Camelina, at the forefront of Saipol’s innovative projects

Camelina, of the flax family, could well be one of the promising avenues for supporting the energy transition in the transport sector. By 2030, the rate of incorporation of renewable energy from all sources should reach 14% in Europe, including a minimum of 3.5% for advanced biofuels, i.e. those using non-food biomass. France has already decided to raise the rate of incorporation of this new energy resource to 2.5% in 2025, compared with 1% in Europe. It should reach 5% by 2030. The challenge is to find the volumes to satisfy the energy sectors. Camelina is among the potentially eligible crops for the production of a biofuel with a very high reduction in greenhouse gases.

Rich in oil and protein and with a short development cycle of three months, camelina is the ideal candidate for the innovative projects that Saipol has been launching for the past three years to expand its energy offer and, as a complement, it’s animal feed offer. “Our aim is to create a biofuel sector whose raw material comes from the summer intercropping after early harvests of winter crops such as protein pea, canned pea, winter barley and wheat”, explains Guillaume de La Forest, project manager for camelina at Saipol. This cruciferous plant, which is sown from mid-June to mid-July and harvested by mid-October at the latest, fits within this strategy. It will complement Saipol’s energy oil offer, which is mainly based on rapeseed. The challenge is twofold. By mobilising the time between food crops, farmers will be able to earn an income. For the manufacturer, it is an additional local source of supply which can bring new contracts”.

The possibility of mobilising hectares on French territory must be validated with each operator. Saipol evaluates the quality of the oils obtained in biofuels for the aeronautical industry as well as the quality of the meals obtained from the hulled seeds. Potential buyers in these sectors are following the project with interest. “We are in the process of providing the framework, and the volumes need only enter within this scope” Guillaume de La Forest adds. The project was launched in 2018 to validate the insertion of the crop in the rotation. The next step is the sustainability of the sector. In balance in this “production chain crash test”: the assets and difficulties encountered by farmers and storage organisations. A pilot group was set up in 2020. Camelina has been sown on more than 1,000 ha in partnership with eight storage organisations, the Chambers of Agriculture, the seed company Camelina Company and the technical institute Terres-Inovia. The experiment will increase in importance both in terms of surfaces and yields by the optimisation of technical processes. “We are making step-by-step progress on agronomic knowledge, adds Guillaume de La Forest. In 2022, we will draw up a set of specifications based on these last few years of experiments. We are already committed to buying the lots at a price close to the rapeseed price. ” In order to be ready for launch!