The potential to provide energy from biomass within the energy system depends very much on the biomass availability determined by the possible yield on limited land on one side and the demand for food, fodder and the biomass used as a raw material on the other.

Since all biomass markets – and especially the energy markets – will grow considerably globally and in Europe in the future, the economic pressure to use the limited biomass resources efficiently – from a technical, economic, and environmental perspective – is strongly increasing in the years to come. Against this background, the poly-generation approach will gain even more importance in the future, since it allows high overall conversion efficiencies.

Against this background, the objective of the upcoming R&D in this field is it to find answers to the still open questions related to the further optimisation of such integrated polygeneration approaches. This contributes to implement this approach technically and economically within the energy industry. Only if this will be realised, biomass can contribute substantially to climate change mitigation and resource conservation. Additionally, the combination of thermal-chemical and bio-chemical conversion routes will help to improve the feasibility and the environmental and economic sustainability of these systems.

Especially related to promising combinations of thermal and biological conversion systems and routes many questions are still open which have to be answered through further and more intensive research. All these efforts will lead at the end to the overall concept of bio-refineries, in which valuable and standardised secondary energy carriers as well as products for the material use (like bulk chemicals, pharmaceutical) will be provided from various biomass feedstock

Additionally to the R&D-challenges outlined already the main task will be to combine processes for the provision of energy and raw materials waste-free within a win-win-situation. Against this background the conference offers a platform for the exchange of innovative ideas, unconventional concepts, new conversion processes, optimised process combinations, integrated plant concepts and surprising measurement results.

Univ. Prof. Hermann Hofbauer

Prof. Hofbauer is head of the Chemical Engineering Department at the Vienna University of Technology and is leading the Future Energy Technology Working Group. He has been honored with several national and international awards for his scientific contributions and his precursory work in renewables. In addition to this he was the initiator of the renewable energy network in Austria which made the Güssing model possible. Currently he is key researcher in the BIOENERGY 2020+ center of excellence beside his academic engagement.

Univ. Prof. Martin Kaltschmitt

Prof. Kaltschmitt is an educated petroleum scientist but switched over to renewables early in his academic career. Since then he is a pioneer of biomass technology and research in renewables in Germany and he, as the Scientific Managing Director, had built up the German Biomass Research Centre, in Leipzig. He is author of several books and a tremendous number of scientific publications. Currently he is head of the Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics at the Hamburg University of Technology.