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The forest sector plays a key role in meeting the climate change challenge. Forest products and renewable materials are masterpieces in achieving this role. This editorial destails the benefits of these forest prodcuts and celebrates the contributions of the authors who submitted their work to this special edition of Forests journal. This edition presents 11 papers, which include the characterization of a new fiber supply, the description of advanced materials and their environmental impact, and an examination of structural products, wood protection, and modifications.

Small-scale wood pellet producers often use a trial-and-error approach for determining adequate blending of available wood processing residues and pelletizing parameters. Developing general guidelines for optimizing wood pellet quality and meeting market standards would facilitate their market entry and profitability. Four types of hardwood residues, including green wood chips, dry shavings, and solid and engineered wood sawdust, were investigated to determine the optimum blends of feedstocks and pelletizing conditions to produce pellets with low friction force, high density and high mechanical strength. The feedstock properties reported in this study included particle size distribution, wood moisture content, bulk density, ash content, calorific values, hemicelluloses, lignin, cellulose, extractives, ash major and minor elements, and carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. All residues tested could potentially be used for wood pellet production. However, high concentrations of metals, such as aluminum, could restrict their use for accessing markets for high-quality pellets. Feedstock moisture content and composition (controlled by the proportions of the various residue sources within blends) were the most important parameters that determined pellet quality, with pelletizing process parameters having less overall influence. Residue blends with a moisture content of 9%−13.5% (dry basis), composed of 25%−50% of sawdust generated by sawing of wood pieces and a portion of green chips generated by trimming of green wood, when combined with a compressive force of 2000 N or more during pelletizing, provided optimum results in terms of minimizing friction and increasing pellet density and mechanical strength. Developing formal relationships between the type of process that generates residues, the properties of residues hence generated, and the quality of wood pellets can contribute to optimize pellet production methods.

Research Highlights: This is the first study that analyzes the environmental performance of wood-based phase change material (PCM) panels. Background and Objectives: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful environmental management tool. However, a full LCA, especially during the early design phase of a product, is far too time and data intensive for industrial companies to conduct during their production and consumption processes. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for simpler methods to demonstrate a company’s resource efficiency potential without being data or time intensive. The goal of this study is to investigate the suitability of streamlined LCA (SLCA) tools and methods used in the building material industry, and to assess their robustness in the case study of a wood-based PCM panel. Materials and Methods: The Bilan Produit tool was selected as the SLCA tool and a matrix LCA was selected as the most commonly used SLCA method. A specific case study of a wood-based PCM panel was selected with a focus on its application in building construction in the province of Québec. Results: As a semi-quantitative LCA method, the matrix LCA provided a quick screening of the product life cycle and its hotspot stages, i.e., life cycle stages with high impact. However, the results of the full LCA and SLCA tools were quantitative and based on scientific databases. The use of the PCM panel and heating energy had the highest environmental impacts as compared to other inputs. The results of the full LCA and SLCA also identified energy consumption as a hotspot. Insufficient material or processes in the SLCA databases was one of the reasons for the difference between the results of the SLCA and full LCA. Conclusions: The examined SLCA methods provided proper explanations for the bio-based material in construction, but several limitations still exist, and the methods should be improved to make them more robust when implemented in such a specific sector.

Global demand for renewable energy has increased drastically over the last decade due to new climate change policies implemented in many jurisdictions. Wood pellets made from primary wood processing mill residues represent an attractive source of renewable energy that can be used in the environmental global challenge. However, the environmental impacts involved in their manufacture must be considered to measure the real benefits they can provide to the atmosphere. The general aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental impacts of wood pellet production at two Quebec plants using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and considering a gate-to-gate approach. The paper focuses on the different stages involved in wood pellet production; from the recovery of mill residues, through the pelletization process, to pellet bagging. The paper further expands to a cradle-to-grave analysis comparing the environmental footprints of producing and combusting 1 GJ of energy from wood pellets, natural gas and fossil fuel oil. The analysis suggested that the drying and the pelletizing stages were the largest negative factors affecting the environmental performance of wood pellet production. The comparison demonstrated the environmental advantage of using renewable rather than fossil sources of energy. Considering the growing interest in renewable energy, biomass in particular, and the lack of environmental information on wood pellets, this study could be useful not only for forest sector-related industries but also for the energy sector and policymakers.