Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Tech4Biowaste project consortium
Company details
Name:	Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
Country:	Belgium
City:	Ghent
Founded:	2008
Employees:	115
Webpage:	www.bbeu.org

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is an independent state-of-the-art pilot and demonstration facility for bio-based products and processes. It is an open innovation pilot and demonstration facility for process development, scale-up and custom manufacturing of biobased products and processes from lab to multi ton scale. BBEPP combines technologies (biomass pretreatment, biocatalysis, green chemistry, (gas)fermentation, biorefining and downstream purification) for advanced manufacturing of biobased products utilising a wide and flexible spectrum of modular unit operations. As such, a team of highly trained and experienced engineers and bioprocess technicians facilitates the translation of your biobased laboratory processes into viable industrial processes.

BBEPP's business model allows for:

• Bilateral privately funded projects with industry. Operated in full confidentiality, intellectual property remains with the customer.
• Partnering in Consortia-based projects. To build expertise and value chains and to communicate. BBEPP is/was already involved in more than 50 public projects.

BBEPP also coordinated several policy related public projects such as SMARTPILOTS and PILOTS4U.

Departments

SERVICES

Process Development:

• Concept design
• Fermentation optimization
• Downstream processing (DSP) development and optimization
• Bench-top feasibility trials

Scale-up:

• Equipment available at different scales: bench-top, 100 kg, ton and multi ton scale
• Feasibility and optimization trials in scalable equipment
• First series compounds for application trials
• Demonstration of technology at larger scale
• Generation of pilot data incl. mass- and energy balances

Custom Manufacturing:

• Production of bulk bio-products up to multi ton scale
• 24/7 operations
• Quality control
• Food grade production
• ISO9001 and FSSC22000 certified

TECHNOLOGIES

Biomass Pretreatment:

• Mechanical, physico-chemical, solvent-based and enzymatic pretreatment of biomass feedstocks Reactors for chemical pretreatment (7–5,400l) and enzymatic hydrolysis (500–50,000l)
• Reaction vessels for slurries with high solids content
• Equipment for milling, thermal treatment, dewatering and concentration

Biocatalysis:

• Single enzyme or whole cell biocatalyst systems
• Immobilization of enzymes and whole cells
• Aqueous and solvent based reactions
• Enzyme or whole cell biocatalyst production through bacterial, yeast or fungal fermentation

Fermentation:

• Batch, fed-batch, chemostat
• Bacteria, yeast, fungi
• Aerobic (7-15.000l) and anaerobic (7-5400l) fermentations
• Ex proof fermentations
• Scales: from shake flask to 2x15m3

Gas fermentation:

• High pressure 10L gas fermenter
• Auxiliary equipment for strict anaerobe cultivation and gas premixing
• Gaseous feedstocks: industrial off-gas, syngas, methane…

Green chemistry:

Chemical conversions, extraction, solvent evaporation, crystallization in Ex proof and corrosion resistant reactors up to 5m3 . Our equipment consists of glass lined, pressure proof and corrosion resistant reactors (7–5.400 l) coupled to a condenser and vacuum pump with auxiliary equipment such as a filter and conical dryer, a bag filter, a filter press, a basket centrifuge and a continuous liquid-liquid extraction column.

Purification and product recovery:

Centrifugation, depth and cross flow filtration, evaporation, ion exchange, crystallization, solvent extraction, chromatography, drying, etc.

Pilots4U Database and Network

In the period 2017-2019 the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant was lead partner of the BBI-JU project Pilots4U.

Aim

To help innovators, companies and research institutions operating in the bio-economy sector to gain easier access to testing facilities and scale-up their technology faster and cheaper towards the market.

Definition

Pilots4U, the platform of multipurpose open access pilot and demo-infrastructures for the European bio-economy, creates a wide view of the availability, type of facility and equipment modules these infrastructures offer.

Are you looking for a partner to scale-up your innovative process?  All facilities included in the database are open to any start-up, small, medium or large enterprise looking for equipment and expertise to translate an innovative lab scale process into a viable industrial process. Search the Pilots4U database to find the equipment that suits your needs.

So Pilots4U provides solutions that will support the faster and cheaper development of innovations into products.