Webinar: Evaluation Systems for Bioeconomy Transformation Strategies

Presentation Summary

Bioeconomy is based on the use and valorisation of natural resources (e.g. agricultural and forestry biomasses) with the objective of “defossilizing” conventional economies and ensuring a progressive replacement of non-renewable resources. Nevertheless, there are uncertainties associated with the development of bioeconomy strategies. Some include technology maturity, biomass availability, feedstock and energy price volatility, as well as market and policy conditions, which all result in project implementation/execution risks. Therefore, assessments and evaluations of sustainable bioeconomy solutions should consider all grounds for uncertainty that lead to conflicting decision criteria while incorporating the unique values (corporate and otherwise) and priorities of the project stakeholders.

This webinar will elaborate the complexity and importance, as well as common mistakes and nuances of systematic and strategic decision-making within the context of the development and deployment of biorefinery technologies and bioeconomy projects. The fundamentals of decision support systems driven by a multi-criteria analysis will also be discussed. A case study featuring a large-scale biorefinery project will be used to illustrate how decision support tools can be utilized for evaluating bioeconomy transformation strategies across the forestry sector.

Dr. Nima Ghavidel Mehr is a biorefinery specialist in the Industrial Systems Optimization group at CanmetENERGY of Natural Resources Canada. He has 6 years of experience in biorefinery and bioeconomy and extensive knowledge on renewable technologies producing added-value products from woody biomass, as well as more than 8 years of experience in the area of biopolymers, bioplastics and biocomposites. Prior to Natural Resources Canada, Nima provided technical insights to pulp and paper client companies in the context of biorefinery technology implementation for diversifying bioproduct portfolios.