Green Valleys 2.0

ongoing

The project is a continuation of Green Valleys, which lasted between 2018 and 2022. The overall goal is to promote circular production of green protein in our area and to create new circular business opportunities for the agricultural industry. Today, we face major challenges in terms of the degree of self-sufficiency and our dependence on imports of, among other things, feed, fertilisers and energy. Demand for plant protein has increased sharply in recent years, requiring alternative and more sustainable production methods. Green biorefining of grass and clover is a very promising solution to produce a high-quality green protein. The solution is based on the use and further processing of the residual streams from the production of the green protein, which increases the conditions for it to become an economically sustainable alternative to imported plant protein. Increased production of green protein from grass and clover in our area requires local actors to invest in and build biorefinery. Therefore, it is important that we can demonstrate the profitability, as well as the environmental and climate benefits of such a system solution. In the project, we will explore the potential for using ensiled grass for the production of green protein, to be able to run the biorefinery all year round and thus increase profitability. In the project, we will also investigate whether green protein from grass and clover serves as feed for fish and whether the residual fibre cake can serve as feed for other animals such as horses, sheep and cattle. We will also use the press cake for the production of biochar and examine how pyrolysis can be integrated with the biorefinery to also provide heat to the biorefinery. Also investigate the potential for using the fiber cake as an alternative raw material in the textile industry, for example. A specific activity will be to investigate how more grasslands can increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes by increasing the proportion of grass clovers in crop rotations. Another goal of the project is for local companies or collaborative initiatives to develop decision support to invest in the system solution. This is done by involving a number of companies that have an interest in investing in green biorefining, and providing them with advice and coaching for the implementation of a biorefinery. This may concern economic and technical issues or efficient production of grass clovers. The project also aims to increase cooperation between Denmark, Sweden and to some extent Norway in order to benefit from each other’s knowledge to solve the common food security challenges we face. The project includes from the Danish side Aarhus University and Skive Municipality. From the Swedish side, SLU, Chalmers University of Technology, Västra Götaland Region’s Naturbruksförvaltning, Hushållningssällskapet Sjuhärad and Agrowest. We have no Norwegian partners in the project, but a structured knowledge exchange will take place with the institutes NIBIO and Sintef. All knowledge and results generated in this project shall be disseminated so that anyone interested can access the information in an easily accessible way. The dissemination of knowledge will take place through demonstrations and demonstrations of the facilities already built up in the previous project, but also through webinars, news letters, films, podcasts, etc. in order to reach a wider audience. The project will also build up a Nordic platform in the form of a website where information and research results are published, but also information about other biorefineries and similar system solutions can be found.

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