MiniRefine - Demonstration of New Biotransport Fuel Manufacturing Processes
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB - Biovetenskap och material/Ytor, process och formulering |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 5 678 000 |
| Project duration | October 2018 - December 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | The strategic innovation programme Bioinnovation |
Purpose and goal
The purpose of the project was to establish a test bed that closely resembles full-scale refinery equipment and then use it for demonstration of a new patent-pending biofuels process. The project delivered a powerful pilot plant that can be used for catalytic hydrogen treatment of a wide range of liquid feeds to reach the right product quality. The demonstration of the process and the technoeconomic and market analyses carried out show that further optimization is needed to reach higher TRL levels.
Expected results and effects
The project has established a powerful test bed for catalytic hydrogen treatment under conditions that resembles today´s refinery processes. The test bed is widely usable in both biofuel, chemical and electro-fuel areas as well as for testing circular raw materials such as pyrolyzed plastic and rubber waste. Overall, it is estimated that the project has lowered the innovation thresholds in the area of converting bio-oils from lignocellulose and other residual streams into industrially relevant hydrocarbons.
Planned approach and implementation
The project has involved investment, construction and commissioning of the test bed, experimental testing of the process concept and market and technoeconomic analyses. The investment part of the project involved international suppliers providing tenders to our URS requests. The construction phase was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, where RISE was forced to complete installation and commissioning due to complications at suppliers. This ultimately benefited RISE as valuable competence on running and modifying the unit has been gained in-house.