Page 31 - Biorefinery 2030

xxx Introduction

• Industrial bioeconomy is interested in the conversion of biomass into products
that will fulfil human need by replacing raw materials of fossil origin with
renewable raw materials. In practical terms, this takes place via the construction
of biorefineries instead of oil refineries. The biorefinery is therefore the keystone
of the industrial bioeconomy that needs to be studied.
• The fact that stakeholders and actors are more and more concerned about the
great societal challenges that planet earth faces (demography, the depletion of
certain fossil resources, pollution, greenhouse gases, climate change, food secu-
rity) has led governmental organisations, governments, industry and citizens to
express their desire to move the production of goods and services towards a
phase of transition from an oil-sourced world to a bio-sourced one. 5
• The fact that the stakeholder community needs to take industrial decisions within
an appropriate timescale explains why we chose a timescale of 15 years (2030).
It must be remembered that, assuming a series of studies of biorefineries and
their context demonstrates that biorefineries are a suitable response to our
problems, the construction from scratch of a biorefinery (from design/drawings
to operation) takes between 4 and 5 years, and that it will take at least 10 more
years to obtain a return on the initial investment.
• This study of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery, the first of its kind, will
perhaps help to develop the momentum for a series of case studies to be carried
out all over the world. It might become a model for this type of study, be the
starting point for comparisons between different types of biorefineries and be the
basis for the development of research hypotheses.

How was the study realised?
Four aspects explain how the study was carried out:

• The issue of confidentiality is the main obstacle to such a study, insofar as, apart
from a few exceptional cases, the world’s biorefineries are all operated by
private companies. Due to this fact, only data that has to be published because
of company law or the requirements of transparency associated with regulatory
measures is available to researchers: however, establishments that are members
of groups are not identified in the group’s consolidated accounts. One of the only
ways to obtain access to data is thus to sign confidentiality agreements with the
operators of the biorefineries under examination. For this study, the authors were

5
In the years 2010–2012, major decisions, either managerial or in principle, were taken to foster an
industrial economy in the United States and in Europe, and also in certain nation states. Others may
well be taken in the near future (United Nations Conference, COP 21, December 2015, Paris).
Studies of biorefineries to better understand their form, their history, their strengths and
weaknesses, the conditions for their success and their future prospects are thus extremely appro-
priate in 2013–2014.