Dear EBTP Stakeholder,

The 2012 European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative Conference organised by the European Commission in Brussles on 5 June attracted 130 biofuels stakeholders The conclusions from the conference reinforced the views of the EBTP that:

• sustainable biofuels are necessary to reach Europe's renewable energy and greenhouse gas savings ambitions;
• conversion technologies are available and ready for large scale deployment; and
• the EIBI is a crucial tool to help achieve those targets.

A key recommendation was that a stable, long-term political environment is needed to deploy the EIBI. Sustainability remains an overriding issue, and EBTP Working Groups continue to work closely on sustainable feedstocks in co-operation with other biomass users (heat, power, biorefineries, utilities, etc.). The EBTP is also very conscious of the need for the EIBI to co-operate with and complement other initiatives, such as the proposed Private Public Partnership (PPP) on Biobased Industries. Initial discussions on the scope and role of each initiative have started.

The EBTP welcomes the continued EC support for advanced biofuels within the latest FP7 Calls under Energy, KBBE, ERA-NET, Environment and Transport, including a Concerted Support Action for the EBTP.

The Interim results of the NER300 call have just been published. A number of bioenergy and biofuels projects are listed in the Candidates for Award Decisions within the renewable energy section.

The EBTP is pleased to announce that the 5th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting (SPM5) will be held in Brussels in February 2013. The precise date and venue will be confirmed soon. Stakeholders are invited to send conference theme suggestions to the EBTP Secretariat, which is happy to assist with enquiries related to topics covered in this newsletter.

Wishing all Biofuels Stakeholders a good summer.

Lars Hansen
Chair, Steering Committee, European Biofuels Technology Platform

The EBTP continues to help in shaping the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative in close collaboration with the European Commission and Member States.

The 2012 European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative Conference was held by the European Commission in Brussels on 5 June 2012. 130 Stakeholders from across the biofuels value chains attended. The aim of this conference was to provide key decision makers, financing institutions, media and the general public with a better and more in-depth understanding of the aims and benefits of the EIBI roadmap and investment in EIBI projects.

The EIBI was launched at the Belgian presidency SET-Plan conference in November 2010, following extensive co-operation between industry, Member States and the EC on agreeing common objectives, a roadmap and an action plan. The major milestones of the EIBI are: the 2020 Technology Roadmap included in the 2009 SET-Plan Communication, the Implementation plan for 2010-2012, agreeing on Key Performance Indicators, mapping of existing EU and national projects, identifying financial needs and barriers, mobilising the aviation sector through the Biofuels Flightpath Initiative, publishing of a Call for Expression of Interest, which is to support the 2012 ERA-NET Plus for demonstration of advanced bioenergy technologies.

2012 EIBI Conference Presentations and Video (Web Streaming) are now available.

In addition to the EIBI, a wider initiative has been instigated on Public Private Partnerships for Biobased Industry in Europe.

On 30 November 2011 the EC made its proposal for the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, including provisions for public-private partnerships. Biobased industry stakeholders across Europe then worked together to develop an initial proposal on the PPP. A concept note was prepared and delivered to the EC at the end of May 2012.

So far, more than 30 founding members have been mobilized willing to commit significant funding to the PPP - with the potential of matching public funding. The key aspects of the PPP are:

• biomass mobilization for biorefineries;
• financing of biorefineries;
• market and policies to realize the bioeconomy.

A research roadmap for the PPP is currently under development and will be finalized by late August.

EC Public Consultation on Biobased Industries PPP

On 13 July 2012, the EC launched a public consultation on Bio-based industries, towards a public-private partnership under Horizon 2020.

This public consultation, which runs until 6 October 2012, is intended to provide opportunities for input on the state of play of the full biobased industries value chain in Europe, in particular with regard to aspects related to research and innovation. A public-private partnership is being envisaged to implement research and innovation activities under Horizon 2020. This consultation is specifically seeking input in connection therewith.

The consultation invites inputs from all those directly or indirectly connected with biobased industries including, representatives of public authorities, farmers and foresters, businesses and associations, academics and technical experts, civil society organisations and individual citizens.

Linkage between EIBI and Biobased Industries PPP

Industrial members of the EIBI team support a structured linkage between the two initiatives (EIBI and Biobased PPP) which should highlight their similarities and differences. The industrial members of the EIBI are willing to support the EC in creating this articulation and input into the definition of respective scopes, activities and governances of the two initiatives.

The latest FP7 Calls were published on CORDIS on 10 July 2012 and included a number of calls relating to biofuels within FP7 Topics on Energy, KBBE, ERA-NET and Transport, as outlined below:

ENERGY

II.3.2 Topic ENERGY.2013.3.2.1: Pre-commercial industrial scale demonstration plant on paraffinic biofuels for use in aviation.
The call aims at industrially led projects with large-scale installed production capacity (ideally in the range of several thousand tons per year).

Please note: In order to facilitate the preparation of good industry-led proposals for demonstration projects the Unit New energy technologies, innovation and clean coal, DG ENER C2, is organising an informal presentation of this Topic to all interested parties on Friday 28 September 2012 at its premises in Brussels. If you are interested in participating in this meeting please complete the registration form and return it by email at the latest by 14 September 2012.

Topic ENERGY.2013.3.7.1: Support to the sustainable delivery of non-food biomass feedstock at local, regional and pan-European level.
The objectives of this project are to develop Strategies, Roadmaps and Tools (SRT) in support of decision-making at local, regional and Pan-European level. This will involve economic, social, environmental and logistics research building on most relevant data and projects.

Topic ENERGY.2013.3.7.2: Support to key activities of the European BiofuelsTechnology Platform (EBTP)
The objective of this support action is to provide support to those activities of the EBTP which are of interest for the biofuel community as a whole, and for the general public.

ERA-NET

Topic ENERGY.2013.10.1.1: ERA-NET Plus – Bioenergy: Demonstrations of the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative (See Page 48)
The aim of this ERA-NET Plus is to continue to promote joint strategic planning and programming for the implementation of Bioenergy demonstration projects, in accordance with the priorities set out in the EIBI.

KBBE

KBBE.2013.3.2-02: The CO₂ algae biorefinery
The topic aims at developing innovative approaches to tackle the major challenges intrinsic to the development of the algae biorefineries.

Area 2.3.3 Industrial biotechnology: novel high added-value bio-products and bioprocesses

While second generation biofuels are not necessarily specified in each individual topic description, there are a number of generic calls relating to biobased products, biorefinery processes and synthetic biology that are relevant to advanced biofuels value chains. For example:

KBBE.2013.3.3-01: Support for demonstrating the potential of biotechnological applications
KBBE.2013.3.3-02: Bioeconomy and bioregions
KBBE.2013.3.4-01: Preventing and valorising bio-waste in biorefineries

Note: On 18 September 2012, SusChem (The Sustainable Chemistry Platform) is organising a brokerage event to encourage partnerships in several of these topic areas, which may be of relevance to advanced biofuels stakeholders.

NMP

NMP.2013.3.0-2 Integrated processing and Control Systems for Sustainable Production in Farms and Forests

Environment

ENV.2013.6.3-1 Turning waste into a resource through innovative technologies, processes and services

Transport

AAT.2013.7-2. Coordinating research and innovation in the field of sustainable alternative fuels for Aviation
The coordination action will address the research and innovation in the field of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation, including related technical, environmental, business and economic aspects. It will assemble and link initiatives and projects in the EU Member States and at the EU level in that field.

The European Commission has published interim results of the selection process under the first call for proposals of the NER300 funding programme for innovative low-carbon technologies. With the bulk of the project selection work completed, the technical document takes stock of progress and includes preliminary lists of candidate and reserve projects that could be awarded co-funding.

The Commission will formally ask Member States to confirm the projects and national co-funding in early October 2012, with a view to finalising its funding decisions by the end of this year. The Commission estimates that co-funding of €1.3-1.5 billion could be available for the first call. This would allow some three carbon capture and geological storage projects and up to 16 renewable energy projects to be co-funded.

A number of bioenergy projects are among the Candidates for Award Decisions within the renewable energy section as detailed in SWD(2012) 224 final: NER300 - Moving towards a low carbon economy and boosting innovation, growth and employment across the EU

The 5th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting of the EBTP will be held in Brussels in
February 2013. More details - including date and venue - will be circulated to all stakeholders after the summer break. The EBTP Secretariat welcomes stakeholders' suggestions for key themes and topics for discussion.

On 19 June 2012, ZEP / EBTP JTF on Bio-CCS published its report “Biomass with CO2 Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS), which has been presented to the European Commission and received coverage in the biofuels and bioenergy media.

This report was produced by the Zero Emissions Platform with input from the European Biofuels Technology Platform.

Bio-CCS combines sustainable biomass conversion with CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) – e.g. in biofuels and bioenergy production – and is already being deployed at industrial scale in the U.S.. Use of biofuels and bioenergy is steadily increasing in the EU, and certain biofuels production routes could provide “low-hanging fruits” for early, low-cost CCS deployment.

Welcome to new EBTP Steering Commitee members

The 26th meeting of the EBTP Steering Committee was held in Brussels on 19 June 2012.

The EBTP is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Steering Committee members Niels Ole Knudsen, DONG Energy, and Pierre Porot, IFP Energies Nouvelles, who will also continue as a Vice-chair of Working Group 2 (Conversion).

Updates on selected activites in advanced biofuels demonstration and deployment

In Italy, Gruppo M&G is progressing well with the Crescentino ethanol plant; the start-up phase is planned for Q4 2012. The company also plans a flagship plant, possibly in Italy also. Gruppo M&G has signed an agreement with a Brazilian company who will use M&G technology for 5 plants (bagasse-ethanol) with a size of 80 M litres.

In Italy, Gruppo M&G is progressing well with the Crescentino cellulosic ethanol plant, with the inauguration scheduled for September 2012. Gruppo M&G has also signed an agreement with a Brazilian company who will use M&G technology for 5 plants (bagasse to ethanol) with a size of 80M litres.

The Danish biorefinery alliance has presented a report on the biobased economy to parliamentary representatives. One immediate aim in Denmark is to construct a full-scale straw-to-ethanol plant. Novozymes has signed a supply agreement to a cellulosic ethanol factory in China.

In Sweden, the GoBiGas project is progressing on schedule. The first stage of the gasification plant (about 20 MWgas) will be operational in late 2012. The second stage (about 80 MWgas) is scheduled to be built in 2013-2015 and put into service by 2016. Part of the planned investment in the Domsjö BioDME plant has been withdrawn. However, the Chemrec Pitea pilot plant is operating very steadily and the Volvo test trucks are performing well, and progress towards large-scale commercial production of BioDME in Sweden continues.

The German Biorefinery Roadmap, which presents a comprehensive overview of different biorefinery technologies and ways to implement them, was launched on June 20th in Frankfurt. The Roadmap was developed by the federal government, in close co-operation with industry and science, to identify the current status and future development needs of biorefinery concepts, and is aligned with EU biorefinery activities.

In Austria, BDI currently has two research projects at the pilot stage. A pyrolysis pilot plant at OWI will start production in July 2012. BDI is also involved in the FP7 All-Gas project on conversion of microalgae to biodiesel, which is part of the FP7 Algae Cluster, along with the BIOFAT and InteSusAl projects.

The first stage of the All-Gas pilot plant is now running in southern Spain. The current pilot plant of 200m² will be increased to 2 ha within the next two years. Abengoa continues with the construction of a plant for advanced biofuels from corn stover in Kansas, USA. Production should start by end 2013. Abengoa was also awarded grants for a R&D project to find new products from sugar (biorefinery concept).

BRISK, which promotes and enables Europewide research cooperation in thermochemical conversion technology, is now developing its first projects. BRISK offers funding to researchers, both within and outside the project, to carry out research at any of the 26 partners' experimental facilities, which are located across Europe.

Updates on pyrolysis developments by country have been recently published by the IEA Bioenergy Task 34 - Pyrolysis.

Updates on international developments in biofuels technology are made to the EBTP website each week, covering advanced production processes, end use, feedstocks and sustainability.

Update on EBTP Working Groups

Working Group 1 (Biomass) is moving forward with its horizontal Working Group in co-operation with the Renewable Heating and Cooling TP (RHC TP). The aim is to define/update the key requirements for sustainable biomass supply chains in terms of research, demonstration and pilot plants for heat, electricity, CHP and transport, accounting for synergies and competition across sectors. The Group will meet in September or October 2012 with the aim of drafting a specific RTD agenda for biomass supply chains in Europe by the end of 2012.

Working Group 2 (Conversion) will continue to focus on short / long term research needs on advanced conversion technologies, as well as gathering further feedback on Bio-CCS and CHP synergies.

Working Group 3 (End use) is currently awaiting the appointment of a new chair. Candidates are to be suggested to the EBTP Secretariat by mid July 2012.

Plans to integrate Working Groups 4 and 5 activites are continuing (as discussed in EBTP Newsletter 12 - April 2012). This reflects the close link between policy, market development and sustainability issues for advanced biofuels. Sustainability remains an overriding issue for all EBTP WGs.

The EBTP Task Force on Algae (TFA) plans to contact the main European algae organisations in July 2012 with a short questionnaire on their activities and research agendas. The aim is to increase networking and to cross-check research agendas to define common research highlights.

25 April 2012 – 8th EIBI Team meeting, Brussels, Belgium
Markku Karlsson, Valentin Ruiz Santa Quiteria, Carmen Millan, Anders Lau Tuxen, Cristina Degano and Mona Brinker represented EBTP

5 June 2012 – EIBI extended meeting, Brussels, Belgium
Lars Hansen and Birger Kerckow moderated sessions on behalf of the EBTP

19 June 2012 – 26th Steering Committee of the EBTP, Brussels, Belgium

20 June 2012 – Using Structural and Cohesion Funds to achieve the 2020 energy and climate targets, Brussels, Belgium
Mona Brinker represented EBTP

20 June 2012 – Incentives for biofuels in aviation, Brussels, Belgium
Ingvar Landälv, Carmen Millan and Mona Brinker represented EBTP

02 July 2012 – EU Stakeholder Meeting on biofuels blending options
Marc Gillmann, J-F Gruson and Dorothée Lahaussois represented EBTP

03 July 2012 – 9th EIBI Team Meeting
Lars Hansen, Carmen Millan, Cristina Degano, Markku Karlsson, Valentin Ruiz Santa Quiteria and Birger Kerckow represented EBTP

Links and details for the following biofuels and bioenergy events are included on the events page of the EBTP website. Please check regularly as new events are added each week. Selected events for late Summer / Autumn 2012 are listed below.

27-31 August 2012 - Bioenergy from Forest - Conference and Exhibition
Jyväskylä and Jämsä, Finland

10-12 September 2012 - 5th European Biomass Market Forum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

26-27 September 2012 - Lignofuels 2012
Stockholm, Sweden

17-19 October 2012 - Biofuels 2012
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

23-25 October 2012 - 4th Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference
Helsinki, Finland

29 October - 1 November 2012 - 2nd European Biorefinery Training School
Wageningen, The Netherlands

28-29 November - Bioenergy Commodity Trading 2012
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

February 2013 - 5th EBTP Stakeholder Plenary Meeting (SPM5)
Brussels, Belgium (date and venue to be confirmed a.s.a.p.)

Links to a number of new biofuels reports have been added to the EBTP Reports Database in recent weeks. Links to biofuels presentations are also included on relevant pages of the EBTP website. Examples include:

Biomass/feedstocks

Biomass with CO₂ Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS) - The way forward for Europe
Bio-CCS Joint Task Force (Zero Emissions Platform / EBTP)

Mobilising Cereal Straw in the EU to Feed Advanced Biofuel Production
Institute for European Environmental Policy IEEP (Report produced for Novozymes)

Policy and Markets

IEA Task 40 Country Reports on Biofuels Trade and Markets 2011
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and US
IEA Task 40

CARS 21 High Level Group on the Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth of the Automotive Industry in the European Union - Final Report 2012
CARS 21 - Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st Century

Sustainability

Smart Use of Residues - Exploring the factors affecting the sustainable extraction rate of agricultural residues for advanced biofuels
WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature

Determination Basis for the Level and Volatility of Agricultural Commodity Prices in International Markets - Implications for World Nutrition and Policy Formulation
Union for the Promotion of Oilseeds and Protein Plants (UFOP) and the Association of the German Biofuel Indistry (VDB)