The UK's Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has launched a new project in its Bioenergy programme - Techno-economic assessment of Biomass pre-processing - and is seeking partners to deliver it by issuing a request for proposals.
ETI modelling suggests that any future UK energy system capable of delivering on its climate change targets that is built without the use of bioenergy would cost more than £50 billion per year more by 2050. ETI's own analysis and work by the Committee on Climate Change and work funded by the UK Research Councils (for example TSec-Biosys, Supergen and the Rural Economy Land Use Programmes) have shown the UK could potentially utilise reasonable volumes of domestically grown biomass to help fuel the UK's energy future. To achieve this and in order for bio-dedicated conversion technologies to be confidently designed and deployed, there is a need for greater knowledge of the variability in feedstock characteristics, and understanding of how these affect, on a system level, the overall costs and performance of biomass value chains. A significant part of this is the need to assess the system level value of biomass pre-processing activities.
The Techno-economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-processing project will provide an assessment of the economic and performance trade-offs associated with pre-processing options, and the value they may provide compared with more conventional technology improvement approaches. The project will assess and compare two different bioenergy system approaches - one without any significant pre-processing steps between feedstock production and energy conversion process and one incorporating intermediate pre-processing activities. These steps may include processes to densify biomass to aid transportation and storage; processes to improve biomass handling; and/or processes to modify the chemical composition of the raw biomass feedstocks.
The project will run in conjunction with another ETI project launched in July to characterise UK grown feedstocks.
The deadline for submitting proposals for either of these projects is 29 August 2014.
The Techno-Economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-processing request for proposals document can be viewed at: <http://www.eti.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bio-Techno-economic-assessment-RfP.pdf>
The Techno-Economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-processing 'Due Diligence' document can be viewed at: <http://www.eti.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bio-Techno-economic-assessment-RfP-Due-Diligence-Table.pdf>
The Techno-Economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-processing 'Intention to Submit' document can be viewed at: <http://www.eti.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bio-Techno-economic-assessment-RfP-Intention-to-Submit.pdf>
The Techno-Economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-processing 'Non - Disclosure Agreement' document can be viewed at: <http://www.eti.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bio-Techno-economic-assessment-RfP-NDA.pdf>
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