SUCELLOG Newsletter - Issue 3

Dear reader,

In this issue of the SUCELLOG newsletter, we would like to inform you that a feasibility study and a business model have been conducted for the 4 selected agro-industries which are willing to become biomass logistic centre with the support of the project. National workshops have been organised by the national agrarian associations with the aim of involving regional agrarian associations of non-target regions in the project. The diagnosis and auditing service offered by the project to agro-industries wishing to become biomass logistic centres will be also a part of this issue.
 

The goal of SUCELLOG - Triggering the creation of biomass logistic centres by the agro-industry - is to boost the creation of biomass logistic centres inside the agro-industries as a complement to their usual activity, promoting a new business line for diversification with low investment.
 

SUCELLOG concept is based on the exploitation of the important synergies that agro-industries have to become solid biomass producers. Activities are developed at national and regional scale in Spain, France, Italy and Austria. Further information about the project is available under www.sucellog.eu.
 

SUCELLOG project supports 4 agro-industries in Europe to become biomass logistic centres using agricultural residues as raw material. A feasibility study and a complete business model have been conducted for them.

The summary of all four case studies is provided below.
Full documentation of the feasibility studies and business cases is available HERE under the section ‘Technical Reports’.
 

Cooperativa Agraria San Miguel de Tauste, Spain

Current activities	Available agrarian residues	Existing equipment that can be used	Outcomes of the feasibility study	Outcomes of the market assessment
Production of fodder pellets and bales from alfalfa   Cereal drying (mainly maize)   Production of feedstuff pellets	In 18 km radius and owned by members of the cooperative:   Cereal straw >11,000 t/year   Maize stalks >8,000 t/year	Two alfalfa production lines can be used for the pre-treatment of the solid biomass with minor modifications	Straw is the most interesting raw material   Blending with wood is required   The most competitive product is a Class B agro-pellet with a maximum 70% share of straw	Minimum selling price: 117 €/t 0.027 €/kWh   The price is positioned in the middle range of prices of solid biomass in the local market   Secondary benefits should be offered to consumers (e.g. using the ash as low-cost fertiliser, decreasing the Cl content of the soil)

Recommended business strategy Development of internal self-consumption chain targeted on the pig farmers which are the members for cooperative – being the suppliers of the straw and the consumers of the solid biomass. Biomass logistic centre should purchase the straw from pig farmers only under the condition that as well the annual or plurennial agro-pellet sale contracts are made.

 

Cooperative Luzéal-Saint Rémy, France

Current activities	Available agrarian residues	Existing equipment that can be used	Outcomes of the feasibility study	Outcomes of the market assessment
Production of fodder pellets and bales from alfalfa	In a radius of 30 km:   Cereal straw 32,000 t/year   Rape straw >40,000 t/year   Miscanthus, sawdust and wood chips are available for blending	Two current alfalfa production lines can be used for the pre-treatment of the solid biomass with minor modifications	Only cereal straw is considered, since rape straw is mainly left on the field as fertiliser   Blending is required   The most competitive product is a Class A agro-pellet with 60% straw/40% sawdust	Minimum selling price: 163 €/t 0.037 €/kWh   The production costs should be reduced in order to be competitive in the local industrial market dominated by wood chips

Recommended business strategy Two scenarios are currently being assessed: 1) Reduction of production costs; 2) Extending the range of the services provided by the Cooperative – selling not only the biomass, but also heat, becoming an ESCO (energy service company).

 

Società Cooperativa Agricola Le Rene s.r.l., Italy

Current activities	Available agrarian residues	Existing equipment that can be used	Outcomes of the feasibility study	Outcomes of the market assessment
Sunflower harvesting, treatment and trading   Cereal drying (maize and rarely wheat)   Production of pine nuts   Production of olive oil	Industrial residues from own activity   In 30 km radius: Olive pomace 1,500 t/year   Corn cobs 3,500 t/year   Prunings of permanent crops 2,500 t/year   Olive prunings 1,900 t/year	Vertical dryer used currently for corn and wheat drying is compatible with drying of olive pits   Pelletiser   25,000 m2 (open area) and 2,000 m3 (warehouse) of storage capacity	Despite high availability, cereal straw are not considered in a first step because of their price   The most competitive products are: Class A agro-pellets and mixed agro-prunings chips and hog fuel	Precise market prices of the products are not defined yet, since the exact quality of the produced fuel (ash and Cl content) is not known.   Production costs are comparatively low. Thus an attractive price for consumers can be offered.

Recommended business strategy The main consumers are expected to be households as well as medium to large consumers (industries, district heating plants, greenhouses). The manufacturing process of the agricultural prunings should be improved (diversifying the products obtained from them depending on the quality) and the residues from other processes (proper or connected with the agro-industry) should be re-used. The agro-pellets will represent the top product of the biomass logistic centre and the sub-products from agro-pellets production (chips and hog fuel from the agro-prunings treatment process) would be secondary products offered in the new business line.

 

Tchiggerl Agrar GmbH, Austria

Current activities	Available agrarian residues	Existing equipment that can be used	Outcomes of the feasibility study	Outcomes of the market assessment
Corn harvesting, treatment and trading   Logistic operating of straw   Pelletizing of corn cobs and straw for animal feeding and bedding	In 30 km radius:   Cereal straw 5,190 t/year   Hay 200 t/year   Corn cobs 15, 249 t/year	Drying facility that is currently used for drying the cobs used in animal bedding	Corn cobs are the most interesting raw material due to the lack of important competitive uses	Only corn cob-derived products are feasible. Corn cob grits offer large potential market and chance of good profit.   Minimum selling price of: Loose cobs 58 €/t 0.017 €/kWh Grits 144 €/t 0.038 €/kWh Pellets 192 €/t 0.044 €/kWh

Recommended business strategy The main consumers are expected to be farms and industries using wood chips and pellets. The market would be extended to households but they are currently not allowed to use corn cobs by law in Styria. The best strategy for the company would be also to produce a small amount of corn cob pellets to be proposed to the consumers as test products in order to facilitate the transition to grits.

 

Agro-industries can benefit from an auditing study FOR FREE within the SUCELLOG project. The possibility to become a biomass logistic centre will be studied by our experts, more specifically:  

Are you interested in receiving an audit service for free?
ASK FOR SUPPORT HERE

National workshops have been organised in the 4 target countries with the aim of promoting the project idea in the non-target regions among agro-industries and stakeholders and to motivate regional agrarian associations to receive training to become auditors.
 

	In Austria, the workshop took place in Vienna on 18 June 2015. It gathered the leading energy and biomass experts of the 9 federal regions in Austria.  In France, the workshop took place in Paris on 9 September 2015. 15 participants including regional associations of Services COOP de France attended the workshop.
	In Italy, the workshop took place in Pistoia on 23 September 2015. It gathered participants from agrarian associations, agrarian experts and employees of regional associations from the different Italian regions.
	In Spain, the workshop took place inside the event “Energy efficiency and Bioenergy in Cooperatives” celebrated in Madrid on 25 June 2015. The event gathered around 40 participants, including cooperatives, agrarian associations, policy makers and energy efficiency technical providers.

 

SUCELLOG project coordinator CIRCE will provide a free of charge 3 days international training-course to agrarian associations in Europe. The aim of the training is to build-up skills in the European agrarian sector for assessing agro-industries that have potential of diversifying their activities by developing biomass logistic centres in parallel to their day-to-day business activities. Participants from all European countries are cordially invited.

The provided course is free of charge and it will be organised in the timeframe between September and October 2016.

HERE!