Högskolan i Skövde

The potential of three different logging residues (woody chips, branches and pine needles) as renewable resources to produce environmentally friendly polymeric materials and/or biofuel has been critically evaluated in terms of their structure, chemical composition and thermal properties. Woody chips constitute the most attractive forest residue to be processed into polymeric materials in terms of their highest cellulose content, crystallinity and thermal stability. In contrast, pine needles and branches offer higher heating values and optimum product distribution for solid fuel applications due to their higher lignin content. In general, forest residual biomass has great potential for conversion into new added value products, such as composites or solid biofuel, thus constituting a sustainable waste management procedure from a biorefinery perspective. The correlation between the chemical and structural properties with the thermal/pyrolytic behavior of residual biomass offers valuable insights to assess their sustainable exploitation.