Star-COLIBRI project: biorefinery clustering
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Background analysis
Report on the current situation for biorefineries: sustainability, policy, biomass availability, industry initiatives
The report will review current knowledge and publications. Previous CSA projects (Biopol, Biorefinery Euroview, BEE and Sustoil) constitute primary sources of information and additional information will be collected through the networks of the European Technology Platforms as well as the other Star-COLIBRI beneficiaries. The report will focus on the following aspects:
- Sustainability
Results and examples of previous initiatives and national projects in the area of Life Cycle Assessment methodology that are relevant to assess and improve the sustainability of biorefineries throughout their value chain will be collected.
- Policy
Existing key legal frameworks (national, EU, regional and global) relevant to the research, development, trade and sustainability of the bio-refineries industry and its products will be screened and listed.
- Biomass availability
Data regarding the available European biomass resources in terms of quantity, interesting chemical components and uses will be collected. Additional information about new potential crops from other parts of the world will be put together.
- Industry initiatives
A list of products and side-streams commonly produced today will be produced. Additionally, suggestion made by the finished previous projects and CSAs concerning interesting products and side-streams that might not be produced today, but could address future niche markets, contribute to competitiveness or be produced by biomass components that today are discarded will be summarised.
Due date: March 2010
Task leader: University of York
Analysis of different LCA methodologies and impact assessments
The production of a wide variety of petrol based products is usually cheaper in comparison to products that are generated via a biorefinery process and are based on renewable resources. A sustainability impact assessment via LCA will analyse the economic and environmental performance of these two groups of products. In addition, their social impacts will be an integral part of this analysis.
The analysis of both product groups (petrol-based vs bio-based) will be carried out along the whole process chain including all necessary energy sources, products resources and the logistics. Functional units of the processes and the boundaries of the LCA methodologies that will be applied are essential for a thorough research.
The sustainable impact assessment of biorefinery will be carried out via a survey and analysis of different existing LCA methodologies. An evaluation of those will identify the best applicable LCA methodology for analysing the economic, environmental and societal impacts of biorefineries.
Due date: February 2011
Organisation responsible for this task: DBFZ
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Star-COLIBRI project: 2 years of succesful collaborations come to an end
01-11-2011
The Star-COLIBRI project succesfully ended on 31 October 2011 after 2 ...
