the businesses Types of biomass businesses Primary Role Marketing /sales of biomass 7% Advisory/consulting or ananlysis 8% Equipment /technology 12% Other 10% By far, the need to diversify was the main reason for entering the biomass industry. the fibre None/we’re still looking 15% Biomass supplier 14% Source of fibre Other 2% Purpose grown 5% Waste wood (C&D) 11% Sources of fibre Wood processing operation 27% Liquid fuels Transport 2% 4% Bio-chemicals Biomass consumer 2% Solid fuels (heat/power) (pellets/briquettes) 9% 8% Harvest 9% Harvesting residues (chipped/ground) 17% The largest single fraction of respondents, at 15%, were not yet involved in the biomass business, but were considering or looking for opportunities. Around 27% were biomass suppliers, harvest-ers, or transporters, whereas about 21% were biomass consumers, producing heat and/or power, pellets, briquettes, chemicals, and liquid fuels from biomass. “Other” included researchers, emis-sions monitoring, and policy development. Slightly more than half of respondents had multiple roles in the biomass industry. History of involvement Years in biomass industry More than 10 6 to 10 1 to 5 Less than 1 Not applicable 0 20 40 60 80 100 Number of respondents 120 Harvesting residues (slash) 19% Non-timber-quality roundwood 19% Of the respondents that use biomass, many access multiple source streams. The most cited single source of biomass was from wood-processing operations such as bark and wood shavings from sawmills. Transport distance Furthest transport distance More than 200 km 16% 50 km 24% 200 km 11% 150 km 22% 100 km 27% Most respondents were either recent entrants into the biomass in-dustry (1 to 5 years) or longtime biomass industry veterans (more than 10 years). Why biomass? Reason to enter/entered the biomass industry We’ve always been in biomass Use byproduct from current operation Diversification of existing business Start a new business Not applicable 0 20 40 60 80 100 Number of respondents 120 A little more than one-quarter (27%) of respondents that use bio-mass transport it up to 200 km or more as the furthest distance. Maximum transport distances of 50, 100, and 150 km were cited almost equally, at about one-quarter of respondents each. industry Performance Equipment-related spending Of the 74 respondents who purchased biomass-related equip-ment in the past 12 months, many spent less than $50,000, al-though some major multimillion-dollar investments were made. The most-purchased items were boilers and furnaces, loaders, grinders, pelletizers, chip trucks, and dryers. The outlook for biomass equipment-related spending in the next 12 months is more positive, with 100 respondents noting planned purchases. Big-ticket spending is expected to increase significantly for purchases of more than $100,000 and particu-larly for purchases of more than $1 million. The top items that respondents noted on their planned purchasing wish lists were Canadian BIOMASS 19
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