Wood Waste Derived Fuel: State of the Ard and Development Prospects in France : Focus on Construction and Demolition Wood Wastes

Sammanfattning: Wood wastes are mainly originated from forestry, wood industry and construction and demolition sites activities. Among them, three types of wood waste can be identified: untreated wood waste (raw wood considered as biomass), slightly treated wood wastes (issued from coating or gluing treatments) and highly treated wood wastes (issued from impregnation treatments with CCA and creosote, and considered as hazardous wastes).  According to the regulation, management of wastes in Europe is oriented towards more recycling and less elimination. However, among the French requirements, three main trends can be observed in regards of wood waste recovery: only treated wood wastes can be recovered in combustion units, no extensive technologies are allowed to recover highly treated wood wastes, which must then be eliminated by incineration, and slightly treated wood wastes can be either recovered as particle boards or eliminated.  However, in this context, the amount of wood wastes from construction and demolition sites reach 7 million of tons in France. Among them, 5% correspond to raw wood, and 25% are slightly treated. The high combustion potential of wood wastes is moreover an opportunity to replace conventional fuel used in combustion units.  The four main methods used to treat wood wastes are recycling as particleboards, combustion, incineration and land filling. Due to the various typologies of wood wastes, a conditioning step is needed before recovery. Then, if combustion seems to present advantages because of its neutral carbon impact, life cycle analysis demonstrates that emissions of other pollutants are observed. In addition, it is proved that controlled elimination methods are less impacting than unequipped recovery ones. Recycling is then not always the best practice in regards of the impacts considered in the study.  Competition among the different methods treatment and low prices of wood wastes are specific economical aspects that could influence the development of the field. Moreover, the increasing acceptance of people for recovery and local waste treatment methods, as well as the need for energetically independency are factors that can likely promote wood waste derived fuel. These driving forces are evolving in a very rapid way. Regulation is moving towards implementation of standards to promote the development of slightly treated wood waste derived fuel. Technological and social improvement such as sorting at source, and the development of end of pipe treatment methods are also likely to have positive effects.  An integrated solution to develop wood waste derived fuel would be to implement strong financial incentives in favour of clean technologies for wood wastes recovery methods. This enhancement could then be the mean to answer the double challenge of wood waste treatment and fossil fuel replacement.  Wood wastes are mainly originated from forestry, wood industry and construction and demolition sites activities. Among them, three types of wood waste can be identified: untreated wood waste (raw wood considered as biomass), slightly treated wood wastes (issued from coating or gluing treatments) and highly treated wood wastes (issued from impregnation treatments with CCA and creosote, and considered as hazardous wastes).  According to the regulation, management of wastes in Europe is oriented towards more recycling and less elimination. However, among the French requirements, three main trends can be observed in regards of wood waste recovery: only treated wood wastes can be recovered in combustion units, no extensive technologies are allowed to recover highly treated wood wastes, which must then be eliminated by incineration, and slightly treated wood wastes can be either recovered as particle boards or eliminated.  However, in this context, the amount of wood wastes from construction and demolition sites reach 7 million of tons in France. Among them, 5% correspond to raw wood, and 25% are slightly treated. The high combustion potential of wood wastes is moreover an opportunity to replace conventional fuel used in combustion units.  The four main methods used to treat wood wastes are recycling as particleboards, combustion, incineration and land filling. Due to the various typologies of wood wastes, a conditioning step is needed before recovery. Then, if combustion seems to present advantages because of its neutral carbon impact, life cycle analysis demonstrates that emissions of other pollutants are observed. In addition, it is proved that controlled elimination methods are less impacting than unequipped recovery ones. Recycling is then not always the best practice in regards of the impacts considered in the study.  Competition among the different methods treatment and low prices of wood wastes are specific economical aspects that could influence the development of the field. Moreover, the increasing acceptance of people for recovery and local waste treatment methods, as well as the need for energetically independency are factors that can likely promote wood waste derived fuel. These driving forces are evolving in a very rapid way. Regulation is moving towards implementation of standards to promote the development of slightly treated wood waste derived fuel. Technological and social improvement such as sorting at source, and the development of end of pipe treatment methods are also likely to have positive effects.  An integrated solution to develop wood waste derived fuel would be to implement strong financial incentives in favour of clean technologies for wood wastes recovery methods. This enhancement could then be the mean to answer the double challenge of wood waste treatment and fossil fuel replacement.