The future of biomass and bioenergy deployment and trade: a synthesis of 15 years IEA Bioenergy Task 40 on sustainable bioenergy trade

Abstract

Current biomass production and trade volumes for energy and new materials and bio‐chemicals are only a small fraction to achieve the bioenergy levels suggested by many global energy and climate change mitigation scenarios for 2050. However, comprehensive sustainability of large scale biomass production and trading has yet to be secured, and governance of developing biomass markets is a critical issue. Fundamental choices need to be made on how to develop sustainable biomass supply chains and govern sustainable international biomass markets. The aim of this paper is to provide a vision of how widespread trade and deployment of biomass for energy purposes can be integrated with the wider (bio)economy. It provides an overview of past and current trade flows of the main bioenergy products, and discusses the most important drivers and barriers for bioenergy in general, and more specifically the further development of bioenergy trade over the coming years. It discusses the role of bioenergy as part of the bioeconomy and other potential roles; and how it can help to achieve the sustainable development goals. The paper concludes that it is critical to demonstrate innovative and integrated value chains for biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower that can respond with agility to market factors while providing economic, environmental, and societal benefits to international trade and market. Furthermore, flexible biogenic carbon supply nets based on broad feedstock portfolios and multiple energy and material utilization pathways will reduce risks for involved stakeholder and foster the market entry and uptake of various densified biogenic carbon carriers. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

EU bioenergy development to 2050

“…At these volumes, which are somewhat unrepresentative due to net (rather than total) trade being reported, the logistics and infrastructure investment become more challenging. Furthermore, relatively stricter sustainability criteria on bioenergy, local demand developments in exporting regions, spot price and futures fluctuations for feedstock, fossil fuel price developments, and other low carbon technologies including CCS can all act as limiting factors, reducing the potential for cost-competitive available biomass for import to the EU [57,58]. As these import prices rise, a greater degree of domestic biomass sources becomes economically attainable.…”

Power Generation with Biomass from Coffee: A Literature Review, Current Trend and Scope for Future Research

“…However, the feasibility of this technology is very specific location and must make a detailed assessment before recommending for any country or location, as described by JK Laichena [19]. Biomass to bioenergy is making progress and significant technological advances in recent decades, but there are obstacles and challenges to be addressed to reduce cost and reliability, expansion and integration, and investment to achieve bio-sustainable economy HM Junginger [20]. The future of biomass in boilers depends on the development of fossil fuel markets and market decisions.…”

“…Such information would be useful for the design and efficient operation of combustion systems for coffee husks and the coffee pulp being this matter for biomass studies. Further, HM Junginger exposes that biomass to bioenergy needs to focus on reduction of emissions, which are currently too high [20]. However, by using pyrolysis, such emissions will be less.…”

Developing sustainable bioenergy systems with local bio-resources: cases in Asia

“…South Korea shows a similar trend of development, while countries in Southeast Asia like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia tend to push for export rather than domestic use (Kang et al 2015;Johari et al 2015;Simangunsong et al 2017). However, such import-oriented development has raised concerns about the sustainability of the entire bioenergy system in these countries (Junginger et al 2019a).…”