Selecting the most appropriate products for the forest biorefinery

Abstract

The forest biorefinery offers a business strategy that potential forestry companies are seriously considering for improving the overall financial performance of the sector; however, there are considerable technology and business risks related to its implementation. These risks can be mitigated to a great extent by using systematic product and process design tools for analyzing biorefinery strategies. This paper describes the basis for a systematic product design methodology for Rapid Market Analysis, suitable for evaluating the economic and commercial potential of a biorefinery project, using a set of business tools that includes market and synergy identification. The preliminary application of this methodology has illustrated that the longer-term competitive advantage of companies implementing the biorefinery is unlikely to be related to technology, but rather, related to the unique supply chain that companies put in place, coupled with manufacturing flexibility.