Sud-Chemie halves biofuel pilot plant capacity

27 July 2011 14:50  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--German speciality chemicals firm Sud-Chemie has halved the size of a pilot production facility which will be used to demonstrate its second-generation biofuels technology, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

Sud-Chemie originally planned to build the pilot plant, which will use the company’s proprietary sunliquid process technology, to produce 2,000 tonnes/year of cellulosic ethanol, and announced its intentions in 2010.

However, it subsequently decided to build a 1,000 tonne/year facility as it feels that a plant of this size is sufficient to demonstrate that the process is reliable, an executive told ICIS.

The cost of the scheme will remain unchanged from projections made in 2010, at €28m ($41m), Sud-Chemie says. Around €12m has been spent on research while the plant itself will cost €16m to build.

“The 2,000 tonnes capacity was a first estimate,” said Yvonne Sotl, communications manager at the company’s research department. “We [will] build this plant to make sure we can give process guarantees to our clients, that a scale up into industrial production will work. The 1,000 tonnes plant we [plan to] build now is sufficient for this up-scaling.”

Industrial facilities using the technology would produce around 50,000 tonnes/year of cellulosic ethanol, Sotl said.

The company broke ground for the project at its Straubing site in southern Germany on 26 July Construction of the plant is scheduled for completion by the end of 2011. The plant will produce 1,000 tonnes/year of cellulosic ethanol, a second-generation biofuel, using locally sourced straw as a feedstock.

The plant will be the largest of its kind in Germany, the company said.

$1 = €0.69

By: Peter Salisbury
+44 20 8652 3214

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