Each month, Work Package Leaders and other partners in the Rural BioReFarmeries (RBRF) consortium gather online to share their latest progress, insights and achievements during the Executive Board (EB) meetings.
These monthly updates highlight what’s happening across the consortium — from scientific work in the lab and at the demo sites, to outreach and communication efforts across Europe — offering a snapshot of how RBRF is advancing towards its goal of demonstrating how small-scale, decentralised green biorefineries can advance a circular bioeconomy in the EU while empowering rural regions.
Here’s an overview of what our partners have been working on this October 🌱
Updates from the lab (to pilot and demo)…
Across the technical work packages, partners continue to make steady progress in developing sustainable biorefinery processes and technologies.
WP1 – Sustainable Local Supply Chain Optimisation
The team from Aarhus University, led by Claus Grøn Sørensen, have finalised the design of a user survey to gather data from farmers in Denmark and Ireland, setting the foundation for supply chain simulations.
They’re now developing Python-based simulation code to model scenarios using data from real commercial farms, with particular attention to logistics and processing conditions for harvested biomass. Early results confirm that green juice can be stored safely for up to 24 hours at 5°C, a key insight for transport and processing optimisation.
WP2 – Rural Green Biorefineries
Work continues on feedstock suitability assessment and process optimisation, with researchers from CBIO at Aarhus University conducting Near-Infrared measurements on process fractions using bench-scale analysers. The next phase will involve integrating inline sensors into the facility to improve monitoring and data accuracy. Final demo-scale processing tests were scheduled for the end of October, pending weather conditions.
In the meantime, researchers from MTU’s CIRCBIO expect to scale their bench research on diverse green biomass sources up to pilot-scale this month at MTU and continue working closely with the team behind Farm Zero C to get the demonstration site fully operational.
WP3 – Bio-based Fibre and Packaging Development
The team from ACRRES at Wageningen University & Research, together with PaperFoam, have made strong progress in developing grass-based packaging prototypes, achieving early success with material processing and strength testing.
The collaboration between ACRRES and AlgaNed is also advancing on algae cultivation experiments, with greenhouse installations now operational and ready for new digestate-based trials.
… and outside the lab
The past month also brought important developments in communication, engagement and planning activities.
WP6 – Environmental and Socio-Economic Performance
The team from Unitelma Sapienza have successfully completed a key deliverable, which involved a literature review of previous studies in the field of sustainability and biorefining; Piergiuseppe Morone and Eleonora Staffieri, who are leading WP6, are planning to publish their findings before the end of the year.
They’re now also coordinating with other partners involved to ensure alignment across the Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Social LCA studies, in order to ensure consistent methodologies and data across the project.
WP7 – Business Models, Ecosystem Building and Outreach
SEGES Innovation have been focusing on establishing the foundations of the Rural BioReFarmeries Network, which will offer training materials, workshops and further engagement opportunities to key stakeholders in the bioeconomy, including primary producers, researchers, scientists, policy-makers and innovators. During October, they have prioritised Danish and Irish contacts with the first round of invitations, to then continue expanding across other EU countries.
Events & other dissemination activities
In terms of dissemination, october has been a busy month, especially for Irish partners!
The celebration of Bioeconomy Ireland Week 2025, which took place from 13-19 October, served as the perfect backdrop to highlight the work of Rural BioReFarmeries and its potential to positively impact farmers and other actors in the agricultural sector in the country – or, in the words of this year’s theme, to “inspire local communities for a sustainable, competitive Ireland.”
In the context of Bioeconomy Ireland Week, Project Coordinator James Gaffey (MTU/CIRCBIO) spoke at Midwest Bioeconomy in Action, an online event organised by Circular Agriculture and Biotechnology Group (CircAB) to showcase the latest research and innovation driving a circular bioeconomy in Ireland’s Midwest region. James introduced Rural BioReFarmeries as one of the projects supported by the Circular Bio-based Joint Undertaking (CBE JU).
Also in Ireland, MTU’s Adam Mulcahy and Joanna Przyborska attended the National Dairy Show to represent RBRF at BiOrbic’s booth. This event attracts over 7,000 attendees annually from across the dairy ecosystem, offering an excellent platform for projects like ours to engage with farmers, other agri businesses and the wider public.
Across the pond, in Rome, Prof. Piergiuseppe Morone (UNIT) joined the IGNITE Conference on Sustainable Development in Agriculture hosted at Tor Vergata University, where he spoke about how the business models proposed by the Rural BioReFarmeries project can facilitate a just transition to a circular bioeconomy.
Milestones achieved
On the communication front, the project reached a major milestone in October: surpassing 1,000 followers on LinkedIn!
As discussed during the latest EB meeting, project partners see this as a reflection of growing interest in the work being carried by Rural BioReFarmeries, which is also helping to drive positive engagement from the wider bioeconomy community.
AUSTRALO, our Communication & Dissemination partner, has also ticked another big achievement this month by delivering the official project video. Watch it on YouTube to learn more about the mission of Rural BioReFarmeries.