Greenovate! Europe

<p>The ButaNexT project aims to demonstrate the techno-economic feasibility of the conversion of two</p> <p>sustainable lignocellulosic feedstocks (wheat straw and miscanthus) available at EU level, into biobutanol through the</p> <p>integration of different technology developments. The project has ended recently and the main achievements of the</p> <p>consortium have been the following: (1) design, construction and operation of a micronizing pilot prototype for</p> <p>controlled biomass particle size production up to 0.5 mm with a more reduced energy consumption and able to be</p> <p>scalable to industrial size; (2) development of a flexible and easy to adapt two-step fractionation process based on the</p> <p>combination of the micronizing prototype with a continuous thermochemical pretreatment; (3) development of</p> <p>tailored enzyme cocktails (MetZyme® SUNO™) that address harsh process-specific conditions and facilitate</p> <p>improved hydrolysis of pretreated biomass to monosaccharides; (4) development of a Clostridial strain able to</p> <p>ferment cellulosic sugars effectively (target butanol yield > 0.25 g/g pure sugar) and having 20% higher butanol</p> <p>tolerance than baseline strain; (5) development of a patent-pending “In situ product recovery process” based on</p> <p>improved pervaporation fluxes obtained during fermentation that allows continuous operation; (6) validation of the</p> <p>technical performance of the individual stages cited above in a pilot facility using wheat straw as feedstock from</p> <p>handling to product recovery in a 100 L bioreactor; (7) testing of properties and performance of butanol as a blend</p> <p>component in both diesel and gasoline fuels and (8) calculation of GHG emissions of biobutanol in a number of</p> <p>different scenarios based on the use of wheat straw and miscanthus as feedstocks and for the provision of heat,</p> <p>electricity and waste water treatment.</p>