Impacts of a High-Capacity Truck Transportation System on the Economy and Traffic Intensity of Pulpwood Supply in Southeast Finland

High-capacity transportation (HCT) of roundwood is a road transport concept that is currently being demonstrated in Finland and Sweden. In Finland, HCT trucks are in most cases unable to access roadside storages, but they are expected to bring cost savings in highway transportation between transshipment terminals and mill yards. Evaluating the optimal solutions is challenging due to the complexity of the transportation systems. This paper presents a dynamic simulation model, SimPulp, which was developed to generate information about the impacts of substituting HCT for a part of the present pulpwood transportation system. A case study in the area of the most intensive pulpwood use in Finland was conducted. The results indicate that HCT has potential for reducing transport costs and especially the traffic intensity of roundwood procurement in the studied area. The economic advantages of pulpwood HCT could be more significant in a larger area or in the use of inter-terminal backhauling

The cost competitiveness of conifer stumps in the procurement of forest chips for fuel in Southern and Northern Finland

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Impacts of a High-Capacity Truck Transportation System on the Economy and Traffic Intensity of Pulpwood Supply in Southeast Finland

High-capacity transportation (HCT) of roundwood is a road transport concept that is currently being demonstrated in Finland and Sweden. In Finland, HCT trucks are in most cases unable to access roadside storages, but they are expected to bring cost savings in highway transportation between transshipment terminals and mill yards. Evaluating the optimal solutions is challenging due to the complexity of the transportation systems. This paper presents a dynamic simulation model, SimPulp, which was developed to generate information about the impacts of substituting HCT for a part of the present pulpwood transportation system. A case study in the area of the most intensive pulpwood use in Finland was conducted. The results indicate that HCT has potential for reducing transport costs and especially the traffic intensity of roundwood procurement in the studied area. The economic advantages of pulpwood HCT could be more significant in a larger area or in the use of inter-terminal backhauling

Lifecycle Assessment of Biomass Supply Chain with the Assistance of Agent-Based Modelling

Even though biomass is characterised as renewable energy, it produces anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially from biomass logistics. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is used as a tool to quantify the GHG emissions from logistics but in the past the majority of LCAs have been steady-state and linear, when in reality, non-linear and temporal aspects (such as weather conditions, seasonal biomass demand, storage capacity, etc.) also have an important role to play. Thus, the objective of this paper was to optimise the environmental sustainability of forest biomass logistics (in terms of GHG emissions) by introducing the dynamic aspects of the supply chain and using the geographical information system (GIS) and agent-based modelling (ABM). The use of the GIS and ABM adds local conditions to the assessment in order to make the study more relevant. In this study, GIS was used to investigate biomass availability, biomass supply points and the road network around a large-scale combined heat and power plant in Naantali, Finland. Furthermore, the temporal aspects of the supply chain (e.g., seasonal biomass demand and storage capacity) were added using ABM to make the assessment dynamic. Based on the outcomes of the GIS and ABM, a gate-to-gate LCA of the forest biomass supply chain was conducted in order to calculate GHG emissions. In addition to the domestic biomass, we added imported biomass from Riga, Latvia to the fuel mixture in order to investigate the effect of sea transportation on overall GHG emissions. Finally, as a sensitivity check, we studied the real-time measurement of biomass quality and its potential impact on overall logistical GHG emissions. According to the results, biomass logistics incurred GHG emissions ranging from 2.72 to 3.46 kg CO2-eq per MWh, depending on the type of biomass and its origin. On the other hand, having 7% imported biomass in the fuel mixture resulted in a 13% increase in GHG emissions. Finally, the real-time monitoring of biomass quality helped save 2% of the GHG emissions from the overall supply chain. The incorporation of the GIS and ABM helped in assessing the environmental impacts of the forest biomass supply chain in local conditions, and the combined approach looks promising for developing LCAs that are inclusive of the temporal aspects of the supply chain for any specific location

Utilisation of Spatial Data in Energy Biomass Supply Chain Research—A Review

The supply logistics of energy biomasses generally involves a complex system of supply chains, which aim to achieve timely and cost-efficient feedstock deliveries to biomass demand points. The performance of supply chains is often examined in case studies where spatial data about biomass sources and transportation networks are deployed in varying resolutions and to different geographical extents. In this paper, we have reviewed 94 publications, in which spatial data were used in case studies that focused on analysing and optimising energy biomass supply chains. The reviewed publications were classified into 16 categories, according to the publication year, study methods and objectives, biomass types, supply system complexity and the spatial features of each study area. This review found that the use of geographical information systems in this context has increased in popularity in recent years, and that and the multiformity of the applied methods, study objectives and data sources have increased simultaneously. Another finding was that most of the studies that we reviewed focused on countries in which spatial biomass and transport network data of high quality were unrestrictedly available. Nevertheless, case studies, including spatial data from multiple countries, were represented marginally in the papers that we reviewed. In this paper we also argue that a standard way of reporting geographical contents in biomass case studies should be developed to improve the comprehension and reproducibility of the publications in this field of research

Kantojen kustannuskilpailukyky metsähakkeen hankinnassa Etelä- ja Pohjois- Suomessa

TutkimusselosteSeloste artikkelista: Laitila, J., Ranta, T., Asikainen, A., Jäppinen, E. & Korpinen, O.-J. (2015). The cost competitiveness of conifer stumps in the procurement of forest chips for fuel in Southern and Northern Finland. Silva Fennica 49(2), article id 1280.201