| Bioenergy, energy produced from renewable biomass, can potentially replace fossil fuels and create employment in northwestern Ontario. However, the procurement of biomass for energy production can be uneconomical due to high moisture content, low thermal value and low energy density. Studies in Europe have shown that biomass can be stored in the field to improve the fuel quality. Logging residues stored in various forms was investigated to gain an understanding of the effect of storage method and duration on the fuel quality. The fuel qualities assessed were moisture content (MC), thermal value and ash content. Also a case study is presented with information on cost of processing and transporting salvaged wildfire burnt biomass, and the net energy balance of the entire operation.The cost of felling, extracting, processing and transporting biomass using the full-tree to roadside, roadside crusher to mill (FT-CR) system was estimated at Keywords: bioenergy, northwestern Ontario, moisture content, thermal value, ash content, grinding, biomass, cost, energy analysis, input output ratio.The MC was reduced from a green state to 27%,21.6% and 22.2% (green weight basis) after 1, 2 and 3 year of storage in roadside slash piles, respectively. In cut-to-length blocks, the MC was reduced from a green state to 30.1%, 24.0% and 25.5% after 1, 2 and 3 years of storage, respectively. Windrows displayed lower MC values than beehives and softwoods generally displayed lower MC values than hardwoods with few exceptions. The thermal values ranged from 19.5 to 23.1 MJ·kg-1 for all species, tree components and storage years. Storage years had no significant effect on the thermal value, but diameter and species did. Generally, smaller diameter stems displayed higher thermal value than larger diameter stems and softwoods contained higher values than hardwoods. The ash content ranged from 0.4% to 8.4% for all species, components and storage years. Diameter produced significantly different values in logging residues of both cut-to-length blocks and roadside slash piles smaller diameter stems showed higher ash content. In cut-to-length blocks, the ash content was reduced significantly with an increase in storage years. |
