Abstract
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in many parts of the world for more effective biomass utilization due to legislative and public interest in sustainable development. Whilst much of the effort has been on energy generation from biomass, there is considerable interest on biomass availability and utilization for other end uses. With about 1% of the world’s commercial forest areas, Sweden provides about 10% of the sawnwood, and pulp and paper that is traded on the global market. The Swedish agricultural sector also contributes to biomass availability, not only by production of sustainable food crops, but also by utilizing side streams and underutilized land for biomaterial purposes. To meet the challenges that climate change presents, there has to be a shift to sustainable biomass production and increased interest in promoting a circular bioeconomy. This review presents a systematic assessment on the availability of biomass and its utilization potential in Sweden. The review also focuses on biomass production and trade in the Swedish forest industry. In addition, the environmental impact of biomass utilization is discussed.Graphic
Highlights
Biomass utilization has increased significantly in Sweden over the last few decades
This review presents a detailed assessment of Swedish forest biomass by evaluating its gross availability, quantity and conversion and utilization
It is evident that the available biomass in Sweden can be utilized to provide a sustainable supply of materials for present and future needs
Summary
Biomass utilization has increased significantly in Sweden over the last few decades. forest resources and agricultural crops are the main biomass categories available in Sweden, a small percentage including logging residues and energy crops are directed towards energy generation. Swedish forest biomass has a wide variety of uses, including traditional industrial uses for sawnwood products and pulp and paper production, as well as in the energy sector for combined heat and electricity generation. It is of considerable interest for the development of continuous largescale production of advanced liquid and gaseous biofuels [26]. The competitiveness of the Swedish pulp and paper sector has been boosted historically by a combination of favoring factors, such as low energy prices, skilled work force, access to high quality forest raw materials, efficient transportation infrastructure and efficient product and process development [41, 42]. For every cubic meter of timber harvested for use as a wood product, approximately 470 kg of carbon dioxide emissions is eliminated
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