The scientific collaboration between the Institute of Physics of the University of Latvia and partners SINTEF (Norway), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania) and Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) started in 2020. The project “Development of microwave-assisted biomass gasification technologies for heat and fuel production for climate neutrality in Europe (MiBio)” was prepared and submitted to the Baltic Research Programme call with the aim to intensify the applicability of biomass for efficient energy production by improving the key properties of biomass from different origins through microwave pre-treatment of biomass feedstocks. The project was evaluated positively, but there were insufficient funds to finance the project and the project was not implemented and no active scientific cooperation between the organisations developed. In order to intensify the cooperation between the partners, it was decided to participate in the Baltic Research Programme restricted call in 2023 in order to receive funding to write a new project to improve the MiBio project and resubmit it to one of the open calls for scientific research. Therefore, in collaboration with Norwegian (SINTEF), Lithuanian (KTU) and Estonian (Taltech) partners, we started work on the preparation of the new project entitled: “Project development for active control of thermochemical transformations of regional biomass resources with improved quality of produced energy and increased climate neutrality in Europe (BioTech)”.
BioTech aims to create a new project that meets the European Commission’s key objectives of developing innovative methods to reduce climate change by increasing renewable energy production and efficiency by at least 32% by 2030 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050 to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, including the Baltic Sea region. Building on and complementing the research planned in the Baltic Research Programme project MiBio, the BioTech project aimed to develop a streamlined project that is in line with the Horizon Europe priority “Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Use of Energy”.
Project achievements
The Biotech project consisted of developing five activities between May 2023 and April 2024, analysing the latest scientific research in the field relevant to MIBio’s research, searching for and analysing calls for proposals, evaluating the activities to be carried out in the new project, searching for partners and developing and submitting a new project proposal. The evaluation of the possible calls for proposals showed that our research, which was foreseen within the MiBio project and covers the funding period of the Biotech project, is best suited to the Horizon Europe call “CL5-2024-D4-01 (Efficient, sustainable and inclusive use of energy)” entitled “Alternative heating systems for efficient, flexible and electrified heat production in industry”.
An important step in the development of the BioTech project involved analysing the state of the research results in line with the aims and objectives of the innovative research to be carried out during the project. Previous research carried out by LUFI has led to the conclusion that microwave pre-treatment of biomass pellets of different origin provides an effective improvement of the structure, elemental composition and calorific value of biomass of different origin, which can be achieved by varying the microwave irradiation temperature or irradiation duration. (Fig. 1) /1,2/.
Figure 1. Changes in elemental composition and calorific value of biomass pellets from different origins with changing microwave irradiation temperature
Changes in the elemental composition and calorific value of biomass significantly affect the thermal decomposition rates of its main components – cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin – leading to faster volatile compounds release, ignition and combustion. According to these changes, the heat capacity of the combustion process, the rate of heat release and the amount of energy produced per unit weight of biomass combusted increase accordingly (Fig. 2). Improvements in the combustion of renewable fuels-activated biomass increase the amount of carbon burned, leading to an increase in carbon-neutral CO2 emissions but reducing the global warming impact of heat producers.
Figure 2. Effect of microwave temperature variation on heat power kinetics (a) and heat energy produced (b) in the combustion of activated biomass.
Taking into account the influence of microwaves on the elemental composition of biomass and combustion process characteristics, the activities of the upgraded project will involve research on microwave treatments of biomass of different structure and composition to ensure efficient improvement of key characterisation parameters for bioenergy and biogas or biochar production. As a result of in-depth studies of these production processes and an analysis of the main aims and objectives of the Horizon call, the Horizon Europe project proposal “Alternative electric heating technologies for flexible, efficient and sustainable use of biomass in the energy transition” (Wood-e) has been prepared and submitted. Taking into account the main objectives of the project activities, it was concluded that the involvement of additional partners with experience in biomass processing with microwaves and plasma flow, life cycle assessments of these processes and their industrial applications would be desirable. As a result, a search and recruitment of partners was carried out, expanding the team of project implementers and bringing in partners from Belgium (MEAM), Greece (NTUA Veltis), Spain (INV) and an industrial partner from Latvia (Fortes). The Norwegian partner SINTEF took responsibility for the preparation and submission of the final version of the project, involving these experienced partners in the preparation of the project activities and main tasks. The in-depth project Wood-E has been prepared and submitted on time (18.04.2024). It involves innovative research to control and improve the thermal decomposition (gasification) of biomass with efficient production of bioenergy (electricity and heat) using alternative heat sources (microwave and plasma flow).
Project challenges and benefits
One of the main challenges of the project was finding the right tender for the project. Only one Horizon Europe tender was found, “Alternative heating systems for efficient, flexible and electrified heat production in industry”, with a topic, execution and submission timing that matched the Biotech project timeline.Therefore, intensive work was already started in December last year to find partners and to prepare a project suitable for this call. The search for partners was severely constrained by the strict conditions of this call in terms of the implementation of the research results in the industry, so that the project team was only established at the beginning of March. The new project consortium consists of SINTEF (Norway), University of Latvia (Latvia), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), MEAM International (Belgium) with expertise in the design and construction of microwave heating systems, National Technical University of Athens (Greece) with expertise in plasma tar conversion experiments, a partner from Veltis (Greece) with expertise in impact studies in different industrial sectors and business cases, and a consulting partner INV (Spain). In addition, an industrial partner Fortes (Latvia) with expertise in biomass gasification and bioenergy production (electricity and heat) was included to develop microwave and plasma heating systems as alternative heat source technologies for the cogeneration industry. SINTEF took the lead of the project, ensuring intensive work on the final version of the project. Thanks to the experience and expertise of the partners INVENIAM (Spain) and their advice, the project was prepared and submitted on time for evaluation.
The analysis carried out by the BioTech project shows that increasing global warming calls for a wider use of renewable biomass feedstocks for green and efficient energy production, which is becoming increasingly important and requires innovative scientific solutions to improve the key properties of biomass feedstocks in order to reduce the impact of energy producers on GHG emissions.
A detailed analysis of the state of the art of the research to be carried out under the Biotech project was essential for the selection of the Horizon Europe call for proposals, the aims and objectives of which are in line with the MioBio project framework, opening up opportunities for its development and complementarity.
The preparation of the Horizon Europe project was more complex as it involved the requirement to develop an innovative technology for biomass pre-treatment and bioenergy production on an industrial scale. This made it necessary to extend the project’s research by bringing in new partners. Bringing in partners with experience in bioenergy production and quality improvement opened the way to an innovative project whose results can deliver efficient bioenergy production at industrial scale with improved emission composition, ensuring greater use of local bioenergy resources while reducing the use of fossil fuels. Attracting new and experienced partners to the project was a decisive factor in ensuring the timely preparation and submission of the innovative project.
Continuation of the project and cooperation
The new project will provide extensive research and data-based recommendations for the efficient use of biomass feedstocks from different origins for microwave heating and the development of efficient energy generation technologies for domestic heating and industry.
In addition, the aim and objectives of the selected Horizon Europe call activities include research related to improving and extending the results of numerical simulations of biomass thermal decomposition with research results at industrial scale. In addition, the project foresees studies related to life cycle analysis, sustainability, market analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis of the systems developed for bioenergy and biofuel production.
In line with the objectives of the Baltic Research Programme, which aims to strengthen multilateral relations between the Baltic States and donor research organisations, the Biotech project has fostered research collaboration between the Institute of Physics at the University of Latvia and donor partners from Norway, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as developed new partnerships. The new project application foresees research to develop an industrial scale innovative technology for efficient energy production, thus strengthening the cooperation between partners, which is defined as the main added value of the donor partner. The Norwegian partner (SINTEF) took responsibility for the preparation and submission of the improved project, with partners from Latvia (IPUL, Fortes), Lithuania (KTU), Estonia (TalTech). Belgium (MEAM), Greece (NTUA, Veltis) and Spain (INVENIAM). The partners involved in the project have experience in biomass characterisation and improvement (IPUL, TalTech), biogas and bioenergy production (IPUL, Fortes), biomass treatment with microwaves (IPUL, MEAM), improvement of combustion of volatiles using plasma flow. (NTUA) and in cost and sustainability assessment of these new technologies for industrial applications (KTU, Veltis). More efficient industrial-scale bioenergy production using these alternative technologies will lead to a wider and more efficient use of indigenous renewable energy sources, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental impact of energy producers, which can be qualified as key benefits of the new Horizon Europe project application under development.
Application of different skills of the 9 partners involved in the project with experience in experimental research (IPUL, Taltech), numerical simulation (SINTEF), industrial application of processes developing thermochemical conversion of biomass (Fortes) and partners’ skills in process management, using microwave torrefaction of biomass (MEAM, IPUL) and plasma flow induced combustion control of volatiles and tars (NTUA) will contribute to the sustainability of the partners’ collaboration not only at project level but also beyond the project lifetime. It should be noted that the experience of the donor partner SINTEF in numerical modelling of biomass thermal decomposition will be effectively used to scale up microwave-induced biomass quenching for industrial applications with process optimisation. In fact, the cooperation between the partners during the implementation of the project, assessing the skills of each partner, their equipment and programmes after the implementation of the project can be used to ensure a wider use of locally available biomass feedstocks of different origin in each country and their selectively pre-processed mixtures, efficient energy production by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. This makes it possible to reduce greenhouse carbon emissions (CO2) during energy production, limiting the impact of energy producers on the Earth’s climate change.
- Goldšteins L., Valdmanis R., Zaķe M., Arshanitsa A. and Andersone A., Thermal Decomposition and Combustion of Microwave Pre-treated Biomass Pellets, Processes, 2021, 9, 492. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030492, https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/3/492/pdf
- Goldsteins L., Dzenis M., G., Šints V., Valdmanis R., Zake M., Arshanitsa A., Microwave pre-treatment and blending of biomass pellets for sustainable use of local energy resources in energy production, Energies special issue “Renewable Energy from Solid Waste”, Energies 2022, 15, 3347. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093347
The Baltic Research Programme is implemented with the support of EEA grants within the framework of programme “Research and Education”, which is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Latvian Council of Science. The total funding of the programme is 8,676,084 euros, of which the state budget co-financing is 15% or 1,301,413 euros and the EEA co-financing is 85% or 7,374,671 euros. In the Baltic research programme, 9 research projects and 5 small cooperation projects are implemented in Latvia.
The Baltic Research Programme’s project “Project development for active control of thermochemical conversion of regional biomass resources with improved quality of produced energy and increase of European climate neutrality (BioTech)” is implemented by the University of Latvia (Latvia), SINTEF (Norway), Tallinnn University of Technology (Estonia), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania)