The EUBCE Poster Awards are delivered in recognition of the most outstanding Visual Presentations of each conference topic.
In European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE) 2019, as for the 26th edition, Poster Awards will be chosen by a special scientific committee chaired by Dimitrios Sidiras (University of Piraeus, Industrial Management and Technology, GREECE). Both the quality of the poster contents and the quality of the graphic presentation will be assessed. The awards ceremony will occur during Conference closing.
As for the past edition of EUBCE, with regard to the next EUBCE 2019 in Lisbon, researchers can submit their abstracts in application to the Calls for Papers 2019 and have the chance to be selected for Plenary, Oral or Visual presentations.
We interviewed some authors of the winning posters of last edition, asking about their research and how did they managed to translate their work into an effective visual presentation.
O.-J. Korpinen (Lappeenranta University of Technology) speaks of the research he conducted together with M. Aalto, H. Ovaskainen, P. Venäläinen and T. Ranta presented on Pulpwood Terminals and Their Potential to Support Biomass Supply to Power Plants in Eastern Finland
The research was based on a simulation study focusing on pulpwood supply logistics. Pulpwood terminals, which are necessary for high-capacity truck transportation, could be used for buffering CHP plants’ feedstock before and during winter. This would increase the utilization of terminal areas and, thus, savings on their establishment and maintenance costs.
In the study this poster presents, we found that ca. 33% of the forest fuels used by three biggest power plants in Eastern Finland are transported via six highway junctions that, according to simulation results, would be important nodes for pulpwood transportation too. The study was carried out by combining simulation modelling methods with GIS analyses. We hope that such methodology would become popular also elsewhere in Europe, regardless of the fact that feedstock could be something else than wood. The challenges such as seasonal variation in supply and demand and ageing of biomass are the same in any case. It is obvious that finding suitable places for intermediate biomass processing sites along the main road network is challenging in the more densely populated regions of Europe than Finland. In Finland, the development of feedstock logistics is of great interest because transportation costs represent a significant proportion in the gate prices of biomass.
E. Ceotto (CREA- Council for Agricultural Research and Economics) speaks about The Importance of Quantifying Soil Carbon Storage at Outset of Perennial Energy Crops: a Case Study.
The assessment of soil organic carbon accrual plays a central role in the sustainability of perennial energy crops. The aim of the study was to assess the variability of soil organic carbon content within the same field planted with a perennial energy crop at the outset of a long-term study. The impact of the research is to gain insight on the characteristics of energy cropping systems. The results are intended to provide better insight to the scientific community as well as they may be of interest for the policy makers.
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N. R. Vechi (Aarhus University) illustrates the results obtained with L.M. Agneessens, L.D.M. Ottosen, A. Feilberg, M.V.W. Kofoed on In-Situ Biogas Upgrading: Contribution of Homoacetogenesis to Methane Production.
The conversion of surplus energy to hydrogen and subsequently to methane using anaerobic digestion (AD) as carbon dioxide source, might be an effective energy storage alternative. Exogenous addition of H2 directly to biogas reactors induces conversion of CO2 to methane through hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (HM), though it can also stimulate homoacetogenesis (HA) resulting in a conversion of acetate instead. Additionally, the direct hydrogen addition in the digestors might cause disturbances in microbial community activity, and consequently reactor failure.
Considering that, the aim of this research is to assess the contributions of these microbial communities in sludge adapted and non-adapted to H2 injections. Consequently, having hands on how the reactor will respond to the H2 addition and how each parameter can influence that e.g. organic loading rate, amount of hydrogen added, microbial community dominant in the reactor. Therefore, this might lead one step closer to understanding and controlling the system on a larger scale. By succeeding in controlling the system and to optimize a higher methane fraction production might put forward this technology to be as a way of storing energy, combining wind and biogas energy production. The consolidation of these two systems of energy production would provide an interesting option of grid stabilization, decrease in fossil fuel utilization and reduction of the dependency of biomass energy sources. Such research findings will be relevant for both stakeholders that design the AD-systems as well as those that operate them.
T. S. Amirkhizi (DTU – Danmarks Tekniske Universitet) presents Gas Electric Hybrid Heat Pumps – A Socio- and Private Economic Feasibility Study
My research is conducted within the “Future Gas” project, which is a project about facilitating the integration of green gas in the Danish energy system and determining the optimal role of gas in Denmark’s future. My PhD project focuses on markets and regulation perspective. I am studying the regulatory barriers green gas is facing to evaluate how it should be supported to be part of the Danish energy system.
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I hope that my research enables a cost-efficient green transition and accelerates the phase-out of high emission fuels. Gas electric hybrid heat pumps offer flexibility to the energy system and ensure the security of supply, especially during hours where the electricity demand is high.
Asked with the question “What would you recommend for a powerful, straightforward visual presentation?”, they highlitghted the importance of synthesis and simplicity.
O.-J. Korpinen states: “Sometimes it is difficult to drop less important information from the poster but usually it pays off. A general thumb rule is to keep the textual material as short as possible and the artwork as clear as possible!“. E. Ceotto suggests that “a poster should be a good combination of intriguing images and few clear results. However, because the poster was presented to the audience in a five minutes visual presentation, the challenge was to present the message in clear manner, avoiding the description of unnecessary details.”
N. R. Vechi speaks of her strategy: “Regarding a graphic communication strategy, simplicity, cleanness, and use of images to catch the viewers’ attention without overloading the poster with text might be the best approach, especially because it also exercises the writer’s ability to synthesize his work in a graphical way.” T. S. Amirkhizi shares a good tip: “I showed my poster to family members and friends who are not in my discipline and asked if they understood it or not in order to make the necessary adjustments to make it comprehensible.”
