LIFE & BioenergyThe EU LIFE Programme

Environment

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. Since 1992 it has co-financed pilot and demonstration projects that contribute to the implementation and development of EU environment policy and legislation.

LIFE projects have developed and demonstrated new technologies and methodologies to exploit renewable energy sources. The latter facilitates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrates ways of reducing the EU’s dependence on imported en-ergy. Of the many energy-related projects supported by LIFE to date, some 80 projects exclusively deal with bioenergy in order to replace fossil fuels with sustainable biofuels or bioliquids.

The LIFE programme has supported a wide range of biogas-related projects that demonstrate innovative anaerobic digestion and gasifica-tion techniques to produce biogas from biodegradable waste – e.g. municipal solid waste, manure and slurry – to produce heat and power. Furthermore, LIFE has backed projects which develop pioneer technologies for biomethane production either for injection into a natural gas pipeline or for usage as a fuel for vehicles. Some projects have also dealt with state of the art techniques for the capture and use of methane from landfills to generate heat and electricity. The programme also supported sustainably-harvested biomass from Natura 2000 sites or abandoned agricultural and industrial sites to generate heat and electricity. Other projects produced high-quality pellets from the sustainable use of logging residues. Finally, LIFE currently supports projects on the development strategies of ‘third-generation’ biofuels, in order to investigate various algal cultivation methods and their potential application in biofuel refineries.

Two successful LIFE projects are profiled below, followed by a list of 14 other notable projects. Further details about these, plus more than 60 other projects on bioenergy, can be found in the LIFE project database: ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/

Title: SMARt-CHP - Demonstration of a small-scale mobile agricultural residue gasification unit for decentralized combined heat and power production

Project number: LIFE08 ENV/GR/000576

Beneficiary: Research Committee Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (University)

Email: jimmer@auth.gr

Title: Sludge’s Wealth - Ennobling of sludge for energy use and industrial

Project number: LIFE09 ENV/IT/000186

Beneficiary: COOMI SOC.COOP. (SMEs enterprise)

Email: d.marangoni@coomi.it

Website: www.coomi.it/life.html

MANAGING

AGRICULTURAL

RESIDUES

WASTEWATER

TREATMENT

SMARt-CHP The SMARt-CHP project demonstrated an innovative, small-scale, “mobile” heat and power production unit which relies on the exploitation of agricul-tural residues, in rural areas. This unit promotes the concept of bioenergy use via a decentralized electrical energy production unit - it operates close to the place of feedstock origin – thus minimising transportation and logistic costs as well as weather uncertainties in the exploitation of biomass wastes.

The mobile unit couples a gasifier with an internal combustion engine and the generator is enclosed in a container with suitable dimensions for trans-portation. After the construction of the unit was completed, several biomass residues (forest residues, tree crops, arable and energy crops and nut shells and fruit kernels) were selected in order to test and demonstrate the new technology.

The SMARt-CHP unit overall efficiency achieved was 48%, the net electri-cal efficiency 6% and the thermal efficiency 42%, considering as input the calorific value of biomass (gasification process) plus the calorific value of propane (cogeneration process – gas combusts with propane) and as output both the useful electrical and useful thermal energy produced.

SMARt-CHP as an integrated flexible technology has the potential to pen-etrate the electricity production market and further promote decentralized energy generation which is likely to play a major role in the future.

Sludge’s Wealth The Sludge’s Wealth project successfully demonstrated a cost-effective and efficient pilot treatment system for relatively small volumes of biological sludge for offshore oil rigs and similar units that converts biological sludge with 75% humidity into combustible pellets.

A portable and small sized 12m-long pilot plant was constructed, based on a hybrid microwave and hot air heating technology (the designed elements include a system to level and convey the sludge into the process, a drying tunnel, the position and number of microwave generators and the electro-magnetic field distribution), in order to enhance the sludge and obtaining agglomerates with high calorific value (having a maximum water content of 18%), leading to an increased use of biological sludge in combustion plants.

The project team built and assessed a fully operational prototype, which achieved an annual conversion of 650 t of organic sludge with 75% humid-ity into sludge with 14%-18% of humidity through a highly efficient drying system, enabling the generation of 280 t of pellets with high heating power and easily transportable. It simultaneously ensured the elimination of un-pleasant odours and the longer life of the system’s components due to the lack of abrasion in the process.

The portability and small size of the plant makes it a very suitable and cost-effective option for small towns and specific contexts, like on oil rigs.

Factsheet-LIFE-Bioenergy.indd 1 24/09/15 12:15

© European Union, 2015Visit the LIFE website: ec.europa.eu/life

BIOGRID Biogas Injection into natural gas grid and use as vehi-cle fuel by upgrading it with a novel CO2 capture and storage technology

Beneficiary: NATURGAS ENERGIA DISTRIBUCIÓN, S.A. (Large enterprise)

BIOGASSYS Biogas Skåne –an energy system creating sustainable development by combating climate change

Beneficiary: Kommunförbundet Skåne (Public Enter-prise)

BioReGen Biomass, remediation, re-generation: Re-using brownfields sites for renewable energy crops

Beneficiary: University of Teesside

www.bioregen.eu/ LIFE05 ENV/UK/000128

BIOENERGY & FIRE PREV. Contribution of forest biomass generated in the preven-tion of forest fires in the EU energy strategy

Beneficiary: Ayuntamiento de Enguera (Local authority)

LIFE09 ENV/ES/000450

BUCEFALOS BlUe ConcEpt For A Low nutrient/carbOn System – regional aqua resource management

Beneficiary: Skåne Regional Council (Regional authority)

LIFE11 ENV/SE/000839

CO2ALGAEFIX CO2 capture and bio-fixation through microalgal culture

Beneficiary: ALGAENERGY, S.A. (Research Institution)

CHEFUB Creative high efficient and effective use of biomass

Beneficiary: BIOMASA, Association of Legal Entities (NGO foundation)

www.biomasa.sk/en/ LIFE08 ENV/SK/000240

Seq-Cure Integrated systems to enhance sequestration of carbon, producing energy crops by using organic residues

Beneficiary: Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali - CRPA S.p.A. (Research Institute)

LIFE06 ENV/IT/000266

BIOAGRO Innovative method for reduction of emissions of green house gases and waste from the agriculture sector

Beneficiary: Skånefrö Förvaltnings AB (SMEs enterprise)

PROGRASS Securing the Conservation of Natura Grassland Habitats with a Distributed Bioenergy Production

Beneficiary: University of Kassel

INTER-WASTE Demonstration of an integrated waste-to-energy system for energy generation from biodegradable organic waste and wastewater

Beneficiary: Cyprus University of Technology (University)

www.interwaste.org/ LIFE08 ENV/CY/000457

GREEN PELLETS Best sustainable life-cycle fittings for mixed herbaceous solid biofuels for heating to reduce GHG emissions

Beneficiary: Association d’Initiatives Locales pour l’Energie et l’Environnement (Development agency)

LIFE07 ENV/F/000178

BIOCELL Energy self-sustaining and environmental footprint reduction on wastewater treatment plants via fuel cells

Beneficiary: CETAQUA, Centro Tecnológico del Agua (Research Institution)

CITROFUEL Demonstration project on a new process for second-generation bio fuel production: bio ethanol from citrus flesh

Beneficiary: CITROTECNO (Professional organisation)

LIFE06 ENV/S/000517

http://kfsk.se/biogassys/ LIFE09 ENV/SE/000348

www.prograss.eu/ LIFE07 ENV/D/000222

LIFE10 ENV/ES/000496

www.bioenergy-project.eu/

LIFE07 ENV/E/000829

www.life-biocell.eu/ LIFE07 ENV/E/000847 LIFE09 ENV/ES/000433

www.crpa.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=3995&lang=en

SELECTIVE LIST – PROJECTS ON BIOENERGY

Factsheet-LIFE-Bioenergy.indd 2 24/09/15 12:15