KIT produces first batch of biofuel

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), in cooperation with Chemieanlangenbau Chemnitz, has produced renewable fuel at its Bioliq (biomass to liquid karlsruhe) pilot plant.

With the synthesis stage of the plant now operational, all stages of the Bioliq process (flash pyrolysis, high-pressure entrained-flow gasification and synthesis) are online and the pilot facility is a step closer to producer environmentally compatible fuels from residual biomass.

The project will now be completed by testing the entire process chain and optimising it for industrial scale production.

KIT, which developed the Bioliq process, predicts the pilot plant will begin supplying biofuel from straw by mid-2014.

'The plant sections that have already started operation and the new synthesis stage of the Bioliq pilot plant make up a unique demonstration at KIT,' says the company's VP for research and innovation Peter Fritz.

Jörg Sauer, head of KIT Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology, adds: 'We can test new developments directly in the pilot plant on a scale relevant to industry. In this way, our research findings will be commercialised rapidly in the future.'