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SRI is researching the biorefinery concept of complete utilisation of sugarcane biomass - a concept that is becoming a pivotal element for a sustainable sugarcane industry.
The concept focuses on production of liquid fuels, electricity and commodity chemicals from a renewable source - sugarcane - that will produce financial benefits.
Fermentation to ethanol and other renewable commodities and biomass treatment processes such as pulping are key technical elements of the biorefinery concept.
SRI and collaborators are developing key processing technologies and products, and plan to demonstrate biorefining on a pilot scale by 2006.
SRI's capabilities in biorefining encompass:
- Knowledge of fractionation and reforming of input feedstocks into multiple product streams (such as to cellulosic and lignin components);
- In-depth understanding the technologies required, including thermal processes such as hydrothermal liquefaction, chemical processes such as acid hydrolysis or solvent extraction, enzymic processes such as cellulose hydrolysis, and microbial fermentation;
- Expertise in product streams, such as ethanol, bio-diesel, hydrocarbon-like oils, agricultural chemicals, food ingredients, and bio-commodities; and
- Other value-adding opportunities such as furfural and bioplastics.
Our specialties include:
- Establishment of standard NREL methods to characterise biomass and assay enzymes for cellulolytic activity. The work has produced useful results regarding solvation and enzyme pre-treatments that produce fermentable sugars from cellulosic materials; and
- Identification of novel solvents that require less harsh conditions for delignification than conventional processes. These findings have a profound impact on the economic feasibility of biorefining. The capital cost of this fast solvent process will be much lower than the conventional processes that require larger pressure vessels (and in some cases special materials of construction) to achieve the same throughput.