Wood energy industry

Laboratorij za šumsku biomasu Fakulteta šumarstva i drvne tehnologije Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, osmišljen je kao središnje mjesto istraživanja i kontrole kakvoće šumske biomase za energiju u Republici Hrvatskoj. U skladu s osnivačkim ciljem, provedena je izgradnja i opremanje laboratorija te edukacija laboratorijskog osoblja po uzoru na slične europske laboratorije. 

Laboratorijske analize, nužne za uspostavu sustava praćenja kakvoće čvrstih biogoriva u proizvodnom i transportnom lancu od sirovine (šumske biomase) preko proizvođača do krajnjeg potrošača, provode se prema europskim, odnosno međunarodnim normama za čvrsta biogoriva (HRN EN; HRN EN ISO). Laboratorij za šumsku biomasu Šumarskog Fakulteta u Zagrebu pružit će mogućnost hrvatskim proizvođačima čvrstih biogoriva da vlastiti proizvod ispitaju u svojoj zemlji sukladno važećim europskim normama, unaprijede tehnološke procese i plasiraju proizvod na tržište sa svim potrebnim deklaracijama ili u Republici Hrvatskoj ili na zajedničkom europskom i svjetskom tržištu.

Biomass Logistic and Trade Centres (BLTCs) are local or regional centres with optimised logistics and trading organization, where different woody bioenergy products (or heat) are marketed at standardised quality focusing on the domestic market uptake. It’s an innovative business model competitively operating as an intermediator to organise local woody bioenergy value chains between local biomass suppliers and customers of different scale from private households up to deliveries to heat and power plants. BioRES supported setting-up such BLTCs in Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia.

Starting point are web-based marketing and sales platform with limited physical infrastructure. This can be successively extended into a BLTC with its own production, storage and logistics facilities when the local market reaches critical volumes allowing for the amortization of investments. In Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Finland BLTCs of different shape with own production, storage and logistic facilities are competitively operating. BioRES aims to setting up at least 6 – 8 new BLTCs in distributed over at least 2 of the 3 countries in Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria during the project.

The overall aim  is to facilitate the further introduction of intermediate bioenergy carriers by developing feedstock mobilisation strategies, improved logistics and IBC trade centres. More specifically, the objectives of the MUSIC project are:

• To increase the uptake of intermediate bioenergy carriers through development of advanced and strategic case studies with economic actors (industries) committed to implement the results.
• To develop and/or expand existing and future trade centres, either virtual or physical.
• To assess the technical and non-technical aspects of biomass feedstock mobilisation with the purpose to develop dedicated feedstock mobilisation strategies.
• To determine the best, cost-effective solutions for logistics along the entire IBC value chain, from raw unprocessed biomass to IBC end-users.
• To involve, engage and support regional stakeholders and market actors, from the primary production sector, industry and beyond.
• To evaluate framework conditions (legal, institutional and political) to identify key barriers and enablers.
• To provide advice to policy makers at national and regional level to serve as input for more informed policy, market support and financial frameworks.

Secure Chain's objective was to promote a Sustainable Supply Chain Management practice that meets high environmental, quality and financial viability standards, tailored for local biomass suppliers, energy producers and the financial sector. In the process, the entire bioenergy chain was considered, and sustainability and financing were an integral part of the set-up. The specific objectives comprised, a) integration and optimization of local supply chains, b) high efficiency and low impact gain, c) supply sustainability, d) leveraging investments in bioenergy, and, e) implementation of future-proof bioenergy chains. SecureChain relied heavily on tested digital practices deminstrating organisational setups for information flows, biomass mobilisation and logistics, especially for a) the optimization of collaborative networks and joint implementation plans of local supply chains, and b) the application of risk assessment tools for the analysis of supply chains’ market opportunities, financing schemes and investor requirements.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646457 for the period from 01.04.2015 to 31.07.2018.

The Forest Biomass Laboratory of the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology has been designed as the central location for research and quality control of forest biomass for energy in the Republic of Croatia. In accordance with the constitutive objective, construction and equipping of the laboratory as well as education of the laboratory staff, was carried out like in modern European laboratories. 

Laboratory analysis necessary for the establishment of the monitoring system of solid biofuels in the production and transport chain from the raw material (forest biomass) through the producer to the final consumer, are carried out in accordance with the European, i.e. International standards for solid biofuels (HRN EN; HRN EN ISO). Forest Biomass Laboratory of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology in Zagreb will offer the opportunity to croatian producers of solid biofuels to test their own product in their own country in accordance with the applicable European standards, to improve technological processes and place the product on the market with all necessary declarations either in the Republic of Croatia or on common European and world market.
 

Egger Romania invested in resource saving technology and included recycling in the process. Up to 18% of the wood used in Romanian factories are recycling material. They process waste wood from furniture, pallets, wooden packaging materials, construction and demolition, that meets the requirements of the applicable directives and inspection systems. The material is also inspected visually and contaminated wood is separated for thermal use. In Romania, the EGGER Group runs its own recycling enterprises under the name Timberpak.

Suitable recycled wood is processed there and used for chipboard production. Large volumes of by-products and recyclable wood are generated by the plants. The company upgrades them into materials or uses them to generate environmentally friendly heat and electricity. With EGGER wood-based materials, the company established good environmental performance of the urban wood material. The objective of a closed loop material cycle is, on the one hand, to reuse all waste and by products as efficiently as possible, and on the other hand, to make substances used in the product available again for production at the end of the product life cycle, by implementing optimal recycling. The possibility of a closed material cycle should be taken into account even during the preliminary stage of product planning in conjunction with product design. Re-use of materials that were already used in products and have passed through a usage phase. The great challenge is to separate materials so that they become again source materials for new products. The collection division of recycled wood and the recycling installation of wood from Romania are the EGGER’s solution for a secondary, sustainable life cycle of materials based on wood.

The recycling wood quantities which were elaborated and recycled in 2016 by EGGER Romania replaced the potential of usage of 35,000 hectares of forests. The company has a unique wood recycling installation in Romania, dedicated and used exclusively for this purpose. At Romanian level, EGGER uses in average 17 % recycled wood for the production of panels based on wood in 2018. Last year, EGGER Romania reached a level of approximately 8 % and in the half of 2017, while in 2017 reach 15 % of recycled wood, and it was estimated a share of 17 % for the second half of 2017. The objective for 2020 is to recycle more than 150,000 tonnes of materials based on wood, annually, equivalent to more than 30 % of the volume of wood from forest works, according to Ioan Banciu, technical director of EGGER Eastern Europe division.

iBioNet (Intelligent Bioenergy Network) is a spin-off of the University of Florence, established in 2015.
iBioNet supports the local communities through the development of renewable energies and guarantees the environmental and social sustainability. Furthermore, iBioNet promotes wood-energy supply chains, assists the enterprises and the local communities. iBioNet supports the energy production togheter with the maintenance strategy into the local framework. iBioNet promotes the biomass energy to reduce the GHG emissions and as drive force for the rural economy and forest management.

iBioNet pays particular attention to the growth of a sustainable economic model, compatible with the economic and ethical development of local companies, thanks to the coherence between the core business of "renewable companies", based on principles of environmental sustainability and efficient use of resources.

iBioNet’s services are:
•       Planning and design of biomass supply chains, through specific analyses and the development of web applications that allow an assessment of the sustainability of the new energy plants.
•      Biofuel Certification Service and emissions analyses aimed at certifying the quality of solid fuels (wood chips). In particular, iBioNet issues quality certification of solid biomass samples, according to the UNI EN ISO standard.
• iBioNet also produces and installs SensorWebEnergy (SWE) and Air Quality (AIRQ) remote monitoring systems and able to determine: the first the quantity and quality of biomass supplied to the plants; the energy eventually produced; the overall performance of the plant, weighed against climatic and electricity consumption data; whereas the second, weather data and emission value data of CO2; CO; NO2; VOC; PM10; PM2.5 . SWE and AIRQ data are sent in real time to the web platform (www.ibionet.eu) to be processed and made immediately available to the users.