Objective
The objective of this Concerted Action proposal is to develop and extend the very successful pyne Network that has been operational for two years, by widening the scope and including more industrially orientated activities. Until now this Network has promoted and aided the development of fast pyrolysis of biomass and wastes through dissemination of information on the technology and applications.
This proposed development and expansion will build on the dissemination activities to date by additionally addressing known industrial concerns over implementation of fast pyrolysis and applications for the liquid product, and proactively encouraging their resolution by contributory and collaborative activities. From a European perspective the creation of a dedicated and focused international group who have the knowledge and expertise to provide strategic inputs to European policies is a considerable asset and this has already been useful employed in resolving strategic problems by the European Commission.
The pyne Network has become established as the leading centre for information on fast pyrolysis of biomass and wastes through publication of a biannual newsletter with a circulation of over 2500 and a world wide distribution. While this is perhaps the most tangible outcome of the network, many other activities and deliverables have resulted including meetings, seminars, visits, conferences, scientist exchanges and reports all of which have served to greatly improve the knowledge base and expertise of the participants.
It is through collaboration and interactions such as these that European industry can best benefit from the extensive R&D currently in progress in Europe by established research and commercial links to exploit the promise of this emerging technology. Fast pyrolysis of biomass is emerging as the most interesting thermal conversion route to upgrade solid biomass as energy crops and waste into a variety of added value fuel and chemical products. Although only discovered or invented around 1980, the technology has rapidly developed to a point where it is perceived to be commercial in the short term as evidenced by its inclusion in the UK Non Fossil Fuel Obligation Round 4. Production of a liquid bio-oil has a major advantage over alternative conversion technologies such as gasification which gives a gas product and combustion which gives a heat product both of which require immediate use, whereas the liquid from pyrolysis can be stored for hours, days or weeks, or it may be readily transported to another site. This flexibility permits greater advantage to be taken of optimum combinations of biomass arisings, technology scale and power generation site optimisation. Pyrolysis is also unique in that there is considerable flexibility in the range of products derived - from 80% yield of liquid to 100 % yield of gas or 35% yield of charcoal.
A further advantage is the potential for recovering chemical specialities, polymers and commodities from the liquid product which have the economic attraction of being higher value products. The short term potential of the technology for liquid fuels and longer term potential for chemical specialities and commodities has been widely recognised throughout Europe. This recognition has brought about a rapid growth in research and development with at over 20 companies known to be actively involved in the development of fast pyrolysis technologies and utilisation of the products, with more than 65% being European; and over 25 research organisations involved in a range of fundamental and applied research to support these activities, again with over two thirds being based in the EU.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsliquid fuels
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- agricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CON - Coordination of research actionsCoordinator
B4 7ET Birmingham
United Kingdom