Economic, Technological as Well as Environmental and Social Aspects of Local Use of Wood By-Products Generated in Sawmills for Energy Purposes

Katarzyna Mydlarz,Marek Wieruszewski

doi:10.3390/en15041337

Abstract

The article is the first in a series of works presenting the potential and possibilities of using for energy purposes wood waste and wood by-products generated at various stages of production in companies of the wood industry. The management of all wood waste and wood by-products is a pending issue due to the growing importance of the circular economy and broadly understood environmental protection. It is the environmental aspects and the climate targets defined by the EU that are the basis to determine the precise courses of action for the Member States and, as a result, also for companies. The article proves that regardless of the decisions taken by governments of individual countries in terms of broadly understood environmental protection, companies are free to implement pro-environmental solutions as part of their business activity. Due to the broad subject of the management of waste and by-products generated in different units of the wood industry, the possibilities of their use in terms of energy in primary wood processing companies–sawmills—are presented first. On the example of selected entities, the energy potential and possibilities of generating energy from renewable sources taking into account the principles of circular economy are presented. The possibilities of optimising production by improving redistribution of thermal energy, which may result in improving the economic efficiency of the assessed enterprises, were indicated.

Highlights

Intense growth in production and consumption escalates the demand for natural resources and negative impact on the natural environment
That refers to the increased demand for raw materials and to the level of environmental pollution formed as a result of the scale of production and energy policy implemented by many countries around the world
Efforts are made to maximise the use of raw materials and consumables in the production process and to transform from the linear to the circular economy, the so-called closed-loop economy, the main maxim of which is “zero waste” [5,6,7]

Summary

Introduction

Intense growth in production and consumption escalates the demand for natural resources and negative impact on the natural environment. That refers to the increased demand for raw materials and to the level of environmental pollution formed as a result of the scale of production and energy policy implemented by many countries around the world. The changes are implemented in two ways: “top-down”—based on created legal regulations [4] and “bottom-up”—as a result of spontaneous decisions and actions taken locally by producers and consumers whose environmental awareness is taken into account while product decisions are made and company policy introduced. Due to the nature of production, the waste and by-products that are generated by the enterprises are used by that particular company or by other branches of that industry. A wood product, after its service life related to its life cycle is extended to a maximum, can again become a source of valuable material [11,12]

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