In a move purported to be the world’s first, a new Biomass To Liquid (BTL) plant has opened in Eastern Germany. The plant will run primarily on wood and waste timber. So far, over 100 million EUR has been invested in the project, and that includes a a 35 million EUR subsidy for the German state of Saxony.
While BtL can be produced from cellulosic material, it is distinctly different from cellulosic ethanol, another second generation biofuel.
The Choren project is the most commercially advanced of several research and development activities in Germany for BtL production. Choren produces BtL with the Carbo-V ® process and calls its fuel “SunDiesel®”. Choren cooperates with the car manufacturers Daimler and Volkswagen which have tested the fuel in their cars.
Other activities exist at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Research Center Karlsruhe, FZK) with the bioliq ® process, also in cooperation with Volkswagen. A pilot plant is currently being constructed at the FZK.
Right now, BTL is in favor with German politicians who have been pushing for more biofuels, but have been hobbled by the concept of competing with food production. For them, BTL represents a new, best hope for progress.
Another big advantage of BTL is it uses all parts of the plant material, making it more efficient than alternative forms of production. BTL is one of the key technologies that Germans hope will be Green blueprints for modern production of fuel.
So far, whether or not the BTL production can be done sufficiently is unknown. This new plant should help answer many of the questions.
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