New concepts for increasing co-production of bioenergy in forest-products industry platforms in Europe

VTT has assessed the impacts of various EU policies and directives on future utilisation of biomass in Europe in a so-called Biofuture project. All the three main categories of biomass were considered: forest biomass, agricultural biomass and biodegradable wastes from industrial and urban activities. The forest industry offers attractive platforms for production of bioelectricity and upgraded biofuels because of the availability of reasonably priced residues and wastes, the long annual operating times of the plants and the synergistic benefits of integration of the bioenergy process with the manufacture of traditional products. This paper presents data confirming the potential competitiveness of the co-production of the following forms of bioenergy: bioelectricity, fuel-oil substitutes and biofuels for transportation. For the forest-products industry, co-production of bioenergy is an opportunity that will offer attractive rates of return on investment in forthcoming years.