Mapping forest and agricultural biomass and assessment for solar-powered biorefineries in the Mediterranean region

PYSOLO Mid-term Stakeholder Event on Solar-driven Biomass Pyrolysis on 6 November 2025 in Zaragoza, Spain

The PYSOLO (PYrolysis of biomass by concentrated SOLar pOwer) project consortium invited stakeholders from industry, academia, agriculture, and policy to attend the Mid-Term Stakeholder Event of the Horizon Europe project held in Zaragoza, Spain, on 6 November 2025. This event highlighted recent progress in solar-driven biomass pyrolysis – a combination of technologies with significant potential for industrial decarbonisation and defossilisation, circular bioeconomy, and climate change mitigation.

The half-day program provided participants with a comprehensive overview of PYSOLO’s current results. The first session featured presentations on the concentrated solar power technology, the pyrolysis units, the biomass selection, and the pyrolysis products with a special focus on biochar. It also provided the opportunity for an open dialogue with the project team. The second part included an exclusive guided tour of the ICB-CSIC (Instituto de Carboquímica) research facilities, where one of the project’s pyrolysis units is being developed and tested. 

Agenda:

Welcome and opening of the meeting - Marco Binotti (Politecnico di Milano) & Tomás García (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC))

1. The PYSOLO Project: concept at a glance - Marco Binotti (Politecnico di Milano)
2. Development of solar rotary kiln technology at the DLR for heating and treatment of particles - Juan Pablo Rincon Duarte (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt)
3. Pyrolysis technologies for solar integration - Andrea Maria Rizzo (RE-Cord) & José Manuel Lopéz
4. Biochar for Productive Soils: Early Insights from Zaragoza Trials - David Casini & Ana Simões Mota 
5. Overall PYSOLO system performance - Marco Colombi (Politecnico di Milano)
6. Mapping Forest and Agrucultural Biomass and Assessmen for Biorefineries in the Mediterranean Region - Ercio Kutchartt (Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología Forestal de Cataluña (CTFC))