MUSIC: Workshop in Greece

18 Oct MUSIC: Workshop in Greece

Workshop on

Utilization of residual biomass: Current situation and prospects. Economic opportunities through new bioenergy technologies

Summary & Key points

Date: Tuesday 28 September 2021, 16:00-19:00 (CET), online

Workshop hosts: CERTH (Greece), CRES (Greece) and CluBE (Greece)

Further MUSIC Partners participating: IBTC, DBFZ (Germany)

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857806.

The workshop was held held in Greek language. Exceptions were the presentations by Michael Wild and Konrad Siegfried.

Summary

On 28/09/2021 the 2^nd Greek Case Study stakeholder engagement workshop was organized. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was not possible for a physical meeting to take place, so a virtual event took place through the Microsoft Teams platform. This fact, unfortunately, reduced in some extend the overall number of participants, either due to the constraints imposed by the proper conduct of online meetings, or due to the limited technological competence of specific potential participants, especially those belonging to the category of biomass producers. However, the workshop attracted the interest of stakeholders from all categories (biomass producers, transporters, industry) and the general participation is considered satisfactory and able to offer useful conclusions about the situation in the area concerning the Greek Case Study.

The workshop was hosted by CRES, CERTH and CluBE, with the significant contribution of DBFZ and specifically of Konrad Siegfried and Linda König. Participants had the opportunity to attend presentations from scientists and experts and then engage in a fruitful discussion, both on the biomass conversion technologies to IBCs themselves and on the broader prospects of utilizing biomass for bioenergy production in Western Macedonia.

Participants started arriving shortly after 15:55 and the workshop started with a slight delay, at 16:20. Due to this, we adjusted the program and unfortunately, we had to skip the presentation of Yannis Fallas (CluBE), titled: “Bioenergy, regional economy and development”, so that there is enough time for the discussion session. Despite our best efforts, it was not possible to have a clear, full hour of discussion, however, the position and views of each stakeholder were expressed through the discussion that followed each presentation. Finally, the event can be considered successful, the regional stakeholders had the opportunity to learn a lot about the MUSIC project and the Greek Case study, while they gained a better understanding of the biomass conversion/treatment technologies and the associated costs. The participants also committed to deepen into the subject, with the prospect of a next major event, possibly at regional level in Western Macedonia or even in the context of the upcoming Agrotica 2022. In addition, a number of stakeholders that could not attend the meeting, called the local partner CluBE in the following days to ask for more information, on a more private basis. Therefore, we can say that there are clear signs that we are witnessing the creation of a network of critical stakeholders along the biomass supply chain.

Presentations

Presenter: Kyriakos Panopoulos (CERTH).

Title: Biomass utilization: Current situation and prospects from the integration of new technologies.

Main points:

• The current situation with biomass utilization in Greece and the prospects from the integration of new biomass to IBC conversion technologies.
• The economic status and the effects of decarbonization in Western Macedonia.
• The economics of biomass supply chains.
• The main issues of biomass management.
• The key points of torrefaction
• The comparative advantages of IBCs over raw biomass.
• The results from the implementation of torrefied biomass in the district heating plant of Amyntaio.

Audience interested in: Overall, the presentation attracted the interest of the participants and specifically the economic part of the torrefaction technology.

Presenter: Myrsini Christou (CRES).

Title: National Energy and Climate plan: the role of bioenergy – The Greek Case Study in the context of MUSIC H2020 project

Main points:

• The national policies towards a Climate-Neutral-Economy.
• The actions to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector.
• The national waste management plan.
• The national Circular Economy strategies.
• The national actions to reduce GHG emissions in industry.
• The biomass potential in Western Macedonia.
• The tools that have been developed within the framework of MUSIC project for the promotion of IBCs and bioenergy in Western Macedonia (GIS tool, Binter application).
• The Greek Case Study in the context of MUSIC H2020 project.

Audience interested in: The audience was mainly interested in finding out if bioenergy has a future – will it be supported by national policies? The potential incentives for biomass producers – mainly economic compensation.

Presenter: Michael Wild (IBTC).

Title: Understanding Torrefaction: technology, main benefits, applications

Main points:

• The description of torrefaction technology.
• The torrefaction process.
• The technological options in respect with the properties of the final product.
• The feedstock flexibility.
• The diversity of the final products. Existing and upcoming markets for torrefied biomass uptake.
• The quality and standardization of the final products.
• The torrefied biomass properties in comparison with other solid fuels (fossil and biogenic).
• The positive experiences in co-firing with coal.

Audience interested in: The participants were highly interested in finding out more about the torrefaction technology. Specifically, the torrefaction reactor options and the effect on the final product – which reactor best suits each biomass feedstock and intended application. In addition, a critical issue was the optimal size of a torrefaction unit (from an economic perspective) and the overall cost (CAPEX & OPEX) per tonne of final product.

Presenter: Konrad Siegfried (DBFZ).

Title: The role of bioenergy in Germany.

Main points:

• The percentage of bioenergy in primary energy consumption, compared to fossil fuels and other RES.
• The types of biomass feedstock used for biofuel production and their market distribution.
• The development of biomass use for bioenergy in Germany in the last 30 years.
• The overview of DBFZ, areas of research, the focus topics and the developed tools of the Working Group on Resource Mobilization.

Audience interested in: The audience showed great interest in the situation in Germany regarding the use of biomass. In what ways has bioenergy been promoted? Companies wishing to invest in biomass and bioenergy in general receive subsidies, have easier access to finance or the national policy favors and promotes the use of biomass?

Intervention: Maria Georgiadou (European Commission).

Title: European policies in support of bioenergy.

Main points:

• The European policies towards a Climate-Neutral-Economy.
• The European Union Energy policy framework.
• The opportunities and challenges for bioenergy, biofuels and renewable fuels.
• The priority actions of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan)

Discussion

Moderator: Yannis Fallas, Director, CluBE

As the previous presentations were followed by Q&A sessions that took much longer than anticipated, the time left for the final discussion was very limited. Besides, not so many stakeholders remained connected until the end of the event to participate in the discussion.

However, the few interventions clearly showed the growing interest of primary sector biomass producers to exploit their residues (i.e. Imera Agricultural Cooperative and Chliapas Wood Company), of manufacturing companies to get engaged in the supply chain (i.e. ELPIS pellet producer).

Equally important was the awareness raising regarding potential venture in the field. Thus, the previous intervention from Mr. Wild (ITBC) offered a precious insight of the size of a viable torrefaction unit investment, raising the threshold at 50.000 tns per annum. This figure is above  from the vast majority of each individual biomass producer’s available annual quantities; however, a collective basis could offer an interesting alternative to this gap, by means of establishing Biomass Trade Centre(s) at regional level. These structures could be hosted by the Regional Waste Management Company and/or by other semi-public or private organizations that are interested in exploring this path. This is something that the Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE) has high in its agenda and will pursue, along with the exploitation of the successful example of the Karditsa Energy Cooperative which concentrates on the collection and exploitation of locally sourced biomass.

Key points