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Table 1 A selection of challenges for successful implementation of biorefineries

From: Pretreatment for biorefineries: a review of common methods for efficient utilisation of lignocellulosic materials

Problem

Challenge

Scale-up to industrial scale

Requires significant capital investment

Requires strong financial incentive

Investors find too low return on investment

Future situation unclear

Laws and regulations not clear

Construction and design

Delays in erection of plant

Testing of equipment

Biomass availability

All-year round supply of suitable materials

Possibility to run on more than one material

Logistics and supply

Storage and transportation must be reliable

Data for process design

Transfer of smaller-scale data to industrial scale

Maturity of a process

Handling at high pressures and feeding, e.g. for 2G plants of ethanol causes production stop