A spatial approach to bioeconomy: Quantifying the residual biomass potential in the EU-27

Abstract Bioeconomy is seen as a key strategic innovation pillar in the European Union, and this involves, among other things, mobilizing biomass resources. This study presents a geo-localized methodology in order to quantify the overall (theoretical) residual biomass potential for each NUTS-3 region of the EU-27 + Switzerland (NUTS-3 is the smallest regional division in Eurostat's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics). Estimates were made for biomass residues stemming from 4 main activities: i) agriculture (straw, manure, residues from pruning permanent plantations); ii) forestry (forestry residues); iii) urban greenery management (residues from managing urban green areas and roadside vegetation); and iv) food waste (agri-industrial food process waste and municipal biodegradable waste). A review of earlier assessments using a variety of spatial coverages is also presented. Our results reveal the importance of residual biomass as a key feedstock for the European bioeconomy: we found that 8500 PJ y−1 are available for these streams (theoretical potential), which corresponds to the whole annual (2015) primary energy consumption of Italy and Belgium combined. Straw (3800 PJ y−1) and forestry residues (3200 PJ y−1) were shown as the top-two contributors. Our geo-localized approach uncovered outliers in terms of regional trends, revealing very specific opportunities for these regions. This includes the NUTS-3 region of Paris (France) where the highest biomass density was found with ca. 25 TJ km−2 (essentially food waste), and the NUTS-3 of Jaen (Spain), the main region of olive oil in the world, with great opportunities stemming from the olive oil industry.