Sustainable Biorefineries: An Important Research Topic
In recent years, substantial steps into the transition towards a biobased economy have been taken in order to reduce the reliance on imported oil and the emission of greenhouse gases.
As far as Europe is concerned, Sweden, home to theEUBCE 2017 in Stockholm, has been very successful in decoupling GHG emissions from economic growth: from 2000 to 2012, total GHG emissions decreased by 16% while overall GDP grew by about 30% (Figure 1). As a result, Sweden more than achieved its commitments to reduce GHG emissions, both that made under the Kyoto Protocol and its more stringent national target1.
An important research topic as a substantial part of a sustainable economy are biorefineries.
Biorefinery refers to the facilities, which converts biomass into fuels, power, heat, chemicals and materials, food, and several other useful products. A biorefinery utilises different kinds of biomass, such as agricultural crops, wood, forest residues, algae, sea weeds, and organic residues.
Several types of energy crops, such as woody and herbaceous plants are required to be grown for input in biorefinery. These crops are developed using fertilisers, chemicals for crop protection, and others.
This creates abundant growth opportunities for the market players in chemical industries. Moreover, biomass production also offers abundant opportunities of revenue generation for farmers and companies involved in biomass plantation. Different processes and techniques, such as pyrolysis, gasification, fermentation, esterification, acid hydrolysis and fractionation are used for the conversion of biomass into useful products including energy, chemicals, and materials.
As PR Newswire reports, the global biorefinery market was valued at $ 432.4 billion in 2014, and it is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0% during 2015 - 2020. North America accounted for the largest share in the global biorefinery market with $ 311.3 billion in 2014. The European Union have set target as per Renewable Energy Directive (RED), to fulfil at least 20% of its total energy needs with renewables by 2020. Similarly, the U.S. renewable fuel standard program was created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand the U.S. renewable fuels sector, thus.
In addition, the implementation of stringent environmental regulations across the globe is propelling the demand for efficient renewable energy sources. Several international organizations are framing strict guidelines and standards, in order to reduce the greenhouse gases emission, thus fuelling the growth of the global biorefinery market. However, the requirement of high initial capital investment and uncertain global economic conditions are expected to hinder the growth of the market to some extent.
What about in Sweden?
IEA Bioenergy Task 42 confirms that “Wood as a renewable and sustainable resource offers great opportunities for a comprehensive product portfolio to satisfy the different needs in a future BioEconomy. Worldwide many different wood based biorefining concepts are investigated and realised, of which the development status and the perspectives for implementation are quite different”.
Sweden, a country with more forest than most other countries – 53 per cent of land cover, compared with the global average of 30 per cent, and about 90 per cent of bioenergy coming from the forestry sector - is trying to lead the way to a more sustainable planet through innovative sustainable solutions. Expenditure on R&D (research and development) represented 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2013, the fourth highest percentage in the OECD.
According to the OECD Environmental Performance Review 2014, Sweden is one of the most innovative countries when it comes to environment-related technology. Investments in environmental R&D have made Sweden an innovation leader for several clean energy technologies, including biofuels, smart grids and carbon capture and storage.
As a result of these investments, Sweden has developed a competitive advantage in technologies related to sustainability. In 2014, Sweden ranked fourth in the Global Cleantech Innovation Index and this trend, especially as regards to research on biofuels and chemicals. is also confirmed by many contributions that will be presented at EUBCE 2017.
1OECD (2014), OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Sweden 2014, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264213715-en
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