Knowledge-Driven Developments in the Bioeconomy

To improve sustainability, the global economic system has to undergo severe transformation processes. This chapter deals with the possibility of an innovation-triggered transformation towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy, which is supposed to overcome the current lock-in into a fossil fuel-based CO₂-intensive production. To do this, a Neo-Schumpeterian view is applied that highlights the complex interplay in knowledge-generation and -diffusion processes between firms, consumers and government institutions. By applying the Neo-Schumpeterian approach it becomes obvious that innovation and economic growth are part of the solution and not part of the sustainability problem. The shift from quantitative growth—prevailing in textbook economics—to qualitative development—prevailing in Neo-Schumpeterian economics—makes the difference and affects all agents and institutions in an economic system, which needs to be designed as a dedicated innovation system supporting the transformation towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy.

The emergence of the bioeconomy is presented here as a long term process entailing important structural changes and affecting both many of the technologies we use and the structure of the world economic system. The development of the bioeconomy will depend on the availability of fossil fuels, on the impact of human activities on the environment and on the progress of science and technology. The bioeconomy is going to be highly knowledge intensive and to rely on modern biotechnology. As all important innovations the bioeconomy will lead to creative destruction, giving rise to wealth creation and to the displacement of present economic activities. Suppliers of biological inputs are likely to benefit and those of fossil fuels to suffer. However, the balance of power will tend to favour countries and regions which are centres of knowledge creation rather than suppliers of natural resources.

Observations of major curves for greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, world population, obesity (and health related diseases), national deficits, etc. are showing exponential growth. This is based on current economic forces favouring upscaling, higher throughputs and homogenization of mass production processes for food, (bio-)materials, molecules, energy, but also for services like tourism. On the other hand, biology—especially ecology—and sociology demonstrate that complex, viable ecosystems require (bio- and cultural-)diversity, differentiation and dynamic equilibria between species. Concomitant patterns are sinusoidal allowing dynamics and life at the edge of order and chaos both locally and globally. Consequently, the ‘bio-economy’ faces a paradox. First thoughts about a conceptual approach for the bio-economy are presented that relate the economic evolving patterns with ecological dynamic equilibria. It is based on an iterative process of defining and monitoring images of a viable planet, exploiting complex adaptive systems (CAS) with continuously adapted rules and interventions. The emerging properties of the system fuel innovations. Those are all steered collectively by a Bio-economy Council such that these are disruptive in nature and cross-sector-oriented in order to re-direct the exponential curves towards sinusoidal patterns; this approach is introduced as intelligently navigated complex adaptive systems (INCAS).

Governments around the world seek for strategies to overcome the reliance on fossil resources and provide solutions for the most challenging contemporary global issues: food shortage, depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and climate change. A very recent and widely diffused proposition is to transform economic systems into bio-based economies, which are based on new ways of intelligent and efficient use of biological resources and processes. If taken seriously, such endeavour calls for the creation and diffusion of new knowledge as basis for innovation and behavioural change on various levels and therefore often is referred to as knowledge-based bioeconomy. In the current debate, the requirement for innovation is mostly seen in the advance of the biotechnology sector. However, in order to fulfil the requirement of sustainability, which implicitly is connected with the bio-based economy, the transformation towards a bioeconomy requires a fundamental socio-economic transition and must comprise changes in technology as well as in markets, user practices, policy, culture and institutions. To illustrate a nation’s capability for this transition, we refer to the concept of national innovation systems in its broad approach. With the help of an indicator-based multivariate analysis we detect similarities and dissimilarities of different national systems within the European Union as basis for a transition towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy. The analysis allows to compare the different strategies and to identify bottlenecks as well as success factors and promising approaches in order to design policy instruments to foster this imperative transformation.

This paper presents a first approach to Bioeconomy, its definitions and importance as well as related research in Central America. Since Bioeconomy and its potential is directly linked to agricultural production, research and traditional knowledge on sub-utilized traditional products in these regions were also included. Our main goal is to review Bioeconomy’s “state of the art” in this region as well as some perspectives for future development and potential of sub utilized products to be included in the Bioeconomy agenda. Additionally, we have considered that Central America should hold and promote its potential for natural resource supply, such as water and biodiversity. Natural resources enable the region to provide ecosystem services to face food insecurity and develop adapted technologies for climate change. Food and biomass production are clear examples of this potential, nonetheless a re-orientation of the region’s economy (and policies) is needed.

This chapter discusses the possibilities of using biomass for several industrial applications, including biopolymers, bio-based materials and biofuel. It also covers the potential conflict between materials/energy and food, cascading concept of biomass utilization and the use of residues. Finally, it discusses the state of art of biomass and agriwastes utilization in Brazil, going from chemical feedstock, biofuels to bio-based materials, at macro, micro and nanoscales.

Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost and smallest island state, depends strongly on its bioeconomy. Currently the farm gate production of Tasmania’s bioeconomy contributes around 7.4% to the overall Gross State Product (GSP). This figure is considerably higher than for Australia, where the bioeconomy contributes 2.5% to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Based on this measure, Tasmania’s economy is more in line with the economies of Brazil (5.7%) or New Zealand (7.2%). It is estimated that Tasmania’s bioeconomy currently contributes 16–20% of overall economic output, when taking into account the economic impact of related value chains that reach from agricultural suppliers to retailers. Government policy for economic growth in Tasmania aims to build up this sector over the following decades. To achieve the stated growth targets, technologies must be combined with business capabilities in order to effectively and efficiently commercialize innovation while maintaining sound environmental practices. A technology-driven, irrigation-led transformation is currently underway in the state, turning Tasmania’s bioeconomy into a highly knowledge-intensive sector of the economy. To fully realize the economic, environmental and social potential of investment in irrigation infrastructure, there must be similar investments in research, knowledge creation, marketing, value chain innovations and capability development.

This chapter address some key opportunities and challenges for the bioeconomy development in Malaysia with an emphasis on biomass utilization, energy and industry applications. A few related areas have been reported and the discussion includes various resources including issues in supply chain pertaining to biomass sustainability and availability. Some examples of the food and food related ingredients project outcomes (rubber industry, banana, palm oil industry) were exhibited and their significance in Malaysian bioeconomy is proposed. Case studies and examples are provided to illustrate both driving forces and constraints (past, present and future) of bioeconomy development in Malaysia. A few bioeconomy projects in Malaysia which directly or indirectly contribute to international policy related to climate change, food technology and technology transfer are reported. An overview of the selected research project that was conducted by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s researchers in relation to biomass resource development and minimization of the environmental impacts was depicted through an integrated research flow diagram.

Creation of new innovative processes and products within the high frequency of small and medium size enterprises in collaboration with academia can unfold a large potential that can diminish some of the consequences of the four major crises comprising the environmental crises, the food crises, the energy crises, and the economic crises. To unfold this potential the gap between SME’s and academia must be bridged. Combining university research and industrial knowhow in an effort to develop holistic, environmentally friendly and economically feasible technologies for optimal processing of agricultural products may result in sustainable production of high value food and feed ingredients as well as bioenergy and non-food products. The technologies must ensure optimal use of natural resources as well as having focus on quality in all parts of the supply chain and thereby increasing the overall economic feasibility of the process. The challenge thereby appears that the processing has to be defined by numerous quality standards which needs to be prioritized by considering parameters like environmental impact, minimizing the formation of waste and optimizing the product portfolio and the profitability. Involving SME’s in industrial collaboration ecosystems facilitated by academia, where the residual product of one enterprise is used as a resource by another may serve as a potential solution for utilizing the competences of these companies and the public research in a sustainable bio-economy.

The bioeconomy builds on biomass as a resource base. Increased demand for biomass in a growing bioeconomy will lead to increased competition for this resource. However, current bioeconomy strategies are not sufficient to ensure the additional biomass demand is met sustainably. This contribution describes the criteria for a sustainable production and supply of biomass and suggests approaches for increasing the availability of sustainably produced biomass. In this context, the concept of sustainable agricultural intensification is elaborated by showing how breeding and more efficient cropping and land use systems can contribute to increasing biomass production. The participation and empowerment of farmers is addressed as a prerequisite for the implementation of sustainable biomass production. It is concluded that sustainable intensification on available agricultural land has large potential for increasing biomass supply and appears a more promising strategy than mobilizing additional land resources, mainly marginal land. In this strategy, the integration of land use functions, biomass production systems and biomass uses offer an encouraging method for avoiding competition for biomass and land for its production. A biomass supply strategy is envisioned, which makes use of all forms of biomass in an integrated approach and takes account of the interactions between them through the conceptualization of bioeconomic networks. The implementation of efficient strategies for the securing of sustainable biomass production and supply will require both continued research and political support.

The area of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) cultivation totaled 27 million hectares in the world and 10 million hectares in Brazil. Sugarcane is a valuable crop considering the potential to produce sugar, ethanol, biodegradable products, energy generation and food for animal production. In tropical conditions, high biomass production in the range of 150–300 Mg ha^–1 year^–1 can be achieved, depending on the management and production system employed. Due to great adaptation to different types of soil and environment, sugarcane could be produced in over 100 countries to supply biofuel and food to the world. Improvement in the production process adopted in Brazil in the last decade, including mechanical planting and harvesting, new methods of sugarcane planting, control of pests, diseases, nutrition and fertilization, has increased sugarcane yield in Brazil while improving work-conditions and social aspects of sugarcane cultivation. Therefore, the high potential production of sugarcane, its varied uses and its ability to be cultivated in regions with low economic and social development indicates that sugarcane cultivation could become a key source of income and improve life-quality in many regions. However, political and governmental organization is required to achieve this goal.

Recently, the New Holland Company brought to Brazil a forager machine to harvest short rotation coppice (SRC) Eucalyptus plantation focusing on high quantity of low-priced woodchips. There are other harvesting machines available on market and each harvesting system has pros and cons. Since, in general, the harvesting and chipping costs represents the main operational costs, evaluating the economic feasibility of the chosen harvesting system is crucial. Therefore, a case study was conducted to analyse the cost of this new system in Brazil that uses a modified forager harvester and a pulled-tractor silage trailer in SRC Eucalyptus plantation. The cost analysis methodology was adapted from ASABE and the costs obtained were determined in two units: cost per time and quantity harvested in oven-dry ton (odt). The system’s effective field productivity and productivity were 0.44 ha h^–1 and 31.0 odt h^–1, respectively. The harvest system’s total operational cost was € 258 pmh^–1 or € 18.9 odt^–1 and the harvester machine was the largest contributor of total cost with fixed total cost of € 87 pmh^–1 and € 6.4 odt^–1. In spite of high labor charges values and high exchange rates in Brazil, the total estimated cost was cheaper than the ones found in temperate countries. From the total cost, depreciation and fuel consumption were the biggest influences. Thus, the experience levels of the harvester and tractor operators are crucial to this system economy.

Fossil resources are limited and will run short. Moreover, the extensive usage of fossil resources is discussed as a key driver for climate change which means that a changeover in basic economic and ecological thinking is necessary. Especially for the energy production, there has to be a movement away from the usage of fossil resources and towards renewable resources like wind, water, sun or biomass. In this chapter we present a structured review of recent literature on the long-term, strategic planning of biomass-based supply chains. Firstly, we structure the overall research field “bioeconomy” by means of the various utilization pathways of biomass and bring together the demand-oriented view of supply chain management models and the supply-oriented view of bioeconomy. Secondly, we provide a literature review of Operations Research models and methods for strategic supply chain planning in biomass-based industries. Thirdly, we analyze trends and draw conclusions about research gaps.

Due to the dependency on crude oil, mitigating, greenhouse gas emissions, energy and food security, support for rural economic development and the effort for environmental sustainability, renewable energy sources become more and more important. This led to an increasing research on biomass-based supply chains in recent years. Conventional supply chains, i.e., the commodity flow including all the stakeholders from the supplier to the end customer, have been studied intensively in the past. Biomass-based supply chains, however, feature different characteristics and uncertainties that have to be considered. In this paper, we identify the differences between the two types of supply chains and elaborate the stakeholders involved in the supply chain process and the different planning tasks structured according to the functional areas. As several possible pathways from feedstocks to different end-products exist, we focus on bio-fuels as the final product. We conclude by reviewing the literature that deals with supply chain optimization using operations research (OR) models to present the relevant planning tasks in biomass-based supply chains.

The farmer’s association UPAP, in the Canton of Puriscal, Costa Rica, has been making efforts to transform its firm in order to adapt new technologies to reduce the production costs. This is done by reusing biomass (manure from cattle mainly) to generate energy and produce organic fertilizers which are distributed among farmers affiliated to the Association. The UPAP’s main economic activity is livestock auction, which generates a large amount of biomass (cattle excreta). The guiding question to support the research was: how to manage the biomass produced in the cattle auction to mitigate the negative externalities and to get economic benefits? The research was developed taking into consideration the importance of the proposal for the climate change adaptation and allow the agribusiness to solve its negative impact on the environment while maintaining competitiveness. With the support of experts from the MAG an assessment of the activity to specify the type of biodigester that was to be built was prepared. This diagnosis included: number of animals, time spent in each auction, amount of water and manure and the vermicompost process. The preliminary results based on the gross profit indicator show a clear economic disadvantage in relation to investment in mitigating the negative externalities of agribusiness and show a shortfall of US$675.92 (₡ 361,621.00) per month. The inefficiency in the use of biogas as well as the time spent to produce vermicompost seem to be the most important factors that must be analyzed to make the project more efficient.

Economic and environmental repercussions of oil reserves depletion have led to the implementation of programs promoting the use of alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Brazil has great potential for the production of these fuels, as sugarcane and soybean are national major commodities. Biodiesel is produced mainly by transesterification, a process in which oils or fats react with short-chained alcohols in the presence of a catalyst. Hexane is used worldwide in the industrial solvent extraction. This solvent has considerably higher flammability, explosiveness and toxicity compared to ethanol. Since the 1980s, the Laboratory of Oils and Fats at ESALQ-USP Agricultural College has developed a line of research on ethanol oil extraction as a way to also explore the regional importance and availability of this feedstock. The product of soybean oil extraction with ethanol is a miscella (oil + solvent) that, after cooled down to less than 30 °C, separates into three phases: rich-in-alcohol miscella (poor miscella), rich-in-oil miscella (rich miscella) and gum (crude lecithin). The poor miscella, composed of approximately 91% ethanol, can be used as solvent in subsequent extractions. With the natural phase separation, poor miscella carries the majority of polar substances such as phospholipids (0.4%), water and free fatty acids (0.7%). It can be said that the poor miscella promotes a partial refining of the rich miscella. The latter contains 90% oil and 7.8% ethanol and is suitable for biodiesel production without the need for desolventization and refining steps, contributing to the energy recovery of the process. In addition, miscella’s oxidative stability in accelerated tests is three times higher than that of degummed oil. Meal produced from ethanol extraction also has a higher quality than hexane-extracted ones due to antinutritional compounds elimination. The economic and energy analyses of the ethanol process reveal that it requires adjustments to ensure higher efficiency. However, biodiesel from rich miscella via alkaline catalyst can be considered a promising alternative from several points of view, provided the whole process is executed in a single industrial plant using solely ethanol as the solvent extraction and acyl acceptor in the transesterification reaction.