Biorefineries, storage and new uses of CO2.

BIOSOS

BIOSOS was a sustainable biorefinery project organised as a public private consortium led by Abengoa Bioenergía Nuevas Tecnologías. The consortium included 14 companies and ran from September 2009 to September 2012, with a budget of 27 million euros. Carburos Metálicos was a partner, while MATGAS, CSIC and UAB participated as research contractors.

The project covered the biomass value chain, from raw material generation to intermediate products and final market products. It was divided into activities on raw materials, sugars, gases, bioproducts and sustainability. MATGAS contributed technical work and sustainability analysis.

CIUDEN

The CIUDEN project studied the injection of supercritical CO2 into storage materials at Hontomín, in the province of Burgos, where a geological sequestration development plan was planned. The project was government funded, with a budget of 100,000 euros, and ran from 2010 to 2011. Partners were MATGAS and Amphos 21.

The work produced detailed information on the reaction of CO2 with rocks under sequestration conditions. It used the centre's supercritical facilities to study how CO2 displaces water in the pores of the rock, which is relevant to the flow behaviour of CO2 in a brine aquifer.

SOST CO2

SOST CO2 was a CENIT project on new industrial uses of CO2 with sustainability in view. Led by Carburos Metálicos of the Air Products group, it brought together 14 companies and 29 research centres between 2008 and 2011, with a budget of 26.3 million euros.

The project examined routes by which CO2 could become a feedstock or a process fluid rather than a waste. MATGAS contributed research on materials, separation and the assessment of new processes. The consortium structure allowed laboratory results to be discussed with industrial partners at an early stage.

What the projects have in common

Each project combines a technical question with a system question. A biorefinery has to balance product value against energy and residue flows; a storage site has to be understood as a geological system; a new CO2 use has to be compared with the alternative it displaces. That combination is characteristic of the centre's approach.