SP – Pretreatment technologies

SP has different reactor facilities and equipment for pretreatment of forest biomass.

SP Processum has a system for production of steam exploded biomass. The system contains a reactor (40 L), an explosion tank and a control system (Delta V) (Figure 5a). The system is designed to allow temperatures up to 230 °C and 30 bar. The system is equipped with an outlet for gas analysis which makes calculations of mass balances possible. The steam exploded biomass can easily be transferred to a near by liquefaction reactor for enzymatic hydrolysis. The liquefaction reactor (50 L) is specially designed for liquefaction of lignocellulosic material and is also connected to a control system.

SP also has a smaller steam explosion reactor (10 L) in Borås, Sweden. This reactor is designed to allow 230 °C and 28 bar and the reactor is located in connection with a municipal CHP plant.

For continuous pretreatment of forest biomass the Biorefinery Demo Plant can be used. It has a capacity of 1-2 ton/day and is designed to allow temperatures up to 220 °C and 30 bar (Figure 5b).

For higher pressure pretreatment SP Processum has a reactor that allows a pressure up to 350 bar and a temperature up to 350 °C.

In addition SP Processum also has a microwave oven (0,02 litre) for pretreatment of forest biomass. The system allows temperatures up to 300 °C and 20 bar. The microwave reactor is constructed from glass.