The Laboratory for Pretreatment of Bioresources works on mechanical and/or thermal pre-treatment of biomass and waste resources before their final conversion into energy, material or molecules through combustion, carbonization, gasification, extraction of molecules, protein powder compaction... Various resources are treated: wood, waste wood, agricultural residues, wet green waste, carbon fibers, solid recovered fuels...
The laboratory supports energy companies in the industrialization of processes, from design to building and operation of pilot units (TRL 4-6) in the fields of grinding, sieving, pressurization, powder injection, drying, torrefaction or pyrolysis.
Vibrating grinder, 1 ton of wood powder per hour
Torrefaction furnace "Centorré", pre-industrial scale
The laboratory relies on technological and scientific skills, acquired in the context of fundamental R&D activities (TRL 1 to 3), especially the ones of phD students. It designs and operates analytical devices and experimental tools to characterize the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of solids and gases, and develops tools to model the behavior of powders and physical/chemical mechanisms of torrefaction.
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| Pyrolysis analytical device "Pyrates" | Analytical device used to determine the minimum fluidization velocity of a powder |
In 2017, the team includes 15 people including 9 research engineers, 2 phD students and 4 technicians located on 2 different sites: Grenoble et Bure-Saudron.