The European Patent Office (EPO) has granted Borregaard ASA a patent for the key production process behind the company’s BALI project.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has granted Norway-headed forest industry and biorefinery major Borregaard ASA a patent for the key production process behind its Borregaard Advanced Lignin (BALI) project. The patent describes the conversion of wood, agricultural waste and other biomasses to advanced biofuels and/or biochemicals, and to water-soluble lignin suitable as a raw material for Borregaard’s Performance Chemicals business.
– We regard this patent as an important element in the work to protect our technology, and also an acknowledgment of the efforts we have made to develop the BALI concept, said Gisle Løhre Johansen, Senior Vice President R&D and NBD at Borregaard.
The patent, referred to as “Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion by Sulphite Pretreatment”, was applied for in December 2009. Similar patent applications, still pending, have been filed in the United States (US) and other countries outside Europe. A decision to invest in a full-scale commercial plant will be made in the second half of 2014 at the earliest.
Facts
About Borregaard
Borregaard is one of the world’s most advanced biorefineries. Today all the components of wood are used in the production of advanced biochemicals that can replace petroleum-based alternatives. Borregaard’s specialty cellulose is used in e.g. filters, adhesives and plastics. Lignin, which binds wood fibres together, is the raw material for a range of products used in concrete admixtures, car batteries, and animal feed products. Bioethanol is produced from the sugar in wood and is used in biofuels. Borregaard is the world’s only producer of the vanilla flavour vanillin from wood.
