Mercedes Ballesteros: CLaMber – Castilla-La-Mancha Bio-Economy Region Project
Next, Mercedes Ballesteros, who is Head of Biofuels Unit at CIEMAT in Spain, presented the bioenergy region concept CLaMber.
Ms Ballesteros first set the frame of the project, stating that Research & development statistics show that, compared to the US (48%) and China (58%), the EU figure for demonstration projects is very low with only 6%. The CLaMber project, located in Puertollano, is then is an initiative of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (CLM) with EU-Funds to support the strategic sector of bioeconomy. The agricultural sector in CLM region represents a significant percentage of the GDP and, therefore, it has a high potential of agricultural and forestry residues, wastes from food and livestock industries. The specific project objectives were to create a technologically advanced biorefinery pilot/demo plant that allows the research on production of innovative bio products, to develop a technology hub in the region, to revitalize the local economy and to contribute to an efficient public-private cooperation system in order to increase scientific and technological progress and to stimulate European and international research initiatives. The final goal is to create the breeding ground necessary to support the implementation of biotechnology companies in Castilla-La Mancha region. The project will facilitate the use of biomass resources (residues from food and non-food industry and dedicated crops) to produce bioproducts, biomaterials and biofuels with high added value. The project received in total 20 million EURO in funding.
In the project a demonstration scale biorefinery was constructed to test innovative processes for the production of high value added bio products and bio-fuels from biomass on a larger scale. The 1 t/day biorefinery is an integral, modular, flexible and innovative installation, open access to both public and private sectors for the testing and development of bioprocesses. Clamber seeks to be also a partner in collaborative projects as well to provide a platform for training scientists and biotechnology capacity building in the region.
The pilot plant is organized into several areas:
Up-stream: Storage, Milling (200 kg/h), Biomass Preconditioning, Two-step Steam Explosion Reactor (400 L), Solid- liquid separators (2 x 15 m3/h)
Mid-stream: Microbiology laboratory (starters, inoculants, etc.), reactors for hydrolysis and aero and anaero fermentation (2x3 L, 2x30 L, 1x300 L, 1x3000 L, 1x20000 L), Substrate Preparation System (1xm3, 1x5 m3), Sterilization, addition of sterile reactants, CIP and other utilities
and Down-stream: Harvesting tanks 2x10000 L 2x1500 L, Microfiltration (1m3/h), Centrifugation system (1,5 m3/h).
The installation also contains the following utilities: Electrical Power Supply, Steam Boilers, Process water, Cooling tower water, Chiller water, Glycol water, Compressed process air, Instrumentation & service air, Process Gases - NH3, N2, O2, CO2
The wide and flexible spectrum of modular unit operations in the Clamber installation enables it to translate biobased lab developments into a viable industrial process.
Another important activity of CLamber project is the program of pre-commercial public procurement of R+D services (8,6 Millions €) to advance in the implementation of innovative solutions for upgrading agricultural and agroindustrial residues. To develop new processes to transform local biomass residues into high value products is technologically so demanding that there are no near-to-the-market solutions yet, and new R&D is still needed to prove that the market can really deliver commercially stable solutions with the desired price / quality requirements. A total of 61 proposals were submitted to the selection process, of which 39 have been preselected. This program of public purchase for innovative technology was organized by R&D contracts that cover 100 % of the costs of the final awarded companies.
Feedstocks to be valorized are lignocellulosic and oleaginous biomasses, residual biomass from the agro-food industry and residual biomass from livestock and non-agro-food.
Concluding, Ms Ballesteros showed two valorization pathways selected in the public innovative purchase tenders for the project Clamber Project:
• Production of anthocyanin, oleanolic acid, functional oil and oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC)from grape marc.
• Production of lactulose, PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) and D-lactic acid from whey.
It will be interesting to see which impact this model will have on the long run, bridging the gap between laboratory research and industrial production.