Assessment of forest biomass residues for process heat in Portugal

Abstract

From 1990 to 2017, the EU Member States saw an increase of 144% in their solid biomass energy consumption. To keep pace with this increase, the domestic biomass production in EU28 increased 134% and to date Europe is almost self-sufficient in solid biomass. Some Member States, like Portugal, are net exporters of solid biomass for energy. In this country, in 2017 the primary production of solid biomass was 2.6 Mtoe, while the gross inland consumption 2.4 Mtoe. However, compared to other Member States, the use of biomass has seen a moderate increase. One of the reasons might be the fact that forest biomass residues are already being used in the country; to give an example, according to Monteiro et al. (Energy Policy, 42, 2012) the Portuguese target for power production from forest residues is very close to the maximum of biomass availability. Yet, every year Portugal is badly hit by forest fires, and the inadequate removal of biomass (fuel load) from the forests in many places contributes to the increase of the risk for forest fires. This study analysis the potential of obtaining biomass residues in Portugal. For that, the data from the last available Land Use and Land Cover cartography for Portugal from 2015 will be used. The biomass potential will be translated into process heat generation.