Periodic Reporting for period 4 - Dendromass4Europe (Securing Sustainable Dendromass Production with Poplar Plantations in European Rural Areas)
Período documentado: 2021-06-01 hasta 2022-11-30
To achieve the ambitious goals of the EU with regard to sustainable use of resources and rural development (cf. Bioeconomy Strategy 2012/2018), more sustainably produced biomass from agriculture and forestry on the EU’s own land resources is vital. Therefore Dendromass4Europe (D4EU) set off to establish sustainable, short rotation coppice (SRC)-based, regional tree cropping systems to valorise underutilized agricultural land. More specifically, D4EU established a large industrial-scale area of fast-growing poplar trees on marginal or currently unused land around a wood particle board production plant in West Slovakia. The produced dendro-biomass - including wood and bark of various proportions - fed into dedicated bio-based value chains, which created job opportunities in rural areas:
(1) functionally adapted lightweight board,
(2) eco-fungicidal moulded fibre parts,
(3) bark-enriched wood-plastic composite (WPC) and
(4) multi-purpose WPC granulate.
By the establishment the SRC cropping system, the consortium achieved both, the supply of dendromass at an industrially relevant amount to bio-economy value chains and the improvement of sustainability criteria in agriculture.
(1) functionally adapted lightweight board,
(2) eco-fungicidal moulded fibre parts,
(3) bark-enriched wood-plastic composite (WPC) and
(4) multi-purpose WPC granulate.
By the establishment the SRC cropping system, the consortium achieved both, the supply of dendromass at an industrially relevant amount to bio-economy value chains and the improvement of sustainability criteria in agriculture.
From the beginning of D4EU, the project partners have created a unique project environment as the consortium brought together researchers and industrial decision makers along the value chains. The industrial partners committed to apply research results and to utilize the dendromass for markets in the bio-economy.
Generally, the access to agricultural land has been challenging for SRC operators under the given legal and structural conditions as well as with regard to unexpected economic changes due to COVID19-related and multi-crisis conditions in the later project years. Hence, the objective of successful acquisition and contracting of marginal agricultural land under attractive conditions for farmers and landowners has been very important throughout the entire project implementation period. The SRC operating partner has been responding with maximum possible effort for land acquisition. To date, more than 1,250 ha of SRC are established on marginal or formerly unused land around the largest industrial partner’s board production plant in West Slovakia. All SRCs planted in Slovakia under D4EU are FSC certified. A dedicated, accompanying biodiversity monitoring by an NGO and other applied-level research on the environmental impact provided a credible data basis for ensuring the ecological sustainability achievements of D4EU.
For the economic sustainability, the availability of appropriate harvesting machinery is an important precondition. Within D4EU, European-scale field trials were finalised that involved also service and machine providers, for instance the industrial harvesting trials. Even beyond the original objectives, specific machine technology was compiled, field logistics were optimized, and a delimbing machine was developed that allowed an improved SRC harvesting technology under the given conditions of D4EU.
In the later phase of the project, the industrial partners successfully organized and demonstrated industrial-scale production of the dendromass and the final setup of value chains including dendromass delivery. The new bio-based materials (NBBMs) were produced at high Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). For all four NBBMs and the connected production processes, a Life Cycle Assessment has been implemented.
All research data acquisition in D4EU and the final data evaluation has been carried out, for instance with regard to physiological characterisation of the operational poplar clones, to wood anatomical and wood density characteristics, to site evaluation and growth modelling or to SRC-site interaction.
The promising results of D4EU in diversifying the Slovakian agriculture and in contributing to the implementation of the EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy have been widely disseminated. For instance, a final project conference has been organized as a side-event of the EU Bioeconomy Conference in Brussels 2022, a project-related special issue has been published in an international scientific journal, different stakeholder-specific website contents in relevant project languages, videos and social media activities have been maintained, and knowledge has been provided to students in academic environments.
Generally, the access to agricultural land has been challenging for SRC operators under the given legal and structural conditions as well as with regard to unexpected economic changes due to COVID19-related and multi-crisis conditions in the later project years. Hence, the objective of successful acquisition and contracting of marginal agricultural land under attractive conditions for farmers and landowners has been very important throughout the entire project implementation period. The SRC operating partner has been responding with maximum possible effort for land acquisition. To date, more than 1,250 ha of SRC are established on marginal or formerly unused land around the largest industrial partner’s board production plant in West Slovakia. All SRCs planted in Slovakia under D4EU are FSC certified. A dedicated, accompanying biodiversity monitoring by an NGO and other applied-level research on the environmental impact provided a credible data basis for ensuring the ecological sustainability achievements of D4EU.
For the economic sustainability, the availability of appropriate harvesting machinery is an important precondition. Within D4EU, European-scale field trials were finalised that involved also service and machine providers, for instance the industrial harvesting trials. Even beyond the original objectives, specific machine technology was compiled, field logistics were optimized, and a delimbing machine was developed that allowed an improved SRC harvesting technology under the given conditions of D4EU.
In the later phase of the project, the industrial partners successfully organized and demonstrated industrial-scale production of the dendromass and the final setup of value chains including dendromass delivery. The new bio-based materials (NBBMs) were produced at high Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). For all four NBBMs and the connected production processes, a Life Cycle Assessment has been implemented.
All research data acquisition in D4EU and the final data evaluation has been carried out, for instance with regard to physiological characterisation of the operational poplar clones, to wood anatomical and wood density characteristics, to site evaluation and growth modelling or to SRC-site interaction.
The promising results of D4EU in diversifying the Slovakian agriculture and in contributing to the implementation of the EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy have been widely disseminated. For instance, a final project conference has been organized as a side-event of the EU Bioeconomy Conference in Brussels 2022, a project-related special issue has been published in an international scientific journal, different stakeholder-specific website contents in relevant project languages, videos and social media activities have been maintained, and knowledge has been provided to students in academic environments.
In the late project phase, the feedstock was sustainably produced, while the amount was yet at an industrially relevant scale. As planned, the different quality grades of the dendromass have successfully been allocated to different valorisation processes. The raw material has been utilized in the four, inter-connected new bio-based value chains for producing the envisaged NBBMs. As well with regard to the established SRC cropping system as to the successful achievement of all industrial partners’ envisaged Technology Readiness Level (TRL) improvements, D4EU has demonstrated that the bio-based industries can tap a more sustainable resource basis consisting of tailored wood and bark biomass (= dendromass) from non-forestry sources.
The European cooperation of industrial bio-economy partners (large enterprise and SMEs), an environmental NGO and leading research institutions and universities in D4EU has been unique. At present, the SRC operating partner is the leading operator of dendromass crops in Slovakia with more than 1,250 ha of SRCs. With the summarized net positive ecological impact of D4EU’s SRC plantations in West Slovakia, there is now a sound data basis for communication to official authorities. Hence, the D4EU consortium has bridged the gap between the evidence-based knowledge about the ecological advantages of SRC crops and the implementation of large-scale SRC supply systems into a sustainable bio-economy. The final data allows also a more detailed support to operational decision-making beyond the project’s implementation phase.
As a summary, more sustainably produced dendromass from SRC or agroforestry in the EU can provide a contribution to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU with regard to sustainable use of resources and rural development (cf. Bioeconomy Strategy 2012/2018).
The European cooperation of industrial bio-economy partners (large enterprise and SMEs), an environmental NGO and leading research institutions and universities in D4EU has been unique. At present, the SRC operating partner is the leading operator of dendromass crops in Slovakia with more than 1,250 ha of SRCs. With the summarized net positive ecological impact of D4EU’s SRC plantations in West Slovakia, there is now a sound data basis for communication to official authorities. Hence, the D4EU consortium has bridged the gap between the evidence-based knowledge about the ecological advantages of SRC crops and the implementation of large-scale SRC supply systems into a sustainable bio-economy. The final data allows also a more detailed support to operational decision-making beyond the project’s implementation phase.
As a summary, more sustainably produced dendromass from SRC or agroforestry in the EU can provide a contribution to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU with regard to sustainable use of resources and rural development (cf. Bioeconomy Strategy 2012/2018).