Potential of biomass from wood processing industry in Bulgaria

The wood processing industry is one of the major sectors of the Bulgarian light industry. There is high growth of the sector in the last years. The output in 2004 is 2 times higher than in 2001. This growth indicates high potential for future development, which will depend mostly on the adoption of appropriate strategic measures related to the positioning of this industry in the EU market. The sector has high share of the country export and the export companies are continuously improving the quality of their production and most of them comply with the European standards.

The high importance of the wood processing industry is related to sufficient wood resources and long traditions of this sector. The companies from this sector produce a wide range of materials/products for both the domestic and foreign markets. All companies in the sector are privatized and the majority of them are SMEs. As presented in the database, some 3.6 PJ is the estimated potential for energy utilization of wastes from wood processing industries in 2004. The main part of this potential can be attributed to shaped details (1.55 PJ), broad leaved wooden materials (0.52 PJ), and coniferous wooden materials (0.44 PJ). The energy potential of wood processing wastes can increase in the future, not only because this sector is growing, but also because it has been calculated with the assumption that only 50% of the wood wastes are converted into energy. The average production load of the companies that produce shaped materials is 40-50%, and the one of the slab producers is 70-80%. The processing of wood materials in wood processing and furniture factories results in different types of wastes, many of which are used for energy purposes.