Teknologiasiirto biopolttoaineiden tuotannossa USA:n ja Suomen välillä: PUUT27

The main aim of the research work was to intensify technology transfer between Finland and USA in the field of biofuel production. Technology transfer should intensify technology exports from Finland to USA and to contribute to the development of more efficient and competitive production technology for wood chips. The project was carried out in co-operation with VTT Processes and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of Tennessee, USA. Timberjack and Forest Service of USA also supported the work. About 204 million hectares of the total forest area of 302 million hectares in USA are available for forest industries. In 1996, about 460 million m3 of merchantable wood was cut in USA, and the amount of slash amounted to about 70 million t of dry matter. The production potential of forest chips in USA has been estimated at about 21.6 million t of dry matter (118 TWh), the production costs being less than 6.6/MWh. In 1997, the energy use of different wood species amounted to about 713 TWh in USA. The proportion of wood in the total consumption of energy was around 2.7% in 1999, and the use of forest chips in 1997 has been estimated at about 81.2 TWh. In USA, mainly whole-tree harvesting is employed, the trees being felled with a harvester equipped with a harvesting head. The harvester moves the whole-tree bundles to a strip road, and a skidder moves the bundles further to a roadside landing. At the roadside landing the trees are delimbed and cut to the desired length. Sawn timber can also be transported as tree-length logs to the site of use. At the roadside landing, the logging residues, like branches, tops and smallwood can be processed to energy with a chipper-truck combination.