1.Biomass residues potentials for advanced biofuels in Southern Europe

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Biomass residues potentials for advanced biofuels in Southern Europe

Residual biomass from agriculture and forestry activities is an abundant resource in many countries, that could feed value chains for biorefineries, producing advanced biofuels, bio-based chemicals and energy with a circular bioeconomy approach, in compliance with the biomass sustainability criteria of REDII. In BECOOL, a comprehensive assessment of the lignocellulosic residues from agriculture and forestry available in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey, was carried out by partners CRES and CIEMAT.

For this assessment, the BIORAISE2 GISbased tool developed by CIEMAT was utilized, combining EUROSTAT data on productivity and cultivated areas with geospatial data from CORINE land cover. Residue-toproduction ratios were applied and efficiency rates for the harvesting processes were also considered, for irrigated crops, rainfed crops, rice, vineyard, orchards, olive plantations and mixed crops (agroforestry systems consisting of herbaceous crops under sparse tree cover).

The availability of forest residues was estimated for broadleaved species, coniferous mixed stands, shrublands and agroforestry areas, using geospatial data from CORINE land cover, integrating the PanEuropean Map of Forest Biomass Increment and the Net Primary Production (NPP), with productivity tables derived from national forest inventories. The assessment also considered restrictions related to slope, erosion risk and soil organic carbon content of the different areas.

Fig 3. Annual availability of biomass residues in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey by type (k tons dry matter per year).

The study indicated that an amount of residual biomass up to 109.3 million dry tons is available every year in Southern European