Situated in the fields outside the Italian city of Crescentino, it is the first plant in the world to be designed and built to produce bioethanol from agricultural residues and energy crops at commercial scale using enzymatic conversion. The biofuels plant will produce 75 million liters of cellulosic ethanol annually from agricultural waste.

Beta Renewables, a global leader in cellulosic biofuels, and Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, formed a strategic partnership in October 2012, making Novozymes the preferred enzyme supplier for Beta Renewables’ current and future cellulosic biofuel projects. 

“The advanced biofuels market presents transformational economic, environmental and social opportunities, and with the opening, we pave the way for a green revolution in the chemical sector. We will continue to commercially expand Beta Renewables’ core technology throughout the world, and we are very confident at this stage given the demand we see around the globe”, says Beta Renewables’ Chairman and CEO, Guido Ghisolfi.

The plant uses wheat straw, rice straw and arundo donax, a high-yielding energy crop grown on marginal land. Lignin, a polymer extracted from biomass during the ethanol production process, is used at an attached power plant, which generates enough power to meet the facility’s energy needs, with any excess green electricity sold to the local grid.

“The opening today presents a leap forward and is truly the beginning of a new era for advanced biofuels. Here, at this plant, enabled by Novozymes’ enzymatic technology, we will turn agricultural waste into millions of liters of low-emission green fuel, proving that cellulosic ethanol is no longer a distant dream. It is here, it is happening, and it is ready for large-scale commercialisation, says Peder Holk Nielsen, CEO of Novozymes.

Cost-competitive technology ready

Beta Renewables’ PROESA™ engineering and production technology alongside Novozymes’ Cellic® enzymes represent the most cost-competitive advanced biofuels platform in existence today. More than $200 million has been invested in research and development of the technology used to produce cellulosic ethanol at the Crescentino facility, since 2011. 

“Investors interested in cellulosic ethanol often ask when the technology will be ready at commercial scale,” PROESA enables customers to produce advanced biofuel at a cost-competitive price relative to conventional biofuels – at large-scale and today. Our complete offering makes cellulosic biofuel projects bankable and replicable, says Guido Ghisolfi.

For a video presentation of the facility and the process, please see this link. 

Source: Novozymes

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