Abengoa has started operations at the demonstration plant that uses waste-to-biofuels (W2B) technology. The plant has a capacity to treat 25,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), from which up to 1.5 Ml of bioethanol will be produced for use as fuel.
The demonstration plant in Babilafuente (Salamanca, Spain) uses W2B technology developed by Abengoa to produce second generation biofuels from MSW using a fermentation treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. During the transformation process, the organic matter is subjected to various treatments to produce organic fiber that is rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, which can subsequently be converted into bioethanol. The new plant incorporates the infrastructure of the biomass plant that has been run continuously for more than 6,000 hours in order to validate the technical and economic viability of the technology.
The technology has been successfully proven at Abengoa's pilot plant in York (Nebraska, USA) and at its demonstration plant in Salamanca (Spain). It is also being implemented at its plant in Hugoton (Kansas, USA), one of the first commercial-scale plants producing second generation bioethanol, which has a capacity of 100 Ml/year and will come into operation at the end of 2013.