Multi-raw-material plant: current project

A whole new framework

The initial project has now changed because the situation itself has changed, and so have investor requirements.

·        Changes introduced in the Law on mineral oil taxation, passed by Parliament in March 2007, provide tax exemption for biofuels with a positive environmental and social balance

·        Investors are interested in a Swiss production channel, but only if it can achieve substantially higher volumes and lower prices than the initial project. This will only be possible if we have a flexible production plant, starting with the rectification/dehydration stage.  

Feedstocks and technologies

The project proposed by private investors now consists of a much larger production unit (up to 150 million litres/year), which will start with the rectification and dehydration stage. This can be set up much faster than a complete plant. The feedstocks for this initial dehydration unit will be made up of raw ethanol (hydrated ethanol) from the most sustainable production chains in Brazil.

The structure of the plant will allow the processing of various raw ethanols (containing water and impurities) and the separation of products (such as the extraction of petroleum products present in the input blends). Various grades of ethanol will be produced, such as ethanol fuel and ethanol for the pharmaceutical industry. The plant should come on stream towards the end of 2009.

Second generation ethanol

Later on, for the second generation, a complete line could be set up, to process lignocellulosic biomass in particular. However, there is no way of reaching full capacity in the rectification and dehydration stages using raw ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks processed on site. The area available on the site and the unloading platform area would be insufficient. A second generation pilot unit, even a small unit (10-20 million litres) would probably have to be set up. The finishing stages of the product, which are problematic for small batches, would not be charged to its global budget. Alcosuisse could then become involved in this type of pilot production.