Chemical Processing - October 2007 - (Page 23)

quor by distillation.” These biomass-derived alcohols also have the same properties as ones produced from conventional feedstocks, he says. Fermentation of biomass can readily produce chemicals such as furfurals, levulinic acid and other materials. Ongoing work at ORNL involves cellulose-to-ethanol fermentation at high temperature, Mielenz notes. This yields not only ethanol but byproducts such as lactic and acetic acids. Developing new processes like these and making them available to companies for commercialization remains an ORNL goal, he stresses. One company taking advantage of DOE fermentation technology is Diversified Natural Products Inc. (DNP), New York, N.Y. “DNP has exclusive rights to the succinic-acid-fermentation technology developed at DOE and patented by it and Michigan State University,” says Dilum Dunuwila, the company’s vice president of business development. DNP has allied itself with France’s Agro Industries Recherche et Developpement (ARD) to create joint venture BioAmber. “ARD has extensive experience in >> Succinic acid plant Figure 4. Demonstration unit now under construction will boast fermentation capacity of 385 m3. Source: Diversified Natural Products. Developing fermentation technology and offering it to companies for commercialization remains an ORNL goal. developing and commercializing fermentation-based products,” notes Dunuwila. Funded by the Champagne Cereales cereal, Crystal Union sugar-beet and Chamtor alfalfa cooperatives, ARD will provide direct access to wheat- and sugarbeet-derived glucose through an 80-million-gal/yr ethanol facility the cooperatives are constructing at Bazancourt-Pomacle, France. Phase I of the Cristanol ethanol plant began operation this June. Phase II, which will have similar capacity, is under construction and should come online in late 2008. It also will yield byproduct CO2, a raw material for BioAmber’s succinic acid, to be produced at an adjacent bio-refinery. Currently, BioAmber is moving ahead with a 5,000metric-ton/yr succinic-acid demonstration facility near the ethanol plant (Figure 4). Dunuwila expects start up in the first quarter of 2009. Then, the joint venture plans to construct a 50,000-metric-ton/yr unit that integrates with the ethanol plant. “DNP will build a similar-sized facility in North America,” he predicts. Fueling additional demand Meanwhile, the use of biofeedstocks to make fuels continues to grow. For instance, palm oil is winning www.chemicalprocessing.com a notable role as a feedstock. Facilities based on it are “becoming very large” says Peter Faessler, lead application engineer with Sulzer Chemtech, Winterthur, Switzerland. He adds that the unwanted, higher-melting solid fraction in crude-palm-oil-based biodiesel is an important raw material for oleochemicals. That particular fraction can be further purified by distillation or hydrogenation to produce fatty alcohols. Soy serves as a principal feedstock in biodiesel production at FutureFuel Chemical, Batesville, Ark., which got into biofuels in late 2005. Besides biodiesel, the company has been making premium fuel pellets with North Arkansas hardwoods since last March. “We’re a multifeedstock biodiesel producer,” explains biofuels manager Rich Byers. The company’s continuous biodiesel process can accommodate refined soybean oil and cottonseed, canola, corn and palm oils, as well as pork lard, beef tallow and poultry fat. “What comes out is ASTM D6751 biodiesel, made predominantly from soybean and cottonseed oils and probably some pork lard,” he notes. The Batesville facility is a BQ-9000 producer, meaning it satisfies the requirements of the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission. Annual production is 24 million gallons, but the company in April announced plans to boost output to 196 million gal/yr. within 18 months. For every gallon of biodiesel, FutureFuel produces a pound of glycerin. The company currently is investigating methods to use that byproduct in antifreeze and animalfood additives, Byers notes. Another BQ-9000 producer is Dow. DHCP http://www.chemicalprocessing.com

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Chemical Processing - October 2007 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor Biofeedstocks See Real Growth Become a Cyber-Security Pacesetter Go Beyond Condition Monitoring Disposable Equipment Earns Lasting Role Improve Control Loop Performance Ethanol Plant Boosts Output and Saves Energy Process Puzzler Plant InSites Equipment & Services Ad Lits Product Spotlight/Classifieds Ad Index End Point

Chemical Processing - October 2007

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