PhD degree – Public Defence
Line Degn Hansen, Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science (KBM) defended her PhD thesis “Leveraging H2O2-fuelled activity of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases in cellulase cocktails for improved bioprocessing of lignocellulosic biomass”, on 14 June 2022.

Ramesh Timsina defended his thesis  «Modelling and simulations of bubbling fluidized bed and entrained flow biomass gasification reactors» on the 24th of February 2022. 

Bio4Fuels contributed in 2021 to a report on Biofuels Policies and Market in Norway.
This report was a substantial part of IEA Bioenergy Task 39's newsletter in December 2021. 

Increasing use of biogas is important for Norway's transition to a low-emission society. Researchers at NMBU and NIBIO are developig new solutions for better utilization of biogas. 

A report on status and identification of barriers for utilization of advanced biofuels in the marine sector

Bio4Fuels Days 2021 were arranged in Drammen, Norway. Parts of the presentations were digital.
A physical visit to Silva green Fuel's demonstration plant at Tofte, Hurum, was most appreciated! 

All presentations can be downloaded from the program below.

IEA Task 39 has published a report on "Progress in Commercializatioin of Biojet / Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF): Technologies, potential and challenges".

Ex-situ biological CO2 methanation using trickle bed reactor: review and recent advances. Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology 

Michal Sposob, Radziah Wahid & Keno Fischer 

The status for bioenergy in Norway, May 2021.

Authors: 
Odd Jarle Skjelhaugen and Svein Jarle Horn, Norwegian University of Life Sciences; Mats Nordum, Norwegian Environment Agency; Einar Gotaas, Drivkraft Norge; Duncan Akporiaye, SINTEF Industry

The status for bioenergy in Norway, May 2021.

Authors: 
Odd Jarle Skjelhaugen and Svein Jarle Horn, Norwegian University of Life Sciences; Mats Nordum, Norwegian Environment Agency; Einar Gotaas, Drivkraft Norge; Duncan Akporiaye, SINTEF Industry

"Impact of operational conditions on methane yield and microbial community composition during biological methanation in in situ and hybrid reactor systems"

Special issue in Biomass and Bioenergy - from the international conference “Building a sustainable biofuels industry”, held in Gothenburg November 2019

Edited by Svein Jarle Horn, Marcelle McManus and Ingrid Nyström

A special issue of Biomass and Bioenergy is now published, containing a selection of work presented at the conference “Building a sustainable biofuels industry” in Gothenburg (4–6 November 2019). This conference was co-organized by three national research centers: Bio4Fuels in Norway, the Supergen Bioenergy hub in the UK and the research programme Renewable Transportation Fuels and Systems in Sweden.

Shell and Bergene Holm have entered into a new Contribution Agreement with Bio4Fuels Biozin which will accelerate the development of low carbon fuels technology.

Fungi growing on waste from the forest industry can produce oil which can be used for our food and animals’ feed, as well as for biofuels. However, the production of such oil is costly. Producing additional valuable bioproducts in the same process may solve this challenge.

Energy company St1 and Finnish food company Valio, co-owned by 4300 Finnish dairy farms, are establishing a joint venture to produce renewable biogas from dairy farm manure and other agricultural by-products. The biogas will mainly be used as fuel for heavy-duty transport.

In order to reach the global goal of net zero emissions by 2050, advanced liquid biofuel production technology using woody feedstock will need to expand rapidly over the next decade, with its contribution  to liquid  biofuels increasing from less than one per cent in 2020 to almost 45 per cent in 2030 - and 90 per cent in 2050, a new report states.

On 23^rd of April 2021, Simona Dzurendova successfully defended her thesis with the title ‘Sustainable Fungal Biorefineries: Optimizing production of valuable metabolites in oleaginous Mucoromycota’. 

If we stop cutting down trees in Norway, stored carbon is estimated to increase by 35–40 million tonnes of CO2 per year. But reducing our use of forest products will increase the use of oil, coal and gas. Should we cut down more trees to save the climate?

More biofuels are needed to counteract climate change. But producing them shouldn’t diminish food production or wilderness areas. The solution may be to grow more grass on recently abandoned cropland.

There are enough biomass resources available to meet the Nordic demand for biofuels and bioheat. Increased production of biofuel will change the traditional forest sector, and the forest owners stand to gain.

Joint European Workshop Organised by four project consortia: 4refinery, HyFlexFuel, WASTE2ROAD and Bio4Fuels

Biofuel is one of the trends highlighted by the Nordic Council of Ministers in a new report. The report highlights the need for strong political leadership and legislation to guide the shift from fossil fuels to biofuels while avoiding competition with food production.

24 tonnes of woody biomass will be converted into bio-oils eligible for biofuel production every day when Silva Green Fuel’s new plant is up and running next year. The Bio4Fuels industrial partner gave a virtual tour of the plant at the annual Bio4Fuels Days.

Bio4Fuels partner Biokraft is profiled in the esteemed Energy, Oil and Gas magazine, with their facilities in Skogn towering on the front page of their October issue.

Skape grønne verdier – refleksjoner sett fra Norske Skog

Finland will invest 100 million euro in new sustainable technology in order to produce oil from various waste materials - including wood waste. The yearly capacity will be 20 million litres oil, and Bio4Fuels partner BTG-BTL will build the facilities.

Published: 25 June 2020

We need new conversion technology to use more of the biomass we have at hand – and to produce advanced biofuels at scale. Energy company Equinor, welcomes dialogue with feedstock providers and conversion technology providers in order to reach this.

Published 18 June 2020.

Bio4Fuels inviterte Miljødirektoratet til å lede et webinar for å gå gjennom ulike biodrivstofftiltak i Klimakur 2030, og de viktigste forutsetningene, begrensninger og usikkerhetene knyttet til disse. Webinaret hadde 130 påmeldte, og var åpent for alle.

In 2019, Bio4Fuels researchers continued to pursue their development efforts on the key technology platforms relevant for Norway, with experimental work on thermochemical conversion routes also gaining momentum. Feedstock sustainability and resource management are a fundamental part of the Centre’s research activities, generating valuable insights for the debate on biofuels in Norway.

Hvordan er fremtidsutsiktene for norsk skogsektor? Vi inviterer til et åpent seminar hvor vi presenterer de nyeste resultatene om råstoff til biobasert industri i Norge, utvikling av en nordisk verdikjede for biodrivstoff og potensielle markeder for trevirke.  

On Tuesday 26 November, Berta Matas Güell (SINTEF) held a webinar on upcoming relevant H2020 calls on bioenergy and biofuels topics. 

During the three days' conference in November 2019 there were a number of presentations from policy makers, industry and scientists. We have gathered them here!

The IPCC recently published a special report on climate change and land. Bio4Fuels, a Centre for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME), contributes with key research and innovation on important issues addressed in the IPCC-report.  

Lectures: 11 - 14 June 2019
Excursion the following week
Assignment: October 2019
Place: The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Campus Ås

Bio4Fuels' Annual Report 2018

In 2008, the Norwegian Parliament approved the Climate Agreement, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (OED) tripled their funding on energy & climate research. Ten years later, in 2018, the Ministry asked the Research Council of Norway (RCN) to document the results.

Lunch Meeting at Campus Ås on Friday 1 February 2019

On Tuesday, 18 December, Bio4Fuels industry partner ST1 made a visit to the biogas laboratory at Vollebekk, ÅS

Examining negatives around one’s own work may not be the most common of practices. Yet this was exactly the task participants at the Bio4Fuels Autumn Seminar at NTNU in Trondheim were given: Discuss technical and social arguments against diesel engines and biofuels.

Attended by around 80 participants from across the Bio4Fuels ecosystem of partners and stakeholders, the 2018 Bio4Fuels Days, held on October 11-12, took a Nordic and international perspective.

A clear message from the conference was that biofuels are an essential part of the renewable energy mix and that the research activities in Bio4Fuels are important for development and implementation of sustainable biofuels.

Welcome to the Bio4Fuels 2018 Autumn workshop at NTNU - the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, November the 5th. For further information and registration please follow this link.

Transportation biofuels in the EU after 2020: The RED recast directive proposal.

In April every year the FMEs hand in an Annual Report. In the coming weeks we will present articles from the "Bio4Fuels Insights" in the Bio4Fuels Annual Report 2017. First out is PhD Student Line Degns Hansen at NMBU.

The second Bio4Fuels Days was arranged at Gardermoen 11 - 12 October 2018. Day one was an open meeting with international speakers and an excursion to the EGE bio gas plant. Day two was a closed meeting for the Bio4Fuels partners.
Meeting program.

The Bio4Fuels Annual Report 2017 was handed in to The Norwegian Research Council (NRC) on 1 April 2018. 

The main goal of this meeting was to get input to the activities that are planned for the Bio4Fuels work program of 2018. The first day (2 November) was open to the public and included an excursion to Norske Skog Skogn and Biokraft AS. On the second day (3 November) there were discussions between the research partners and the Industry / User partners. 

Bio4Fuels General Assembly took place on June 7 at Herøya Industrial Park. Please find attached agenda and decisions, including constitution of the Board.

February 9, 2017 Bio4Fuels kicked off with a 2-day seminar with a large number of participants from around the globe. Conclusion? The stakes are high and the expectations are great. 

Norwegian Centre for Sustainable Bio-based Fuel and Energy, Bio4Fuels, opens on February 9 2017 and invites to a two day kick-off seminar at Vitenparken, NMBU-Ås, Norway. 

Together with many partners the Norwegian University of Life Sciences will host Bio4Fuels - the Norwegian Centre for Sustainable Bio-based Fuels and Energy. The centre will develop technology for second-generation biofuels.