Bio-fuels, bio-materials and quality of products in the Biosystems Engineering and Agricultural Engineering Studies in Spain Francisco Ayuga Pedro Aguado

Introduction At this moment the Spanish university studies are involved in a process of adaptation to the European Higher Education Area that has not been completed yet.

Introduction The new structure of the University studies in Spain is organized in three cycles, a degree of 240 ECTS, a Master (professional or for research) between 60 to 120 ECTS and a third cycle

Previous studies Draft of the governmental documents about the contents of the degrees and masters for the engineers with regulated professional competences USAEE core curriculum Report developed by the Agricultural and Forestry Engineering Schools for the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) Introduction

Courses in bio-fuels, bio- materials and quality of products

It can be observed that the quality of products is a discipline that it is very common in the Agricultural Engineering Spanish University studies. However, biofuels and biomaterials are less common in the official studies due to the fact that they are emerging disciplines.

Courses in bio-fuels, bio- materials and quality of products In the new official studies, both degrees and master, these contents should be included. Besides, since the specialists and research lines related to these emerging disciplines are increasing in the Spanish universities, it will be easy to have the necessary support

Enrolment of the students The biofuels discipline usually is included in renewable energies programmes It is known that these masters have enough students each year Masters about renewable energies usually are promoted by Engineering Schools, especially by Agricultural, Forestry, Industrial and Mines Schools, but they are also offered by Chemical Departments.

Enrolment of the students With regards to biomaterials, there are also many masters and courses Most of them are oriented to Medicine However, despite of the existence of many research groups working on biomaterials in the Spanish Engineering Schools and Departments, there are no many experiences from the Agricultural Engineering Schools

Enrolment of the students There are also many masters an courses about quality of products This is a discipline included in all the documents used for the new studies design. Quality of products courses are usually chosen by the students because it is known that this discipline is demanded by the employers, as can be seen in the report developed by the Agricultural and Forestry Engineering Schools for the ANECA

Infraestructure that can support this studies Biofuels are directly and closely related with the agricultural disciplines Biomaterials teaching can be included in the new programmes of studies, but these subjects are not considered in the previously mentioned information sources

Infraestructure that can support this studies With regards to the quality of products, it is a discipline included in the present Agricultural studies and in all the documents used for the new Agricultural studies design

Research groups in Spain Research in bio-fuels started in Spain early in the 80s, mainly due to the personal initiative of Jesús Fernández At the moment there is a singular research project named “PSE-cultivos energéticos” led by CIEMAT (a public research centre) that is working on energy crops with a budget of 79.6 M€ from 2005 to 2012, with participants from the School of Agricultural Engineers of Madrid

Research groups in Spain Spain is also active in the Biomaterials research, but in this case there is less participation of Agricultural Engineers With respect to quality of products some researchers in Spain started very soon. Professor Briz from the School of Agricultural Engineers in Madrid is involved in “Tracing Food Commodities in Europe” funded by EU with more than 12 M€

Research groups in Spain Also at the School of Agricultural Engineers is located the research group led by Margarita Ruiz-Altisent, working on quality of fruits and other agricultural products She is is now in the project “Increasing Fruit consumption through a trans disciplinary approach leading to High quality produce from environmentally safe, sustainable methods” with a budget of more than 13 M€.

Current situation and perspectives in the market in Spain In Spain there has been an increase in the biofuel production during the last few years and it seems to be a promising industry Plant nameProvinceCapacityRaw materialsStarting date Ecocarburantes españoles Murcia118Wheat, barley & potable alcohol 2000 Bioetanol GaliciaLa Coruña139Wheat, barley & potable alcohol 2002 Biocarburantes Castilla y León Salamanca158Wheat, barley, corn & feedstock 2006 Source: BiodieselSpain.com

Current situation and perspectives in the market in Spain More than 1000 M€ were invested in Biodiesel and Bioethanol plants and 3000 millions more are compromised in new projects. Nevertheless the biggest plant in Spain was closed during a year because it was cheaper to pay the workers than to produce ethanol. Last summer the plant reopened. In general the sector has been paralyzed, producing only 30 % of its capacity. The reason seems to be uncertainties on the legislation and the higher prices of the raw material

Current situation and perspectives in the market in Spain In the future, the Spanish government plan is to reach 2.9 % of the fuel for each of these products summing up 5.84 % in 2010 accordingly with the European schedule. The possibilities of creating jobs for Biosystems/Agricultural Engineers are very high, if the present situation can be overcome

Current situation and perspectives in the market in Spain Regarding the Biomaterials, in Spain they are used mainly in the medical sector. Spain imports most of these products. Some companies produce construction biomaterials, but at very small scale. Consequently the economical importance and job creation capacity is still low.

Conclusions Programme of studies are now under discussion, but Quality of Products will be included and probably Biofuels also. Biomaterials is not a discipline covered by Biosystems Engineering (or similar) in Spain until now

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