ABSTRACT
Interest in renewable biomass for fuel, chemicals, and materials is high (e.g., Rocha et al. 2002), as many products currently derived from petrochemicals can be produced from biomass (Sims et al. 2006). Biomass can be converted into many energy products and chemicals: e.g., alcohol by fermenting cellulose, charcoal, bio-oil, and gases by biomass pyrolysis (Khesghi et al. 2000). Biomass and biofuels technologies with the most potential in the United States include co-ring in coal-red power plants, integrated gasication combined-cycle units in forestry, and ethanol from hydrolysis of lignocellulosics (Sims 2003). A wide range of products from woody biomass has been demonstrated in New Zealand: “value-added” chemicals, hardboards, activated carbon, animal feed, and bioenergy feedstock (Sims 2003). Using harvested biomass to replace fossil fuels has long-term signicance in using forest lands to prevent carbon emissions, and bioenergy projects can contribute to slowing global climate change (Swisher 1997). The potential importance and cost-effectiveness of bioenergy measures in climate change mitigation require evaluation of cost and performance in increasing terrestrial carbon storage.
