Inbicon 2nd Generation Bio-ethanol plant, Kalundborg

In cooperation with DONG Energy A/S, ISC Consulting Engineers A/S has carried out detailed design on Inbicons new demonstration bio-ethanol plant in Kalundborg, Denmark.

ISC Consulting Engineers A/S has carried out the 3D piping design and produced all drawings for the 3D isometric piping for the up-stream process using the software programme MicroStation PlantSpace.

The software programme Triflex has been used for the stress and flexibility analysis on the critical steaming pipes where there are significantly high pressures and temperatures. Furthermore ISC Consulting Engineers A/S has taken care of the certification packages to the authority approval on the steaming pipes.

The second generation bio-ethanol is produced using the remnants from agricultural and forestry productions such as wheat straw whereas the first generation bio ethanol is produced from food stuff such as corn, wheat and beets.

The plant uses 30,000 ton straw yearly producing 5.4 mill litre bio-ethanol. The bio-ethanol is mixed into the gasoline at the Statoil Refinery in Kalundborg. Furthermore, the plant produces 8,250 ton bio fuel and 11,000 ton molasses which is used for animal feed.

Products from 30000 t/y wheat straw

• Ethanol 8250 t/y,
• lignin pellets 13100 t/y,
• natural bacteria inhibitor
• C5 molasses 11000 t/y

The plant was taken into service and produced the first drops of bio-ethanol in December 2009 at the UN Climate Summit COP15 in Copenhagen.

Shut down of the demonstation plant

Dong's management decided in autumn 2014 to shut down the operation of the 8Inbicon facility in Kalundborg in 2015 and therefore the second planned demonstration campaign could not run in Kalundborg, where Terranol’s developed semi-continuous fermentation protocol with replenishment should have been demonstrated. In this process 75% of the fermentation broth is directly after the first fed batch period transferred to an empty tank, where the fermentation is finished, after which the filling continues from 25% to 100% in the first tank, without adding a new yeast. Instead, this part of the project, following approval by EUDP, was performed in the Inbicon GMO approved pilot plant in Skærbæk in 300L scale with the Terranol yeast strain, cV-110. An excellent yield of 93% was obtained in the refill test in pilot scale.

Both Inbicon and Terranol were invited to speak at the conference “37thSymposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, San Diego, USA, April 27-30, 2015”, which was an excellent opportunity to share the joint results.