Biomass

Basic Conditions for Biomass Supplies

The biomass will come from three main sources:

• agricultural biomass,
• forestry biomass and
• biogenic waste and recycling substances.

Initially, most of the biomass will come from forests and the wood-processing industry. Plans for supplies of specially grown biomass still have to be prepared. In the long term, however, the raw materials will increasingly come from agricultural sources, as it is easiest to expand biomass production on farmland. Then the biomass produced near the BTL plant does not have to be transported over large distances at great cost.

For the very first time, BTL production units provide a reason for deliberately growing different types of agricultural biomass on a large scale for use in the chemical and energy sectors in Germany.

BTL production creates huge advantages for the agricultural sector in the regions concerned: there are new, secure jobs and guaranteed income for all those involved, regardless of political developments and the world market prices for foodstuffs. The CHOREN company also benefits from any close partnership: it is able to plan long-term raw material costs and it supplies set amounts of biomass.

Incentives are available from the government for growing biomass as a renewable raw material in the form of bonuses for the land used and also a special bonus of € 45 per hectare per year (2005 figures).