Slov­akia will have a biore­finery to pro­duce second-gen­er­a­tion bioethanol

Bio­chem­tex and Beta Renew­ables signed a defin­it­ive agree­ment with Ener­go­chem­ica SE – a Slov­aki­an chem­ic­al and power industry hold­ing com­pany – for the con­struc­tion of a 2^nd Gen­er­a­tion Eth­an­ol plant and the annexed Energy Block for the gen­er­a­tion of power and steam. The plant, that will be built in Straz­ske, Slov­ak Repub­lic, will deliv­er 55,000 met­ric tons per year of cost-com­pet­it­ive cel­lu­losic eth­an­ol while using non-food bio­mass as its feed­stock. The start-up of the plant is expec­ted in the first half of 2017. The plant will apply Beta’s Proesa tech­no­logy. Bio­chem­tex will provide basic engin­eer­ing, key equip­ment and tech­nic­al field ser­vices. ​“We look at our deal with Ener­go­chem­ica SE as an import­ant step to devel­op second gen­er­a­tion bioeth­an­ol activ­it­ies in Europe,” said Guido Ghisolfi, Ceo and Pres­id­ent of Beta Renew­ables and Bio­chem­tex. ​“We believe that Proesa tech­no­logy will let pro­du­cers see super­i­or returns on their invest­ments, while meet­ing the EU tar­gets of 10% renew­able energy in trans­port by 2020.” The plant will use enzymes from Novozymes and yeast from Leaf Tech­no­lo­gies. Novozymes and Leaf Tech­no­lo­gies are long-term part­ners of Beta Renew­ables and their role is cru­cial for Proesa tech­no­logy. The Energy Block, by using the lignin pro­duced as a by-product of the Proesa tech­no­logy, will gen­er­ate all power and steam neces­sary to the plant and will sell the addi­tion­al energy to the grid. Source: Il Bioeconomista — The first bioeconomy blog — www​.ilbioeconomista​.com