Description

Bio Green Woods (BGW) new industrial unit started its activity last May. The platform with approximately 29.000m2 has a unique automated and technologically advanced production process which is an integral part of the overall project to build the first state-of-the-art Biorefinery in Portugal.

Designed to contribute to environmental sustainability, BGW was awarded an FSC certification (number 177937), the promotor assumes the commitment of using, in its layout and production process, wood from replanted forests, with FSC certification.

BGW's process was designed according to the principles of circularity, to obtain diversified products with high added value, suitable for different uses and purposes.

In this industrial unit, BGW has started producing: 

• Eco-charcoal: healthier, with greater calorific power and longer-lasting, characteristics that result from its high purity and high fixed carbon content;
• 100% natural briquettes, produced from vegetable coal fibers.

Very soon, BGW will start producing:

• Liquid by-products, such as Liquid Smoke, Wood Vinegar, Methyl Acetate, and Eucalyptol for industries such as biochemistry, food, and cosmetics, among others.

The commercial work carried out by BGW led to the sale of all production, contracted with external clients in Germany, England, and Spain. Countries to which it is already exporting.

The project has an investment of over 16M€. It is being financed by equity, debt emission, public subsidies, and crowdlending campaigns up to 1 million euros.

This is the seventh campaign of a total financing goal of 1M€ that the project promoter intends to raise with GoParity’s community. The funds raised will be used to secure the construction and acquisition of the bio-refinery equipment. A total of 500.000€ has already been raised among GoParity's investors in Bio Green Woods, II, III, IV, V and VI. The present campaign aims to raise an additional 75.000€.

Circularity, sustainability, and added value stand out as differentiating elements of this project, supported by an innovative production process, and R&D that led to the construction of the industrial unit. The production has been tested in pre-industrial prototypes in order to validate the production ratios and the business model.

BGW's process guarantees quality products, produced efficiently and without greenhouse gas emissions, which translates into gains for final clients, the environment, and investors.

This project follows European industry decarbonization trends, focusing its production on green processes and with zero gas emissions. BGW's process, where "nothing is lost and everything is transformed", is focused on criteria of total utilization of resources, reducing or eliminating waste from production processes. BGW presents itself as a solution for accelerating energy transition and as an alternative to traditional energies.

This step toward the construction of the state-of-the-art Biorefinery in Europe will provide Portugal with the ability to export various end products or replace imports. The promotor hopes to contribute to an improvement in the country's trade balance.

BGW - A project that creates 100% sustainable added value and contributes to ensuring carbon neutrality, circularity, and energy resilience.

The Impact

• Reduction of oil dependence by replacing it with more sustainable products: by contributing to the chemical industry with raw materials which are plant-sourced, through the use of biomass from forest waste (invasive species), BGW expects to capture its entire CO2 emissions, estimated at more than 8,000 tonnes.
• Promotion of green and innovative chemicals: Europe’s first third-generation bio-refinery, will carry out an innovative and sustainable production, with total use of forest biomass.
• Promotion of sustainable production and consumption:  in its bio-refinery, BGW will produce high-quality charcoal with a high rate of fixed carbon (environmentally friendly), a gas which can be converted into electrical energy, and sustainably sourced chemical liquids such as bio-oil (the production and consumption of these liquids assume neutral or very limited CO2 emissions, compared to fossil fuels).
• Fire prevention: the use of forest biomass for the conversion into electrical energy or others, duly regulated and directed, can contribute to reducing the fire risk since it will promote more sustainable forest management and consequently will change the structure of forest stands and landscape.
• Promotion of the forestry industry and its producers: the sustainable use of forest biomass creates conditions for improving the profitability of the forest. It increases its productivity and the value of the ligneous and non-ligneous materials resulting from the management of the forest stands. BGW will work with several local forest producers, enhancing the sustainable management of the forest and the quality of life of the producers.

Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals

Financial viability

Download Key Investment Information Sheet

Guarantees

Equipment pledge

The Promoter

About BGW, S.A.

Bio Green Woods is a pioneering company in Europe in what regards the complete use of materials and energy. Based in Alvaiázere, district of Leiria, where they launched, in May, the first European industrial wood bio-refining state-of-the-art plant. 

Currently the company has 25 employees and 17 on-the-job trainees.

BGW has developed a charcoal production unit, through wood distillation, a unique and innovative method in Europe. This is an exclusive and unprecedented technique that ensures more homogeneous and higher-quality products, through an environmentally clean process. The company also fully captures and transforms all gases resulting from the pyrolysis process, including condensable gases for the production of by-products (vegetable tar and pyroligneous acid), and non-condensable gases such as energy, ensuring zero waste.

The company has as partners:

• Geskasai, Lda – represented by BGW’s CEO, Sérgio Silva. With over 16 years of experience in international trade, Sergio was the forerunner of this project after several years of travel, studies and global analyses of the world market for charcoal, energy, bio-based chemicals and new materials. From the outset, Sérgio was the main and sole funder of the project, betting since the beginning on the development of industrial processes which would be materialized in the first large-scale industrial unit that is being built;
• BlueCrow Capital – Private equity fund focused on green and blue economy (forest and sea) investments;
• Pedro Ferreirinha – Mechanical engineer and responsible for the various patents submitted by the company during the R&D developments, Pedro has been part of the project since the creation of the concept, taking part in its development, from the design of the various prototypes ot the creation of the new industrial unit.

Business Model

Updates