March 2021 - LIFE CIRCforBIO

Α) Identity of the project

Description/Aim

The LIFE CIRCforBIO project aims to achieve high GHG emission savings from the substitution of fossil fuels with advanced biofuels as well as to promote the circular economy concept for the valorization of biomass.

The project’s two-fold aim will be achieved through (i) the implementation and demonstration of an innovative biorefinery system for the production of bioethanol, used oil (raw material for biodiesel) and other bioproducts from biomass including household food waste, catering waste (restaurants, cafeterias and bakeries) and agricultural residues from LAVRIO, as well as from industrial food waste (brewery-EZA SA, potato chips industry- TSAKIRIS SA and juice industry-ASPIS SA), (ii) the creation of an interactive platform for facilitating the realization of the circular economy concept for 2^nd generation biomass in Greece.

Β) Best Practices

LIFE CIRCforBIO project foresees a plethora of good practices for the dissemination of information to the general public, which are briefly described below:

• The project’ s website (http://www.circforbio.eu/) and the social media (Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LIFECIRCforBIO/ , Twitter https://twitter.com/circforbio, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/circforbiolifeproject ).
• The launching event, the open demonstration events of the biorefinery system and the interactive platform, the organization of an international scientific conference.
• Leaflets, Banners, Notice Boards, Newsletters, One video clip of the project.
• The attendance at scientific conferences, one-day information meetings and events relevant to climate change, biomass valorization and circular economy.
• The realization of a three-stage information campaign aiming at engaging LAVRIO biomass producers to participate at the source separation scheme.

The project’ s Steering Committee shall be responsible for ensuring the active participation of the stakeholders throughout the whole duration of the project.

The project’s expected good practices are:

• The implementation and demonstration of an innovative biorefinery system, to be installed at Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park (LTCP), for the maximization of the benefit from the production of added value products (bioethanol, used oil for the production of biodiesel, bioenergy, fertilizer) out of waste biomass.
• The creation of an interactive platform for facilitating the realization of the circular economy concept for 2^nd generation biomass in Greece.

C) Results

During the fifteen months of the project implementation the following milestones have been achieved. Indicatively:

a) The design of the feedstock collection system has been completed,
b) The engineering designs of most of the system’ s component treatment units (thermal pretreatment, anaerobic digestion, oil extraction, bioethanol production) have been completed,
c) The creation of the interactive platform for the 2^nd generation biomass has initiated,
d) A monitoring and evaluation protocol of the project’ s progress indicators has been established,
e) The website and the social media platforms have been launched and are updated on a regular basis,
f) The project’ s first set of Newsletters has been sent to relevant stakeholders.

The project’ s results can be utilized from all the different stakeholders categories, such as the biomass producers (municipalities and food industries), the policy makers, the industries or companies of the waste biomass bioconversion sector (e.g. anaerobic digestion industry), the end users of the bioproducts (e.g. biofuels and oil companies), the scientific community, as well as the general public. 

The project’ s results are available on the project’ s website, whereas for more information, you can contact with the project’ s team and through the project’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter και LinkedIn). 

The project’ s next steps include, inter alia, the installation of the biorefinery system at LTCP, the implementation of the information campaign at LAVRIO for the biomass producers, followed by the initiation of the source separation scheme and the operation of the biorefinery system.