Rainer Janssen: Biorefineries in Europe – Status quo and future perspectives
Rainer Janssen, Head of the bioenergy department of WIP Renewable Energies from Germany, in his presentation gave an overview about the situation of biorefineries in Europe.
Mr Janssen showed how biorefineries are classified according to the IEA Bioenergy Task 42. Biorefinery systems can be classified following four main features: Platforms (e.g. C5/C6 sugars, syngas, biogas), Product groups (energy: e.g. bioethanol or-diesel; product: e.g. chemicals, materials, food and feed), Feedstock groups (e.g. energy crops, biomass residues from agriculture) and Conversion processes (e.g. biochemical, thermo-chemical, chemical, mechanical).
After this Mr Janssen presented an overview of already existing commercial biorefineries. Biofuel driven biorefineries (producing bioethanol, biodiesel and HVO) are found all over Europe while product driven biorefineries (producing pulp, lignin, starch, glucose, feed etc.) are mostly operated in the north of Europe. In general biorefineries should be designed in a flexible way and aim for the integral use of feedstock. Sustainability must be achieved and demonstrated (for the whole supply chain) for the biorefinery. Important aspects identified were biodegradability, GHG emissions, biodiversity and soil quality. The environmental footprint shall be internalised in every product. In Europe, rather than subsidies, there is the need for a stable (timeline 10-25 years) and coherent policy framework. Loan guarantees should be considered for development and retrofitting of commercial-scale biorefinery facilities (cf. USDA Biorefinery Assistance Programme). Actually in the EU policies exist at various levels (cf. biorefinery roadmaps developed in Scotland and Germany). Supporting market up-take for bio-based products is seen as the key priority. Imaginable tools are production mandates (difficult for bio-chemicals) and green public procurement.
Opportunities identified by Mr Janssen include promising technologies and products, ensuring that high quality parts of biomass are used for high quality products (“the best goes to the best”, biomass use in applications where it is only sustainable solution) as well as to increase the profitability of biorefinery business models. Challenges faced are hurdles from specific pieces of legislation and possible local resistance. For European small-scale biorefineries the biggest challenge seems to be the cooperation of local actors (networks, clusters) while the opportunities lie in additional income and employment in local agricultural sectors as well as in reduced capital costs and costs for energy and transportation.
Furthermore Mr Janssen presented some examples of small-scale biorefineries as well as the future market perspectives for advanced biofuels.
Mr Janssen concluded that already a multitude of commercial, demonstration and pilot biorefinery concepts exist in Europe and globally, that biorefining (co-production of food/feed, bio-based products and bioenergy) can maximise value for sustainable biomass use and that small-scale biorefineries may create additional income and employment in local agricultural sectors. However development and demonstration of (new/innovative) technologies is still needed to further increase efficiency and reduce costs and furthermore stable policy and regulatory frameworks are needed (level playing field). The key priority is however to support the market up-take for bio-based products.