Abstract Co-firing of solid biomass in existing large scale coal power plants has been supported in many countries as a short-term means to decrease CO2 emissions and rapidly increase renewable energy shares. However, many countries face challenges guaranteeing sufficient amounts of biomass through reliable domestic biomass supply chains and resort to international supply chains. Within this frame, novel pre-treatment technologies, particularly pelletization and torrefaction, emerged in recent years to facilitate logistics by improving the durability and the energy density of solid biomass. This paper aims to evaluate these pre-treatment technologies from a techno-economic and environmental point of view for two reference coal power plants located in Great Britain and in Italy. Logistics costs and carbon emissions are modelled for both international and domestic biomass supply chains. The impact of pre-treatment technologies on carbon emission avoidance costs is evaluated. It is demonstrated that, for both cases, pre-treatment technologies are hardly viable for domestic supply. However, pre-treatment technologies are found to render most international bioenergy supply chains competitive with domestic ones, especially if sourcing areas are located in low labour cost countries. In many cases, pre-treatment technologies are found to guarantee similar CO2 equivalent emissions performance for international compared to domestic supply chains.

中文翻译：

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混烧工厂的国际与国内生物能源供应链：预处理技术的作用

摘要 在现有的大型燃煤电厂中混烧固体生物质已得到许多国家的支持，作为减少二氧化碳排放和快速增加可再生能源份额的短期手段。然而，许多国家面临着通过可靠的国内生物质供应链和国际供应链来保证足够数量的生物质的挑战。在这个框架内，近年来出现了新的预处理技术，特别是造粒和烘焙，通过提高固体生物质的耐久性和能量密度来促进物流。本文旨在从技术经济和环境的角度对位于英国和意大利的两个参考燃煤电厂的这些预处理技术进行评估。为国际和国内生物质供应链建模了物流成本和碳排放。评估了预处理技术对避免碳排放成本的影响。事实证明，对于这两种情况，预处理技术对于国内供应来说几乎不可行。然而，发现预处理技术使大多数国际生物能源供应链与国内供应链具有竞争力，特别是如果采购地区位于劳动力成本低的国家。在许多情况下，与国内供应链相比，预处理技术可以保证国际供应链的二氧化碳当量排放性能相似。国内供应的预处理技术几乎不可行。然而，发现预处理技术使大多数国际生物能源供应链与国内供应链具有竞争力，特别是如果采购地区位于劳动力成本低的国家。在许多情况下，与国内供应链相比，预处理技术可以保证国际供应链的二氧化碳当量排放性能相似。国内供应的预处理技术几乎不可行。然而，发现预处理技术使大多数国际生物能源供应链与国内供应链具有竞争力，特别是如果采购地区位于劳动力成本低的国家。在许多情况下，与国内供应链相比，预处理技术可以保证国际供应链的二氧化碳当量排放性能相似。