Publisher's Synopsis
This book is the Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomass for Energy and Industry held in Orleans, France, 11-15 May 1987. The main objectives of the Conference were to review and discuss the biomass research programmes supported by the Commission for the European Communities, and to develop the interfaces between agriculture and energy and agriculture and industry.
The Conference sessions were organised on the basis of a number of common themes representing the different stages of production, conversion and utilisation of biomass for energy and industry. Most participants agreed that biomass should be exploited by diversifying agricultural activities to non-food types of production. In this way farmers would be offered a realistic opportunity towards solving the growing problem of food over-production in Europe.
Two main lines of action were envisaged: in the short term, the production of ethanol from current agricultural crops for use as a gasoline additive; in the medium term, short rotation forestry for energy and industry.
Promising products have been identified, technologies have been adapted, and new processes are continually being developed. The conference contributed to progress in the field by diffusing the knowledge now available and by facilitating contact between the worlds of science and agriculture.
