Leipzig, Germany, November 23, 2024

SEMPRE-BIO 2^nd General Assembly

The SEMPRE-BIO project recently concluded its 2^nd General Assembly, held over two days from November 23rd to 24th at the DBFZ’s headquarters in Leipzig, Germany. This assembly was a pivotal moment for the project, bringing together representatives from all partners to discuss achievements, ongoing work, and future endeavors.

Project overview:

SEMPRE-BIO (SEcuring doMestic PRoduction of cost-Effective BIOmethane) is a €9.9M project financed under the Horizon Europe Cluster 5 programme running from November 2022 to April 2026. SEMPRE-BIO aims to demonstrate novel and cost-effective biomethane production solutions and pathways, deemed essential to achieve the European Green Deal and climate and energy targets for 2030 and the net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and to increase the market up-take of biomethane-related technologies.

European Biomethane Innovation Ecosystems:

The SEMPRE-BIO project operates in Baix Llobregat (Spain), Bourges (France), and Adinkerke (Belgium), where it has established three European Biomethane Innovation Ecosystems (EBIEs). These EBIEs serve as demoplants to ensure replicability, accelerating the development and uptake of novel biomethane production technologies across Europe. The project looks to lower investment and operating costs, optimize feedstock supply and use, identify alternative feedstocks, and enhance overall plant efficiency and operations.

Key Objectives:

• Reduce investment and operating costs.
• Optimize feedstock supply and use.
• Identify alternative feedstocks and reduce associated costs.
• Improve plant efficiency and operations.
• Account for carbon savings.
• Increase and monetize co-benefits, such as from the commercialization of digestate or the valorization of residual gas streams.

Achievements and Progress:

This General Assembly provided a platform for representatives from all project partners to convene, both in-person and online. Discussions revolved around the significant progress made, challenges faced, and future activities planned. Attendees engaged in fruitful conversations aimed at advancing the project’s goals and ensuring its success in contributing to the broader European sustainability agenda. Over the course of this dynamic event, we delved into critical topics, including the progress and findings from three illuminating case studies. Our discussions spotlighted the intricacies of the valorization of CO2 from biomethane streams, economic assessments, and the market uptake of our cutting-edge technologies. Additionally, we evaluated the effectiveness of our communication and dissemination activities, ensuring our message resonates with impact.

The event commenced with a comprehensive presentation by Project Coordinator Alejandra Córdova (CETAQUA), providing an overview of the consortium composition, the EBIEs and three case studies (CS), the progress and status of the project regarding time passed, budget used, deliverables and milestones submitted.

This presentation was followed by the participation of the External Advisory Board, who also joined the event. Gabriella Papa, Jesús Cacho, Juan Lema and Johannes Gulden briefly described their experience and expertise to all present.

The following sessions were the presentations for the three CSs with Oriol Casal (CETAQUA), Pyerre-Yves Möcaer (TERRAWATT) and Andrea Munaretto (CRYO INOX), who talked about CS1, CS2 and CS3 respectively. They detailed the technologies used, the processes required, partners involved, the current construction status of the plants – including permits, plant design and actual construction, equipment procurement, purchase and installation –, successes and failures of the testing carried out and initial results.

After this, Lidia Paredes and Georgina del Puerto (BETA-UVIC) took the stage to talk about the different activities carried out about the valorisation of CO2. The first half of the talk explained how they identified the current CO2 valorisation plants from pilot to market scale at EU level using literature research and surveys to partners and sibling projects. As a result of this activity, a map of current CO2 valorisation plants in Europe will be soon available in this website. The second half of the talk was dedicated to the testing carried out for the validation and demonstration of the technical feasibility to produce three compounds of interests from CO2 (biopolymers, biochemicals, alternative protein sources) and enhance the cost-effectiveness of biomethane production in the market.

Jaqueline Daniel-Gromke (DBFZ) spearheaded the session focused on the economic assessment and market adoption of biomethane production technologies. She elaborated on the process of gathering essential data from each case study (CS) to facilitate the initial modelling conducted by SINTEF. Matteo Gilardi (SINTEF) then provided an overview of the results of this modelling conducted for the three EBIEs, highlighting the key assumptions that were considered. Furthermore, he delved into areas where data gaps existed, underscoring the need to address these deficiencies to enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the models.

Laia Mencia (INVENIAM) provided an insightful update on the progress of SEMPRE-BIO’s Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation (C&D&E) efforts. She meticulously assessed the performance of C&D channels, highlighting successful strategies and areas for improvement and outlined a strategic roadmap for future actions. Additionally, Laia also detailed future actions for the ongoing collaboration with Biorefine Cluster Europe.

The last session of the event belonged to Alejandra Córdova reviewing several aspects for the successful management of the project. This included aspects such as dates for fast and future deliverables, financial reports, project risks, relevant stakeholders for the EBIEs and most immediate actions for 2024.

The General Assembly culminated with an engaging visit to the state-of-the-art infrastructure at DBFZ. Attendees were afforded a unique opportunity to delve into the heart of innovation, gaining firsthand insights into the cutting-edge laboratories and dynamic projects currently underway.

The SEMPRE-BIO project remains committed to pioneering advancements in biomethane production, contributing to a greener, more sustainable future. With collaborative efforts and a shared vision among its partners, SEMPRE-BIO is poised to make lasting contributions to achieving Europe’s environmental goals.

For more information about SEMPRE-BIO visit our Project Page

Contact:

Laia Mencia
info@sempre-bio.com
+34 930 181 691

Barcelona, 1st of December 2023