Soybean is cultivated in Europe as a GM free cultivation. In spite of a growing demand in identity preserved (IP) seeds and of the high environmental benefit of the soybean in the crop rotations, a great decrease of the soybean acreage has been observed in France and in Europe since 2002. That's why in 2007, Cetiom and Onidol, two bodies of the French oilseed crop organisation decided to carry out a comprehensive survey on the different actors of the soybean production chain from the farmers until the feed and food soybean users. The study showed that 12% of the total acreage is planted under organic farming and that most surfaces are still grown under IP process. It also highlighted that the decrease of soybean's surfaces till 2008 was mainly due to an insufficient economic competitiveness compared to other crops. The survey proved that the French production gained market shares between 2002 and 2007 for the soyfood industry supply (from 5 to 25% of the total acreage). The remaining production is processed in small or medium extrusion plants for the local animal raising. The needs of the industry were described in details showing that the main asset of the French production is the good control of the whole production chain, the high quality management by the farmers, the good protein content and shorter logistic chains compared to the imported soybean. For the future, the increasing environmental constraints and the larger demand of European soyfood industry but also of local high-quality feed and animal raising could lead soybean to recover between 100 000 and 150 000 hectares in France.
A characterization study has been performed of the French regional resources that may be used in Biomass-to-Liquid plants based on gasification in entrained-flow reactor. It is based on about 90 representative samples of wood chips from forestry, Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) and Short Rotation Forestry (SRF) and of agricultural biomass, including straws and energy crops. Results show that there is not much variability in properties inside the different families. The majority of properties do not seem to be problematical for the process. However, some properties may be questionable: (i) wood chips size distribution, with many small particles ( below 2 mm) and very large particles (above 70 mm), (ii) bulk density, which is very low in agricultural products (about 100 kg.m-3), (iii) sulphur, fluorine and chlorine contents, which are high, especially chlorine in agricultural straws (1000-8000 mg/kg) (iv) other impurities amounts, such as Ni and B, which are in relatively high amounts in some samples (v) ash content, which is high in SRC/SRF (3 wmf%) and very high in most agricultural raw materials (5 wmf%). Based on these statements, first conclusions on the suitability between feedstock and process may be drawn. Wood chips from forestry appear as the most suitable resource for the process and should be the first resource to be used in industrial plants. SRC/SRF also seem quite suitable for the process and may be seen as a short-term alternative. Agricultural raw materials seem to be more problematical and may be seen as a mid-term option.
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