Assessment of forest bioenergy potential in a coal-producing area in Asturias (Spain) and recommendations for setting up a Biomass Logistic Centre (BLC)

Abstract

The socio-economic crisis of the past few years has led to a progressive and marked decline in the production of coal power plants in Europe. This situation affects the regions where coal is the main traditional energy source. Energy from forests is considered to be a good alternative to coal. The exploitation of forest biomass in these regions could counteract the negative effects posed by the marked decline in traditional coal mining activities. Given the abundance of forest in Asturias, Spaińs main coal mining area, the present work was conducted on the Central Coal Basin (CCB). This study focuses on the territory of the mining areas within the CCB, known as municipalities. The main goal was to evaluate the existing biomass resources in order to assess its sustainable energy potential and its replicability in other coal mining regions in Europe. The multiscale methodology used considers a combination of mass, energy and costs of the biomass available, to estimate the bioenergy obtainable and the assessment of the techno-economic feasibility of solid biofuel production as a source of alternative energy. A detailed evaluation of forest residues was carried out including the economic and environmental constraints. The average collection efficiency was 43.0% resulting in an estimated biomass total cost of 84.10€/dryt. Finally, the conclusion was made to locate the Biomass Logistic Centre (BLC) in Oviedo due to its favourable technical, economical and geographical characteristics. The proposed BLC would have a production capacity of 17drykt/year of pellets, 8drykt/year of wood chips and 3drykt/year of briquettes, of which 40% (31drykt/year) would be collected within a 50km radius. Such production would avoid 51kt/year of CO2 emissions.