EnergyLab will study the energy and economic potential of agroforestry biomass waste

Biomass-AP, led by EnergyLab, aims to improve the capabilities of R&D centers in the region of Portugal and Spain in the use of biomass as an endogenous resource, to apply innovative methods and technologies in traditional sectors such as agriculture. and the forester.

The project is led by the EnergyLab Technology Center, and also has four Galician partners, the Energy Technology Group of the University of Vigo, the Energy Institute of Galicia (INEGA), the Galician Business-University Foundation (FEUGA), and the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN), which participates through the Center for Innovation and Wood Services (CIS Madeira). In addition, the project has 4 Portuguese partners: the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, the Instituto de Ciência e Innovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, the Agência de Energia do Cávado and the Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente do Alto Minho.

The new project will allow these centers to consolidate, reorient or expand their biomass R&D lines thanks to the improvement of their infrastructure or the shared use of equipment, increasing their competitive capacity. These entities will work together and complement each other to achieve optimized energy use of biomass that is not currently valued, but that has high potential in the Euroregion due to its high availability (scrub, vine, kiwi, pruning).

Biomass-AP addresses a common challenge framed within RIS 3. It seeks to valorize the potential associated with biomass waste resulting from agroforestry production, which today is not only not used, but to avoid its accumulation, the farmer is forced to burn them. This project aims to increase the competitiveness of the traditional agricultural and forestry sectors, and ensure that biomass becomes a development pole for the Euroregion.

To do this, the consortium will work on the different links of the production chain. Thus, in the first phases of the project, special attention will be paid to the optimization of raw material collection systems, in order to reduce costs and achieve clean and quality collection. Through studies and tests for the characterization of biomass, densification and incorporation of additives, the aim is to obtain new biofuels (pellets, briquettes, etc.) with better qualities. The simulation and testing tasks will allow the optimization of various biomass recovery equipment based on combustion, gasification and micro-cogeneration technologies for new fuels.

Finally, the technical-economic impact that the use of this biomass will have in the region will be analyzed and, through the creation of a Cross-Border Biomass Network in which the results of the project will be disseminated, the continuity of collaboration between the different entities participating in the project for the creation of new services and projects that integrate the entire biomass value chain, and thus be able to offer competitive solutions in the Euroregion.