A number of companies around the world pursue projects to develop and deploy advanced technologies for the production of biofuels. Plenty of options are available, e.g. on which feedstock to use, how to pretreat it and how to convert it, up to which fuel to produce. This report monitors the multi-facetted development, adds transparency to the sector and thus supports the development and deployment of advanced biofuels production technologies.
Main pathways under development can be classified into biochemical technologies, thermochemical technologies and chemical technologies. Biochemical technologies are usually based on lignocellulosic feedstock which is pretreated, hydrolysed into sugars and then fermented to ethanol. Alternative biochemical pathways process sugars or gaseous components into methanol, butanol, mixed alcohols, acetic acids, or other chemical building blocks. Most thermochemical technologies use gasification to convert lignocellulosic feedstock into synthesis gas, which can be converted into BtL-Diesel, SNG, DME or mixed alcohols. Alternative thermochemical pathways include pyrolysis of biomass and upgrading of the resulting pyrolysis oil. The most successful chemical pathway is the hydrotreatment of vegetable oil or fats to produce diesel-type hydrocarbons. Other pathways include catalytic decarboxylation, and methanol production from glycerin. This report is based on a database on advanced biofuels projects. The database feeds into an interactive map which is available at http://demoplants.bioenergy2020.eu, and it is updated continuously. The report includes general descriptions of the main advanced biofuels technologies under development, a list of 102 projects that are being pursued worldwide, and detailed descriptions of these projects. All data displayed has been made available by the companies that pursue these projects. For this reason, the list of projects may not be complete, as some companies may still be reluctant to share data. Since the previous edition of this report (2010), advanced biofuels technologies have developed significantly. Hydrotreatment as pursued by e.g. Neste Oil has been commercialized and currently accounts for app. 2,4% of biofuels production worldwide. Fermentation of lignocellulosic raw material to ethanol has also seen a strong development and several large scale facilities are just coming online in Europe and North America. As for thermochemical processes, the development is recently focusing on the production of mixed alcohols rather than BtL-Diesel. Economic reasons are driving this development, and concepts like the integration into existing industries and the production of several products instead of biofuel only (biorefinery concept) receive more attention lately. But, as expected, some of the projects for advanced biofuel production have failed. As a result, companies are now more careful in making announcements of advanced biofuels projects, and several large-scale projects have been postponed recently, some even though public funding would have been granted. Nevertheless, the production capacity for biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstock has tripled since 2010 and currently accounts for some 140 000 tons per year. Hydrotreating capacity for biofuels has multiplied and stands at about 2 190 000 tons per year. The report can be downloaded from the EIA Bioenergy Task 39 group website.

By: D. Bacovsky, N. Ludwiczek, M. Ognissanto,M. Wörgetter (IEA Bioenergy Task 39)