SPANISH AND BRASILIAN WORKSHOP ON
RENEWABLE ENERGY
R+D ON BIOENERGY IN SPAIN
M. Ballesteros
Head of Biofuels Unit
CIEMAT
Rio de Janeiro 30 SEPTEMBER – 1 OCTOBER 2013
BIOMASS CONSUMPTION (2007)
10% OF WORLD PRIMARY ENERGY CONSUMPTION (45 EJ)
– 80% traditional solid biomass for heating and cooking
– 20% commercial biomass : 80% heat, 1% power, 2% liquid biofuels
Fuente: Best et al. 2008
BIOENERGY SYSTEMS
Traditional Biomass
• over-exploitation of natural resources,
• low economic valorization of biomass,
• low efficienct technologies
Modern biomass
• commercial
• efficient technologies
• environmentally sustainable
production and use
BIOMASS AS ENERGY RESOURCE
Abundant energy resource
• It can be stored
• It can be transformed into energy by different technologies (mechanical,
thermochemical, biological)
• It provides solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels to use for heating, power and
transport purposes
• It can not be found free.
• It requires a long chain of activities: planting, growing, harvesting and pretreatment
(storage and drying) before it can be transformed into an energy carrier.
• Biofuels have an associated cost that has to be considered.
Technological development to support the use of biomass…
… not only depends on more efficient conversion
technologies (combustion, co-firing, gasification, second
generation liquid biofuels)
but
A broad range of research topics should be considered
such as biomass availability and logistics.
Spain is very active in R+D on Bioenergy
• More than 100 Organizations working on Bioenergy
- Excellent research teams in universities and specialized centers
- Strong National Research Institutes: CIEMAT, CENER,,CSIC, INIA…
• High participation in the European Research Framework Programmes
• High Spanish participation in the European Research Alliance in Bioenergy
Members: CIEMAT and CENER
Associated to CIEMAT: Unizar, IREC, Imdea-Energy and Tecnalia
• Dynamic industry with technological leadership
Abengoa Bioenergy, REPSOL, Acciona, …
R&D Programme of Biomass Unit
Objective: To develop knowledge, technologies and applications to
produce solid and liquid biofuels for heating, power and
transport purposes.
R&D activities
1
2
3
Feedstock research
Solids Biofuels
Second generation Biofuels
Feedstock research
and solid biofuels
production
Liquid Biofuels
Research
Soria Center
Madrid Center
R&D Programme of Biomass Unit
Objective: To develop knowledge, technologies and applications to
produce solid and liquid biofuels for heating, power and
transport purposes.
R&D activities
1
Feedstock research
Evaluation of avalilable resources
Energy crops
Logistics: collecting, transporting
FEEDSTOCK RESEARCH
Objective: To improve the cost competitiveness of biomass supplies to energy systems

Evaluation of available biomass resources taking into account the geographical specificity of
biomass supply and consumption. The aim is to assess the level of supplies compatible with
sustainable production

Development, production and management of energy crops, taking into account issues related to
planting, used of chemicals for fertilizing, irrigation, weed control or soil quality

Studies on biomass harvesting, storage and transportation technologies to reduce the cost of
biomass delivery to energy plant.
Leñosos
Herbáceos
Chopos
Cardo
Cereales para
bioetanol
Triticale y otras
gramíneas anuales
Agropiros
Robinia
Brassica carinata
Olmo de Siberia
Panicum virgatum
Caña común
Paulownia
Sorgo híbrido
Cultivos Oleaginosos para Biodiesel
Sinapis alba
Colza (Brassica napus)
Jatropha curcas
Camelina
sp.
Crambe
R&D Programme of Biomass Unit
Objective: To develop knowledge, technologies and applications to
produce solid and liquid biofuels for heating, power and
transport purposes.
R&D activities
1
Feedstock research
Available resources
Energy crops
Logistics
2
Solid biofuels for heating and power
Characterization
High quality solid biofuels from energy crops
Drying
Milling
Compaction
Combustion of biomass with high ash content
Sinterization
Emissions
CHARACTERIZATION
Objective: To know biomass chemical and physical characteristics in order to choose
the best energetic conversion process
 BIOMASS CHARACTERIZATION LABORATORY (BCL) is
a scientific reference laboratory for energy and physicochemical characterization of biomass and solid biofuels.
It is equipped with facilities to perform the following
analysis:
Proximate analysis (moisture, ash and volatile compounds
content)
Ultimate analysis (carbon, hydrogen,
clorum)
nitrogen, sulfur and
Inorganic compounds content
Higher Heat Value and Lower Heat values
Thermogavimetric analysis
Particle size distribution
Pile density
Pellet durability
BCL belongs to the Technical Committee CEN/TC 335 which is working on the
standardisation of solid biofuels derived from pure biomass.
HIGH-QUALITY SOLID BIOFUELS FROM HIGH ASH CONTENT BIOMASS
Rotary air dryer (200-400 kg/h)
Pelleting plant (300-500 kg/h)
Hammermill with particle size classification
(200-700 kg/h)
ASH-RELATED PROBLEMS IN COMBUSTION OF BIOMASS
Objective:
To study the release of ash forming compounds from biomass
fuels in both fixed and fluidised bed combustion systems to
determine data concerning the melting behaviour and
emissions.
Gases
Cenizas
Slagging on the grate of a combustion system
1. 1-Metil naftaleno
2. 2-Metil naftaleno
3. Dimetil naftaleno
4. Acenaftileno
5. Acenafteno
6. Fluoreno
7. Fenantreno
8. Antraceno
9. Fluoranteno
10. Pireno
11. Benzo(a)antraceno**
12. Criseno
13. Benzo(b)fluoranteno*
14. Benzo(k)fluoranteno
15. Benzo(a)pireno**
16. Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene*
17. Dibenzo(ah)antraceno
18. Naftaleno
19. Benzo(ghi)perileno
Polinuclear Aromaric Hydrocarbons formed in biomass combustion
17 kW Boiler
500 kW Boiler
100 kW Boiler
R&D Programme of Biomass Unit
Objective: To develop knowledge, technologies and applications to
produce solid and liquid biofuels for heating, power and
transport purposes.
R&D activities
1
Feedstock research
Avalilable resources
Energy crops
Logistics
2
Solid biofuels for heating and power
Characterization
Ash-related problems
Pretreatment
In biomass
Drying combustion
Sinterization
Milling
Emissions
Compaction
3
Liquid Biofuels
Pretreatment
Enzymatic hydrolysis
Fermentation
LIQUID BIOFUELS UNIT
OBJECTIVE
To develop processes and technologies for converting lignocellulosic
materials into ethanol and other high value products in an efficient and
cost-effective manner to facilitate the adoption of these processes by
industry
PROCESS CHART
Cellulosic biomass
• Cellulose (glucose)
• Hemicellulose
• Lignin
(C5 & C6 sugars)
Pretreatment
Biological steps:
Celullase production,
Hydrolysis, fermentation
Power generation
Ethanol recovery
Residue processing
Solid
Liquid
Process effluents
Fuel: Ethanol
PROCESS CHART
Cellulosic biomass
• Cellulose (glucose)
• Hemicellulose
• Lignin
(C5 & C6 sugars)
Pretreatment
Biological steps:
Celullase production,
Hydrolysis, fermentation
Power generation
Ethanol recovery
Residue processing
Solid
Liquid
Process effluents
Fuel: Ethanol
TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FOR BIOCHEMICAL ROUTE
1. FEEDSTOCK PRETREATMENT
• To reduce the cost of the pretreatment while maintaining efficiency
• To limit the consumption of chemicals, energy and water and the
production of wastes
• To minimize sugar degradation and inhibitors formation (moderate
conditions)
Biomass deconstruction technologies
Pretreatment
Temperature
(ºC)
Time
(min)
Chemical
Concentration
Stirred & pressure
reactor
170-230
2-50
None/
Dilute acid
1-2% H2SO4
Steam Explosion
160-230
2-90
None
Extrusion
30-70
2-10
Alkaline
5-10% on dw
raw material
2 L laboratory prototype for LHW pretreatment
Steam explosion pretreatment plants of 2 and 10 litres
EXTRUSION PRETREATMENT
Twin-screw
extruder (10
kg/h capacity)
CS- Conveying screw
Different screws
in twin-screw
extruder
MS- Mixing screw
RS- Reverse screw
MS
CS
RS
TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FOR BIOCHEMICAL ROUTE
2. NEW AND/OR IMPROVED ENZYMES
• To reduce the costs of enzyme production by improving
cellulase production and enzymatic cocktail efficiency
• To find the way for reducing enzyme loading without loss of
performance
• To develop enzymes with improved thermo-stability and less
susceptibility to sugars inhibition
3. FERMENTATION
•
Develop yeast strains resistant to toxic compounds, high solids
concentration and rising ethanol concentration
Joint Unit of Biotechnological Processes for Energy Production
• To incorporate molecular biology tools to improve the efficiency and
economics of biochemical conversion processes of lignocellulosic biomass into
biofuels: enzyme and fermenting microorganisms development
• To produce biofuels from microalgae.
Advanced conversion path based on biological and chemical process
Joint Biotechnological Processes Unit
Research Activities
•
Isolation
and
characterization
of
new
microorganisms and their enzymatic complex to
transform lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels.
•
Production of biofuels and other
value products from microalgae
•
Genetic manipulation (modification or introduction
of new steps) of metabolic routes in hydrolytic
and/or
fermentative
microorganisms and
microalgae to increase production of target
metabolites
added-
TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FOR BIOCHEMICAL ROUTE
4. PROCESS INTEGRATION
SHF
SSF
SSCF
CBP
Cellulases
Cellulose
hydrolysis
Hexoses
Fermentation
Pentose
Fermentation
Level of integration
SHF: Separate Hydrolysis and fermentation; SSF: Simultaneous saccharification
and fermentation, SSFC: Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation
CBP: Consolidated bioprocessing
Second Generation Biofuel Center (CB2G); collaboration CENER-CIEMAT
The Second generation Biofuel Centre is a Process Development Units (PDUs) to
produce 2nd generation biofuels on a pilot scale level as an intermediate step
towards the industrial scale-up of these technologies and as a biorefinery test platform..
Sugar Platform
Biochemical processes
Raw Material
Sugars
Waste
Lignin
BIOMASS
Cogeneration (CHP)
Energy and heat
Synthesis gas platform
Thermochemical processes
Gasification
BioFuels
BioProducts
BioPolymers
BioMaterials
Synthesis gas
preparation
Pretreatment Unit: Capacity: 500 Kg Biomass/h
In operation from 2008
Chipper & Chopper
Pelletizing unit
Milling Units
Torrefaction reactor
Drying Unit
Thermochemical Unit: Capacity: 2 MWt-500 Kg Biomass/h
In operation from 2012
ABFB Gasifier & Thermal Oxidizer and Flue gases treatment
Biochemical Process Unit: Capacity: Up to 1,500 kg biomass / week
In operation from 2013
The unit offers:
Biomass feedstock flexibility.
Flexible scaling-up: pilot- semi
industrial.
High solid content processes
development.
Different conditions and process
configurations.
Different target products: biofuels
and bio-products
Main equipment includes:
Vacuum Belt Filter
 Detoxification and Dilution
Tanks
Enzymatic Hydrolysis
(2 x 3 m3)
Bioreactors
(1, 3 and 6 m3)
Biochemical Process Unit: Pilot Plant
In operation from 2013
Pretreatment
Continuous horizontal reactor:
5Kg/h up to 14.5bar & 200ºC
Enzymatic
Hydrolysis
Stirred tank reactor to
develop high consistency EH
Fermentation
Bioreactor fully monitored.
PROJECTS COLLABORATION 7FP
BRASIL-UBL (CIEMAT)
Biofuels Assessment on Technical Opportunities and Research Needs for
Latin America
Specific International Cooperation Actions;
PROETHANOL2G Integration of Biology and Engineering into an Economical and EnergyEfficient 2G Bioethanol Biorefinery
EU-Brazil Collaborative project
BioTop Partners
•
WIP – Renewable Energies, Alemania (WIP)
•
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
•
University of Graz, Austria (UNI GRAZ)
•
BTG Biomass Technology Group, Holanda (BTG)
•
Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber (ABC)
•
Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile (UCV)
•
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)
•
Fundación Bariloche, Argentina (FB)
• FUSP/CENBIO, Brasil
• CIEMAT, España
To identify technical opportunities and
research needs for Latin America in
order to maximize synergies in the
biofuels sectors of Latin America and
Europe.
Proethanol 2G: EU-Brazil Collaborative project
EU: FP7-ENERGY-2009-BRAZIL (Contract No 251151)/ BRAZIL: Edital nº 006/2009 - CNPq/MCT
PROETHANOL2G focus on:
The effective integration and
development
of
advanced
technologies through the combined
use of Biology and Engineering for
the
production
of
second
generation (2G) bioethanol, from
the most representatives European
(wheat straw) and Brazilian
(sugarcane bagasse and straw)
feedstocks.
COLLABORATION will continue in Horizon 2020
Workprogramme for 2015
Partnering with Brazil on advanced biofuels
In the framework of the EU-Brazil S&T Cooperation Agreement, the European
Commission and the Brasilean Ministry of Science and Technology are working
together to benefit from the complementarities in research and innovation, in
order to foster the development of advanced
their commercialisation both in Brazil and in Europe.
biofuels
and accelerate
¡¡¡OBRIGADA PELA ATENÇÃO¡¡¡
¡¡¡GRACIAS POR LA ATENCION¡¡¡
m.ballesteros@ciemat.es