{"id":24821,"date":"2015-03-10T03:12:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T02:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=24821"},"modified":"2015-03-09T14:28:57","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T13:28:57","slug":"the-war-for-biomass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/the-war-for-biomass\/","title":{"rendered":"The war for biomass"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the wars for coal and oil, in the not too distant future, wars for biomasses are also to be expected. Such provocation \u2013 but is it really so? \u2013 was expressed last November in D\u00fcsseldorf by Heiner Grussenmeyer, director for R&D at Stora Enso \u2013 the Finnish\/Swedish world giant pulp and paper manufacturer \u2013 speaking at Cluster Clib2021 International Conference.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oil prices volatility and limited fossil resources are pushing the chemical industry\u2019s giants \u2013 but not exclusively \u2013 towards the use of alternative raw materials: food crops, agricultural waste and refuse. The key word is sustainability: not only economical but also environmental. Biomass is a renewable, albeit scarce resource, unevenly distributed in our planet. However, when it comes to food crops, its use for the industry clashes with the ever-increasing world food demand. This is why the European Union has virtually stopped the development of the so-called first-generation biofuels, those derived from the use of agriculture raw materials such as wheat and corn.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, are agricultural waste and refuse able to feed the whole bioeconomy? The global situation we are faced with at the moment is very complicated: on the one hand, the demand for biomass is on the rise not just for bioenergies but for the so-called biomaterials and biochemicals, on the other, there are countries offering great amounts of biomass to the bioeconomy\u2019s world market such as Malaysia, Canada, Brazil, as well as countries of Northern Europe and Russia boasting huge forest resources. It\u2019s no coincidence that Biochemtex, a company of the MossiGhisolfi Group, after the inauguration of the biorefinery for the production of second generation bioethanol in Crescentino (Vercelli, Italy), is planning to repeat the Italian plant in Brazil, China and Malaysia. The government in Kuala Lumpur has included biomass at the very core of its economic development plan for the next few years. In 2011, a National Biomass Strategy 2020 was presented, with a focus on palm oil, already contributing to 8% of GDP: almost 25.5 billion dollars (Malaysia is the world\u2019s second largest producer and exporter of palm oil). The objective is to raise the bioeconomy\u2019s contribution to GDP from the current 2-3% to 8-10% by 2020.<\/p>\n

\"02P_12ENG\"<\/p>\n

Michael Carus, CEO of nova-Institut \u2013 a private research centre based in H\u00fcrth, near Cologne, Germany \u2013 has analysed this subject in quite some depth. Nova-Institut is regarded as a very prestigious institution and represents a benchmark in Europe and the United States, often quoting its research data in their support scheme to the bioeconomy \u201cBiopreferred\u201d.<\/p>\n

But what is the correct definition of biomass? Experts define it as the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and biological residue from agriculture (including plant and animal substances), from silviculture and deriving industries, including fishing and aquaculture as well as the biodegradable share of industrial and urban waste.<\/p>\n

According to Carus, nowadays the real problem is not so much its scarce availability but rather its \u201cimproper allocation\u201d. Mostly in Europe. Overall, the bioenergy and biofuels should represent approximately 60% of the whole of renewable energies envisaged by the European Directive (RED, Renewable Energy Directive) and about 90% of the transport share by 2020. If those percentages were reduced to 40, 50 and 80 respectively, a significant amount of pressure would be lifted from biomass.<\/p>\n

\"02P_11\"
Michael Carus, managing director of the nova-Institut, at EFIB 2012, Dusseldorf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Such regulation would be more useful compared to limiting the share of first generation fuels; indeed they can prove more efficient with regard to the employment of local resources as opposed to those of second generation. The missing percentage \u2013 as the German researcher suggests \u2013 could be obtained by a higher share of solar and wind power as well as other renewables. As to other biofuel percentages in the transport sector, it should be borne in mind that alternative means such as electric and carbon-dioxide powered cars are not yet sufficiently available on the market.<\/p>\n

They must nevertheless be adequately promoted in order to limit the use of biomass.<\/p>\n

Carus is one of the very few in Europe who strongly believes that the contrast between first and second generation biofuels is useless. In one of his studies \u2013 \u201cFood or non-food: which agricultural feedstocks are best for industrial uses?\u201d \u2013 the German physicist explicitly writes that \u201call types of biomass should be accepted for industrial use\u201d.<\/p>\n

The choice should depend on how sustainable and efficient can the process to obtain biomass be. Political actions should not only distinguish between food and non-food crops, but they should rather employ criteria such as the availability of land, resources and land efficiency, optimization of by-products and emergency food reserves. There is an abundance of studies demonstrating how many food crops are more efficient in the use of the local resources compared to non-food crops. This also means that less land for the production of a certain amount of fermentable sugar \u2013 crucial for biotechnological processes \u2013 is needed compared to the amount required to produce the same amount of sugar with the allegedly \u201cnon problematic\u201d lignocellulosic second generation non-food crops.<\/p>\n

Carus explicitly criticizes the EU\u2019s bioenergy and biofuels policy, as provided for by the ambitious objectives set by RED, because it entails systemic allocation of biomass for energy production to the detriment of materials. RED (in the future it will be linked to FQD \u2013 Fuel Quality Directive [Directive 98\/70\/EC] \u2013 in the transport sector) has triggered the development of national action plans and support systems for bioenergy and biofuels. And in turn this has caused both biomass prices and agricultural land lease to rise, making it more difficult for other sectors to get hold of biomass.<\/p>\n

There is improper allocation of biomass since this is blocking the development of \u201chigh value\u201d materials such as chemical products and plastics. Therefore the development linked to RED will have a deep impact on the availability of biomass for the materials industry. An unfavourable regulatory framework combined with high prices and unsteady supply of biomass discourage investments in the chemical sector and in biobased plastics \u2013 even if they could generate a higher value and better resource efficiency.<\/p>\n

Taking all this into consideration, Carus asks for a reform of RED into REDM, where \u201cM\u201d stands for materials. And he demands \u2013 followed more and more by the main actors of the European bioeconomy \u2013 a level playing field, that is equal opportunities for all sectors. Even OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) \u2013 as the nova-Institut highlighted in its latest report devoted to this issue and published last October \u2013 has emphasised how \u201cgenerally biofuels enjoy much greater public support than biobased plastic and chemical products. This could jeopardize the development of the bioeconomy, making it unsteady and it could hamper the use of biomass for bioplastics and biobased chemical products. It could also limit the development and the operation of integrated biorefineries\u201d.<\/p>\n

A new political framework for a more efficient and sustainable use of biomass is desperately needed. More specifically, it means equal opportunities for energy and materials industries. Until 5 or 6 years ago this was a worldwide problem, but nowadays it is manly a European issue. In America and Asia, the regulatory framework is much more favourable to biobased chemical products and plastics than in Europe.<\/p>\n

Consequently, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and China are attracting most of the new investments.<\/p>\n

For Europe, still grappling with the worst postwar economic crisis, this is not encouraging.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As far as biofuels are concerned, the EU is still stalemating<\/h3>\n

First or second generation biofuels? After many years of animated discussion on this topic, last June EU energy ministers agreed on reducing the use of first generation biofuels for transport to 7% by 2020 and encouraging the transition towards second and third generation biofuels (which should represent at least 0.5% of the 10% goal).<\/p>\n

But the issue is far from solved: now an agreement must be found between the Parliament and the Council to reach a common position on the legislation. In September 2013, the EU Parliament set the upper limit of first generation biofuels from food crops to 6% in contrast with 5% previously suggested by the EU Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the wars for coal and oil, in the not too distant future, wars for biomasses are also to be expected. Such provocation \u2013 but is it really so? \u2013 was expressed last November in D\u00fcsseldorf by Heiner Grussenmeyer, director for R&D at Stora Enso \u2013 the Finnish\/Swedish world giant pulp and paper manufacturer \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[7006,3628,2317,4514,5585,9407,4,295,551],"class_list":["post-24821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-biochemtex","supplier-clib2021","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-parliament","supplier-european-union","supplier-mossi-ghisolfi-group","supplier-nova-institut-gmbh","supplier-organisation-for-economic-co-operation-and-development-oecd","supplier-stora-enso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24821"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=24821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}