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Torrefaction is a promising bioenergy pre-treatment technology, with potential to make a major contribution to the commodification of biomass. However, there is limited scientific knowledge on the techno-economic performance of torrefaction. This study therefore improves available knowledge on torrefaction by providing detailed insights into state of the art prospects of the commercial utilisation of torrefaction technology over time. Focussing on and based on the current status of the compact moving bed reactor, we identify process performance characteristics such as thermal efficiency and mass yield and discuss their determining factors through analysis of mass and energy balances. This study has shown that woody biomass can be torrefied with a thermal and mass efficiency of 94% and 48% respectively (on a dry ash free basis). For straw, the corresponding theoretical energetic efficiency is 96% and mass efficiency is 65%. In the long term, the technical performance of torrefaction processes is expected to improve and energy efficiencies are expected to be at least 97% as optimal torgas use and efficient heat transfer are realised. Short term production costs for woody biomass TOPs (torrefied pellets) are estimated to be between 3.3 and 4.8 US$/GJLHV, falling to 2.1–5.1 US$/GJLHV in the long term. At such cost levels, torrefied pellets would become competitive with traditional pellets. For full commercialisation, torrefaction reactors still require to be optimised. Of importance to torrefaction system performance is the achievement of consistent and homogeneous, fully hydrophobic and stable product, capable of utilising different feedstocks, at desired end-use energy densities.

Some Parties (Countries) to the UNFCCC decided to include the carbon uptake by harvested wood products (HWP) in a new general accounting framework after 2012 (post Kyoto). We combine the new HWP framework with an assumed increased 50 million m3 harvest level in Canada and evaluate the impact of the GHG emissions over a 100 year period. Our reference case assumes all harvested wood is an immediate CO2 emission (IPCC default) and no substitution effects, i.e. annual GHG emissions of 41 million tonnes CO2eq. In our wood utilisation scenarios, harvested trees are allocated to three end­products: construction wood, paper products and pellets for power production. In comparison with our base case, a combination of fossil fuel substitution, material substitution and temporary carbon uptake by HWP leads to significant decreases in GHG emissions. A similar approach is intended for future EU­28 harvesting., Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 1423-1425

Forest biomass is one of the main contributors to the EU’s renewable energy target of 20% gross final energy consumption in 2020 (Renewable Energy Directive). Following the RED, new sustainability principles are launched by the European energy sector, such as Sustainable Biomass Partnership (former IWPB). We have a reference situation with existing national (forest) legislation and sustainable forest management (SFM) schemes (scenario 1) and a future situation based on additional SBP principles (scenario 2). Two country studies were selected for our survey: one in Finland with nearly 100% SFM certification and one in Leningrad province with a minor areal share of certification in scenario 1. The potential volumes reduce after new criteria from the SBP in scenario 2. The costs will also increase in scenario 2, both in Leningrad region and Finland., JRC.H.3-Forest Resources and Climate

This study explores the greenhouse gas balance and the economic performance (i.e. net present value (NPV) and production costs) of agroforestry and forestry systems on salt-affected soils (biosaline (agro)forestry) based on three case studies in South Asia. The economic impact of trading carbon credits generated by biosaline (agro)forestry is also assessed as a potential additional source of income. The greenhouse gas balance shows carbon sequestration over the plantation lifetime of 24 Mg CO2-eq. ha(-1) in a rice-Eucalyptus camaldulensis agroforestry system on moderately saline soils in coastal Bangladesh (case study 1), 6 Mg CO2-eq. ha(-1) in the rice-wheat- Eucalyptus tereticornis agroforestry system on sodic/saline-sodic soils in Haryana state, India (case study 2), and 96 Mg CO2-eq. ha(-1) in the compact tree (Acacia nilotica) plantation on saline-sodic soils in Punjab province of Pakistan. The NPV at a discount rate of 10% is 1.1 k€ ha(-1) for case study 1, 4.8 k€ ha(-1) for case study 2, and 2.8 k€ ha(-1) for case study 3. Carbon sequestration translates into economic values that increase the NPV by 1-12% in case study 1, 0.1-1% in case study 2, and 2-24% in case study 3 depending on the carbon credit price (1-15 € Mg(-1) CO2-eq.). The analysis of the three cases indicates that the economic performance strongly depends on the type and severity of salt-affectedness (which affect the type and setup of the agroforestry system, the tree species and the biomass yield), markets for wood products, possibility of trading carbon credits, and discount rate.

Introduction of second-generation biofuels is an essential factor for meeting the EU’s 2020 targets for renewable energy in the transport sector and enabling the more ambitious targets for 2030. Finland’s forest industry is strongly involved in the development and commercializing of second-generation biofuel production technologies. The goal of this paper is to provide a quantifi ed insight into Finnish prospects for reaching the 2020 national renewable energy targets and concurrently becoming a large-scale producer of forest-biomass-based second-generation biofuels feeding the increasing demand in European markets. The focus of the paper is on assessing the potential for utilizing forest biomass for liquid biofuels up to 2020. In addition, technological issues related to the production of second-generation biofuels were reviewed. Finland has good opportunities to realize a scenario to meet 2020 renewable energy targets and for large-scale production of wood-based biofuels. In 2020, biofuel production from domestic forest biomass in Finland may reach nearly a million ton (40 PJ). With the existing biofuel production capacity (20 PJ/yr) and the national biofuel consumption target (25 PJ) taken into account, the potential net export of biofuels from Finland in 2020 would be 35 PJ, corresponding to 2–3% of European demand. Commercialization of secondgeneration biofuel production technologies, high utilization of the sustainable harvesting potential of Finnish forest biomass, and allocation of a signifi cant proportion of the pulpwood harvesting potential for energy purposes are prerequisites for this scenario. Large-scale import of raw biomass would enable remarkably greater biofuel production than is described in this paper.

This paper evaluated the economic effects of introducing flexibility to state-of-the-art integrated gasification co-generation (IG-CG) facilities equipped with CO 2 capture. In a previous paper the technical and energetic performances of these flexible IG-CG facilities were evaluated. This paper investigated how market conditions affect the economics of flexible IG-CG facilities by analyzing several case studies. The IG-CG facilities used Eucalyptus wood pellets, torrefied wood pellets and Illinois #6 coal as feedstock and produced electricity, FT-liquids, methanol and urea. Results indicated that currently biomass is, compared to coal, too expansive. Therefore, feedstock flexibility is not attractive. Production flexibility between chemical and electricity production under current economic conditions reduces the profitability of the IG-CG facility. Therefore, with state-of-the-art technology and the current economic climate, introducing flexibility to IG-CG facilities is not economically profitable.

Policies aimed to promote biofuels locally had tremendous effects on global market developments across the past decade. This article shows that world biofuel production and trade has grown exponentially: from below 30 PJ in 2000 to 572 PJ in 2009 for biodiesel; from 340 PJ in 2000 to over 1,540 PJ in 2009 for fuel ethanol. The EU has dominated world biodiesel, whereas the US and Brazil have led fuel ethanol production. World net biofuel trade reached 120­130 PJ in 2009 and was directed towards the most lucrative markets. For biodiesel, this has been the EU whose imports rose to 92 PJ in 2008 and remained at 70 PJ in 2009. Regarding fuel ethanol, both the US and the EU have been prime destinations for competitively priced exports, the vast majority of which originated in Brazil. International biofuel trade is both supply and demand driven. The demand side was shaped by support policies which generally increased the domestic market value of biofuels. Trade developed wherever these policies/prices were not accompanied by respective measures. It is found that import duties largely influenced trade volumes, whereas trade routes were mainly driven by tariff preferences. Trade regimes appear to have been designed and adapted unilaterally along national interests causing market disruptions, trade inefficiencies and disputes. To avoid these, it is important to explicitly consider international trade implications of national trade policies. A prerequisite is to improve the understanding of the underlying, complex and interwoven links within the market. The current lack of adequate, homogeneous, international reporting of biofuel production and trade statistics could be bridged via internationally standardized custom clarifications., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 2442-2444

The objective of this work is to develop a spatio­temporal land use change model in order to assess the developments in land availability for energy crops over time spatially explicitly. The land availability for the cultivation of dedicated energy crops is assessed taking into account developments in other land use functions such as food and livestock production and nature. The model is demonstrated for the land use developments within Mozambique for a Business as Usual (BAU) and a progressive scenario for the timeframe 2005­2030. The results show that in both scenarios there is a significant amount of land available for bioenergy crop production. The land availability is decreasing from 9.1 Mha in 2005 to 7.7 Mha in 2030 in the BAU scenario, due to an increasing demand for food and fodder on the one hand and low productivity growth on the other. In the progressive scenario, the land availability increases to 16.4 Mha in 2030. Although, in both scenarios a considerable amount of land could become available for energy crops, the decreasing potential in the BAU scenario indicates a higher competition for land in the future which could hamper the development of a sustainable large scale bioenergy sector in Mozambique. Therefore, a large scale sustainable bioenergy sector can only be established if it is developed simultaneously with a more productive and sustainable agricultural sector., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 235-237

Many countries worldwide are increasingly engaging in the promotion of biomass production for industrial uses such as biofuels and bioproducts (chemicals, bioplastics, etc.). Until today, mainly biofuels were supported by European policies, but support for bioproducts is still lacking behind. Thus, also the public sustainability debate concentrated on biofuels, but so far not on bioproducts. Driven by the strong public debate on sustainability aspects, biofuels are confronted with many environmental and socio-economic impacts. For instance, social impacts, which can be both positive and negative, include property rights, labour conditions, social welfare, economic wealth, poverty reduction, etc. In order to address these sustainability aspects of biomass production for industrial uses, different national and international efforts towards certification systems have been evolving, including the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED). However, besides many efforts on environmental aspects, there is a general lack of socio-economic considerations. This gap is addressed by the EU-FP7 Global-Bio-Pact project in a comprehensive approach involving partners from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The main aim of the Global-Bio-Pact project is the improvement and harmonisation of global sustainability certification systems for biomass production, conversion systems and trade in order to prevent negative socio-economic impacts. Thereby, emphasis is placed on an assessment of the socio-economic impacts of raw material production and a variety of biomass conversion chains. This paper presents an overview of socio­economic sustainability issues of biofuels and bioproducts worldwide based on first results of the Global-Bio-Pact Case Studies in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Europe, Indonesia, Mali, and Tanzania. These Case Studies investigate the whole value chain from feedstock production to intermediate and end products. They include the production and conversion chains of jatropha, palm oil, soy, sugar cane and lignocellulosic biomass which are investigated at different scales., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 2355-2364

This study assesses the technical and economic potentials of bioenergy production on degraded and marginal land using two examples. In addition, environmental impacts of using this type of land for bioenergy production are evaluated. Three main conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, bioenergy production on degraded and marginal land has a substantial potential for contributing to regional energy consumption. Secondly, the analysis of economic performance suggests that bioenergy production on these land types can in many cases be competitive with other bioenergy sources and even fossil fuels. Thirdly, perennial bioenergy production on degraded and marginal land can have both positive (e.g. carbon sequestration, improvements in soil fertility, and reduction in soil degradation) and negative (e.g. exacerbation of water shortages in water­scarce regions) environmental impacts; more research is needed to determine the conditions under which bioenergy production results in negative environmental impacts so that these can be minimized., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 265-268

The growing use of bioenergy goes hand in hand with a heated public debate, in which conflicting claims are made regarding the amount of biomass that can be sustainably used for this purpose. This article assesses the current knowledge on biomass resource potentials and interrelated factors such as water availability, biodiversity, food demand, energy demand and agricultural commodity markets. A sensitivity analysis of the available information narrows the range of biomass potentials from 0-1500 EJ/yr to approximately 200-500 EJ/yr in 2050. In determining the latter range, water limitations, biodiversity protection and food demand are taken into consideration. Key factors are agricultural efficiency and crop choice. In principle, global biomass potentials could meet up to one third of the projected global energy demand in 2050. © 2010 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

This work assesses the viability of regional biomass chains by comparing the economic performance of potential bioenergy crops with the performance of current agricultural land uses. The biomass chains assessed are ethanol production from Miscanthus and from sugar beet in the North of the Netherlands. The competitiveness of bioenergy crops is assessed by comparing the Net Present Value (NPV) of perennial crops, current rotations, and rotation schemes which include additional years of sugar beet. The current land use and soil suitability for present and bioenergy crops are mapped using a geographical information system (GIS) and the spatial distribution of economic profitability is used to indicate where land use change is most likely to occur. Bioethanol production costs are then compared with petrol costs. The productions costs comprise costs associated with cultivation, harvest, transport and conversion to ethanol. The NPVs and cost of feedstock production are calculated for seven soil suitability classes. The results show that bioenergy crops are not competitive with current cropping systems on soils classed as ‘‘suitable”. On less suitable soils, the return on intensively managed crops is low and perennial crops achieve better NPVs than common rotations. Our results showed that minimum feedstock production costs are 5.4 €/GJ for Miscanthus and 9.7 €/GJ for sugar beet depending on soil suitability. Ethanol from Miscanthus (24 €/GJ) is a better option than ethanol from sugar beet (27 €/GJ) in terms of costs. The cost of bioethanol production from domestically cultivated crops is not competitive with petrol (12.34 €/GJ) production under current circumstances. We propose that the method demonstrated in this study, provides a generic approach for identifying viable locations for bioenergy crop production based on soil properties and current land use.

The pulp and paper industry is placed in a unique position as biomass used as feedstock is now in increasingly high demand from the energy sector. Increased demand for biomass increases pressure on the availability of this resource, which might strengthen the need for recycling of paper. In this study, we calculate the energy use and carbon dioxide emissions for paper production from three pulp types. Increased recycling enables an increase in biomass availability and reduces life-cycle energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Recovered paper as feedstock leads to lowest energy use (22 GJ/t) and CO2 emissions (−1100 kg CO2/t) when biomass not used for paper production is assumed to be converted into bio-energy. Large differences exist between paper grades in e.g. electricity and heat use during production, fibre furnish, filler content and recyclability. We found large variation in energy use over the life-cycle of different grades. However, in all paper grades, life-cycle energy use decreases with increased recycling rates and increased use of recovered fibres. The average life-cycle energy use of the paper mix produced in The Netherlands, where the recycling rate is approximately 75%, is about 14 GJ/t. This equals CO2 savings of about 1 t CO2/t paper if no recycled fibres would be used.

Many countries worldwide are increasingly engaging in the promotion of biomass production for industrial uses such as biofuels and bioproducts. Biomass raw materials and biofuels offer the opportunity to replace petrochemical resources for a large variety of bioproducts (chemicals, bioplastics, etc.) and fossil fuels. Until today, mainly biofuels were supported by European policies, but support for bioproducts is still lacking behind. Thus, also the public sustainability debate concentrated on biofuels, but so far not on bioproducts. Driven by the strong public debate on sustainability aspects, biofuels are confronted with many environmental and socio-economic impacts. For instance, social impacts, which can be both positive and negative, include property rights, labour conditions, social welfare, economic wealth, poverty reduction, etc. In order to address these sustainability aspects of biomass production for industrial uses, different national and international efforts towards certification systems have been evolving, including the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED). However, besides many efforts on environmental aspects, there is a general lack of socio-economic considerations. This gap is addressed by the EU-FP7 Global-Bio-Pact project in a comprehensive approach involving partners from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The main aim of the Global-Bio-Pact project is the improvement and harmonisation of global sustainability certification systems for biomass production, conversion systems and trade in order to prevent negative socio­economic impacts. Thereby, emphasis is placed on a detailed assessment of the socio-economic impacts of raw material production and a variety of biomass conversion chains. This paper presents an overview of the Global-Bio-Pact project as well as an introduction to socio-economic sustainability issues of biofuels and bioproducts worldwide., Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 2205-2214

This study analyses the impacts of technological improvements and increased operating experience on the techno-economic performance of integrated gasification (IG) facilities. The facilities investigated produce electricity (IGCC) or FT-liquids with electricity as by-product (IG–FT). Results suggest that a state-of-the-art (SOTA) coal-fired IGCC without CO2 capture has electricity production costs of 17 €/GJ (60 €/MWh) with the potential to decrease to 11 €/GJ (40 €/MWh) in the long term. Specific direct CO2 emissions may drop from about 0.71 kg CO2/kWh to 0.59 kg CO2/kWh. If CO2 is captured, production costs may increase to 23 €/GJ (83 €/MWh), with the potential to drop to 14 €/GJ (51 €/MWh) in the long term. As a result, CO2 avoidance costs would decrease from 35 €/t CO2 to 18 €/t CO2. The efficiency penalty due to CCS may decrease from 8.8%pt to 3.7%pt. CO2 emissions can also be reduced by using torrefied biomass (TOPS) instead of coal. Production costs of a SOTA TOPS-fired IGCC without CO2 capture are 18–25 €/GJ (64–92 €/MWh). In the long term, this may drop to 12 €/GJ (44 €/MWh), resulting in CO2 avoidance costs of 7 €/t CO2. The greatest reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emissions is obtained by using biomass combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS). A SOTA TOPS-fired IGCC with CCS has, depending on the biomass price, production costs of 25–35 €/GJ (91–126 €/MWh) with CO2 avoidance costs of 19–40 €/t CO2. These values may decrease to 15 €/GJ (55 €/MWh) and 12 €/t CO2 avoided in the long term. As carbon from biomass is captured, specific direct CO2 emissions are negative and estimated at −0.93 kg CO2/kWh for SOTA and −0.59 kg CO2/kWh in the long term. Even though more carbon is sequested in the future concepts, specific emissions drop due to an increase in the energetic conversion efficiency of the future facilities. New technologies in IG-FT facilities have a slightly smaller impact on production costs. In the long term, production costs of FT-liquids from coal may drop from 13 €/GJ to 9 €/GJ if CO2 is vented and from 15 €/GJ to 10 €/GJ if CCS is applied. The use of TOPS results in 15–23 €/GJ (Vent) and 17–24 €/GJ (CCS) for SOTA facilities. These production costs may drop to 11–18 €/GJ (Vent) and 12–19 €/GJ (CCS) in the long term. Contrary to the IGCC cases, the coal-fired IG-FT facility shows the lowest CO2 avoidance costs. The CO2 emission of coal to FT-liquids with CCS is, however, similar to gasoline/diesel production from crude oil.

This paper assesses the learning potential of dedicated wood production systems to boost yields and reduce production costs. In particular, the paper analyses past trends and provides a future outlook of developments in dedicated wood production for three cases: eucalyptus production in Brazil, poplar production in Italy and willow production in Sweden. A main objective of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which experience curves can be devised for conventional woody plantation systems, and whether these can also be applied to short rotation cropping (SRC) production systems. For current average SRC production systems, Italian poplar shows the highest cost at 5.5 € GJ−1 followed by Swedish willow at 4.4 € GJ−1 and Brazilian eucalyptus is produced to the lowest costs at 2.8 € GJ−1. It was assessed to what extent production costs can be reduced per step in the production cycle and how this affects the minimum cost levels that can ultimately be achieved. Ultimate cost reduction could lead to delivered costs of 2.2 € GJ−1 for poplar, 1.9 € GJ−1 for willow and 1.9 € GJ−1 for eucalyptus on better quality lands. Based on historic cost data and production trends, experience curves were applied providing progress ratios for poplar in Italy and eucalyptus in Brazil. Brazilian eucalyptus production follows a steeper slope (63–73%) than poplar in Italy (71–78%). The extent to, and rate at, which cost reductions can occur within the next 20 years were evaluated by combining current costs, minimum cost levels and progress ratios with ranges in European and global biomass demand projections. This shows that, at the assumed growth rates for biomass production in Europe and for global production, minimum cost levels can be reached within the next two decades for all cases.

This article assesses the current technical and economic potential of three bioenergy production systems (cassava ethanol, jatropha oil and fuelwood) in semi-arid and arid regions of eight sub-Saharan African countries. The results indicate that the availability of land for energy production ranges from 2% (1.3 Mha) of the total semi-arid and arid area in South Africa to 21% (12 Mha) in Botswana. Land availability for bioenergy production is restricted mainly by agricultural land use, but also by steep slopes and biodiversity protection. The current total technical potential for the semi-arid and arid regions of the eight countries is calculated to be approximately 300 PJ y−1 for cassava ethanol production, 600 PJ y−1 for jatropha biodiesel or 4000 PJ y−1 for fuelwood. The analysis of economic potentials shows that in many semi-arid regions, cassava ethanol, jatropha oil and fuelwood can compete economically with the reference energy sources. However, fuelwood, jatropha oil, and cassava ethanol production costs in most arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa are often above average national market prices of gasoline, diesel, and fuelwood. Nevertheless, for example, in arid Kenya 270 PJ could be produced annually with fuelwood at production costs of less than 3 US$ GJ−1. Despite high production costs, it is important to investigate and invest in sustainable bioenergy production in semi-arid and arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa because of its potential to drive rural economic and social development.

To achieve the emission mitigation and de-carbonization goals future aviation sector requires alternative sustainable fuels. Synthetic paraffinic kerosene, generated by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, is certified as a drop-in jet fuel up to 50 %. Potential production routes are via conversion of biomass (Biomass-to-Liquid, BTL), the combination of renewable power and biomass (Power-and-Biomass-to-Liquid, PBTL) and the conversion of CO2 with hydrogen to fuels (Power-to-Liquid, PTL). Even if the BTL route enables the lowest net production costs, it has some drawbacks compared to the alternatives. The fuel yield of the BTL concepts can be increased by a factor of about 3 by the PBTL processes. The highest overall efficiency is found for the PTL (48.1 %) followed by PBTL (45.0 %) and last BTL (29.8 %). For BTL only 27 % of the introduced carbon can be converted into fuels. The total investment costs are highest for BTL, followed by PBTL and PTL. The net production costs are in the reverse order. Low electricity prices and high capacities are advantageous for PBTL, while high electricity prices favor BTL-concept., Proceedings of the 24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 June 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 1074-1078

The emission mitigation and decarbonization of the aviation sector requires alternative sustainable fuels. To assess and compare the techno-economic performance of different fuel production pathways a standardized evaluation methodology is required. The developed methodology comprises six steps including detailed process simulation, heat and material integration and cost analysis. The process simulation and economic analysis is coupled and an optimization towards cost minimization is conducted. The methodology was applied in a case study of the Power-and-Biomass-to-Liquid concept (PBTL). An overall efficiency of .XTL = 45.0 % was found and the carbon conversion of carbon from biomass into fuels is 97.7 %. The cost analysis reveals total investment costs of 751 M€ (315,100 €/bpd) and net production costs of 2.97 €/kg. The costs for the electrolyzer and the gasifier represent the largest shares of the total capital costs. The net production costs are dominated by the electricity costs., Proceedings of the 24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 June 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 1262-1266