November 03rd 2022

Negative emissions and their added value for agriculture

MCI researcher Nina Schaaf to speak at international bioenergy conference in Vienna

In October 2022, the "IEA Bioenergy Task 33 workshop: valuable (by-)products of gasification" took place in Vienna under the organization of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. Here, renowned plant manufacturers and researchers of gasification plants met to report on their current results and to exchange their findings with interested colleagues in lively discussions.

In the session "Negative emissions through gasification", MCI researcher Nina Schaaf presented the latest research results of her project team in her talk on the added value of carbon sequestration in agriculture. The by-product charcoal, which is produced during biomass gasification, is being investigated in terms of its adsorption capacity of nutrients and its use as a CO2 sink. Carbon sequestration (carbon capture) technologies have become an indispensable part of the global strategy to decarbonize and achieve climate goals.

IEA Bioenergy Task 33 is an association of international experts with the aim of promoting the commercialization of efficient, economical and ecological biomass gasification processes and their valuable (by-)products. Of the numerous technologies for this purpose, only a few have so far made it to the market, including the internationally successful MCI spin-off SynCraft Engineering, headquartered in Schwaz.

On the second day, the practical part of the event was a visit to the BEST (Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies) test facility for the EU COMET project "Waste2Value" in Vienna Simmering. The project Waste2Value pushes the use of waste residues for the production of synthesis gas, which can be additionally upgraded with the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis at the site. Waste fuels such as sewage sludge, industrial residues, waste wood and similar materials are the focus. The plant is the first of its kind in the world to demonstrate the use of this technology in a single, integrated process on an industrial scale.

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