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Projets on biomass-based fuels
NILE
IFP is running this project, which kicked off on 6 October 2005 and counts partner organizations from 11 EU Member States, including:
- research institutes (IFP, CRFiat, INRA, VTT, IWC and CNRS),
- universities (ETH, University of Frankfurt, Imperial College, University of Lisbon, Lund University and the Weizmann Institute of Science),
- industrial firms (ETEK, ENITecnologie, ROAL, SAF-ISIS, SEKAB, Direvo and GRANIT),
- two associations (EUREC and BAFF).
The goal is to fine-tune new competitive technology to produce ethanol fuel from lignocellulosic biomass (wood waste and cereal straw). Doing so, in particular, entails honing the stages involved in lignified-tissue bioconversion (hydrolysis and fermentation), and enhancing yield. These technologies will be tested in a pilot plant in an industrial site operated by Etek, a company, in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. This pilot plant will be the only one in Europe to run the full bioconversion process on a semi-industrial scale, and will cast light on the option’s feasibility (in terms of cost and environmental impact).
The NILE project ties in with IFP’s strategic plans to develop technologies that can tap a wider variety of energy sources and reduce greenhouse gases, especially in the transport field.
>> More information on the NILE project: Panorama 2007 technical report "Potential biomass mobilization for biofuel production worldwide, in Europe and in France"
BIOSYNERGY
This four-year-long European project started in January 2007 and aims to make optimal use of the byproducts generated by ethanol-production processes using lignocellulosic biomass (cereal straw, mainly). More specifically, it involves developing advanced technology for biomass fractionation and conversion into intermediate products, and then rolling out processes to convert those intermediate products into chemicals or energy vectors. The base products are manufactured in a cellulosic-ethanol pilot plant that Greencell (Abengoa Bioenergy) operates in Spain.
The Biosynergy project counts 17 partner organizations from the Netherlands, France (IFP and ARD), Spain, Greece, Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Poland and Belgium. IFP is running the task force working on bioconversion, and is involved in process integration.
IFP sees this project as a direct contribution to the diversification of sources of energy for European transport.
