BIOSONIC · Novel Mobile Sonification Process for Local Valorisation of Lignocellulosic (Forest) Materials to produce Valuable Chemicals

The concept of the Lignocellulosic BioRefinery (LCBR) is gaining ground in the EU, as a way to increase the value obtained from wood waste such as sawdust and chippings, from €50/tonne to potentially as much as €500/tonne. To do this, the LCBR would cleanly fractionate the three components – cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin – without degrading them. (Paper and bioethanol “refineries” create good cellulose at the expense of losing the value of the other two components through harsh reaction conditions). The absence of a non-degrading version of this process step has been quoted as a major barrier to commercialisation at the moment.Our idea is to develop a novel ultrasonically-enhanced separation process that does not require high temperatures or pressures, and is capable of producing pure wood fractions much faster than traditional digestion processes. The consortium consists of 3 SME-AGs who represent the forest operators that will benefit from the technology, and provide direct routes to market for the materials produced. They will train their member forestry SMEs in the operation of the new process, the strategic capacity planning for deployment to give best economy, and forging the relationships with the new supply chains of customers. The SME technology providers in the consortium will develop the technology into a prototype that demonstrated the effectiveness of the process and provides training opportunities for forest operators.The ultrasonic process technology will be scalable for use by single SME foresters, up to local, municipal and wider scale use.