IEA Bioenergy News September 2015

Sep 2015
NewsletterPublications



September 2015

ExCo

Last Chance to Register for IEA Bioenergy Conference 2015
Register now – there is only one week left to register for the IEA Bioenergy Conference 2015 – Germany, Berlin, 27 – 29 October 2015.

“Realising the world’s sustainable bioenergy potential” will be the overarching theme during the three days, covering ten topics with more than 40 expert presentations and four technical excursions. From 27 to 29 October 2015 renowned international experts will present the state of the art and talk about current innovations in the bioenergy sector.
Different sessions cover a wide thematic range: Potential and mobilization of biomass, conversion technologies, large scale industrial applications, a view from the aviation sector as well as LCA and GHG calculations. Industrial developments and applications will be at the centre of the event. For further information please follow this link:

https://ieabioenergy2015.org/

Tasks 40 & 43

Joint Workshop on “Examples of Positive Bioenergy and Water Relationships”

Stockholm, Sweden, August 25-26, 2015

The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) brings together public, private and civil society stakeholders in a joint commitment to promote bioenergy for sustainable development. GBEP Activity Group 6 (“Bioenergy and Water”) aims to identify and disseminate ways of integrating bioenergy systems into agricultural and forested landscapes for improving sustainable management of water resources, including waste water. This includes sharing knowledge and experiences on landscape identification and design, best management practices as well as on policies and instruments supporting bioenergy implementation that contributes positively to the state of water. With the support of the IEA as a GBEP partner, IEA Bioenergy Task 43, assisted by Task 40, is co-chairing the Activity Group and contributing to the work defined in the workplan.

In this framework, GBEP Activity Group 6 launched the Call for Examples of Positive Bioenergy and Water Relationships. This initiative aims to showcase innovative examples of how bioenergy systems (in both the feedstock production and conversion phases) can produce positive impacts on the status of water and to serve as a way to inspire and build on this knowledge and experience with other bioenergy producers.

The submissions received in response to the Call for Examples were reviewed by the Activity Group and the most relevant among them were selected to be presented at this workshop organized by GBEP and IEA Bioenergy, in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) and Chalmers Energy Area of Advance, in Stockholm (Sweden).

A report that documents all submissions received in response to the call will be published later this autumn/winter

Task 39

Advanced biofuels developments and biojet fuels in particular remain high on the Task 39 agenda with good industry involvement. The upcoming IEA Bioenergy conference in Berlin will feature a Task 39 sponsored session entitled, Progress in the development and use of advanced liquid biofuels. The speakers in this sessions include, Michael Lakeman (Boeing, USA), Sari Mannonen, (UPM Biofuels, Finland), Simone Ferrero, (Biochemtex, Italy) and Maarten van Dijk (SkyNRG, Netherlands) who will give an international perspective of the advanced biofuels area, highlighting biojet in particular. As described in the recent Task 39 report on “The potential and challenges for producing drop-in biofuels”, biojet fuels have to be liquid bio-hydrocarbons that are functionally equivalent to petroleum fuels and are fully compatible with existing petroleum infrastructure.  Various technology pathways are at the pre-commercialisation stage of development with airlines such as United investing $30 million into Fulcrum Bioenergy as well as agreeing to purchase 15 million gallons of sustainable biojet fuel from AltAir Fuels. Similarly, Red Rock Biofuels’ has announced its intention to supply Fedex with approximately 3 million gallons of renewable biojet fuel per year. As well as our ongoing work on drop-in (aviation and maritime) biofuels, Task 39 has been comparing the strengths/weaknesses of the various life cycle assessment (LCA) models used to assess the benefits of various biofuels. As the main driver for using biojet fuel is their GHG emissions reduction potential, this project is very complementary to the ongoing drop-in/biojet work that will continue in the coming triennium.

Click here for more

Task 37

Task 37 has recently published a report that reviews approaches for processing of biogas plant digestate for the purpose of nutrient recovery and recycling, which are  key steps in optimising resource efficiency in sustainable agricultural. Along with biogas for energy generation or use as a vehicle fuel, biogas plants provide digestate which is an excellent plant biofertiliser, rich in both organic matter and in macro- and micronutrients and an effective replacement for mineral fertiliser produced using fossil fuels. Techniques for nutrient recovery from digestate are developing rapidly and aim to improve nutrient management in agriculture and in waste treatment systems. The report focuses on digestate from biogas plants processing animal manures and slurries, crop residues, organic wastes and residues from agri-food processing industries. The report covers both established and emerging technologies and assesses technical performance and, where possible, economics. The report can be downloaded from the Task 37 website.

Click here

Task 34

Task 34 is finishing up the work on the Round Robin for validation of production of quality bio-oil.  Bio-oil samples were received for analysis from 16 laboratories in 6 of the Task’s participating countries.  Analyses have been done at the Thünen Institute for Wood Technology in Hamburg and are nearly completed.  Data analysis is underway.  A draft publication describing the results is in preparation.  A poster describing the results will be presented at the tcbiomass2015 conference in Chicago, November 2-5, 2015.

Click here