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Biorefinery Facts

A biorefinery is a facility that is capable of producing a number of marketable products and energy from biomass feedstocks such as cereal grains, oilseeds, straw, wood and other biomass. A biorefinery can also be described as a renewable equivalent to an oil refinery and aims to fulfill the following:

1. To generate products and energy with lower environmental impacts than conventional materials and fuels
2. To generate products and energy with lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional materials and fuels
3. To extract the most value from biomass feedstocks

Biorefineries utilise a number of biomass feedstocks to produce:

1. Bio-chemicals                     
2. Bio-materials/plastics
3. Biofuels
4. Renewable Electricity
5. Renewable Heat
6. Food components
7. Animal feed

Biorefining is not a new concept and originally grew out of "white" industries such as starch and sugar refining in the 1800s. Today there are many industrial facilities specialising in biorefining. For example: Cargill in Blair, Nebraska (USA). This plant utilises maize to produce the following (see below).  

The UK is also making advances in biorefining with the first wheat bioethanol plant open in 2010 (Ensus; Teesside). This site currently produces three main products:

1. Ethanol for transport fuel
2. Dried Distillers Grains and Solubles (DDGS) for animal feed
3. Carbon dioxide for food and drink

Other facilities are also at the planning phase or are already under construction.

In addition, a consortium of academic and commercial partners has been formed to research and help commercialise biorefining technology, techniques and products. More information on the Integrated Biorefinery Technology Initiative (IBTI club) can be found here. HGCA is a member of this initiative.

In France a consortium of twelve companies has been formed to develop biorefining technologies and products. More information on the Biohub programme can be found here.

HGCA has also funded biorefinery research with emphasis on extracting higher value compounds from wheat bran. These compounds include arabinoxylans (pentosans) that can be used as food thickeners and wound dressings.

For more information please see the following report:

Feasibility of co-producing arabinoxylans and ethanol in a wheat biorefinery: Fractionation studies on UK wheats

Bio-based plastics

Several commercial companies are developing consumer product packaging from sugarcane-based bioethanol. These plastics are fully (or partially) renewable and recyclable polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Research into providing suitable renewable substitutes for terephthalic acid (the T of PET) is currently underway with potential candidates including furan compounds (by-products from the deconstruction of straw in lignocellulosic ethanol production; see our Biofuel Facts and Figures page here.   

Iso-sorbide

Iso-sorbide can be derived from glucose (starch) and is under development as a renewable and safe alternative to bisphenol A found in polycarbonate and PVC plastics used in everyday items such as CDs, DVDs, windows and greenhouses.

Phenolic compounds

Lignin (a complex polymer of 'lignol' ring structured alcohol compounds) from paper milling waste or from cellulosic ethanol production offers an opportunity to produce bio-based aromatic (or cyclic) carbon compounds such as benzene.

Parahydroxybenzoic acid

Parahydroxybenzoic acid or pHBA (not to be confused with polyhydroxyalkanoates; PHAs) is naturally produced by plants and its production can be enhanced through the use of genetic modification technology. pHBA is commonly produced by an energy intensive process and is used in liquid crystal polymers for mobile phones and other electronics. In future, pHBA may be harvested from plant sources in a biorefinery.