ENERGY BARGE organised its 3rd national workshop in Bucharest (Romania) on 7 June 2018. The workshop gathered 50 experts from the field of biomass/bioenergy and inland waterway logistics. The workshop addressed the objectives of ENERGY BARGE by discussing current challenges of the Romanian biomass market as well as potentials to shift certain amounts of biomass cargo from road transport to inland vessels on the Danube.

Mr. Ilias Papageorgiadis gave an introduction to the Romanian Association of Biomass and Biogas (ARBIO). ARBIO was founded in 2014 to support the establishment of a legislative frame for the support of utilising bioenergy. An important issue on this regard is the aim to increase the use of waste materials and thereby reduce the share of waste that is send to landfills, which is still the common practice in Romania. However, the biomass and bioenergy sector in Romania still faces challenges due to unstable political conditions.

Mr. Catalin Tobescu (Nostra Silva, Federation of forest owners in Romania) presented the data of the Romanian forest inventory from 2013. The Romanian forest area amounts to approx. 7 Mio ha. Compared to the forest inventory 30 years ago, the forest area increased and the forests are supposed to be in a good condition. Due to large amounts of firewood that are used in the residential heating sector, bioenergy constitutes the main share of all renewable energy sources in Romania. Ms. Adriana Milandru (ISPE) countered that the description of the current forest condition is based on incorrect conclusions, since deforestation could be oberved in recent years. Furthermore, the inventory methodology changed. Hence, the data of the two inventories cannot be compared easily. In view of the high quantities of firewood that are used in private households for heating purposes, Mr. Catalin Dragostin (Association of Energy Companies in Romania) pointed out the importance to substitute inefficient biomass stoves with district heating plants and micro CHPs. 

The different business sectors of the company Clariant, in particular their planned bioethanol plant in Craiova in the Southwest of Romania, were presented by Mr. Markus Walsberger. The company intends to build a full-scale commercial plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues (straw) by applying the sunliquid® technology. The required amounts of straw will be supplied from a radius between 60 to 100 km. The new plant will have an annual bioethanol production capacity of 50,000 t. As a by-product of the process, around 30,000 t of vinasse are expected to accrue annually. Vinasse could be used as fertilizer or substrate for biogas plants. Therefore, Clariant is currently looking for possibilities to utilise the vinasse in the region around Craiova in order to increase the added value.

Mr. Razvan Banica highlighted the business activities of the privately owned Romanian cargo forwarding company TTS S.A. (Transport Trade Services). TTS S.A. has seven locations in Romania and operates a regular route between Serbia and the Netherlands (ARA ports). Mr. Banica pointed out the advantages of inland waterway shipping, e.g. that larger quantities of cargo that can be transported faster along the Danube than using trucks and longterm savings by using the Danube. One of the main obstacles is seen in terms of the navigability in times of low water.

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A site visit to HortiFruct S.R.L. in Bucharest, specifically to the biomass boilers of the company, concluded the workshop. Mr. Cristian Vasile presented the business concept of HortiFruct S.R.L., which manages 130 ha greenhouses and 700 ha field crops. The required heat for 11 ha of the greenhouses is produced by biomass boilers (33 MW installed capacity in total – 11 boilers á 3 MW). A mixture of sunflower husk pellets and sunflower husks are used as fuel. Currently, the company is not using inland waterway transport for the supply of the fuel. Clariant and HortiFruct S.R.L. announced to discuss whether the vinasse of Clariant’s ethanol plant could be used as fertiliser by HortiFruct S.R.L.