News
New booklet published on role of biomass in the circular economy
How much biomass production is there in the Netherlands, Europe and the world? Which biomass streams are there and where do they come from? And how can we use biomass to reduce the use of fossil fuel and close production and consumption cycles? The new booklet "Biomass and the circular economy: everything you wanted to know about biomass but never dared to ask" contains the latest facts & figures about biomass and offers tools for numerous applications, from human consumption and animal feed to energy, materials and chemical applications.
“This is our story, based on more than 25 years of research in the field,” says Harriëtte Bos from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, who co-authored the publication with her colleagues Johan van Groenestijn and Paulien Harmsen. "The booklet examines what biomass is and how it can be sensibly used in the economy. It also contains an overview of existing technologies and those under development."
... And we address the question of how much of the human need for materials and energy can be met with biomass. In this sense, the booklet aims to contribute to the sometimes-heated social debate about the use and availability of biomass with facts & figures from our research.
Applications for each type of biomass
According to Bos, the booklet is interesting for all those dealing with the circular economy professionally or as a student. “Our goal was to help orientate the question of which biomass you can use for which purpose. We think that every type of biomass has a preferred application. A mixed wet residual flow is best fermented into biogas as fermentation is the most obvious technology for this. On the other hand, should you wish to produce chemical building blocks from biomass, then a clean, sugar-rich residual flow is the best raw material. In this way, we linked all types of biomass to preferred applications.”
Online and hard-copy version
Biomass and the circular economy is part of the Green Raw Materials series of handy booklets which highlight various aspects of the circular bioeconomy. It can be found online.