Circular Economy and Value Chains

CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND VALUE CHAINS

Research area that focuses on the mobilization and use of biomass, safe wood supply, forestry operations, emergency logistics and new challenges driven by the circular economy.

Some of the expected results will include:

Design of efficient and sustainable biomass supply chains and logistics, including collection, logistics and evaluation of burnt wood;

Promote the adoption of suitable equipment for the collection and transport of biomass (mainly that which is being unused for Forest Fire Defense), characterize the biomass supply chains at regional and national level and support the definition of sectoral strategies and policies;

Research into the use of electric vehicles for transport between the forest and the factory, develop intelligent forest operation systems and new interactions between man, machinery and land linked to supply chain systems;

Forestry logistics optimization tools to guarantee supply;

Fire extinguishing logistics, including firefighters’ occupational health;

Redefining forest products and production processes in the context of the circular economy, supporting emerging bio-refinery projects for conversion of forest biomass into bio-fuels and bio-pro pipelines, new wood-based packaging solutions and improved reuse of industrial by-products (in forestry, for example) with the aim of improving organic matter and soil conservation;