REVERSE SUPPLY CHAIN OF RESIDUAL WOOD BIOMASS

Background: Awareness of environmental or, more broadly, sustainable development is becoming an increasingly important issue, and questions of recycling and reuse have been getting more and more attention lately. Biomass is an important renewable resource and can take many forms, ranging from agricultural residues to food waste, forestry residues, and wood processing residues. A particular example is woody biomass such as forestry residues, wood-processing residues, or construction and municipal wastes that can be recycled and reused, providing a more environmentally friendly alternative to bioenergy production. This requires reverse supply chains in which the processes of collection, sorting, and transportation are efficient. The aim of this paper is to characterise the reverse supply chain of residual wood biomass and to indicate the main challenges related to it.

Methods: For the needs of the paper, the research was conducted using the methods of analysis of secondary and primary sources. The materials included data obtained from scientific papers, reports, studies, and internet sources. We conducted focus groups interviews (FGIs) in three cities in Poland.

Results: The article characterizes the details of the supply chain processes in woody biomass. Moreover, challenges, threats, and opportunities for reverse biomass supply chains are indicated.

Conclusions: Wood biomass can be derived from various residues and has a very wide range of industrial applications. Several factors must be considered when organising and conducting logistics processes for wood residues, such as origin, structure, and composition of woody biomass. The reverse supply chain of residual biomass consists of many different entities between which many different processes take place. The well-organized logistical and technological processes are vital parts of the supply chain because they result in size reduction, moisture adjustment, cleaning, fractionation, densification etc., which reduces transport and storage costs. There are many challenges related to biomass supply chains, e.g. the seasonality of biomass, the different requirements for handling and transport equipment, as well as storage space configuration.