description
- Increasing the share of biomass for renewable energy in Europe demands conversion pathways which are economic, flexible in feedstock and energy efficient. The BioBoost project concentrates on dry and wet residual biomass and wastes as feedstock for de-central conversion by fast pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonisation to the intermediate energy carriers oil, coal or slurry. Based on straw the energy density increases from 2 to 20-31 GJ/m3, enabling central GW scale gasification plants for biofuel production. The catalytic pyrolysis reduces oxygenates in the oil to 13% enabling power and refinery applications. The fast pyrolysis and HTC processes of demo-size (0.5-1 t/h) are optimized for feedstock flexibility, yield, quality and further upscaling is studied. A logistic model for feedstock supply and connection of de-central with central conversion is set up and validated allowing the determination of costs, the number and location of de-central and central sites. Techno/economic and environmental assessment of the value chain supports the optimisation of products and processes. Application of energy carriers is investigated in existing and coming applications of heat and power production, synthetic fuels&chemicals and as biocrude for refineries. Promising pathways will be demonstrated over the whole chain. A market implementation scheme of ramping up energy carrier production and subsequent phase in of large scale gasification is developed regarding optimal technical and economic performance. Separation of nutrients and chemicals further increase economics. Seven industrial companies, three of which SME and six R&D institutions from 7 European countries cover expertise along the complete chain: Feedstock, conversion processes, separation and upgrading, transport & logistics, end usage and value chain assessment. Conversion plants in demonstration size will enable the proof of concept and further up-scaling to commercial size.