Inbicon pushes cellulosic biofuel processes

Denmark-based Inbicon said today it’s in discussions with several North American biofuels companies to license its second-generation cellulosic technology for commercial scale production of ethanol.

The partnerships are expected to help accelerate Inbicon’s pre-treatment technology to biorefinery developers in North America. What Inbicon brings to the cellulosic ethanol market is a commercial scale technology and treatment process (see New cellulosic plant in Georgia to turn wood chips into ethanol, without using enzymes).

Inbicon is owned by Danish power company DONG Energy and has developed a commercial-scale treatment process and technology for cellulosic ethanol that it has been using for five years. The company plans to take the pre-treatment technology and bolt it onto existing ethanol biofuels plants to boost production using non-edible sources instead of corn.

The company spokesman said the idea is to tightly integrate Inbicon’s approach so that waste heat from renewable energy plants can be used to break down and refine cellulosic wheat straw and produce C6 sugars for biofuel refinement. In doing so, the addition of these processes could help free these biofuel manufacturers of fossil fuels.

Inbicon said its pre-treatment process uses hydro-thermal to wet and heat the wheat straw, which helps accelerate the breakdown and hydrolysis of the fibrous plant parts into ethanol. The company said it uses much less catalyst than competitors to drive the breakdown of the straw. The company declined to provide specifics on amounts of catalysts used in what’s considered a highly secretive area for cellulosic ethanol producers.

The company plans to have a full scale production plant capable of producing 1.4 million US gallons per year at the Kalundborg port in Denmark by December of 2009.

As part of Inbicon’s push into North American markets, the company is in discussions with investors to raise capital for the building of sustainable, carbon-neutral energy parks providing several sources of renewable electricity, liquid biofuels and livestock feeds.

Currently, the company is testing rice straw for the Asian market and has been testing gas and municipal waste (see U.S. government granting $385M to six cellulosic ethanol plants).

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