PROJECT FIRST YEAR REPORT
Grant Agreement number: 227299
Project acronym: Crops2industry
Project title: Non-food Crops-to-Industry schemes in EU27
Funding Scheme: Coordination and Support Action
Date of latest version of Annex I against which the assessment will be made:
Periodic report: 1st
Period covered: 1/9/09-31/2/11
Name, title and organization of the scientific representative of the project’s coordinator:
Tel: +30 210 6603394
Fax: +30 210 6603301
E-mail:
Project website address: www.crops2industry.eu
1st Progress Report 3/63
Table of contents
Declaration by the scientific representative of the project coordinator 3
1. Publishable summary 4
1.1 Concept and objectives of the project 4
1.2 Description of the work carried out and the main achievements 5
1.3 Description of future work 10
2. Project objectives for the period 13
3. Work progress and achievements during the period 16
4. Deliverables and milestones tables 39
5. Project management 44
6. Explanation of the use of resources 46
Partner 1. CRES 46
Partner 2. OECO 48
Partner 3. CHIMAR 49
Partner 4. UNIBO 50
Partner 5. FZJ 51
Partner 6. BOKU 52
Partner 7. BIOS 53
Partner 8. ICCEPT 54
Partner 9. INF&MP 55
Partner 10. AUA 57
Partner 11. KEFI 59
Partner 12. NCPRI 60
Partner 13. ITERG 61
7. Financial statements – Form C and Summary financial report 63
Declaration by the scientific representative of the project coordinator
I, as scientific representative of the coordinator of this project and in line with the obligations as stated in Article II.2.3 of the Grant Agreement declare that:
§ The attached periodic report represents an accurate description of the work carried out in this project for this reporting period;
§ The project (tick as appropriate):
o has fully achieved its objectives and technical goals for the period;
o has achieved most of its objectives and technical goals for the period with relatively minor deviations;
o has failed to achieve critical objectives and/or is not at all on schedule.
§ The public website is up to date, if applicable.
§ To my best knowledge, the financial statements which are being submitted as part of this report are in line with the actual work carried out and are consistent with the report on the resources used for the project (section 3.6) and if applicable with the certificate on financial statement.
§ All beneficiaries, in particular non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organizations and SMEs, have declared to have verified their legal status. Any changes have been reported under section 5 (Project Management) in accordance with Article II.3.f of the Grant Agreement.
Name of scientific representative of the coordinator: M. Christou
Date: 3/6/2011
Signature of scientific representative of the Coordinator:
1st Progress Report 3/63
1. Publishable summary
1.1 Concept and objectives of the project
Agricultural and forestry resources can provide renewable raw materials for a broad range of non-food products, such as chemicals, fibres, construction materials, lubricants, and fuels.
The ultimate objective of this project is to explore the potential of non-food crops, which can be domestically grown in EU27 context, for selected industrial applications, namely oils, fibers, resins, pharmaceuticals and other specialty products and outline and prioritise crops-to-products schemes, suitable for the different Member States, which will support sustainable, economic viable and competitive European bio-based industry and agriculture.
The non-food crops dealt in this project have been categorized into four categories, namely oil crops, fiber crops, carbohydrate crops and crops with other specialty uses, according to their final uses.
Likewise, the industrial uses of the non-food crops have been categorized into four categories, namely oils, fibers, resins and pharmaceutical and other specialty products.
This objective will be achieved through the following specific objectives
· Explore the potential of non-food crops, which can be domestically grown in EU27 countries, for selected industrial applications, namely oils, fibers, resins, pharmaceuticals and other specialty products (to be addressed in WP1)
· Identify current molecular genetics technologies (genomic and biotechnological tools) and suggest their potential applications in a crop-specific manner to address a wide range of breeding constraints regarding yields and tolerance to abiotic and biotic conditions (to be addressed in WP2).
· Explore the potential and feasibility of the European industry to make high-value biobased products from renewable agriculture and forestry feedstocks and biotechnological routes (to be addressed in WP3).
· Perform supply chain cost analysis, identify best business opportunities and assess the socio-economic impacts of selected crop-to-product schemes at EU-27, regional and country levels (to be addressed in WP4).
· Assess selected production and environmental impacts and identify a ‘core’ list of standards and criteria for the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of selected non-food crops-to-industrial-products systems (to be addressed in WP5).
· Perform an overall assessment aiming to select and prioritise crops-to-products schemes in technical, socio-economic and environmental terms (WP6).
· Develop a sound dissemination plan for distributing the information collected to targeted audience; provide a mechanism for bringing stakeholders together to force a coherent strategy for the promotion of bio-based products in Europe and link with other relevant projects (to be addressed in WP7).
The expected output is to identify whether and under which terms Europe has the potential and the technical competence to develop a competitive bio-industry fed by a sustainable agriculture.
1.2 Description of the work carried out and the main achievements
Non-food crops
Agriculture and forestry provide a wide number of crops that are used for a range of food as well as non-food products. The term ‘non-food crops’ is commonly used to indicate plants grown for non-food purposes, such as oils, fibres, chemicals, construction materials, lubricants, fuels etc. Nonetheless, it also contains food crops on the codition that they are used for non-food purposes. The development and commercialization of crops for non-food purposes can initiate new and expand current markets for agricultural feedstocks, reduce dependence on petroleum and other imports of critical materials, diversify agriculture, and strengthen rural and sustainable development.
Among the key drivers that promote the development of one or other market, in the short and long term, the following can be considered as the most important: regular crops’ feedstock supply and consistency in terms of quantity and quality, sustainable growth and environmental impacts, market demands and state of development, price competitiveness, and technological scale-up.
Taking these issues into account, extended reviews on a large number of oil, fibre, carbohydrate and other specialty crops are implemented during the first 18 months of the project. The final list of the crops by crop category contains the following:
Oil crops: Calendula/pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), Caper spurge (Euphorbia lagascae), Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), Castor (Ricinus communis), Cotton seed (Gossyium annum), Crambe (Crambe abyssinica), cuphea (Cuphea spp.), Ethiopean mustard (Brassica carinata), Honesty (Lunaria biennis), Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), Linseed/flax (Linum usitatissium), Rapeseed (Brassica napus), Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), Sunflower (Helianthus annus)
Fiber crops: Banana (Musa sp), Cotton (Gosypium hirsutum), Fibre sorghum (Sorghum bicolour), Flax (Linum usitatissimum), Giant reed (Arundo donax), Hemp (Cannabis sativa), Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), Loofah (Luffacylindrica), Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), Nettle (Urtica dioica), Phoenix (Phoenix theophrastii), Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), Yucca (Yucca gloriosa)
Carbohydrate crops: Cassava (Manihot esculenta), Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), Potato (Solanum sp), Sugar beet, Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), maize (Zea mays)
Other specialty crops: Calendula/pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), American coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia), Lavande (Lavandula angustifolia), Peppermint (Mentha piperata), Plantago (Plantago lanceolata).
For all these crops the reviews contain information on the main plant characteristics, and areas of origin, as well as information on their growing techniques, logistics, yields and yield quality and potential applications. Specific attention is given to the restricting factors and research gaps concerning their cultivation in large scale, due to the fact that the vast majority of them are not grown for commercial uses.
From the data collected so far it is evident that there is a variety of crops that are/could be grown in Europe at different level of different scales of growing capacities and industrial exploitation.
Because the list of selected crops was extended, the number of crops that will be further investigated in terms of their breeding capacities, financial and socioeconomic, sustainability and overall assessments is reduced as follows:
Oil crops: Rapeseed (including high erusic varieties), sunflower (including high oleic varieties) and flax.
Fiber crops: Flax, Hemp and Kenaf
Carbohydrate crops: Maize, potato, Sweet sorghum
Other specialty crops: American coneflower, Peppermint, Calendula
The criteria for this selection were the long tradition in growing these crops commercially in Europe, the high yielding potential and quality of the raw material produced as well as the fact that the European industry is currently using these crops. Consequently there are sufficient sets of data to use as inputs for the work packages on plant breeding, financial and socioeconomic, sustainability and overall assessment. Especially for the oil crops, new varieties of sunflower (high oleic varieties) and rapeseed (high erusic varieties) will be also included in the final assessments.
In addition, the available land for the cultivation of the crops was estimated for now, 2020 and 2030 already by the project 4F CROPS coordinated by CRES. The analysis of land availability was based on spatial agro-climate data and performed in GIS software. A major assumption was that food production cannot be affected, else the food market risks to be distort, and thus the non-food crops can be cultivated only on a surplus land. This land was estimated taking into account the set aside lands available for non-food crops, the increase of population over the years and the increase of yields per unit of land of the major agricultural commodities (cereals, maize, sugar beets). From the work carried out, it was found that at present terms, the total available land is around 13.2 Mha, while in 2020 it is expected to amount 20.5 Mha. A further increase up to 26.2 Mha is projected for 2030. The biggest available land for now and for 2020 is located in Spain with 3600 ha available for non-food crops, while in 2030 Poland will take the lead with 4000 ha. The top five countries in all timeframes will be: Spain, Germany, Poland, France and Romania. These five countries with the contribution of Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary will be the eight European countries that now give the 80.9 % available land for non-food crops, in 2020 could give 81.7% and in 2030 could give 84.5%.
Plant breeding
Current molecular genetics technologies (genomic and biotechnological tools) are reported in the project. Two reviews were made for the genetic and genomic resources respectively.
Nowadays, genetic resources are maintained in gene banks at the local and national level by governments, universities, botanical gardens, non-governmental organisations, companies, farmers and others in the private and public sectors. The two thirds of the world’s collected plant germplasm was maintained in Europe. In the review on the European Plant Genetic Resources, a list of germplasm collections for the selected crops was identified. Apart from kenaf, for which a dedicated European database was not identified, all the crops seem to have specific crop genetic databases. Likewise, a list of the genomic resources for each of the selected crops was identified.
Bio-based products
Markets for non-food crops serve multiple end users, the main ones being food, feed, fiber and fuel (4F) applications. As policy demand grows and industrial sectors seek alternative feedstocks to substitute fossil-derived substrates, the competition becomes high and risks arise for commodity price rises, land use, etc.
The non-food markets dealt in this project are oils, fibres, resins and pharmaceutical and other niche markets.
Extended reviews containing yielding capacities from various industrial crops streams, desirable quality characteristics that feedstock has to meet for mature industrial processes, current alternative resources for each industrial use, prospects to widen the range of potential feedstocks for the understudy industrial uses, based on the technology improvements, restricting factors that inhibit broader industrial use of the biomass feedstocks (supply, costs, physical traits, consistency in quality, technical performance, research gaps, etc) as well as research gaps, prospects and recommendations to procure bio-based products were identified and reported for the oil, fiber, resins and pharmaceutical and other specialty markets.
Targeted questionnaires were sent to industrial partners for consultation and confirmation of the results. Information collected so far from literature reviews, partner’s own expertise as well as from the targeted workshops.
The main conclusions so far indicate that:
Ä The shortage of science and technology does not seem to be an issue but putting the supply chain together and attract the market, which is fed by imports of low-cost raw material, is the real challenge. However, research on improving crop yields and technology efficiency is still imperative.
Ä Consistency in feedstock and bio-product, poses challenges for speciality products or special feedstocks (in terms of chemicals).
Ä A structure for prioritisation of the uses of main products and by-products is needed. The biorefinery concept is recommended because it improves the overall efficiency of the industrial plant by exploring all by-products for several uses.
Ä From the industrial part, more innovation in product development is needed, in order to promote investments.
Ä To attract investors the projects have to be bankable, else the investor is not going to have any support from the banks. Assessment of cost variables is required in order to estimate profits of the investments. Market appraisal and sensitivity of the costumers to the product quality and price is required in order to promote investments.
Ä Low prices of biomaterials will certainly attract customers
Ä Profitability is a decisive motive for crops to be cultivated. Which crops to grow depends on the latitude, security of supply, sustainability criteria and its final uses.
Ä As there are big markets, like the biofuels, and with small markets, like plastics, detailed business plans for crops are crucial. Bioenergy as a product is easy. The high value of low tonnage products shouldn’t be overlooked.
Ä CAP impact is huge. Any investment decision need long term financial stability. Social motives may still be in need for subsidies. Biomass need the same playfield as the other renewable, thus subsidies have to be put in the right direction and there must be a clear plan on how to remove them, because crop financial profitability should stand alone.