BE-Sustainable Magazine June 2014

Bes u s t a i n a b l eThe magazine of bioenergy and the bioeconomy

Bioenergy and Climate Change | European Biorefineries | Sustainable Algae Green Coal | Bioenergy in Eastern Europe | Biomass Policies

WHICH POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR BIOFUELS IN THE EU?

WEIGHING ALL FACTORS

June 2014

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IMPRINT:BE Sustainable is published by ETA-Florence Renewable Energies, Via Giacomini 28, 50132 Florence, ItalyEditor-in-Chief: Maurizio Cocchi | [email protected] | twitter: @maurizio_cocchiManaging editor: Angela Grassi | [email protected]: D. Chiaramonti, M. Prussi, A. Salimbeni, M. Cocchi, K. Sternberg, M. Brinker, P. Raju, K. Sapkota, C. Chapman, L. Melville, V. Valente, L.S. Halsgaard, W.Stelte, J. Raitila, C. PanoutsouMarketing & Sales: [email protected] design: Tommaso Guicciardini Corsi SalviatiLayout: Alberto Douglas Scotti - Studio Newt, FlorencePrint: PixartprintingWebsite: www.besustainablemagazine.comThe views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

Direttore responsabile: Maurizio Cocchi "Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Firenze n. 548/2013"Cover image: @istockphoto/LuVo

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BE sustainable ETA-Florence Renewable Energies via Giacomini, 2850132 Florence - Italy www.besustainablemagazine.comJune 2014

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Editorial Notes· M. Cocchi | 1

News | Bioenergy and Bioeconomy News Around The World 4

Policy · D. Chiaramonti, M. Prussi | The Unbearable Uncertainty: Which Policy Framework for Biofuels in the Eu? 6

Technology · A. Salimbeni | European Biorefineries Unlocking Biomass Full Potential 12

Scenarios · M. Cocchi | Bioenergy a Pillar for Climate Change Mitigation Strategies 18

Algae · K.Sternberg, M.-M. Brinker, P. Raju, K.Sapkota, C. Chapman, L. Melville | Who Does What? The Enalgae Map on Algae Activities in North West Europe 23

Algae · V. Valente | High-Speed Growth 26

Algae · A. Cadavid, M. Prussi | Algaefuels Commercial Demonstration Plants for Fuel and Dietary Proteins in Chile 29

Torrefaction · L. S.Halgaard , W. Stelte | Green Coal As Potential Biomass For Power Stations 30

Projects · J. Raitila | Successful Promotion Of Bioenergy Initiatives In Eastern Europe 32

Sustanability · C. Panoutsu | Biomass Policies Workshop on "sustainable" and "mobilisation" 35

Upcoming Bioenergy Events 36

Biomass and Bioenergy in the JRC – research and policy support

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has a long tradition of research in the field of energy technologies using fossil and nuclear. Following adoption of the Kyoto Pro-tocol in 1997, attention expanded to include all forms of renewable energy in an effort to better understand environmental impacts and ways to mitigate those impacts. Over the last fifteen years the JRC has been involved in various aspects of biomass utilisation for bioenergy and for biofuels. The scope of the research work in which the JRC is engaged stretches from technology assess-ment and mapping in the frame of the European Strategic Energy Technologies Plan (SET-Plan), and its associated information system (SETIS), to environmental impact assessments of the use of solid and gaseous biomass for bioenergy and of liquid biofuels used in transport applications. All JRC studies are oriented in one way or another to provide scientific support to European policy makers.

In the past year, bioenergy has been high on the political agenda and the JRC has followed sev-eral interesting research lines, mostly in the Insti-tute for Energy and Transport and in the Institute for Environment and Sustainability. As a conse-quence, we have a significant number of oral and poster presentations at the 22nd EU BC&E in Hamburg, as well as a stand in the exhibition area. Our work on display includes:

• Biofuels, their impact on land use and their contribution to European targets are the sub-ject of presentations from M. Padella on al-ternative approaches to estimate land use change due to biofuels demand (4CO.11.2), and L. Lonza on a JEC Biofuels Programme analysis of scenarios for EU renewable en-ergy transport targets (4CO.7.2).

• Sustainability issues and environmental im-pacts of bioenergy production from residues,

waste and by-products are analysed in the presentations from J. Giuntoli on whether bioenergy from residues is always sustain-able (4CO.15.1), and F. Monforti on a mod-elling approach for preserving organic car-bon stocks through optimal exploitation of agricultural residues (1AO.5.3), as well as a poster from A. Agostini on farm GHG emis-sions mitigation potential of biogas produc-tion from manure, maize silage and codiges-tion (4BV.1.19).

• Wood, as a bioenergy feedstock, its availabil-ity and its mobilization in different contexts is the focus of the presentations of J. Barredo on developing a spatially-explicit pan-Eu-ropean dataset of forest biomass increment (1AO.8.1) and R. Sikkema on cascading use of harvested wood products compared with the use of wood for bioenergy (a case study for Canada) (4CO.15.3), who also have a poster on mobilisation of biomass from bo-real forests following the introduction of new sustainability criteria (1CV.3.11).

Finally, there has been an opportunity provided by some European countries outside the EU to assess bioenergy in in the frame of the JRC ac-tivities in support of Danube countries; examples are presented in two posters from H. Medarac on the analysis of biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant opportunities in Vojvodina (4BV.1.36) and M. Banja on the current and ex-pected state of biomass use for energy produc-tion in Albania (4BV.1.37).

Visitors are more than welcome to visit the JRC exhibition stand, located in the exhibition area where printed material, additional posters and in-teractive tools are available to stimulate deeper discussion of the most recent results of the JRC research activities and possible future directions in the field of bioenergy.

editorial

Weighing all factors

T his issue of BE-Sustainable starts with a question mark: which policy frame-work for biofuels in the EU?

The answer to this question has been long awaited by the biofuel industry to kickstart new investments and it is most likely expected in the second half of 2014, now that the European elections are behind. The institutional debate will still require long negotiations among the Council the Commission and the Parlia-ment. Reducing emissions and the dependence on oil in the transport sector is the main driver for biofuels but the issues at stake are manifold; they should be considered in a holistic view and given the correct weight. This is particularly true for the advanced biofuels sector, which is now ready to deliver the industrial results of years of research and investments in demonstration activities. With the right conditions and a stable framework, these products can be obtained with no competition with food crops, while offering an opportunity to valorize agri-cultural and forest residues and to diversify agricultural production. In addition, advanced biofuels can be an effective resource to tackle emissions in the aviation sector and their industrial production can offer the infrastructure to produce a wide range of bio-chemicals for non energy applications, as shown by the suc-cessful results of the recently concluded EuroBioRef project on European Biore-fineries, that are covered in this issue.

Mitigating climate change is an important driver for the EU environment and renewable energy policy and bioenergy is certainly included among the tools which could play a significant role within the future energy system to cope with this global challenge. Indeed many references to bioenergy occur in the 5th as-sessment report of the IPCC published in April and this is why the authors in-cluded a special annex report to update and review all the main scientific findings on biomass potentials, bioenergy technologies and their relative environmental and socio-economic aspects, that we summarized in these pages. Besides in-novative and futuristic applications such as BECCS – bioenergy coupled with carbon capture and storage – a technology which could actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere, the report shows the many progresses achieved in existing commercial technologies as well as the effectiveness of small-scale applications such as the diffusion of efficient biomass cookstoves in developing countries, when supported by sound dissemination projects.

The release of this issue falls in the week of the annual European Biomass Con-ference and Exhibition, this year in its 22nd edition, an event that has always contributed to debating all these aspects and demonstrating how the versatility and multi-functionality of biomass are its greatest strength points and how they can be used in a number of sustainable ways.

Happy reading

Maurizio CocchiEditor-in-Chief

[email protected]

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Bioenergy and bioeconomy news around the world

June 4

Enerkem launches full-scale waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility

Enerkem officially inaugurated its first full-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility in Edmonton, Alberta. “Our breakthrough technology uses gar-bage instead of fossil sources for the pro-duction of chemicals and liquid transporta-tion fuels. We are proud of the inauguration of our first full-scale biorefinery facility as it is the culmination of more than 10 years of disciplined efforts to scale up our tech-nology from pilot and demonstration, to commercial scale, said Vincent Chornet, President and CEO of Enerkem.http://tinyurl.com/pwah6ae

23 May

EIA: U.S. wood pellets doubled in 2013 due to European demand

Wood pellet exports from the United States nearly doubled last year, from 1.6 million tons in 2012 to 3.2 million tons in 2013, 98% of which were delivered to Eu-rope. Growth of U.S. wood pellet exports has been concentrated in southeastern states, which have advantages in terms of abundant material supply and relatively low shipping costs to Europe. Transportation costs account for a quarter of the delivered price of wood pellets from the Southeast to the EU in mid-2013.http://tinyurl.com/ps4blaf

June 2

U.S. EPA launches Clean Power Plan

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency published a proposed Clean Power Plan that aims to re-duce carbon emissions by 30 per-cent in 2030 compared to 2005 emissions. The plan recognizes “that biomass-derived fuels can play an important role in CO2 emis-sion reduction strategies”.http://tinyurl.com/kmz68nh

19 May

Biomass to urea fertilizers plant opened in Florida

BioNitrogen Holdings Corp. a cleantech company that utilizes a patented technology to build environmentally-friendly plants that convert biomass into urea fertilizer held the ribbon cutting ceremony of the company’s initial plant in Hendry County, Florida. The company’s mission is to provide safe, cost effective, green solu-tions that are economically beneficial in locations where biomass is produced and urea is consumed.http://tinyurl.com/psmc6d8

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news

28 May

EU diplomats agree on a 7% cap to 1st generation biofuels

EU diplomats agreed on a 7% cap to 1st generation biofuels made from food crops to be introduced in the expected amend-ment to the Renewable Energy Directive. EU ministers are expected to endorse the decision at a meeting in June and after that it will have to be considered by the newly-elected European Parliament.http://tinyurl.com/owrkqpo

25 April

New aviation biofuel tests by Lufthansa

Lufthansa is testing a new type of biofuel for use in aircraft to increase its efforts to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. The aircraft carrier is teaming up with Gevo to research the blending of Gevo's ATJ with conventional kerosene for aircraft use. The alcohol-to-jet fuel producer uses ferment-ed plant waste from a range of sources to produce isobutanol, a form of alcohol which can then be converted into kerosene using standard refinery processes.

http://tinyurl.com/nnbz88n

6 june

REN 21 global renewable status 2014

At the end of 2013 88 GW of power ca-pacity (405 TWh) from biomass was in place globally, up from less than 36 GW in 2004.Biomass demand continued to grow steadily in the heat, power and transpor-tation sectors. The demand for modern biomass is driving increased international trade in solid biofuels. Overall, the Europe-an Union imported about 6.4 million metric tons of pellets last year, with 75 percent of imports coming from North America. In 2013, about 230 existing commercial coal- and natural gas-fired combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants had been converted to biomass co-firing, mostly in Europe and the U.S.http://tinyurl.com/pbbxoud

6 june

Brazilian airline to use biofuel for World Cup flights

Brazil's Gol airlines will use a 4% biofuel mixture to power 200 flights over the course of the World Cup. Biokerosene flights indicate 'that it is possible to reduce emissions voluntarily though technological innovation,' said Izabella Teixeira, Brazilian Environment Minister. The Brazilian airline reports that biok-erosene can cut emissions of CO2

by up to 80%. In October last year, Amyris developed a biofuel that Gol went on to use on a flight from Sao Paulo to Brasilia, a first for the coun-try's aviation industry.http://tinyurl.com/nx4ygrb

Bioenergy and bioeconomy news around the world

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During 2013 biofuels and bioenergy were subject to lots of attention by European Institutions, and no agreement was found yet on this issue. Therefore this topic will have to be discussed again during 2014, very likely under the Ital-

ian presidency of the Council.

Main motivationsLet’s recap the main motivations which have driven

the development of technologies for advanced biofuels so far:

• A better environmental performance than 1st genera-tion biofuels (reduced GHG emissions and better car-bon balance), that generally achieve modest perform-ances - excluding some specific cases, predominantly located outside EU, as sugar cane ethanol;

THE UNBEARABLE UNCERTAINTY

WHICH POLICY FRAMEWORK

FOR BIOFUELS IN THE EU?

David Chiaramonti, Matteo Prussi | Renewable Energy Consortium for Research and Demonstration - Italytion - Italy

• Some advanced biofuels can be considered drop-in fuels, i.e. fuels that can be blended in any percent-age with fossil fuels, thus beyond the technical limit (blending wall) of 1st generation; this allows to ad-dress new markets, as aviation fuels, this way tackling a sector responsible for significant GHG emissions which has in fact no alternatives to biofuels;

• No competition with food crops when advanced bio-fuels are produced from residues, crops grown on marginal lands or through a better use of land. This is also the case for biofuels derived from hydrogen-ated oils when used cooking oil (UCO) or special oil crops able to grow in marginal lands (as Camelina) are adopted as feedstock;

• Possibility to utilize marginal lands where traditional food crops would not be economically sustainable;

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• Regarding ligno-cellulosic energy crops, a higher yield per hectare than conventional crops can be achieved, thus implying lower costs per unit of prod-uct (ton) with the same economic revenues for the farmers, especially with perennial crops;

• In the case of biogas and biomethane, producers can adopt highly sustainable and land/carbon efficient cultivation techniques, such as catch cropping, inter-cropping, use of digestate, substitution of fossil ferti-lizers with organic fertilizers;

• Operational costs for 2nd generation plants are virtu-ally lower than for 1st generation plants, though capi-tal costs are higher. This means a future possibility for advanced biofuels to be competitive with fossil fuels under certain conditions without any incentives.

Among all these strong motivations in support of ad-vanced biofuels, to date only the first one seems being real-ly considered in the policy debate in Brussels, while all the others have received marginal attention and their weight in the negotiations for the new EU policies is still secondary, perhaps because these are complex issues which cannot be easily oversimplified.

Main stepsLet’s resume now the main steps of the confrontation

among EU Institutions, to understand the topics under discussion and try to figure out the next developments.

• A the end of 2012 the Commission proposed amend-ments to Directives 28/2009 (Renewable Energy Directive) and 98/70 (Fuel Quality Directive). With this initiative the Commission focused the attention on the sustainability of biofuels and ILUC;

• The European Parliament evaluated the Commis-sion’s proposal and collected the opinions of stake-holders. This phase concluded on 11 September 2013, when the Parliament voted a document ex-pressing its view (on which the rapporteur M.me Lapage didn’t get the mandate to negotiate with the Council);

• In the last months of 2013, the Council tried to elaborate a compromise among the positions of the different Member States. However in December 2013 no common position was reached, thus leaving this dossier still open so far. On this occasion some Member States opposed the proposal of the Lithu-anian Presidency, which was considered too weak

or too ambitious, with regard to the proposed cap to first generation biofuels;

• To date indeed the entire advanced biofuels sector is still affected by great uncertainty which threatens its future development. The main elements of the de-bate, on which the Commission, the Parliament and the Council expressed radically different views are summarized in the table below.

• At a diplomats meeting held on 28 May to prepare EU ministerial councils, EU ambassadors have agreed to a 7% cap on biofuels made from food crops in trans-port fuel. A 0.5% non-binding target for advanced biofuels was set. No accounting for ILUC factor was included in this proposal which represents the main change to the former Council’s proposal elaborated by the Lithuanian presidency (editor’s note).

Unclear definitionsLet's analyze now the main points raised by the institu-

tional debate in 2013.First of all, it must be pointed out how even the defi-

nition of advanced biofuels is still unclear and not com-pletely agreed even today. This definition should include feedstock as well as technologies, indentifying the most sustainable ones; in fact this is not the case and this marks a big difference with other countries such as Brazil and U.S. What are the factors that define an advanced biofuel? GHG emission reductions? Land use efficiency? Technologies? Others? How should we weigh the relative importance of all these factors?

A further element is the shift in the policy from the "GHG reduction" criteria, which was fully introduced by the RED, to the principle of "land use": however still ap-proach considers GHG emission reductions mainly, with-out really considering or integrating it with other factors, such as protection of rural areas, biodiversity, fight to soil erosion and floods, as well as socio-economic aspects such as energy independence, job creation and economic growth in rural areas and agriculture in general. In addition to this, many European small and large industries are well placed on the market in sectors such as biogas, advanced biofuels, metalworks etc: thus, EU SMEs and industries can play a significant role in supplying components and equipments. Considering all these aspects together is a much more dif-ficult task than considering GHG emissions only, and re-quires objective and targeted studies. Perhaps not enough time and efforts have been invested so far in acquiring the

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Cap to 1st generation biofuels

The Commission proposed to include a 5% cap until 2020 to first generation biofu-els obtained from traditional biomass and thus subject to potential competition with food crops. This was intended to stimulate the development of advanced biofu-els. The Parliament then proposed to raise this cap to 6%(maintaining the overall tar-get of 10% alternative fuels in 2020 as introduced by the Climate-Energy Package). The Council proposed to raise the cap to 7%. The Parliament also proposed to include avia-tion biofuels among the measures for the achievement of the 10% target, even though with-out any binding targets.

Residues and energy crops

The Commission aimed at promoting advanced biofuels from ligno-cellulosic biomass (includ-ing dedicated energy crops) and non conventional feedstock (i.e. algae) or residues (straw). These so called no-land using feedstock were proposed to benefit from a multiple counting rule. The Parliament had in fact removed energy crops (non food ligno-cellulosic material) from the list of eligible feedstock for advanced biofuels, allowing only those obtained from residues. Including dedicated energy crops in the list of eligible feedstock would bring objective positive consequences to the agricultural sector. Energy crops may represent an opportunity for low-yield or marginal areas of could be cultivated in rotation with food crops or as catch crops, thus improving land use efficiency.

Mandates for advanced biofuels

The possibility of including a specific sub-target for advanced biofuels has been long debated. This target would have helped in creating the right conditions for industrial investments in ad-vanced technologies. The Parliament proposal included a 2.5% target for advanced biofuels in 2020 (4% in 2025) and a 7.5% minimum blend of biofuels in gasoline.

Single or multiple counting

Double and multiple counting of some biofuels were also strongly debated during the last year. The aim of multiple counting is to create favourable conditions for the uptake of innova-tive technologies and for biofuels from residues.

As a matter of fact expert's opinions vary a lot on the real effects and consequences of such policy. On one hand, these measures create preferential paths for biofuels eligible for multiple counting. On the other hand these clearly create a limit to market expansion. In some cases (i.e by using waste cooking oil), a real risk of fraud exists. This has required the imple-mentation of a highly efficient traceability system.

Cascade use of residues

Cascading the use of residues was included in the Parliament's proposal, but not in those of the Council and the Commission. This would imply the valorisation of agricultural residues initially as feedstock for secondary products and biochemicals, and only as last step for en-ergy use. Furthermore, the position of the Commission, Parliament and Council were distant on which biofuels should be included in this group and how to account them (double, triple, quadruple or even 5 times the value). For instance the Parliament proposed a quadruple counting for algae, renewable fuels of non-biological origin, Carbon Capture and utilization and bacteria. The Council proposed a multiple counting for electric transports from renewable sources, (5 and 2.5 times) and a double counting for advanced feedstock, excluding waste cooking oil and animal tallow.Defining who should make this kind of evaluations in different regional and productive con-texts, and decide which cascade use is best for each single residue, would be a very difficult task. This measure would then pose a serious risk to the bankability of projects and to the actual fulfilment of investments in advanced biofuels.

ILUC FactorAccording to the Commission's and Council proposal's, ILUC factors should be included in the reports for both Directives (RED and FQD), while in the Parliament's proposal these should be taken into account only for the Fuel Quality Directive.

Table 1 – Main points of the debate among EU Institutions

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policy

necessary knowledge to develop an integrated scenario, that should instead find its full application in the period 2020-2030.

A third element is represented by the issue of dedicated energy crops, meaning with this a wide group of resourc-es, both integrated with traditional crops as well as an al-ternative to them. From an industrial perspective, utilizing a mix of residues and energy crops makes sense in terms of risk reduction for large projects. From an agricultural point of view, energy crops may represent a way to catch opportunities otherwise lost.

Across different Member States, the trends in terms of Utilized Agricultural Area is similar. As an example, several million hectares of UAA were lost in Italy during the last 30-40 years, mainly due to low agricultural income and growing urbanization, two very facts well beyond biofuels. Between 1990 and 2010, Italy only lost 20% of its UAA, from 15.9 million hectares in 1990 to 12.9 in 2010. However, Eurostat data reveal a similar trend in other countries (fig. 1 and 2).

Abandoning formerly utilized agricultural area has a number of negative environmental consequences, such as for instance increased risk of soil erosion and floods.

Nevertheless, if we calculate an environmental balance on these lands considering only GHG emissions, the net result will probably be positive, thus concluding that land aban-donment led to benefits only, while in fact it caused also other clearly negative environmental impacts, in addition to worsening socio-economic conditions in rural areas.

Scientific complexityLet's consider now the ILUC factor, which is the main

issue discussed in the revision of the RED. For years the scientific community has been debating on this issue with-out finding any real consensus. Modeling indirect land use change means developing a model which must address and describe a multitude of aspects in a dynamic way and on a global scale, from food markets, to demographic varia-tions, fossil and renewable energy production, fuel price dynamics etc. This is not just a very complex task, but a very ambitious one and inevitably subject to great vari-ability and potential large inconsistencies among different studies. Linking European energy and environmental poli-cies to the assumption of a scientifically exact evaluation of these dynamics means demanding a result that science cannot provide so far, and whose following choices may also result absurd in some cases. The issue is so complex that some non European countries, after thorough studies, have decide to classify some specific crops as "ILUC" or not, and if so they require a specific certification. This is clearly pragmatic approach but also an oversimplification from the scientific point of view. However this allows bio-fuels companies to focus only on "non-ILUC" crops, with a great simplifications in management and cost savings, which favor the actual implementation of projects. On the contrary, a complex application case by case of the ILUC effect may hinder the development of industrial initiatives since the early stages.

To date, this uncertainty in defining a clear policy in this sector is causing a stall in investments in Europe. This means that companies that have invested large resources, sometimes also with financial support from the Commis-sion and from national governments, will probably imple-ment their projects in more favorable countries. If so, Eu-rope will loose a great opportunity in terms of job creation in industry and agriculture, at a moment when its compa-nies have technological leadership worldwide.

North and South America are two of the regions where this developments can be expected, besides Asia. In some countries of these areas, favorable technical conditions are

Fig. 1 - Used Agricultural Area-UA in some EU countries (Source: EUROSTAT)

Fig. 2 - UAA variation between 1990-2010 in some EU countries (Source: EUROSTAT)

France

Spain

GermanyItaly

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available (i.e. large availability of biomass at competitive prices, simpler traceability requirements) as well as finan-cial supports (i.e. support programs which provide guaran-tees to companies thus improving the bankability of pro-jects).

Last but not least, the entire bioenergy sector is experi-encing a positive trend in innovation and research. The re-sults achieved so far in terms of pre-treatment of biomass, upgrading processes and downstream conversion into sol-id, liquid and gaseous fuels and chemicals, have opened new opportunities for biorefining at small and large scale. This is an exciting condition for researchers and industry, which could be frustrated by political uncertainty.

Today we could really widen the approach to bioenergy and bioproducts, “from Smart Grid to Smart Green" a new definition that we propose to demonstrate how power gen-eration can become more and more one of the multiple pos-sible products from biomass. However the policy frame-work must be capable of seizing this opportunity. In order to get out of this impasse, the EU Institutions must recover the time lost and define a strategy and clear long-term pol-icies, taking into account all the aspects of the complex world of bioenergy.

Unfortunately the recent Communication of the Com-mission "Energy and Climate Goals" of 22nd January 2014 doesn't seem very promising for the sector, and targets in-dicated for 2030 are probably not ambitious enough, (40% GHG emissions reduction, 27% renewable energy, no tar-get for rational use of energy and non binding targets for Member States): however the debate on targets is still at the beginning. Last February the Parliament expressed its posi-tion in favour of binding targets for all Member States, at least 30% renewable energy share and 40% increase in energy ef-ficiency. The debate will certainly go on lively during the next months of 2014. Defining a binding sub-target for transports would be necessary, since emissions in this sector increased by 36% since 1990 and today these are responsible for 25% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in EU.

AcknowledgementsThis article is based on the original Italian version

"L’insostenibile incertezza” published on Qualenergia magazine issue 2/2014 -www.qualenergia.it

The authors would like to acknowledge prof. Bonari and dr. Villani, Scuola Superiore S.Anna- Pise for their support in collecting statistics.

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resources

Since 1990 the research institute in Sulzbach-Rosenberg develops concepts and

processes for direct application. The target focus is the efficient use of energy,

raw and functional materials. Within the Center for Energy Storage the main

research interests are the development of integrated and decentralized energy

conversion and storage solutions.

Topics include, among others, heat and chemical storages, energy from biomass and

waste, resource management and recycling, as well as the development of innovative ma-

terials and coatings for energy technological applications. Integrated process monitoring

for efficient, sustainable and economical solutions are central to our work. The research

institute in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, which is located in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region,

employs about 100 staff members (2012). On 1st July 2012 the established research

institute in Sulzbach-Rosenberg joined Fraunhofer UMSICHT located in Oberhausen as

institute branch.

In 2013 the entire Fraunhofer UMSICHT realized an annual turnover of 35.2 million € and

employed 528 staff members at its sites in Oberhausen, Sulzbach-Rosenberg and Willich.

The institute advances sustainable economizing, environmentally friendly technologies,

and innovative activities in order to improve the quality of life for humans and to promote

the innovation capacity of the national economy.

At present, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains 67 institutes and independent research

units. The majority of the more than 23 000 staff are qualified scientists and engineers,

who work with an annual research budget of 2 billion €. Fraunhofer is the leading organi-

zation for applied research.

Fraunhofer Institute for

Environmental, Safety, and Energy

Technology UMSICHT

Institute Branch

Sulzbach-Rosenberg

An der Maxhütte 1

92237 Sulzbach-Rosenberg

Contact

Phone +49 9661 908-400

Fax +49 9661 908-469

[email protected]

Director

Prof. Dr. Andreas Hornung

Phone +49 9661 908-408

[email protected]

www.umsicht-suro.fraunhofer.de

www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de

FRAUNHOFER UMSICHTINSTITUTE BRANCH

F R A U N H O F E R I N S T I T U T E F O R E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S A F E T Y, A N D E N E R G Y T E C H N O L O G Y U M S I C H T

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EUROPEAN BIOREFINERIES UNLOCKING BIOMASS FULL POTENTIALAndrea Salimbeni | European Biomass Industry Association

Fig 1 - Pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass - hydrolisis

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technology

Renewable sources are already well known and cover an increasing share of the energy mar-ket, however hydrocarbons are used for fuels, chemicals, polymers, plastics, fertilizers and many more applications. Therefore there is a

general consensus that the development European sustain-able economy is strongly related to the deployment of the only existing renewable carbon based source, that is bio-mass.

A competitive biomass value chain must pass through several steps, beginning from adequate and sustainable biomass supply systems, to valuable supply chain strate-gies, and finally technologies capable of upgrading raw feedstock into a wide variety of high value final products.

Given the complexity of a "multiprocess-plant-concept", the current existing biorefineries are limited in the types of biomass feedstock they process, the technologies they adopt and the final products. This limits the added value that can be potentially achieved.

The EuroBioRef project demonstrated that the flexibility of biomass and its market penetration potential represent the keys for the takeoff of a bio-based industry in Europe.

The EuroBioRef projectEuroBioRef-"European multilevel integrated biorefinery

design for sustainable biomass processing" was a 4 years project co-financed by the 7th EU Framework Program, to identify and demonstrate improvements in the design and operation of biorefineries. The main feature of the project was a holistic approach dealing with entire biomass value chains: from production aspects of non-edible crops, to conversion processes and final commercial projects. Euro-BioRef bridged the gap between agriculture and the chemi-cal industry by integrating the whole biomass chain into a multi-feedstock (non-edible), multi-process (chemical, biochemical, thermochemical), multi-products (aviation fuels and chemicals) commercially viable and adaptable approach for a sustainable bio-economy in Europe.

With this strategy the project generated competitive val-ue chain examples and many results, which could play a pivotal role not only in enabling a truly viable bioeconomy, but also in providing Europe with an important competitive advantage in this vital new area.

A quick glance at the project structureThe project started in 2010 supported with a 23 M€

budget from the European Commission and ended in Feb-

ruary 2014. A consortium of 29 partners from 15 countries was assembled, merging the strengths of industries, aca-demics and SMEs.

All partners were involved in a highly collaborative net-work, where every aspect of different value chain was in-vestigated and deeply analysed: crop production, biomass pre-treatment, fermentation, enzymatic hydrolysis, cata-lytic processes, thermo-chemical processes, assessed by a life cycle analysis as well as with political and economic evaluation of the whole development chain.

In order to increase the project’s impact on industry, dif-ferent value chains corresponding to different scenarios of integrated biorefineries were considered. These were designed and assessed multi-dimensionally, to provide demonstrations of the developed technologies as well as to test scenarios for their industrial exploitation. These value chains represent the main success of EuroBioRef for the industry sector.

In particular, 6 value chains were identified, and 5 of them were demonstrated to be attractive strategic solutions with a strong competitiveness for the bio-based industry.

Value chains 1 and 2: Vegetable oils to high-value monomers

Both value chains are based on the use of vegetable oils. VC1 was designed to use castor oil to finally produce a high-value monomer for polyamides with some co-prod-ucts being used as fuels. VC2 starts from oil crops (crambe, safflower) to produce high-value monomers and short fatty acids, suitable for fuel applications once esterified. Beside the end product market, several transformation steps of these VCs are in common. Castor oil production is already practiced at industrial scale and the challenge of the pro-ject was to evaluate it and adapt this production in Europe

EUROBIOREF VALUE CHAINS

• Value Chain 1: Castor biorefinery• Value Chain 2: Crambe/Safflower biorefinery• Value Chain 3: Lignocellulosic (aviation fuels)

biorefinery• Value Chain 4: Lignocellulosic to acrylates*• Value Chain 5: Syngas biorefinery• Value Chain 6: Integration of technologies in

existing unit

*Abandoned due to low technological advancement

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and Madagascar/Africa. Production of castor and safflower could be made basically in areas of Southern and or Eastern Europe. Below the simplified scheme of both value chains.

The final application targets the polyamides market and competes with existing polymers:PA12 from butadiene, PA11

from castor oil, and PA10,10 from castor oil. PA9 and PA13, from safflower and Crambe, are new polymers that could com-pete with these existing polymers. Compared to short chain polyamides, these .long-chain polyamides have better techni-cal performance in terms of flexibility, moisture resistance, stress cracking resistance and polar fluid resistance. There-fore, the target of VC1&2, is a high performance segment of long-chains polyamides used for applications in automotive production (flexible pipes, fuel lines, etc..), sports leisure, crude oil transportation, low-pressure natural gas transporta-tion, electrical industry.These value chains can also represent

a new potential business for farmers, promoting crop diversity and y meeting the growing demand of feedstock for biopoly-mers and polyamides. Currently, India has the monopoly of the castor oil market, these results demonstrate EU could be able to compete. However a castor genetic improvement pro-gram would be beneficial to obtain more homogeneous ripen-ing of the seeds and shorter cycle times, as well as improved mechanization of the crop to reduce cultivation costs.

Value Chain 3: Lignocellulosics biorefinery (aviation fuels)

This VC aims at producing heavy alcohols and branched paraffin to be blended as components of aviation fuels. Two main routes for the production of alcohols are considered, one via syngas production and alcohol synthesis, and the other via fermentation of sugars hydrolysates with butanol as a platform molecule. The main process steps leading to the target products are:

1.Gasification of black liquor and gas cleaning to syngas;2.Fermentation of sugar hydrolysates to butanol;3.Higher alcohol synthesis from syngas ;4.Gas phase process to higher alcohols C4-C8;5.Liquid phase process to alcohols C8-C12;6.Hydrogenation/dehydration of branched alcohols to al-

kanes/alkenes;7.Blending of the alcohols/paraffins to aviation gasoline

and jet fuel.

VC1&2 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT

• VC1 CAPEX: 150 M€ (10.000 t/year).• VC1 mean NPV: 106 M€; 98% chance of

positive NPV• VC2 CAPEX: 160 M€ € • VC2Mean NPV: 120 M€; 90% chance of

positive NPV• VC1 Jobs: 200- 300• VC2 jobs: 170 -200

Fig. 2 – Value chains 1 and 2 simplified scheme

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technology

The suitability of mixed branched alcohols and or mixed branched paraffin was evaluated as components of av-gas and jet fuel. The results showed that the addition of C3-C5 and C3-C6 alcohols to AVGAS - 100LL results in lower octane number. However, addition of up to 8% is still possible as the final product fulfils the specifications and falls within the range of the ASTM standards. C8-C12 branched alcohols were tested as blending components of Jet A1. The measurement of the properties of C8 branched alcohols (10%) in jet fuel blends confirmed that the mix-ture properties fall within the range of the ASTM speci-fications. The Eurobioref blend was further tested in a jet engine for 50h. The operation of the engine was smooth with no significant differences in power and temperature characteristics compared with pure Jet A1. Emissions of the flue gases, measured at various engine ratings, were in a range similar to that of the pure Jet fuel, except for SO2, of which the emissions were lower.

The attractiveness of this VC mainly consists on the need of jet fuels based on renewable resources, well recognized at global and EU level. Green fuels are attractive to the customers – minimum carbon footprint is expected, but the price that the customers will pay for this product will be over 1 €/liter. As the final product proposed to the market will be a jet fuel blended with up to 10% bio-originated compound, the competition with the pure fossil and alter-native aviation fuels should be considered. Supported by a

tax reduction for (partly) sustainable fuel, increase in CO2 emission prices, future mandates for a minimum sustaina-ble fraction and a growing need for aviation fuels due to the increase in air transport and the environmental regulations to reduce CO2 emission, this VC represents very promising market solution.

Value Chain 5: Syngas-based biorefinery for higher alcohols, hydrogen peroxide and MeSH.

The main target of VC5 is the production of a variety of chemicals and fuels via gasification of black liquor or solid biomass. Higher alcohols have to be separated from methanol or ethanol, the main by-products from the alco-hol synthesis process. In the case of black liquor gasifica-tion within a pulp a paper industry, H2O2 is produced from the tail gas H2. MeSH can be produced by using the H2S content of the black liquor product gas. Sulphur make up for the overall process integrity would then have to be add-ed to the pulping process.

VC3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT

• CAPEX: 400 M€ (67,200 capacity)• Annual turnover: 60-80 M€ (100,000 t) • Direct jobs (400 M€): 150-170

Fig. 3 – Value chain 3 simplified scheme

The main process steps leading to the target products are:1. Gasification of black liquor or biomass and gas

cleaning to syngas;2. Higher alcohols synthesis from syngas;3. H2O2 synthesis using H2 tail gas;4. MeSH synthesis either in single step CO/H2S/H2

reaction process or a two-step reaction process using the produced MeOH and its further reaction with H2S.

For a real sustainable resource exploitation, paper produc-tion units would have to replace their combustion recovery process and undertake gasification to be able to still cover their energy demands and perform the cooking chemicals re-cycling and engage in biorefinery operations. There is a need for 2nd generation biofuels based on renewable resources. Furthermore, renewable alcohols may have a market also in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, while H2O2 is required for on-site bleaching purposes in pulp and paper industries. H2S produced on-site can be turned into MeSH, DMDS (dime-thyl-disulfide), DMS (dimethyl-sulfide) or DMSO (dime-thyl-sulfoxide). The main competing products are the 100% fossil-based fuels and chemicals, Fischer-Tropsch prod-ucts, hydrogenated oils and fats, higher alcohols, H2O2 and MeSH. The competition and market potential is very high as commercial units for the production of ethanol from syngas either thermochemically or via fermentation are already in operation.

Value Chain 6Integration of technologies in existing units. VC6 of-

fers a framework to consider EuroBioRef chemistries and technologies as additions to existing, preferably European plants. Several such “co-location” scenarios have been pro-posed as modifications of VCs 1 to 4, VC5. On the other hand, 11 co-location models were identified for EuroBi-oRef conversion routes, which are not studied in any of the other VCs. The work was re-focused on the most promising value chains. With the addition of the 2 products coming from VC4. Value chain 6 seeks to demonstrate the cases in which it makes sense to add a biobased production in an existing asset (plant) and capitalize on skilled personnel, available infrastructure, and plant integration. In this case, the Integrated Biorefinery is looking at the integration of a biobased product in a fossil (or bio) existing asset.

The co-location scenario considered is a phthalic anhy-dride (PA) plant, which already produces maleic anhydride (MA) as a by-product. Since there is a great interest for using butanol as a fuel component, it can be foreseen that

VC3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT

• CAPEX: is around 400 M €• Annual turnover: (all products): 95-130 M€• Annual turnover: (Higher Alcohols): 50-80 M€• Direct jobs: 120

Fig. 4 – Value chain 5 simplified scheme

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there will be considerable trade volumes of this bio-alcohol in the future, and that it will be produced by various sup-pliers. To date, there are no production plants in Europe. If this does not change in the future, bio-butanol will have to be sourced from overseas.

ConclusionEuroBioRef demonstrated that the bio-based economy

represents a promising sector as well as a green opportunity for the EU industry, provided that a sustainable large-scale value chain is created. Biomass feedstock, as well as fossil oil, natural gas or coal, becomes really industry attractive when it is integrated into large international markets.

The EuroBioRef team analyzed the main political and social barriers in order to identify new strategies and pro-posals for new bio-based industry support programmes.

Results showed on one hand the strength of the tech-nologies together with the potentials offered by the value chains. On the other hand, there is a need for a rapid de-velopment in the political and social framework, both at

national and EU level. The development of the bio-based industry and large biorefineries deployment in EU depends on many different aspects and cannot be related only the simple market of renewable energy. Investors, producers and technology providers are the relevant key actors, and the means to bring the change. Policy-makers are respon-sible of support measures, while citizens, farmers and land owners, need to be informed about their crucial role of bi-orefineries for the future sustainable green economy. The industrial sector is waiting for the green light, the market is growing and the economic perspectives are getting more and more attractive. Finally the development of the bioec-onomy depends also on the change of consumer’s habits of European Citizens.

For more information and free documentation visit: www.eurobioref.org

Fig. 5 – Achievement of project objectives including demonstration at Technology Readiness Level above 5 (right part of the scale 100% of the objective achieved)

technology

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BIOENERGY A PILLAR FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION STRATEGIESM. Cocchi - editor

Fig. 1 – observed impacts of global warming (source: IPCC)

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Climate change is here and now and its impacts will be more and more tangible, therefore implementing measures to mitigate global warming and to adapt to its consequences have become imperative.

These are in summary some of the main conclusion of the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) published last April by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Some impacts of global warming can be already ob-served, as shown in figure 1. Glaciers melting, droughts, wildfires, reduced food production, are taking place in all continents.

If no adequate and immediate measures are taken, fur-ther and more severe environmental damages are likely to occur. Even in the optimistic scenario of keeping global warming below 2°C by 2100, risks are already classified as “moderate” to “high”. Beyond this threshold, all risks are classified as “high” to “very high”. Figure 2 shows A range of projected temperature increases and how these affect the risks of further damages.

What could this mean in concrete terms for people and the global economy? Assuming a moderate increase in the global population since 2005, the number of people ex-posed to floods will increase between 7 and 25 times in the next 100 years. Fishing areas will move to medium latitudes, while the average fish size will decrease. 75% of scientific literature reviewed by the authors of AR5 agrees on a projected decline of the global average agricultural productivity. In Europe a sensible increase in heat waves

is projected, as well as a stronger polarization of annual rainfalls, with North-central regions more and more rainy and southern Europe subject to droughts.

Mitigation costs are affordable if we act nowThe AR5 summary for policymakers provides a fra-

mework of the costs for the global economy derived from the different GHG mitigation scenarios. Despite the contrast measures put in place in the last ten years, GHG emissions have reached a high in 2010 with 49 GtCO2eq. Three quarters of global emissions increases are due to fossil fuel combustion, and the energy sector is the most responsible for these with 35% of emissions, while agri-culture and forests accounts for 24%, industry 21%, tran-sports 14% and residential 6.4%.

On these premises, the possibility of limiting global warming below +2°C by 2100 (equal to a concentration of 450 ppm of CO2) is tied to the introduction of immedia-te policies for emissions reduction. All mitigation options rely on a strong increase of low-carbon energy supply by at least 10% in 2030 and 190% in 2050 for the most con-servative scenarios.

In particular, the report finds that decarbonising electric-ity supply will play an important role to achieve low CO2 stabilization levels. Renewable energy will be a fundamen-tal resource to achieve this target, since many RE technolo-gies have substantially advanced in terms of performance and cost in addition to achieving high technical and eco-nomic maturity to enable deployment at significant scale.

Fig. 2 – Global mean temperature change and related level of risk (Source: IPCC)

scenarios

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Table 1 provides an assessment of the costs for mitigation in terms of loss of global consumption. The target of 450 ppm would cost only a 0.06% reduction of the consump-tion growth rate annually until 2100, while delaying cor-rective actions to 2030 might increase mitigation costs be-tween 28 and 44% (2030-2050). This table also introduces an aspect which recurs several times throughout the report, that is the importance attributed by AR5 to bioenergy for the effectiveness and competitiveness of all mitiga-tion measures. Indeed limiting the availability and use of bioenergy technologies might increase mitigation costs by as much as 64% by 2100, while phasing-out nuclear would increase costs by only 7%.

Bioenergy a pillar for all mitigation strategiesChapter 11 of AR5 deals with Agriculture, Forestry and

Other Land Use (AFOLU) and includes an annex named Bioenergy: Climate Effects, Mitigation Options, Potential and Sustainability Implications. This report offers an over-view of the most recent and acknowledged scientific find-ings about the technical bioenergy potential, technological solutions such as BECCS, lifecycle emissions and sustain-ability effects of bioenergy deployment. The main findings of this report are summarized below:

Bioenergy potentialMost studies agree that the global technical bioenergy

potential in 2050 will be at least 100 EJ/yr, though some models estimate a value as high as 500 EJ/yr, while others based on more stringent assumptions about sustainability and socio-ecological constraints report much lower figures.

Tab. 1 – Assessment of mitigation costs under different scenarios (source: IPCC)

The technical primary biomass potential is the amount of the theoretical bioenergy output obtainable by full im-plementation of demonstrated technologies or practices. However, the actual amount of this potential which can be available in the future depends on a combination of social, political, and economic factors.

This potential is constituted by forest biomass, organic waste, agricultural residues and dedicated plantations. The report highlights the beneficial effect of utilizing for-est residues such as sawdust, bark, deadwood from natural disturbances or black liquor and says risks of adverse en-vironmental side-effects from using these resources can be managed effectively by controlling residue removal rates. In addition to forest residues, the report includes sustain-able forest harvesting as an additional biomass source though considering it as a “complex issue with many un-certainties and still subject to scientific debate”.

Dedicated biomass plantations including annual crops, perennial plants and tree plantations could provide a par-ticularly large bioenergy potential (<50 to >500 EJ/yr in 2050). Most scientists agree that increases in food crop yields and higher feeding efficiencies, together with lower consumption of animal products will results in a higher technical bioenergy potential for energy crops.

Scientists also agree that careful policies based on land-use zoning approaches, multifunctional land use, integrat-ed food-energy production and other aspects will be crucial for the sustainable deployment of this potential.

The transformation pathway studies identified in AR5 suggest that modern bioenergy could play a significant role within the energy system. These studies project an increas-

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scenarios

ing deployment of bioenergy with tighter climate change targets, with some models projecting 35% of total primary energy from bioenergy in 2050, up to 50% in 2100. In ad-dition, the share of bioenergy in regional total electricity and liquid fuels could be significant—up to 35% and 70% respectively of global regional supply.

Integrated model scenarios project between 10─245 EJ/yr modern bioenergy deployment in 2050, depending on the availability of favorable conditions for bioenergy de-velopment which may facilitate higher bioenergy deploy-ment while sustainability concerns might constrain its de-ployment.

Bioenergy CCS and other effective technologiesA large paragraph of the report is dedicated to the inte-

gration of bioenergy and carbon capture and storage tech-nologies (BECCS), because it offers the prospect of energy supply with negative emissions. BECCS deployment is still in the development and exploration stages, 16 projects are being carried out globally, the most relevant being the ‘Illinois Basin – Decatur Project’ that is projected to inject 1 MtCO2/yr.

Two more projects in the United States are cited, where two bioethanol plants are integrated commercially with CO2 capture, pipeline transport, and use in enhanced oil re-covery in nearby facilities at a rate of about 0.2 MtCO2/yr.

However BECCS still faces relevant technological chal-lenges and risks both at the level of biomass supply chains

as well as those originating from the capture, transport and long-term underground storage of CO2 .

Financing these large scale facilities is also a big issue, currently no such plants have been built and BECCS as well as CCS is dependent on strong financial incentives to be competitive.

The development of a lignocellulosic biomass supply infrastructure for large-scale commodity feedstock pro-duction and efficient advanced conversion technologies at scale is critical for the success of BECCS; in this regard the increasing trade of densified biomass (i.e. wood pellets and torrefied biomass) could reduce the need for closely co-located storage and production.

Among all BECCS pathways, those based on integrated gasification combined cycle produce most significant geo-logic storage potential from biomass, which is estimated at 10 GtCO2 storage per year for both Integrated Gasifica-tion Combined Cycle (IGCC)-CCS co-firing (IGCC with co-gasification of biomass), and Biomass Integrated Gas-ification Combined Cycle (BIGCC)-CCS dedicated. How-ever the economically feasible potential is between 2─10 GtCO2 per year in 2050.

Furthermore, there are still concerns on CCS, about the operational safety and long-term integrity of CO2 storage as well as transport risks. However, a growing number of scientific evidences is available on how to ensure the integ-rity of CO2 wells, and on the potential human health and environmental impacts from CO2 that migrates out of the primary injection zone.

Besides BECCS, the report acknowledges the significant commercial development of bioenergy technologies which took place in the last few years. These include the large scale production of bioenergy in hybrid biomass fossil fuel systems. In this regard coal and biomass co-combustion technologies are cited as the lowest cost technology to im-plement renewable energy policies, enabled by large-scale pelletized feedstock trade.

Direct biopower production coupled with large heating systems and networks for district heating are also cited among the most cost efficient and effective biomass appli-cations for GHG emission reduction in modern pathways.

Coupling of biomass and natural gas for fuels is another option for liquid fuels as the biomass gasification tech-nology development progresses. Simulations suggest that integrated gasification facilities are technically feasible, and economically attractive with a CO2 price of about 66 USD2010/tCO2 (50 EUR2010/tCCO2).

Fig: 5 – Global technical bioenergy potential in 2050 by resource (source: IPCC)

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The role of small-scale bioenergy Advanced and hi-tech solutions are not the only

way to deploy the mitigation potential of biomass. Substantial progress was achieved in small-scale bioenergy applications, such as in the field of ad-vanced combustion biomass cookstoves for devel-oping countries, which can reduce fuel use by more than 60% and pollutants up to 90%. These are now in commercial stage. Biogas stoves provide clean combustion while reducing the health risks asso-ciated with the disposal of organic wastes. Bio-mass cookstoves dissemination programs are also increasingly successful. In total, more than 200 large-scale projects are in place worldwide, with several million efficient cookstoves installed each year. In addition to reducing health risks, replacing traditional systems with efficient cookstoves pro-vides a mitigation potential between 0.6 and 2.4 GtCO2eq/yr.

Direct and indirect land-use change effects difficult to ascertain

The report highlights that many studies found positive CO2 emissions from direct and indirect land use change and, mostly of first-generation biofuels. However results show a very high degree of variability and uncer-tainty. This is due to a number of reasons such as incom-plete knowledge on global economic dynamics and the choice of adequate specific policy models. In addition, LUC modelling and features differ among studies. The report states that “the general lack of thorough sensitivity and uncertainty analysis hampers the evaluation of plau-sible ranges of estimates of GHG emissions from LUC”. However these can be reduced through production of bio-energy co-products, that displace additional feedstock re-quirements, thus decreasing the net area needed and proper land management. Similarly, the report finds that “Indirect land-use change is difficult to ascertain, raising important questions about model validity and uncertainty”.

Bioenergy a driver for sustainable developmentThe report also cites the latest evidences on the beneficial

outcomes that sustainable bioenergy projects can have on local development especially in emerging countries, e.g., by raising and diversifying farm incomes and increasing rural employment.

As an example, Brazilian sugar cane ethanol production

provides six times more jobs than the Brazilian petroleum sector. Similarly palm oil plantations can increase food production locally and have a positive impact on biodiver-sity when combined with agro-forestry. When they are lo-cated on degraded land further co-benefits on biodiversity and carbon enhancement can be achieved.

Various studies indicate perennial crops provide valuable ecosystem services such restoring degraded lands, control-ling erosion and improved water retention and nutrient leakage prevention.

Small-scale bioenergy can also be a major driver for sustain-able development, since 2.6 billion people worldwide depend on traditional biomass for cooking. The benefits from replac-ing old traditional systems with improved biomass cookstoves outweigh their costs by seven-fold, when their health, eco-nomic, and environmental benefits are accounted for.

Finally the report highlights that governance and plan-ning will have a strong impact on the impact of large-scale bioenergy deployment. Certification schemes are required so that the biomass resource can be used efficiently and sustainably.

The full report and the summary for policymakers are available at http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5

Fig. 7 - Sum of CO2eq emissions from the process chain of alternative transport and power generation technologies both with and without CCS. Specific emissions vary with biomass feedstock and conversion technology combinations, as well as lifecycle GHG calculation boundaries. (source IPCC)

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algae

Who Does What? The Enalgae Map on Algae Activities in North West EuropeKristin Sternberg, Mona-Maria Brinker | Agency for Renewable Resources, GermanyPathmeswaran Raju, Krishna Sapkota, Craig Chapman, Lynsey Melville | Birmingham City University, United Kingdom

Figure 1: EnAlgae map showing activities in Germany

Purpose of the “EnAlgae Map”In the context of a European INTERREG IVB project

EnAlgae a map-based web application was produced high-lighting algae related research and commercial activities in North-West Europe.

With this landscaping study (the map-based database) EnAlgae aims for increased transparency in the field of algae, which may intensify the coordination of research activities in this area and allows a better evaluation of the technological state of the art and the economic importance of different utilization pathways of algae biomass. Fur-ther the country specific overview will help policy mak-ers to better understand the current role of algae biomass as promising renewable resource for energy and material uses and to identify current gaps and problems in this area, which could be overcome by creating an improved frame-work for the further development of algae production and processing.

ApproachThe “EnAlgae Map” is based on the data collected dur-

ing a thorough survey carried out in the North-West Eu-rope region in 2012-2014, in order to get an impression of research and commercial activities connected to algae production and utilization. A comprehensive questionnaire had been developed for this purpose, which was directed at research institutions, companies and project coordinators identified in a preliminary scoping exercise. The obtained data, either directly from the stakeholders or gathered from public resources, contributed to obtaining analysable data and an insightful overview about the status quo in this area. Although not unexpected, unfortunately not all question-naires were returned. In these cases, publically available information was used for the landscaping study and some additional information was collected through personal in-terviews with the respective stakeholders.

The questionnaire aimed to gather more information on focus, expertise and applied technology of the addressed

institutions. It was also designed in a way that allows its use as an information sheet in EnAlgae’s web-based informa-tion portal. The data was fed into the searchable database, giving map-based information on all identified stakehold-ers and their algae activities – creating the “EnAlgae Map” (Figure 1). With this information it will be possible to re-liably evaluate the technological state of the art, research priorities, location-dependant distribution of algae activi-ties and trends of development in the algae business. The map-based database can be searched with keywords or by faceted search allowing end-users to explore the activities by applying multiple filters such as country, stakeholder type, algae type, and growth conditions. More information about the stakeholders can be viewed by clicking on the markers on the map.

Furthermore, the collected data has been reviewed in country specific reports (completed for Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxemburg and the Netherlands; still in process for United Kingdom and Ireland) and is current-ly collated and summarized in an overview report covering the whole North-West-Europe region.

The reports summarise the results of the analysis of data collected in the sample region. It must be emphasized that the reports and hence also the web-based “EnAlgae Map” cannot claim to reflect an exhaustive list of all stakeholders

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active in algae research and business. The main reason behind this is the fact that the algae busi-ness/research is a rather broad area and in some cases only very limited information is available about respective activities. In addition, there is lots of movement in this sector with regard to new start-ups and the closing down of business operations.

If too little information could be found about certain institutions they were not included in this survey. An even more comprehensive over-view can only be achieved with the support of all stakeholders involved in scientific of eco-nomic activities focused on algae. The web-based data collection will offer the possibility to add missing information for already included stakeholders as well as to register as “new” in-stitution in this field. EnAlgae consequently aims to en-courage open review of the information, and North-West European algae stakeholders will be able to submit new information on-line.

However, even now, this study represents the most im-portant institutions active in this area, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the main fields of interests, technology and market opportunities for algal research in North-West Europe.

ResultsAlgae Stakeholder

In total 264 institutions working with algae could be identified in North-West Europe. The majority of these stakeholders (61%) are academic stakeholders, which mainly carry out research activities. The other stakehold-ers are from commercial institutions. It needs to be noted that most commercial algae stakeholders are also carrying out algae research and vice versa.

This separation into the different types of stakeholders

Figure 2: Number of algae stakeholders in NW-Europe. It should be noted that France is the only country in which more commercial algae stakeholders were identified than research stakeholders.

Figure 3: Algae types used in NW-Europe (combined research and commercial activities)

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scenariosalgae

is based on the organization type of the respective institu-tions mainly.

The number of stakeholders in the different countries varies significantly from no algae stakeholders being identified in Luxembourg to over 82 stakeholders identi-fied in the UK and Ireland (Figure 2).

Types of algaeThe majority of the stakeholders in NW-Europe are

working exclusively with microalgae (Figure 3). A rela-tively small proportion of stakeholders is cultivating and processing macroalgae or working on both macro and mi-cro types. France and UK/Ireland are the countries who show the highest rates of macroalgae usage.

Even more information derived from the data analysis can be found in the country specific reports about algae activities as well as in the collated overview of the entire North-West-European region.

Further key aspects include the use of different cultiva-tion facilities, choice of growth conditions, market op-tions, focus of research and underpinning activities.

The reports will soon be publically available on the En-Algae website, www.enalgae.eu.

ConclusionThe map-based database on algae stakeholders will be one

of the several that will be included in the final EnAlgae deci-sion support system to be launched in 2015. Other planned tools include web-based economic and growth models for micro and macro algae, search tool for regulations and per-mits, and location based tool for identifying potential algae sites. These web-based tools will offer decision support for all present and future algae stakeholders in Europe as well as for policy makers helping to establish a better framework for a quite special renewable resource with huge potential in various sustainable energy and material product markets. The map-based database on algae stakeholders is currently available for information on algae stakeholders in Belgium, France and Germany but will soon also include Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxemburg, the UK and Ireland, in order to cover the whole North-West Europe region It is possible to display all stakeholders in these countries, including basic information about their respective activities or to search for variations, narrowing down to the results. Amongst others, it is possible to search for micro or macro algae stakeholders, research or commercial stakeholders, different end-products, varying cultivation methods etc.

About EnAlgae

EnAlgae is a four-year Strategic Initiative of the INTERREG IVB North West Europe programme. It brings together 19 partners and 14 observers across 7 EU Member States with the aim of develop-ing sustainable technologies for algal biomass production.

The project is developing sustainable technologies for algal biomass production, bioenergy and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, taking them from pilot facilities through to market-place products and services.

The EnAlgae project will assess the potential for producing energy and fuels from both microalgae and macroalgae in NWE in accordance with three specific objectives:

• To develop a network of pilot and demonstration sites and identify strategic factors for opti-mising the algae cultivation environment

• To undertake a technical and economical feasibility analysis to determine if algae use can be of added value in NWE

• To perform a SWOT Analysis to identify the political, economic, social and technological opportunities and barriers for producing energy from algae

A transnational network of research institutes and algae project operators has been coordinated to deliver data for development of a tool that will facilitate stakeholder decision-making. Project part-ners will also share knowledge and best practice to establish the most promising algal species for commercial exploitation in NWE and to understand cultivation requirements and optimal conditions.

Project website is at http://www.enalgae.eu

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Potential of Microalgae Microalgae are off and running in high-speed. Not only

they are among the fastest photosynthesising organisms on the planet, but their potential application as a biofuel feed-stock is rapidly turning these tiny aquatic beings to sig-nificant drivers in the race to reach Europe’s medium and long-term renewable energy targets.

Cultivating these organisms both in sustainable and economically feasible ways, however, is not an easy task. Even though they can achieve higher yields than traditional biofuel crops and exempt the use of fertile land for their cultivation, there is still room for improving the productiv-ity and reducing impacts by the development of alternative sustainable cultivation approaches.

Integrated Sustainable Algae (InteSusAl) projectIn 2011, a consortium of biotechnology experts joined

this challenge and launched the Integrated Sustainable Al-gae (InteSusAl) project, which promises to demonstrate an innovative approach to generate biofuels from microalgae in a sustainable manner on an industrial scale. The proj-ect is combining heterotrophic (without light) and photo-trophic production technologies, using bio-diesel glycerol as carbon source to the heterotrophic unit and validating the biomass for bio-diesel conversion. The expected output will be the production of 90-120 dry tonnes of microalgae biomass per hectare by annum.

“There is a great potential for this combined approach with further development to effectively reduce the Eu-rope’s GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from transport”, says the Project Coordinator, Dr Neil Hindle, Programme Manager at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI, UK).

Microalgae cultivated phototrophically absorb CO2 and sunlight to grow. The penetration of light, however, limits the cell densities, which are, in this case, around 10 times

High-speed growthVinicius Valente | EUREC Belgium

less dense than for the heterotrophic system. The algae grown without light, on the other hand, have consider-ably higher cell densities, but require oxygen and a carbon source, what results in the production of CO2, threating, as a consequence, the sustainability of the system.

Combining the advantages of two systemsInteSusAl’s approach could be able to overcome this is-

sue by combining the advantages of both systems. The car-bon output from the CO2 phototrophic absorption is used to feed the highly dense heterotrophic cells, maximising the productivity and reducing the carbon footprint.

For the heterotrophic system, CPI has designed a tailor-made low cost fermentation system to allow an economic production of algae from bio-diesel glycerol, which is used in InteSusAl as the carbon source for growing the algae. From laboratory trials it was determined that 1 kg of glyc-erol used is able to produce 0.8 kg of biomass. After extrac-tion of the biomass triglycerides are obtained for bio-diesel production and the remaining cellular material used as feed for bio-ethanol fermentation.

The consortium will demonstrate the feasibility of the approach in a one-hectare pilot unit that is currently being built in the municipality of Olhão, in the Algarve region of Southern Portugal. The demo plant will be composed of a set of fermentation units, used for the heterotrophic system and connected to tubular photobioreactors (PBRs) as well as raceways, which allow the sunlight capture by photo-trophic cultivation.

“We are currently getting land ready to start to install the project’s cultivation systems. But there are several tasks that are on-going related to ordering materials and equip-ment. Sequenced activities of construction will go on until first line of fermenter, tubular PBR and raceway are estab-lished. The first demonstration trials are expected to take

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algae

place in October 2014”, says Victoria del Pino, Microalgae Business Manager at Necton (PT), the partner organisation in charge of setting up the demo plant.

InteSusAl team Together with CPI and Necton, the InteSusAl team is

completed by the UK National Renewable Energy Cen-tre, responsible for the life cycle assessment of the project; the Association of European Renewable Energy Research Centres (EUREC, BE), providing dissemination expertise; the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ, NL), selecting the most suitable strains for the project; and Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research (WUR-FBR, NL), which addresses harvesting, one of the most challeng-ing aspects for the sustainable cultivation of microalgae.

The low culture densities obtained in the phototrophic system together with the high amount of energy required for traditional harvesting processes are among the great-est barriers in InteSusAl’s route. Aquatic cultures have, by definition, high water content, which needs to be removed or reduced for producing biofuels. WUR-FBR, therefore has been studying efficient alternative methods to harvest algae.

Here, InteSusAl is investigating different approaches like flocculation, which makes suspended particles in liq-uids to aggregate, forming a floc heavier than the surround-ing water. In the project, flocculation will be used to cluster the microalgae cells, and making use of gravity to settle them down, thus demanding less energy for harvesting. The flocculation tests performed up to now were focused on chemical flocculation through the addition of inorganic or organic flocculating agents, pH induced flocculation and co-bioflocculation, in which microalgae species with a pro-pensity to flocculate were used to flocculate the species of interest. The results of these studies have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals and will be available soon on the project website.

“An excellent flocculant must be cheap, available at industrial scale, safe. It should not modify the quality of biomass separated, not compromise the quality of remain-ing water and be useful for a larger variety of strains as possible. For the best flocculants from the experiments, these aspects have been tested at lab scale. In the end, the most optimal flocculation method will be tested at large scale and implied in the demonstration project”, explains Dorinde Kleinegris, Researcher at WUR-FBR.

As in any race, the pilot skills are crucial to maximise the

speed. This is why InteSusAl is paying especial attention to the selection of the strains to be used in the project. The project requires microalgae that grow considerably fast in intermittent temperature environments in order to ensure sustainability and success. Therefore, Lucas Stal’s team at NIOZ has been investigating the behaviour of Phaeodacty-lum tricornutum, Nannochloropsis aculata, Tetraselmis sp. strains when exposed to different temperatures, environ-mental conditions, and other cultures.

“We often say that we know at best 1% of the micro-algae. It is probably even less. It is therefore not difficult to imagine that among those 99% of unknown strains and species are very likely many that are better suited for the purpose of mass cultivation and for the extraction of biofu-els. We need strains that grow well in mass cultures and are not easily contaminated, prone to viral attacks or just are unstable or die quickly”, highlights Prof. Stal.

FundingInteSusAl has received funding from the European

Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 268164, contributing to the achievement of EU’s re-newable energy targets. The European Commission is also participating in the funding of two other large-scale indus-try-led projects aimed at demonstrating the production of algal biofuels along the whole value chain, covering strain selection to algae cultivation and production, oil extrac-tion, biofuel production and biofuel testing in transporta-tion applications. The projects are named BIOFat and All-Gas, which, together with InteSusAl, have received a total amount of € 20.5 M funding.

Fig. 1 - Photobioreactors

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The Algae ClusterThe three projects, known together as the Algae Clus-

ter, consider sustainability across the whole process, in terms of both economic and environmental implications, including optimal use of algal biomass resources to enable commercialisation. Within each Algae Cluster project, a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is currently being undertaken, strictly following the standards ISO 14040 and 14044. The three projects are following the same detailed methodology, which they developed together, and the LCA practitioners from each project are in constant contact. This ensures that the LCAs of the three projects will be compa-rable.The LCA is being performed to identify the major contributors to various environmental impacts.

Impacts include human toxicity, particulate matter, eu-trophication, water use, land use and acidification, in addi-tion to climate change impacts over 20 and 100 years. With the major contributors to environmental impacts identified, investigations can be carried out to lower these impacts. The overall aim of the LCA is to ensure the Algae Cluster projects have as low an impact as possible.

Within InteSusAl, so far, this work has involved the col-lection of data on the construction and operation of the

demonstration facility. Furthermore, an LCA of first gen-eration (crop based) biofuels is to be developed. This will help to understand how algae biofuels compare with first generation biofuels, including land use change impacts, which are related to the food vs fuel debate. The overall result of the LCA of InteSusAl will be a range of options to reduce algae biofuel's environmental impacts, reduce en-ergy use, and therefore also reduce costs.

After several laps, InteSusAl’s team want also to en-sure that the project outcomes will climb the podium after crossing the finish line. The trials at InteSusAl’s demo unit will be used to provide operational data and financial in-formation for the team to put together a business case for building a 10-hectare unit following the same model.

“We are glad that the European Commission is making it possible to demonstrate this new approach to produce mi-croalgae biomass. We hope that our results will attract at-tention from investors interested in financing our 10-hect-are site to produce microalgae in a sustainable manner on an industrial scale”, concluded Dr Hindle.

For more information visit: www.intesusal-algae.eu, www.algaecluster.eu

Automated Control System: Senses and controls gas/air mixture, hearth grate and ash handling system, fuel feed and flare ignition.

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Genhead: 20kW Mecc Alte industrial generator with automatic voltage regulation (AVR). 12-wire genhead is easily reconfigurable on-site for 120V to 480V AC. 50 Hz or 60 Hz in single, split, or 3-phase.

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source of CO2 is a co-located coal fired power station. Here the consortium is working on the selection of algae strains for biodiesel production. This work is being carried out on an area of 200 m2 of microalgae production surface, how-ever the project is working on scaling-up to an algae produc-tion area of 3,160 m2.

The project is currently in the middle stage and interesting results have been obtained. The production of oily biomass with CO2 from a coal power plant has been demonstrated and the biomass was characterized; to date 600 kg of algae were produced in La Tirana. In the Mejillones plant, 183 li-ters of biodiesel were produced, and the oil was character-ized in order to demonstrate its suitability for fuel usage.

The ambition of the project is to commercialize the final products, services and technologies acquired from the re-search, development and Innovation programs. The exper-tise and know-how acquired by the project will be invested into direct training activities in the field of biofuel produc-tion and related disciplines, to provide highly qualified hu-man resources in areas relevant for the Chilean industry.

For more information visit: www.algaefuels.cl

algae

The AlgaeFuels project carried out by the Technological Consortium for Microalgae Biofuel Research in the North of Chile, aims at developing scientific and technologic knowledge in the field of microalgae biomass production to provide an innovative feedstock for bioenergy and biofuels for the Chilean energy resources. This was one of the three projects awarded in a competition launched in 2009 by the National Energy Commission and the State Development Corporation of Productive CORFO.

In AlgaeFuels a series of sub-projects are being carried out, from research on microorganisms up to biomass valori-zation. The main goal of the project is to implement systems for the massive culture of micro algae for the production of biofuel and high-value compounds. A fundamental mile-stone of the project will be the realization of two demonstra-tion pilot plants of a size of 1ha each. The objectives of these pilot plants are:

• the realization of photobioreactors and raceway ponds in order to establish the best solutions for design, mate-rials, construction techniques, technologies etc;

• the scale-up of biomass production from a lab stage up to full scale production plant;

• the demonstration of the production process of protein rich algae;

• the demonstration of the production process of algae for biofuels;

• the demonstration of the use of CO2 stream from a coal power plant;

• the definition of the best production module layout for a large scale-up production.

Two sites were already identified for the pilot plants. The first one is located in La Tirana, Región de Tarapacá, at a distance of 60 km from the coast and 1.000 m altitude. In this plant the project is developing the cultivation of Arthrospira maxima for protein production for human consumption and uses fresh water and carbon dioxide supplied by tanks.

The second plant is located in Mejillones, Región de Antofagasta and uses seawater. In the Mejillones plant the

Commercial demonstration plants for fuel and dietary proteins in ChileAgnes Cadavid | Algaefuels S.A., Chile

Matteo Prussi | Re-Cord, Italy

Fig. 1: The pilot plant in Mejillones: the power plant in the background provides the CO2 for the raceway ponds and photobioreactors (foreground)

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Torrified biomassTorrefaction technology offers the potential to replace

coal with biomass in existing coal fired heat and power plants. Pellets produced from torrefied biomass have a higher energy density compared to conventional wood pel-lets, and have coal like properties that allow their utiliza-tion in existing plants.

Converting a coal fired plant to torrefied pellets will likely require less alteration and investments as for conventional wood pellets.

The torrefaction technology is a thermal pre-treatment process, in-creasing the energy density of bio-mass. Pellets produced from tor-refied biomass have mechanical properties and combustion behavior similar to coal and this makes them a potentially interesting fuel for the conversion of power stations from coal to biomass fuels.

In spite the fact that the technology has been under de-velopment for more than 10 years and many torrefaction initiatives and companies around the world have shown the market readiness for the technology, torrefied pellets have not yet gained a foothold in the biofuel market. The tech-nology and potential exists, however, market introduction lacks.

Torrefaction TechnologyTorrefaction is a thermal treatment where biomass is

heated up to 250 – 350 degrees Celsius in an oxygen de-pleted atmosphere. During the process water and low-ener-gy, volatile compounds are evaporated while high-energy components remain in the solid product. The biomass loses about 30-40 % of its mass during torrefaction, however only a small amount of its energy content will be removed (<10%). The calorific value of the biomass is increasing from about 17-19 MJ/kg up to 20-25 MJ/kg depending on the reaction temperature, time and raw material.

Another important advantage of the process is that

the biomass combustion and mechanical properties are changed significantly during the process.

Biomass fibers are converted into brittle flakes that can easily be grounded into a powder using conventional coal mills, used in dust fired power plants.

Torrefied biomass is usually pressed into pellets or briquettes of high density to im-prove its handling and to upgrade it into a fuel with standardized properties. Considering the men-tioned advantages it might seem surprising that it still isn’t pos-sible to purchase torrefied pellets in relevant amounts in the world market.

Lack of market introductionThe greatest challenge of the torrefaction industry today

is a successful introduction of their product into the market. Necessary contracts with power producers and other end users must be in place before it is possible to raise capital for the investment in large scale production facilities. End-users are however reluctant to sign contracts for purchasing torrefied pellets before the required production capacity is in place, guaranteeing the timely delivery of the fuel. This is often referred to as a classic “chicken and egg” problem. Both producer and purchaser must take a risk introducing “green coal” into the market, that in the end might be justi-fied by having a biomass fuel with favorable and more coal like properties. The question could be raised if technology isn’t ready yet, but this seems not to be the case.

Technology tested and in placeThe torrefaction technology has become mature over the

past 10 years. However, reaching this level of development has taken a long time. The major challenges have been to find the correct processing parameters and equipment for torrefaction and densification operations. Milestones in technology development have been product quality, energy

Green coal as potential biomass for power stations Lene Skov Halgaard , Wolfgang Stelte | Danish Technological Institute Denmark

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use and maintenance of production equipment, handling of torrefied biomass and safety during the production process. In addition, there has been a stiff competition among tech-nology developers, who hardly share their knowledge and experience.

The SECTOR ProjectTorrefaction technology has improved incrementally

during the past years and has eventually reached a level of high maturity and market readiness. This is partly due to the European research project, SECTOR (Solid Sustain-able Energy Carriers by Means of Torrefaction) consisting of 21 partners in nine different countries. The project lasts four years (2011 – 2015). The European Commission sup-ports the project with 8 Million Euros and Energinet.dk supports Danish Technological Institute’s participation in the project.

The project has to a large extent contributed to find techni-cal solutions within torrefaction and pelletizing technology, optimizing product quality and reducing costs and energy consumption. The project has contributed to find the ideal balance between 5-6 parameters for torrefaction and densifi-cation processes. Recommendations have been made regard-ing the degree of torrefaction i.e. under which temperature and how long the process should to be run and how much water should be added enduring the pelletizing process.

Torrefied pellets and briquettes have been produced from

different raw materials in various large scale pilot plants and production facilities in Europe during the project. Burning tests of torrefied pellets have been conducted in a Danish power plant. Mass and energy balance in various processes have been mapped, analytical methods have been developed and tested with the participation of laboratories around the world. Product standards and safety specifica-tions are currently still under development.

Right now the SECTOR-project is in its completion phase, focusing on dissemination of project results and knowledge about torrefaction technology for industry and power industry to support market introduction and growth.

Positive feedback from Danish power stationsIn Denmark there is a long tradition for using biomass as

fuel in power stations and several power stations have al-ready switched over from coal to biomass (primarily wood pellets). Different Danish power stations have tested tor-refied pellets as fuel in their mills, transport systems and boilers. Generally, the feedback is positive. However, there is a long way to a transition of whole power stations to tor-refied biomass. Purchasers are reluctant to enter into deliv-ery contracts as long as the delivery safety and torrefaction plants are not large enough to meet the demand at the right price.

Find more information on torrefaction and SECTOR project at http://www.sector-project.eu/

Wood Chips Wood Pellets Torrefied Pellets Charcoal Coal

Moisture (wt%) 30-55 7-10 1-5 1-5 10-15

Calorific value LHV (MJ/kg) 7-12 15-17 18-24 30-32 23-28

Volatile matter wt% db 75-84 75-84 55-65 10-12 15-30

Fixed carbon wt% db 16-25 16-25 22-35 85-87 50-55

Bulk density (kg/m3) 200-300 550-650 650-800 180-240 800-850

Vol. Energy density (GJ/m3) 1.4 – 3.6 8-11 12-19 5.4-7.7 18-24

Hygroscopic properties Hydrophilic Hydrophilic Partly hydrophobic Hydrophobic Hydrophobic

Biological degradation Fast Moderate None None None

Milling requirements Special Special Standard Standard Standard

Transport cost High Medium Low Medium Low

Tab. 1 - Benchmark of combustion qualities. Data from: Kiel J, Zwart R, Witt J, Thrän D. Wojcik M, English M. Production of solid sustainable energy carriers from biomass by means of torrefaction, International Workshop on Biomass Torrefaction for Energy, May 10th, 2012, Albi, France

torrefaction

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Promotion of regional bioenergy initiatives Promotion of regional bioenergy initiatives (PromoBio)

project was a three year project co-funded by the Euro-pean Commission under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The three-year project started in June 2011fo-cused on helping companies and regional decision-makers in Eastern Europe to increase the use of biomass for ener-gy. The project aimed to provide concrete support for local companies in establishing new business projects and sup-port the development of regional policy framework related to bioenergy. The project involved five partner countries (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Austria and Finland) and its actions were concentrated on three target regions: Ostrodan and Olsztyn in Warmia-Mazury in Poland, Centru Region in Romania and Banská Bystrica Region in Slovakia.

Particularly in Eastern Europe there is a big potential to increase the use of biomass for energy, but this will require both changes in current policy framework as well as con-crete support for new bioenergy projects in terms of con-sulting and capacity building.

Challenges in promoting bioenergyPolitical changes can highly affect the actual implemen-

tation bioenergy action plans. Policy changes in support measures or lower involvement of administrative stake-holders during political campaigns can stall or significantly hinder investments in bioenergy. Investment subsidies, taxes and tax exemptions play an important role in the economy of such investments. Often power production is supported more than heat generation; this can make finding investors for heating plants a difficult task. Furthermore, securing biomass supply is very important for convincing decision makers to accept biomass installations in their promotion agendas. Inexperienced biomass suppliers and a bad quality of solid biomass fuels may leave an impres-

Successful promotion of bioenergy initiatives in Eastern EuropeJyrki Raitila | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

sion that biomass devices are not reliable. Knowing some of these challenges beforehand decisive promotion actions were planned for each target region. Potential biomass supply and demand stakeholders were contacted and inter-viewed for their intended and actual projects. A list of iden-tified supply and demand stakeholders with intentions to start bioenergy businesses or companies which already use bioenergy in their process was set up. Support was given through pre-feasibility studies, one-to-one meetings and trainings to potential pilot project partners.

Exciting results achievedDespite challenges and the difficult economic situation

in Europe PromoBio witnessed some exciting development in the target regions. All target regions made concrete bio-energy action plans and started implementing them already during the project. In total, 17 feasibility studies on estab-lishing a forest biomass based bioenergy supply chain were conducted and 12 contracts or letters of intent were signed between different business partners, agreeing to establish biomass heating installations. 27 pilot companies were involved in these actual projects. Almost 400 local stake-holders participated in country specific workshops to learn and to commit themselves to promote regional bioenergy initiatives. Another 75 were trained in Austria and Finland to be able work as regional bioenergy advisors. Training courses based on PromoBio’s training materials were ac-cepted into normal curricula of training organisations in the target countries. For example, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and Technical University in Zvolen are going to include the main outcomes of the project into their curricula.

During the project 32 MW of new biomass heating ca-pacity, worth 6 million euros, were agreed to be established

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projects

in the target regions. Some of these heating plants were actually built before the end of the project. Already 20 new jobs were created, and this number is expected to increase when all agreed investments will have taken place and new supply chains put in place. More than 70,000 tonnes of woody biomass, mainly forest chips and sawdust will be used annually in these new plants. This equals to 16,000 toe and will reduce CO2 emissions by 45,000 tons annually compared to old fossil fuel heating plants.

Project examples from the target regionsSC BERTIS SRL is a local medium sized enterprise in

Romania. Main activities of BERTIS SRL include food production and distribution. Their food business market covers seven counties from three regions, mainly in the Centru region. In July 2013 after several meetings, BER-TIS and ERPEK’s (biomass supplier) representatives con-tacted the Romanian partners of PromoBio in order to sign the letter of commitment to invest in a biomass boiler to replace the existing natural gas boiler for covering the heat demand of Bertis’s consumers.

This project consisted of installing a biomass boiler of 500 kW, and feeding and control systems. This boiler will use 2,300 m3 of wood chips, producing 2,000 MWh of energy annually. The investment costs calculated in the feasibility study are 78,000 euros and operating costs are 43,000 euros, resulting in the heat cost of 0.0213 euros/kWh compared to the present heat cost of about 0.039 euro/kWh. Taking into consideration the positive results of the cash flow analysis the company agreed to start this project. According to the contract the new biomass heating plant was in operation on November 2013. The first contract for supplying wood chips between BERTIS and ERPEK was signed in the same month.

Heating system in Hnúšťa was based on several inde-pendent networks. The heating was ensured by eight gas boiler houses.

As a consequence of complete dependence on natural gas, the economy of this system was very vulnerable to changes in the gas price. The only solution to eliminate the unfavourable impact of the increasing gas price was to di-versify the fuel base. Therefore 3.75 MW wood chips firing heating plant was built. Expanding the heating system by a biomass heating plant brought alternatives and stabilisa-tion to providing the town with heat. The use of biomass enhanced the security of supplies and stabilised the heat prices. The plant uses 9,000 tons of wood chips per year.

Fig. 1 - View of the Hnúša heating plant with a fuel storage and a boiler house (Picture: INTECH, Slovakia).

The project also included installation of household heat exchanger stations, which considerably increased the comfort of heat consumers. At the same time, production of hot household water was centralized, thus eliminating distribution losses and increasing the quality of hot water. Thanks to these investments, the new heating system in Hnúšťa is one of the most up-to-date and most effective systems in Slovakia. The new technology guarantees high efficiency of the entire system. The main advantage is sta-bility based on the use of three primary energy sources – biomass, solar radiation and natural gas. Within this scope, the municipal system in Hnúšťa is unique in the territory of Slovakia.

Lessons learntIt takes time to build understanding and trust, and then

to deliver results. Forest owners not already engaged in actively managing their woodlands take time to under-stand what might be needed to bring their woodlands back into management, and how they can supply fuel wood in a profitable way. Private forest owners have started the management of their forests after decades of socialist period, thus their knowledge on forest manage-ment towards economic profitability is low. Similarly, public or private bodies interested in using bioenergy

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need enough time and knowledge of biomass heating systems and business models before they can seriously consider investing in the system.

Momentum is vital. The PromoBio project shows a posi-tive effect on the use of bioenergy in the target regions, increasing both the number of started bioenergy business projects as well as policy measures supporting the use of biomass for energy. However, it is vital that consideration is given to developing a long-term approach. Without a longer term approach, short-term projects will not help build the momentum needed to develop sustainable supply chain models.

Seeing is believingSeeing best practice examples and hearing directly from

experts and entrepreneurs is one of the most effective ways to convince potential investors and decision makers to believe the decentralized bioenergy system can be a very feasible and economic alternative. This practical training with many site visits, covering all main principles of bio-mass heating technology, biomass supply, business models,

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contracts and daily operations, provides a good concise in-formation package that can be used in any part of Europe.

Energy markets are never stable but can be easily tipped to any direction with changes in fuel prices or incentives affecting energy generation. Policies, subsidies and incen-tives can significantly change after national elections or new EU directives. In Eastern European countries, there is a need for an overall strategy for bioenergy, which clari-fies the markets, target groups, and technologies that each country should focus on, setting clear targets, and coordi-nating individual actions, so that national and EU target values can be met.

Entrepreneurship should be encouragedRegional and local authorities responsible for public

services, such as heating, are seldom experts in building or operating heating systems. Therefore outsourcing such tasks to professionals is very reasonable. In advanced bio-energy countries municipalities and similar public bodies have been key players in establishment of biomass heat-ing enterprises that have taken the responsibility in heat-ing public buildings, such as hospitals, schools, offices and retirement homes.

This privatization and mixing of responsibilities in munic-ipal heating is part of the division of responsibilities between the state and private sector for the delivery of public goods and services. In decentralized heat supply heating can be outsourced to so called heat entrepreneurs or heat enterpris-es. Heat entrepreneur or enterprise is a single entrepreneur, a cooperative, a limited liability company or an entrepreneur consortium that supplies customer with heat. Investments in the heating plant can be made by the public partner or pri-vate entrepreneur, or investments can be shared.

Privatization of heating provides mutual benefitsFor heat entrepreneurs heat entrepreneurship provides

extra or even main income, use for fuel wood, benefits of improved forest management, more use for under-utilized harvesting equipment and increased employment.

For the municipality, heat entrepreneurship provides increased security of heat supply, savings on operational and investment costs of energy production when more expensive fossil fuels are replaced with renewable ones. Naturally increased use of local labor and creation of new business opportunities, support for existing employment, environmental benefits and induced economic impacts of local spending should be taken into account as well.

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Biomass sustainability is subject to debate at EU level. The Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) set up legally binding sustainability criteria for biofuels, now implemented within EU Member States and apply to biofuels either produced within the EU or imported from third countries. Regarding solid and gaseous biomass (heating, cooling, electricity sectors, the Commission took non legislative recommendations in 2010 (Com(2010)11) and committed to report at a later stage on whether mandatory EU criteria should also be established. The debate is going on at EU level on what is the best way to make sure that bioenergy developments take place in a sustainable framework and what are the main sustainability challenges that must be addressed. Member States projections presented in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), in the framework of the Renew-able Energy Directive In this context, one important question is how the indigenous biomass potential can be mobilised so as to fulfil this role and what are the main barriers and environmental parameters to be taken into account. Biomass mobilisation is therefore a key issue for further bioenergy developments.

The workshop (Brussels 14-05-2014) focused on: i) sustainabil-ity; ii) mobilisation of indigenous unexploited biomass resources through resource efficient value chains. Regarding sustainability, the aim was to present a coherent framework for bioenergy and ap-preciate the key principles for sustainable biomass in the wider bio-economy concept as well as discuss how the existing approaches affect biomass imports.

Key messages from the presentations and discussions• Coherent sustainability requirements for bioenergy and bio-

materials, biorefineries etc. are required.• The sustainability debate should be global and include ex-

ternal actors (imports and trade are increasing).• Sustainability criteria are essential for the development of

a robust bio based economy. Principles and criteria can be common but indicators must be adapted to local conditions.

• So far, sustainability initiatives tried to define key criteria: resource efficiency, GHG, biodiversity and land manage-ment, food, fuelwood and land tenure security, rural em-ployment and income.

• Nowadays, drivers have changed and energy security along-side social benefits should be put forward in the discussions.

• Stakeholders should play an active role and provide feed policy makers with scientific and field input to inform the debates at European and national level.

Workshop on “sustainability” and “mobilisation”Calliope Panoutsou | Imperial College of London

• Current policy mechanisms may need further revising and adaptation to cope with sustainability issues at different re-gional levels and implementation scales.

Regarding mobilization, the aim was to understand the challenges in terms of technical, economic and sustainability issues and define how future policy formation can facilitate the deployment of unexploited indigenous biomass resources through resource efficient value chains.

Key messages from the presentations and discussionsForest biomass

• A strategy adopted in 2013 is based on sustainable forest management, resource efficiency and global responsibility.

• A report on mobilization and sustainable forest management is expected by the end 2014 (working group with Member States and stakeholders).

• Forestry measures under Rural Development Policy (Com-mon Agricultural Policy) are co-financed by the EU and Member States and are optional (Member States to pick measures). The EC has to review and check if the measures are consistent (SWOT analysis) and if there is no distortion of competition. All the programmes are to be sent to Euro-pean Commission by September 2014.

Agricultural biomass• Supply and markets are characterized by variability of feed-

stock (storage capacities); fragmentation of the resources and lack of organized infrastructures to cope with large de-ployment scales.

• Policy challenge: iLUC, 2030 climate and energy package, no sustainability criteria for solid and gaseous biomass, etc.

• Coherent and consistent policy mechanisms are urgently re-quired to exploit the sustainable supply potentials.

Wastes• European Waste Directive requires further clarity. So far

its implementation varies significantly at the national level. Only a few Member States impose separate recollection of waste (despite financial and environmental benefits).

• Challenges for the EU regarding product status: an EU-wide definition of End-of waste criteria and harmonization of the EU market for fertilizers (product requirements and banned products).

• Setting the right framework to manage bio waste as a re-source: pre-treatment obligation, complete separate bio waste collection, EU-funding aligned to waste hierarchy.

Further information can be found at www.biomasspolicies.eu

sustainability

Be36

Upcoming bioenergy eventsJUNE

23-26/06/2014 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition Hamburg, Germany

23-26/06/2014 Professional Certificate in Strategic Sustainable Energy Planning London, UK

24-25/06/2014 International VDI Conference - Biofuels 2014 Rotterdam, Netherlands

JULY

2-3/07/2014 UK AD & BIOGAS Birmingham, UK

27-29/07/2014 2014 Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference Orlando, Florida, USA

AUGUST

05-06/08/2014 Myanmar Green Energy Summit 2014 Yango, Myanmar

18-19/08/2014 ICEBWEM 2014 : International Conference on Energy, Biomass, Waste and Environmental Management

Istanbul, Turkey

SEPTEMBER

17-18/09/2014 World Bio Markets Brazil São Paulo, Brazil

23-25/09/2014 Biomass Pellets Trade and Power Seoul, South Korea

OCTOBER

13-14/10/2014 National Advanced Biofuels Conference and Expo Minneapolis, USA

18-19/10/2014 ICEBWEM 2014 : International Conference on Energy, Biomass, Waste and Environmental Management

Dubai, UAE

Besustainable

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Besustainable

www.besustainablemagazine.com

Your source of news information and resources on biomass bioenergy and the bioeconomy

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Besustainable

www.besustainablemagazine.com

Your source of news information and resources on biomass bioenergy and the bioeconomy

Share your story with us!

General feedback, press release, company news or editorial [email protected]

Advertising [email protected]

Besustainable

www.besustainablemagazine.com

Your source of news information and resources on biomass bioenergy and the bioeconomy

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Strategic consultancy, engineering and communication.

Our assets, your success.

Expertise Knowledge base Network

Over 200 international projects completed since 1994, with a multidisciplinary expert’s team providing consulting and engineering services to public and private organizations worldwide.

As organizers of the annual European Biomass Conference & Exhibition we have a constant outlook on the latest global trends in market, techno-logies, research and policies.

Our global network of contacts with the world’s leading technology providers, industries, research organizations and institutions is a unique resource to develop solutions tailored to our customer’s needs.

Our activities in bioenergyProject managementBusiness plans, due-diligence of biomass and biofuel projects, licensing and permits.

Strategic consultancyBiomass resource assessments and logistics, feasibility studies, market and policy analysis, sustainability assessment.

Business developmentWe help you identify the best partners for their projects, from technology providers and research

Communication and trainingKnowledge transfer among research, industry, policy-makers through event organization, training and capacity-building activities, publications.

www.etaflorence.itContact: [email protected]

etafl orence�renewableenergies

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EnAlgae is a four-year Strategic Initiative of the INTERREG IVB North West Europe programme. It brings together 19 partners and 14 observers across 7 EU Member States with the aim of developing sustainable technologies for algal biomass production.

ENALGAE NETWORK

OF MICRO AND MACROALGAE

PILOT SCALE CULTIVATION SITES

EU MEMBER STATES

PARTNERS

UNITED KINGDOM IRELAND GERMANY FRANCE NETHERLANDS BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG

Algae are a large group of simple aquatic organisms that have long been grown and harvested for many different uses. They can be found in a variety of food and beauty products on the supermarket shelves, but more recently there has been considerable interest in their bioenergy potential.

As fossil, non-renewable resources continue to decline around the globe, it is vital that new sources of energy are identifi ed and developed.

The EnAlgae project has received funding under the INTERREG IVB NWE programme to establish a network of algal pilot plants across North West Europe. Information from these facilities is being used to consider technology requirements, economics and environmental aspects of growing algal biomass and converting it to bioenergy in the region. The project is informing decision makers and aims to infl uence policy and planning to advance this emerging industry. Open days at the pilots provide an opportunity for interested parties to fi nd out more about this exciting new fi eld.

For further information see www.enalgae.eu or contact [email protected]