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DEMONSTRATION FACILITY INDUSTRY NEWS


fermentation tanks. “The benefit of using Moorella is that it just produces acetic acid,” explained Brian O’Neill, Project Engineer at ZeaChem. “This maximises the conversion of the fermentable sugars to a bio-based chemical. The carbon efficiency of our fermentation process using Moorella is nearly 100%.” The purified organic acids can be sold (for the production of plastics, solvents or foams) or converted to esters (for the production of coatings, solvents and adhesives) or reacted with hydrogen to make alcohols. “We can purchase the hydrogen as we do in Boardman, or we could produce the hydrogen on-site with the addition of a gasifier to process the lignin residue from pretreatment,” declared O’Neill.


Choice of location Oregon was chosen to be the proving ground for ZeaChem’s facility for a number of reasons, according to Zac Mitchell, Commercial Development Manager at ZeaChem. “Firstly, we found a reliable and economic supply of biomass in the form of poplar trees from GreenWood Resources, a 28,000 acre FSC-certified tree farm near Boardman. Secondly, the plant is located next to a deep-water port on the Columbia River, providing easy access to the


Left to right: Pete Wilhelm, ZeaChem Plant Manager; Zac Mitchell, ZeaChem Commercial Development Manager; Allen Turner, Andritz Senior Sales Manager for Biofuels; and Brian O’Neill, ZeaChem Project Engineer, look at a sample of the cellulosic hydrolzate after hydrolysis and filtering. The next step in the process is fermentation.


Pacific Ocean and major West Coast shipping ports.” The plant is also near Pacific Ethanol’s grain ethanol plant, which gives ZeaChem access to that company’s marketing, logistics, operations and maintenance services.


Technology showcase The demonstration plant has the capacity to process 10 t/d (dry basis) of wood chips and generate


up to 250,000 gallons (950 cu m) of cellulosic bio-based chemicals or fuels per year. “A key to our success has been in learning how to feed various feedstock materials,” confirmed Pete Wilhelm, Plant Manager. “Once you get the material into the pressurized reactor, the materials react very similarly. But, the density and physical form of the material affects how we convey and feed it.”


ZeaChem’s patented process converts biomass into concentrated acids, esters and alcohols. This photo shows acetic acid being tested with a gas chromatograph at the laboratory in Boardman, Oregon.


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ZeaChem is also committed to operating the plant as a ‘technology institute’ open to third parties. “People come to us to test their feedstocks and catalysts, produce cellulosic hydrolyzates for them or to produce chemicals and biofuels using their micro- organisms,” said Mitchell. “It is a huge benefit for them as they move immediately to commercialisation without having to invest the time and money to design, build and operate their own demonstration facility. “This work with third parties is also beneficial to us,” added Turner of Andritz. “It serves as a showcase for our technolo- gies and exposes us to potential


customers we may not normally meet.”


The Boardman plant has enabled ZeaChem to demon- strate the process that it will scale-up to produce 22 million gallons (66,000 tons) per year at its first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant to be located right next door. Commercial opera- tions are expected to begin in 2017. ZeaChem was selected for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for construction of the commercial plant.


ZeaChem is hoping to be the driving developer for mass production of cellulosic bio-chemicals and fuels. Globally, the fuel market is extraordinarily large and the bio-chemical markets offer a producer extremely high- value propositions. “Our approach to building true biorefineries will allow access to the most lucrative sectors of these markets in each region where a plant is built,” stated Regnery. “The environmental and economic potential is very attractive.”


More information from www.andritz.com


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