Would you like to find out how to contribute to a sustainable, circular economy and at the same time raise the value of crop or animal production? Which of the following products will actually represent the highest added value or income: food, animal feed, (bio)fuel, materials, or a combination thereof? And what may determine this value? The edibility, taste, nutritional value, or the fact that you can construct your house with it, run your car on it, or that you can wrap your food in it?
Within the agri-food sector, developing a BBE means: making choices on how to successfully use plant based and animal based biomass to sustainably meet all our daily needs, for us and for future generations.
The BBE is all about replacing fossil raw materials such as oil, coal, and natural gas, by renewable biomass. Biomass, including residues of crops and animals, is used to produce energy, biofuels, high value chemicals, as well as other products, hereby reducing our dependency on fossil raw materials as well as our greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time however, we and our livestock still need to eat from this biomass in the first place.
In order to meet these different interests, developing a BBE demands a change in thinking and acting. Unlike oil and gas, biomass is very diverse in its origin and composition and therefore usually is produced and processed in many different ways. This leads to different production processes and often also requires specific organizational and commercial/entrepreneurial skills. Furthermore, we will explore to which extent transitions from fossil raw materials to biomass are possible, impossible or already happening.
What will you learn?
In this minor, you will learn about all these aspects of the BBE, with specific attention for the agri-food sector. While stepping out of the comfort zone of your own expertise and study program and through interdisciplinary cooperation, you will learn to develop new and innovative agri-food chains, where food, feed, fuel and materials can be produced simultaneously. In this minor, you’ll be working in a multidisciplinary group on real life issues and projects.
Application
Want to sign up for the Minor Biobased economy in the agrifood sector?
Here you find more information about the application procedure.
ERDI-project
This minor is part of the ERDI-project, a co-funded prestigious European project about bioeconomy. The project aimed at boosting local bio economy suffering from an increasing lack of skilled employees and creative business models. Joining this minor will therefore enhance your chances of a challenging (international) job within the sector. For more information: www.erdiproject.eu