Project
Title
Development and implementation of a new, and non existent, logistic chain on biomass from pruning.
Acronym
EuroPruning
Start
15.04.2013
End
14.07.2016
Coordinating Institute
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOS - Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption
Coordinator
José Luis Vadillolópez
Contact
Partner
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOS - Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
CONSIGLIO PER LA RICERCA E SPERIMENTAZIONE IN AGRICOLTURA
Terraquat
COOP de France
Greenovate! Europe
UNIWERSYTET PRZYRODNICZY WE WROCLAWIU - Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (former Agriculture University Wroclaw)
MITRAFOR
Obstgut Marquardt GbR
Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering (PIMR)
ONG snc di Naldoni Domenico e Giacometti Roberto
CONFEDERACIÓN DE COOPERATIVAS AGRARIAS DE ESPAÑA
ECOADESO, S.L.
MOBITRON AB
Summary
The European Union currently creates more than 25 million tonnes of agricultural wood prunings each year, but only a marginal percentage is used as solid biofuel.
The EuroPruning project seeks to turn prunings into a valuable fuel source by developing solutions for their harvesting, transportation and storage that will create growth in the European biofuels market. Horticultural pruning by-products are an essentially unexploited biomass resource. In order to modify this, new logistics need to be developed to make the collection and use of prunings economically, technically and environmentally sound.
EuroPruning will develop new machinery for harvesting and treating prunings from the field, provide solutions for cost-effective storage options, and develop a decision-support tool to improve logistics from farm to final user. EuroPruning will monitor the value chain in terms of economic performance, biomass quality, sustainability, and conservation of soil properties. Demonstrations of the identified value chains for Mediterranean, Oceanic and Continental climates will be held in Spain (peach, almond), France (wine), and Germany (apple, cherry) to show their feasibility and to evaluate the performance of the project results.
The ATB is responsible for the field trials in Germany and simultaneously involved in the investigation on the Spanish and French experimental plots. ATB research focusses on investigating soil effects of pruning waste when used as organic fertilizer and on measuring of greenhouse gases from soils.
EuroPruning is funded by the EU for a period of three years. 17 partners from 7 countries are involved. The project is coordinated by the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE), Spain.
Funding
Europäische Union (EU)
Grant agreement number
FP7-KBBE-2012-6
Funding framework
FP7