Wood Fuels
Wood fuels are available in many different forms. Some of the more common types are reviewed in this section.
Common forms of wood fuels include:
- Wood chips
- Wood pellets
- Firewood logs
- Sawdust
- Bark
- Raw wood wastes
Wood energy can be generated from industrial wood wastes, forest residues and energy crops.
Wood Wastes – Wood wastes or by-products from wood processing industries e.g. chips, bark and sawdust. These residues are used in boardmills as feedstocks for production and within sawmills and boardmills to provide heat for drying or space heating and to produce steam for the manufacturing process. Additional residues are available from forestry and industrial processes for the generation of high quality wood fuels. High quality wood fuels such as wood chips and wood pellets can be used for domestic buildings, commercial sized buildings and to drive process heat in industry.
Forest residues – these consist of the tree tops and branches remaining after timber is harvested. Some forest residues need to be left on the forest floor to decompose and return nutrients to the soil and also to act as brash mats, which allow machinery to travel across soft ground. However, much of this material could be harvested with suitable machinery and used as a renewable fuel for energy production.
Short Rotation Forestry (SRF) / Energy Crops are grown specifically for energy purposes. Typically includes the production of wood fuel from trees with high juvenile growth, which are planted at close spacing and harvested on short rotations (typically every three years). Species such as Willow are ideal for SRF, as they are easy to establish, fast growing and suitable for a variety of sites and resistant to pests and disease. Land for short rotation forestry is likely to come from: non-rotational arable set aside land and land that is not in arable use – i.e. beef or sheep production. Changes in the agricultural sector in Ireland due to CAP reform mean that more land will become available for forestry and energy crop cultivation.
Publications
Firewood - COFORD Connects