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Synthetic biofuel from wood - European research project OPTFUEL to drive large-scale production of 2nd generation biofuels

Within the project, CHOREN is responsible particularly for the development of resource strategies, the production of synthetic biofuel (BTL, biomass to liquids), and optimisation of the Beta plant at Freiberg. OPTFUEL aims to pave the way for an industrial-scale plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 t of synthetic biofuel.

Freiberg, March 2009
One major requirement is the economic efficiency of such a large-scale plant, which is why the project involves optimising the processes at the 15,000 t Freiberg plant, also known as the Beta plant, for maximum fuel yield and efficiency. "The findings from the analyses we are planning will allow us to determine the optimum operating parameters," says Matthias Rudloff, project manager at CHOREN.
The car manufacturers participating in the project are also testing high-quality blended fuel, which has been developed from the biofuel, in their engines and vehicles. "Predecessor projects have shown that emissions can be significantly reduced by adding BTL to fuel," says Rudloff.
Another major objective of the OPTFUEL project is the development of economically and ecologically viable concepts for supplying a large-scale plant with biomass.
"The process chain demonstration starts with the short-rotation coppicing of willow, poplar and robinia for energy wood on 200 hectares of agricultural land," explains Michael Weitz of CHOREN Biomass GmbH. "Most cultivation areas will be established in northeast Germany and Poland, in collaboration with farms in those areas. The aim is to show how the agricultural production of energy wood can be practised on an economically viable scale, since energy wood grown on agricultural land is likely to be the main source of feedstock for industrial-scale BTL production in Germany in the long term."

Part of the wood crop will be used as feedstock for the Beta plant at Freiberg. With help from Invensys, another project partner, data from the Freiberg plant will be fed into a process simulation model. The aim is to optimise the current production process and establish the basis for an industrial-scale plant.

The initiation of this major European research project, which is based on the Carbo-V process developed by CHOREN, highlights the important role synthetic biofuels are considered to have throughout Europe in a sustainable long-term biofuel strategy. It is yet another step towards industrial-scale BTL production.

Background
OPTFUEL
The project is led by Volkswagen, while German project consultant SYNCOM is responsible for the project organisation. Besides CHOREN, the other project partners are car manufacturers Ford and Renault, CONCAWE representing the European mineral oil industry, Invensys Process Systems as the partner for process simulation, and research organisations IfP (France), CERTH (Greece) and IITD (India).
The research project is receiving 7.8m euros of funding under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Research Programme and it will run for 3.5 years.

BTL (biomass to liquids)
The production of biofuel from woody biomass is a multi-level process. In a first step, a high-purity gas that is free of sulphur and aromatics is produced in the Carbo-V process, an internationally patented gasification process. This is followed by gas conditioning, and then the conversion of the gas to fuel, the so-called BTL (biomass to liquids), by synthesis in a Fischer-Tropsch process.

Contact
Dr. Ines Bilas
CHOREN Industries GmbH
Frauensteiner Straße 59
09599 Freiberg
Tel. +49 3731 2662-226
www.choren.com