The BEACON Biorefining Centre of ExcellenceA partnership between Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea Universities.

www.beaconwales.org

Aims• To provide a flexible environment for the development of

processes and products based on plant biomass and industrial bio co-products

• To bridge the gap between lab and pilot scale research, generating IP and delivering impact to the commercial sector

• To produce products from plant biomass to replace those currently produced by the petro-chemical industry to mitigate climate change

• To develop a network of collaborators and encourage academic to business and business to business research and technical development

• To provide life cycle assessment support to better understand the most economic and sustainable routes to market

Core SkillsBasic and strategic expertise in plant biology and industrial biotechnology, including:

• Agronomy, storage and chemical composition analysis

• Separation and extraction technologies including liquid-liquid counter current and filtration systems

• Microbial pathways, engineering and synthetic biology

• Enzyme discovery and design

• Process development at range of scales

• Microbial fermentation design and optimization for scale-up and downstream processing

• Thermochemical conversion of biomass to biochar

• Economic modelling and process evaluation

BEACON Biorefining Pilot Plant at Aberystwyth UniversityThe BEACON pilot scale facility housed on Gogerddan campus at Aberystwyth University (AU) is a multi-feedstock ‘plug and play’ processing plant. The facility comprises key processing equipment and expertise to enable academic and industrial partners to develop and translate laboratory research into new products and processes at an industrially relevant scale.

The facility includes a primary feedstock processing area, a secondary (downstream) processing laboratory and a separate bio-char pilot rig. All are sited close to the main IBERS research laboratories and feedstock breeding facilities and includes the National Plant Phenomics Centre.

Pilot Scale EquipmentThe Primary Processing unit has 252m2 of floor space and houses both wet and dry feedstock processing areas, these comprise:

Integrated wet feedstock process line:

• Belt conveyors for feedstock transfer to and from a 10” screw press (1000kg/hr)

• Cooled liquid storage with 2 x 750 l stirred tanks

• 4” skid mounted screw press available for smaller process runs (100kg/hr)

Dry feedstock process line:

• 3mm mesh hammer mill & blown delivery to a vertical ring-die pellet mill capable of up to 400kg/hr with 3, 5 and 6 mm animal feed and biomass dies available (~50kg minimum load)

• A pilot scale mini-press for pelleting development and small batches is also available

Bio-Char Production

• Pilot-scale (to 500kg) batch-loaded slow-pyrolysis unit for controlled thermal conversion of a range of lignocellulosic feedstocks from grasses and pelleted material to lump wood. Capable of recovering condensed volatiles and producing a range of products from torrefied to fully carbonised material

• Tube furnace for small development batches

The Secondary Processing Pilot Laboratory is based within existing farm sheds and houses a variety of both fixed and mobile equipment capable of being integrated into different process formats.

Solid/liquid pre-treatment:

• Batch steam explosion rig (Cambi) for lignocellulosic deconstruction (~180-220°C/10-23bar)

• Dual duty pasteurizer capable of running at either 50 or 500 l/hr

Bioconversion/fermentation:

The facility offers scale up capability from bench-top to steam-in-place pilot units and includes:

• Three Applikon bioreactors (one 30 l unit and two 70 l units)

• Bioprocess Technology 350 litre bioreactor and a mobile CIP system

• Stainless steel jacketed reactor (50 l) with split ribbon mixer for high solids digestion

• On-line monitoring of live biomass using Aber Instruments biomass probes

• Continuous analysis of evolved gases and vapours using Hiden HPR20 QIC-MS

Separation Systems:

Centrifugation

• Decanter centrifuge (Sharples) for feedstocks where solids content is >4% w/v (upto 500 l/hr)

• GEA-Westfalia auto-desludging disk stack clarifier (>1000l/hr)

• Two floor standing CEPA Z41 clarifying centrifuges and a bench top CEPA LE for smaller trials

Cross-flow filtration and

• UF/MF mobile skid with 4”x40” spiral housing (UF&MF) or tubular ceramic (MF)

• NF/RO mobile skid with either 4”x40” or 2.5”x40” spiral housings

• Sartoflow alpha bench-top UF system

• Sterlitech flat plate test rig for MF to RO development (3 plates in series or parallel)

Evaporation and preparative/isolation

• Large rotary evaporators (20 and 50 litres)

• Dynamic Extractions Spectrum High Performance Counter Current Chromatography system

• Biotage Isolera Flash LC system

• Six channel Flash 75 preparative chromatography system

• Additional laboratory equipment including: floor standing and bench-top shaking incubators, hot box oven, muffle oven, autoclave, bench top centrifuges, balances, multiple freeze-drying units, Speidel apple scratter (1000kg/hr), inverter controlled IBC stirrer etc

ApplicationsA wide variety of opportunities are available to develop commercial activities, including:

• Process development and scale-up

• Waste-stream valorisation

• Isolation of natural products and bioactives from plant biomass

• Development of novel enzyme systems

• Production of biomass fuel pellets or bespoke animal feed pellets for trials

• Production platform chemicals and liquid fuels from plant biomass

• Production of biochar, activated charcoal and bio-oil from biomass

• Life cycle assessment, economic analysis and system optimisation associated with biorefining and the production of bio-based products

• Analysis of plant biomass components

BEACON If you require further information please contact: Mike Morris +44 (0)1970 823079 tem@aber.ac.uk | Selwyn Owen +44 (0)1970 823045 gao4@aber.ac.uk | www.beaconwales.org