Mapping and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains in Andalusia and the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

The bioeconomy can play a critical role in helping countries to find alternative sustainable sources of products and energy. Countries with diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems will see diverging feedstock opportunities to develop these new value chains. Understanding the sources, composition, and regional availability of these biomass feedstocks is an essential first step in developing new sustainable bio-based value chains. In this paper, an assessment and analysis of regional biomass availability was conducted in the diverse regions of Andalusia and Ireland using a bioresource mapping model. The model provides regional stakeholders with a first glance at the regional opportunities with regards to feedstock availability and an estimate of the transportation costs associated with moving the feedstock to a different modelled location/region for the envisioned biorefinery plant. The analysis found that there were more than 30 million tonnes of (wet weight) biomass arisings from Ireland (84,000 km2) with only around 4.8 million tonnes from the Andalusian region (87,000 km2). The study found that Cork in Ireland stood out as the main contributor of biomass feedstock in the Irish region, with animal manures making the largest contribution. Meanwhile, the areas of Almería, Jaén, and Córdoba were the main contributors of biomass in the Andalusia region, with olive residues identified as the most abundant biomass resource. This analysis also found that, while considerable feedstock divergence existed within the regions, the mapping model could act as an effective tool for collecting and interpreting the regional data on a transnational basis.