Press releases

Biomass energy conversion in the Aquitaine region, France - Inauguration of the PREBIOM project’s torrefaction pilot unit

22 January 2010

The PREBIOM project’s biomass torrefaction pilot unit was inaugurated today in Pau. The PREBIOM (PREtraitement de la BIOMasse or PREtreatment of BIOMass) research consortium is a group of regional players set up to study the potential for implementing industrial lignocellulosic biomass energy conversion processes in the Aquitaine region, South-West of France. These processes will convert biomass derived from forestry or agricultural activities into a solid, stabilized intermediate product with greater energy density, which can then be incorporated into the biomass energy (cogeneration, boiler houses) or 2nd-generation biofuel sectors. Led by IFP, PREBIOM has seven other partners: APESA (Association for the Environment and Safety in Aquitaine), Aquitaine Électronique, ARVALIS - Institut du Végétal (research institute for applied research in agriculture), COFELY, CAFSA (Coopérative Agricole et Forestière Sud Atlantique – South Atlantic Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative), the Laboratory of Thermic, Energetic and Process at the University of Pau (LaTEP-UPPA) and OCEOL. The research program, which has a total budget of €1.27 million over three years, is being run with the financial support of the Aquitaine regional council and the Lacq Communauté de Communes, who have provided funding of €200,000 and €60,000, respectively.

Against a backdrop of waning fossil fuel reserves and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the objective of PREBIOM is to help diversify the energy mix in France, in line with a bold national and European political drive towards ensuring renewable energies make up a significant proportion of this mix. The Aquitaine region boasts some important assets enabling it to play a prominent role in this field: firstly, agricultural land and forests account for a substantial share of its surface area and, secondly, it has extensive experience in the chemistry and energy sectors.

The research conducted as part of PREBIOM is hinged around two socio-economic and technical components:

• The first part concerns a study of the economic, social and environmental feasibility of biomass energy conversion processes on a regional scale. More specifically, this involves addressing questions relative to the biomass resources available in the short or medium term in Aquitaine, the extent of the related collection areas, as well as the number and size of the facilities to be located in the region. It also involves studying the social acceptability of these potential options, remembering that the PREBIOM program has chosen to focus solely on processes using non-food biomass not competing with existing agricultural or forestry uses (agricultural or forestry residues or dedicated crops on land that is already or will become available).
   
• The second part concerns study of pretreatment by torrefaction of the lignocellulosic biomass selected in the first part of the project. A dedicated pilot laboratory with a treatment capacity of 2 kg/h has been built to test samples of this biomass. Broadly speaking, torrefaction is a thermal degradation operation conducted at around 250°C in the absence of oxygen; it produces a hydrophobic solid, which is resistant to biological attack and friable, thereby increasing its energy density and greatly facilitating its storage and transportation. This tool will make it possible to examine the influence of the various operating parameters in order to optimize the process and obtain baseline data for the definition of specifications for a semi-industrial pilot unit. It will also provide input to the technical, economic and environmental studies conducted in the first part of the project. This work is being conducted as part of a thesis by LaTEP-UPPA, co-funded by Aquitaine Électronique.