FOREST-BASED PRODUCTS INDUSTRY NEWS New study on the European bioeconomy T
he bioeconomy in Europe comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological
resources, including forests, to pro- duce food, materials and energy. A new study now shows which mac- roeconomic effects are generated by these activities, e.g. turnover, employment, etc. The data, gener- ated by nova-Institute on behalf of the Bio-based Industries Consor- tium (BIC) will be updated annually. Eurostat was used as the main source of data for all sectors of the bioeconomy. Some sectors, such as the forest-based industry, are fully bio-based and thus fully accounted to the bioeconomy. For other sectors, such as the chemical industry, the bio-based shares were estimated and included in the data. The analysis of the Eurostat data of 2013 shows that the turnover of the total bioeconomy, includ- ing food and beverages, and the primary sectors – agriculture and forestry – results in 2.1 trillion Euros in the EU-28. Roughly half of the turnover is accounted for by the food and beverages sector, and almost a quarter is created by the primary sectors (agriculture and for- estry). The other quarter is created by the so-called bio-based indus- tries, such as chemicals and plastics, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, forest-based industries, textiles, biofuels and bioenergy. The bioeconomy employs 18.3
million people in total. The primary biomass production, mainly agri- culture plus forestry and fishery, generates a a great deal of employ- ment (58%), but low turnover (21%). The data show clear differ- ences between groups of Member States: e.g. the Eastern European countries Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are apparently stronger in less value-added sectors of the bio-based economy that generate a lot of employment. In comparison, Western and Northern European countries generate much higher turnover compared to the employ- ment generated. The countries with the highest ratio between turnover and employment are Ireland, Fin- land and Belgium.
“Of particular interest,” said Mi- chael Carus, Managing Director of
nova-Institute, “are the often un- derrated bio-based industries. This sector shows considerable turnover of 600 billion Euros and 3.2 million employees in 2013 for EU-28”. The data shows an overall slight increase in the bio-based share of the chemical industry in the EU-28 from 5% in 2008 to 6% in 2013. The raw materials used by the chemical industry are about 50% organic (fossil and bio-based) and about 50% inorganic (minerals, metals).
Only taking the organic part into account, the overall bio-based share increased from 10% in 2008 to 12% in 2013. Denmark stands out as the one Member State with the highest bio-based share in the chemical industry in 2013, which is mainly due to the high production
of enzymes. Latvia and Sweden follow, primarily due to a large production volume of charcoal and tall oil.
With regard to investments, the last annual survey from the end of 2014 showed that BIC members intended to invest 1.1 billion Euros during 2014-2015 in bio-based industries – mainly demo and flag- ship projects, of which more than 820 million Euros were pure private investment. Private investments in the amount of more than 2.1 billion Euros are in the pipelines of those same BIC members for the time between 2014 and 2020. Most of the short-term investments will take place in the lignocellulosic and forest-based value chains. More information from
www.nova-institute.eu
Technology for lignin-derived biochemicals
Co-operation in the field of conversion of lignin into biochemicals has been announced by Finnish energy technology firm Valmet and Italian engineering firm Biochemtex.
The development project will combine and adapt LignoBoost and Moghi technologies. LignoBoost is Valmet’s proprietary technology for the extraction of purified lignin from black liquor produced by pulp mills. Moghi is Biochemtex’s proprietary technology for the
14 Summer 2016 14
conversion of lignin into biofuels and biochemicals.
Valmet has stated that this collaboration will create a high value market for lignin while providing the biochemical industry a consistent lignin stream to be used as a sustainable feedstock for the production of bioPET (bio-based thermoplastic polymer). Rickard Andersson, Vice- President for Valmet’s Biotech and Environmental Systems, said: “Valmet’s industrially-
proven LignoBoost technology for lignin extraction plays an important role in this project. We are continuously developing new sustainable technologies for increasing the value of lignin. “Combining LignoBoost and Moghi technologies is one of the very promising solutions we are looking into when developing biochemical technologies”. Giovanni Bolcheni, CEO of Biochemtex, added: “For us this partnership is an additional opportunity to provide the
market with second generation biochemicals. We are already working with our own and Beta Renewables technologies. The co-operation with Valmet will allow us to increase the feedstock available to produce bioPX, a key raw material for the production of PET made from 100% renewable sources”. A dedicated demonstration plant is now under construction in Italy.
More information from
www.valmet.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20