brochure on crescentino - english

CrescentinoGreen Revolution

The Crescentino plant, located in the province of Vercelli, is the first in

the world to be designed and built to produce bio-ethanol from agri-

cultural by-products or plants not suitable for food consumption. This

is a veritable innovation which many companies in the energy industry,

including some of global dimensions, have been trying to achieve for

years. But until now, no other company has been able to transform lab-

oratory results into production on an effectively industrial scale. This

has been made possible thanks to Proesa™ technology, developed

in the laboratories of Biochemtex, a Mossi Ghisolfi Group company.

The expertise developed at Crescentino will enable similar plants to be

built in the USA, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The project was sup-

ported by the European Commission as part of its Seventh Framework

Programme for research and development.

Crescentino,the Green Revolution is Here

The demand for alternative solutions to oil has

been pressing for some time now. In the last

century, oil brought about an industrial, eco-

nomic, social and environmental revolution on

a massive scale. Today, society, the regulations

and the markets are in need of solutions that

will retain the intrinsic properties of oil-derived

products, but with reduced costs and environ-

mental impact.

Proesa™ technology is the only system capable

of producing bio-ethanol – alcohol for use as

a petrol additive – from agricultural by-prod-

ucts. To date, it has been possible to produce

bio-ethanol using maize, sugar cane and other

vegetable substances, but this has led to seri-

ous conflict between the food and energy uses

of these products with consequent negative re-

percussion on the cost of agricultural crops.

With Proesa™ technology (ethanol production

from biomass) this difficulty has been over-

come, as it is capable of extracting bio-ethanol

from wood and cellulose biomasses such as

Arundo Donax, the giant cane, or from agricul-

tural waste products such as straw.

Why Bio-ethanol?

4

Crescentino The Green Revolution is Here

7Crescentino The Green Revolution is Here

The Territory and the Economic Model

8

The Crescentino bio-refinery is located in an

important agricultural area, especially for rice,

wheat and maize production. It is therefore a

“natural reserve” for biomass at limited costs,

situated close to the plant, with most supplies

coming from around 70 km away.

Rice and wheat straw, once regarded as mere-

ly production scrap, can now be used to pro-

duce bio-ethanol, as well as Arundo Donax,

the giant cane, which can be grown on mar-

ginal land, without interfering with agricul-

tural food production.

The high efficiency of Proesa™ technology,

limited transport costs and reliability of the

production chain all contribute to making

the Crescentino model highly competitive

and suitable for replication in other areas and

territories.

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The bio-refinery stands in an area which pre-

viously housed the Teksid foundry, once be-

longing to the Fiat Group but left inoperative

for many years.

This area was chosen because it is located in

the centre of an agricultural area, has its own

internal rail link and is relatively close to the

Biochemtex Italia laboratories in Rivalta Scrivia,

where Proesa™ technology was developed.

In addition, a part of the old foundry has been

reused, following its conversion into a ware-

house for the storage of the biomasses.

The project was started in 2010, work began

in 2011 and the boiler started producing en-

ergy in the autumn of 2012. In January 2013,

bio-ethanol production began.

Crescentino,the History and the Numbers

• Value of investment:

e 150 million

• Production: 60,000 tons

of bio-ethanol per year.

The bio-ethanol, mixed with petrol,

is distributed at European level

• Area: 150,000 square metres

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CrescentinoVital Data

• Biomass used:

270,000 tons per year

(at maximum output)

• Biomass storage capacity:

27,000 tons

• Electricity production:

13 MW, produced entirely

from lignin

The plant is entirely self-sufficient

in its energy consumption.

• Water recycling: 100%,

The industrial production

carried out in the plant

creates no reflux

• Workforce: 100 approx

The following were required

to build the plant:

• 370 machines

• 1,500 tons of steel

• 1,400 tons of piping and valves

• 30,000 tons of concrete

• 18 kilometres of underground piping.

15Crescentino The Green Revolution is Here

The Proesa™ project and the construction

of the Crescentino bio-refinery

were carried out

by Mossi Ghisolfi Group companies.

The objective of Beta Renewables,

in partnership with Novozymes,

is to promote Proesa™ technology globally.

Biochemtex developed the technology

and designed and built the plant.

Italian Bio Products (IBP) is responsible

for the operational management

of the Crescentino plant.

The Protagonists

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Beta Renewables S.p.A.

Strada Ribrocca, 11

15057, Tortona (AL), Italy

T +39.0131.810.1

[email protected]

www.betarenewables.com

Photographs

Fabrizio Giraldi

Graphic design

Andrea Lancelotti

Francesca Melli

brochure on crescentino - english

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