- Biomass fractionation through thermochemical and mechanical processes for the optimal use of each biomass component.
- Assessing the biomass composition and the characterization of intermediate and final products obtained during biomass transformation processes.
- Conversion of biomass through biotechnological processes: enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and anaerobic digestion.
Steam Explosion – Pilot Plant
Extrusion – Pilot Plan
The Extrusion facility aims at pretreating biomass by mechanical, thermal, and/or chemical processes. This system is a twin-screw extruder composed of 6 modules of 100 mm length each. The system may reach temperatures up to 300 °C and has different inlets for the feeding of chemical catalysts into the extruder. Screw configuration can be modified according to pretreatment needs, favoring different shear, transport, and mixing mechanisms of biomass. Furthermore, the system has a feeder for biomass feeding and three external pumps for chemical addition.
Stirred Autoclave Reactors
The Biofuels Unit has also two stirred autoclave reactors (0.5 L and 2 L) for hydrothermal biomass pretreatment. These systems have an electric jacket that allows reaching temperatures of about 350 °C.
Fermentation Lab
The Fermentation Lab aims at studying and optimizing different fermentation parameters as well as the optimal operational conditions during saccharification and fermentation steps. In this context, this lab assesses microbial growth (both yeast and bacteria) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and investigates different enzymatic preparations to improve biomass hydrolysis towards a cost-effective production of advance biofuels and bioproducts.
In addition to the regular laboratory equipment, the Biofuels Unit has several bioreactors (1-50 L) to perform fermentation assays, being two of them (7 L and 50 L) specifically designed to work at high substrate concentrations. Furthermore, the 50 L bioreactor can be directly coupled to the extrusion facility.
Biogas Lab
This laboratory carries out optimization studies of anaerobic digestion using different substrates (algae biomass, agricultural and livestock wastes). Likewise, biological upgrading and power-to-gas processes, the study of microbial populations and the biological functionality of the in situ biomethanization process with co-digestion, and the valorization of the digestate as a biogas cleaning technology are also carried out. For this purpose, this laboratory has the following equipment: incubator and equipment for BOD and COD analysis, FOS/TAC analyser, NTK and protein analyser, PEM hydrogen generator, BATCH reactors (15 reactors coupled to an Automatic Methane Measurement Analyser (AMPTS II), 3 semi-continuous 3 L reactors with continuous biogas analysis and 20 L semi-continuous reactors for the study of the biological upgrading of biogas.
Analytical Lab
The analytical lab is equipped to evaluate the steps involving biomass transformation, allowing: 1) physical and chemical characterization of biomass; 2) characterization of the liquid fraction resulting after solids removal; 3) analysis of samples collected during hydrolysis and fermentation of biomass; and 4) analysis of fermentation-derived products. Therefore, the main activities performed in the Analytical Lab include the quantification of biomass components, i.e. glucan (starch and cellulose), hemicelluloses (xylans, arabinans, galactans, mannans), lignin, extractives and ash, and also determines the fermentable sugars, the biomass degradation compounds that inhibit microbial growth (e.g. acetic acid, phenols, furfural, etc.), and the fermentation products (bioethanol, xylitol, etc.) through chromatographic analyses (both liquid and gas).
