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COFORD has produced a technical note which explains the conversion factors commonly used in the forestry biomass sector.
It is possible for there to be many different units used along one value chain. For example the forest owner could be paid per tonne of wood removed, harvesting machines could measure their production in cubic metres and chips could be recorded as loose volume (cubic metres). One also needs to know the amount of energy that can be produced by the wood product that they are buying.
This note describes the different units used. It uses a formula to determine the volume of a log, and then describes solid volume factors for stacked logs. An overview of the density of different wood species is given, and incorporates different wood moisture contents. The energy content of wood is then described. Conversion factors are then produced and backed up with convenient diagrams. Lastly, the energy content of wood biomass at various moisture levels is compared to various fossil fuels, and figures are provided on how much wood biomass would be necessary to replace the different fossil fuels.
The document was produced by Pieter Kofman (Danish Forestry Extension).
Source: http://www.coford.ie/iopen24/pub/COFORD-Connects/ht21.pdf