BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
LABORELEC
Country report on sustainability of natural resources
1. Scope
Large-scale bio-energy developments can help us to clean up our energy sources, but can also
represent a risk for the environment and for people. For example, if produced in the wrong way,
bio-energy can drive deforestation, deprive indigenous people from their lands or food, or
exacerbate water shortage in water scarce regions.
In Southern Belgium (Wallonia), the regional law impose renewable energy sources to be
sustained if the user wants to be granted green certificates for the generation of green energy
(electricity and heat). This rule especially applies for imported biomass to power plants.
The Regulator (CwaPE) impose a country report (or region report in the case of large countries
like Brazil and Russia) be prepared by an independent body to demonstrate that the management
of the natural resources that are traded from this well-defined country or region of origin are well
managed, in the sense that future generations will still be able to take advantage of them within
several years.
The EU Institutions and several Member States such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands
Belgium and Germany have pledged to make bio-energy sourcing sustainable. The EU
Commission and some Member States, are already working on a bio-energy certification
scheme. A Global Roundtable for bio-fuels has also been established, with a Secretariat at the
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. IEA-Bioenergy (Task40), WWF and
Ecofys have also inspired policy makers, NGOs, companies and other bio-energy stakeholders to
work together towards a common international solution for a responsible bio-energy supply.
Laborelec has selected a “meta-standard” concept of certification that is central to the scheme of
Electrabel. Instead of creating a totally new certification scheme, the EU would indeed ask bioenergy producers and suppliers to comply with existing or upcoming standards, such as the FSC
(Forest Stewardship Council), http://www.fsc.org/en/ or the Roundtable Sustainable Palmoil (RSPO),
http://www.rspo.org/. By doing this, the meta-standard system would build on the existing
international experience in better management practices and roundtables, with broad and
international multi-stakeholder consultation.
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
SGS STAMP
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
LABORELEC
2. Reporting of independent body
The auditor must check the status of natural resources conservation in the country of origin with
respect to the primary resources that are used for making the biomass. Does the local raw material
management aims at appropriate conservation of those natural resources?
2.1.
Certified origin
If the delivered biomass is of certified origin according to some recognised international standards,
the approved certificate numbers or references must be mentioned in the report.
In the case of woody biomass:
-
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), http://www.fsc.org/en/
PEFC (Pan European Forest Certification), http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/
CSA-SFM (Canadian Standards Association’s Sustainable Forest
Management)
SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative)
FFCS (Finnish Forest Certification System)
Approved pre-scope certificate of one of the endorsed forest management
certification systems, with the intention of full certification
GGLS5: Green Gold Label Forest management criteria; temporary approval
l
In the case of agricultural resources:
-
Roundtable Sustainable Palmoil (RSPO), http://www.rspo.org/
Agricultural EUREPGAP, http://www.eurep.org/faq.html
GGLS2 –Agricultural Source Criteria
Agricultural products grown in the EU
Certificate numbers
2.2.
Delivered by
Delivered to
Uncertified origin
Only if the delivered biomass is not formally certified according to one of those recognised
international standard, sustainability principles must be fulfilled and the report must describe how
those principles are encountered within the local practices for the production of biomass.
To do this, the reporter must rely on the basic principles as described in the existing reference
certification systems, and namely
-
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for forestry in case of woody biomass;
-
Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for agricultural products.
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
SGS STAMP
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
LABORELEC
Those principles can be summarised as follows:
-
Respect of legislation on forestry (afforestation and management plans),
-
Respect of legislation, rights and responsibility for soil use,
-
Legislation, rights and responsibility for irrigation and water use,
-
Respect of rights of local inhabitants,
-
Respect of rights of workers (especially working children),
-
Respect of legislation and responsible management of the waste streams,
-
Respect of environmental legislation (emissions in air, water and soils).
The independent body is of course not supposed to perform a full FSC certification nor deliver a
full guarantee that each sustainability criterion like addressed by FSC or RSPO are permanently
formally implemented. But the reporter must mention if there are well established or observed
contradictions to the mentioned sustainability criteria, if any.
In this case, the reporter must add all additional useful explanations and references.
2.3.
Additional information for agricultural biomass
ONLY in case the biomass is an agricultural product, the following questions must be answered
(biological fertilisers like manure should not be mentioned here).
Use of chemical fertilisers
 YES, ………………ton/ha
 NO
Some components of the biomass are
potentially part of human food
 YES
Some components of the biomass are
potentially part of cattle food
 YES
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
 NO
 NO
SGS STAMP
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
LABORELEC
3. Annex: reference documents
3.1.
Sustainability
The reporter must attach the references or a copy of available useful documents originating from the
local authorities or from the company/companies that is/are producing the biomass fuel as well as the
raw materials needed for producing the biomass fuels:
-
3.2.
management objectives in the form of a policy dealing with the sustainability of the
natural resources (like forest) and all its functions,
a description of the natural resources to be managed, environmental limitations, land
use and socio-economic conditions,
information gathered through resource inventories and a description of sylvicultural
and/or other management system.
rational rate of annual harvest and species selection,
provisions for monitoring of natural resources growth and dynamics,
environmental safeguards based on environmental assessments,
plans for the identification and protection of rare, threatened and/or endangered
species,
maps describing the resource base including protected area/sites planned management
and land ownership,
description and justification of harvesting techniques and equipment to be used,
measures taken to prevent erosion, improve soil conditions,
re-forestation method and policy (machines, etc.),
policy on the use of chemicals, soil improvers, lubrication oil, etc.
Biomass specifications
If available, the auditor can deliver here some additional information.
Date of analysis
Name of Laboratory
Optionally
- select the suited table as attached according to the type of bio-fuel
- fill in available analysis results in the column “Results of analysis”.
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
SGS STAMP
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
3.3.
LABORELEC
Table1 - Wood pellets
Quality standard pellets
L AB OR EL EC
Parameters
Units
Diameter
Length
Volatile matter
Water content
Bulk (apparent) density
Specific density
Low heating value
Abrasion
Ash content
Bark content
Initial melting temperature (red cond)
Cl
S
N
Na+
F
Additives (past, vegetal oil)
Contaminated waste wood
Heavy metals
As
Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Pb
Zn
Halogenated organic compounds
Benzo-a-pyrene
Pentachlorphenol
Durability (Hardness)
Particle size distribution
% < 3.0 mm (Durability)
% < 2.0 mm
% < 1.5 mm
% < 1.0 mm
mm
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
% DM
kg/m3
kg/dm3
GJ/ton ar
% DM
°C
% DM
% DM
% DM
% DM
ppm
%
Qualitative
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
mg/kg DM
Inspector’s initials
September 1, 2004
Specifications
Results of
Analysis
4-10
10-40 mm
< 10 %
> 600
> 17
< 1%
< 5%
> 1200°C
< 0,03 %
< 0,2%
< 30
biomass only
FORBIDDEN
<2
<1
< 15
< 20
<1
< 20
< 0,5
<3
94%-98%
minimum
100,0%
95,0%
75,0%
50,0%
SGS STAMP
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
3.4.
LABORELEC
Table 2 - Wood dust (not valid for pellets)
Properties
Unit
Limits
Moisture
Ash content
Volatiles
Heating value
% a.r.
% dry
% dry
GJ/ton a.r.
% dry
% dry
% dry
% dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
ppm dry
< 10
<4
> 70
> 15
80% < 1
100% < 1,5
> 45
< 10
< 10
< 0,2
< 100
< 2000
< 400
<8
< 250
< 350
< 1000
< 15
< 250
< 50
< 100
< 1200
< 15
<1
<5
<1
< 250
< 50
3
0,5
°C
°C
> 1200
> 1200
Particle size distribution
mm
C
H
N
S
F
Cl
P
As
Cu
Pb
Cr
Sb
Co
Mn
Ni
Va
Ti
Hg
Cd
Th
Zn
Molybdene
Pentachlorphenol
PAC's
Ash melting point
initial deformation temp. reducing atmosphere
initial deformation temp. oxidising atmosphere
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
SGS STAMP
Results
analysis
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
3.5.
LABORELEC
Table 3 - Olive cake (pellets or dust)
Properties
Moisture
Ash content
Volatiles
Cl
SiO2 in ash
Heating value
Unit
Limits
% a.r.
% dry
% dry
ppm dry
% ash
GJ/ton a.r.
< 15
< 10
> 70
< 2500
< 40
> 15
mm
<3
°C
°C
> 1100
> 1100
Particle size distribution
Ash melting point
initial deformation temp. reducing atm.
initial deformation temp. oxidising atm.
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
SGS STAMP
Results
analysis
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BIOMASS CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE
REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY Form F
Sustainability of natural resources
Version 2007.8
Protected by copyright
3.6.
LABORELEC
Table 4 - Liquid biomass (bio-oil)
Properties
Units
Limits
Water
Max ash content
Minimum low heating value
Density at 15 °C
Poor (melting) point
Flash point
Cinematic viscosity at 70°C
C
H
N
Cl
F
S
P
As
Cd
Co
Cr
Cu
Hg
Mn
Ni
Pb
Sb
Tl
V
Zn
PCB
Free fatty acids
wt%
wt%
GJ/ton
kg/m³
°C
°C
cSt max
wt%
wt%
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
ppm max
wt%
wt%
wt%
1.0 %
0,20%
36
900-950
20-55°C
> 175°C
20
70-85%
10-15%
600
200
50
1000
refused oil and derivatives for
cosmetic industries, food
industry, animal food industry
are not accepted
Date (dd/mm/yy) :
Inspector’s initials
Results
analysis
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
5
1
1
5
5
1
<5% = crude palm oil
>70%=fatty acid
5%-70% =unclassified
product
SGS STAMP
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