Sweden's Lund University Acquires Biomass Pretreatment Reactor from AdvanceBio Systems

MILFORD, Ohio, May 27, 2014 – AdvanceBio Systems, LLC today announced that the Department of Chemical Engineering at Lund University (Lund, Sweden) selected, in a global competitive bidding process, AdvanceBio Systems’ SuPR2G Pretreatment Reactor to conduct basic research and development activities related to the production of fuels and chemicals from biomass feedstocks. Work carried out at the Department of Chemical Engineering is towards a sustainable society. Research is based on resource-efficient techniques for sustainable development, and is pursued in collaboration with other national and international research groups and companies. The department houses the Process Development Unit, which is a set of bench and pilot scale unit operations for steam pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Most of the current research is directed towards lignocellulosic ethanol production (www.chemeng.lth.se/pdu).

“Lund’s decision was heavily influenced by the SuPR2G continuous pretreatment reactor’s unique design and process capabilities which allow researchers to work with high-solids lignocellulosic feedstocks across a wide range of temperatures, pressures and pH’s,” said Dale Monceaux, a principal of AdvanceBio Systems. “The equipment will be used for research, development and demonstration of technologies related to the production of fuels and chemicals from a range of renewable substrates.”

AdvanceBio Systems’ SuPR2G reactors are designed to process a variety of agricultural and forest products such as straw, bagasse, corn stover, energy crops, wood chips and bark, generating volumes of representative hydrolysates, cellulose cake and lignin in support of process and product development programs. Wheat straw and wood chips are expected to be the primary feedstocks for the Lund system. The skid-mounted SuPR2G package reactor system is essentially a self-contained research tool including an integrated high-pressure steam generator and PLC with a touch-screen HMI and capabilities of Ethernet connection to existing data acquisition systems.

“By supplying technology to Lund’s internationally recognized biomass research program, we continue to support the development of technologies that increase the global production of renewable fuels from biomass as well as to increase the availability of bio-based chemicals. The success of our unique, self-contained SuPR2G reactors led to the development of other continuous process unit operations, including small-scale sterilizer, centrifugation, distillation and evaporation systems. The unique feature of the AdvanceBio Systems skids is the integration of the process control and steam generation capability. One major advantage of the stand-alone systems is that with single point connections to instrument air, power and water, the units are ready to operate without on-site assembly or construction,” stated Monceaux.

About AdvanceBio Systems, LLC
AdvanceBio Systems, LLC, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio assists and consults with clients worldwide, providing services and technologies across a broad range of bio-based industries.

About Lund University
Lund University was founded in 1666 and for a number of years has been ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has 47,700 students and 7,500 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmo. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.

Contact
Dale Monceaux
Principal
Phone: 513-864-6680
Email