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The Forest Resources Inventory provides the base layer to support decision-making for a variety of stakeholders in Ontario, Canada. The inventory is used to identify areas of high economic potential, endangered species habitat, and recreational opportunities. As technology evolves, the inventory creation process has changed. From fully manual efforts conducted in the era before planes or roads to hand-drawn sketches made aboard early aircraft, the early inventory program was designed to provide a rough context of timber availability. As society changed, more was asked of the inventory, and ecological and biological features were added. With a land area larger than many European countries to inventory, the creation of an accurate forest inventory in Ontario is a technological and logistical challenge. Although the acquisition technology and strategy have changed over time, the goal of providing an improved understanding into the extent and distribution of natural resources in the province of Ontario has not changed. This review aims to provide a comprehensive look at the history of these inventory efforts in Ontario, as well as provide some context for why the inventory contains the attributes it does today. Key words: forest inventory, Ontario, timber sketching, aerial photography, LiDAR, photo interpreter. L'inventaire des ressources forestieres fournit la carte de base pour la prise de decision par une variete d'intervenants en Ontario, au Canada. L'inventaire est utilise pour identifier les zones a fort potentiel economique, l'habitat d'especes en voie de disparition et le potentiel recreatif. A mesure que la technologie evolue, le processus de creation de l'inventaire a change. A partir des efforts entierement manuels fournis a l'epoque oU les avions ou les routes n'existaient pas, jusqu'aux croquis dessines a la main a bord des premiers aeronefs, le programme d'inventaire initial etait concu pour fournir une information approximative quant au bois disponible. Au fur et a mesure que la societe changeait, on a exige davantage de l'inventaire d'oU l'ajout de caracteristiques ecologiques et biologiques. Avec une superficie a inventorier plus vaste que celle de nombreux pays europeens, la creation d'un inventaire forestier precis en Ontario presente un defi technologique et logistique. Bien que la technologie et la strategie d'acquisition de l'information aient change au fil du temps, l'objectif de fournir une meilleure comprehension de l'etendue et de la repartition des ressources naturelles dans la province de l'Ontario est reste le meme. Cette revue vise a fournir une vision complete de l'historique de ces efforts d'inventaire en Ontario, ainsi qu'a fournir un certain contexte qui explique pourquoi l'inventaire contient les attributs qu'il comporte aujourd'hui. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : inventaire forestier, Ontario, delimitation des peuplements, photographie aerienne, lidar, photo-interprete., Introduction Ontario is a large province of Canada with a vast forest resource to manage. The total land area of Ontario is 107520421 ha, with 56 094 000 ha of [...]

Technological development has enabled the production of new value-added products from lignocellulosic residues such as lignin. This has allowed the forest industry to diversify its product portfolio and maximize the economic returns from feedstock, while simultaneously working towards sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based products. Although previous research has explored industrial-scale production opportunities, many challenges persist, including the cost of woody biomass and its supply chain reliability. While numerous studies have addressed these issues, their emphasis has traditionally been on bioenergy, with little focus on biochemical, biomaterials, and bioproducts. This review seeks to address this gap through a systematic study of the work recently reported by researchers. A lot of work has been published from United States and Canada with an emphasis on bioenergy production (84.8%), 4.6% of the work is focused on biomass to materials and chemicals, and 10.6% addressed both. Between 2012 and 2015, the majority of published research focused on biomass to materials and chemicals and both biomass to energy and biomass to materials and chemicals. This fact highlights recent interests in diversified biorefinery portfolios. However, further work concerning forest biomass supply chain optimization and new high-value bio-based materials and chemicals is necessary. Key words: biomass to energy, biomass to materials and chemicals, economic optimization, lignocellulosic residues, value-added bio-based products. Des avancees technologiques ont rendu possible la production de nouveaux produits a valeur ajoutee a partir de residus lignocellulosiques tels que la lignine. Cela a permis a l'industrie forestiere de diversifie sa gamme de produits et de maximiser les retombees economiques de la matiere premiere tout en travaillant simultanement a developper des alternatives durables aux produits abase de petrole. Bien que les travaux de recherche precedents aient explore les opportunites de production a l'echelle industrielle, plusieurs defis persistent, incluant le cout de la biomasse ligneuse et la fiabilite de sa chaine logistique. Alors que de nombreuses etudes se sont interessees a ces questions, l'accent a traditionnellement ete mis sur la bioenergie et tres peu sur les bioproduits: produits biochimiques et biomateriaux. Cette revue de litterature vise a combler cette lacune par le biais d'une etude systematique des travaux recemment publies par les chercheurs. Beaucoup de travaux publies aux Etats-Unis et au Canada mettent l'accent sur la production de bioenergie (84,8 %), 4,6 % des travaux portent sur la transformation de la biomasse en materiaux et produits chimiques et 10,6 % s'interessent aux deux sujets. La majorite des travaux de recherche publies entre 2012 et 2015 portent sur la transformation de la biomasse en materiaux et produits chimiques et sur les deux sujets, soit la transformation de la biomasse en energie, materiaux et produits chimiques. Cela met en evidence l'interet recent pour une gamme diversifiee de bioraffinage. Cependant, davantage de travaux portant sur l'optimisation de la chaine logistique de la biomasse forestiere et sur de nouveaux biomateriaux et produits biochimiques a valeur ajoutee sont necessaires. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : transformation de la biomasse en energie, transformation de la biomasse en materiaux et produits chimiques, optimisation economique, residus lignocellulosiques, bioproduits a valeur ajoutee., 1. Introduction Countries around the world are adopting laws or policies intended to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which results in an increasing interest in alternative renewable sources for producing [...]

This paper develops a simulation-based optimization supply chain model for supplying sawlogs to a sawmill from a forest management unit. The simulation model integrates the two-way flow of information and materials under the stochastic demand of the sawmill production unit. The dynamic optimization model finds the optimum inventory policy (s, S) that minimizes the total inventory cost for the three supply chain agents--sawmill storage, merchandizing yard, and forest management unit. The model is used to analyze a real sawmill case study in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It was found that the merchandizing yard absorbs shocks of uncertain demand from the sawmill production unit and reduces idle time, but it increases the total cost of the supply chain by $11802 (about 42%). The optimized model predicts that only 3.5 days of inventory is required at the sawmill storage. The simulation-based optimization supplier model will help in decision-making at the tactical and operational level in the forest products industry supply chain through a two-way flow of information and materials. Key words: AnyLogic, forest products industry, inventory policy (s, S), merchandizing yard, metaheuristic search algorithm, northwestern Ontario, OptQuest engine optimization solver. Cet article porte sur l'elaboration d'un modele de simulation visant a optimiser la chaine logistique pour approvisionner une scierie en billes de sciage a partir d'une unite d'amenagement forestier. Le modele de simulation integre la circulation dans les deux sens de l'information et des materiaux avec une demande stochastique de l'unite de production de la scierie. Le modele d'optimisation dynamique trouve la politique d'inventaire optimale (s, S) qui minimise le cout total de l'inventaire pour les trois agents de la chaine d'approvisionnement : l'entreposage a la scierie, la cour de marchandisage et l'unite d'amenagement forestier. Le modele est utilise pour analyser une etude de cas a partir d'une vraie scierie situee dans le nord-ouest de l'Ontario, au Canada. Les resultats revelent que la cour de marchandisage absorbe les chocs de la demande incertaine de l'unite de production de la scierie et reduit le temps mort mais augmente le cout total de la chaine logistique de 11 802 $ (environ 42%). Le modele optimise predit qu'on peut entreposer seulement trois jours et demi d'inventaire a la scierie. Le modele de simulation pour optimiser l'approvisionnement aidera la prise de decision au niveau tactique et operationnel dans la chaine logistique de l'industrie des produits forestiers grace a la circulation dans les deux sens de l'information et des materiaux. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: AnyLogic, industrie des produits forestiers, politique d'inventaire (s, S), cour de marchandisage, algorithme d'extraction metaheuristique, nord-ouest de l'Ontario, outil d'optimisation OptQuest., 1. Introduction Inventories exist throughout the supply chain in any production system in the form of raw materials, a work in progress, or finished goods. Considering only the supply of [...]

: Woody biomass contributes about 6% of total energy production in Canada. One obstacle to the adoption of woody biomass for energy production is accurate data on sustainable supply. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the assessment of woody biomass annually available for bioenergy production. The study area, located in northwestern Ontario, includes 18 forest management units (167 184 [km.sup.2]) and three existing and one proposed biomass-based power generating stations, with a potential annual demand of 2.2 million green tonnes (gt). First, pre-and post-harvest inventories were carried out to assess the availability of harvest residues. Second, two spatial database layers (land-use class and forest depletion) were developed. The pre-and post-harvest inventory data were combined with spatial data analysis to estimate woody biomass in each square kilometre of the study area. It was estimated that annually there was more than 2.1 million gt of forest harvest residue and 7.6 million gt of underutilized woody biomass technically available between 2002 and 2009 for bio-energy production, with an average annual forest depletion rate of 60 867 ha, 0.6% of the total productive forest area. The study provides a tool for assessing the sustainable availability of woody biomass feedstock for power generation. Resume: Au Canada, environ 6 % de la production totale d'energie provient de la biomasse ligneuse. L'absence de donnees precises d'approvisionnement durable est un obstacle a l'adoption de la biomasse ligneuse pour la production d'energie. Le but de cette etude est de demontre l'evaluation de la biomasse ligneuse disponible annuellement pour la production de bioenergie. L'aire d'etude, situee dans le nord-ouest de l'Ontario, inclut 18 unites d'amenagement forestier (167 184 [km.sup.2]) ainsi que trois centrales energetiques existantes et une centrale proposee a base de biomasse avec une de-mande annuelle potentielle de 2,2 millions de tonnes vertes. Premierement, des inventaires preet post-recolte ont ete effectues pour evaluer la disponibilite des dechets de coupe. Deuxiemement, deux couches de base de donnees spatiales (classe d'utilisation des terres et epuisement des forets) ont ete developpees. Les donnees d'inventaire preet post-recolte ont ete combinees avec l'analyse des donnees spatiales pour estimer la biomasse ligneuse a l'interieur de chaque [km.sup.2] dans la zone d'etude. Il a ete estime qu'a chaque annee plus de 2,1 millions de tonnes vertes de dechets de coupe et 7,6 millions de tonnes vertes de biomasse ligneuse sous-utilisee etaient techniquement disponibles entre 2002 et 2009 pour la production de bioenergie, avec un taux annuel moyen d'epuisement de la foret de 60 867 ha, soit 0,6 % de la superficie forestiere productive totale. Cette etude fournit un outil pour evaluer une disponibilite durable de matiere premiere sous forme de biomasse ligneuse pour la production d'energie. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Woody biomass is a competitive, low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and renewable fuel that is replacing nonrenewable fossil fuels for energy production all over the world (Gan and Smith [...]

Technological growth in production and efficient utilization of input factors are the two biggest contributors to total factor productivity (TFP). TFP of the four major forest industries (logging, pulp and paper, sawmill, and veneer and plywood industries) of Ontario are compared by analyzing their production structures using duality theory in production and costs. The study uses annual data of output and four inputs--labour, capital, energy and materials--from 1967 to 2003. Different restrictions on the translog cost function are applied to each industry to determine the cost function that best describes each industry's technology, which is further used to estimate Morishima elasticities of substitution, ownprice and cross-price elasticities, rate of technological change, and TFP. The production structure of sawmill and veneer and plywood industries is found to be linear homogeneous and homothetic, and that of logging and pulp and paper industries is non-homothetic. Further, Hicks neutral technological change for all four industries is rejected, indicating that the production structure in all four industries is biased in favour of certain inputs and against others. This suggests that policies that improve the efficiency of each industry should focus on input-saving factors of that industry, thereby improving its competitive position. Resume: Le progres technologique dans la production et l'utilisation efficace des intrants sont les deux elements qui contribuent le plus a la productivite globale des facteurs (PGF). La PGF de quatre grandes industries forestieres (exploitation forestiere, pates et papiers, sciage ainsi que placages et contreplaques) de l'Ontario est comparee en analysant leur structure de production et en utilisant la theorie de la dualite dans la production et les couts. L'etude utilise les donnees annuelles de production et de quatre intrants--la main-d'oeuvre, le capital, l'energie et les matieres premieres--de 1967 a 2003. La fonction de cout translog de chaque industrie est restreinte de differentes facons afin de determiner la fonction de cout qui decrit le mieux la technologie de chaque industrie. Cette fonction est ensuite utilisee pour evaluer les elasticite s de substitution de Morishima, les elasticites-prix et les elasticites-prix croises, le taux de changement technologique et la PGF. Les structures de production de l'industrie du sciage et de l'industrie des placages et contreplaques sont lineaires homogenes et homothetiques alors que celles de l'industrie de l'exploitation forestiere et de l'industrie des pates et papiers ne sont pas homothetiques. De plus, il n'y a pas de progres technique neutre au sens de Hicks dans les quatre industries, indiquant que leur structure de production favorise certains inputs et en neglige d'autres. Ces resultats indiquent que les politiques visant a ameliorer l'efficacite de chaque industrie devraient se concentrer sur les mesures d'economie specifiques aux intrants que privilegie chaque industrie et ainsi ameliorer leur position concurrentielle. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction With over 72 million hectares of forest land, representing 16% of Canada's total estimated forests, the province of Ontario is a critical contributor to Canada's forest products industries (Ontario [...]

Mechanised harvesting operations are growing in popularity in South Africa, as motor-manual and manual harvesting operations pose significant health and safety risks to workers. Potential damage inflicted by single-grip harvester feed rollers and delimbing knives on the log surface during debranching and debarking of eucalypts may affect chip size distributions during chip production. Chip size is important as it influences pulp quality and recovery in the kraft pulping process. The study investigated the influence of two mechanised debarking treatments in eucalypts (three feed roller passes and five feed roller passes along the stem surface) with feed-roller-induced log surface damage on pulp value recovery. The two mechanised treatments were compared against chips produced from manually debarked logs with no surface damage. In addition, the effect of two log drying periods (one week and two weeks) and three log classes (base, middle and top logs) on chip quality were also analysed. An economic evaluation was conducted to quantify potential recoverable pulp value losses associated with debarking treatments and log drying periods. Logs subject to manual debarking produced significantly less undesired sized chips than both three-pass and five-pass mechanically debarked logs and therefore had significantly greater pulp value recovery. Mechanically debarked logs had a projected pulp value recovery of R62, R86 and R123 less per bone dry tonne of chips produced from base, middle and top logs, respectively, when compared with manually debarked logs with no log surface damage after a one-week log drying period. Mechanically debarked logs also had a projected pulp value recovery of R77, R40 and R59 less per bone dry tonne of chips produced from base, middle and top logs, respectively, when compared with manually debarked logs with no log surface damage after a two-week log drying period. Logs dried for two weeks also produced significantly less under-sized chips than chips produced from one-week-dried logs and therefore had greater pulp value recovery. However, two-week-dried logs produced wood chips with significantly more over-thick chips than logs dried for one week. The volume of undesirable-sized chips produced during chipping increased with decreasing log size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a techno-economic and risk analysis of a kraft lignin (KL) biorefinery (3000 tonne of KL·year-1 capacity), where KL is depolymerized to produce depolymerized kraft lignin (DKL) as a bio-substitute to polyol and phenol for the production of bio-based polymers (polyurethane and phenolic resins). Three scenarios were examined: (i) DKL as a phenol substitute, (ii) DKL as a polyol substitute, and (iii) oxypropylated depolymerized kraft lignin (Oxy-DKL) a polyol substitute. The Net Present Value was calculated to compare these scenarios. To address the uncertainty risks in feedstock and product price, a sensitivity analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation were performed. Results show that DKL and Oxy-DKL derived from the KL biorefinery are a feasible bio-substitute for petroleum- based polyols with a minimum selling price of 1440 and 1623 US$·t-1, respectively. However, DKL is likely not feasible when replacing phenol (minimum selling price of 1421 US$·t-1) due to the current low market price of phenol. The feasibility of the KL biorefinery is highly sensitive to the market prices of the products. Feedstock supply and market demand for lignin-derived biopolyols are still uncertain; therefore, a supply chain design model is necessary for decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanised harvesting operations are becoming more prevalent in South Africa, with the realisation that motor- manual and manual harvesting operations pose significant health and safety risks to workers. However, the potential damage caused by single-grip harvester feed rollers and delimbing knives on the log surface during debranching and debarking of eucalypts pulp logs may negatively affect fibre recovery as opposed to manually debarked logs, which show little or no log surface damage. Compared with manual debarking, this study investi- gated the influence of two mechanised debarking treatments on wood fibre loss on eucalypt log assortments debarked by harvester head feed rollers and delimbing knives. The two mechanised debarking treatments consisted of three and five feed roller passes along the stem surface. In addition to quantifying the magnitude of this fibre loss, a financial evaluation was done to calculate the value of these losses. The three- and five-pass debarking treatments caused significant fibre losses of 1.425 green tonnes per hectare (gt ha−1) and 2.275 gt ha−1, respec- tively, as opposed to manually debarked logs, which produced no fibre losses. Wood fibre losses in terms of total potential (or available) wood mass for three- and five-pass mechanically debarked trees were 1.06% and 1.70%, respectively. These represent a fibre value loss of R441.75 ha−1 and R705.25 ha−1 for three- and five-pass operations, respectively. For the 6.48 million gt y−1 currently mechanically debarked for the South African pulp and paper industry, this equates to fibre value losses of R21.36 million and R34.10 million annually for three- and five-pass operations, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model for travel speed of softwood sawlog timber transport (STT) vehicles over a range of forest and provincial roads of varying condition for the South African forestry industry. Data was accumulated from both the Eastern Cape/KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga forest regions of South Africa. Vehicle location and payload data were collected remotely using a combination of GPS tracking and remotely sensed data. Road condition, including road width, was assessed for each identified road segment in-field according to a visual condition indicator (VCI) index. Two STT contractors were selected from each forest region transporting pine sawlogs directly from compartment roadside landings to either a processing plant or log storage area. Five STT vehicle types, representative of transport operations in the two forest regions, were assessed. Principal component analysis was conducted to determine the degree of communality between the respective predictor variables combining road width and VCI as one factor, and truck maximum power and the percentage of (legal) maximum payload as a second factor. Comparisons of the correlations between average speed and the respective predictor variables showed that road width and percentage of maximum (legal) payload had the highest correlations. Multiple linear regression of these two factor variables were used in the model showing both variables as significant (p< 0.05) with an adjustedr2value of 0.52. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]