We will visit the AGRIBIOENERGIA Cooperative Farm, located just a few kilometers outside of Bologna city.

Founded in 2005, this cooperative farm manages almost 2,000 Ha of cropland, producing vegetables, fruits, cereals, forages, and medicinal aromatic plants. After an evolution driven by years of R&D investments, in 2010 the farm introduced a 1MWe biogas plant that nowadays produces 8 million kWh of electricity and over 8 million KWh of heat annually. The heat is used both for heating and for the drying of the medicinal plants. An extraordinary example of circular economy and of application of the BIOGASDONERIGHT® model.

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The University of Bologna Experimental Farm was established in 1974 and was designed to support research and experiments conducted by departments of the Bologna University School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.In particular, the Cadriano Centre is where most of the experimental activities of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences take place, as well as the trials of external agri-food companies, (producers of fertilizers, seeds, phytosanitary products) and mechanization trials.The activities are conducted both in open fields and in controlled greenhouses.
Some of the longest established trials here were established over 40 years ago and are still ongoing.You will be able to visit long-established plantations of lignocellulosic crops (miscanthus, giant reed, switchgrass etc.) as well as multi-year rotational trials of annual biomass crops and food crops, cultivated with intercropping, relay cropping and other innovative farming systems.

RE-CORD is a private-public nonprofit Research & Development organization founded in 2010 that groups together its members resources (know-how, networks, plants, laboratory and other facilities) in a single body able to catch opportunities quickly and efficiently in the field of renewable energies, biomass, bioenergy and bioeconomy.

RE-CORD facilities in Scarperia include an analytical laboratory for biomass, biochar, biofuels and soil characterization, and a 900 m2 experimental area (REC PARK) that hosts most of the pilot units owned and operated by RE-CORD.

These include an indirectly-fired rotary kiln for slow pyrolysis with a capacity up to 100 kg/h of wood chip, a slow/intermediate auger reactor (up to 3 -4 kg/h), a continuous hydrothermal liquefaction unit (2 l/h of slurry), 1 m3 anaerobic digestor and a batch char leaching unit.

During the visit it will be possible to tour both facilities, and have a in-depth look at the pilot plants.