In the midst of the deepest recession for decades, bioenergy is bucking the downward trend. Swedish manufacturers of biofuel pellets are predicting a 15 percent production increase during 2009. In the longer term, the need for biofuel in Europe is greater than the supply.

This is the overall message from the conference on forest residues that marked the start of the Elmia Wood 2009 forestry fair in Jönköping, Sweden. The organiser was the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) and the theme was slash: branches, tops and other residues from forest harvesting. The speakers were some of Sweden’s leading researchers and industry representatives.

One topic that were discussed enthusiastically was recycling of ash where Dr Gunnar Thelin summarized the managerial reasons behind it as:

• Compensation–long term effects
• Soil chemistry and runoff water chemistry
• Growth–short term effects
• Reduce nitrogen leaching

With kind permission from Dr Thelin you can download his presentation here.

Visit Swedish Bioenergy Association here.
Visit Elmia Wood here.