This comprehensive website contains information on the entire forest bioenergy supply chain.The website forms part of the Forest Encyclopaedia Collection, which aims to provide forestry professionals with management information. These encyclopaedias continuously accept new scientific information to result in a continuously expanding, peer reviewed information base. The Encyclopaedia of Southern Bioenergy started in 2004. It consists of the following sections:
- Understanding bioenergy resources
- The Southern biomass energy resource
- Forest Management
- Harvesting
- Utilisation
- Economics
- An introduction to harvesting, processing, storage and delivery.
- Defining biomass feedstock forms – Unconsolidated materials, comminuted materials and composite residue logs are described.
- Review of harvesting systems – The basic steps of timber harvesting are described, followed by a description of state-of-the-art biomass harvesting systems (including comminution operations and composite residue logs), as well as small scale biomass harvesting systems.
- Pre-processing and drying – Both of these processes are explained.
- Transportation and delivery – The different trucks, trailers and vans are included.
- Storage – Information is provided about how and where to store biomass, and factors affecting wood quality.
- Cost factors affecting harvesting biomass – The factors affecting transportation and delivery costs are studied, and case studies are provided.
- Short rotation woody crop harvesting systems - An overview is provided of harvesting systems used for short rotation crops such as eucalypts, willow and poplar.