Dendromass4Europe aims at establishing sustainable, Short Rotation Coppice (SRC)-based, regional cropping systems for agricultural dendromass production on marginal land. The dendromass produced in SRC (ligneous biomass, bark and wood) will be supplied to dedicated bio-based value chains which will create additional job opportunities in rural areas. The supply chains will be tailored for optimum efficiency of supply logistics and for reducing carbondioxyde emissions. Innovative bio-based materials will help to replace fossil-based materials.
What are our objectives?
- Establishment and expansion of 2500 ha of short rotation poplar plantations on marginal or on currently unused agricultural land in rural areas
- Demonstration of the market introduction and the application of 4 New Bio-Based Materials (NBBM) linked to the establishment of 4 new bio-based value chains based upon adding higher value to both the wood and the bark of the poplars separately
- Reduction of dendromass costs through the adaptation and optimisation of innovative harvesting and storage systems
- Implementation of dedicated monitoring and applied-level research to ensure plantation quality, production stability, optimum poplar variety selection and risk avoidance
- Validation of the expected positive ecological impacts by assessing the life cycles of the NBBMs along the value chains (life cycle assessment)
What do we work on?
Work package 1 has the objective to form the legal and conceptual basis for the practical SRC operations which enables D4EU to establish and operate 2,500 ha of dendromass plantations with poplars on agricultural land. This land is currently not in use, underutilized or marginal. A further objective is the planning of adequate land valorisation and land improvement or remediation measures that enables D4EU to put underutilized soils back into production.
Work package 2 has the objective to demonstrate the successful establishment and growth of 2,500 ha SRC as well as the related supply chains for timber separated into wood and bark. This includes also the testing, development and demonstration of relevant harvesting technology. Connected to this, the development of efficient log storage and conservation methods for maintaining stems up to several months is of great importance for the industrial partners. This will ensure a continuous supply of wood and bark throughout the year at the desired quality. A third objective is the operational monitoring of the SRC. Because plant growth and yield is depending on site and soil parameters, it is important to survey these parameters carefully.
Work package 3 targets to ascertain suitable parameters for SRC logs utilization in a large scale industrial environment. In a further step, the results from the industry scale trials will be used to analyse the full cost and product impact of the novel feedstock on the production process.
Work package 4 aims to identify the fungicidal compounds in the bark linked with searching for the poplar species with the highest effective level of fungicidal substances. Furthermore, a new treatment method for fixing the fungicides in the bulk has to be developed. The examples will be used for determining the required proportion of natural fungicides in the New Bio-Based Material for a utmost protective effect.
Work package 5 will follow the approach of accompanying R&D. Thus all activities and the value chain establishment will be described with environmental and socio-economic assessments. Another objective is to derive possibilities to increase the acceptance of short rotation cropping system and to identify the scope for further system improvement in terms of eco-efficiency.
Work package 6 will focus on communication, exploitation and dissemination of project results, because Dendromass4Europe strives to strengthen the European bio-based industries by increasing their efficiency, profitability and competitiveness, and by optimal resource consumption.
Work package 7 is responsible for the activities related to the coordination of the project. That includes the technical, administrative, financial, and legal management of the project. The objective of work package 7 is to ensure an effective management of Dendromass4Europe’s day-to-day administration, project coordination and monitoring of the work in progress.
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