Inbicon is the first company in the world to build a large-scale pilot plant for second-generation bioethanol. The plant is situated in Kalundborg, next door to the Asnæsværket CHP plant which supplies the district heating for boiling the straw, the raw material of the bioethanol. Some of the waste products are used for pet food, while others are incinerated as biomass. Following the break-in period, the plant in Kalundborg is scheduled to produce three tonnes of ethanol per day. The objective of Inbicon’s plant is to prove that bioethanol can be produced from straw in a full-scale plant.

The vision is that Inbicon will build and export ethanol plants to the whole world. This requires customer awareness and a well-functioning production plant that has proved its efficiency in the long term. The plant must also be regarded as professional, reliable and reputable. The architectural concept of this project was to envelop the entire production plant in a billowing curtain of metal sheets, providing the option of adapting height and width of the plant according to the requirements of the technical installations. As the plant will be the first of its type, it is highly likely that changes will be made during its working life. The sectional and undulating metal façade is easily adapted if the need arises for new doors, portholes, extensions or anything else that nobody could predict from the beginning. The production plant which included two processing buildings, laboratories and administration facilities was completed for the COP15 climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Visualizations: Gottlieb Paludan Architects