The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Yuliya Voytenko Palgan

Yuliya Voytenko Palgan

Senior lecturer

Yuliya Voytenko Palgan

Biorefineries in Sweden: Perspectives on the opportunities, challenges and future: Biorefineries in Sweden

Author

  • Yuliya Voytenko Palgan
  • Kes McCormick

Summary, in English

A growing political interest in the development of biorefineries is being shaped by climate change and a need to develop economically viable substitutes (i.e., fuels, products and chemicals) to those produced in traditional oil refineries. The pulp and paper industry in Sweden has been stagnating and it is therefore potentially promising to integrate biorefining into its activities as one way of diversifying its business. Sweden has good prerequisites for a transition to a bioeconomy due to its natural geographic conditions, industry, and infrastructure. It has developed a bioeconomy strategy and piloted several biorefinery projects. At the same time, the deployment of biorefineries has been slow, and they have not reached commercial scale. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current and future development of biorefineries in the context of the emerging bioeconomy in Sweden. It is based on a literature review, policy analysis, and ten interviews with bioeconomy experts. It maps key political and legal aspects, economic and raw material aspects, social and cognitive aspects, and technology and infrastructure aspects that facilitate and hinder the development and deployment of biorefineries in Sweden. This paper identifies four action points important to the development of biorefineries and the bioeconomy: (i) commitments – establish targets and policies that drive the transition; (ii) contradictions – improve alignment on visions, goals, and activities; (iii) capacity – build up infrastructure and competences to harness the potential; and (iv) collaboration – develop cooperation across sectors and between actors.

Department/s

  • The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics

Publishing year

2016-08-11

Language

English

Pages

523-533

Publication/Series

Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining

Volume

10

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • bioeconomy
  • biorefinery
  • bioenergy
  • biofuels
  • governance
  • policy

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1932-1031