Biomass
One may ask, what does biomass have to do with the chemical industry? They both may be perceived as far and unrelated at first glance. In the public eye these value chains may even be considered antagonists. But in the era of climate action, where inter-sector collaboration is essential, both are in need of each other.
As we have pointed out before, for the chemical industry to achieve the required decarbonisation, the substitution of fossil fuels and raw materials is essential. And there is where the biomass plays a key role as renewable energy source. Biomass serves as a sustainable and low-carbon alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Future projections of energy usage by 2050 made by prestigious institutions place biomass as the third energy source after electricity and natural gas when it comes to the European chemical industry. On the other hand, the potential of the biomass market has boomed in recent years and is contributing to the economical development of countries with access to abundant feedstock.
Biomass is a very broad concept that includes everything from waste from forestry, agricultural and livestock activities to the organic fraction of domestic and industrial waste, including by-products from the food, agriculture and wood-processing industries. More specifically, a definition of biomass used in European directives is the following one.
“The biodegradable fraction of biological products, wastes and residues from agricultural activities (including substances of plant and animal origin), forestry and related industries, including fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste.”
Traditionally, the solid biofuel combustion has accounted for the 80% of revenue share, meanwhile the biogas and gasification technologies expect to grow at a high pace due to the array of potential applications and higher process efficiency. This process converts solid biomass into gaseous fuels, which can be used to generate electricity and also be used as synthesis gas in the chemical industry. Moreover biogas, when purified (upgraded), can be directly injected into the grid.
After the solid and in pair with the gas fuels, an important share of biomass is used to produce liquid fuels, which undoubtedly have a huge potential in the decarbonisation of the transport sector by means of providing biodiesel and other advanced liquid biofuels.
Intuitively, biomass is part of the necessary circular economy that is in the process of being created. Therefore, the design and creation of bounds and synergies between sectors becomes the way forward. Visions must be drawn in parallel and fundamentally, roadmaps need to include such milestones where goals in the different sectors intertwin.
To that respect, the public-private partnership ‘Circular Bio-based Europe’ under Horizon Europe (2021 – 2027) has its own roadmap since 2019, where creating new business models that integrate strategic partners is high on the agenda. Their Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA 2030) sets the specific goals, targeting 25% share of of bio-based or renewable feedstock of the total volume of organic chemicals raw materials/feedstock used by the chemical industry in 2030.
The bio-based share in the organic part of the raw material taken in by the chemical industry increased from 10% in 2008 to 14% in 2016 (organic and inorganic parts of the raw material split at about 50/50%). One of the initial assumptions of the Cefic vision in the technology category is that industry potentially uses twice as much biomass in 2050 as in 2018. Therefore, one expects that the joint roadmap for the EU chemical sector contains targets of similar magnitude in order to boost synergies between sectors.
