12 million more for borregaard research
Borregaard is to receive NOK 12 million from Innovation Norway for the project "Value Added Sugar Platform". The aim of the project is to develop products from sugar with high value.
The funding will come over four years and will further increase the value of Borregaard’s proprietary BALI concept, which involves the conversion of bio-based lignin products and sugars to bioethanol. The new research project will optimise critical process steps in sugar production to produce tailor-made sugar.
If the project succeeds, it could enhance the value of the sugar part of the BALI process. This would also make the BALI concept more robust and flexible. For Borregaard, the BALI process is a strategic and long-term opportunity to develop new biorefinery concepts.
In this project, Borregaard will collaborate with universities and technology providers. Earlier this year, Borregaard received NOK 20 million in funding from the Research Council of Norway for the same project.
Facts about the BALI project
BALI has its own demonstration plant called Biorefinery Demo, which started its running-in phase in summer 2012. It is based on Borregaard’s proprietary BALI technology, which is a continuation of the current biorefinery concept. The goal is cost-effective and sustainable production of lignin and sugar from different biomasses.
BALI technology converts the cellulose fibres in biomass into sugars that can be used for the production of second generation bioethanol. Other components of the biomass (lignin) become advanced biochemicals. Products from the BALI process can replace oil-based alternatives.
The technology consists of a number of process steps and has yielded good results, both at laboratory scale and in the demo plant, where the processes are scaled up 1000 times to test and further develop the technology towards full-scale production. The plant has so far processed more than 800 tons of biomass.
This initiative could result in very eco-friendly full-scale production of biochemicals. The construction of the demo plant cost just under NOK 140 million; NOK 58 million of this was investment funding from Innovation Norway's Environmental Technology Programme. BALI has also received NOK 19 million in funding from the Research Council of Norway and NOK 35 million from the EU seventh framework programme for research and development.