The importance of biomass and its supply chain: Challenges facing forest fuel biomass supply chains in South Africa

Abstract

Globally organisations are faced with the increasing problem and focus on seeking to produce energy using processes that are less harmful to the environment, ensuring reduced environmental pollution that will result in a sustainable healthy environment for the future. Energy produced from non-renewable matter like fossil fuels, for example, has been shown to increase environmental pollution compared to energy produced from renewable matter like biomass. Therefore, many countries are developing national energy strategies or policies that target the reduction of the high dependency on energy produced from fossil fuel and moving towards renewable energy that is produced from biomass which is bioenergy. This study explores the challenges of how a sustainable forest fuel biomass supply chain can be established in South Africa, to supply the required volumes of forest fuel biomass to multifuel biomass boiler organisations to produce bioenergy. This research study used a qualitative, exploratory and inductive research methods to gain insights into how this forest fuel biomass supply chain can be established. The data was collected through 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with farmers, biomass boiler operational stuff and forestry management personnel. The interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed to answer the research questions. The study confirmed that transparency and openness through the forest fuel biomass supply chain was imperative as it has been identified through the review of the literature, and risk management needed to be incorporated when establishing the supply chain. A framework is presented that would help with the establishment of the forest fuel biomass supply chain.