Innovation in bioeconomy: a reality put into practice

The Spanish Biomass Association together with the CIRCE Technology Centre are launching the INtercamBIOM network with the aim of providing companies in the biomass, bioenergy and bioproducts sector with tailored information so that they can adopt existing technologies or processes or explore ways to invest in new processes and products.

The push that Eurand Spain are giving to circularity, decarbonization and the use of renewable energies and biomaterials is beginning to generate a revolution in the field of bioeconomy: new ways of obtaining biomass, valorizing it or generating bioproducts, biomaterials or sustainable energy are being explored.

But what technologies or processes are actually available to take advantage of them? How do you start a business with an investment in an unusual process? How do you launch a new product? These are questions a company must answer before committing to a change in its business strategy. 

“The INtercambiom network aims to provide the biomass, bioenergy and bioproducts sector with tailored information on its website, through notifications via WhatsApp or email, so that they can take the decisive step,” explains Daniel García, head of innovation at AVEBIOM .

The network already has five documented practices of particular interest : from collecting vine shoots before they fall to the ground, to an economical process for washing and cleaning soil and stones from pruning and uprooting of fruit and forest trees, and the carbonization of straw to obtain a dense, clean fuel suitable for intensive industrial use. Obtaining high-value biochar from wet waste such as sludge or organic matter from garbage, and converting olive pomace into energy and biochar suitable for soil enrichment in a single facility, are innovative practices already underway, documented with videos, photos, interviews, and technical data.

The INtercamBIOM network is open to receiving any practical innovation in bioeconomy that is already available.