Separation Processes

A decentralized biorefinery requires separation operations that are economical on a small scale and do not involve toxic chemicals that can contaminate the product and lead to great technical effort in terms of plant safety.

Current activities are the separation of proteins and fats from algae. Water is used in the first case and dimethyl ether in the second. Neither leaves any harmful residues in the wastewater or in the product.

Separation processes of valuable substances will be expanded more in the future, especially with regard to the combination with the above-mentioned biorefinery concepts. For example, protein separation from  pature grass would be useful before HMF and other platform chemicals are obtained from it.