**3. Woody biomass utilization in Japan**

After the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, renewable and carbon-neutral biomass attracted widespread attention for its potential as an ideal primary energy resource in a sustainable society. In 2001, the Japanese government officially defined biomass as one of the new energy resources in the "Law Concerning Special Measures for Promotion of the Use of New Energy" [5], and the government decided on the "Biomass Nippon Strategy" in 2002 [6]. As mentioned previously, forest resources are abundant in Japan, and thus, the energy utilization of woody biomass is expected to contribute to a revitalization of the forestry and forest products industries, which have long been depressed. The annual available amount of woody biomass resources is estimated to be 31.7 million dry-t/y [7], which has a calorific value of 634 PJ/y, corresponding to 2.8% of the national primary energy supply, 23.0 EJ/y, and woody biomass utilization was expected to promote the tending of planted forests, many of which were being neglected when the Biomass Nippon Strategy was adopted. This triggered the energy and material utilization of waste woody biomass such as mill residues (**Figure 8**), wood-based waste materials (**Figure 9**), and tree trimmings.

**Figure 8.** *Mill residue.*

**Figure 9.** *Wood-based waste material.*

**Figure 10.** *Comparison of the woody bioenergy utilization around 2005 (Each percentage value means the share to the total domestic primary energy supply).*

With respect to the actual situation of planted forests at that time, the thinning of largely established planted forests did not commonly take place because the trees were so small that there was little profitability on a business basis in thinning operations.

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**Figure 12.**

**Figure 11.**

*Domestic woody biomass availability in 2010.*

fibers, was promoted in the 1970s.

*Young planted forest contained large amounts of felled thinnings.*

*Current Situation and Future Outlook of Forest Biomass Production and Its Utilization in Japan*

**Figure 10** shows a comparison of the woody bioenergy utilization around 2005. From the point of view of the amount of woody bioenergy utilization itself, Japan was almost on a par with Sweden and Finland. This is because there has been a big pulp and paper industry in Japan, and the recycling of black liquor, that is, byproduct from the kraft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses, and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose

The domestic woody biomass availability in 2010 as estimated by the Japanese government is shown in **Figure 11** [8]. There was little available waste woody biomass

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93433*

*Current Situation and Future Outlook of Forest Biomass Production and Its Utilization in Japan DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93433*

**Figure 11.** *Domestic woody biomass availability in 2010.*

*Biotechnological Applications of Biomass*

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operations.

**Figure 10.**

**Figure 9.**

*Wood-based waste material.*

*total domestic primary energy supply).*

With respect to the actual situation of planted forests at that time, the thinning

of largely established planted forests did not commonly take place because the trees were so small that there was little profitability on a business basis in thinning

*Comparison of the woody bioenergy utilization around 2005 (Each percentage value means the share to the* 

**Figure 12.** *Young planted forest contained large amounts of felled thinnings.*

**Figure 10** shows a comparison of the woody bioenergy utilization around 2005. From the point of view of the amount of woody bioenergy utilization itself, Japan was almost on a par with Sweden and Finland. This is because there has been a big pulp and paper industry in Japan, and the recycling of black liquor, that is, byproduct from the kraft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses, and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers, was promoted in the 1970s.

The domestic woody biomass availability in 2010 as estimated by the Japanese government is shown in **Figure 11** [8]. There was little available waste woody biomass such as mill residue or wood-based waste material, while logging residue went almost unutilized. It has been said since that time that logging residues should be utilized by developing dedicated harvesting machines as has been done in Sweden and Finland.

In these statistics, the term "logging residue" actually refers to unutilized thinning materials (**Figure 12**). In view of environmental conservation and global warming mitigation measures, huge amounts of subsidies were spent to fell trees for the purpose of thinning, but the felled trees were never harvested. Thus, the young planted forests contained large amounts of felled thinnings. So, the 20 million m3 /y of logging residue shown in **Figure 11** should have been classified as "forest biomass," most of which was composed of unutilized thinnings.
