Production and trading of biomass for energy – An overview of the global status

Abstract

Biomass is becoming a more attractive source of renewable energy and the markets of solid and liquid biofuels are developing rapidly. Determining the international traded biomass volumes that end up in energy use is difficult for several reasons, such as challenges regarding the compilation of statistics on the topic. While for some markets (pellets, ethanol) separate overviews exist, no comprehensive statistics and summaries aggregating separate biomass streams are available. The aim of this paper was to review the challenges related to measuring internationally traded volumes of biofuels and to summarise the trade volumes of various biofuels. The scope of international biofuels trade was estimated in 2004 to be about 0.8 EJ. Indirect trade of biofuels thorough trading of industrial round wood and material byproducts comprises the largest part of trading having a share of about 0.5 EJ. The remaining part of trading consisted of products that are traded primarily for energy purposes, ethanol (0.09 EJ) and palm oil (0.04 EJ) being the most important articles. Compared to current global energy use of biomass (43 EJ/yr) and to the long-term theoretical trading potential between the world regions (80-150 EJ/yr), the development of the international trade of biomass for energy purposes is in its initial stage.

Renewable energy in Russia: The take off in solid bioenergy?

“…There exists no undisputed data on production and export volumes of pellets, and most data are estimates. While it is generally difficult to determine international trade volumes for biomass due to multiple application of biomass streams [84], tracking trade in wood pellets in Russia until 2012 was further complicated as pellet statistics were aggregated under HS 440130 code, which also included sawdust, shavings, wood waste and scrap. Since 2012 Russia employs a separate code -HTS 440131 -for sawdust and wood waste and scrap in the form of wood pellets [48].…”

International Trade of Biofuels (Brochure)

“…In 2005, the United States surpassed Brazil as the largest producer of ethanol (Heinimo and Junginer 2009). However, the United States was still a net importer of ethanol until 2010 likely due to increased demand caused by the initial renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandates, elevated petroleum prices, and environmental concerns.…”

“…Ethanol has been traded for decades and has developed into a global market involving large volumes (Heinimo and Junginer 2009). In contrast, biodiesel trade is less established and has been encouraged by increases in policies and incentives that promote biofuels, particularly in the European Union (EU).…”

Food versus Fuel: Toward a New Paradigm—The Need for a Holistic Approach

“…Another issue concerning biomass energy is that, traditionally, it has been used and traded locally and therefore international bioenergy trade is an entirely new phenomenon (see http://www.bioenergttrade.org/; [52,64]). This is a complex issue that goes beyond the objectives of this study.…”