbon) sustainable potentials, and the competitive use for the investigated feedstocks. The results of the investigation for Bavaria showed, that in the Bavarian region Lower Bavaria, two feedstocks surpassed the threshold of 30,000 tdm/year that has to be found in a 50-km radius: 121,000 tdm/year of wheat straw and 173,000 tdm/year of corn stover were identified and will be further investigated in the project to find out whether the BABET-REAL5 concept can be implemented in this region.

Ingo Ball, WIP Renewable Energies, during his presentation at EUBCE 2018

On 17 May 2018, Monica Fong from INPT, France, presented her research results in the poster: ”Influence of temperature and alkaline concentration in a thermo-mechano-chemical pretreatment to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of corn cob and husk for bioethanol production”.
The conclusions of Monica Fong’s investigation are, that in order to obtain an efficient filtration by a stable dynamic plug, the NaOH/SC ratio has to be lower than 10% and temperature below 150°C. As the alkali concentration is increased, the hemicelluloses are solubilized and the cellulose content in extrudate is increased. That shows that the pretreatment allows the preservation of the substrate. reached at 130°C and a NaOH/SC ratio of 6,0%, leading to a glucose conversion of 70% and xylose conversion of 80% of the potential sugars in extrudate. Concluding, Monica Fong revealed that the characterization of extrudate at different temperatures is necessary for a better understanding of its effect on biomass.

Monica Fong (left), INPT, explaining her results to a visitor at EUBCE 2018