IFRF and 25 other organisations from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK will be partners in Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge (BRISK), a new four year initiative from the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7).

Coordinated by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, BRISK aims to develop a European research infrastructure for thermochemical biomass conversion – a family of processes whereby second generation biomasses (usually ligno-cellulosic raw materials) such as wood, energy crops, agricultural wastes and other biogenic materials can be thermally converted into liquids, gases and solids for production of electricity, heat, transport fuels and a wide variety of chemicals.

The three principle activities incorporated in the initiative are Transnational Access, Joint Research Activities and Networking Activities.

Transnational Access will enable European organisations, including those outside the project partnership, to send their researchers to undertake experiments on any of the laboratories offering access. The cost of running the rigs for this activity will be met by the EC’s BRISK cofunding.  

A list of participating laboratories and facilities on offer is given below.

IFRF will be offering access to its Isothermal Plug Flow Reactor (IPFR), a tar cracking unit and a 200kW downdraft fixed bed gasifier.

Through Joint Research Activities, BRISK partners will cooperate to enhance and improve the Research Infrastructure and the methodologies it employs. Topics include:

• feedstock and fuels characterisation techniques,
• measuring techniques, and
• catalyst testing techniques.

Networking Activities will have IFRF work with the UK’s Aston University to provide a portfolio of networking material and opportunities including:

• Web and paper based dissemination
• Workshops and seminars, many based around the IFRF’s TOTeM structure
• Opportunities for benchmarking similar process rigs
• Strategies to enhance exchange of information through protocols for data collection and standardised database structures for data sharing

BRISK Executive Committee Member Professor Tony Bridgewater of Aston University’s Bioenergy Research Group, notes that:

“Enhancing biomass utilization without risking its sustainability is a European energy priority, and can be linked to targets for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2050: enhanced energy security and integration with other industrial sectors, such as agriculture, also play a role. Improved use of biofuels and products in advanced biomass conversion units and biorefineries is seen as a key element in achieving this goal. In recent years industrial nations have established facilities in which their researchers have addressed the challenges associated with the production of biofuels and the establishment of biorefineries. At present, there remains some fragmentation in terms of access to high-level experimental equipment necessary for achieving significant advances in this field. The BRISK project aims to overcome this hurdle by integrating networking activities in the EU scientific community in order to foster a culture of cooperation not only between the project’s 26 partners but also the whole of the European Union, since the Infrastructure is available to all in Europe”.

Ten IFRF Member Organisations are direct partners in the BRISK Consortium. They are highlighted in yellow in the list of partners shown below. This list also identifies some 47 laboratory facilities which will be open for Transnational Access under the BRISK programme.

IFRF Members wanting further information about any aspects of the BRISK project are invited to contact the IFRF Superintendent of Research Neil Fricker.

 BRISK: Organisations offering Transnational Access to some test rigs