Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Biomasud Plus (Developing the sustainable market of residential Mediterranean solid biofuels.)

Teaser

The overall objective of this project is to develop integrated solutions to promote the sustainable market for Mediterranean solid biofuels for residential heating by: • developing and extending a quality and sustainability certification system • assessing the existing...

Summary

The overall objective of this project is to develop integrated solutions to promote the sustainable market for Mediterranean solid biofuels for residential heating by:
• developing and extending a quality and sustainability certification system
• assessing the existing barriers and identifying solutions with emphasis on the sustainability and quality control systems
• developing tools and databases with information about sustainable biomass resources to have a global vision and identifying sustainable solid biofuels supply chains

Specific objetives
• To extend the BIOmasud certification system to all Mediterranean countries participating
• To extend the BIOMASUD quality and sustainability certification system to important and widely used biofuels in the residential sector
• To improve the BIOMASUD® sustainability requirements
• To make a quality assessment of the present most important solid biofuels in the markets of the Mediterranean countries
• To characterize the emissions and efficiencies of commercial biomass boilers and stoves
• To make an assessment of the present state of the solid biofuels market in the residential sector of the Mediterranean countries
• To extend the BIORAISE GIS biomass resources information system to all the Mediterranean participant countries
• To promote the use of sustainable conditions for biofuels production and use by means of adequate dissemination

By developing and implementing certified sustainable frameworks and cost efficient conditions for the production and use of Mediterranean residential heating biofuels with reduced environmental impact, the results of this project will have a significant impact to overcome important barriers that are hampering the development of the sustainable market of these biofuels. Important uncertainties are present on the market due to the requirements progressively more stringent emissions and air quality legislation and the increased concern of the relevant authorities and the consumers by the detrimental effects of the combustion of the considered solid biofuels under the present non standardised and sustainable conditions might cause on the air quality.

A consistent strategy is adopted in the project work programme to promote a sustainable market for Mediterranean residential thermal solid biofuels, on the basis to develop alternatives to some of the most important breakthroughs that have been described for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean residential solid biofuels. The strategy is supported in relevant tools specifically developed for the Mediterranean conditions (BIOMASUD certification label, BIORAISE) and that are improved and extended to new Mediterranean biofuels and countries in this project and it envisages the realization of an unavoidable biofuels characterization and combustion testing work which is required in order to assess the conditions for the sustainable market development.

Work performed

Since the project BIOMASUD PLUS started in January 2016 the consortium has been working on several WP developed the following tasks:

WP2. During this WP, a market study was made for the Mediterranean residential heating solid biofuels
Thanks to this information, we have been able to develop a roadmap targeting the development of a sustainable market for emerging solid biofuels. Also, during Task 2.3 an update and extension to new Mediterranean countries of the web service BIORAISE was made.


WP3 Definition of BIOMASUD label solid biofuels quality requirements In this WP the new biofuels have been selected and samples of these new biofuels were collected by the consortium countries, analysed and made a pre standarisation work

WP4 Improving the sustainability requirements of the BIOMASUD label. A Review of Sustainability criteria was made. Also a new GHG and Energy balance calculation methodology was developed and included in the traceability platform.

WP5 Guidelines for Mediterranean solid biofuels appopriate combustion conditions

A characterization of selected biofuels combustion in commercial stoves and boilers, Task 5.4. Techno-economic assessment, the main objective was to evaluate the technical and economic performance of current residential heating boilers and stoves tested with BIOMASUD PLUS fuels within Task 5.3. With the results obtained during the combustion test runs performed within Task 5.3 and technoeconomic assessment carried out within Task 5.4 have been taken into account for elaborating the guidelines for boilers and stoves manufacturers, installers and users of selected BIOMASUD fuels.

Work on WP6 was performed during the second half of the project. The information from the market analysis (WP2) allowed us to choose several solid biofuels with high potential in the Mediterranean and introduce these solid biofuels into the BIOmasud Certification System. The review of the Sustainability Criteria from WP4, including a new methodology for calculating GHG emissions and Energy Balance, provided us to a complete full new set of Sustainability Criteria that were introduced in the new Handbook too. And last, information of the combustion test allowed us to define better the pre-standards and about all decided which solid biofuels were more appropriate for small domestic appliances (<400 kW), or bigger facilities and therefore in the Handbook the seal was divided in to two categories (see labels below were green label is for small domestic appliances and orange one for bigger facilities)

WP7 Communication and dissemination

The corporate identity of the project and dissemination material was developed: Logo, WEB, leaflets, etc.

During the second period, with the results of many of the reports, we could make most of the workshops and articles of the project. A big effort has been made in this WP trying to communicate at maximum. In the review meeting for first reporting period, the P.O. mentioned that the communication was a weak point of the project and during this second reporting period, most of the communication indicators not only fulfil the objectives of the project but overpass them.

Final results

Main impacts expected are:
• Sustainable development of the Mediterranean biofuels market with tools like the BIOMASUD Certification and BIORAISE GIS tool
• Increase the competitiveness of the solid biofuels, according the objectives in important Energy, and Air Quality Policies and related EU legislation
• Diversification of biomass resources and to the optimisation of the biofuel sustainable chains costs
• Decrease of emissions and optimal energy use (energy balance) when using Mediterranean solid biofuels.
• Standarisation of biomass feedstocks with high potential like olive tree pruning or vineyard pellet
• optimisation of the operation conditions and the development of technological improvements to be achieved in the equipments using Mediterranean solid biofuels
• The new sustainability requirements to be developed in the project for the label are expected to have a positive impact on the sustainability conditions for procurement of the forest biomass
• Employment, the biomass utilization has a great impact on the jobs thanks to a high utilization of man power along the value chain. it’s estimated that the project can increase that employment in not less than 4000 persons in the context of the Mediterranean countries participating in the project.

Website & more info

More info: http://biomasudplus.eu.