RE-DIRECT Project
Interreg North West Europe
IrBEA are partners in the RE-DIRECT project. This is an international partnership co-funded by the Interreg North-West Europe programme of the EU Regional Development Fund. RE-DIRECT aims through a holistic approach to promote the efficient use of natural resources and materials by converting residual biomass into carbon products and activated carbon at smart regional decentralised units. The project brings together biomass waste producers, industries and research organisations to develop a new circular economy.
The project is assessing a number of feedstocks for their suitability to be pyrolyzed and converted into biochar and activated carbon. The project aims to create a network for alternative carbon products and promote the collection, production and value chain management of alternative coal and carbon products as a starting point to circular economy.
The German partners are building the first RE-DIRECT biochar plant at a biomass conversion centre in the city of Baden-Baden. The technology being tested is called “Integrated Generation of Solid Fuel and Biogas from Biomass (IFBB)”. The goal is to convert 20.000t of unused biomass into carbon products. A pilot plant is also being deployed in Wales.
The Western Development Commission are partners representing the Western region of Ireland and is working together with IrBEA on delivering this initiative in Ireland.
IRBEA’s involvement does not yet involve a technology investment but does include several supporting activities such as:
Assessment of new feedstocks
IrBEA is assessing regional feedstocks and sampling for technical testing in both Germany and Wales:
- Green compost has been sent for testing.
- Gorse has been harvested and shredded and sent for testing
Additional feedstocks are being sampled in other regions which are potentially relevant to the Irish regions including rushes and bracken.
Research
IrBEA are currently commissioning a feasibility study on product chains considering ecological and economic aspects of Biochar and Activated Carbon production.
IrBEA are developing a sustainable value chains report with regional economic data collection for the chosen feedstocks. There will be an analysis of potential regional investment coming from the initiative.
Dissemination
This includes distributing the project learnings, primarily via various workshops and regional events.
Biochar and Activated Carbon Conference 25 October in Mayo, Ireland
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/biochar-and-activated-carbon-conference-tickets-49037624856
On the same week as the conference the Irish partners will host a 2 day RE-DIRECT Partner’s meeting and site visits in the North-west region of Ireland.
For further information about the project please contact us or visit the project website including links to international partners:
Regional Partners Supporting RE-DIRECT
Capitalisation Call
Following the completion of the RE-DIRECT project in 2019, IrBEA and its project partners are happy to have been awarded additional resources to capitalise on the results of the project. This will see the development of biochar based growing media, structures that will aid in the greening of urban spaces, for use in urban gardening and for general exploration of biochar based products and services for use within our urban landscapes.
One such example is the pictured prototype biochar bench developed by our German partners. The bench, which contains a biochar based growing medium , also features embedded biochar within the concrete structure- a means to sequester carbon while providing a community with a functional seat and growing space.
Also pictured is a biochar embedded concrete planter, this time from our partners in the Netherlands.
If you are interested in exploring options for something similar for your locale, please get in touch with Stephen McCormack at stephenmccormack@irbea.org
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