Receives nok 20 million from nfr

The funds will be used over four years and the underlying idea is to improve the value creation of the BALI concept by improving the purity of the lignocellulosic hydrolysates, creating tailor-made sugar feed stocks for downstream valorisation processes, and developing selected attractive high value sugar based end products. 

Parts of the grant will be channelled to universities and technology providers included in the project.

About the BALI project:

The BALI project has its own demonstration plant, called Biorefinery Demo. The demonstration plant started preliminary operations in summer 2012, followed by normal operations in the 1st quarter of 2013. The plant relies on Borregaard’s proprietary BALI technology and is a continuation of today’s biorefinery concept. The aim is cost-effective and sustainable production of lignin and bioethanol from new raw materials. BALI technology involves converting the cellulose fibres in biomass to sugars that can be used for the production of second generation bioethanol, while other components of the biomass (lignin) become advanced biochemicals. These products can replace petroleum-based alternatives, and the raw material cannot be used in food production.  

The BALI technology consists of several processing steps and has given promising results in laboratory-scale testing. In the demonstration plant the process will be up scaled by a factor of 1000 times in order to test and develop the technology moving towards full-scale production. The plant has so far processed over 800 tons of biomass.

Construction of the demonstration plant has cost just under NOK 140 million, 58 million of which is investment funding from Innovation Norway's Environmental Technology Support Scheme. The BALI innovation project has also received NOK 19 million in funding from the Research Council of Norway and NOK 35 million from the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development.