Prospects of Utilising Biomass in Europe

by Aino Siirala* (Advanced Biofuels USA)The 22nd European Biomass Conference & Exhibition took place in Hamburg, Germany in June 2014. The conference gathered 1085 attendees from 66 different countries: researchers, policy makers, industry and business people to communicate and learn the latest news and achievements in the biomass sector. This year, for the first time, the biomass industry was given an opportunity to present their achievements with an impressive 52 presentations.
The most highly covered topics, among others, were energy flexibility, shifting policy ground and sustainable use of biomass.
When integrating renewable energy into the existing energy system, questions about insuring energy flexibility and storing renewable energy arise. Wind and solar energy create energy peaks which do not respond to the demand peaks. Bioenergy is often seen as constant energy supply. Can we use renewables to make a perfect energy mix to respond to the energy demand?
Flexibility can be achieved in bioenergy plants, claims Jan Grundmann from Vattenfall Europe New Energy. The studies made in three different solid biomass fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plants showed that by changing the fuel input or controlling the plant load, defined load change within 15 minutes can be achieved. According to Grundmann, already 10% of Germany’s CHP units participate in balancing power markets; however, all the existing units are not able to meet the preconditions of balancing markets.
A solution for storing the energy peaks from solar and wind energy was introduced by Andreas Hornung from Fraunhofer-Institut UMSICHT, Germany. They have developed a Biobattery concept whose idea is to produce biofuels from surplus energy and waste. The surplus energy from solar and wind peaks is stored as heat. The heat would then be utilised in the process of converting available waste into various biofuels. The thermal catalytic reforming, a technology produced by Franhofer-Institute UMSICHT, would be one of the technologies to produce biofuels such as oil, gas and bio-coke.
In June 2014 the EU Energy Council agreed on a directive concerning biofuels and Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC). The transition in the energy sector towards more advanced biofuels will be obtained, for instance, with incentives and by providing a clearer future for investors. Many of the conference speakers seemed to be glad that the Council had finally agreed on the directive. However, many also showed their frustration over the ILUC debate. One of the incentives, double counting of waste and lignocellulosic biofuels seems to be an efficient driver for increasing the production of sustainable advanced biofuels.
Jacopo Giuntoli, from the European Comission Institute for Energy and Transport, recommended a precautionary approach in biofuel production. He reminded the audience that the word "residue" does not automatically refer to sustainability, as greenhouse gas reductions can in some cases increase at the cost of other impacts. That might happen when, for example, straw would normally be fed to animals but is instead utilised as feedstock for biofuels. Giuntoli stated that mitigation measures and technologies can often be found, we just need to be aware of the impacts of biofuel production.
In the industry sessions, many interesting demonstration projects as well as already commercialized concepts were introduced.
Clariant presented its Sunliquid technology for separating cellulose from agricultural residues and converting it into ethanol. The remaining lignin is burned in order to produce energy for the process. They have a demonstration plant and are now in a commercialization phase, hoping to be the first company able to produce cellulosic ethanol profitably.
An especially interesting concept was the Viessmann Bio Energy Village Concept. A Bio Energy Village meets its criteria when 100% of its elecricity is from renewable sources and at least 50% of the heat demand is provided by a bioenergy plant using biomass from the village. More than half of the bioenergy plant must be owned by the villagers consuming the heat and farmers providing the biomass. Viessmann provides the local heating network including designing and constructing the heating system and the distributing network. According to Thomas Krause, CEO of Viessmann, there are already around 100 Bio Energy Villages in Germany.
During the closing session, Anselm Eisentraut, Renewable Energy Division International Agency, France, provided the audience with an overview of biomass now and in the future. He maintained that 10% of our current total primary energy supply comes from bioenergy. According to Eisentraut, targets for renewable energy in Europe act as a main driver for bioenergy. However, shifting policy grounds slow down the growth of biofuel production. He agreed with many others: we need to focus on making an integrated energy system by innovations such as smart appliances and storage systems if we wish to increase renewable energies. Eisentraut pointed out that the next step in Europe should be to carry out projects and demonstrations into commercial scale. We should also concentrate on transportation biofuels as the energy demand is growing rapidly in this field.
In the 22nd European Biomass Conference & Exhibition one could see that the technology in the biomass field is quite advanced. David Baxter, European Comission JRC, was impressed with the progress of technology during the last 10 years. He remembers 10 years ago technology was still a great barrier in the biomass sector. During these four days we learned of many commercial size demonstration plants using various advanced technologies.

*Aino Siirala studies civil and environmental engineering at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. She volunteers as a reporter and writer for Advanced Biofuels USA to gain experience combining science and writing for a potential journalism career.