The partners of the GRACE project are working to progress beyond the current state of the art in crop production and biomass conversion to expand the future bioeconomy. Expected impacts of the GRACE project are:
- to increase utilization of low-quality arable land (low-productivity, contaminated or unused) and by doing so, minimize the potential for food/fuel competition.
- to demonstrate to potential growers/farmers where the cultivation of hemp and miscanthus are both, economically viable and environmentally sound.
- to incubate innovation in the utilization of the biomass and thereby create new business opportunities for rural areas.
- to reduce import dependency of Europe in energy and chemical sectors, by paving the way for viable options to produce biofuels and bio-based platform chemicals from biomass cultivated on marginal, contaminated or unused land.
- to demonstrate the direct and indirect social and environmental benefits of perennial biomass production and utilization, such as the prevention of soil erosion by soil stabilization on slopes, soil remediation, and an alternative
revenue for currently uneconomic or contaminated farm land.
- to demonstrate that introducing biomass crops in the right places, will increase food security rather than compete with food crop production through long term improvements in soil fertility on depleted, abandoned or contaminated
land for future food production.
- to contribute to the development of the European Bioeconomy by demonstrating the production of novel biobased-products with a high market potential.
The GRACE project thereby contributes to the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU)/Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU):
- KPI 2: “Ten new bio-based value chains by 2020”, by demonstration of new biobased value chains (from biomass production to biobased product).
- KPI 3: "A shorter time to market", by setting up new cross-industry cooperation. In GRACE more than 50% of the partners are SMEs, which exceeds the EC H2020 target of 20% SME contribution.
- KPI 4: “5 new building blocks for the chemical industry by 2020”, by demonstration of novel building blocks.
- KPI 5: “Fifty new biobased materials by 2020”, by upscaling of production of new biobased materials.
The GRACE project will contribute to the European Bioeconomy by increasing the biomass production from marginal lands and reducing the cost of crop establishment. This will enable current marginal land in the EU (estimated as 5% of crop land and 10% of grassland), which is at least 3.5% of the area.
The value of the biomass produced from this area, even if it was used as a feedstock for thermal energy, would add an estimated 11bn euro to the economy in the European Union.
