New concepts for increasing electricity and biofuel production in forest-products industry platforms and waste platforms in Europe

VTT has assessed the impacts of various EU policies and directives on future utilisation of biomass in Europe in a socalled Biofuture project. All the three main categories of biomass were considered: forest biomass, agricultural biomass and biodegradable wastes from industrial and urban activities. The forest industry offers attractive platforms for production of bioelectricity and upgraded biofuels because of the availability of reasonably priced residues and wastes, the long annual operating times of the plants and the synergistic benefits of integration of the bioenergy process with the manufacture of traditional products. This paper presents data confirming the potential competitiveness of the coproduction of bioenergy in forestproducts industry platforms. In addition, new integrated concepts for production of green electricity and biofuels (ethanol, syngas derivatives) costeffectively from commercial and municipal waste fractions are discussed