Biomass market expansion

At the same time the market expansion must allow for an increased technical learning and must support as quickly as possible the development and market introduction of (energy) efficient systems. On the one hand this is necessary to allow the limited and valuable biomass to be used as efficiently as possible and on the other hand the cost reduction potentials can be exploited immediately. In parallel the development of a broad basis of the used biomass fractions is necessary to compensate possible price fluctuations of individual biomass fractions, for example as a result of climatically indicated yield variations. 

The expansion of the market, however, will depend considerably on the possibility of an efficient use of other biomass sources, particularly lignocellulosic-based materials, fast growing dedicated crops, and waste resources. Effective integration of bioethanol production into biorefineries will also be a key aspect in decreasing the price by a better use of all the components of biomass. 

Finally, because of the small yields and scale relative to even many specialty petrochemicals, one should not automatically assume that the recovery "production" costs of chemicals from biomass pyrolysis are necessarily competitive with the actual production costs from petrochemicals there is usually a large mark-up over costs, because the markets are small, the number of producers is small and there are technical barriers to entry, sales and application development. It would be wise to codevelop recovery with a current manufacturer, just to assure distribution channels. If recovery costs are lower than conventional production, and the market is growing, there will likely be interest, because expansion capital costs can be avoided, and incremental additional production becomes feasible. 

Initially, an extensive literature research was performed to determine the companies actively pursuing biomass energy development, the issues critical to the expansion of the industry, and market perspectives which exist. Based upon the data collected, Booz, Allen interviewed 100 executives of companies nationwide to determine the scope of private sector involvement in biomass energy development. These companies, shown in Figure 1, represent a cross section of companies active in the development of energy from biomass and are representative of companies in the field. 

Presumably possible increase of prices can be kept small if the increase in the demand (concerning bioenergy) corresponds with the increase of supply (due to land areas no longer needed for food and fodder production). The speed of the expansion of the use of bioenergy within the energy system therefore should be oriented at the technical and organizational possibilities for the expansion of the biomass production internationally it might be essential for the volatility of the markets. 

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