Current biorefining activities and plans for new biorefineries in Sweden and Finland are largelyudconcentrated on the production of liquid biofuels for the transport sector. However, the pulp industryud(and other players) are also developing new biorefinery processes, for example to: convert pulp fibersudinto new types of materials and products (e.g. textiles, diverse composites and nanocellulose); upgradeudresidue streams to deliver marketable products (e.g. via black liquor gasification, lignin extraction,udfermentation of hemicellulose, and gasification or hydrolysis of fibre sludge); implement processes for coproductionudof process steams and marketable products (e.g. gasification and pyrolysis); and extractuduseful substances from incoming raw material (e.g. pre-extraction of hemicellulose). Thus, for exampleudtall oil from pulp mills is increasingly being used as feedstock for both motor fuels and various chemicals.udThe raw material requirements of future biorefineries (in terms of abundance, quality and timing ofudsupplies) may radically differ from those of traditional forest industries and energy plants, demandingudequally radical adjustment of the supply chains. Thus, it is vitally important to harmonize research anduddevelopment goals in parts of northern Sweden and Finland in the Botnia-Atlantica (BA) region withudthe development of efficient and sustainable supply chains for forest raw material. Hence, the overalludobjective of this project was to acquire knowledge of ways to optimize biomass supplies for refineries inudthe BA region from existing, planned or potential procurement areas.udAn overall conclusion from the studies is that supply costs can be significantly reduced by integratingudsupplies of pulpwood and residual assortments rather than providing them via separate supply chains.udHowever, assessing the costs and benefits of possible systems is not straightforward as they areudinfluenced by complex interactions between supplies of multiple feedstock assortments and demandsudfrom multiple users. Furthermore, the costs of separating stemwood from residues at a later point in theudchain may reduce or eliminate the benefits of integrated harvest. Hence, the advantages would beudgreatest for applications in which there is little gain from separating these assortments. Availableudamounts of feedstock could also be increased by pre-treatment operations, which could make previouslyudnon-viable assortments available. However, any cost reductions thus achieved from increasing suppliesudshould be weighed against the additional pre-treatment costs. Overall, the options studied in the projectudindicate that new practices could potentially reduce supply costs by around 10%, compared to currentudbest practices, under certain conditions.udAnother critical factor is to ensure that supplies of biomasses with various qualities can be rapidlyudadjusted and adapted to meet shifts (potentially unpredictable) in demand. Terminals can play a keyudrole in the provision of such flexibility. Current terminals are mainly used as transition points, whereudlittle upgrading is done apart from comminution. Since raw forest biomass cannot be transported longuddistances, due to its relatively low value, robust value-upgrading at terminals closer to terminals beforeudlong distance transportation is likely to be necessary. Such terminals must be quite sophisticated in orderudto serve as flexible/semi-mobile refineries, i.e. they will need to have access (inter alia) to appropriateudinfrastructure, electricity, water and personnel. As most of the unexploited forest biomass resources areudlocated in inland areas, particular attention should be paid to developing terminal-refinery-integratedudsupply chains in these areas for supplying industry-dense areas for further refining or direct use inudprocesses.
展开▼
