1

Forestry Bioeconomia

Bioeconomia Argentina Patagonia region

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

April 16, 2015

Prof. Kristiina Kruus

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

2 21/04/2015 2

VTT - Largest multitechnological applied research

organisation in Northern Europe

Services and the way of work

A not-for-profit and impartial research centre

Cross-disciplinary technological and business expertise

Customers

Finnish and international companies as well as public sector

organisations

Business areas and VTT companies

Knowledge intensive products and services

Smart industry and energy systems

Solutions for natural resources and environment

VTT Expert Services Ltd (incl. Labtium Ltd)

VTT Ventures Ltd

VTT International Ltd (incl. VTT Brasil LTDA)

VTT Memsfab Ltd

Resources

Turnover 308 M€

(2013 VTT Group),

personnel 2,900

(31.12.2014 VTT

Group)

Unique research and

testing infrastructure

Wide national and

international

cooperation network

*) Source: Roles, effectiveness, and impact of VTT, VTT & Technopolis Group, 2013.

3 21/04/2015 3

VTT Group on the map

4 21/04/2015 4

Bioeconomy: The next economic wave

The next wave of economy is bioeconomy, which produces economic growth and wellbeing from renewable biomass

A transitition from fossil resources to renenwable

In Finland we have plenty of natural resources, expertise and agility.

GDP and wellbeing

Natural economy

Fossil economy

1900 2014 2030

5 21/04/2015 5

Bioeconomy: Born from necessity

People are forced to find alternatives to non-renewable raw materials.

Climate change

Scarcity of non-renewable raw materials etc…

Due to

population growth, by 2030 the world will

need:

50 % more food

45 % more

energy

30 % more water

6 21/04/2015 6

Rationale for the Bioeconomy in Finland National drivers

Biomass resources per capita the 4th largest in Finland

Forest industry accounts for 20% of Finnish export (bulk

products)

The competitiveness of the forest industry is declining

Need for new added value products from forest biomass

Annual growth of forest biomass is 100 million m3, only about 70

million m3 used

Potential to expand the product portfolio and to create new

business opportunities

Strong machinery industry in Finland focusing on forest value

chain

Possibilities to expand to forest and agro biorefineries

Biotechnology research and also enzyme industry strong

International drivers

Climate change

Oil dependency and price fluctuation

New sources of affordable and safe food (more extensive raw

material exploitation)

7 21/04/2015 7

Turnover €60bn

Share of employment

13%

Share of exports

26%

Bioeconomy’s significance in Finland

Finland seeks to increase its bioeconomy output to 100bn euros by 2025 and to create 100,000 new jobs in the process.

Bioeconomy combines wood processing, chemistry, energy, construction, technology, food and health.

About half of Finland’s bioeconomy consists of forest bioeconomy.

www.bioeconomy.fi

Forest biomass 100 million

m3/a:

• 20 million tn cellulose

• 15 million tn lignin

• 15 million tn hemicellulose

Case

Finland

10/09/2014 8

Towards a multiproduct bioeconomy Sustainable utilization of the raw materials to various products with different values, no waste production

10/09/2014 9

Cosmetics, food ingredients

Chemicals

Textiles

Materials

Bioenergy

Paper, packaging

Value

Volume

21/04/2015 10

Chips

Exploiting the current mill as a biorefinery with different

business options for the side streams

Pulp mill Pulp Paper

Bark Pulping liquor

Carbohydrates Phenolics Methanol

Functional polymers

Fine chemicals Pharmaceuticals Antioxidants

Hydrogels Chelators Emulsifiers Food ingredients

Liquid fuels Polymers

Specialty:

Suberin and tannin

Wood

Tall oil

Fatty acids

Water based alkyds

Wood treatment agents

Fuels

Inter- mediates:

11 21/04/2015

Biomass

deconstruction

Fibres

Chemicals Fuels

Specialty materials Polymers

Fibres

Processing

Cell factory

Fibre processing

Polymer

conversion

Or to generate a totally new multiproduct

mill with several main products

Fibre platform

Sugar

platform

Lignin

platform

Lipid

platform

Renewable

raw

materials

12 21/04/2015

Current examples of utilization of woody biomass in Finland

Renewable energy with combined pulp, paper, heat and power production, and in local district heating

Biofuels from crude tall oil in pulp production (UPM), saw dust, wood residues and paper mill sludges(ST1)

Bio oil from forest residues combined with heat and power production (Fortum pyrolysis plant in Joensuu)

Äänekoski multi bioproduct mill and an ecosystem (MetsäFibre)

Bioethanol and biogas from household and industry waste (EU FibreEtOH)

Fuels and bioproducts from lignin combined with pulp production (LignoBoost, Stora Enso)

Cosmetics and food additives from wood and other forest products (Lumene)

Xylitol production from xylose (DuPont)

13

Cooking

technologies

Processing

e.g. foam forming

Fibre products

Paper

Packaging

Speciality fibres

Textiles

Bulk chemicals

Fine chemicals

Fuels

Food

Feed

Chemical

modification

Cell Factories

Pretreatments,

fractionation

Lignin, cellulose,

hemicellulose

Hydrolysis to

sugars

UTILIZATION OF PLANT BIOMASS

Mechanical, thermal,

chemical processing,

Novel machinery;

integrated or disintegrated

Rawmaterial: availability,

type, analytics Further processing Thermal processes

Gasification

Pyrolysis

VARIOUS TECHNOLOGIES

VARIOUS PRODUCTS

Nanocellulose

Microfibrill

cellulose

14 21/04/2015 14

VTT Bioeconomy Transformation Programme

Biotechnical production

platform

Cell factories

Enzymatic conversions

Synthetic biology

Thermochemical

production platform

Pyrolysis

Gasification

Chemical conversion

platform

Platform chemicals,

cellulose derivatives,

valorization of lignin

Novel solvents (DES, ILs)

Products:

Biobased products: composites, web-based products,

packaging materials, performance chemicals, special fibres

Food, food ingredients and feed

Biofuels and energy

Competences throughout the programme:

Intelligence to bioeconomy

Industrial symbiosis

Socioeconomics

General process technologies:

Freedstock disassembly and fractionation: pretreatments, pulping, matrix architecture

Process engineering, product recovery, process concepts, sustainability

Focuses on Industrial renewal Development of new value

added products and process concepts to industrial

stakeholders Sustainable use of biomass/ biomass

resources Implementation of the national bioeconomy

strategy

Facts and figures Volume 35 M€/a

200 key customers

190 peer review articles annually

140 patent families

Chemistry

Bio-technology

Value chains and process

concepts

Fluidized

bed platform

Process technology

and automation

Foresight and societal

aspects

Programme outline

15 21.4.2015 15

Major plant cell wall components

Cellulose

Hemicellulose

Lignin http://cen.acs.org/articles/86/i49/Lignocellulo

se-Complex-Biomaterial.html

16 21/04/2015 16

Different technologies for 2nd generation

biofuels and chemicals

Pretreatment

and hydrolysis Fermentation Product

recovery

Ethanol and other

alcohols

Lipids Diesel, jet fuel

BIOTECHNICAL ROUTE

Thermal or

catalytic fast

Pyrolysis Product upgrading

Gasoline

Diesel, jet fuel

FAST PYROLYSIS

Gasification Gas cleaning

to syngas

Liquid fuel

synthesis

Methanol Gasoline

Diesel

Gasoline

DME

Hydrogen

SNG Methanation

PSA

GASIFICATION

17 21/04/2015

Biotechnical route for sugar production from lignocellulose

Enzymes

Enzyme production (fermentation)

Product recovery • Bioethanol • chemicals

Hydrolysis

Enzyme discovery Mixture tailoring Hydrolysis

technology High consistency

Pretreatment, Fractionation

Steam explosion Organosolv Catalytic oxidation Enzyme aided

technologies

Biomass Flexible biomass

sources from forest and field

Cheap Fermentable Sugars

Value-added products

Production host engineering

Pentose fermentation Metabolic engineering

Lignin

Fermentation

Sevaral microbial hosts, plant cells

Process concepts SHF,SSF,

CBP (consolidated)

18 21/04/2015

10/09/2014 18

Innovative ways to fractionate, process and use biomass - a

must for future bioeconomy

SARI:

Onko

oikealla

olevan kuvan

käytölle

saatu lupa?

Alla oleva

kuva

epätarkka

19 21/04/2015 19

NOVEL SOLVENTS FOR BIOMASS

Ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents

dissolve cellulose

IL: salt with low melting points (mp < 100 °C)

DES: hydrogen bond donor and acceptor

Basic ILs dissolve cellulose

Disruption of H-bonding

Hydrophobic interactions

Dissolution mechanism in DESs unknown

http://ww2.chemistry.gatech.edu/hud/node/13 Francisco et al., Green Chem, 2012, 14: 2153-2157.

Choline chloride

20 21/04/2015 20

Novel solvents Ionic liquids and deep eutectic

solvents can renew the forest industry sector

Potential concepts:

Pulping with DES (winning idea in CEPI two team project)

Fibre spinning from dissolving pulp IL solutions

New textile products (Ioncell process / prof. Sixta)

Pretreatments for lignocellulosic raw materials

Biofuel production via the sugar platform

Lignocellulose fractionation

Recovery of hemicellulose and lignin

Fibre spinning at

Aalto University

4/21/2015 21

Cellulosic adsorbent

Hemicellulose film

10/09/2014 21

Tailored break down and build up - novel materials and

structures from biomass

SARI:

Onko

kuvien

käytölle

saatu

luvat?

Kuvia on

pakko

pienentää

jo senkin

takia, että

ne ovat

kovin

epätarkko

ja.

4/21/2015 22

Aalto: Design

meets cellulose

2012

VTT: Nanocellulose

fibres

Aalto: Ioncell process

VTT: Fibre

yarn

10/09/2014 22

From bulk cellulose fibre to high value cellulose fibres for

textiles

SARI:

Onko

kuvien

käytölle

saatu

luvat?

Kuvia on

pakko

pienentää

jo senkin

takia, että

ne ovat

kovin

epätarkko

ja.

VTT: Fibre yarn carpet

4/21/2015 23

From bulk fibres to higher value textile fibres

Fibre yarn technology

Challenge To offer a new approach to use wood-based cellulose in textile fibres

Result Technology to produce fibre yarn directly from wood cellulose fibres with

40% lower raw material costs as compared to viscose

economical production process (short and simple)

environmental aspects and recyclability, e.g. 50-75% reduction in CO2

emission as compared with cotton production

Interesting yarn properties and potential application areas

Benefits New business opportunities generated through research

VTT spin-off Spinnova started in 2015

Contributes to renewal and networking of Finnish forest and textile industry

Respond to future global need of cellulose based textile fibres due to

population growth and cotton production stagnation

Contact persons: Kirsi Kataja, VTT

Janne Poranen, Spinnova

Design Driven Value Chains in the World of Cellulose (DWoC)

21/04/2015 24

Nanocellulose as potential high-value product from cellulose

Wood Bacteria Straw Sugar Beet Banana

Technologically

feasible

Prof. Derek Gray

2013 MWP Prize-winner

10/09/2014 25

Lignin – from energy applications to high value aromatics

26 21/04/2015

Lignin as a renewable aromatic raw material “Value from lignin” Several processes provide lignin, total production 50

million t/a

Result • Several potential lignin products have been developed:

– Concrete plasticizers with better properties than

lignosulphonates and nearly comparable with synthetic

superplasticizers

– Thermoplastic coatings with water vapor barrier

properties comparable to PLA

– Biocomposites

Benefits: • Higher value to lignin producers: pulp mills, 2nd generation

bioethanol production

• Biobased materials and chemicals, even food applications

• Competitive edge: – Tailored applications based on adjustment of properties by

chemical and enzymatic modification

– Scale-up combined with techno-economical calculations

and LCA

Contact persons: Tiina Liitiä, Tarja Tamminen

Lignin

Products Adhesives

Coatings

Foams

Plastic

composites*

Tires

Dispersants &

surfactants

Fuels, Chemicals

Food and feed

Lignin

applications Thermoset resins

(PF, PU, epoxy)

Thermoplastic

lignin

Polyelectrolytes

Carbonised lignin

Phenolics

Aromatics

* VTT IPR

*

* *

*

*

*

Lignin O

O

Modification for tailored properties,

Fleaxible Tofa-Lignin Kraft lignin & PEG (70/30)

& TMP/Bleched pulp

Lignin based concrete plasticizer

Paper

Chemicals

Fractionation Composites

Energy Textiles Chemicals

MULTIPRODUCT

INDUSTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS

Energy

Agro

10/09/2014 27

Forest

Biofuels

Power plant Paper

CURRENT FOREST BIOECONOMY

Energy Paper

Pulp mill

28 21/04/2015 28

What is needed?

Trust and investments on research

Multidiciplinary approach

Pilot experiments and proofs of concepts in close

collaboration with the industry

International collaboration

Combination of national precompetitive funding to bi-

or trilateral programmes between selected countries

Combining efforts between agro and forest sectors

29

GRACIAS!