Woody Biomass—is generated as a result
of timber-related activities in forests or rangelands. Small-diameter
trees may be removed to reduce the risk of wildland fire or to
improve forest health, while treetops, branches, and limbs, collectively
known as “slash,” are often the byproduct of traditional
land clearing projects, logging activities or thinning projects.
Slash is generally removed from trees on site,
before the logs are hauled for processing. It may be scattered
on the ground and left to decay or to burn in a subsequent prescribed
fire, or piled and either burned or hauled away for use or disposal.
Woody biomass, both small-diameter logs and slash,
can be put to various uses. Both small-diameter logs and slash
also can be chipped or ground and used for fuel, either in raw
form or after being dried and made into fuel pellets. Various
entities, including power plants, schools, pulp and paper mills,
and others, burn woody biomass in boilers to turn water into steam,
which is used to make electricity, heat or cool buildings, or
provide heat for industrial processes.
Federal, state, and local governments, as well
as private organizations, are working to expand the use of woody
biomass. For example, the Bitter Root Resource Conservation and
Development Council, a nonprofit organization sponsored by state
government entities and three counties in Montana, is helping
to coordinate a federally funded effort—known as the Fuels
for Schools program—to install wood-fired heating systems
in rural school buildings. Other states, such as Idaho, Nevada,
and North Dakota, also are participating in the Fuels for Schools
program.
Private corporations also are researching new
ways of using woody biomass and wood waste, often in partnership
with government and universities. For example, one corporation
has partnered with the University of Georgia, and has developed
and plans to license biorefinery technology for making chemicals,
agricultural fertilizer, and transportation fuels such as ethanol
from woody biomass. Another private company has developed technology
that it hopes will significantly increase the ethanol yield from
any type of biomass, including woody biomass.
