BioEnergy 2021 - Research on Biomass Use

The key challenge to be faced in the future involves the transition to a renewables-based energy supply. Sustainable use of plant-based biomass, such as energy crops, wood and waste, will make a vital contribution to electricity, heat and fuel production.

Bioenergy allows for environmentally sound production processes and helps reduce dependency on fossil resources. Better exploiting the potential for bioenergy poses huge challenges for research and technology. Only with the help of the very latest developments in biotechnology, notably in systems biology, bioengineering and genome research, will it be possible to achieve the efficiency gains in the use of crops, waste and residual materials needed to enable energy from domestic biomass to be used on a large-scale and internationally competitive basis.

These research and development needs are addressed by the BioEnergy 2021 funding initiative set out in the 6th Energy Research Programme launched as part of Germany's High-Tech Strategy. Expertise from science and industry is to be consolidated to tackle common strategic goals. This calls for the further development of a range of use scenarios in a cross-sectoral approach, for example in energy supply, transportation and the production of chemicals. Close interdisciplinary linkage of crop cultivation and plant-based biotechnology with industrial biotechnology, chemical and physical conversion processes, processing technologies and downstream user segments will improve technology transfer, expand the scope of application and accelerate efficiency gains.

The BioEnergy 2021 funding initiative is divided into modules: biorefinery of the future, energy crops and the BioEnergy Ideas Competition. The initiative targets universities and other research institutes, as well as commercial enterprises that participate in the development and implementation of such models.