Bioparcs
In Bioparcs we want to make existing bio- or agro-production systems more sustainable. We can do this e.g. by bringing all necessary facilities for the (agro-)production closer together, thus removing the need for transport. It can also mean that processes on the field are combined with an end-processing step, or the removal of water in the waste streams.
• Small scale. What is the smallest sustainable farm that is economically feasible? How many farmers and farming processes does it involve? Which farming processes are most suitable to combine? How can we increase sustainability and profit by adding farming processes to small existing farms? How and how much can units for energy storage and conversion improve sustainability and profit? By building or using mathematical models these issues will be investigated and quantified. (Van Willigenburg, Van Boxtel)
• Larger scale. Can we build a “city” that is (almost) totally sustainable and (almost) totally self-supporting? Which industrial and farming processes are needed to achieve this? What are basic needs and what are luxuries? What is the largest and smallest number of inhabitants of such a city? By building or using mathematical models these issues will be investigated and quantified. (Van Willigenburg)
• How to design a system of cooperative production units? Given a set of (farming, industrial) processes with input and output streams of feed, products, waste and energy. How can these be combined/interconnected to obtain maximum profit and sustainability? How should these be quantified? How and how much can units for energy storage and conversion improve the result? (Van Willigenburg)
• How to control cooperative production units? Simple mathematical models of production units are generally static meaning that their inputs and outputs are constant over time. A major problem concerning energy production and distribution relates to the variability in time. Energy is often produced and available at times when it is not needed. Control of systems realizes and handles variability by synchronizing inputs and outputs of production units over time. Clearly units that store output streams, such as energy, are of great importance for synchronization. As important are their controls that determine the policy to fill and empty them. By building dynamic mathematical models of production units that describe their variability over time their (optimal) control will be investigated. (Van Willigenburg)
• For your own farm company at home: look at it from a biorefinery point of view. Determine the ingoing and outgoing material flows, and suggest other (better) ways to decrease the amount of waste and transport to and from the company. (Van Ooteghem)
• Milk processing: milk concentration at the farm
When milk is concentrated at the farm, transport costs towards the factory can be reduced. We think that milk can be concentrated by water evaporation and using zeolites to harvest the latent energy in the vapour. The ideas for this system have to be developed further and the concepts have to be evaluated experimentally. (Van Boxtel)