Example of a BioTrac pretreatment system Source: Valmet
Valmet Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.valmet.com) has agreed with Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) on the delivery of a BioTrac biomass pretreatment system for their sunliquid cellulosic ethanol plant in Romania.
The order is included in Valmet’s third quarter 2018 orders received. The value of the order will not be disclosed. The start-up is planned for 2020.
The new plant, with an annual production capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of cellulosic ethanol, will be built in southwestern Romania. The facility will be a flagship site, confirming the competitiveness and sustainability of the company’s sunliquid technology on a commercial scale, supporting Clariant’s sunliquid licensing business strategy.
The delivery includes a BioTrac biomass pretreatment system with a capacity of over 800 m.t. of dry biomass per day, as well as all main parts for biomass dosing, the reactor, the feeding system to the reactor, and steam separation. The pretreatment phase is an essential step in cellulosic ethanol production, and the goal is to make the cellulose accessible for further processing.
“We have successfully been using Valmet’s pretreatment system in our pre-commercial sunliquid plant in Straubing for six years already. During this time, we have closely worked with Valmet to verify and precisely optimize the pre-treatment process for sunliquid. We are confident that we have a reliable partner in Valmet for our sunliquid plant in Romania,” comments Markus Rarbach, Head of Business Line Biofuels & Derivatives at Clariant.
“This is a very important milestone for Valmet, being the first commercial-sized BioTrac plant for cellulosic ethanol. We are very proud to receive this order from our long-term partner Clariant, who knows our system inside and out after six years of operation at their demo plant in Straubing,” says Mattias Erixon, Manager Sales, Biomass Conversion at Valmet.