Jean Monnet Module
“Promoting of European skills
and approaches for sustainable bioeconomy
in the conditions of Ukrainian acute challenges”
(PESAB)
Course 2
Sustainable biomass potentials of the European Union
and Ukraine
The main objective of PESAB is to promoting European Union's knowledge and skills for
the development of a sustainable
bioeconomy in Ukraine
in line with the EU bioeconomy strategy
Module
European knowledge
for a sustainable bioeconomy
in Ukraine
Biological resources are at the heart of the bioeconomy. These resources include genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations, or any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential use or value for humanity (CBD, 1992).
Biomass
Biomass is at the core of the bioeconomy and the key societal challenges it addresses. The demand for biomass is increasing worldwide, consequently, there is a growing need to assess and better understand how much biomass is available and can be mobilized sustainably, how much is being used and for which purposes, what are the biomass flows in the economy and how the increased pressure on natural resources can be reconciled with environmental, economic and social sustainability in Europe and globally.
Biomass
Biomass for energy must be produced, processed and used in a sustainable and efficient way in order to optimise greenhouse gas savings and maintain ecosystem services.
Biomass is derived from organic material such as trees, plants, and agricultural and urban waste. It can be used for heating, electricity generation, and transport fuels. Increasing the use of biomass in the EU can help diversify Europe's energy supply, create growth and jobs, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. It is also needed in the electricity production to balance variable renewables.
Biomass
Biomass production involves a chain of activities ranging from the growing of feedstock to final energy conversion. Each step along the way can pose different sustainability challenges that need to be managed.
Source: Yankov, D. (2022). Fermentative Lactic Acid Production From Lignocellulosic Feedstocks: From Source to Purified Product. Frontiers in Chemistry 10. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2022.823005
Biomass
The EU-27 sources roughly 1 billion tonnes dry matter of biomass per year. This biomass is mainly from the agriculture and forestry sectors, while fisheries and aquaculture supply less than 1 % of biomass dry matter. The biomass used for food purposes amounts to about half of all biomass used in the EU-27.
Approximately 80 % of the biomass produced for food in the EU-27 are destined for animal-based food, while 20 % is plant-based food.
The increase of the use of biomass in the period 2009-2017 was in the order of 1 % for food and 10 % for non-food purposes over the past two four-year periods.
Primary and secondary woody biomass use has increased by 25 % and 29 % respectively in the past two decades. Energy-use of woody biomass has increased in the EU by about 12 %
over the past two four-year periods.
Figure 1. Biomass sources and uses in the EU-27
Source: Report COM/2022/283: EU Bioeconomy Strategy Progress Report - European Bioeconomy policy: stocktaking and future developments.
Global biomass supply and use. As of 2018, the total global biomass supply from crops, livestock, forests and aquatic resources is estimated at about 23.2 billion tonnes annually. This figure is expected to increase to 26.7 billion tonnes in 2030.
Figure 2. Biomass supply
Source: Report COM/2022/283: EU Bioeconomy Strategy Progress Report - European Bioeconomy policy: stocktaking and future developments.
Share of global biomass supply and use аbout 22% of the total market size of the bioeconomy has been estimated to come from food and feed loss and waste. Food loss and waste is equivalent to about 1.6 billion tonnes of food yearly, and it is expected to grow to 2.1 billion tonnes by 2030.
Figure 3. Biomass sources and uses in the EU-27
Source: Report COM/2022/283: EU Bioeconomy Strategy Progress Report - European Bioeconomy policy: stocktaking and future developments.
Biomass production and the conversion of biomass into food, beverages, industrial bioproducts, liquid biofuels and bioelectricity employ 17.42 million people and generate €657 billion in added value in the EU's post-Brexit sectors in 2019.
These sectors of the bioeconomy employ 8.3% of the European workforce and contribute 4.7% of its GDP.
Figure 4. Value added (top chart) and employment (bottom chart). 2019 data for EU-27.
Source: JRC (2022). https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/BIOECONOMICS/index.html
Figure 5. Employment in EU 27
Source: https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/BIOECONOMICS/index.html
Agricultural biomass production in the European Union is estimated at 956 million tonnes (Mt) per year. 54% are primary products (grains, fruits, roots, tubers, etc.), i.e. economic production, and 46% are residues, e.g. leaves and stems.
Cereals account for more than half of the total EU economic production of agricultural biomass and almost three quarters of total residue production in the EU.
About 75% of the EU-282 economic and residue production comes from seven Member States: FR, DE, IT, PL, ES, RO and the UK.
Agricultural biomass
Figure 6. Evolution of annual agricultural biomass production (economic production and residues in Mt dry matter) in the EU-28 from 1998 to 2015. Dashed lines represent the 95% confidence intervals of the residue production in the EU-28.
Source: https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/BIOECONOMICS/
Primary woody biomass used in the different sectors are mainly based on domestic removals, only a minor quantity is imported. The wood-based industry uses some of these by-products, and a small amount of post-consumer wood for wood panels.
Woody biomass
Biomass for energy
Figure 7. Share of renewables in the EU's gross final energy consumption for 2016 and breakdown of the bioenergy contribution.
Source: Eurostat 2018b and NREAP Progress Reports.
Biomass supply for bioenergy (i.e. primary energy) in the EU reached 140 Mtoe in 2016. Of this, 96% was sourced from within the EU and the remaining 4% was imported from non-EU countries. EU-sourced biomass is mostly transformed into energy in the Member State in which it is produced, with only 7.2% being converted into energy in a different Member State.
Figure 8. Origin of biomass supplied for energy in 2016 in the EU-28.
Source: NREAP Progress Reports.
Figure 9. Gross inland bioenergy consumption in EU Member States in 2016: total in Mtoe (a) and per capita in kgoe/per capita (b).
Source: Eurostat 2018a
Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and the UK are the top five EU Member States as regards gross inland
consumption of bioenergy according to 2016 data, considering both domestic production and imports of the
bioenergy carriers. Those countries also experienced the highest levels of growth in bioenergy consumption over the period 2005-2016. During that period, bioenergy consumption in the EU increased by more than 60%. On the other hand, the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, as well as Austria, are the largest consumers on a per-capita basis.
Here are just five bio-innovations that contribute to a circular bioeconomy:
1.Insect protein for animal feed can be safely produced from food loss and waste;
2.Bioremediation that relies on the soil microbiome can provide organic nutrients to the soil and help restore degraded land and ecosystems;
3.Biologicals, such as biopesticides, biofertilizers and biostimulants can improve crop protection and enhance plant health, contributing to reduce food losses;
4.Micro-organisms such as microalgae can be used in wastewater treatment processes to recover nitrogen and phosphorous that can be used as fertilizers.;
5.Biodegradable and compostable products, such as food packaging made from fermented cheese whey and filter material from almond shells, can make separation and management of organic waste easier and reduce the amount of plastics disposed in landfits and waterways.