biogas

EU and industry leaders have today launched a new European Joint Undertaking on Bio-based Industries (BBI). The aim is to trigger investments and create a competitive market for bio-based products and materials sourced locally and “Made in Europe”, tackling some of Europe’s biggest societal challenges.

€3.7 billion will be injected into the European economy between 2014 and 2024 – €975 million from the European Commission and €2.7 billion from the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) – to develop an emerging bioeconomy sector. Through financing of research and innovation projects, the BBI will create new and novel partnerships across sectors, such as agriculture, agro-food, technology providers, forestry/pulp and paper, chemicals and energy.

The aim of the BBI is to use Europe’s untapped biomass and wastes as feedstock to make fossil-free and greener everyday products. At the heart of it are advanced biorefineries and innovative technologies that will convert renewable resources into sustainable bio-based chemicals, materials and fuels.

Organised in five value chains – that range from primary production to consumer markets – the BBI will help fill the innovation gap between technology development and commercialisation, sustainably realising the potential of bio-based industries in Europe.

Bio-Based Industry increases sustainable economic growth

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “The bioeconomy has huge potential that is attracting investments all around the world. With this new partnership, we want to harness innovative technologies to convert Europe’s untapped renewable resources and waste into greener everyday products such as food, feed, chemicals, materials and fuels, all sourced and made in Europe.”

Peder Holk Nielsen, CEO of Novozymes, added on behalf of industry partner, the Bio-based Industries Consortium: “The BBI is an unprecedented public-private commitment because of its focus on bringing bio-based solutions to the market. It is an opportunity to deliver sustainable growth in European regions and to reverse the investment trend currently going to other regions of the world.”

The BBI is a shift from a fossil- and imports-based society to increase Europe’s share of sustainable economic growth, and is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs (80% in rural areas), revitalise industries, diversify farmers’ incomes, and reduce GHG emissions by at least 50% in comparison to fossil-based applications.

The BBI will manage the investments in the form of research and innovation projects that are defined in annual Calls for Proposals and implemented across European regions. In line with Horizon 2020 rules, all stakeholders are invited to submit innovative proposals and demonstrate progress beyond state-of-the-art.

Source: Bio-Based Industries

What we do for biobased industries

Between biogas, wind and solar, Anheuser-Busch generates about half of its electricity from renewable energy to make beer at its Fairfield, California plant.

The company is the largest in the US to use nutrients in its wastewater to make biogas, a process called bio-energy recovery systems (BERS).

They also recover the steam that heats boilers in the brew house to produce energy, in addition to retrofitting with more efficient boiler burners, air compressors and lighting systems.

They get another 4% of electricity from 6,500 solar panels that cover 6.5 acres. (more…)

Construction work has begun on a biogas plant in Bure, Switzerland that will provide heat for the local training barracks of the Swiss Army. The plant will use agricultural waste.

The plant is located in the French speaking Swiss Canton of Jura, which the company said boasts fertile soil and a lot of agriculture, and will be used to treat manure from the surrounding agricultural establishments and agro-industrial waste from the region, including liquid manure, dung, green waste, and grain waste.

The Bio Etique Energie facility will produce 370 kW of electrical output, while its entire heat surplus of 2.6 GWh will be used to heat the nearby barracks, which hosts up to 1400 trainees. (more…)

The doors have opened on a new biodigester in Wiltshire, UK following 12 months of construction and trails.

The anaerobic digester plant is, after trialling feedstocks for around four weeks, now fully operational and located at Bore Hill Farm.

‘We have now moved into the main building and the technology providers have completed all their pre-start testing work,’ says director Thomas Minter. ‘The end of the construction phase is a major milestone and having an operational plant to show after a year’s hard work by many local contractors is very rewarding.’ (more…)