Mobile pilot plant for extraction of high-quality components from by-products

With this project, the Research Centre Sustainable Industry of Karel de Grote Hogeschool (KdG) focuses on the valorisation of biomass by-products. The research centre has extensive expertise in the extraction of high-quality substances from waste streams from agriculture, food industry or waste water treatment. To transfer this expertise to industry, experiments on a larger scale are needed. Therefore, in this project, the research centre is building a mobile extraction unit on a pilot scale. Thus, lab-scale results (order of magnitude 50 mL-1 L) can be translated to 100-200 L scale. This will make it easier to move to industrial scale-up afterwards. By making the installation mobile, experiments can run on site at the companies and the transport of large quantities of raw materials is avoided. Working on site also immediately maps out the context in which the extraction plant will have to operate on an industrial scale.

On the one hand, the project includes the design and construction of the mobile extraction unit. On the other hand, experiments are planned in the context of the start-up of the installation. These will take place initially at the KdG campus in Hoboken and secondly at one of the companies with which the research centre is already currently collaborating.