There has been a recent resurgence of interest in wood energy as part of a sustainable range of renewable energy options. This book addresses the current gap in the energy and public policy literature for a reference book that compiles the most-recent wood energy assessments, and evaluates current and potential future wood energy uses and the role for public policy to foster efficient use of the most-widely consumed renewable energy in the world. It brings together a group of expert authors covering topics from forest management, operations and engineering, to socio-economics and energy policy perspectives. It thus covers practical issues such as silviculture, harvesting, processing, comparative cost estimates, public policy tools and market effects. As such the book provides a comprehensive review of the complex dimensions of wood energy as well as practical guidance for professionals, researchers and advanced students. It will also provide invaluable guidance for economic development agencies, practitioners and policy-makers, when evaluating the impacts of wider wood energy adoption as part of a strategy for sustainable energy generation. The main focus is on industrialised production and developed economies, particularly the USA and Europe.

Woody biomass is most widely used for energy production. In the United States, roughly 2% of the energy consumed annually is generated from wood and wood-derived fuels. Woody biomass needs to be preprocessed and pretreated before it is used for energy production. Preprocessing and pretreatments improve the physical, chemical, and rheological properties, making them more suitable for feeding, handling, storage transportation, and conversion. Mechanical preprocessing technologies such as size reduction and densification, help improve particle size distribution and density. Thermal pretreatment can reduce grinding energy and torrefied ground biomass has improved sphericity, particle surface area, and particle size distribution. This book focuses on several specific topics, such as understanding how forest biomass for biofuels impacts greenhouse gas emissions; mechanical preprocessing, such as densification of forest residue biomass, to improve physical properties such as size, shape, and density; the impact of thermal pretreatment temperatures on woody biomass chemical composition, physical properties, and microstructure for thermochemical conversions such as pyrolysis and gasification; the grindability of torrefied pellets; use of wood for gasification and as a filter for tar removal; and understanding the pyrolysis kinetics of biomass using thermogravimetric analyzers.

"The Forest Age Class Change Simulator (FACCS) was developed as a spreadsheet-based model and computational tool to estimate current and future timber and biomass available under user-defined management scenarios and harvest intensities. The model relies on existing data sources and forest management information to produce forest type specific biomass estimates over multiple spatial and temporal scales."--Abstract.

This unique book provides the first comprehensive overview of wood based bioenergy in the northern hardwood forests of the Eastern United States. This includes a holistic look at the topic of wood based bioenergy, as well as focused analyses of key topics. This book is relevant to engineers, project developers, foresters, economists, sociologists, environmental scientists and natural resource managers. Most chapters also provide practical hands-on advice for the practitioner, and provide a valuable resource for anyone who is considering developing a woody bioenergy project.

Microbial Biotechnology for Bioenergy presents the new and emerging biotechnological and microbiological approaches in bioenergy and their economic, social, and environmental implications. Using the latest global data and statistics, it analyses how bioenergy technology improves quality of life by reducing air and water pollution and mitigates energy dependence by creating renewable resources in local communities. The book is formed of three sections; Section 1 addresses the "Sources, Challenges, and Environmental Views of Bioenergy and includes an overview of bioenergy, global statistics and projections for future bioenergy development, the role of biotechnology and bioprocesses in bioenergy, feedstock sources, challenges, decarbonisation, and emerging innovations and technologies. Section 2 "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Innovations of Bioenergy examines the vast topics of biotechnology and microbiology for bioenergy, reviewing both the present day state-of-the-art and future potential. Readers will find dedicated chapters on bioconversion of biomass energy and biological residues, the role of microbes, the potential of organic waste to provide bioenergy, the biotechnology of biofuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel, and biohydrogen, the sustainability of cellulosic ethanol energy and artificial photosynthesis, Power-to-X and integrating energy storage innovations, and the sustainability of microbial fuel cells. Finally, Section 3 explores the policies and environmental aspects of bioenergy, providing a global perspective on the current and future impact of bioenergy, including global projections based on present day global statistics. Microbial Biotechnology for Bioenergy is a valuable reference for biotechnologists, environmental engineers, and microbiologists interested in bioenergy, and includes explanations of the fundamentals and key concepts to ensure it is accessible to students as well as researchers and professionals. - Critically reviews past, present, and future bioenergy technologies, including global statistics, policies, and emerging approaches - Highlights opportunities to improve quality of life and mitigate energy dependence, reducing air/water pollution and creating renewable resources in local communities - Explores environmental benefits of incorporating microbial remediation into bioenergy production

Global energy use is approximately 140 000 TWh per year. Interestingly, biomass production amounts to approximately 270 000 TWh per year, or roughly twice as much, whereas the official figure of biomass use for energy applications is 10-13% of the global energy use. This shows that biomass is not a marginal energy resource but more than capable of meeting all our energy and food needs, provided it is used efficiently. The use of food in generating energy has been extensively debated, but there is actually no need for it given the comprehensive resources available from agriculture and forestry waste. This book discusses the biomass resources available and aspects like efficient energy use. One way of using energy efficiently is to use waste biomass or cellulosic materials in biorefineries, where production of fibers and products from fibers is combined with production of most chemicals we need in our daily life. Such products include clothes, soap, perfume, medicines etc. Conventional pulp and paper applications, bio-fuel for vehicles and even fuel for aviation as well as heat and power production are covered. The problem with biomass is not availability, but the difficulty to use the resources efficiently without harming the long-term productivity. This book covers all types of resources on a global scale, making it unique. Many researchers from all over the world have contributed to give a good coverage of all the different international perspectives. This book will provide facts and inspiration to professionals, engineers, researchers, and students as well as to those working for various authorities and organizations.

The UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2011-2012 provides general and statistical information on forest products markets and related policies in the UN Economic Commission for Europe region (Europe, North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States). The Review begins with an overview chapter, followed by description of the macro-economic situation. Next it includes an analysis of government and industry policies affecting forest products markets. Five chapters are based on annual country-supplied statistics, describing: wood raw materials, sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, and paper, paperboard and woodpulp. Additional chapters discuss markets for wood energy, certified forest products, value-added wood products, forest carbon and innovative wood products. In each chapter, production, trade and consumption are analysed and relevant material on specific markets is included. Tables and graphs provided throughout the text present summary information. Supplementary statistical tables may be found on the UNECE Timber Committee and FAO European Forestry Commission website at www.unece.org/forests/fpamr2012.