Abstract A biorefinery can operate with various plant materials as feed stock, (in contrast to fossil-based oil refineries). It has been defined by the International Energy Agency, Task 42, as “the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable bio-based products (chemicals, materials) and bioenergy (biofuels, power, heat)”. One of the challenges in operating large-scale facilities is that the biomass supply-chain is dependent on reliable availability of appropriate raw materials, continuous at all seasons while maintaining a high quality. Currently, various types of biorefineries are frequently discussed e.g. sugar-based bio refineries or thermochemical bio refineries; however, both strategies are dependent on solid and well-known characteristics of the biomass regarding their chemical and biological processes. A woody biomass supply-chain, from forest residues are influenced by factors such as: tree species, growth conditions and occasionally forest fertilization but how these factors influence the composition of the biomass are poorly understood. In this study, we used field experiments in Sweden where poplar, hybrid aspen, birch, Scots pine and Norway spruce were grown at various sites across a latitude gradient and treated with fertilizers within each site – making direct comparisons between tree species and fertilization treatment possible. The presented results demonstrate that there are minor differences in biomass composition i.e. cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses (mannan, xylan, galactan, arabinan) and oil content, between forest site and fertilization treatment. Moreover, our results demonstrate that geographic location (northern or southern latitudes) has limited effect on the chemical composition In addition, our results demonstrate that deciduous tree species (poplar, birch and hybrid aspen) have similar biomass composition but that the compositions are different to coniferous species. For an industrial context, our results suggest that if biomasses are a blend of coniferous and deciduous tree species, the process design must be adjusted to reach optimal usage of the lignocellulosic feedstock in full-scale industrial processes.
Erdei et al. (Thu,) studied this question.