**1. Introduction**

Bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste has received increasing focus due to recent acceleration in depletion of fossil fuels. The portion of renewable energies counted only 11% of total energy consumption while 74% is fossil energy in EU-28 in 2012 (**Figure 1(a)**) [1]. The heavy dependency on fossil fuels has resulted in two critical issues. First, fossil fuel is non-renewable and cannot be replenished by nature within a reasonable

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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a White Paper on Norwegian climate policies [9]. The White Paper documented particularly the large emissions of GHG from agriculture industry and waste management in Norway, and a specific goal is also stated to develop more bioenergy production plants in Norway. A joint treatment of biodegradable waste from both households and agriculture sections is emphasized. As shown in **Figure 2**, only 35% of biomass and biodegradable waste are utilized in bioenergy production, and this will lead to a significant increase at 2.3 TWh (governmental target). Currently, the bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste in Norway is also relatively small (0.5 TWh [10]). This can partly be explained by existing large energy production from other renewable resources, i.e. hydropower [11], which leads to fairly low energy price in general. Also, the limited infrastructure for bioenergy production and high investment are the main obstacles to an increased bioenergy production in Norway. The political willingness is to change the current situation of bioenergy production and establish more bioenergy plants in Norway. However, the governmental subsides and economic incentives for promoting bioenergy production have not been well established yet. In addition, some other institutional and regulative mechanisms should also be considered, i.e. competence enhancement, tax relief for transport utilizing biofuel, lowering gate fee for the delivery of biomass and biodegradable

A Value Chain Analysis for Bioenergy Production from Biomass and Biodegradable Waste…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72346

185

In order to provide a better understanding of the bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste, a general model for value chain analysis is first formulated and discussed in this chapter, and a feasibility analysis is then given to discuss the opportunities and challenges of establishing a bioenergy production plant in Northern Norway. The reminder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 gives the definition and treatment methods of the feedstock of bioenergy production: biomass and biodegradable waste. Section 3 formulates a general value chain model of bioenergy production and performs the value chain analysis of bioenergy production. Section 4 presents a feasibility study for establishing bioenergy production plant in northern part of Norway. Section 5 summarizes the chapter and

waste for energy production, etc.

suggests for future studies.

**Figure 2.** Potential bioenergy production in Norway within 2020 [10].

**Figure 1.** (a) Gross inland energy consumption by source of the EU-28 in 2012 and (b) renewable energy consumption by source of the EU-28 in 2012 [1].

timeframe. Moreover, the over-exploration and exponentially increasing consumption in recent years accelerate the depletion of fossil fuels. The estimated lifespan for the reserves of crude oil, natural gas and coal is approximately 35, 37 and 107 years, respectively [2]. The development of renewable energy resources becomes therefore of significant importance to meet energy demand in the near future. Second, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission related to energy production and consumption from fossil fuels has played an important role to the global warming and climate change [3]. Both of them are believed to be the most significant challenges in the twenty-first century, which may lead to severe consequences for human's existence [4]. Due to these reasons, extensive efforts have been devoted in reducing GHG emissions in the past few decades. One of the most promising solutions to the abovementioned challenges is the explosion of renewable resources, i.e. wind, solar, tidal, biomass, etc., which not only provide an attractive alternative for energy production but also contribute to the mitigation of GHG emissions.

Bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste is the most reliable renewable energy resource, which occupies predominant share of today's marketplace [5]. As shown in **Figure 1(b)**, the consumption of energy generated by biomass and biodegradable waste, liquid biomass, hydropower and wind power are 58.3, 8.5, 15.6 and 9.6%, respectively, and the other renewable resources including solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and geothermal constitute only 8% of the total consumption [1]. The reason for this high portion of bioenergy production in Europe is mainly due to the long-term efforts on developing legislative mechanism and technological means for recovering energy from biomass and biodegradable waste. For example, EU Landfill Directive (Council Directive 1999/31/EC [6]) implemented in 1999 sets the periodic target for the member states, and since then the amount of the biodegradable waste ended up in landfill has been dramatically reduced. EU Renewable Directive (Directive 2001/77/EC [7]) was implemented in 2001 and repealed in 2009 (Directive 2009/28/EC [8]) for promoting more applications of renewable energy resources. This has been followed up by Norwegian authority with a White Paper on Norwegian climate policies [9]. The White Paper documented particularly the large emissions of GHG from agriculture industry and waste management in Norway, and a specific goal is also stated to develop more bioenergy production plants in Norway. A joint treatment of biodegradable waste from both households and agriculture sections is emphasized.

As shown in **Figure 2**, only 35% of biomass and biodegradable waste are utilized in bioenergy production, and this will lead to a significant increase at 2.3 TWh (governmental target). Currently, the bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste in Norway is also relatively small (0.5 TWh [10]). This can partly be explained by existing large energy production from other renewable resources, i.e. hydropower [11], which leads to fairly low energy price in general. Also, the limited infrastructure for bioenergy production and high investment are the main obstacles to an increased bioenergy production in Norway. The political willingness is to change the current situation of bioenergy production and establish more bioenergy plants in Norway. However, the governmental subsides and economic incentives for promoting bioenergy production have not been well established yet. In addition, some other institutional and regulative mechanisms should also be considered, i.e. competence enhancement, tax relief for transport utilizing biofuel, lowering gate fee for the delivery of biomass and biodegradable waste for energy production, etc.

In order to provide a better understanding of the bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste, a general model for value chain analysis is first formulated and discussed in this chapter, and a feasibility analysis is then given to discuss the opportunities and challenges of establishing a bioenergy production plant in Northern Norway. The reminder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 gives the definition and treatment methods of the feedstock of bioenergy production: biomass and biodegradable waste. Section 3 formulates a general value chain model of bioenergy production and performs the value chain analysis of bioenergy production. Section 4 presents a feasibility study for establishing bioenergy production plant in northern part of Norway. Section 5 summarizes the chapter and suggests for future studies.

**Figure 2.** Potential bioenergy production in Norway within 2020 [10].

timeframe. Moreover, the over-exploration and exponentially increasing consumption in recent years accelerate the depletion of fossil fuels. The estimated lifespan for the reserves of crude oil, natural gas and coal is approximately 35, 37 and 107 years, respectively [2]. The development of renewable energy resources becomes therefore of significant importance to meet energy demand in the near future. Second, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission related to energy production and consumption from fossil fuels has played an important role to the global warming and climate change [3]. Both of them are believed to be the most significant challenges in the twenty-first century, which may lead to severe consequences for human's existence [4]. Due to these reasons, extensive efforts have been devoted in reducing GHG emissions in the past few decades. One of the most promising solutions to the abovementioned challenges is the explosion of renewable resources, i.e. wind, solar, tidal, biomass, etc., which not only provide an attractive alternative for energy production but also contribute to

**Figure 1.** (a) Gross inland energy consumption by source of the EU-28 in 2012 and (b) renewable energy consumption

Bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste is the most reliable renewable energy resource, which occupies predominant share of today's marketplace [5]. As shown in **Figure 1(b)**, the consumption of energy generated by biomass and biodegradable waste, liquid biomass, hydropower and wind power are 58.3, 8.5, 15.6 and 9.6%, respectively, and the other renewable resources including solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and geothermal constitute only 8% of the total consumption [1]. The reason for this high portion of bioenergy production in Europe is mainly due to the long-term efforts on developing legislative mechanism and technological means for recovering energy from biomass and biodegradable waste. For example, EU Landfill Directive (Council Directive 1999/31/EC [6]) implemented in 1999 sets the periodic target for the member states, and since then the amount of the biodegradable waste ended up in landfill has been dramatically reduced. EU Renewable Directive (Directive 2001/77/EC [7]) was implemented in 2001 and repealed in 2009 (Directive 2009/28/EC [8]) for promoting more applications of renewable energy resources. This has been followed up by Norwegian authority with

the mitigation of GHG emissions.

by source of the EU-28 in 2012 [1].

184 Energy Systems and Environment
