The Agroenergy Group brings around 20 people together, with researchers, technical staff, administrative staff and trainee research staff, mainly working on R&I in agroenergy, phytodepuration and microalgae. The greater part of its members are associated with the Higher Technical School of Engineering for Agronomy, Food and Biosystems, which is were the Group's facilities are located, with some more at the School for Industrial Engineers. The Group is multi-disciplinary and includes profiles from agronomy engineering, environmental sciences, chemistry, physics, pharmacy, biological sciences and forestry engineering.
Site card
Agro-energy Group (AG-UPM)
GA-UPM
Structure: Research Groups
The Group specialises in R&I in the field of agro-energy, which includes, amongst other lines of work, production of biomass, its characterisation, energy crops, transformation of biomass into solid and liquid biofuels, energy conversion and future-oriented studies and evaluation of potential.
In parallel, it has three other important lines of research in the field of phytodepuration, that is to say, using plant species to treat waste water, the production of microalgae for various uses, including bioenergy and treating waste water, and analysing the life cycle of energy systems. Other lines the Group works on are unconventional use of plant species and, generically, plant production.
- Biomass
- Phytodepuration
The Agroenergy Group has developed more than a hundred projects - including more than 30 European projects ¿with public funding and funded by businesses. It has been granted more than ten patents.
One of the most important works it has carried out over the last year, in Spain, was to characterise the agricultural districts in Spain, which was ordered by the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (MAGRAMA). Internationally, a highlight is its current participation in three European projects falling within the seventh Framework Programme (OPTIMA), the LIFE programme, and the coordination of the Marie Curie network on Biomass Energy and the Environment (ENV-BIO).
Highlights of the Group's most important facilities are the Pilot Microalgae Production Plant and the Pilot Solid Biofuels Plant, which opened in 2008 (see the photo at the top of this sheet) and was nominated as a Flagship Project in the Community of Madrid.
