The new Kalundborg plant is integrated with the adjacent Asnæs Power Station, which is owned by DONG Energy, our parent company. It showcases not only our patented technology for making renewable fuel but also how energy exchange with an electric power plant can dramatically increase the efficiency of both operations.  

The power station sends waste steam to the biomass refinery, where it breaks down the straw fibers so they can be converted into sugars, ethanol, and lignin, the woody part of the straw. The lignin Inbicon’s process produces is so clean that it requires no further treatment or purification when used to replace some of the coal burned by a power plant, generating green electricity. 

Teams from Novozymes, Genencor and Royal DSM continue working with us to bring down enzyme costs, and some of their new products show great promise.
The plant is fully integrated, designed for commercial production with automatic operation 24/7 and a limited staff.

When integrated with a grain ethanol plant, the Inbicon Biomass Refinery can produce enough thermal and electrical energy to offset up to 50% of the grain plant’s process utility costs. And supply 100% of its own steam and electricity. 

When integrated with a coal-fired plant’s CHP system and waste-heat capture, the power station’s efficiency is generally doubled (though Asnæs and other Danish power stations are already more efficient than, say, their U.S. counterparts and will experience about a 40% gain). The clean lignin the Inbicon refinery produces to replace coal also eliminates the risk of damage to boilers.

The new biomass refinery at Kalundborg will be the heartbeat of the $100 million Inbicon Biomass Technology Campus. And another example why Industrial Symbiosis is the most promising model for clean energy parks and sustainable renewable businesses.

Right now the optimization of the equipment and process continues at Kalundborg, and what we learn from the plant’s operation will be invaluable knowledge in improving our technology and transferring it to larger-scale models like the ones being planned for North America.  

“The successful demonstration of our first Inbicon Biomass Refinery keeps our technology on track for commercial production of The New Ethanol and other green energy products in the United States,” says Niels Henriksen. “Plans are underway for building-out our 50 MT/hour design, and the first U.S. ground-breaking is expected next year.”  

Facts about the Inbicon Biomass Refinery

Raw materials:

• 4 MT/h equivalent to about 30,000 metric tons of straw a year
• Enzymes supplied by by Danisco Genencor, Novozymes and Royal DSM

Annual production:

• 5.4 million liter (1.4 million gallons) of cellulosic ethanol
• 11,400 metric tons of lignin pellets
• 13,900 metric tons of C5 molasses

Employees:

• 30 employees

Costs:

• Total construction costs: About 400 million DKK (54 mio. EUR; $76.7 million USD).

Grants:

• Design and construction is supported by the Danish EUDP program with 76.7 million DKK (10.3 mio. EUR).
• Demonstration is supported by the European Seventh Framework Programme with 67.7 million DKK (9.1 mio. EUR).
• Support from the European Fifth Framework to development of the technology in an earlier stage has previously been granted.