Abstract
Potential competition for biomass for current and future bioenergy/biofuel uses in Brazil, Denmark, Sweden and the USA were compared. In each of these countries, bioenergy and biofuels are already important in their energy mix. However, there is limited competition for biomass between bioenergy (heat/power/residential/industrial) and transportation biofuel applications. This situation is likely to continue until advanced biofuel technology becomes much more commercially established. In each of these countries, biomass is predominantly used to produce bioenergy, even in those regions where biofuels are significant component of their transportation sector (Brazil, Sweden and USA). The vast majority of biofuel production continues to be based on sugar, starch and oil rich feedstocks, while bioenergyis produced almost exclusively from forest biomass with agricultural biomass having a small, but increasing, secondary role. Current and proposed commercial scale biomass-to-ethanol facilities almost exclusively use agriculture derived residues (corn stover/wheat straw/sugarcane bagasse). Competition for biomass feedstocks for bioenergy/biofuel applications, is most likely to occur for agricultural biomass with coproduct lignin and other residues used to concomitantly produce heat and electricity on site at biofuel production facilities.
Highlights
Oil is currently the world’s predominant source of energy, partly due to its flexibility of end use and it will likely remain the dominant global fuel source for several decades to come
A wide range of end products can be generated from forest derived biomass, this paper focuses on the possible competition for biomass between bioenergy and transportation biofuel production
A review of current and projected global energy trends, with a focus on biomass-based energy, indicated that there was no competition for biomass between bioenergy or biofuels applications
Summary
Oil is currently the world’s predominant source of energy, partly due to its flexibility of end use (energy and transportation) and it will likely remain the dominant global fuel source for several decades to come. Unlike electricity generation (which can employ solar, hydro and wind power), renewable substitutes for transportation fuels are in practice limited to electric vehicles and biofuels. In some applications, such as long-distance transportation, biofuels are the most likely alternative to fossil fuels especially in long-haul trucking, marine and aviation applications. The findings for each country were compared with respect to the importance of biomass in the energy mix, the dominant biomass applications, the status of biomass competition and the relative influence of each of these four drivers on biomass allocation. The importance of each country’s policies in biomass allocation is discussed
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