CTO Assessment - European Commission

Biomass
Biomass is available in a variety of
forms like solid or wet biomass, vegetable
oil or sugar. These raw materials
can follow several conversion
routes using chemical, thermal or
biological processes. Finally biomass/
bioenergy can be classified according
to its end use as follows.
Heat production: Combustion of wood
for heat production is the main
bioenergy route in the world, with a
constant drive for the improvement
of efficiency and pollutant emissions.
Several systems can be considered
depending on the size. Small scale
heating systems for households will
typically use wood logs or pellets.
Medium scale users will typically
burn wood chips in grate boilers
while large scale boilers will be able
to burn a larger variety of fuels, including
wood waste, refused derived
fuel.
Electricity and cogeneration of heat
and power: Combustion is also the
main option for the time being but
new technologies are emerging like
gasification 1 and in the medium term
pyrolysis 2 that offer advantages
namely in terms of efficiency and logistics.
Biogas from anaerobic digestion 3 is
mainly used on site for cogeneration
applications. The solid and liquid
residues from the process are often
used as fertilisers on farm land.
Liquid biofuels: Vegetable oils methyl
esters, or biodiesel, can be used both
blended with fossil diesel and in pure
form. Use in blends between 2 and
30% does not require any modification
of the engine. Some minor
modifications might be necessary
when using it at 100%. The acceptance
by car manufacturers is increasing.
Pure vegetable oils can also be
used in blends or in pure form but in
this latter case adaptations of engines
are necessary.
The present biomass contribution to
the total world energy demand approaches
14 – 15 % (1,2 billions toe/
year) with a much higher contribution
(38%) in developing countries for
heating and cooking needs. The potential
ranges from 2 up to 27 billions
toe 4 . It depends particularly on
the future population growth, the efficiency
of food production, the availability
of degraded land, the productivity
of biomass and competing end
use of biomass (biomaterials) and
other competing land use options.
In 2000 bioenergy contributed to 51
Mtoe, still representing a tiny proportion
of the White Paper objective In
terms of percentage Finland, Sweden
and Austria are leaders in Europe
while Finland, Germany and Sweden
are the most important contributors
to increase the share of bioenergy for
Europe. These countries have the most
favourable conditions for bioenergy
development, mainly due to appropriate
steering instruments which make
bioenergy competitive with fossil fuels.
Figure 5
Share of renewable energy source (RES), of which bioenergy, in 2000 5
30%
Other RES
Bioenergy
14.0
25%
9.7
20.8
22%
15%
5.5
10%
2.5
2.7
1.0
2.9
1.1
4.5
5%
1.1
1.9
2.0
3.3
0%
Ireland
U.K.
Belgium
Germany
Netherlands
Italy
Denmark
Spain
Greece
France
Portugal
Austria
Sweden
Finland
Source: EUBIONET, 2003, “Biomass survey in Europe”, EUBIONET Summary report, www.eubionet.vtt.fi, 29p
Market Development
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