Domain
Sustainability – Energy

Circular Economy / Energy Systems in Agricultural Production / LCA / Environmental Impact

The Domain’s primary research areas focus on Environmental Impact Assessment (EiA) and on Energy Systems and Energy Management in bio-production systems. Furthermore, the promotion of the Circular economy including efficient agro-waste and agro-chemicals management schemes lies on the core business of the Domain.

Our Vision

The Domains’s vision is to act as an International research pocket of reference for environmental engineering addressing the interactions between environment, agriculture, energy, and quality of life and exploiting this knowledge to the design of novel processes and products serving circular economy objectives.

Resourses

Waste

Manufacturing

Consumption & Use

Recycling

Circular Economy

Research Applications

Environmental impact assessment in Bioproduction

iBO is developing, across various research projects, advanced technologies for monitoring environmental pollution and waste management. Industrial ecology approaches to the design of bio-production, industrial, and urban systems with reduced ecological footprint in order to foster the cyclical economy. In our institute we develop integrated methodologies to assess the environmental impact.

Waste Management in Bioproduction

iBO is specialized in research and development of alternative agro-waste management. The use of different bio-industrial wastes is an important component of sustainable agriculture in order to close nutrient cycles on a global, regional, and local scale (e.g. organic fertilizers).

Solar Energy in Rural Applications

iBO brings on board applied agricultural, technical, economic, social and regulatory innovation and large experience on solar energy applications in Agricultural Systems. A key feature of iBO’s recent activities and research work concerns to the expansion of scientific research to new topics of solar energy in agriculture, related to recent increased interest in global warming and climate change, in order to assist efforts for sustainable and viable agriculture. iBO has the knowledge and expertise in solar energy agriculture applications and the main focus is given at:

  • Solar irrigation
  • Solar water pumping
  • Solar water heaters
  • Solar energy to dry crops and grains
  • Greenhouse and livestock buildings heating
  • Unreliable supply of electricity in agriculture applications

Wind Energy in Rural Areas

Small-scale wind energy is attractive, alternative and cost-effective and can help farmers and ranchers, especially in rural areas which presents sufficient high wind speeds, to decrease their electricity bills, avoid the high costs of extending utility power lines, prevent power interruptions, and provide a non-polluting source of electricity without any impact to crops planting and livestock grazing. In iBO, we perform extensive studies on small wind electric systems for agriculture in the areas of:

  • Stand-alone energy systems
  • Grid-connected energy systems
  • Selling excess electricity to utilities

Bioenergy and energy crops

Development, study and evaluation of energy and other non-food crops is crucial in the new framework of energy production in rural areas. In addition, assessment of availability and energy content of biomass, such as energy crops, perennial crops, forest and agricultural residues and livestock farms waste are significant for rural development within the Bio-Economy concept. iBO has significant experience on energy production systems from biomass of different kinds, using different energy carriers:

  • solid biomass (wood logs, chips or pellets)
  • gaseous biofuels (biogas, biomethane and syngas)
  • liquid biofuels (refined vegetable oils, biodiesel, bioethanol)

Biomass supply chain and types of energy conversion systems (CHP units on greenhouses and livestock buildings, converted agricultural tractors to use biofuels) are also under iBO’s expertise.

Energy management and control systems

Energy management and control systems and multi-criteria decision systems have seen significant use in agricultural and environmental issues. A variety of artificial (computational) intelligence and decision support methodologies have been developed to receive the optimum decision in solving problems in agriculture. iBO has the knowledge and the expertise to develop energy management systems, control systems and DS systems for any agricultural problem based mainly on:

  • Fuzzy Logic
  • Neutral Networks
  • Game theory
  • Optimization tools

Indicative Projects

ΚYKLOS 4.0

01/01/2020 - 31/12/2023
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BIO CIRCULAR

06/09/2018 - 05/08/2022
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OPTIMA

01/09/2018 - 31/01/2022
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INNOSETA

01/05/2018 - 30/04/2021
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