Air Liquide Tunisie SA has just signed a partnership agreement with the CEA (Commission for atomic energy and alternative energies in France) aiming to develop a second generation biofuel production pilot unit in France. As part of this partnership, the CEA will develop a chain of processes -- on the Bure (Meuse) - Saudron (Haute-Marne) site, and in the CEA-Grenoble centre -- for grinding, pressurising, measuring, and transporting solid biomass (wood in particular) in order to inject it into a burner, with a view to minimising the energy used for this pre-processing. For this project, Air Liquide will develop a new combustion technology that uses a burner running on oxygen instead of air.

This pressurised, high-temperature oxygen combustion will make it possible to transform solid biomass directly into synthesis gas. The synthesis gas made by this process can then be processed to ultimately produce an extremely pure and energy-efficient synthesis fuel. All of the R&D work related to pressurised combustion with oxygen will be carried out in Air Liquide's Research Centres in Paris Saclay (France), Frankfurt (Germany), and Newark (USA, Delaware), as well as in partnership with international research institutes.

This work will contribute to the eventual emergence of a new sector for creating value from this biomass through second generation biofuels.