Ecological assessment of novel logistics concepts for biofuels

Biogenic fuels are increasingly relevant in recent times. However, there are considerable potentials available for exploration in addition to the established biofuels derived from oil, sugar and starch crops, assuming that entire plants could be utilized for the production of synthetic biofuels. However, newly harvested biomass is difficult to conserve due to its high water content and relatively low energy performance, rendering transport over longer distances inefficient and economically unviable.

The joint project BioLog focused on the challenge of processing fresh biomass into pellets, i.e. into a storable, high-energy, readily transportable form that could be used for application in large Biomass-to-Liquid facilities and power plants.

Within the joint project, ifeu was commissioned to carry out work package 7 “Ecological accompanying research”. The goals of the study included the analysis of the environmental impacts of BioLog bioenergy carriers and the ecological assessment of the BioLog concept based on these results. The results of the study were integrated into the final report on the work packages 6-8, available for download in separate files below.