Logistics of supplying biomass from a mountain pine beetle-infested forest to a power plant in British Columbia

Abstract

The search for alternative energy sources has increased the interest in forest biomass. During the past few years, the severe infestation of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) within the forests of interior British Columbia (BC) has led to huge volumes of dead wood that exceed the capacity of the lumber industry. One way to make the most value of the surplus wood is to use it as the feedstock for bioenergy. The high costs associated with harvest and transport, and uncertainty in supply logistics are issues related to forest biomass utilization. This paper presents the development of a forest biomass supply logistics simulation model and its application to a case of supplying MPB-killed biomass from Quesnel timber supply area (one of the most infested areas in the interior BC) to a potential 300 MW power plant adjacent to the city of Quesnel. It provides values of quantity, cost and moisture content of biomass which are important factors in feasibility study of bioenergy projects. In the case of a conventional harvesting system, the biomass recovered from roadside residues in 1 year will meet only about 30% of the annual demand of the power plant with an estimated delivered cost of Can $45 per oven-dry tonne of woodchips. Sensitivity analyses were also performed.     

林业剩余物棒状燃料的成型技术研究

对不同林业剩余物的棒状燃料的成型技术进行研究,重点分析进料间隙和进料速度对不同材性、粒度的林业剩余物的成型效果.结果表明：1）所有的林业剩余物只要将其含水率控制在15％～25％之间,最大粒度的宽、厚规格不超30 mm,通过调整进料间隙和速度均可加工成棒状燃料.2）进料间隙与原料粒度呈负相关,进料速度又与进料间隙呈负相关.即木屑、竹屑等粒度小的物料进料间隙要大,可调至4～5 mm,进料速度应控制在中速或中速以下（电机频率为6Hz或6 Hz以下）;而杂灌、油茶果壳等粒度较大的物料进料间隙要小,可调至1～3 mm,进料速度应控制在较高速或高速间（电杌频率为8～11 Hz）.3）成型燃料的密度取决于成型时的压力.通过选用孔长径比大的环模或控制进料间隙和进料速度来调节成型时的压力,可使不同林业剩余物的棒状燃料密度达到1 g/cm3以上.4）原料的物质组成和性质是成型燃料热值的决定因素.锯末、竹屑的棒状燃料热值在4 000 kcal/kg左右,而杂灌和油茶果壳一般在4 000 kcal/kg以下.     

Genotypic variation in response to low boron in eucalypt clones

Eucalypts are increasingly important in the tropics for meeting growing demand for timber, wood chips, paper pulp and biofuel. Many new plantations are planted on low boron (B) soils, with adverse effects on plant growth and productivity. Two experiments in sand culture with different levels of added B, from 0 to 10 μM B, examined the effect of B deficiency on growth, wood yield and morphology of fibres of three commercially available eucalypt clones: K7 (Eucalyptus camaldulensis × E. deglupta), K51 (E. brassiana × E. grandis) and K57 (E. camaldulensis). In plant height, dry weight and wood production, K7 was more tolerant of B deficiency, but K57 and K51 were more responsive to increasing B. At the level of B that depressed growth by up to 54% and wood yield by up to 65%, no significant effect of B deficiency was observed on fibre morphology. However, as the wood:shoot ratio in K51 and K57 increased with increasing B, there is a possibility that B has a direct effect on wood production in some genotypes, in addition to an indirect effect via better growth. These results indicate that attention to B nutrition in eucalypt plantations would be beneficial to plant growth and productivity before effects of B on individual wood fibres becomes detectable. Selection for B-efficient genotypes could be useful for plantations on low B soils, and the full potential of sites where B is not limiting could be better realised with B-responsive genotypes.     

枝桠木片碾压除皮工艺研究

近年来,林区利用速生丰产林枝桠削片生产日益增长,由于速生丰产林枝桠木片含皮率高,同时由于枝桠具有径级小、节子多、弯曲等特点,不能满足用材量很大的造纸、刨花板、纤维板等产业对原料的质量要求,枝桠的机械去皮问题至今未得到解决,研制机械去皮机乃是当前木片生产中急需解决的问题。本文针对此问题设计了枝桠木片碾压除皮机工艺,该工艺大大提高了木片的质量。     

Leakage of forest harvest changes in a small open economy: case Norway

The effect of changes in roundwood harvests in Norway on the harvests in rest of the world is examined using a global forest sector model. About 60–100% of the harvest change in Norway is offset by an opposite change in the rest of the world. Such leakage rates vary over time, wood category, background scenario, and the size of the harvest change. Asymmetries between the effects of increasing and decreasing the harvests also exist. Hence, the magnitude of leakage rate is case specific, though considerable. Under tightening wood supply there is less need/room to respond to harvest increase/decrease in Norway with incremental/reduced harvests elsewhere. When the use of global forest resources intensifies with increasing wood demand in the future, leakage rates can be smaller than today. It is important to account for harvest leakage in order to avoid overestimating the climate benefits of policies that decrease or increase roundwood harvests. For instance, for full carbon sequestration benefits of increasing harvests for harvested wood products, creating fresh additional demand for these products should be prioritized. Else the origin of raw material and the place of production for these products may change instead of their stock.     

Classification of Picea abies Pulpwood According to Wood and Stand Properties

Different classification systems for Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) pulpwood were compared. The classification systems were applied on truckloads or single logs in southern Sweden. Truckload classification according to mean annual growth ring width gave better separation of the wood properties basic density, juvenile wood and dry matter content, than classification according to harvest type (first thinning, later thinning or final felling). The assortments did not have significantly different wood brightness. Sorting at log level according to diameter, mean annual growth ring width or number of annual growth rings, which could be done at harvesting, did not drastically improve differentiation of the mean values of the wood properties or reduce variance compared to truckload classification. The variation in wood properties within assortments remained large owing to the large variation in wood properties between and within logs. Substantial reduction in dry matter variation could be achieved by truckload classification during the summer.     

Integration of remote sensing-based bioenergy inventory data and optimal bucking for stand-level decision making

This paper tests the reliability of a biomass prediction procedure which combines aerial data collection, biometric models and optimisation for forest management planning. Tree stock information is obtained by predicting species-specific diameter and height distributions by a combination of field sampling, ALS data and aerial photographs. The subsequent steps in the chain are (1) assignment of the plots to forestry operation classes by means of remote sensing-based tree stock estimates, (2) estimation of the biomass components removed by simulating forestry operations, and (3) estimation of forest owners’ income flow from optimised bucking of the species-specific diameter distributions. The error effects caused by these steps are analysed, and the applicability of remote sensing–based data collection for biomass inventories and planning is assessed. The approach used for assigning the plots to operation classes resulted in moderate accuracies (75%). The reliability estimates indicated quite poor performance when predicting the biomass components removed in forest treatments, with RMSEs of 33.0–69.4% in the case of final cutting and 76.9–228.0% in the case of thinning. The relative RMSEs of the above-ground biomass estimates of the standing stock were about 19%. The relative bias for the biomasses removed was 10.0–88.6% and that for the standing stock biomasses 0.0%. When optimising bucking, the bucked assortments were larger and the incomes enhanced with this estimation method relative to the reference. This explains why the estimation of forest owner’s incomes in the energy wood thinning simulations led to suboptimal decisions and income losses.     

Silvicultural strategies for increased timber harvesting in a Central European mountain landscape

The demand for wood as construction material, renewable source for energy and feedstock for chemicals is expected to increase. However, timber increments are currently only partly harvested in many European mountain regions, which may lead to supply shortages for local timber industries, decreases in forest resistance to disturbances and functioning as protection from gravitational hazards. Using an inventory-based forest simulator, we evaluated scenarios to increase wood mobilization in the 7105-km² Swiss canton of Grisons for the period 2007–2106. Scenarios varied with respect to landscape-scale harvesting amounts and silvicultural strategies (low vs. high stand-scale treatment intensity) and accounted for regulations and incentives for protection forest management. With 50 and 100% increases of harvests, the current average growing stock of 319 m³ ha^?1 was simulated to be reduced by 12 and 33%, respectively, until 2106 in protection forests of Northern Grisons, where management is prioritized due to subsidies. Outside protection forests and in Southern Grisons, growing stock was simulated to continually increase, which led to divergent developments in forest structure in- and outside protection forests and in the Northern and Southern Grisons. The effect of silvicultural strategies on simulated forest structure was small compared to the effect of future harvesting levels. We discuss opportunities and threats of decreasing management activities outside protection forests and advocate for incentives to promote natural regeneration also outside protection forests to safeguard long-term forest stability.     

Impacts of bucking and delimbing alternatives on pulpwood and energy wood yields in young thinning stands in Finland

The supply of energy wood from young forests could be enhanced by altering the harvesting methods in integrated pulpwood and energy wood thinnings. In this study, effects of different bucking and delimbing options on the biomass division into energy wood, pulpwood and logging residue were estimated in integrated thinnings of young stands dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies) or birches (Betula spp.) in Finland. Thinning options were simulated in the harvestings of model stands created on the basis of forest inventory data. Increasing the minimum top diameter of pulpwood (MTDP) expectedly increased energy wood and decreased pulpwood yields. Depending on tree species, energy wood yield increased by 36–65% when the top diameter was increased from the regular level (6 or 7 cm) to 8 cm in whole-tree harvesting, and was more than doubled when the top diameter was increased to 10 cm. Delimbed energy wood yield was increased by 240–280% when the top diameter was increased to 10 cm. Total harvesting yield in whole-tree thinnings was slightly increased by increasing top diameter. These increments in harvesting yields and reallocations of tree biomass could have an impact on large-scale forest energy potentials.     

Process-based analysis of added value in forest product industries

Manufacturing products with greater added value is increasingly viewed as a strategic goal of forest products industries. Added value is defined here as the difference in economic value between the physical inputs and outputs of a production process, and is generally analysed at the firm or national economy level. In this study we identify and discuss issues involved in quantifying added value at the industrial process level, and develop a bottom-up method to estimate the value added by forest industry processes. We calculate the value added by 14 traditional and emerging processes within the Swedish forest products industries, and express the results using various indices. We find that the type of biomass input strongly influences the potential for adding value, with sawlogs allowing more added value and being less sensitive to input price fluctuations than pulpwood and forest residues. Structural wood products such as lumber and glue-laminated beams are found to give the greatest value added. Co-production of multiple products from a single raw material increases total value added. Integrating the value chain of pulp and paper production significantly increases the value added to pulpwood. Multiple conversion processes exist for using forest residues as fuel, with a range of potential added value. Consideration of the climate benefits of forest product use, through the application of a carbon tax, significantly increases the added value.     

Development of wood procurement in Northwest Russia: round wood balance and unreported flows

This paper analyses industrial round wood flows into, within, and out of Northwest regions of Russia. We examine sawlogs, pulpwood, and fuelwood used for industrial purposes obtained from logging, and chips obtained from the wood-processing industry. We attempt to clarify different recent trends in wood harvesting, industrial round wood export, and forest industries development that have an influence on unreported wood in Russia. Our method, which uses wood balance diagrams, provides an interpretation of data from different Russian sources in order to offer better transparency regarding wood flows from forests to mills. It also helps to explain the apparent imbalance between round wood supply and demand and it helps one to assess the possible share of unreported industrial round wood production in Northwest Russia. Based on annual forest-related statistical data available from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the State Committee of Statistics, and the Russian Federation’s Customs Department, unreported round wood flows can be estimated to be 23% of the total industrial round wood production, or approximately 9 million m³ u.b. per year. Unreported round wood flows are more common in export oriented regions that have poorly developed forest industries.

Potential forest biomass resource as feedstock for bioenergy and its economic value in Indonesia

Indonesia has abundant forest biomass resource, which should not be considered as a low economic value resource. This forest biomass resource can be converted into bioenergy through various technologies and it becomes one of sources in Indonesia's energy mix. This paper focuses on forest residues generated primarily from the harvesting of natural production forests and industrial forest plantations; and wood processing mill residues. The estimated total potential forest biomass in Indonesia for bioenergy in the year 2013 was 132 PJ. About 50.4% resulted from harvesting residues and 49.6% from wood processing residues. Riau province has the largest potential bioenergy followed by Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, East Java, South Sumatera, Central Java and Jambi, which all together accounted for 87% of total potential bioenergy. Moreover, three major islands accounted for 95% of total potential bioenergy. Using a conversion return approach, the economic value of forest biomass when it was pelletized was estimated to be about US$ 5.6 per ton wood residues. The economic value of forest biomass is more sensitive to changes in the price of wood pellet than to changes in the collection and hauling cost of wood residues.     

Importance of soil extractable phosphorus distribution for mature Norway spruce nutrition and productivity

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for forest growth. In this study, we assessed the impact of soil extractable phosphorus using two simple extraction methods on nutrition and productivity of Norway spruce in sixteen mature forest stands on different bedrocks and soils in Bavaria, Southern Germany. Representative trees were sampled for needles, twigs, branches, stem bark, and stem wood. Total phosphorus content in the tree parts and soil phosphorus stock extractable with citric acid and sodium bicarbonate up to a soil depth of 80 cm were determined. We found that easily soil extractable phosphorus is a suitable indicator for estimating phosphorus uptake and stand productivity in Norway spruce. In contrast, organic layer phosphorus showed no significant correlation with aboveground biomass phosphorus contents. In the biomass, the highest phosphorus contents were measured in young needles and twigs, but the highest correlation with soil phosphorus was detected for phosphorus contents in needles and bark. The stock of phosphorus extracted by citric acid down to 40 cm soil depth revealed the best correlation with phosphorus in needles and bark. Therefore, as a supplemental or alternative method to needle analysis, our study suggests the use of phosphorus contents in stem bark to evaluate tree phosphorus nutrition. These results highlight the suitability of the citric acid soil extraction method to characterize plant available phosphorus in Norway spruce ecosystems.     

陕西木本油料树种资源利用现状与展望

本文简述了发展木本油料树种资源的重要性,分析了陕西发展木本油料树种资源的有利条件,指出充分利用山地、丘陵等非农业用地,大力发展生态能源林,既能提供大量的生物质燃料油原料,增加农民收入,解决能源问题,又能改善环境,不占用良田耕地,不与人类争食粮的特点,提出适合陕西发展木本油料树种资源的几个首选树种和建议。     

Biofuel harvests, coarse woody debris, and biodiversity - A meta-analysis

Forest harvest operations often produce large amounts of harvest residue which typically becomes fine (foliage, small limbs and trees) and coarse woody debris (snags and downed logs). If removed at harvest, residual biomass has potential to be a local energy source and to produce marketable biofuel feedstock. But, CWD in particular serves critical life-history functions (e.g., breeding, foraging, basking) for a variety of organisms. Unfortunately, little is known about how forest biodiversity would respond to large scale removal of harvest residues. We calculated 745 biodiversity effect sizes from 26 studies involving manipulations of CWD (i.e., removed or added downed woody debris and/or snags). Diversity and abundance of both cavity- and open-nesting birds were substantially and consistently lower in treatments with lower amounts of downed CWD and/or standing snags, as was biomass of invertebrates. However, cumulative effect sizes for other taxa were not as large, were based on fewer studies, and varied among manipulation types. Little is currently known about biodiversity response to harvest of fine woody debris. Predicting the effects of biomass harvests on forest biodiversity is uncertain at best until more is known about how operational harvests actually change fine and coarse woody debris levels over long time periods. Pilot biomass harvests report post-harvest changes in CWD levels much smaller than the experimental changes involved in the studies we analyzed. Thus, operational biomass harvests may not change CWD levels enough to appreciably influence forest biodiversity, especially when following biomass harvest guidelines that require leaving a portion of harvest residues. Multi-scale studies can help reduce this uncertainty by investigating how biodiversity responses scale from the small scale of manipulative experiments (i.e., 10-ha plots) to operational forest management and how biodiversity response to CWD levels might vary at different spatial and temporal scales and in different landscape contexts.     

Forest management and carbon sequestration in wood products

Wood products are considered to contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions. A critical gap in the life cycle of wood products is to transfer the raw timber from the forest to the processing wood industry and, thus, the primary wood products. Therefore, often rough estimates are used for this step to obtain total forestry carbon balances. The objectives of this study were (1) to examine the fate of timber harvested in Thuringian state forests (central Germany), representing a large, intensively managed forested region, and (2) to quantify carbon stocks and the lifetime of primary wood products made from this timber. The analyses were based on the amount and assortments of actually sold timber, and production parameters of the companies that bought and processed this timber. In addition, for coniferous stands of a selected Thuringian forest district, we calculated potential effects of management, as expressed by different thinning regimes on wood products and their lifetimes. Total annual timber sale of soft- and hardwoods from Thuringian state forests (195,000 ha) increased from about 136,893 t C (~0.7 t C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) in 1996 to 280,194 t C (~1.4 t C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) in 2005. About 47% of annual total timber harvest went into short-lived wood products with a mean residence time (MRT) < 25 years. Thirty-one per cent of the total harvest went into wood products with an MRT of 25–43 years, and only 22% was used as construction wood and glued wood, products with the longest MRT (50 years). The average MRT of carbon in harvested wood products was 20 years. Thinning from above throughout the rotation of spruce forests would lead to an average MRT in harvested wood products of about 23 years, thinning from below of about 18 years. A comparison of our calculations with estimates that resulted from the products module of the CO2FIX model (Nabuurs et al. 2001) demonstrates the influence of regional differences in forest management and wood processing industry on the lifetime of harvested wood products. To our knowledge, the present study provides for the first time real carbon inputs of a defined forest management unit to the wood product sector by linking data on raw timber production, timber sales and wood processing. With this new approach and using this data, it should be possible to substantially improve the net-carbon balance of the entire forestry sector.     

Impacts of initial stand density and thinning regimes on energy wood production and management-related CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions in boreal ecosystems

An ecosystem model (Sima) was utilised to investigate the impact of forest management (by changing both the initial stand density and basal area thinning thresholds from current recommendations) on energy wood production (at energy wood thinning and final felling) and management-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for the energy wood production in Finnish boreal conditions (62°39′ N, 29°37′ E). The simultaneous effects of energy wood, timber and C stocks in the forest ecosystem (live and dead biomass) were also assessed. The analyses were carried out at stand level during a rotation period of 80 years for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) growing in different fertility sites. Generally, the results showed that decreased basal area thinning thresholds, compared with current thinning, reduced energy wood (logging residues) and timber production, as well as carbon stocks in the forest ecosystem. Conversely, increased thinning thresholds increased energy wood production (ca. 1–27%) at both energy wood thinning and final felling and reduced CO₂ emissions (ca. 2–6%) related to the production chain (e.g. management operations), depending on the thinning threshold levels, initial stand density, species and site. Increased thinning thresholds also enhanced timber production and carbon stocks in the forest ecosystem. Additionally, increased initial stand density enhanced energy wood production for energy wood thinning for both species, but this reduced energy wood production at final felling for Scots pine and Norway spruce. This study concluded that increases in both initial stand density and thinning thresholds, compared with the current level, could be useful in energy wood, timber and carbon stocks enhancement, as well as reducing management-related CO₂ emissions for energy wood production. Only 2.4–3.3% of input of the produced energy (energy wood) was required during the whole production chain, depending on the management regime, species and sites. However, a comprehensive substitution analysis of wood-based energy, in respect to environmental benefits, would also require the inclusion of CO₂ emissions related to ecosystem processes (e.g. decomposition).     

木材废料能源在林区的利用

本文在分析木材废料燃烧特性的基础上,进一步推算了林业企业木材废料能源的拥有量及热能的需求量,提出了木材废料燃烧设备的具体改造原则与选型方法。     

Wood Production Potentials of Fenno-Scandinavian Forests Under Nature-Orientated Management

In Finland, Norway and Sweden forest management is presently changing towards a more nature-orientated management. In this study the European Forest Information SCENario (EFISCEN) model was applied to determine how this change might affect the potential for wood production in the three countries. Three different management regimes, traditional, traditional with nature conservation (''conservation''), and longer rotations with nature conservation (''conservation +''), were combined with two alternative felling levels. The results show that conserving 6.1-8.8% of the older forests in the southern regions had no limiting effects on production levels, as foreseen by the European Timber Trend Studies V by the UN-ECE for Finland and Sweden. Under the conservation + scenario, maximum sustainable felling levels decreased to 84, 79 and 72% of the present levels in Finland, Norway and Sweden, respectively. Increasing the rotation length put more pressure on the older age classes and thus did not increase the average age of the forest. If the consumption of wood increases as quickly as indicated by other studies, it will be hard to fulfil that demand and at the same time conserve considerable areas of forest in the southern regions of the countries.     

The realisable potential supply of woody biomass from forests in the European Union

Forests are important for providing wood for products and energy and the demand for wood is expected to increase. Our aim was to estimate the potential supply of woody biomass for all uses from the forests in the European Union (EU), while considering multiple environmental, technical and social constraints.The potential woody biomass supply was estimated for the period 2010-2030 for stemwood, residues (branches and harvest losses), stumps and other biomass (woody biomass from early thinnings in young forests). We estimated the theoretical biomass potential from recent, detailed forest inventory data using the EFISCEN model. Constraints reducing the availability of woody biomass were defined and quantified for three mobilisation scenarios (high, medium, low). Finally, the theoretical potentials from EFISCEN were combined with the constraints to assess the realisable potential from EU forests.The realisable potential from stemwood, residues, stumps and other biomass was estimated at 744 million m³ yr⁻¹ overbark in 2010 and could range from 623 to 895 million m³ yr⁻¹ overbark in 2030, depending on the mobilisation scenario. These potentials represented 50-71% of the theoretical potential. Constraints thus significantly reduced the biomass potentials that could be mobilised. Soil productivity appeared to be an important environmental factor when considering the increased use of biomass from forests. Also the attitude of private forest owners towards increased use of forest biomass can have an important effect, although quantifying this is still rather difficult.The analysis showed that it is possible to increase the availability of forest biomass significantly beyond the current level of resource utilisation. Implementing these ambitious scenarios would imply quite drastic changes in forest resource management across Europe.