Green Valleys 2.0
Projekt beskrivelse (danish)
Green Valleys er et 3-årigt EU-projekt (2023-02-01 – 2026-01-31), hvis formål er at etablere en udviklingsplatform for bioraffinering. Projektet skal via demonstrationsanlæg ved Töreboda i Västra Götaland og ved Foulum i Midtjylland demonstrere, hvordan raffinering af biomassen fra græsmarker kan levere bæredygtigt producerede energiprodukter og proteiner. Gennem et svensk-dansk forskningssamarbejde kommer vi også til at påvise hvordan cirkulær grøn bioøkonomi kan udgøre et hidtil uudnyttet potentiale for landbruget. Vi undersøger klima og miljøfordele ved regionalt dyrkede græsafgrøder, hvor græsset forarbejdes til bæredygtig energi og foder af høj kvalitet.
Project description (english)
This project is a continuation of Green Valleys that has been running during 2018 - 2022. The overarching goal with this new project is to promote a sustainable production of green protein in our region and to create new circular business opportunities for agriculture. We stand before great challenges today when it comes to increasing our self-sufficiency and reducing our dependence of imports of feed, fertilisers and energy. Green biorefining of grass and clover is an important piece of this puzzle. By using side-streams from the production of green protein, the possibilities increase for biorefining to become an economically viable alternative to imported plant proteins.
Results and knowledge generated in the project will be disseminated to a wide range of target groups. Examples of activities are demonstrations of biorefinery test pilots, webinairs, newsletters, films, podcasts etc to reach a broad audience. The project will build a Nordic knowledge platform for green biorefinery were information and research results will be found as well as other relevant information about biorefining and related technical systems solutions.
Another project goal is that local enterprises, farms or collaboration initiatives shall put together and discuss decision data as basis for investments in systems with green biorefineries. This is done by involving a number of interested enterprises, and the project¿s researchers and experts will coach these enterprises on economic issues as well as questions regarding technical solutions of biorefining.
The project aims at increasing the cooperation between Denmark, Sweden and partly also Norway so that we can make use of each other¿s knowledge and competence in order to solve the mutual challenges that our agriculture and food system now face. The project's Danish partners are Aarhus university and Skive kommun, and the Swedish partners are Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU), Chalmers, Västra Götalandsregionens Naturbruksförvaltning, Hushållningssällskapet Sjuhärad och Agroväst. The project has no Norweigan partners, but there will be collaborations with the institutes NIBIO and Sintef, and also with Vikens fylkeskommune.
One project goal is that the production of green protein shall increase in our region which requires local actors that want to invest and build biorefineries. It is therefore important that we can show profitability potentials in investments as well as positive environmental benefits. In the project we will assess the potential of using silage grass in the process in order to run the biorefinery all year round. The project will investigate how green protein from grass and clover can be used as fish feed and how the by-product press-cake can be used for feeding horses, sheep and cattle. The project will do experiments with biochar, and investigate how pyrolysis can be integrated in a biorefinery to produce biochar and heat for the process. Another activity is to investigate how more grasslands can increase biodiversity in agriculture landscapes by increasing grass-clover crops in rotations. The project will also look at the potential of using and refining the press-cake as a new raw material, e.g. for use in textile production.
Projektet er støttet af Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak-programmet
Contacts at AU Viborg
