Present and future trends in pellet markets, raw materials, and supply logistics in Sweden and Finland Mari Selkima ¨ki a,b, *, Blas Mola-Yudego a,b , Dominik Ro ¨ ser a , Robert Prinz a , Lauri Sikanen b a Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit, Yliopistokatu 6, P.O. Box 68, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland b University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Science and Forestry, School of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 111 FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 3068 2. Materials and methods ........................................................................................... 3069 3. Results ........................................................................................................ 3069 3.1. Pellet production capacity ................................................................................... 3069 3.2. Pellet consumption ......................................................................................... 3070 3.3. Pellet logistics ............................................................................................. 3071 4. Discussion ..................................................................................................... 3072 4.1. Expected trends in pellet production ........................................................................... 3072 4.2. Expected trends in consumption .............................................................................. 3073 4.3. Identified bottlenecks for the development of the sector ........................................................... 3073 4.3.1. Raw material supply ................................................................................ 3073 4.3.2. Pellet logistics and transportation ..................................................................... 3074 4.3.3. Standardization efforts .............................................................................. 3074 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................... 3074 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 3074 References ..................................................................................................... 3074 1. Introduction Wood pellets have become an important fuel in heat and power production, as they have close to neutral CO 2 emissions, high energy content and they are the first wood based fuels which are Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14 (2010) 3068–3075 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 10 May 2010 Accepted 14 June 2010 Keywords: Pellet market Bioenergy Energy policy ABSTRACT Wood pellets have become an important fuel in heat and power production, and pellet markets are currently undergoing rapid development. In this paper, the pellet markets, raw materials and supply structures are analyzed for Sweden and Finland, based on a database of the current location and production capacity of the pellet producers, complemented with existing reports and literature. In Sweden, a total of 94 pellet plants/producers were identified, producing 1.4 million tonnes of pellets, while the domestic consumption was 1.7 million tonnes, and about 400,000 t of pellets were imported to fulfil the demand in 2007. In Finland, 24 pellet plants/producers were identified and the production was around 330,000 t while the domestic consumption was 117,000 t in 2007. In Finland, pellet market has been long time export oriented, whereas domestic consumption has been growing mainly in the small scale consumer sector, estimated 15,000 households had pellet heating systems in 2008. In the future, the increasing number of pellet users will require a reliable delivery network and good equipment for bulk pellet deliveries. Provision of new raw materials and ensuring the good quality of pellets through the whole production, delivery and handling chain will be fundamental in order to increase the use of pellets and sustain the ability to compete with other fuels. ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit, Yliopistokatu 6, P.O. Box 68, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland. Tel.: +358 132515273; fax: +358 132514422. E-mail address: mari.selkimaki@uef.fi (M. Selkima ¨ ki). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser 1364-0321/$ – see front matter ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2010.06.009