LowCoBio partner meeting in Nancy

“It was a very interesting meeting with a lot of important discussions, and we also got to know each other better. I am very grateful to CNRS for being such wonderful hosts,” says project coordinator Linda Sandström, RISE.   

Work on Work Package 1 (WP1) – Biomass Feedstock and Bio-Oils Production – has begun with the selection of suitable feedstocks. Five materials were chosen for pretreatment and pyrolysis trials in collaboration with the project partners: forest residues, softwood bark, wheat straw, waste wood and sugarcane bagasse. Softwood sawdust was also selected as a reference feedstock. 

Most of the selected materials have now been sourced and analysed for composition. Pretreatment tests with these feedstocks are also underway. In LowCoBio, strategies being explored for pretreatment include acid washing, cold-water washing and hot-water extraction of the raw biomass. 

“Preliminary results indicate that water washing is effective at removing certain ash-forming elements, and this removal is further enhanced by using a pyrolysis-derived aqueous phase rich in organic acids,” says work package leader Elmeri Pienihäkkinen, VTT. “Hot-water extraction, on the other hand, strongly impacts feedstock composition by removing hemicelluloses through partial degradation. This is reflected in the reduced oxygen content of the feedstock after pretreatment.” 

The next steps in the project include finalising the preliminary screening of pretreatment methods. After that, selected pretreated feedstocks will undergo small-scale pyrolysis tests to evaluate the influence of pretreatment on bio-oil yield and corrosive properties. 

In parallel with the first pyrolysis experiments, the first hydroprocessing experiments of bio-oil donated from industrial partners will also be performed shortly.  

“The physical meeting was helpful in the planning of how to perform the first hydroprocessing experiments, during which we will also perform corrosion measurements”, says Linda Sandström.