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Inbicon, Otoka, and Great River Energy sign MOU, plan biomass refinery in U.S.
North Dakota plant to use Danish technology for turning wheat straw into second-generation biofuels.
Fredericia, Denmark — Inbicon A/S today announced the signing of a multi-party Memo of Understanding to pursue the licensing, development, and construction of a biomass refinery in North Dakota. Inbicon’s new collaborators are Otoka Energy, a U.S. developer of renewable energy projects, and Great River Energy, a Minnesota electric generation and transmission cooperative.
As now envisioned, says Inbicon CEO Niels Henriksen, the biomass refinery, “will use Inbicon’s proprietary technology to convert over 400,000 tons of wheat straw into fractions of liquid fuels, solid-fuel lignin pellets, and other co-products.”
The refinery would be integrated with the adjacent Spiritwood Station, a 62-megawatt coal-fired plant being constructed by Great River Energy in North Dakota. “Additional uses for our steam, like the facility proposed here, could virtually double the operating efficiency of Spiritwood Station,” according to Great River Energy VP Gregory Ridderbusch.
“Energy exchange between the two plants” says Henriksen, “dramatically increases the efficiency of both operations and gives each a small carbon footprint.”
Inbicon is currently demonstrating how this works on a smaller scale (1.4 million gallons a year) at its just-opened biomass refinery at Kalundborg port in Denmark, which is integrated with the Asnæs Power Station owned by DONG Energy, Inbicon’s parent company.
“Inbicon’s biggest advantage,” says Rob Broin, Otoka Energy’s chief technology officer, “is that they’ve been working with biomass for many years, and the lignin co-product has a high potential value among power plants looking for renewably sourced fuels.”
Feasibility assessments are underway.
Learn more at www.inbicon.com <http://www.inbicon.com>.
Inbicon CEO Niels Henriksen and Great River Energy CEO David Saggau in Kalundborg, Denmark at the recent opening of the first Inbicon Biomass Refinery.
A nation’s security interests will also influence policy and practice: for example, the need for less dependence on OPEC oil.
Other countries represent other opportunities. For example, developing programs to convert rice hauls in China, fruit pods in Indonesia, and sugar bagasse in Brazil and turn those into a renewable liquid fuel.