VITO offers a biorefinery toolbox for cascaded biomass fractionation. It has expertise and modular equipment to design and test the best processing scheme towards maximal valorisation of any biomass stream at lab and pilot scale. It has an extensive track record on processing of (micro)algae, insects, and other wet biomass streams. Examples of target products are polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, colorants, anti-oxidants and chitin/chitosan.
Our biomass processing equipment
| Type | Size/capacity | # | Special features |
| Homogenizer | 11 L/h | 1 | Rannie and Gaulin // 2-stage arrangement // up to 2000 bar |
| Sonicator | mL samples | 1 | |
| Bead mill | 4 L | 1 | Batch or continuous // up to 85°C |
| Angle juicer | 60 kg/h | 1 | Twin gear multi stage extraction |
| Robot Coupe | 20 L (12kg) | 1 | 300 – 3500 rpm |
| Decantor centrifuge | 5 - 100 L/h | 1 | Maximum acceleration 4400g |
| Continuous centrifuges | 300 L/h and 4 m³/h | 2 | Feed temperature up to 100°C / 3-phase possible |
| Reaction/extraction vessels | 6 - 30 L | 2 | ATEX // solvent and aqueous reactions or extractions // up to 190°C |
| Lab-scale membrane filtration for biomass concentration | 5-35 L | 3 | 1- or 2-step filtration // 1 food grade unit // mobile |
| Pilot membrane filtration for biomass concentration | 130 L | 1 | Mobile |
| Membrane filtration for product recovery | 0.04 - 0.72 m² membrane surface area | 1 | Up to 60 bar inlet pressure // up to 80°C |
| Freeze dryers | 12-18-30 kg/24h | 3 | Single or double chamber system |
For whom is this lab interesting?
- Building managers
- Operators of charging stations
- Developers of energy management platforms
- Developers of home automation systems
- BRPs (Balance Responsible Parties)
What can you use this lab for?
- In this lab, smart charging strategies can be scaled up from simulation to practical testing. Thus, charging strategies can be improved to minimize energy costs, CO2 emissions or grid load.
- Research on flexibility services for:
- Local utilization in the building
- Avoid peak off-take from grid
- Increase self-consumption of solar panels
- Responding to variable energy prices
- The energy community, e.g. a business park or residential area: how to ideally deploy charging behavior and battery potential to ensure energy supply to users and minimize grid load.
View the lab
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Looking for more information?
Our experts are happy to discuss the possibilities of using our biocatalysis lab. Contact Wim today.
