Equipment for the biorefining process will be developed and built at Aarhus University’s facilities in a new collaboration with Alfa Laval Copenhagen A/S and with the financial backing of COWIfonden. The project includes an experimental-scale technological platform, which will serve as a basis for research and development projects and for teaching.

The project's main objective is to establish a facility that integrates different processes and equipment for the conversion of biomass and biowaste to a wide range of bio-based products (foods, feeds, chemicals, materials) and bioenergy (biofuels). The construction of the platform began on 1 July 2013 and is expected to be completed within a year. The idea is that the equipment will later be expanded with specially-built elements and processes.

Deputy head of department Morten Dam Rasmussen from the Department of Engineering at Aarhus University welcomes the opportunities that the new multifunctional platform presents.

- Denmark needs research, highly-qualified engineers and a strong collaboration between universities and industry. To support this, we need investment in technological platforms. To achieve a socially sustainable economic and environmental development it is important to invest in the biorefining of biomass and the creation of new end products from biowaste, he says.

Biorefining and process technology

The establishment of a biorefining industry depends on two key factors: a facility for biorefining, and process technology. The project aims to establish an entirely new technological platform. The platform will provide several functions so that it can serve as a good catalyst for a number of operations for different purposes and as an incubator for new technology.

The platform will act as an integrated biorefining system for the efficient conversion of a wide range of biomass and biowaste and for the manufacturing of products ranging from animal feeds to commercially viable biofuels and bio-products. In other words, the processing system must be able to perform bioconversion, bioreaction, distillation, extraction, crystallisation and other processes using solid or liquid biomasses.

A wide range of parameters such as pressure, temperature and vacuum can be adjusted and sensors will automatically monitor the system. The platform will be ideal for testing new scientific ideas, support the primary development of new biotechnology and the testing of innovative processes and new tools for biorefining.

The platform will also serve as an educational tool that links biorefining theory with practice for graduate and undergraduate students. Another function is to train young, talented researchers by developing a platform for testing ideas or performing experiments. In addition, the platform gives the potential for further cooperation between Aarhus University and industry, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. The platform will have its home in new premises at Hangøvej in Aarhus, where the research section for Chemistry and Biotechnology will be consolidated  in October.

Read more about COWIfonden, which has granted 300.000 DKK to the project, here.

Further information:

Deputy head of department Morten Dam Rasmussen, Department of Engineering, e-mail: MortenD.Rasmussen@agrsci.dk, telephone: +45 2515 2755

Associate professor Zheng Guo, Department of Engineering, e-mail: guo@mb.au.dk, telephone: +45 8715 5528