Offering the entire range of non-food applications of agricultural resources under one roof. The aim and added value of SIÑAL EXHIBITION, International Non-Food Trade Fair, is to present under one roof the entire range of new non-food applications for agricultural resources, covering all sectors.
Led by Cités en Champagne, in partnership with the IAR cluster, SIÑAL EXHIBITION brings together the industrial, institutional and major regional economic stakeholders. It aims to serve as a showcase for new non-food outlets for agricultural producers.
After sustainability and recycling, we have now entered the renewable age and begun to progress towards zero-carbon-emission solutions.
There is a market for the new applications of agricultural resources, servicing the new industrial requirements, which guarantee future economic development, and this goes beyond the “biorefinery” transformation process. These “green gold” agricultural resources are crops whose non-food applications help reduce the greenhouse effect, conserving the environment for future generations.
Each component of the plant is extracted or separated and, if necessary, functionalised, using different mechanical, chemical or biological processes. The value of the resulting non-food and food fractions, intermediary agri-industrial products and intermediaries in organic synthesis, is generally in inverse proportion to their volume. These fractions are then used directly or formulated to suit the end-users’ requirements. Any waste products are then used in the form of biofuels.
Biomass, the new alternative ?
Biomass is derived from recently living organisms. It includes biodegradable residues from agriculture – from both plant and animal sources – from the forestry sector and related industries as well as biodegradable industrial and household waste.
Where does biomass come from ?
The main sources of biomass are:
- Agriculture,
- Forests,
- Marine and other aquatic environments,
- Green waste,
- Industries and human activities that use living and recently dead biological material.
What can biomass be used for?
Biomass has traditionally been used as a source of fuel and for industrial production. With the current rise in petrol prices, the use of biomass as a raw material in chemistry and as a fuel, common in the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century, is regaining popularity.
Traditional or innovative biomaterial:
Wood and its derivatives, hemp and other plants that can be used to made textiles, are increasingly being utilised as insulating materials and even added to composite concrete. Starch from cereals or potatoes is employed to make biodegradable plastics and many other polymers.
Raw materials in chemistry:
Surfactants, solvents, bitumen solvents, inks, paints, resins, binding agents, lubricants, antifreeze products, active ingredients and essential oils used in pharmaceutics and cosmetics.
Biofuels:
Rapeseed, sunflower, soyabean and palm oils are the basic raw materials used to make biodiesel. The so-called ‘second generation’ biofuels are derived from the cellulose found in a wide variety of non-food crops such as straw and wood.
Biofuel to produce heat and electricity:
Wood in the form of logs, chips, bark, salvage timber, granules or briquettes. Straw and crop residues.
Other sources such as grape marc, fruit kernels, waste from paper factories (black liquor, sludge), waste from local authorities etc. are used to produce biogas, which is created by the anaerobic fermentation of waste.
The Biorefinery
A new industrial principle is emerging, based on the use of biomass feedstock – the biofefinery. In order to be economically viable and to fit into the perspective of sustainable development, this concept must fulfil two conditions:
- Production costs (including raw materials, processes, and positive and negative externalities) must be sufficiently attractive and competitive.
- The products and procedures must be eco-friendly – on a local and global level – without generating additional waste. The biorefinery concept allows for the entire plant to be used in the transformation processes and the production of plant-based resources, adopting an integrated approach and linking the stakeholders of the market.
Under this approach, each component of the plant is extracted or separated and, if necessary, functionalised, using different mechanical, chemical or biological processes. The value of the resulting non-food and food fractions, intermediary agri-industrial products and intermediaries in organic synthesis intermediaries is generally in inverse proportion to their volume. These fractions are then used directly or formulated to suit the end-users’ requirements. Any waste products are then used in the form of biofuels.
The alternative to petrol has arrived, it is an inexhaustible and renewable resource: biomass, in other words the entire plant. Like petrol, plants are made up of countless molecules, which can be refined: each component of the plant can be extracted and functionalised to produce green fuel, building and packaging materials, household products, beauty creams, etc.
These true or ‘green’ agricultural resources thus become the foundations of a new concept, the bioeconomy : bioenergy, agricultural materials, biomolecules, foodstuffs.
The aim is to group together within a radius of a few square kilometres – in an area where agricultural resources are produced – a biofuel factory, a biotech operator, an ingredients manufacturer, a pilot straw fractionation unit, and a co-generation factory that transforms the co-products of these units into heat or electricity. The by-products from one centre thus become the raw materials for the others.
Eco-responsible event
SIÑAL EXHIBITION aims to promote the values of sustainable development by establishing environmental objectives within its organisation, thus focusing on being an eco-responsible event.
The organisers are committed to this process: SIÑAL EXHIBITION exhibitors and visitors are invited to join them.
