Best Presentation Award

DI Stefan Höltinger from the Institute for Sustainable Economic Development has been awarded the best presentation for „The Green Biorefinery Concept – Optimal Plant Locations and Sizes for Austria“ at the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economics (ÖGA). Abstract The green biorefinery concept promoted in Austria aims at utilizing grass silage to produce bioenergy, biomaterials and organic acids (i.e. amino acids and lactic acid) and to preserve grassland areas in Austria. We have developed a mixed integer programming model that integrates spatially explicit biomass supply, heat demand, and biorefinery plant data for Austria. The model maximizes the constrained profits of green biorefineries by selecting the optimal plant locations and sizes in Austria. Model results reveal that about twenty biorefineries can be established to optimally utilize the available grassland biomass potential in Austria. The selection of optimal biorefinery locations is mainly affected by the regional grassland biomass supply and the heat demand. Mean plant sizes at the different sites range from 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of dry matter grass silage per year. The profitability is mainly determined by the future development of variable production costs and amino acid prices.