28 Introduction to Renewable Biomaterials
Table 1.29Greenhouse gas sources and climate impact factor as well as share of climate impact weighted
for the climate changing potential over the next 100 years (EPA US Environmental Protection Agency, 2014).
GHG CO 2 Methane
Nitrous oxide
(N 2 O)
Fluorinated
gases
Source Fossil fuel,
power, heat
Other
fossil-based
(e.g.,
cement
industry)
Biomass
degradation,
deforestation
Livestock
breeding
(especially
ruminants)
Agriculture
(especially
fertilizers)
Industry
Share CO 2 (%) 73.8 3.6 22.6
Share CO 2
equivalent (%)
77.7 14.3 7.9 1.1
Climate impact
(rel. to CO2)
1 21 310 10.000–20.000
Table 1.30Density, bulk density, and carbon per volume (t m−^3 ) of various materials.
Fossil oil Coal Peat Wood Cereal Straw bale
Density 0.8–0.9
Bulk density 0.4–0.8 0.3–0.4 0.2–0.6 0.40–0.48 0.05–0.11
Cm−^3 0.68–0.77 0.32–0.64 0.18–0.24 0.1–0.3 0.2–0.24 0.03–0.05
and railroad to industrial centers. In contrast, biomass and processing residues are
distributed over very large areas, in fact, over all global agri- and silvicultural areas.
Harvesting from the field or forest is costly, and as biomass is degradable it needs special
efforts for storage. In addition, these materials are relatively bulky and not suitable
for pipelines. They need to be shipped by truck, railways, and ship. For example, 1 m^3
straw contains 30–50 kg carbon, whereas the same volume of fossil oil gives 800–900 kg
carbon. In other words, to get the same amount of carbon from straw requires the
transportation of 23-fold volume compared with fossil oil (Table 1.30).
Because harvesting, storage, and shipping are costly and transportation over large
distances is difficult, at least preprocessing will be done close to the raw material
production site. Preprocessing may include sugar extraction from sugar and starch
crops, release of lignocellulosic second-generation sugar, or gasification to syngas
(third-generation feedstock). Most of such carbon sources may be shipped directly to
industrial centers. Figure 1.3 shows biomass trade routes to be expected by 2020.
Preprocessing of biomass might trigger the integration of more processing steps, thus
adding value to more advanced intermediates. At this stage, the very same pillars of
competitiveness, which made early fossil-based industrial regions successful become
effective. More sophisticated processes need a skilled workforce, ask for accompanying
academic research, require an efficient public infrastructure and administration, and last
but not least attract investors. Rural areas concerned will turn into industrial feedstock
regions. However, these regions will most probably not see bio-refineries of the scale of
