Establishment of a new technology platform will make the conversion of biomass and waste into liquid and gaseous biofuels far easier than today.
Innovation Fund Denmark invests 17 million. kr. in the development of a technology that can ensure future efficient production of biofuels.
When biomass, such as straw or wood chips, is heated to high temperatures (gasification), it is converted to synthesis gas - a mixture of H2, CO and CO2 - with very high (over 90%) efficiency. But synthesis gas is not suitable for storage, cannot be used in the transport sector and it is not compatible with the natural gas grid. Therefore, the synthesis gas could be converted to either liquid fuel like ethanol or methane, which can be added to the natural gas grid.
Existing conversion processes are relatively expensive and a significant percentage of the energy content of the synthesis gas is lost. SYNFERON (Optimised SYNgas FERermentatiON for biofuels production) project will provide a solution to this. This research collaboration will develop a new technology platform optimizing every step of the process from biomass to synthesis gas to liquid and gaseous biofuels. This will be possible using an improved gasification technology that will produce a higher quality synthesis gas, followed by fermentation of synthesis gas to biofuels with microorganisms producing alcohols or methane. The ultimate goal is a complete design, which will include high efficiency biomass gasification, cost-efficient fermentation processes, advanced product separation and purification technologies with low energy consumption, process analysis and optimization and comparison with competing technologies on the market. In this way, SYNFERON will provide a significant contribution to the promotion of technologies that can be used in the production of liquid fuels and natural gas from renewable sources such as biomass and waste.
The combination of an interdisciplinary approach ensures the success of the project. Three research groups from DTU and Aalborg University will cooperate with Danish Gas Technology Center, businesses Aquaporin A / S and Biosystems ApS with expertise in separations, the German company Agnion Energy GmbH with expertise in gasification and Iowa State University in the USA.
- It is our belief that SYNFERON objectives combined with the consortium's skills ensure that the project results can bring Denmark in the forefront of energy production from thermochemical/biological processing of biomass, internationally, say associate professors Hariklia Gavala and Ioannis Skiadas from Aalborg University.
And the new technology platform will help to ensure the sustainable transformation in the future long time ahead. Biofuels and natural gas produced by combined biomass gasification and fermentation of synthesis gas can be stored and used for production of electricity and heat in the periods when the wind does not blow enough to meet the demand. Thus, the developed technology can function as indirect store for wind energy.
- In the future Danish energy system with a predominant share of wind energy by 2050, there will be a need for storing large amounts of energy. Our technology is a supplement to wind energy and makes the indirect storage possible, explains senior project manager Niels BK Rasmussen from the Danish Gas Technology Centre.
Contact information:
Georgios Kontogeorgis, Professor, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Chemical Engineering, 45 25 28 59 gk@kt.dtu.dk
Thomas Bjerre, press and media manager, Innovation Fund, mobile 61 90 50 19
Innovation Fund Denmark investment: 17 million. kr.
Budget: 20.9 million. kr.
Duration: 3.5 years