**3.2. Value chain analysis of bioenergy production**

Bioenergy production from biomass yields economic benefits while reduces waste. However, it is not focused in the literature to account both economic and environmental benefits in the value chain of bioenergy production. In order to fill the literature gap, a general value chain model of bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste is given in **Figure 4**. A typical value-added process of bioenergy production consists of the following activities:

**Figure 4.** A general value chain model of bioenergy-from-biomass and biodegradable waste.

• *Harvesting and collection of biomass and biodegradable waste from different sectors:* The main feedstock of bioenergy production includes agricultural residues, forestry residues, unban woody residues, fishery residues, slaughter wastes, animal manure, biodegradable municipal wastes and wastewater sludge, which are usually collected by different companies and/

• *Intermediate storage and distribution of biomass and biodegradable waste:* Road transport is the most flexible and commonly used way for the distribution of biomass and biodegradable waste; however, other means, i.e., train and ship, are also applicable especially for large amount of biomass and biodegradable waste transported over very long distance due to

• *Bioenergy production or proper disposal of biomass and biodegradable waste:* It is the most important value creation process that transforms the "raw materials" into "semi-finished

or public service departments.

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their relatively low costs.

Value chain analysis has been widely used for investigating, through qualitative and/or quantitative methods, the value-added process in many different fields, i.e. mining industry, fishery industry, aviation industry, dairy industry, catering, production and manufacturing, etc. Conventionally, value chain analysis only emphasizes the value creation and appreciation from financial point of view. However, the increased concern on environmental challenges has led to much more focuses on the "green value-added process" in which not only economic value creation but also environmental value contribution through the entire material flow is accounted (e.g. in [50]). Bioenergy production is a value-added process from both economic and environmental perspectives, so value chain analysis is a reasonable basis for regarding pro et contra for bioenergy production. The value chain of bioenergy production comprises all joints in the flow from materials to products, and it can be analysed in such a way that all important joints are balanced out of a combination of economic and sustainable aspects all the way from cradle to grave.

Value chain analysis of bioenergy production provides decision makers with fundamental basis to divert biomass and biodegradable waste from landfill to WTE process. Previously, the value of biomass and biodegradable waste does not get enough attention, and a large portion is treated through non-value-added method that leads to great potential environmental problems. The model streamlines the value creation and appreciation of bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste, and both economic advantages and environmental benefits are discussed. Bioenergy production takes a different point from waste management perspective to consider biomass as the "raw material" of the value chain and realize the transformation from "waste" to "financial and environmental value". The utilization of biofuel and biogas can dramatically decrease the high dependency on fossil fuels and improve the energy security of a country; further, the nature of self-replenishment of biomass and biodegradable waste makes them become one of the most important renewable energy resources. Besides,


All the Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, support the use of renewable energy resources for power generation and space heating, among which Norway has expelled itself as one of the best countries in Europe for renewable energy generation and consumption (58%) due to the high contribution from hydroelectric power [54]. However, the contribution from bioenergy production is extremely insignificant. Furthermore, compared with other Scandinavian countries where bioenergy has already played an important role in power generation, the share of electricity production by biomass and biodegrad-

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The government in Norway has made an ambitious strategic plan for dramatically increasing the bioenergy production by 2020 through policy measures and financial supports [55]. For example, waste regulation has been implemented in Norway since 2009 implementing a ban, which specifies alternative ways for the treatment of biodegradable waste other than landfill. Besides, the forestry and agricultural legislation promote sustainable economic and environmental development in forest management and agriculture industry [53], so bioenergy production from forest and agricultural residues is encouraged. Further, the use of biofuels in land transport to replace fossil fuels is also encouraged in Norway. The road tax charges carbon emission for the vehicles using petroleum and natural gas products, but the cars using biofuels or biogas as the main power are exempt from this charge. In addition, plans for increasing the use of bioenergy for space heating of public and commercial buildings are also

In Norway, bioenergy production has two characteristics. First, compared with electricity generation, the use of biofuels and biogas in transport sector seems more attractive, because it decreases both the high dependency on fossil fuels and GHG emissions. Besides, Norway

under development in order to reduce the fossil fuel consumption for heating.

able waste in Norway is much smaller as shown in **Figure 5**.

**Figure 5.** Power generation by sources in Scandinavian countries [54].

**Table 2.** Some strategic, tactical and operational decisions in the planning of a value chain for bioenergy production.

the GHG and hazardous gas emission can be reduced by the utilization of biofuel and biogas as the substitutes of fossil fuels in land transport and aviation industry [51].

The realization of an effective and efficient value-added chain of bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste requires sophisticated decision tools for planning and developing an optimal and robust logistical network, and several strategic, tactical and operational decisions that have to be made are summarized in **Table 2**. In order to provide reliable support for decision-making, great efforts should be spent in the development of theoretical and computational models and decision support systems. Besides, the inherent characteristic of the seasonal availability of biomass and biodegradable waste generation makes the prediction of the feedstock of bioenergy production becoming extremely complicated. Therefore, the aforementioned factors have become the most challenging obstacles for realizing the value-added process of bioenergy production, and inappropriate decisions will hinder the achievement of maximum value creation and appreciation.
