EUBIONET III—Solutions to biomass trade and market barriers

EUBIONET III—Solutions to biomass trade and market barriers

The EUBIONET III project has boosted (i) sustainable, transparent international biomass fuel trade, (ii) investments in best practice technologies and (iii) new services on biomass heat sector. Furthermore, it identified cost-efficient and value-adding use of biomass for energy and industry. The aim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Renewable & sustainable energy reviews Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 4277 - 4290
Main Authors: Alakangas, E., Junginger, M., van Dam, J., Hinge, J., Keränen, J., Olsson, O., Porsö, C., Martikainen, A., Rathbauer, J., Sulzbacher, L., Vesterinen, P., Vinterbäck, J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2012
Elsevier
Subjects:
Agroindustrial residues
Annan samhällsbyggnadsteknik
Applied sciences
bioenergy industry
biofuels
biomass
case studies
cost effectiveness
Energy
European Union
Exact sciences and technology
fossil fuels
greenhouse gas emissions
greenhouse gases
Heat
heating systems
Industry
markets
Other Civil Engineering
pellets
prices
Quality standards
stakeholders
streams
Sustainability criteria
Trade
trade barriers
wood
wood chips
Agroindustrial residues
Industry
Trade
Quality standards
Heat
Sustainability criteria
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Summary:The EUBIONET III project has boosted (i) sustainable, transparent international biomass fuel trade, (ii) investments in best practice technologies and (iii) new services on biomass heat sector. Furthermore, it identified cost-efficient and value-adding use of biomass for energy and industry. The aims of this article are to provide a synthesis of the key results of this project. Estimated annual solid biomass potential in the EU-27 is almost 6600PJ (157Mtoe), of which 48% is currently utilised. The greatest potential for increased use lies in forest residues and herbaceous biomass. Trade barriers have been evaluated and some solutions suggested such as CN codes for wood pellets and price indexes for industrial wood pellets and wood chips. The analysis of wood pellet and wood chip prices revealed large difference amongst EU countries, but also that on the short term prices of woody and fossil fuels are barely correlated. Sustainable production and use of solid biomass are also deemed important by most European stakeholders, and many support the introduction of harmonised sustainability criteria, albeit under a number of preconditions. The study identified also that a number of woody and agro-industrial residue streams remain un- or underutilised. The estimated European total potential of agro-industrial sources is more than 250PJ (7.2Mtoe), the amount of unutilised woody biomass (the annual increment of growing stock) even amounts to 3150PJ (75Mtoe). Finally 35 case studies of biomass heating substituting fossil fuels were carried out, showing that the potential to reduce GHG emissions ranges between 90 and 98%, while costs are very similar to fossil fuel heating systems. Overall, we conclude that solid biomass is growing strongly, and is likely to heavily contribute to the EU renewable energy targets in the coming decade.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.051
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1364-0321
1879-0690
DOI:10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.051