The German Federal Government presented an ambitious package with the "Integrated Energy and Climate Program" in 2007 with 14 projects for expanding the utilization of renewable energies. The share of renewable energies, in particular, plays a decisive role in this context. With the help of the "Biorefinery Research Portal," 92 European research projects involved with biorefinery were identified in 2010. The cluster showed that the focus of the activities is on the concrete assessment and optimization of individual biogenous raw materials, product spectrums, processing techniques or process chains. In the BioCouple project, scheduled for a duration of one and a half years, UMSICHT checked to what extent the concept of biorefinery is suitable to provide bioenergy, energy as well as substances/materials coupled and efficiently and how it can be optimally integrated into existing energy systems. 

Examination of five generic biorefinery concepts

Due to the project's strategic focus with respect to the integration of biorefineries into the German energy system, the reviewed biorefinery concepts had to fulfill the following criteria: technologies available short to mid-term and relevant markets for the main and by-products had to exist as well as a particularly advantageous geographic location. Biorefineries whose raw materials could not be obtained within Germany for economic or technical reasons were not taken into consideration. The focus was on the following biorefinery concepts (types):

• Type I: Single platform biorefinery for bioethanol and animal feed made from grains containing starch
  
• Type II: Single platform biorefinery for biodiesel, animal feed and glycerin made from plant seeds containing oil
  
• Type III: Single platform biorefinery for synthetic biofuels, electricity and naphta made from residual wood/SRF*
  
• Type IV: Three platform biorefinery for bioethanol and chemical made from straw
  
• Type V: Two platform "green" biorefinery for electricity, insulating materials, fiber-reinforced plastics and fertilizers made from grass
  

In addition to technical/economic analyses, these generic biorefinery types were assessed with respect to different environmental aspects such as climatic effectiveness, preservation of fossil resources, and acidification potential. Furthermore, the project team determined corresponding indicators for reference systems that each provide the same product spectrum and were compared to the biorefinery types. Based on these results, an extrapolation of the absolute savings potential for Germany arrives at 14 million tons of CO2 equivalents in 2030.

Success factors for biorefineries

The analyses have shown that a concept for coupled production of material and energetic products, meaning "the" biorefinery, can not yet be spoken of. The generically reviewed biorefineries are at different stages of development and/or commercialization. While the processes of the types I, II and V are already fully deployable and available on the market, types III and IV are concepts that are not yet commercially developed. Accordingly, there is an individual need for optimization for each system. Strategically, the following factors can be derived which are of considerable importance to the success of biorefineries: the availability of the biomass, the selection of a suitable site, and the marketability of the produced products.
The mid- and long-term objective in the area of biorefinery is the further development of new bio-based products that utilize nature's synthesis performance.

* Short Rotation Forestry

Funding note

German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Project Partners

Öko-Institut e. V. (Eco Institute)
Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy)