The Futurol project: now in final development phase for cellulosic ethanol

In France, partners in the Futurol project announced they are moving to a full scale pretreatment process and marketing of its technology. A pretreatment unit on an industrial scale is now being build at the Tereos de Bucy-Le-Long site, with the production starting in 2016. The next stage will launch the industrial testing. This third key stage of the project is aimed to initate the marketing of the Futurol technology.

The initial R&D and pilot stages have validated from the economic and environmental viabilities of the process, and the complete process “will be commercialized in the next few months”, according to the project developers,  via AXENS company, a wholly-owned IFP Energies nouvelles subsidiary. The ambition is both to market all the process and also integrate it with existing biorefineries, the developers said.

Since the launch of the Futurol project in 2008, the estimated cost price of the ethanol turned out has been slashed by 90%. Depending on the raw materials used, a litre of ethanol produced thanks to the Futurol technology.  has reached an acceptable commercial prices level in the market. And, a plant applying the Futurol technology.  is autonomous in energy terms, handling from 120 to 140% of its needs. Plus, the devlopers point to Futurol’s 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil baseline fuels.

The Futurol project, launched in 2008, brings together 11 major partners covering the entire sector, from plants to tank: R&D players (ARD, IFP Energies nouvelles, INRA and Lesaffre), industrial players (Office National des Forêts, Tereos, Total), Vivescia) and financial players (Crédit Agricole Nord Est, CGB, Unigrains).

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