Renewable Energy: Biomass and Waste Technology

Circular Bioeconomy

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the differences between circular and linear economies.
• Grasp the principles of circular bioeconomy.
• Link circular bioeconomy concepts to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
• Learn about examples where a circular economy model can be applied.

Key Definitions

• Agroindustries
• Biobased industries
• Bioprospecting or biodiversity prospecting
• Biotrade
• Access and benefit sharing (ABS)
• Biorefinery

Net-Zero Chemical Industry - Mean Feedstock Shares (%)

• Across 16 Scenarios From 9 Reports
• Biomass: 24% (2050), 22% (current)
• CCU: 20% (2050)
• Recycling: 33% (2050)
• Fossil: Decreasing share

European Biomass Demand in Mt for Biofuel Production

• Trends from 2020 to 2050 under different scenarios.
• Basic, Strong Ammonia, Strong CCU scenarios

European Non-fossil C-fuel Demand in the Transport Sector (in Mtoe)

• Scenario: Strong Ammonia
• Categories: E-SAF (Aviation), E-Methanol (Marine), Recycled Carbon Fuels (Road), RFNBO (Road), Bio-SAF, Annex IX (Aviation), Biofuel, Annex IX (Marine), Biofuel, Annex IX (Road), Bio-Diesel (Road), Bio-Ethanol (Road)

Lecture 1: Contents

• Bioeconomy definition
• Aim/scope
• Principles
• Circular bioeconomy
• Biorefineries

Lecture 2: Contents

• Sustainable Development Goals
• Methodology
• Case studies
• Biorefineries

Lecture 1: Key Concepts

Bioeconomy - Definition

• "Production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products, such as food, feed, bio- based products, and bioenergy" (EU Commission, 2012).
• "European Bioeconomy needs to have sustainability and circularity at its heart" (EU Commission, 2018)
• "Bioeconomy is the production, utilisation, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide information, products, processes, and services across all economic sectors aiming toward a sustainable economy" (GBS, 2018, p.2).

Bioeconomy Diagram

• Inputs: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery & Aquaculture Production, Microbial Production, Waste Management
• Processes: Conditioning and Conversion (Biotechnology, Chemistry, Process Engineering), Biorefinery
• Outputs: Food Production and Marketing, Feed, Fibre, Fuel, Services

Aims of the Bioeconomy

• Securing worldwide food supply
• Producing healthy and safe food
• Creating sustainable agricultural production
• Expanding energy carriers based on biomass
• Using renewable resources industrially
• Driving the societal transformation to a sustainable economy

Circular Bioeconomy - Scope

• Collaboration between science, political, and economic sectors is needed to innovate and drive transformation.
• Projected to play a key role in achieving climate change mitigation targets.
• CE concept: maintaining the value of products for as long as possible and the waste hierarchy.
• Optimisation of the value of biomass over time is a key characteristic of the CBE for economic or environmental reasons; considers the three pillars of sustainability.

Bioeconomy: 10 Principles

1. Support food security and nutrition at all levels.
2. Ensure that natural resources are conserved, protected, and enhanced.
3. Support competitive and inclusive economic growth.
4. Make communities healthier, more sustainable, and harness social and ecosystem resilience.
5. Improved efficiency in the use of resources and biomass.
6. Responsible and effective governance mechanisms.
7. Good use of existing relevant knowledge and proven technologies and good practices.
8. Address societal needs and encourage sustainable consumption.
9. Encourage sustainable consumption.
10. Promote cooperation, collaboration, and sharing between stakeholders.

Linear vs. Circular Economy

• Linear Economy: Take, make, use, dispose.
• Circular Economy: Focuses on technical and biological nutrients, energy from renewable resources, and living systems.
• Technical + Biological Nutrients are mixed up in the Linear Economy model.

Circular Bioeconomy vs. Circular Economy

• Circular Bioeconomy: Use biomass waste / CO_2; Resource efficiency.

Overarching CBE Principles

• Resource-efficiency, Optimizing value of biomass over time, Sustainability
• Product design: Circular & durable
• Sustainable Biomass Sourcing: Use of residues & wastes
• Integrated, multi-output production chains (e.g. Biorefineries)
• Circular End-of-Life Options in the Bioeconomy: Recycling & cascading, Energy recovery & Composting

Circular Bioeconomy - Optimization Route

• Cascading use of biomass: sequential use of resources for different purposes (Olsson et al., 2018).

Cascading Use of Biomass: Finland Wood Flows 2013

Where Does Sustainable Engineering Fit?

• Intersection of Natural Science, Agricultural Science, Business, Economics and Social Sciences, Food and Nutrition
• Core Areas: Biobased Resources, Bioenergy, Environment and Climate, Sustainable Land-Use, Resource Management, Markets and Politics, Society, System analysis of biobased value chains, Services

Integrated Biorefineries

• "The sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable products (food, feed, materials, chemicals) and energy (fuels, power, heat)" (E. De Jong et al., 2012).
• Biobased Chemicals 6.4%
• Biofuels 44%
• Biobased electricity 123%

Integrated Biorefineries - Product Examples

• Bioplastics, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Feed Additives, Bio-Composites, Construction & Building Materials, Cosmetics, Aromatics, Lubricants, Bioenergy, Biofuels, Bulk Chemicals

Circular Bioeconomy - Opportunities

• Improve evidence on the environmental and social value of this type of model.
• Prove that cascading chains and end-of-life are beneficial to reduce emissions.
• Monitoring systems need to be in place to measure circularity.
• Implementation will need local strategies to comply with the overall aim.
• In-line policies need to emerge to support the intake.

Lecture 2: Case Studies

Sustainable Development Goals

• In 2015, heads of state at the United Nations General Assembly set up a collection of 17 goals known as the Sustainable Development Goals.
• The SDGs and their 169 targets form the core resolution of the United Nations, which is a breakthrough agreement called AGENDA 2030.
• They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
• Broad, independent within the social and economic sectors.

Sustainable Development Goals

Bioeconomy and SDG

• Bioeconomy monitoring and evaluation can provide opportunities to be coupled with reporting on SDGs.
• Main areas:
  • Economic development (e.g., SDG 8)
  • Access to food security (e.g., SDG 2)
  • Sustainable consumption (e.g., SDG 12).
• Bioeconomy monitoring and evaluation revealed potential synergies for reporting SDG indicators related to biodiversity conservation, waste re-use, gender equality, inclusiveness (Calicioglu et al. 2021).

Case Studies - Methodology

1. Selection and description of case studies
2. Identification of common objectives of the case studies
3. Identification of common success factors that contribute to the sustainability of the case studies
4. Determination of the lessons that have been learned on how bioeconomy can be developed and implemented in a sustainable way

Case Study 1: Mesa Sucroalcoholera Argentina

• CANE SUGAR BIOETHANOL
• 10% TO 12% ENERGY FROM VINASSES & BAGASSE

Case Study 2: From Gas to Bio-based Plastic United States of America

• BIOPLASTICS
• METHANE - RESIDUAL BIOGAS: Methane CO_2
• 9X biocatalyst
• Cradle to cradle

Case Study 3: Alternatives to Burning Straw China

• BIOFERTILIZER BIOGAS
• CROP RESIDUES
• CORN, RICE, WHEAT STRAW

Case Study 4: Towards Second Generation of Biofuel India

• Overarching CBE principles: Resource-efficiency, Optimizing value of biomass over time, Sustainability
• Circular & durable product design
• CELLULOSE
• Use of residues & wastes: CROP RESIDUES
• Circular bioeconomy
• Integrated, multi-output production chains (e.g. Biorefineries)
• BIOETHANOL
• BIOCHEMICALS

Case Study 5: Seaweed Value Addition United Republic of Tanzania

• SEAWEED
• Food, Soap scented with spices, Body cream, Carrageenan gel

Biorefineries – Integrated Design Based on Spent Coffee Grounds

• Spent coffee grounds (SCG) and the coffee silver skins (CSS).
• Dry natural extract, Dry natural pigment for the textile industry
• Biogas, digestate, and electrical
• The use of SCG to produce biodiesel is discarded after pre-screening.

References

• Calicioglu Ozgul, Anne Bogdanski, 2021 Linking the bioeconomy to the 2030 sustainable development agenda: Can SDG indicators be used to monitor progress towards a sustainable bioeconomy? New Biotechnology. Vol. 61, pp 40-49
• Stegmanna Paul, Marc Londob , Martin Jungingerc, 2020. The circular bioeconomy: Its elements and role in European bioeconomy clusters. Resources, conservation and recycling. On-line publication.
• Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, 2019. Environmental and Natural Resources Management. Working paper. Towards sustainable bioeconomy. Lessons learned from case studies. URL: Towards sustainable bioeconomy - Lessons learned from case studies (fao.org)

Self-Assessment

• Be familiar with and summarize with your own notes:
  • The concept of the hydrogen economy and circular economy
  • The barriers for adoption of the Biomass economy
  • Methods to generate biofuels and their storage