News

On the 14^th of June, the BioBIGG cross-border workshop on biomass potentials as well as market opportunities took place at the University of Greifswald arranged by RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) and SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). The main focus was on biomass potentials from agriculture and industry in the participating regions and how to get SMEs point-of-view on potential implementation of production of biomass-based materials, products and energy. The workshop included a world cafe with interesting discussions and knowledge-sharing among the participants.

On the 13^th of June, the University of Greifswald arranged a workshop about bioeconomy in rural areas with special focus on innovation in SMEs. The workshop focused on the establishment of the South Baltic Bioeconomy Network (SBBN) and how this could best be achieved. The aim is first of all to engage SMEs, business organisations and other potential members to take part in the network in order to boost knowledge-sharing on innovation potentials in bioeconomy in the South Baltic Area.

On the 25^th of May Gdańsk University of Technology arranged the first conference in the BioBIGG project. The conference highlighted a wide range of business potentials for SMEs within bioeconomy and also the current state of play for bioeconomy in the participating regions. The conference encompassed 18 presentations about different topics within the bioeconomy, e.g.:

• Boosting development of the bioeconomy from a regional perspective
• Use of biomass for functional biopolymers
• Alternative ways of producing keratin, gelatine, collagen and starch
• Opportunities for production of wood-plastic composites (WPC) from biomass residues
• Utilization of food waste for production of biogas
• The wood value chain – production of wood pellets from residues
• Sustainable utilization of biomass from rewetted peatlands

The conference also facilitated a discussion among the participants on how to develop the business potentials for SMEs within the bioeconomy. The conference gave a good overview of the many business potentials and innovation potentials.

The BioBIGG project will be hosting a conference about Business Potentials for SMEs within the Bioeconomy on the 24th of May in Gdańsk. Participation in the conference is free of charge. To see the programme and for more information about participating please visit the conference homepage https://mech.pg.edu.pl/biobigg2018/main-page

BioBIGG is now part of the Biorefine Cluster Europe initiative. Biorefine Cluster Europe interconnects projects and people working to support development of the biobased economy in Europe, striving to contribute to sustainable resource management and knowledge-sharing within the following four areas:

• Biobased (waste)streams as an input for the circular economy
• Bioprocesses
• Sustainable bioenergy production in its various shapes and forms
• Resource recovery: extracting minerals, chemicals, water and materials from biomass

Being part of Biorefine Cluster Europe will support the cross-border communication and dissemination of BioBIGG results and activities.

In March, the BioBIGG consortium went on a study tour to Brussels, Gent and Cologne to access the new knowledge and insights on how to develop the bioeconomy in the South Baltic Area.

The first day of the study tour started with a successful meeting with Biorefine Cluster Europe at Ghent University. Biorefine Cluster Europe interconnects projects and people working with recirculating biomass-based resources and strives to contribute to sustainable resource management. Afterwards, the tour went on to Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant to access the knowledge about SME piloting of production of bio-based products.

The second day started with a visit to the EU-offices of Region Zealand and Region Skåne to learn about the current agenda of the development of the bioeconomy in the EU. The last stop on the BioBIGG study tour was at Nova Institute in Cologne to gather insights into the development of markets for bio-based products and services in the future.

On the 6^th of February, the national coordinators of the EUSBSR approved BioBIGG as a new flagship project under Horizontal Action Climate in the Baltic Sea Region Strategy. We in the BioBIGG consortium are very proud and honoured to become a member of the EUSBSR flagship family. The flagship status will provide a unique platform for communication and dissemination of the project results and activities. By interacting with other key stakeholders, we are keen to further develop the bioeconomy in the wider Baltic Sea region.

On the 15^th and 16^th of January the BioBIGG project held a successful cross-border Mapping Lab in Lund and Alnarp in Sweden. The mapping lab was arranged by RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) and SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and focused on knowledge sharing and creating a common understanding of the approach for mapping of material flows of residues from woody and agro-food value chains. The Mapping Lab also included a study tour to SYSAV, a regional waste treatment facility with and its innovative pre-treatment plant for municipal organic waste and industrial food waste, as well as a presentation by Region Skåne on the development of the regional bioeconomy.

On the 6^th and 7^th of December the BioBIGG project hosted two succesfull workshop in Gdańsk. The two were hosted by Gdańsk University of technology at focussed on the State of play for bioeconomy in the South Baltic Area and Development of a common framework for a sustainable bioeconomy with participants from all project partner and also several associated partners.

On the 20th of October RUC visited Lyndgården Biogas to learn about their experience with utilization of straw for biogas production. From 2015 to 2016 Lynggården Biogas and Euromilling A/S have together in a demonstration project partly funded by the Danish EUDP program been testing an innovative pre-treatment technology at the biogas plant. In a hammer mill the straw is grinded into a particle size of 2 mm and afterward it is premixed with the slurry before being feed to the reactor tank. The very fine milling of straw is expected to improve the biogas yield for the feedstock with 10-15 percent.  Peder Andersen that owns the farm based biogas plant hopes that he can utilise 3.000 tons straw per year and that it will improve the total biogas yield per ton going into the plant that today can handle 30.000 tons per year in total.