Innovator Vertoro from Geleen introduces bio-oil from lignin

Vertoro, based at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, expects to produce the first barrel of bio-oil from lignin in early 2019. The bio-oil is made from
the cell walls of trees and plants and can be an alternative to petroleum.

Waste material becomes valuable raw material

Lignin is now a waste material released as a by-product in the production of paper and of biofuels; bioethanol. Currently, the lignin is still burned.
Vertoro and its development partners, however, have succeeded in converting the lignin into valuable bio-oil through an innovative production process. This can make a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions. Michael Boot, CEO of Vertoro: "If lignin is converted into oil and used as an alternative to petroleum, it is estimated that this will quadruple the economic value of lignin. Anything you make from petroleum, you can make from lignin. There is more than enough lignin."

Proeffactory in Geleen

In collaboration with TU/e, Maastricht University, Brightlands Chemelot Campus, InSciTe and DSM, the entire process has been worked out and patented. Starting next year, one barrel of oil per day will be produced in a pilot plant at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen. "We can make it at low cost and it is easy to transport over long distances. Where we can use the pipelines and tankers that are now used for petroleum."

CEO and co-founder Michael Boot, CTO and co-founder Panos Kouris, professor Emiel Hensen TU/e

Demofabric

Chemelot Ventures and LIOF invest from the so-called Seed Financing together with the founders € 500,000 in Vertoro. The money will be used for upscaling production. The goal is to realize a production facility at Chemelot with a capacity of 10,000 tons of bio-oil per year by 2022. Boot wants to raise ten to fifteen million euros for a demo plant by 2020. "Whoever is the first to establish a platform for broadly usable crude oil from biomass and can scale it up sufficiently quickly will play a dominant role in the market. I'm going to make sure that's us."

Lignin oil from champost

Earlier this year, Vertoro raised €550,000 in venture capital and secured several grants. Such as a LIOF LimburgAgrofood grant of €50,000 to make the lignin oil from mushroom manure, also known as champost, which is lignin-rich. Together with Professor Emiel Hensen of TU/e, Vertoro received a start-up grant of € 40,000 from the NWO domain of Applied and Engineering Sciences.
Boot: "It is my dream that the price of a barrel of Vertoro's lignin oil will pass by at the bottom of the screen on channels like CNN alongside those of gold, fossil oil and other commodities."

Sources: Innovation Origins, LIOF, Sustainable Business