Evaluating the Environmental Performance of Wood-Based Biofuels

Home , Cellulosic ethanol, Engineered wood

Introduction to Special Issue

Bruce Lippke Richard Bergman Adam Taylor Maureen E. Puettmann

The nonprofit Consortium for Research on Renewable In this issue of the Forest Products Journal, the research Industrial Materials (CORRIM) has been developing findings are reported for a range of potential biofuel uses of comprehensive environmental performance information on wood in conjunction with the production of products. wood building materials consistent with life-cycle standards Biofuels and wood products are generally coproducts of (http://www.corrim.org/). The articles published in this sustainable forest management requiring consideration for Special Issue of the Forest Products Journal extend the their relative efficiencies under different production alter- research by the CORRIM group on the environmental natives. Because operational-scale production facilities do performance of wood products to include the impacts from not yet exist for liquid biofuels, the data have been derived the uses of wood as a source for bioenergy. from processing models instead of primary mill surveys. The earlier work, published in two special issues of Wood University cooperators customized NREL processing mod- and Fiber Science (CORRIM 2005, 2010), developed the els and incorporated models of biofuel feedstock collection inputs and outputs for each stage of processing wood based on CORRIM’s prior work to measure the impact of products through the final use of building materials. Life- collecting industrial roundwood. There are many different cycle inventory (LCI) tables were produced for forest woody biomass feedstock options and processing methods. regeneration and harvesting in the Pacific Northwest, To obtain the best input for the boundaries and scope of the Southeast (SE), Northeast/North Central (including both project within the available financial resources, a planning softwoods and hardwoods), and Inland Northwest, carried workshop attended by experts in the field was held in through to the production of softwood and hardwood October of 2008. A scope of work and work plan was lumber, hardwood flooring, plywood, oriented strand board developed that provided a range of the more important (OSB)–SE, glulam beams, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), collection and processing options. I-joists, and trusses. The processing LCIs were based on The planning workshop determined the following woody primary data surveys of a sample from mills in each region. biomass feedstock options to be most important: Two large-volume, nonstructural products, particleboard Short rotation woody crops (SRWC) to demonstrate the and medium-density fiberboard, were also included. An LCI impact of high yields for US-produced resins used in engineered wood and Forest residuals (forest waste) generated in conjunction composite products was also developed and is being used with harvesting for products to update the LCI for products using resins. The primary product database was uploaded to the US LCI database managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory The authors are, respectively, Professor Emeritus, College of (NREL), where the LCI data for nonwood materials as well Environment, School of Environmental and Forest Sci., Univ. of as CORRIM’s data on wood materials can be accessed Washington, Seattle ([email protected] [corresponding author]); (NREL 2011). Research Forest Products Technologist, USDA Forest Service, The earlier work also included life-cycle assessments Forest Products Lab., Madison, Wisconsin ([email protected]); (LCAs) for the use of wood products in residential framing, Associate Professor and Wood Products Extension Specialist, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville ([email protected]); and Consultant, providing a useful comparison for the efficiency of using WoodLife Environmental Consulting, LLC, Corvallis, Oregon wood in construction products to reduce carbon emissions as ([email protected]). This paper was received for publica- a contrast to using biofuels to reduce emissions (http://www. tion in February 2012. Article no. 12-00014. corrim.org/pubs/articles/2006/FPJproductSubs.pdf, http:// ÓForest Products Society 2012. www.corrim.org/pubs/articles/2004/FPJ_Sept2004.pdf). Forest Prod. J. 62(4):244–246.

244 LIPPKE ET AL. Whole tree handling of thinnings labels, EPDs are attached to the product being sold. Thinnings for high fire-risk areas Therefore, depending on the end-market, e.g., business or Customized equipment technologies to reduce the cost of consumer, the label is readily available to make a decision at collection the time of purchase (Bergman and Taylor 2011). Pellets production important to smaller scale collection Another communication effort was recently conducted use or for processing with long transportation hauls with support from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Processing options are as follows: Service Wood and Education Resource Center. The project resulted in a brochure describing the carbon impact of wood Three liquid fuel alternatives products with respect to nonwood alternatives. The brochure * Biochemical fermentation to ethanol compared with provides detailed results on the carbon impacts associated gasoline with wood building products: cradle-to-gate manufacturing, * Thermochemical gasification to ethanol compared with woody biomass, carbon storage in the final product, and the gasoline substitution of wood for nonwood products (http://www. * Pyrolysis to biofuel compared with residual fuel oil wwpinstitute.org/documents/CIWPpub.pdf). Cogeneration of electricity compared with fossil fuel Webinar training sessions to familiarize users with the feedstocks data have also been promoted (http://www.forestrywebinars. Increased biofuel use in wood processing mills to net/webinars/the-carbon-impact-of-forest-products/ displace natural gas for drying ?searchterm¼None). Pellet production impacts on heat and power efficiency Because of widespread interest on reducing carbon relative to other feedstocks emissions, CORRIM has in earlier articles tracked carbon SRWC were used in fermentation processing because it is impacts for functional units (e.g., houses and specific a wet process and is best aligned with the high moisture products) and for forest acres used to supply wood products. content of the feedstock. Whole tree handling of commer- These latter, forest-supply analyses include a wide range of cial thinnings was evaluated with gasification and pyrolysis. stands supporting sustainable regeneration, harvest, produc- Collection of forest residuals was evaluated with gasification of wood products, product use, end-of-life disposal, or tion because this process was expected to be robust to the recycling. This Special Issue includes articles that integrate wider quality range of the feedstock. the impact of producing wood products and biofuels CORRIM research guidelines require conformity to life- (coproducts from the forest) to sustainable forest resource cycle protocols including specification of purpose, func- management and production based on the findings from tional unit, boundaries, data categories, collection proce- other articles in this issue covering biofuel feedstock dures, and quality assessments (http://www.corrim.org/ collection and processing alternatives. Consistent carbon pubs/reports/2005/Phase1/CORRIMResProtocents.pdf). impact measures per unit of biofuel produced or per hectare CORRIM’s board and invited experts in the field provided of supply are reported. This closes one of the important technical reviews on the research plans. CORRIM’s Web- research gaps identified in prior research: the failure to based research reports were reviewed by international LCI/ account for the potential carbon benefits from using wood LCA experts for consistency with CORRIM’s research residuals as well as the benefits from using wood products. guidelines and standards (http://www.corrim.org/pubs/ With the data presented here, it becomes possible to reports/2005/Phase1/MainRepAugust24.pdf). Peer reviews quantify the benefits of the additional use of biofuel sources have also been completed for all journal publications. CORRIM’s biofuel research has continued to require strict such as logging residues, thinnings, and short rotation crops. adherence to life-cycle protocols. A continued need for LCI/LCA is expected because it CORRIM’s LCI research on products and biofuels has provides a way to scientifically measure environmental been largely focused on developing a database and burdens; however, the growing use and need for LCI/LCA evaluation methods for determining options for environ- may lead to new applications and requirements. The Energy mental improvement. We believe that this information Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) now should now be made available, and made useful, for requires biofuels to achieve minimum federal standards in educators, policy makers, and industry. With this in mind, displacing fossil fuels. These emission standards, based on interactive videos covering many of these research projects LCA, will likely support the use of cellulosic ethanol over were collected from presentations at the Forests Product alternative fuels. More importantly, these standards will Society’s International Convention (http://www.corrim.org/ likely generate substantial change in how environmental presentations/video/2011/FPS_Biomass/index.asp). data are developed and how carbon markets and other Early steps in helping to translate LCI research for incentives are framed. broader audiences include providing hands-on uses of LCI The carbon mitigation impact from using woody biomass data for business and consumers who are not familiar with is lower for highly processed (e.g., liquid) fuels than for life-cycle analysis but are interested in making the right most other uses (e.g., solid products or direct combustion). environmental product choice. It is expected that the advent However, using woody biomass for liquid fuels will of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), a third- contribute to greater energy independence by substituting party verified eco-label for (wood) products and fuels based for imported petroleum. This raises the issue of the relative on life-cycle data, will contribute to educating the consumer value of carbon mitigation and other goals. Currently there (http://www.environmentalproductdeclarations.com/). EPDs is no accepted method to measure the potential tradeoffs for wood and competing products require not only LCI data between carbon mitigation, energy independence, or other for wood uses but also for sustainable forest management. forest-derived values. Value tradeoffs are important to EPDs show credible and transparent information summa- policy and will need to be better understood to effectively rizing a product’s environmental impacts. Similar to food pursue carbon mitigation and energy independence goals.

FOREST PRODUCTS JOURNAL Vol. 62, No. 4 245 Literature Cited 2010. Extending the ﬁndings on the environmental performance of wood building materials. Wood Fiber Sci. 42(CORRIM Special Issue). 164 pp. Bergman, R. and A. M. Taylor. 2011. EPD—Environmental product http://www.corrim.org/pubs/reports/2010/swst_vol42/index.asp. declarations for wood products—An application of life cycle information about forest products. Forest Prod. J. 61(3):192–201. Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). 2007. Energy Indepen- Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM). dence and Security Act of 2007. Public Law 110-140. US Government 2005. Documenting the environmental performance of wood building Printing Ofﬁce, Washington, D.C. pp. 1491–1801. materials. Wood Fiber Sci. 37(CORRIM Special Issue). 155 pp. http:// National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). 2011. Life-cycle www.corrim.org/pubs/reports/2005/swst/index.asp. inventory database project. NREL. http://www.nrel.gov/lci/. Accessed Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM). June 27, 2012.

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