Choren Industries

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Choren Industries

logo
legal form GmbH
resolution 2011
Seat Freiberg
management Insolvency administrator: Kübler
Number of employees 290 (group of companies, December 2008)
Branch Chemical industry, energy industry
Website www.choren.com

The Choren Industries GmbH was a German company in the chemical industry in Freiberg (Saxony). The company was the first company in the world to operate a plant for the production of synthetic BtL fuel on the basis of biomass ( residual forest wood , waste wood ). In July 2011, preliminary insolvency administration was ordered for the assets of Choren Industries GmbH; as a result, the assets were sold and the remaining company was liquidated.

Development of BTL fuels

BtL fuels are heavily promoted as second generation biofuels , especially in Europe. The production is based on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis from synthesis gas , which can be obtained from biomass. This is a further development of existing technologies for the production of synthetic fuels from coal ( CtL fuel ) and natural gas ( GtL fuel ). There is currently no large-scale BtL production - however, individual pilot projects have started.

Choren Industries built a first plant in Freiberg for the production of the BtL fuel, which they called SunFuel for Otto engines and SunDiesel for diesel engines , with a capacity of 15,000 tons per year, which should start production in autumn 2009. In the Carbo-V process used there, the biomass is first carbonized. The carbonization products are converted into a synthesis gas in an entrained flow reactor with oxygen. The conditioned synthesis gas is converted into BTL diesel by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The entire process takes place in one location. The Choren Carbo-V process was developed in cooperation with the car manufacturers Volkswagen , Daimler AG and the energy company Royal Dutch Shell .

In January 2010, Choren announced the construction of a BTL plant in France together with the company CNIM (Constructions Industrielles de la Méditerranée SA), which will produce at least 23,000 tons of BTL fuel annually after completion in 2014.

Shareholder

The company founder Bodo Wolf worked as managing director and partner in personal union until his departure in 2005.

VW and Daimler have been minority shareholders in Choren Industries since 2007. In addition, several private individuals from Northern Germany were involved, the main shareholder and initiator of the project was Michael Saalfeld, the majority owner of the energy supplier Lichtblick . Shell was involved as a minority shareholder from 2005 and sold its shares in November 2009 to the then remaining shareholders.

The companies of the Choren Group

Choren Industries GmbH, the former parent company of the group, was based in Freiberg. The biomass procurement division was located in Hamburg. Choren Components GmbH and Choren Fuel Freiberg GmbH & Co. KG were also located at the Freiberg site. The Choren Group outside Europe included Choren USA LLC and Choren Energy Chemical Technology (Beijing) Co.

insolvency

On July 8, 2011, Choren Industries and its two German subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy. The reason given is "financing difficulties in commissioning the synthesis gas demonstration plant". However, in August 2011 the MDR reported breakdowns, embellished numbers and very low production volumes. According to this report, at least 30 million euros in funding flowed into a Potemkin village without scientifically monitoring and checking the effectiveness of the process, as is customary in comparable projects. In contrast, Robert Rapier, an internationally renowned biofuel expert, said that the bankruptcy of choirs was less fundamentally insoluble problems than the difficulties involved in the transition from a demonstration plant to industrial production.

The short rotation plantations and biomass strategy business area was separated from the Choren insolvency estate through a management buy-out at the end of 2011 and continued with the same staffing under the new name Lignovis GmbH.

Carbo-V technology

In February 2012 Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH took over the rights to the Carbo-V® technology. These were licensed to Forest BtL Oy at the beginning of 2013, a joint venture between the Finnish companies Vapo Oy and Metsä Group . The technology should be used in the Ajos project, which is supported with EU funding. At the beginning of 2014, Vapo withdrew from the project, which is now being continued by the Chinese Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group . The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

At the 2014 IEA Task 33 workshop , Linde presented the improvements it has now made to the production plans, which include reducing the number of components required and increasing process efficiency.

Individual evidence

  1. www.choren.de
  2. Chemnitz District Court, file number: 14 IN 1970/11
  3. From the wood Diesel , WiWo, July 15th 2011
  4. ^ BtL von Choren comes later - FKZ Karlsruhe is catching up.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. News portal www.nachwachsende-rohstoffe.info, news from October 29, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.nachwachsende-rohstoffe.info  
  5. ^ Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg gGmbH, 2006: Life cycle assessments for BTL: An ecological assessment. pdf
  6. First BTL project with CHOREN's Carbo-V technology started in France. EPC contract signed for a 45 MW synthesis gas plant. Press release from January 29, 2010.
  7. Rumpelstiltskin biofuel machine ( memento of the original from August 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Sächsische Zeitung on September 17, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sz-online.de
  8. Press release from Kübler GbR , July 8th, 2011
  9. Choren is said to have published wrong numbers  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, August 31, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mdr.de  
  10. https://www.heise.de/tr/artikel/Der-Sprit-ist-aus-1726672.html
  11. http://www.lignovis.com/unternehmen.html
  12. Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.the-linde-group.com
  13. Linde and Forest BtL sign license agreement for Carbo-V technology , January 24, 2013
  14. ^ Ajos BTL / NER 300 Project Fact Sheet , European Commission, 2016
  15. Vapo Oy freezes the Kemi biodiesel project , February 21, 2014
  16. Kaidi Receives Biorefinery Permits , May 14, 2018
  17. Carbo-V® Biomass Gasification Technology. Status after Application of Sound Engineering Practices. , IEA Task 33 Workshop 2014

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