Green Refinery’s first biorefinery proves its worth in continuous operation

The pilot plant of our biorefinery has been in continuous operation for three months and now reliably produces green chemicals from renewable raw materials. We would train and retrain this important milestone.

 

Looking back: Relocation of the plant to a new location

Based on a process developed at the University of Linz, we brought the technology, business model and products of the biorefinery to series maturity and in August 2014 took over the entire technology including the worldwide rights.

Since the original research site in Austria did not have sufficient raw material for the continuous operation we had planned, we transferred the research components to a new site in August 2014.

After almost 400 kilometres of heavy transport, we assembled the improved pilot plant from the original and new components within a month. The following pictures give a small impression of it.

 

Production target achieved despite setbacks

When commissioning new technologies, unforeseen problems can hardly be avoided despite careful planning. We had to cope with a series of painful setbacks – from failed pumps and defective motors to frozen pipes.

But thanks to the tireless efforts of our entire team, we were able to rectify any failure in the shortest possible time and gain important insights for future plants. We also achieved our production target despite all obstacles.

Through the Installation of a new, completely overhauled and fully automatic filtration module – a preliminary version of the future series plant – we were even able to exceed the planned production capacity. Since June, we have been producing profitably and on target.

 

Outlook: first series situation in the new design

Parallel to further improvements to the pilot plant, we are developing a completely revised series plant on the basis of the experience gained. The next generation of the biorefinery, developed under the working name “Crystal Palace”, differs at first glance from the current pilot plant.

The future glass shell not only looks good but is also functional: it protects the system from frost in winter and from excessive sunlight in summer through automatic blinds.

As with the construction and conversion of the pilot plant, we will also implement the production of the first series plant via Crowdinvesting. Implementation is scheduled for the end of 2016/beginning of 2017. Follow us on Facebook and subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to be informed about further development steps and investment opportunities.