Efficiency of energy wood chip production from forest biomass

Various activities are undertaken worldwide in order to counteract the visible climate changes. One of them is promotion of renewable energy sources. Aims established by the European Commission with respect to increasing the share of energy obtained from RES assume an average increase of up to 20% by the year 2020. Poland, as an EU member state has been obliged to increase the share of energy from RES to 15%. Promoting renewable energy sources contributes to diversification of supplies, thus providing conditions for the development of energetics at a local level. Taking into account Polish conditionings it is believed that biomass, including forest biomass, can be an important renewable energy source. The present study focuses on the problem of efficiency of energy wood chip production from forest biomass utilizing a Bandit 2090 wood chipper. Chipping efficiency, depending on the condition of particular tree stands, ranged from 14 to 17 m·h.