Main drivers to develop an Integrated Biomass Logistics Centre (IBLC)
Many European agro-industries are characterized by the fact that capital goods and facilities cannot be used year-round due to the seasonal availabili
ty of their primary feedstocks. The Integrated Biomass Logistics Centre (IBLC) concept establishes connection between the seasonal overcapacity at agro-industries and the regional availability of biomass residues as resources (biocommodities), increasing the utilization of the facilities of these agro-industries. Alternative non-food feedstocks (e.g., crop residues or non-food crops) could fill the idle periods of, for example, the pre-treatment equipment (e.g., dryer, mill etc.) or of the storage capacity at the facility.
Thus, an IBLC is defined as a business strategy for agro-industries to take advantage of available capacities (in terms of facilities, equipment, waste, non-used local resources and staff) as a resource for the processing of biomass as renewable feedstock for bioenergy and/or biorefinery markets.
For existing agro-industries, there are three important drivers to develop an IBLC:
- diversification of inputs: by using extra feedstock types (not only food or feed but also non-food biomass residues);
- optimization of available and new capacity: by optimizing its existing processing capacity that already has fixed (capital) costs or by expanding its processing capacity with extra (pre-treatment) capacity with low additional investment costs;
- diversification of outputs: by obtaining extra revenues from delivering new output types; not only food or feed but also supplying biobased (intermediate) products such as bioenergy (electricity and heat), biofuels, biomaterials and biochemicals to new markets
