Fuel pellets are in Sweden mainly produced from sawdust and cutter shavings. Before the pelletising process the raw material is dried to attain consistent moisture content and ground up in a hammer mill. In the densification process (pelletising) the ground material is forced through holes in a rotating die. This heats up the wood particles which cause them to soften and self bond. After the process the pellets are cooled, sieved and bagged. The milling process creates a wide range of particle sizes.

During the twenty-first century the price of forest land in Sweden has increased heavily. Buying forest land has become more common and the stakeholders have grown in number. The countries around Sweden have through the globalization become connected in the market of round wood and wood products. The price of forest land and round wood are also close connected. The goal with this report is to make a comparison of forest land prices between Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Latvia and to see how the prices have developed in the period 2000-2011. The prime factor in the comparison, except the direct price difference between the countries, is the round wood prices. The round wood prices give information about the economic situation in the countries and play an important role in the return on the forest land. The prices of forest land shifts heavily between the countries.

Fuel pellets are a refined bio fuel mostly consisting of residues from sawmills and wood industry. At Rindi Västerdala AB's combined bio energy plant in Vansbro fuel pellets are produced, while the waste heat from the process is used for district heating. The pellets are produced from sawdust, wood shavings and dry wood chips that is dried, milled and pressed into small cylindrical rods. The advantage of refining the wood material in this manner is that the energy value is greater per unit volume and unit weight, thereby the cost of transportation per energy unit is reduced. Also, less storage space is needed.Pellet manufacturing is a complex process since many parameters affects the final results.

The following project has been made in collaboration with, Denator AB, a biotechnology enterprise. One-dimensional electrophoreses have been used to analyze protein contents of tissue samples. Tissue samples have been either treated according to the company´s newly developed tissue treatment technique or not treated at all and comparisons between these samples have been made. In order to see differences in protein patterns between samples more clearly, a conversion method has been developed where electrophoresis gel visual patterns are used to produce curves, similar to densitometer curves.Denator AB would like to know if the proteins in their treated samples will change visibly over 48 h when incubated at room temperature. This has been investigated using the above mentioned method.

Storage of biomass is often associated with problems such as heat development, dry matter losses and reduction of fuel quality. The rise in temperature can potentially cause a risk of self-ignition in the fuel storage. Moreover, emissions from storage piles can cause health problems in the surrounding. The dry matter losses and reduction of fuel quality can have economical effects. The aim of this thesis project is to develop guidelines on how to store large amount of biomass at Vattenfalls heat and power plants in an optimal way.

Old hollow trees of oak contain a large amount of wood mould. Unfortunately, these trees have in the last century been greatly reduced in numbers. It has resulted in that species that depend on these habitats, saproxylic species, have become at risk to decrease in numbers or die out regionally. Previous studies have shown that the volume of wood mould is an important factor for occurrence and population size of saproxylic organisms. The aim of the present study was to examine how the volume of wood mould varies among ash (Fraxinus excelsior), lime (Tilia sp.), maple (Acer platanoides), aspen (Populus tremula) and oak (Quercus robur).

Old hollow trees of oak contain a large amount of wood mould. Unfortunately, these trees have in the last century been greatly reduced in numbers. It has resulted in that species that depend on these habitats, saproxylic species, have become at risk to decrease in numbers or die out regionally. Previous studies have shown that the volume of wood mould is an important factor for occurrence and population size of saproxylic organisms. The aim of the present study was to examine how the volume of wood mould varies among ash (Fraxinus excelsior), lime (Tilia sp.), maple (Acer platanoides), aspen (Populus tremula) and oak (Quercus robur).

This report is a bachelor's thesis of two students from the Energy and Environment degree at KTH Stockholm. Grinda is an island situated Stockholm archipelago. Skärgårdsstiftelsen is landowners and manages the area. Grinda Wärdshus, a guest house located in the island, currently uses an oil-fired boiler as a heating system. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether wood chips or pellets is, from a sustainability standpoint, a suitable heating method for the guest house.

Wood has always been an important material for people, and it is used for many applications. As for example, fuel for cooking and heating houses, construction materials and for constructing means of transport. Since wood also is a material that with time biologically degrades due to activity by micro organisms and wood fungi it is important to find ways to protect and further lengthen the life span of the material when in service. One method is to decrease the amount of water in the material by impregnation with an hydrophobic oil. The Linotech method which uses only pure linseed oil is one such possible method. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility to at the same time impregnate and stain/colour wood samples of pine and spruce by using the Linotech method.

This master thesis consists of an investigation of the profitability per hectare in privatly owned forest land. The investigation is based on data collected from Skogsstyrelesen, Riksskogstaxeringen and Skogsforsk. During the last twenty years the prices on pulp wood and saw log have substantial decreased, but during the same time the the volumes from final felling have increased and the cost for felling has decreased, this investigation shows how the netprofit per hectARE after final felling has changed between year 1980-2005 This investigation shows that that the netprofit has stayed on a stable level during the years 1985-2005 even though prices pulp wood and saw log decreased. Much indicates that the demand of swedish pulp wood and saw log will continue to be strong or even stronger wich will give increased prices and an higher netprofit after final felling in the future.

Wood pellets are an upgraded product of residuals from several wood processing industries, for example saw mills and pulp industries. The pellets are produced by pressing the milled and dried sawdust to cylindrical units with a higher density than the initial raw material. Pellets have great benefits compared to the raw material: high energy per volume, good transport and storage properties and homogeneity. Several parameters collaborate in the whole process, which makes it complex. Wood is a heterogeneous material, chemically and structurally dependent on wood parts, habitat and storage procedures.

I Norrbotten produceras tall, gran och björk, vilka den senaste tiden har stått inför en hård konkurrens, eftersom träslagen är ljusa till färgen och därför blivit omoderna. I Finland finns en teknik som genom att värmebehandla virke i upphettad ånga, förändrar egenskaperna hos virket, som t.ex. dess färg, dimensionsstabilitet och beständighet. Då infinner sig frågan om våra träslag, med förändrade egenskaper, kan konkurrera med importerat ädelträ, impregnerat trä och de svenska mörka träslagen som ek och valnöt? Uppdraget är att ta reda på hur man producerar värmebehandlat trä (VBT).

To save energy it?s popular to build houses with low energy loss. In these houses the walls are keeping a lower temperature in the external side which leads to a higher relative humidity. In addition more material, such as wood studs, are used which means that there is more moisture to dry. More moisture in combination with higher relative humidity may pose a higher risk of microbial growth.

Dead wood is important for many species. The amount of coarse dead wood (diameter >10 cm) is much lower in managed forest than in unmanaged forests. Stumps constitute the largest proportion of the volume of coarse dead wood in managed forests. Since stump harvest for biofuel may increase, the amount of dead wood will decrease even more, which may threaten biodiversity. The first aim of this study was to compare the amounts of fine woody debris (FWD, .

The private forest owners play a key role in the supply of round wood to the Swedish forest industry. Today it is a keen competition between forest companies about the wood from private forest owners. In order to get access to the wood from the private forestry you need to be an attractive collaboration partner, who can offer long-term collaboration, service at top-level, and acting for good prices to the forest owners. This work aims at analysing the situation on the market today. It gives Sveaskog purchase department a good view of the forest owners? opinion in general about the existing purchase activities. Forestry service level and timber prices are determining factors for a successful relationship between forest company and forest owner.