DSD BV (Dutch Sustainable Development BV) has made available online information about its Betaprocess, in Dutch, English, German and French. Betaprocess operates on the basis of vacuum extrusion, which rips apart biomass in a split second to a macromolecular level in a special reactor vessel under vacuum conditions. Thereby, bacteria and enzymes get direct access to the sugars and other components, as a result of which they are much more effective during subsequent hydrolysis. The yield of biogas or bioethanol in the production process is enhanced, and thereis less production of digestate.
Betaprocess itself is not a fermentation unit, but a pre-process module coupled to an existing fermentation unit. In September 2012 the province of Zeeland announced its support for an extensive pilot project. Betaprocess can be applied with wet biomass (energy crops, waste from food processing), and with co-fermentation. A third field of Bioprocess application (apart from fermentation to biogas or bioethanol) is extraction and separation of biomass components. Some further research is required to apply this process in industry.
DSD is a consultancy agency specialized in the search, selection and (business)development of attractive locations and projects in the sustainable agriculture and bio-fuels area. It is based in Wemeldinge (in the Dutch province of Zeeland). Its ambition is to help realizing the biobased economy with its technology.