world news - 20.02.2009
The Finnish forestry sector working on the development of biofuels
Production of biodiesel
from wood-based raw materials by gasification is now tested in Varkaus
under the auspices of a joint venture by Stora Enso and Neste Oil. 
In few years it will be possible to put biodiesel made from wood and
other forest-based materials at the disposal also of consumers, if
ongoing projects give positive results. Although there are sufficient
amounts of wood in the forests, rapid harvest for energy purposes may
pose challenges.
Mr Timo Hiekka in Stora Enso's biorefinery and energy production
department says that the objective of the project is to connect
biodiesel production to wood processing production plants approximately
in 2012-2015. By-products from forestry and from the wood processing
industry will be used as raw materials. The greatest challenges for
developing biodiesel from forest biomass are how to clean the synthesis
gas and how to collect a sufficient quantity of raw material.
In addition to the Varkaus biodiesel project there are also several
other ongoing projects. Mr Ilpo Mattila in the rural entrepreneur
department of the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest
Owners (MTK) says that for instance an innovation is being developed
where black lye from the chemical pulp industry may be used for
producing biodiesel and other traffic fuels instead of using it as
industrial fuel. In that case the pulp industry would need stumps and
tree tops as fuel instead.
In the forests there is more than enough wood for energy production. Mr
Mattila calculates that on the basis of present prices and felling
quantities it will be technically, financially and practically possible
to use 12-15 million cubic metres of wood for energy purposes. The raw
material for energy production mainly comes from final harvesting and
forest thinning when for example stumps, branches and tree tops can be
used for energy production.
However, it will not be easy to collect wood quickly for use by the
energy production industry. Mr Anssi Kainulainen, expert in the MTK
forest department, says that in the energy production chain help will
be needed in particular in the forestry end of the chain, where
production is not yet sufficiently effective because of undeveloped
models of operation.
The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) has made a lot of
investigations of what happens in the forestry end of the production
chain. Several small and medium size enterprises have innovated new
equipment for forest harvesting. For example it will be possible to
improve felling of young forests by means of the Naarva multiple grip
grab, which can grab several young tree trunks in one single grip,
Kainulainen continues.
See also:
- — Forest certification scheme revises core documents
- — The Finnish Forest Industry Association: Finnish companies are planning investments in the cellulose and paper industry of Russia
- — Swedish forestland prices rise
- — Storms create crisis for French forestry
- — Making poplar popular
