Biomass and CO2 capture, strategic allies

The Spanish CO2 Technology Platform (PTECO2) and the Spanish Biomass Technology Platform (BIOPLAT) have held the technical conference 'CO2 fixation in bioenergy technologies' at the IMDEA Energy Institute in Móstoles (Madrid). The event was inaugurated by the director of IMDEA Energy, David Serrano, who welcomed all attendees and reviewed the projects related to CO2 and biomass that the Institute is currently working on. Next, the deputy deputy director of Public-Private Collaboration of MINECO, Bárbara Fernández-Revuelta, reported on the 2016 Call for Challenges-Collaboration for R&D projects, recently closed. In addition, he explained other opportunities for R&D offered by this Ministry such as the SME Horizon call and the call for aid to Technology Platforms.

The president of PTECO2, F. Javier Alonso, analyzed the current situation of the CO2 sector, focusing on the role that should be given to technologies for capturing, transporting, storing and using CO2, known as CCS technologies, in the fight against climate change, fundamentally to achieve the reduction of emissions in those sectors in which, even when applying the Best Available Techniques (BAT), necessary chemical process reactions occur. The opening ceremony closed with the intervention of the vice president of BIOPLAT, Isabel Cañellas, who highlighted the very important volume of biomass resource that Spain has, whose energy recovery can contribute substantially to savings in CO2 emissions both by replacing traditional fuels with biomass fuels, as well as to avoid the emissions of some types of biomass and, subsequently, to mitigate climate change, which represents a real threat to society as a whole today. Likewise, it highlighted the importance of organizing activities between technological platforms.

Among the highlighted contents of the day, the head of the CIEMAT-IMDEA Joint Energy Unit for Biotechnological Processes, Mercedes Ballesteros, analyzed the energy valorization of biomass for the production of biofuels. In all sectors, except transportation, CO2 emissions have been reduced. Currently, the transport sector depends 98% on the use of fossil fuels and, according to the latest estimates, only biofuels will be the solution to reducing CO2 emissions in the short term.

For his part, the Production Director of ALGAENERGY, Federico G. Witt Sousa, presented the results of the LIFE+CO2Algaefix project of which they have been coordinators. The main objective of the project has been the fixation and capture of CO2 from electricity generation plants through the cultivation of microalgae; Thanks to the design of bioreactors, they have managed to optimize the efficiency of CO2 capture for its transformation into biomass and energy. These resources may be of interest and useful for sectors such as aquaculture, cosmetics, health, human or animal food and as agricultural fertilizer.

Next, the director of IMDEA Energy, David Serrano, explained the progress of the European project CASCATBEL, coordinated by the Institute and aimed at the development and scaling at the pilot plant level of the production process of advanced biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass. The production process is based on the cascade combination of three catalytic transformations (catalytic pyrolysis, intermediate deoxygenation and hydrodeoxygenation) with the aim of obtaining a liquid biofuel with characteristics similar to traditional fuels from oil refining operations.

To conclude the block of interventions, the research professor of the Institute of Catalysis and Petroleum Chemistry (ICP-CSIC), José Luis García Fierro, explained the possibilities that CO2 offers as a renewable carbon source in the chemical and energy industry. García Fierro has highlighted that we are at the beginning of the CO2 conversion potential and it is our duty to capture, store and valorize it.

Finally, part of the day was dedicated to discussing the opportunities offered by CO2 fixation in bioenergy technologies in a round table where all the speakers participated. As conclusions of this debate, the need to advance in the learning curve of energy technologies not only focused on the capture and storage of CO2, but also aimed at its valorization, was identified. On the other hand, the role played by liquid biofuels, obtained from biomass, was highlighted as a short/medium term solution to reducing CO2 emissions in the transportation sector.