BiorefER

CIRI ENERGIA E AMBIENTE - UNITÀ BIOMASSE
Università di BOLOGNA
BiorefER project: Value Chain
mapping and indexes, a case study
in the Emilia-Romagna region
Diego Marazza diego.marazza@unibo.it, Luciano Vogli, Vittoria Bandini,
Daniela Sani* Andrea Contin– CIRI Energy and Environment (Interdepartmental Center
for Industrial Research) - Biomass Unit, University of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna High
Technology Network
* Supported by and in collaboration with: Consortium for Innovation and Technology Transfer
in Emilia-Romagna - ASTER - Plastice Project
Contributions from: CONOE, Unigrà S.r.l., C.R.P.A. S.p.A.

Ciri - energia e AMBIENTE
Outline
Biorefinery capacity and value
chain socio-economic impact
Existing value chains:
1) biogas from corn
2) power from vegetable oils
Value chain mapping
Potential value chains:
1) used cooking oils to biodiesel
2) agro-residues to bioplastic PHA
3) agro-residues to bioplastic PLA

3
Framework

4
Biorefining is the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable
bio-based products (food, feed, chemicals, and/or materials) and bioenergy (biofuels,
power and/or heat)
In order to evaluate the added value of a biorefinery chain
we can assess:
The multiplicity of potential products, and
The number and diversity of involved economic
activities
Biorefining
Biorefinery Index
BI
Supply Chain Activation
index
SCAI

5
BI Index – The multiplicity of potential products
๏ State of the Art technology
๏ Low capacity to replace
petrochemical equivalents
๏ Alternative production routes
available
๏Innovation
๏High capacity to replace
petrochemical equivalents
๏Alternative production routes
not available
PRODUCT WEIGHTING FACTOR
Heat Digestate
Biofuels,
biomethane
Biomaterials
fibers, food
Power
Fertilizer,
feed,
biochar
Biochemicals
Building
Blocks,

6
SCAI Index
SCAI index is based on:
N = number of different NACE codes
involved
C= number of consortia involved
Number and diversity of involved economic activities

7
BI and SCAI values range
0 - 10
where
BI and SCAI indexes
Low added value
Limited product diversification
Limited economic chain
activation
0 - 5 6 - 10
High added value
High product diversification
Good economic chain activation

11
Power from vegetable oils
Heat Power
BI
2
SCAI
5,59

9
Biogas from corn supply chain
Heat Digestate Power
BI
2,5
SCAI
8,22

12
Local biorefineries have plenty of improvement opportunities, in particular
they can build on product differentiation (Low BI values)
The variety and diversity of economic activities involved is already good (Good
SCAI values)
These indexes can be used as tools in order to support regional targets in the
bio-economy domain
Discussion

Identify potential integrated Biobased Value Chains (BVCs) as
regional clusters of organizations
• Assess BVCs density in the region and integration extent
• Highlight key enabling technologies (KETs)
• BIOREFINERY GEODATABASE
UPSTREAM
DOWNSTREAM
CONVERSIO
N
Service provider
Authority
Multiplier organization
Research
Value Chain Mapping

KETs

14
Relevant and alternative
conversions for new
potential value chains

15
Relevant companies
(EBIDTA >0,1M€) involved
in secondary treatment
processes and equipment
providers for downstream.
They are ACTUALLY in the
value chain
The Biorefinery GeoDataBase
UPSTREAM CONVERSION DOWNSTREAM
110 entities
153 sites
Not just a collection !
Relevant and
well known
companies in the
field of the agro-
food industry (>
200 ton/year)
Relevant companies in the field
of petrochemical or chemical
specialties (EBIDTA >0,3M€).
These represent plants actually
hosting the technology,
potential sites, pilot plants or
laboratories

16
Main map (DB related)

17
PHA value chain

18
PLA value chain

19
PHA and PLA statistics

20
Upstream feedstocks

21
Conversion plants – state of the art

22
BiorefER Roadmap

23
Regulation impact

• Upstream, Conversion, Downstream and the other
biobased economy clusters can be seen as indipendent
entities in a broader and globalized view. Enlarge scope
and avoid short sighted visions!
• Some effort has to be put on the innovation side:
application of currently available KETs (e.g. sugar
catalyst)
• Potential application to other industrial symbiosis cases
(also heat symbiosis)
CONSIDERATIONS AND DISCUSSIONKETs

Climate-KIC project “Biohorizon- Horizon Scanning
the European Bioeconomy. ” 6 Biobased business
and/or research strategies within regions shaped
Focus Group “Industrial Symbiosis for
agricultural residues enhencement”
Identification and removal of barriers to the
faster and more widespread use of sustainable
types of plastics.
Bioenergy Support Center - capability center
providing leadership, demonstration, best
practices, research, support and/or training for
the bio-based sector.
Further development of the present work

Thanks
diego.marazza@unibo.it

BiorefER

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