LauBioek: Utilization of hardwood in the scope of an efficient bioeconomy
Description of the Joint Project:
The aim of the project is to analyze the economic, environmental and social impacts of hardwood utilization as part of a national and regional bio economy strategy exemplified by the federal state Bavaria. Therefore, the potential of an innovative utilization of hardwood will be analyzed and solutions will be developed. A decision matrix will be drawn up based on technical, legal and structural criteria as well as on sustainability indicators. By the means of this matrix the actors along the value chain of forest and wood will be able to evaluate alternatives for the future utilization of hardwood. Both product line variants as well as regional resource scenarios will be analyzed to derive possible courses of action.
The work plan is divided into five subject work packages (WP) (Fig. 1). In WP 1 "Resources", the current as well as the future hardwood production will be determined using WEHAM, a forest growth simulator. Additionally, the amount of industrial lumber and recovered wood is calculated.
In WP 2 "Status quo and potentials of timber utilization", the currently established and future innovative utilization pathways of hardwood will be identified. The results will be discussed with stakeholders from industry and science and evaluated in terms of their potential for future development. WP 3 "Wood flow balance" contains the analysis of quantitative flows of wood and the representation based on current data for various hardwood utilization scenarios for Bavaria. WP 4 "Assessment" includes the evaluation of ecological, economic and social aspects of single hardwood process chains as well as the evaluation of the process chains altogether in Bavaria. Additionally, the assessment of products is conducted where a substitution by products from hardwood is possible. The latter assessment is necessary in order to compare the performance of those products. The final assessment including all sustainability indicators at the same time is done per SWOT analyses to evaluate effects, opportunities and risks which are associated with the implementation of innovative hardwood products. This will lead to the design of the decision matrix. WP 5 covers reporting and communication of results.
Figure 1: Visualization of the project approach. WP: working package. | |
Duration: | 2020 - 2023 |
Realization: | Project Part 2: Chair of Wood Science: Sander-Titgemeyer, Anna; Weber-Blaschke, Gabriele |
Description of the HFM Project part: | The Project Part 2 covers the contribution to WP 3 and the lead of WP4. A part of WP 3 is the calculation of mass flows of hardwood for different stages of sales in Bavaria as basis scenario. For the assessment in WP4, the current structure of the hardwood process chains will be visualized beforehand as well as the change in structure due to the increased volume of hardwood and the innovative utilization of hardwood as future scenarios. Thereby, the status quo of the traditional hardwood utilization, e.g. the use for energy services, and further developed utilization pathways are analyzed. The assessment in Project Part 2 is the examination of the environmental impact of individual product lines as well as their summarized impact as scenarios. For this purpose, the method of consequential life cycle assessment in combination with regional material flow analysis is used Currently used non-wood products are assessed in order to analyze substitution effects by hardwood products. Additionally, the climate impact of the various scenarios as results from WP 1 to 3 is conducted. Thus, the climate performance of forest and timber development can be determined considering innovative hardwood utilizations in the future years. The results of the assessment of the ecological aspects will be included into the following SWOT analyses and decision matrix. |
Project partners: |
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Project Management Agency | Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) |
Funding: |
Forest Climate Funds (Waldklimafonds) |
Other cooperations | Within the project LauBiOek will be a cooperation with the project CarboRegio by the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry. |
Results and Publications | |