Global trends such as increasing population, scarcity of resources and materials, and climate change are putting more and more pressure on our fossil resources. To alleviate this pressure, many leading countries and regions such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, and China are strongly committed to the development of a more sustainable economy: the bioeconomy.
Although the exact definition of the concept of the bioeconomy is under discussion, this green economy is based on a number of basic aspects.
Firstly, the bioeconomy will rely on renewable biomass rather than fossil input to produce a wide range of products, including food, animal feed, pharmaceuticals, plastics, bioenergy, ...
Two, these bio-based products will be produced, as much as possible, according to the cascade principle. This cascade principle implies that biomass is first used for applications with the highest possible value, after which the residual flows are used as input for a subsequent application.
Three, the bioeconomy therefore produces no waste. The final residual flow from a bio-refinery process can be processed in soil-improving applications, which makes the bioeconomy as circular as possible.
The bioeconomy can therefore be seen as a collection of sectors and sub-sectors such as food, feed, chemicals, energy and fuels, and pharmaceuticals that all work together to produce products derived from renewable sources. As an applied research institute for agriculture, fisheries and food, ILVO wants to play an important role in creating and building knowledge that will facilitate the transition of the Flemish economy towards the bioeconomy.