Mapping bioenergy retrofitting in Europe's industry: BIOFIT first results

Bioenergy has evolved in the last decades from relatively simple heat and power production to a vast array of technologies for advanced biofuel production, intermediate bioenergy carriers, etc. Besides erecting entirely new bioenergy plants, retrofitting-which means replacing a part of a factory or installation with state-of-the-art equipment-is a good alternative to replace fossil fuels, upgrade outdated technology, or produce additional output from biomass. Bioenergy retrofitting provides significant benefits compared to building new plants, notably lower capital expenditure, shorter lead times, faster implementation, and less production time loss. The BIOFIT project (www.biofit-h2020.eu) is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to facilitate the market uptake of bioenergy retrofitting concepts in five specific industrial sectors in Europe, namely first-generation biofuels, pulp and paper, fossil refineries, fossil firing power and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants. First results show that the use of bioenergy is already widespread in the target sectors, that retrofitting is actually the dominant mode of implementation, and that there are large differences between countries. A wide spectrum of sector-specific retrofitting options exist and is being implemented, showing high interests in the opportunities from all stakeholders. BIOFIT facilitates this in a variety of ways.