A grouping of Bio4Energy experts on systems analysis has won a large grant to map out new value chains for the production of biochar, a type of charcoal, for use in industry or as a carbon sink.

They will do this by running a project within a national Graduate School of PhD students, coordinated from Linköping University (LiU), Sweden who will work together to lay bare both industrial and technology issues implicated, plus create policy recommendations and tools to implement them.

Biocarbon – with the application biochar, which is a form of biomass pre-treated in high temperatures and in a limited-oxygen environment – is being extensively investigated as an alternative to fossil coal in industrial processes, such as in the iron and steel industry.

However, with each major new replacement product comes the need to ascertain that it is sustainable in terms of economics, as well as social and environmental impacts; and that it can form or fit into the context it is in.

“We are going to develop knowledge about raw material sources for biocarbon and inventory flows of biomass in Sweden”.

“We are going to develop knowledge about raw material sources for biocarbon and inventory flows of biomass in Sweden”, said David Agar, senior lecturer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Agar is one of four Bio4Energy research leaders involved.

“We will look at surplus sources from the forest industry, pulp and paper and sawmills…. It doesn’t mean that we have to stick only with the big industries. We could look at recycled products or waste”, he said.

In addition to new value chains for production, the project will deliver policy recommendations and create a pool of in depth knowledge about markets, tools for policy-making and technology, according to the project description on the LiU website.

When it came to the potential of biocarbon and biochar as an alternative technology to fossil fuels, Agar said that the project would map out both potentials and limitations.

“You cannot expect to have exactly the same process. You have to have something to compensate for the high carbon content of fossil fuels. You have to have a very pure carbon source, with good heating value”, he added.

“You cannot expect to have exactly the same process. You have to have something to compensate for the high carbon content of fossil fuels. You have to have a very pure carbon source, with good heating value”.

Carbon source still needed in steelmaking, despite electrification

While it is true that there is a sweeping electrification underway, there are still industrial processes that require either a fossil or alternative source of fuel or gas.

”In fossil fuel-free steel production the plan is to use electricity both in the process of direct reduction and in the electric arc furnace”, according to project leader Elisabeth Wetterlund, Luleå University of Technology (LTU).

Direct reduction is the removal of oxygen from iron ore or other iron bearing materials in the solid state, while an electric arc furnace is a type of furnace used in steelmaking to melt and refine steel scrap or other raw materials, transforming them into molten steel.

Professor Wetterlund explained that while both of these processes are powered by renewable electricity, the addition of a fossil or renewable carbon source is still required to complement the hydrogen that is used for the reduction.

“Despite the electrification we still need carbon to produce the kind of steel we want and create appropriate conditions inside the electric arc furnace. This is where biochar comes in, as a replacement for coal and coke-oven coke”, she wrote in reply to questions.

The national Graduate School in Energy Systems is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Contacts

Elisabeth Wetterlund – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with LTU

David Agar – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with SLU

Dan Bergström – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with SLU

Robert Lundmark – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with LTU

Related projects

Nitrogen in biochars from biomass residual streams – forms, fate and plant availability in soils – Bio4Energy

Bio2Char – Pre-feasibility study of new residual streams as feedstock for production of biochar for industrial applications – Bio4Energy

Doped biochar materials for bio-based batteries – in-situ characterisation and understanding of structural versus electrochemical properties, BioBat – Bio4Energy

Design of biochar from residual streams – influence of fuel and process parameters on biochar properties for water and soil applications – Bio4Energy

Paving the road for introducing renewable energy carriers in large industries – Bio4Energy

Improvement of LCA and economic methodology for upscaling biofuel and bio material production – Bio4Energy

Activated and non-activated biochars and hydrochars from forestry-related waste streams for removal of environmental contaminants from sediments – Bio4Energy

Increasing the use of renewable energy carriers in Swedish mineral processing industries – Bio4Energy

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