First workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry : held at hotel "De Wageningse Berg", Wageningen, the Netherlands (16 June 2006) : official minutes

On June the 16th the first ¿workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry¿ was held, bringing together different Dutch stakeholders, and addressing common as well as conflicting technical and market issues with regard to biorefinery opportunities. The first-of-akind workshop provided a forum for a technical review of state-of-the-art research leading to the development of biorefinery technologies. Biorefining refers to fractionating biomass into various separated products that possibly undergo further biological, (bio)chemical, physical and/or thermal chemical processing and separation. By means of co-producing chemicals (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers) the production costs of secondary energy carriers (e.g. transport fuels, heat, power) potentially could become more profitable, especially when biorefining is integrated into the existing chemical, material and power industries. The workshop revealed that although the knowledge to overcome existing technological barriers in the development of biorefinery concepts is available in the Netherlands, real initiatives as well as a commonly accepted Biorefining Vision ¿ and related Technology Roadmap (Strategic Research Agenda) ¿ are lacking. Defining an RD&D Technology Roadmap based on a Commonly Accepted Vision could help to stimulate and activate further developments and implementation, as long as it does not focus too much on defining new definitions and concepts. It should raise consciousness on the importance of developing biorefineries and how to overcome technical, ecologic and economic barriers, not on defining innumerable alternative concepts to the existing ones. This Roadmap will certainly require a considerable effort of all parties involved, i.e. research institutes and industry as well as government and social organisations. The first step towards defining a Roadmap will be to become aware of each others existing problems (technical, ecologic as well as economic), and the possible solutions that can be provided by each one. A close cooperation of different participants with a broad variety of disciplines within the recently formed Dutch Network on Biorefinery ¿ Biorefinery.nl ¿ will enable research, development, demonstration and implementation of innovative biorefinery concepts. The founders of the Biorefinery.nl initiative and organisers of the first workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry ¿ Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) ¿ therefore invite parties to participate in the Dutch Network on Biorefinery, in order to share `up-to-date¿ information about biorefinery activities, about promising combinations of products and fuels, and about expected production costs. This will enable them to establish their own company and marketing strategy as well as co-formulate a commonly accepted Vision on and RD&D Roadmap for Biorefining

First workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry : held at hotel "De Wageningse Berg", Wageningen, the Netherlands (16 June 2006) : official minutes

On June the 16th the first ¿workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry¿ was held, bringing together different Dutch stakeholders, and addressing common as well as conflicting technical and market issues with regard to biorefinery opportunities. The first-of-akind workshop provided a forum for a technical review of state-of-the-art research leading to the development of biorefinery technologies. Biorefining refers to fractionating biomass into various separated products that possibly undergo further biological, (bio)chemical, physical and/or thermal chemical processing and separation. By means of co-producing chemicals (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers) the production costs of secondary energy carriers (e.g. transport fuels, heat, power) potentially could become more profitable, especially when biorefining is integrated into the existing chemical, material and power industries. The workshop revealed that although the knowledge to overcome existing technological barriers in the development of biorefinery concepts is available in the Netherlands, real initiatives as well as a commonly accepted Biorefining Vision ¿ and related Technology Roadmap (Strategic Research Agenda) ¿ are lacking. Defining an RD&D Technology Roadmap based on a Commonly Accepted Vision could help to stimulate and activate further developments and implementation, as long as it does not focus too much on defining new definitions and concepts. It should raise consciousness on the importance of developing biorefineries and how to overcome technical, ecologic and economic barriers, not on defining innumerable alternative concepts to the existing ones. This Roadmap will certainly require a considerable effort of all parties involved, i.e. research institutes and industry as well as government and social organisations. The first step towards defining a Roadmap will be to become aware of each others existing problems (technical, ecologic as well as economic), and the possible solutions that can be provided by each one. A close cooperation of different participants with a broad variety of disciplines within the recently formed Dutch Network on Biorefinery ¿ Biorefinery.nl ¿ will enable research, development, demonstration and implementation of innovative biorefinery concepts. The founders of the Biorefinery.nl initiative and organisers of the first workshop on the possibilities of biorefinery concepts for the industry ¿ Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) ¿ therefore invite parties to participate in the Dutch Network on Biorefinery, in order to share `up-to-date¿ information about biorefinery activities, about promising combinations of products and fuels, and about expected production costs. This will enable them to establish their own company and marketing strategy as well as co-formulate a commonly accepted Vision on and RD&D Roadmap for Biorefining