Capacity Building questionnaires have been set up and distributed to the partners including stakeholder analysis, information on best capacity building formats and competence portfolio.

The questionnaires will be used as first step of a Delphi Study design to forcast the regional developments.

The kick-off meeting in Bonn in January 2017 officially inaugurated the project activities. The meeting served to get to know to each other and to the project activities ahead, and to plan the subsequent steps in detail.

The highlight of the project Kick-off meeting was the visit of the company PYREG in Dörth, Germany. PYREG is a German manufacturer of small decentralised dry carbonisation units and one of the potential manufacturers for the investments during the project.

All project participants were impressed by the presentation about the PYREG technology to convert biomass to charcoal. The existing Pyreg plant, the Pyreg 500, can convert roundabout 1400 t of Biomass a year into 300 t of Biochar. The technique used is a continuous process of dry carbonisation. The biomass is heated up to 550 – 600°C in a low oxygen surrounding and gasified. The gases are burned in a FLOX (flameless oxidation) combustion chamber, without the formation of tars and condensates.

Future collaboration during the project is envisaged in form of investment plans and joint research activities