Summary

Aston University is a modern technical university in the heart of Birmingham with a focus on engineering and applied science and business.  The Bio-Energy Research Group is based in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).  It has built up considerable experience in all aspects of thermal biomass conversion over the last 20 years, particularly in fast pyrolysis, gasification and assessment of biomass conversion systems.  The Bio-Energy Research Group is the largest research group at Aston both in terms of members and earnings with over ? 11 million sterling having been awarded in the last 10 years. 

Activities related to bioenergy R&D

The Bioenergy Research Group (BERG) is at the forefront of research into all aspects of biomass fast pyrolysis as well as gasification and bio-energy system design and assessment.  For example, 11 substantial EC sponsored RTD projects have been co-ordinated by the Bio-Energy Research Group, which is also managing a new UK University consortium researching thermal biomass conversion worth nearly 5 million Euros.  In addition, six major international conferences on thermal biomass conversion have been organised.

Fast pyrolysis of biomass has been studied for more than 15 years and considerable experience has accumulated on all aspects from feed specification, preparation and pre-treatment through fast pyrolysis, liquid collection and upgrading to quality assessment and analysis of the bio-oil.  A notable strength is in techno-economic assessment of novel bio-energy processes from biomass in the field or forest to end product fuels, electricity and chemicals.  As well as leading the IEA Bioenergy Pyrolysis Tasks since their inception in 1995, a European pyrolysis network (PyNe) has been managed for the last 8 years, which was integrated into the IEA Bioenergy Pyrolysis Task in 1998. 

The Group has well found laboratories with the necessary resources to fully support research activities including in-house workshops and necessary analytical facilities.  The Group has five fast pyrolysis reactor systems ranging from 100 g/h to 20 kg/h including two innovative ablative reactors invented, developed and tested at Aston as well as more orthodox fluid bed reactors.  In addition, it has developed state of the art liquid collection systems and accumulated extensive experience in reactor and process design including novel reactor development supported by advanced reactor and system modelling.  A significant contribution has also been made in the techno-economic assessment of bioenergy systems.

There are excellent relations with industry on co-operative and sponsored research, which has been carried out for over 25 organisations around the world.