Page 58 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2016 publication

58 Summer 2016 European Energy Innovation
COMMUNICATION
Cellulosic ethanol – biofuel of the future
The transport sector has one of the
highest growth rates worldwide
implying a significant impact on the fuel access C5 and C6 sugars contained in
demand and level of CO2 emissions.
The EU has set targets to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by
40% compared to 1990 levels by 2030.
As transport alone is responsible for
25% of GHG emissions in the European
Union, the use of already available
and cost-effective technologies,
such as advanced biofuels, has to be
encouraged as quickly as possible.
Advanced biofuels based on
agricultural residues such as cellulosic Conservation, Building and Nuclear
ethanol have the potential to play
a key role in making mobility more
sustainable. By 2030, these advanced
biofuels could cover about 16% of
the total fuel demand in Europe.
This could create 300,000 new jobs
– predominantly in rural areas – and
generate additional revenues of EUR 15
billion in Europe alone.
SUNLIQUID® – COMPETITIVE AND
SUSTAINABLE CELLULOSIC ETHANOL
The production of cellulosic ethanol
is technologically mature. Clariant’s
sunliquid® technology is an innovative,
efficient, sustainable, energy-neutral
and economic process for the
production of cellulosic ethanol from
agricultural residues such as straw,
corn stover or sugarcane bagasse.
Highly optimized enzymes ensure
effective conversion of the feedstock
into sugars, which are then fermented
sunliquid© demonstration plant in Straubing, Germany
into ethanol by highly optimized yeast.
The process converts the difficult to commercial maturity of the sunliquid®
process by building and operating a
the plant material almost entirely into first-of-its kind, large scale cellulosic
ethanol. The product, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol production plant. The project
is a high quality biofuel with high will contribute to achieve a more
GHG emission savings of up to 95% sustainable energy system in Europe
compared with fossil fuels. It does not that is less dependent on imported
compete with food or feed production fossil fuels and creates new, green jobs.
and does not need any additional
arable land. Recently, sunliquid® has In order to trigger investments in
been awarded the “2015 German cellulosic ethanol production capacity
Innovation Prize for Climate and in the EU, a predictable and long-term
Environment” from the German Federal policy has to be adopted. At the heart of
Ministry for the Environment, Nature such a framework stands a binding and
ambitious target for advanced biofuels. ●
Safety.
CONTACT DETAILS:
A successfully conducted fleet test Dr. Markus Rarbach
with Mercedes-Benz series vehicles Head of Biofuels & Derivatives
using sunliquid® 20, a premium-grade Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH
E20 blend containing 20% cellulosic T: +49 (0)89 710 661 0
ethanol, has shown that cellulosic E: contact@sunliquid-project-fp7.eu
ethanol E20 is technically feasible. 20% www.sunliquid-project-fp7.eu
cellulosic ethanol led to a significant
increase in sustainability as it reduced
particle emissions by 50% compared
to the EU reference fuel E5 and saved
around 95% GHG emissions. Clariant
supplied the cellulosic ethanol from
its demonstration plant in Straubing
(Germany) where up to 1000 tons
of cellulosic ethanol are produced
annually using the sunliquid® process.
The plant has already received the
International Sustainability & Carbon
Certification (ISCC).
Currently, the EU-funded project
SUNLIQUID aims to confirm the
This project receives funding from
the European Union’s Seventh
Framework Programme (FP7/2007-
2013) under grant agreement no.
322386.
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu