Commodities based on lignocellulosic raw materials are needed to connect biomass with the market, reduce costs and achieve security of supply. Without transportable and marketable lignocellulosic comodities, the potential of the biobased economy will not be realized. Researchers from Wageningen University & Research have assessed and described what a real lignocellulose commodity should be and what the benefits are.
Lignocellulosic biomass, or the fiber fraction of plant material and all kinds of by-products, is currently an underutilized renewable raw material. The use of this biomass for biobased applications is currently hampered by a lack of options to efficiently link the biomass to markets that include energy applications such as heat and electricity production, conversion to transport fuels, chemicals and other materials in biorefineries.
Locating conversion facilities close to available biomass has the advantage of providing cheap biomass, but the sites generally lack security of supply, availability of qualified personnel and do not benefit from existing infrastructure and opportunities to add value to residues. Furthermore, the scale of conversion systems is limited by the logistics costs of local biomass supply.
The development of true lignocellulosic commodities can connect biomass to markets and reduce the cost of the raw materials. According to the researchers, there are five requirements for a real lignocellulosic biobased raw material:
- Easy to store and transport: high energy density, dry, low ash, low nutrient content;
- A uniform, standard quality
- Standardization of transport, contract, insurance and conversion systems
- Functioning markets: trading systems, financial instruments and high tradability
- Sustainability: A standardized sustainability certification system
Several suitable commodities exist, including wood pellets, pyrolysis oil, straw pellets, torrefied pellets, wood chips and 'biocrude'. However, they are not yet real commodities, as they do not meet the 5 requirements described.
More information can be found in the report 'To be or not to be a biobased commodity : assessing requirements and candidates for lignocellulosic based commodities'.
source: Wageningen University & Research
