Background In 2001, biomass accounted for nearly 4% of the total primary energy consumption in the EU. Half of the biomass used consists of wood or wood chips. For economic reasons, biomass is generally burned in large power stations. As biomass is not often available in large quantities, it is frequently burned in combination with other fuels, such as coal. Co-firing of biomass in conventional power plants is technically feasible but quite costly. Another major impediment to the widespread use of biomass in co-firing is its low energy density in terms of volume, which makes it uneconomical to transport for long distances. One way to overcome this difficulty is to transform biomass into gaseous, liquid or solid fuel. Objectives The project aimed to demonstrate that energy generation based on the Flash Carbonisation technology – a way to convert biomass in a solid fuel - is environmentally sustainable, safe and economically viable. This innovative technology was planned to be used in a small co-generation plant for the mixed combustion of Biochar agglomerate (made of wood) and wood. It was intended to validate the feasibility of safe storage, handling and transport of Biochar and the economical benefit of energy production based on Biochar. Results This project encountered difficulties during conversion work from laboratory scale to an operational industrial scale plant, particularly in terms of the differences between predicted and actual carbonisation process outputs. The beneficiary managed to overcome a number of key challenges during the initial project stages. However, they concluded that the pilot plant was unable to demonstrate adequate technical or economic sustainability and so the project was terminated early. The technology was showed to produce the desired results, but not for a sufficiently wide range of biomass raw materials nor processing conditions, and these became the limiting factor in terms of overall viability. Flash carbonisation was demonstrated as being technically possible using small sized, dry Eucalyptus wood, with very low moisture content and this produced coal with enhanced characteristics. The end product was noted as offering commercial potential for sale as barbeque fuel, which provides producers with added-value and good profit margins. Despite the lack of success in achieving its high level strategic goals the project can still claim three important positive outcomes. These are: A better efficiency of bio coal production (40 % versus 25% of the traditional way); A better quality of bio coal than the traditional one; and The possibility of treating both flue gases and condensable by-products, without environmental impact.