The forest biomass supply represents an important part of the value chain for different wood-based products, and its environmental impacts are also frequently crucial. The performance of biomass supply chains (BSCs) can be assessed for various purposes and using a variety of methodological approaches, either including or excluding spatial properties. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate what kind of spatial data are required and available for case-specific BSC analyses in Finland, and what would be suitable levels of spatial precision for the various approaches. This thesis consists of five papers, one of which reviews case studies carried out in various geographical BSC environments around the world, while the remaining four are spatial case studies of BSC systems in Finland, three of them focusing on bioenergy production and one assessing the performance of a novel pulpwood transportation concept. A geographical information system (GIS) was used as the principal tool in one study, while in the other three the role of GIS was to produce spatially analysed data for life-cycle assessment and agent-based simulation. The main conclusion is that a spatial precision of between 1 km and 10 km, where each point of origin represents roughly an area of 1–100 km2, is sufficient for forest biomass data in Finnish BSC systems. The final precision should be determined collectively by the setup of the case study, factors leading to complexity in the supply chain system and the geographical extent of the area concerned. Relative to many other parts of the world, Finland has a readily available high quality source of spatial data for BSC research. It is recommended that GIS-based research could be improved by adding dynamic properties and stochasticity to the models, because temporal variations in feedstock supply and demand will probably increase in the future.
This thesis summarises the findings of four case studies focussing on the redesign of specific aspects of the forest chip supply chain, the use of alternative terminals for chip supply, the interdependencies of chipper and chip trucks and the performance of individual machines after machine alteration. The aim of the work was to analyse and improve the fuel economy and energy efficiency of the forest chip supply system by modifying the settings of CTL harvesters, investigating the performance of an innovative hybrid chipper, introducing alternative supply systems through the use of a feed-in terminal and an analysis of forest chip supply systems under selected operational and environmental conditions. The analysis of the case studies involved individual machines and the entire forest chip supply system. Two study methods were used: work study and discrete event simulation (DES). Work study carried out to investigate the performance of individual machines and their alteration; the DES method was used for investigating the organisational redesign of the forest fuel supply system. The study resulted in the following findings and conclusions: 1) extreme machine settings have a statistically significant impact on the fuel economy of CTL harvesting machines; 2) hybrid machine technology can improve the fuel consumption and energy efficiency of chipping operations in forest chip production; nevertheless the productivity of the analysed prototype was below that for compared traditional chippers; 3) as an alternative to the direct supply of forest chips, the effect of utilising terminal operations on the overall supply cost can be quantified; terminal use improves the annual use of the supply fleet and enhances fuel supply security to the plant thereby reducing the need for supplementary fuel and 4) applying different types of types of chipper and truck-trailer combinations, supply costs and efficiencies can be quantified and vehicles with increased carrying capacity can improve the cost competitiveness. In the study an integrated approach taking physical, technological, enterprise and industrial levels of energy efficiency into account is proposed. Thereby state-of-the-art forest technology and current biomass supply ideally can be upgraded to achieve new, improved levels of performance and energy efficiency.
The overall aim of the thesis was to design efficient supply chain setups in the selected supply environments. Discrete event simulation was selected as a study method. To enhance the performance of the forest chip supply chain from roadside storage locations to end-use facilities, the following results and conclusions were obtained: 1) Rearrangements in the set-up of fuel reception stations and the logistics of fuel truck reception at the power plant as well as adaptive shift scheduling of trucks resulted in a notable decrease in the waiting times of fuel trucks at the power plant’s fuel reception. 2) Forest chip supply from roadside storage locations highly encourages the use of storage area location and quality information for smart material allocation to achieve a higher energy output with lower supply costs. 3) By introducing a feed-in terminal for forest chip supply, cost compensation for additional terminal-driven costs can be gained through a higher annual capacity utilisation of a fuel supply fleet and more secured fuel supply to power plants by decreasing the need for supplemental fuel, which can be more expensive at times when fuel demand is at its highest. 4) Inland waterway areas with existing waterway infrastructure and close connections to biomass resources and end-use facilities can offer a cost-competitive and supplemental method for the long distance transport of forest chips.