Mobile Green Bioprocessing Technology

By EduTransfer Design Associates and Haywire Creative

January 04, 2010

Photo by F. Berruti, University of Western Ontario

At the University of Western Ontario, researchers have developed a fast pyrolysis technology that converts waste biomass materials into bio-oil and other valuable products. Dr. Franco Berruti, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR) and co-inventor Dr. Cedric Briens, are excited about the possibilities this green technology will offer the industry. Berruti is also head of the Canadian Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation Network for Green Energy, Fuels and Chemicals (ABIN).

“Pyrolysis is a thermal conversion process that cracks or breaks down organic molecules using heat, but in the absence of oxygen,” explains Berruti. Without oxygen, the process benefits from the heat or thermal conversion without combustion. The fast pyrolysis process requires seconds instead of days. “By speeding up the process, we can capture different vapours from the biomass, and by cooling those vapours quickly, we can convert them to a liquid.” The final products from the process are bio-oil, bio-char and gas.

The technology, which has been compacted to fit on a trailer, is portable and can be easily run by one person. “The unit can process 10 tonnes of biomass per day using a range of materials from field crop and orchard residues to greenhouse tomato vines, chicken and horse manure and forestry waste products,” says Berruti. The biomass should be fairly dry and must be put through a chipper/shredder machine before it goes into the processing unit.

“Out of one tonne of biomass, providing it is reasonably dry, we produce about 60 % bio-oil, 20 % bio-char and 20 % gas,” explains Berruti. “There is no waste stream from the process and the 20 % gas is reused to run the process.” The bio-oil is somewhat equivalent to crude petroleum oil and will require some further refining to be used as a fuel source. The bio-char captures all of the nutrients from the organic material, making it a valuable fertilizer option for farmers and may be considered for carbon credits in the future.

“We are working on optimizing the technology and testing various biomass materials,” says Berruti. “Most residues can be used in the process, but the bio-oils produced will have different applications.” For example, apple residues including skins and cores and tobacco residues produce good bio-oils, but they are not suitable for fuel use. “Some of these bio-oils will be better suited to other applications for food, pharmaceuticals or pesticides. It is a whole new science we have to discover.”
 
Demonstration and Commercialization
Now that Berruti and his team have proven the technology, the next step is to build a prototype for demonstration. A spin-off company called Agri-Therm is commercializing the technology and is in the process of establishing manufacturing capability in Canada. “We plan to build one unit for demonstrations on various farms and research facilities,” says Berruti. “A second unit has already been sold to Mexico for use to process sugar cane field residues.”

Berruti expects that commercial units may be available to Canadian farmers by the end of 2010. The cost is anticipated to be similar to other large pieces of agriculture equipment. “We are continuing to look at other products and applications that can be developed from the technology,” adds Berruti. “Opportunities for food additives, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and others are being explored. We are excited about the potential this green portable bioprocessing technology can bring to the agriculture industry.”