In response to requests from various people working in the area of 'bioproducts and biofuels from renewable bio-resources', EPOBIO was pleased to offer the opportunity to exhibit posters covering such activities at this workshop. Posters included reports of current research activities on biomass production, conversion or products, summarised the findings of studies, presented overviews of EC or nationally funded projects/programmes or drew attention to non-commercial organizations or common interest groups such as Associations or Technology Platforms.
There was no additional charge for presenting a poster, but at least one author had to be registered for the workshop.
PDF versions of the posters displayed during the workshop will be added to this page as they become available.
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1.1 The EPOBIO Project
Project Director - Dianna Bowles
Project Coordinator - David Clayton
 Download the poster (2279 Kb PDF)
Introduction: EPOBIO is a Science to Support Policy project funded by the European Commission in Framework 6 entitled: 'Realising the economic potential of sustainable resources - bioproducts from non-food crops'. EPOBIO incorporates the BioMatNet database of information which makes available the results of RTD projects supported by the European Commission in the area of biological materials from non-food crops. EPOBIO has three Flagship themes plant cell walls,plant oils and biopolymers. |
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1.2 Crop platforms for cell wall biorefining - Lignocellulose feedstocks
Ralf Möller, Markus Pauly, Sarah Hake, Marcel Toonen, Jan B. van Beilen, Elma Salentijn, David Clayton and Dianna Bowles
Download the poster (1933 Kb PDF)
Introduction: The Plant Cell Walls Flagship Theme is aimed specifically at decreasing the current economic risks associated with cell wall biorefining, which include the expense and continuing difficulties of efficient fractionation of biomass. Initially the Flagship addressed the bottleneck of efficient hydrolysis and fractionation of cell walls into easily accessible, industry-relevant components and precursors. This analysis was presented in the first report of the Cell Walls Flagship 'Cell wall saccharification'. The latest report of the Flagship considered crop platforms providing lignocellulose biomass for biorefining. Four sources of biomass of relevance to Member States of the EU were considered as case studies and their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) were analysed. These were poplar and willow, Miscanthus and wheat straw, which have been chosen as representative of woody species, grass and a co-product from arable crop cultivation. |
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1.3 Industrial crop platforms for the production of chemicals and biopolymers
Jan B. van Beilen, Yves Poirier, Ralf Möller, Marcel Toonen, Elma Salentijn, David Clayton and Dianna Bowles
Download the poster (1997 Kb PDF)
Introduction: In the EPOBIO project, the second report for the Biopolymer Flagship analyses the suitability of three crops for the production of platform chemicals and biopolymers. Most applications in this theme are in an early stage of development necessitating a longer lead-time to market (10/15 to 20 years). We have considered three quite different crops: sugar beet, tobacco, and Miscanthus. The strengths and weaknesses of developing each of these three crops as future industrial crop platforms turned out to be quite different. Central issues are the future acceptance of GM-crops, especially in the case of sugar beet, fitting the new crops in existing or future processing schemes, and integrating the crops in existing or future supply chains. |
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1.4 Oil crop platforms for industrial uses
Anders Carlsson, John Dyer, Sten Stymne, Marcel Toonen, Elma Salentijn, David Clayton and Dianna Bowles
Download the poster (2402 Kb PDF)
Introduction: The focus of the Plant Oils Flagship Theme is on the potential of replacing fossil oil as the dominating industrial feedstock with plant oils produced in oil crops specially designed for this purpose. A successful development of this sector of the bioeconomy requires high quality and low price for the new feedstocks, a production type that can use existing infrastructure with low environmental impact and support of the R&D needed to achieve high yielding non-food oil crops producing technical oils. |
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1.5 Public attitudes towards the industrial uses of plants: the EPOBIO Survey
G Sakellaris and M Paschou
Download the poster (1431 Kb PDF)
Introduction: It is generally recognised that public opinion is a main contributor to the social trajectories of novel technologies. The EPOBIO Social Attitudes and Expectations Support Theme has mapped a sample of European countries according to their citizens' views on the industrial uses of plants and the development of the bioeconomy. |
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1.6 EPOBIO: Towards a sustainable bio-based economy - environmental impacts
Marcel Toonen and Elma Salentijn
Download the poster (1983 Kb PDF)
Introduction: The introduction of plant-derived raw materials as feedstocks for industry and energy production will lead to an increased use of agriculture land for industrial crop production in the EU. However, high quality agricultural land resources are limited and the production of industrial crops will compete with the production of food, recreational and ecological functions and existing non-food uses such as forestry. Besides economic and social considerations, the introduction of industrial crops will have to meet environmental requirements and contribute to sustainable development along the supply chain. The divers agricultural landscape in Europe in terms of climatologic and soil conditions will also have to be considered as part of the activities of the Environmental Impact Support Theme. |
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1.7 EPOBIO Websites
Jim Coombs, Katy Hall and Roger Coombs
Download the poster (760 Kb JPEG)
The EPOBIO website, www.epobio.net, represents both the major outlet for the results of the studies and workshops supported by this project and enables the continued dissemination of information concerning past, present and future RTD programmes supported by the EC, covering the production of plants for non-food uses, conversion processes and end products. The activity builds on that supported previously under FP5 Key Action 5 of the LIFE Programme that established BioMatNet as the major source of such information on the Internet. Since the website is widely recognised by users and search engines alike under the BioMatNet URL, www.biomatnet.org, this has been retained. However, the many features of this website are gradually being updated and merged so that the EPOBIO home page provides a common entry point.
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3.1 Breeding and Selection of New, High-Yielding Varieties of Shrub Willow for
Bioenergy, Biofuels, and Bioproducts in North America
Lawrence B. Smart*, Kimberly D. Cameron, Timothy A. Volk, and Lawrence P. Abrahamson
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210 USA
*lbsmart@esf.edu; www.esf.edu/willow
Download the poster (113 Kb PDF)
Shrub willow crops, grown in short-rotation culture, have outstanding potential to serve as a dedicated feedstock for the production of bioenergy,
biofuels, and bioproducts (Volk et al. 2006). They can provide a long-term, sustainable replacement for fossil fuels, while promoting rural
development and offering numerous positive environmental benefits. The main factors influencing the cost of willow crops and discouraging wide
adoption are yield, harvesting expense, and establishment costs. The goal of this project is to develop varieties with consistently greater yields and
optimal wood chemistry for low-input pretreatment, fractionation, and conversion in the biorefinery.
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3.2 The Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative
André Laroche, Carolyn Penniket,Jinyue Sun, Denis Gaudet, John Lu, Robert Graf, Brian Beres, Michele Frick, François Eudes
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research Centre, 5403 1st Avenue S., Lethbridge, Alberta, T1J 4B1, Canada
*Larochea@agr.gc.ca
Download the poster (158 Kb PDF)
To meet society’s needs with renewable biopolymers, biochemicals and
energy, we have developed the Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative.
Known agronomic attributes including the highest grain and biomass yield
among cereals in western Canada, a favorable net energy balance, and
resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses compared to other widely grown
cereals in Canada, make triticale a crop of choice for industrial and energy
end-uses. We have developed a stringent traceability system based on seed
colour that permits coexistence of genetically engineered bioindustrial
triticale with conventional food and feed crops. A Biorefinery Initiative
based on a value chain from plant biomass and seeds to biopolymer
precursors, ethanol, and feed fractions, has been drafted with industrial
players. Research and development efforts to support this value chain is
presented, including recent progress towards the production of industrial
proteins, and the accumulation of biopolymer precursors. Finally, we
present progress towards isolating and characterizing stage and tissue
specific promoters to ensure site-specific, high production levels of
bioengineered products in triticale. This initiative will transform triticale
from a minor crop into a major bioindustrial platform for Canada.
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3.3 Quality traits for bioenergy in grasses
Iain Donnison*, Joe Gallagher, Kerrie Farrar, Simon Thain, Gordon Allison, John Clifton-Brown, Ed Hodgson, Cathy Morris, Lesley Turner, Mike Morris, Mervyn Humphreys, Phil Morris
Institute of Grassland & Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, UK
*iain.donnison@bbsrc.ac.uk
Download the poster (310 Kb PDF)
The potential of grasses for energy is limited because plant varieties
have not been selected for this purpose. There are distinct challenges
to determine and improve quality traits to increase ultimate energy
yields. Perennial grasses offer the potential to be utilised through either
thermal or biological conversion methods to generate heat, electricity or
transport fuels. The route chosen being largely determined by the
calorific value, moisture content and the availability of carbohydrates.
Chemical composition underlies these characteristics and can be
measured to associate phenotype to genotype. For such studies it is
necessary to develop both molecular markers in candidate genes and
high throughput methods for phenotyping of composition. In the EU
project GRASP, SNP based markers have been developed in
carbohydrate associated genes which map to soluble carbohydrate
QTL and these have been used in association studies in a synthetic
population of perennial ryegrass to measure allele shifts. Furthermore
infrared spectroscopy methods, calibrated with wet chemistry, have
been developed in a number of energy grasses to determine lignin,
cellulose and hemicellulose contents. These calibrations have allowed
a comparison of chemical composition from different grass genotypes,
species and environments. |
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3.4 Increasing Seed Oil Yield: Regulation of Carbon Partitioning between Oil and Protein
Thomas Roscoe*, Sylvie Maisonneuve, Hélène Chiron and Martine Devic
Laboratoire Génome et Développement des Plantes, CNRS UMR5096, Université de Perpignan, 52 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan, France
*roscoe@univ-perp.fr
Download the poster (1713 Kb PDF)
The production of biolubricants, biodiesel and chemical feedstocks from oilseed crops will require a drastic expansion in the area of land under cultivation if seed oil
destined for food use is not to be compromised. To alleviate the problem of an urgent need for an increased oil production it is desirable to improve oilseed yields. One
possibilty to enhance oil yield would be to alter the partitioning of carbon in seeds to favour the synthesis of triacylglycerol over storage protein, the feasiblity of which is
suggested by QTL mapping experiments that have confirmed the negative correlation between oil and protein content. Such an approach requires development of the
knowledge base of the genetic and developmental factors governing reserve accumulation in seeds. |
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3.5 Residual Defatted Seed Meal from Brassicaceae Crops as Soil Amendments to Improve Economical and Environmental Balance of Biodiesel Production
L. Lazzeri¹, O. Leoni1, M. Mazzoncini², L. D’Avino1, G. Patalano³
1. Italian Agricultural Research Council- Research Institute for Industrial Crops (CRA-ISCI), Italy
2. Department of Agronomy and Agroecosystem Management – University of Pisa, Italy
3. Triumph Italia SpA– Via delle Cateratte, 68 - 57100 Livorno, Italy
Download the poster (276 Kb PDF)
Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) and other Brassicaceae give interesting yields in some southern European areas characterized by unfavorable climatic condition for winter rapeseed. The industrial interest for these species is related to their seed oil relatively rich in erucic (34-47%) and useful for biodiesel production. The residual defatted meals contains a high amount of the glucosinolate-myrosinase defensive system, able to release glucosinolate hydrolysis degradation products (isothiocyanates and nitriles) with citotoxic activity.
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3.6 Simultaneous Isolation of Oil, Proteins, Myrosinase, and Glucosinolates from Cruciferous Oilseeds
Luisa Ugolini & Sandro Palmieri
Italian Agricultural Research Council, Research Institute for Industrial Crops, Via di Corticella 133, Bologna, Italy
Download the poster (41 Kb PDF)
Introduction: Cruciferous oilseeds are an important source of high erucic acid oils, proteins, and bioactive molecules such as glucosinolates
(GLs) (see Table 1) [1]. GLs in particular are important secondary metabolites with a great potential in fine chemistry, food
technology and crop protection. At present, however, most of these bioactive products are not commercially offered on an
industrial scale, although this feature appears to be fundamental for their exploitation in agriculture [2]. The present study, aimed at
evaluating an advantageous biorefinery process that makes it possible to extract oils, myrosinase (MYR) laden soluble proteins,
and GLs. This fractionation technology is based on the use of reverse micelles (RM), a water in oil system able to solubilize
hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds, suitable for extraction from meals and in principle easy to scale up [3,4,5,6].
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3.7 Chemical fingerprinting of tracheary element forming Pinus radiata callus cultures using pyrolysis-GC/MS
Armin Wagner, Diane Steward, Heather Flint and Lorelle Phillips, Alan Fernyhough
Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
www.scionresearch.com
Download the poster (274 Kb PDF)
Introduction: Screening for phenotypic changes during developmental processes or in transgenic lines is a critical experimental procedure to obtain
relevant scientific information. Analytical tools which are capable of displaying informative chemical fingerprints combined with structural
chemical information, such as Pyrolysis-GC/MS, can be of great assistance in this context. |
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3.8 Proteomic analysis of a polyhydroxyalkanoate-accumulating diazotroph
Anne-Marie Smit¹ ², Bill Jordan², Alan Fernyhough¹ and Gareth Lloyd-Jones¹
1. Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
2. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
www.scionresearch.com |
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3.9 The complete nucleotide sequence of plasmid pY88 from Novosphingobium nitrogenifigens Y88
Quanfeng Liang, Alan Fernyhough and Gareth Lloyd-Jones
Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
www.scionresearch.com |
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3.10 The use and future potential of natural polyphenolics as substitutes for petrochemical intermediates
Warren Grigsby, Charles McIntosh, Marc Gaugler, Alan Fernyhough*
Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
*alan.fernyhough@scionresearch.com; www.scionresearch.com |
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3.11 Evaluation of natural polyphenolic acetates as alternative, biobased, plastic modifiers
Warren Grigsby, Diane Steward, Holger Mueller, Alan Fernyhough*
Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
*alan.fernyhough@scionresearch.com; www.scionresearch.com |
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3.12 Organic waste utilization and the application of industrial biotechnology to primary production residues
Elspeth MacRae, Trevor Stuthridge, Tim Strabala, Alan Fernyhough*
Biomaterials Research, SCION, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand
*alan.fernyhough@scionresearch.com; www.scionresearch.com |
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3.13 Reduction of Energy Consumption in Biodiesel Fuel Life Cycle
Prutenis Janulis, Violeta Makareviciene
Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Studentu 11, LT-53361, Akademija, Kaunas r., Lithuania |
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3.14 New zero wastes biomass light temperatures pyrolisys refinery
Iosif Tripsa, Prof.Dr.Doc. Eng. within Bucharest University “Politehnica”, Romania |
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3.15 Green Future with CHIMAR Hellas SA Know-How
Papadopoulou Electra, Dipl. Chemist – polymer researcher
CHIMAR Hellas SA, Sofouli 88, 55131 Thessaloniki, Greece
office@ari.gr; www.chimar-hellas.com |
