Page 141 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

Annexes

Biorefinery Case-Studies: Analytical Frame and Model 1

Summary
Studying bio-refineries from an economic, social and environmental perspec-
tive has become a priority in the context of a future industrial bio-economy
that endeavours to replace an oil-based economy by a bio-based economy.
In practice, implementing an industrial bio-economy involves creating
bio-refineries. As a result, governments, industrialists, investors, analysts
and, more broadly, the public at large need to understand better the potential
effectiveness of bio-refineries.
In addition to a description of the bio-refinery under review, case studies
should include the following aspects: (a) description of the historical context
and the various stages of its construction; (b) presentation and discussion of
its business model; (c) analysis of industrial symbiosis and (d) discussion of
the future prospects of the bio-refinery.
The main difficulty of a case study arises mainly from the issue of data
confidentiality. The challenge is even greater in the case of an integrated
multiplayer bio-refinery since it requires the agreement of many entities. It is
thus crucial for bio-refinery owners and operators to be motivated and willing
to share their data.
An international series of case studies of bio-refineries will cover the area
sufficiently to provide the stakeholders with the data they need: for
governments to base their public policies; for regulators, investors and
insurers to assess risk levels; for industrialists to choose the right scale for
their endeavours; and for the general public to support or question this new
initiative.

1
Methodology presented on 12 June 2014 during a meeting of the OECD biotechnology working
group.
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 109
P.-A. Schieb et al., Biorefinery 2030, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47374-0