Development of low carbon footprint pathway from biomass to fuels and chemicals through liquefaction and catalytic upgrading

Actions to mitigate the climate change would require rapid transformation of critical value chains in energy, transportation, and chemicals sectors, and will take place via development and implementation of sustainable fossil-free technologies. For example, organic chemicals and polymers are produced today almost fully from fossil crude oil. Furthermore, in addition to electrification of light road transport, there is still high demand for sustainable fuels especially in aviation and marine transport in Europe in 2050.
Bio4all project will aim at developing value chain from challenging forest and agricultural biomass residues through liquefaction technologies to aviation and marine fuels as well as selected chemical products. In order to improve the carbon efficiency of the value chain, liquefaction side product utilization is studied including biochar, aqueous phases from biomass pre-treatment and liquefaction and off gases. Slurry hydroprocessing is the primary method to upgrade bio-oil intermediates. Fractionation will be another path to extract valuable products from bio-oils. Biomass pre-treatment will be studied to improve the properties of bio-oils. A process concept will be developed and an Aspen Plus simulation model will be developed describing the concept. Techno-economics and as well as sustainability of the developed concept will be evaluated.
The project will establish a consortium with strong industrial representation throughout the value chain. Consortium companies are SME/Mid Cap Companies: Fifth Innovation, Green Fuel Nordic, Dieffenbacher, Meriaura and Montinutra and large companies: BASF, Borealis, Neste and Valmet. Bio4all has linkages to three Veturi ecosystems: Borealis Spirit, Neste Veturi ecosystem and Valmet Beyond Circularity.