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  1. 2018.08.03 Creation of ethanol from spruce wood

    The Borregaard's biorefinery production facility in Sarpsborg

    Production facility in Norway of ethanol and synthesis vanillin from spruce wood

    The Borregaard’s biorefinery production facility is located in Norway, not far away from the capital Oslo.

    The bioethanol that is produced in Borregaard's biorefinery is based on extracting sugar from wood (spruce), which is then fermented to make ethanol. Ethanol is one of several products coming out of the total process. The pulp for specialty cellulose is produced by cooking spruce chips with acidic calcium bisulfite cooking liquor. After concentration of the sulfite spent liquor, the sugars are fermented and ethanol is distilled and dehydrated to get absolute ethanol. The lignin (binding agent in wood) is modified to a broad range of product applications. Lignin is also raw material for the production of vanillin, the vanilla flavour. Borregaard is the only producer of wood based vanillin.

    The detail process

    The video youtube below gives detail information on the complete elaborating process of different products extracted from spruce wood.