Biorefining basics

This means that instead of using biomass in its raw form, where only the available parts on the surface can be used, biomass can be refined into valuable products, and the utilization degree is thereby optimised.

Biomass: the biodegradable part of the product which comes from plants and animals, i.e. crops and residue from the agricultural production, plant products from forestry, and the biodegradable part of waste from industry and household. (The Earth – a scarce resource, Danish Ministry of Food, 2008).

Biorefining is an intelligent answer to the future challenges within food, feed and energy, because through biorefining, you optimise the use of the global agricultural- and water resources. In principal, all types of biomass can be refined, but the return and advantages vary from one raw material to another.

Biorefining typically takes place in a biorefinery (production facility) and is a process where you use different technologies to separate the nutritional parts of the raw material.

Biomass consists of specific materials which vary from one type to another, but broadly speaking, the same three types of material can be found in all biomass: fat, carbohydrates and proteins.

Optimal resource use

Optimal resource use is not only a matter of the process used in the biorefinery, but is to a great extend also a question of seeing how the different parts of the grain are best used. It could for example be imagined that Hveiti would use the unexploited part of the protein in a biogas production, as is often seen in Germany. However, our position is that the protein, because of its high nutritional value, is much too valuable to be used for gasification. Nevertheless, there is biomass that despite biorefining is so difficult to access that it has no value as food or feed, and therefore profitably can be used to e.g. burning.

It is about being able to see the potential of the individual types of biomass - a development area where Danish corporations have the qualifications to be global leaders.