Inbicon logs 15,000 hours at next-generation biomass refinery

In Denmark, Inbicon announced that its cellulosic biofuels demonstration plant has crossed the 15,000 operating hour mark, since opening in December 2009, in converting wheat straw into cellulosic ethanol and other renewable fuel. Inbicon sells commercial licenses for processes that make low-carbon renewable transportation fuel and electrical power from the leftovers of the grain and cane harvests, such as corn stalks, various straws and grasses, and sugar bagasse.

At commercial scale, Inbicon Biomass Refineries can convert up to 1320 metric tons a day of biomass such as corn stalks into 30 million gallons a year of cellulosic ethanol, which Inbicon calls The New Ethanol.

Two new versions of the design are designed for either co-location or integration with large existing grain-ethanol plants. In America alone, the market for cellulosic ethanol is expected to reach a government-mandated 16-billion gallons annually by 2022.

A third new version, ready for licensing 2014/Q2, stops short of making ethanol. Instead, it delivers clarified industrial sugars to innovators in biochemicals.

All four versions of the Inbicon Biomass Refinery also produce 180,000 metric tons a year of clean lignin, which can be converted to baseload electric power, dependably replacing coal with renewable energy.

“We were first in the world to test our process so extensively,” says Benny Mai, Chief Commercial Officer of Inbicon. “We’ve spent over a decade and over $200,000,000 developing, proving, and optimizing our technology. We’ve committed $20 million more to ongoing R&D. The knowledge we’ve gained from 15,000 hours of running and improving the Inbicon Biomass Refinery—a four-metric-ton-per-hour wheat straw operation—will make our commercial performance guarantees robust and financeable.”

“Inbicon will be the first biomass converter to guarantee four process options,” says Mai. “Two new versions feature all-sugar fermentation, which can increase the yield of cellulosic ethanol by up to 50% over our previous commercial process.”

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