The 4th SMIBIO workshop on small-scale biorefineries took place on 4 July 2018. Results and information about biorefinery concepts that were gained during the project were presented in Straubing, Germany, in the Schulungs- und Ausstellungszentrum (SAZ) of the Bavarian Research Centre.
Workshop participants together with the SMIBIO consortium
The SMIBIO workshop participants were welcomed in the morning by Volker Sieber, who is Principal and Professor at TUM Campus Straubing and also member of the Bavarian expert council of bioeconomy and introduced the KoNaRo and activities in Straubing. Further welcome words were given by Rainer Janssen, Managing Director Projects at WIP Renewable Energies, who thanked especially Volker Sieber and Klaus Thuneke (TFZ) for the very good cooperation regarding the organization of the event in Straubing, and Francisco Gírio, Senior Researcher, Head of Bioenergy Unit of LNEG (National Laboratory of Energy and Geology) in Portugal and also Vice-chair of working group 2 of ETIP-Bioenergy Francisco Gírio is also coordinator of the SMIBIO project and thus gave a brief introduction about the SMIBIO project.
Morning Session
Francisco Gírio: Biorefineries in Europe – status quo and future perspectives
Jorge Hilbert: Biorefineries in Argentina – status quo and future perspectives
Carlos Cardona: Potential of small-scale biorefineries in tropical countries
Alfredo Martinez: Fuel ethanol production from corn stover with ethanologenic bacteria
Dominik Rutz: Anaerobic digestion in biorefineries
Afternoon Session
Volker Sieber: Farmstead-Biorefinery – challenges and potential for local biobased chemical production
Panel 1: Opportunities and challenges for Small-scale Biorefineries in Latin America and Europe
Moderation:
Rainer Janssen, WIP Renewable Energies, Germany
Francisco Gírio, LNEG, Portugal
Panelists:
Carlos Cardona, UNC, Colombia
Jorge Hilbert, INTA, Argentina
Volker Sieber, TUM, Germany
Dominik Rutz, WIP Renewable Energies, Germany
The panelists were introduced and asked about their point of views on opportunities and challenges for small-scale biorefineries in Latin America and Europe.
Tiago Lopes: Small-scale biorefineries for bio-based products and biofuels production in Portugal
Ingo Ball: Green biorefineries in Europe
Ana Susmozas: Small-scale biorefinery based on olive tree pruning biomass
Panel 2: Discussion on the future of the biofuels markets in Latin America and Europe
Moderation:
Carlos Cardona, UNC, Colombia
Rainer Janssen, WIP Renewable Energies, Germany
Panelists:
Klaus Thuneke, TFZ, Germany
Jorge Hilbert, INTA, Argentina
Alfredo Martínez, UNAM, Mexico
Francisco Gírio, LNEG, Portugal
The panelists were welcomed on stage and briefly introduced if that wasn’t done before. The panel discussed the future of the biofuels markets in Latin America and Europe.
Workshop conclusions
The conclusions of the workshop were made by Rainer Janssen and Francisco Gírio. Rainer Janssen stated that many different issues play a role for a better development of the bioenergy sector. More research is needed for small-scale solutions and for downscaling high-value products. Only few products that were presented in the value pyramid are available on the market now. A combination of few high-value products with high amounts of cheaper bulk products seems promising. The local approach should see a revival as it could be observed that the bad perception towards biofuels resulted from the shift from local to international (feedstock). Francisco Gírio finished the conclusions, stating that the main goal must be the decarbonization of the economy. Whenever it is possible, the rural people (i.e. farmers and workers) should benefit from the new biorefinery concepts.
Finishing, Francisco Gírio thanked all participants and closed the workshop.
KoNaRo – Visit of Centre of Excellence for Renewable Resources
After the workshop, the international project partners were given a tour over the facilities of the Centre of Excellence for Renewable Resources. First they were led through the laboratories of TUM in Straubing ( http://www.cs.tum.de/de/ ), and then, guided by Klaus Thuneke the testing and trial facilities of TFZ ( http://www.tfz.bayern.de/en/index.php ) were visited.
Information about KoNaRo Centre of Excellence for Renewable Resources: http://www.konaro.de/files/Brosch%C3%BCre/Konaro_english_web.pdf
Klaus Thuneke (TFZ, third from left) showed the trial and testing facilities of TFZ to the SMIBIO consortium