Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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Biomass resources in Portugal: Current status and prospects MARK

a b,c,⁎ b a
Sérgio Ferreira , Eliseu Monteiro , Paulo Brito , Cândida Vilarinho
a
CT2M – Centre for Mechanical and Materials Technologies, Mechanical Engineering Department of Minho University, Guimarães, Portugal
b
C3i, Interdisciplinary Centre for Research and Innovation, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal
c
CIENER-INEGI/Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: Portugal relies to a very large extent on imports to meet its energy needs. The predominant energy source is oil,
Biomass which comes in its entirety from other countries. Renewables now are the second most important energy source
Waste being hydropower the most important domestic source of energy. Since more than one third of the territory is
Biomass conversion technologies forests, biomass is one of the most potential renewable energy sources. This paper presents the scope, potential
Bioenergy
and technologies related to the use of biomass resources. The study also discusses the biomass projects
undertaken by the government and non-government organizations, plans and strategies to promote the
biomass. The current status of biomass resources shows that the total potential estimated for various sectors of
the country is of 42,489.7 GW h/year. The study also reveals one overexploited biomass resource such as forest
biomass (if all the predicted biomass power plants enter into the running phase) and underexploited biomass
resources such as municipal solid wastes, waste waters and animal manures. The future prospects for biomass
are the embodied in the EU and national strategies for the RES sector, which estimates an average annual
growth of 5% for installed capacity and 1% for the power production.

1. Introduction RES in transport.

The global trend of energy use is moving towards sustainable
development and the waste-to-energy (WTE) concept is being highly
promoted as a part of this effort.
Portugal´s energy profile relies to a very large extent on imports to
meet its energy needs, occupying the 9th position of the EU´s countries
with around 80% energy import in the last years, which shows a heavy
dependence on external energy sources, despite the advances on
national energy production being hydropower the most important
domestic source of energy [1].
The predominant energy source is oil, which comes in its entirety
from other countries, since Portugal does not have oil reserves. No
natural gas is produced in Portugal. The main sources of imported gas
were Nigeria, through the Sines liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility
(52%), and Algeria (38%), through the pipeline from Spain.
Renewables now are the second most important energy source regard-
ing consumption, while natural gas is the third, and coal the last.
Portugal's binding 2020 renewable energy sources (RES) target is
31% up from 20.5% in 2005, although the authors of the National
Action Plan for Renewable Energy (PNAER) have reduced the 2005
starting point to 19.8%. The overall target has been split into 55.3%
electricity from RES, 30.6% heating and cooling from RES and 10%
Portugal intends to have 60% of its generated electricity coming
from renewable resources by 2020, in order to satisfy 31% of its final
energy consumption by the same year. In addition, Portugal intends to
reduce its dependence on energy imports and on the use of fossil fuels.
The Portuguese electricity grid is connected with Spain's; the
interconnection capacity is approximately 10% of the demand.
Portugal currently has relatively few interconnections with France
and Spain. To reduce splitting in the Iberian Electricity Market, an
investment programme has been put in place to increase the capacity of
interconnections with the Spanish transmission network. It includes
the construction of a new 400 kV line and the construction of two new
400 kV interconnections. They will almost double the capacity.
The possibility to export RES-E (renewable energy sources for
electricity) production depends on the development of the interconnec-
tion capacity with Spain, but moreover between Spain and France. The
grid operator is not legally required to develop the grid, but considering
that Portugal imports energy from Spain and wants to reduce this
dependence, it is essential to adopt measures, encouraging domestic
electricity production. Thus, grid development in Portugal is a key issue
to increase energy production and decrease foreign dependence.
Nowadays, biomass is being utilized to generate renewable energy
in many countries of the world. Biomass covers about 50 exajoule per

⁎
Corresponding author at: C3i, Interdisciplinary Centre for Research and Innovation, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal.
E-mail address: elmmonteiro@portugalmail.pt (E. Monteiro).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.140
Received 28 August 2016; Received in revised form 27 January 2017; Accepted 21 March 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Ferreira et al.
year of total primary energy demand of the world [2]. Portugal has a
high biomass potential which can be used in energy production,
although it is already used by pulp and paper industries and furniture
industries [3].
According to the European Environmental Agency, energy conver-
sion represents 80% of the total greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in
EU; it is the origin of the climatic changes and enormous contributor of
the atmospheric pollution. The main origin of GHG emissions in
Portugal is also related to the energy sector, more specifically to the
fossil fuel combustion. The sectors of energy production, i.e. power
plants and oil refineries, transports and industry, comprise greater
contributors for the GHG production [4].
The environmental advantages of using biomass and other renew-
able energy forms as alternative energy sources to fossil fuels are the
basis that sustains initiatives for the use of these resources, in all their
variants, to increase its penetration into energy markets [5].
Unfortunately, these advantages are accompanied, in general, by
inherently problematic properties (stationary, low-energy density,
scattering, competition with other uses, etc.) that characterize these
power sources and, more particularly, biomass residues. These features
are closely related to the final costs of its use, delaying its incorporation
into the energy markets, and ensuring that its current use remains far
below expectations in terms of its expected potential [6].
In any case, to increase the consumption of residual biomass for
energy production, as well as to put into practice actions and support
tools, cost reduction and improved efficiency of procedures for collect-
ing and processing these energy resources should be promoted [7].
The number of research papers reporting the use of biomass energy
in Portugal is rising [8–17]. However they are focus on a particular part
of the biomass or a specific region of the country.
Fernandes and Costa [8] performed an assessment of the potential
of forest and agricultural biomass residues for a small region of
Portugal (Marvão) using geographical information systems (GIS)
database and statistical analysis. They conclude that the annual
biomass residues potential for Marvão is about 10,600 t, which
corresponds to an energy production potential of about 106,000 GJ
per year. Lourinho and Brito [9] enlarged this assessment of the
potential of forest and agricultural biomass residues to the region of
Alto Alentejo (Alter do Chão, Arronches, Avis, Castelo de Vide, Crato,
Marvão, Monforte, Portalegre e Sousel) using the same GIS based
method. They conclude that the potential of agricultural and forest
residues in Alto Alentejo is estimated to be 4000 dry tonnes/year and
40,000 dry tonnes/year, respectively. This amount of biomass corre-
sponds to an energy potential of 158,000 GJ/year.
Viana et al. [10] evaluated the potential quantities of available
forest biomass residue for energy production into 13 new biomass
power plants. In addition to examining the feasibility of producing heat
and power, they also study the potential for producing only power.
Results show that if only electricity is generated some regions will need
to have alternative fuel sources to fulfill the demand. However, if
cogeneration is implemented the wood fuel resource will be sufficient
to fulfill the required capacity demand. The shortage of biomass
resources due to the competition with the new biomass power plants
is also expressed by Monteiro et al. [11,12] pointing out possible
reasons for the Portuguese pellets market being based on exportations
according to the key indicators of biomass availability, costs and legal
framework.
Also in this regard, Carneiro and Ferreira [13] performed the
evaluation of biomass power plants based on dedicated energy crops.
The particular case of Portugal is analyzed and the strategic, environ-
mental and economic interest of the project is evaluated. The results
suggest that the value of the assumed feed-in tariff may not be enough
to attract private investors’ interest for these projects.
Another biomass resource that is receiving remarkable attention in
the last three decades is the municipal solid wastes (MSW) mainly due
to environmental reasons. Magrinho et al. [14] provides a brief history
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235
of legislative trends in waste management as background for current
waste management and recycling activities. They also present and
discuss the MSW management in Portugal based on a national inquiry
carried out in 2003 and directed to the MSW management entities.
They concluded that 96% of MSW was collected mixed and that 68%
was disposed of in landfill, 21% was incinerated at waste-to-energy
plants, 8% was treated at organic waste recovery plants and 3% was
delivered to sorting. The average generation rate of MSW was 1.32 kg/
capita/day. More recently, Teixeira et al. [15] compiled the potential
and analyzed the evolution of the Portuguese MSW management
system, the environmental policy for MSW management and identified
weak points in the criteria used for the technologies selection. They
conclude that gasification is a waste-to-energy conversion scheme that
offers an attractive solution to both waste disposal and energy
problems.
The current status and legal framework of biogas production in
Portugal are analyzed by Miguel et al. [16] in an assessment study of
the significance of developing the Portuguese biogas sector character-
ized by wide-ranging diversity of substrates and biogas applications.
They conclude that, despite the fact that the organic effluents are a
relevant energy source (873 Mm3 biogas per year; 4889 GW h yr−1)
and that new feed-in tariffs were established, biogas valorization is still
at an early stage. The limitation in biogas valorization was also found
by Monteiro et al. [4] in an assessment of the potential of biogas
production from farm cattle manure in Portugal. They found the
potential of 202 Mm3 of biogas per year only based on bovines, swine
and chicken manure.
A general overview of the bioenergy in Portugal was performed by
Ferreira et al. [17] analyzing the Portuguese possibilities for bioenergy
production from biomasses. Your conclusion expresses that there are
still unused biomass potentials which is corroborated by more recent
studies.
This paper presents the scope, potential and technologies related to
the use of biomass resources in Portugal. The study also discusses the
biomass projects undertaken by the government and non-government
organizations, plans and strategies to promote the biomass. The paper
is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the energy scenario of
Portugal and geographical supports for biomass production. Section 3
describes the biomass resources in the country and energy potential
from biomass. Sections 4 and 5 present the available biomass to energy
conversion technologies and available biomass related technologies in
Portugal, respectively. Finally, the plans and promotion strategies
undertaken by different organizations are mentioned in Section 6.
2. The Portugal scenario
2.1. Energy status and demand
The average population of Portugal in the XXI century is about 10.493
million and the country has a total area of 92,090 km2 of which 91,470 km2
is land and 620 km2 water. Therefore, it is not surprisingly that the
country's most important domestic source of energy being hydropower.
The comparison between the level of domestic energy production
and total primary energy supply sets the degree of energy dependence,
i.e., the share of energy supplied to the economy that is imported. Fig. 1
reports the evolution of this indicator for Portugal and the European
Union (EU) since the beginning of the century.
The degree of energy dependence in Portugal has always been
substantially higher than that observed in the EU, around 80% in the
last decades. This is partly the reflex of the structure of primary energy
production, which bases solely on renewables, and it is related to the
broader issue of poor total energy endowments (Fig. 2).
The structure of inland primary consumption, i.e. taking together the
domestic primary production and the net energy imports, reveals that oil
stands as the main source of primary energy consumed in the Portuguese
economy.
S. Ferreira et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235

100 Table 1
90 Renewable energy sources installed capacity [18].
Energy dependence (%)

80
70 Installed capacity (MW)
60
50 Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
40
Hidro 4855 4857 4884 4898 5332 5539 5535 5571 6024
30
EU (28 countries) Wind 2464 3058 3564 3914 4378 4531 4731 4953 5033
20 Biomass 348 350 408 592 575 564 564 539 566
10 Portugal
RSU 86 86 86 86 86 86 86 86 86
0 Biogas 15 16 24 34 51 62 68 81 83
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Geothermal 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23
Year Photovoltaics 15 62 110 134 175 244 299 418 455

Fig. 1. Energy dependence of Portugal [18].

offshore potential in Portugal has not been explored due to the depth of
350
Electricity (net imports) Coal Natural Gas Renewables Oil the Portuguese continental platform. In fact, wind energy is the second
300 most developed renewable source in Portugal, just behind hydropower.
Biomass is the third renewable source in Portugal. There is a
250
substantial increase in the energy production from biomass since 2010.
200 This situation is related to the Portuguese strategy in 2006 assigning
TWh

150
100
50
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Year
Fig. 2. Structure of primary energy consumption in Portugal [18].
Natural gas, which became part of the domestic consumption of
primary energy in 1997, stands as the third largest component, with a
share of 16% in 2013. The inclusion of natural gas in the Portuguese
mix of primary energy sources is undoubtedly one of the significant
changes occurred in the last decades, largely substituting oil imports.
Finally, there is a residual share for electricity that is imported directly,
i.e., not the result of a secondary domestic production process.
The evolution of renewable electricity generation is further broken
down in Fig. 3, which outlines the generation shares of hydropower,
wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal.
Since the early 1940s, Portugal has been focusing on the use of
hydro energy. The current installed capacity is approximately 6 GW
(Table 1). In 2007, a National Programme for High-Capacity
Hydroelectric Dams was established aiming to increase hydropower
production and pump storage capacity. Additionally, the overview of
specific policies and measures to promote the use of renewable sources
foresees the construction of new dams and the upgrade of existing
dams.
There has been a rapid development of the installed capacity of
wind energy in Portugal. The best onshore wind resources in Portugal
are located in the North and in the inland of the country. The Algarve
region has also areas with high wind power potential. So far, the
35,000
Geothermal Photovoltaics Biomass Wind
30,000
25,000
20,000
GWh
100 MW for the production of electricity from forest biomass (dis-
tributed by 15 power plants) and more 150 MW assigned to Public
Interest Projects that some of them begin to run. This situation can be
seen in the Table 1.
The irradiation in Portugal shows that the country has a great
potential to use solar resource to RES-E. In fact, Portugal has the best
yearly solar radiation in the whole Europe (Cyprus is the only
exception), with values reaching 70% more than those of Germany.
For this reason, the Moura plant, in the Alentejo, currently has a net
capacity of 46 MW and is one of the largest in the world. Moreover, the
Serpa plant, with a capacity of 11 MW has been contributing to the
increase in the photovoltaic power production. It also can be high-
lighted that the continuation of the microproduction programme and
the establishment of the miniproduction programme with a special
focus on the service sector and the industrial sector are expected to
install approximately 500 MW by 2020.
The geothermal resources exploitation for electric power generation
is confined to the Azores Island, in particular to S. Miguel Island. The
Ribeira Grande field has been expanded to a total capacity of 23 MW,
through a second binary unit at Pico Vermelho of 10 MW in 2006,
covering about 40% of the electricity need of the island. On Terceira
island a project for installing 12 MW is ongoing (Pico Alto field, where
temperature of above 300 °C have been recorded), as well as additional
expansion of Ribeira Grande. Unfortunately, the low power demand on
the other small island will not allow the realization of any important
development, despite the presence of a good resource.
2.2. Geographical supports for biomass production
The amount of biomass production mainly depends on the climate,
temperature, soil condition and the area of available surplus land [19].
The climate in Portugal, according to Koppen classification [20], is
divided into two regions: a temperate climate with wet winter and dry
Hydro and hot summer (Csa) and other temperate climate with rainy winter,
and dry and warm-summer (Csb). The spatial analysis based in a
normal distribution from 1961/90 shows an annual average tempera-
ture varying between about 7 °C in highlands of the interior north and

center and about 18 °C in the south coast. Based on the same data the
15,000 annual average rainfall has the highest values in the north coast and the
10,000 lowest values in the southern interior.
This climate marks the vegetation in Portugal. The summer is felt in
5,000
two ways in the vegetation. The south and the east and even in the
0 sheltered valleys and low-lying lands we can find species that are
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
demanding in heat and dryness. That is the case of lavender (Lavanda
Year
pedunculata) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). Among the most
Fig. 3. Power generation from renewable energy sources [18]. important Mediterranean plants stand out for its green and perennial

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Inland water Urban area Table 2

Number of livestocks in Portugal [25].
2% 5% Unproductive
Livestock 1999 2009
2%
Explorations Heads Explorations Heads

Bushes and Bovine 102,457 1,415,188 50,035 1,430,285

pastureland
32%
Forest
35%
Agiculture
24%
Fig. 4. Distribution of land use in Portugal mainland [21].
foliage, corktree (Quercus suber), holmoak (Quercus ilex), stone pine
(Pinus pinea), maritime pine (Pinus pinae) and laurel tree (Laurus
nobilis).
In regions of Atlantic influence we found deciduous species such as
English oak (Quercus robur), pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica),
chestnut (Castanea sativa) and alder (Alnus glutinosa).
Portugal is situated between 36°58′ e 42°9′ North latitude and
6°12′ and 9°30′ West longitude, with a continental area of 89.089 km2.
Forest land, bushes and pastureland and agricultural land area are the
major land use types in Portugal (Fig. 4).
In 2010 the used area in Portugal for forest land was 3.154 million
hectares (mha), 2.114 mha for agriculture and 2.853 mha of bushes
and pastureland. Water, urban area and unproductive land account for
the remaining 0.786 mha [21]. The forest used land of 37.6% places
Portugal in the average of the 27 EU countries [22].
3. Biomass availability in Portugal
Wood residues, animal waste and municipal solid waste, are the
most common biomass resources available in Portugal. The resources
can be utilized on a larger scale for energy production. As biomass
resources that can be used for energy production are diverse, the
estimated biomass potential in Portugal, available in official sources
and existing literature, is presented in the following sections.
3.1. Animal manure
Animal manure is composed by organic material, moisture and ash
[23]. Animal manure is obtained from pig farms, slaughterhouses,
dairies, poultry farms, food industry, etc. Part of this biomass can be
used directly as fuel (burning) or biofuels via thermal gasification or
aerobic and anaerobic digestion processes. The process of anaerobic
digestion for production of biogas is considered as the best solution to
use this biomass [24].
Bovines, swine and chickens are the general sources of animal
manure in the country with great interest for anaerobic digestion due to
the biochemical composition and availability [4,16]. Animal manure is
often used as fertilizer. On the other hand, animal manure biogas is a
promising renewable fuel that can be used for various energy services
such as heat, combined heat and power or as a vehicle fuel.
The quantity of manure production from the animals depends on
age, breed and feeding habits. Also, the amount of dung yield varies
with the seasons. For example, the dung yields are generated more in
the rainy season than that of summer, since grasses grow more during
raining [24].
Statistics Portugal [25] performs a survey every decade since the
eighties, and the results indicate that the number of explorations has
Swine 132,630 2,418,426 50,084 1,913,161
Chickensa 941 6,369,000 142 10,498,619
a
Explorations with average number equal to or greater than 1000 heads.
been decreasing, become larger and better equipped, while quite
keeping the number of heads. Table 2 presents the number of livestock
heads in Portugal determined in the last two surveys.
From Table 2, it can be mentioned that the number of bovines is
quite stable. However, a reduction in about 21% of the swine and an
increase in about 65% of the chickens are also noticed.
Manure yields are subject to wide variation depending on the strain
in question and the housing intensity. Manure yields should therefore
be either measured or calculated on a liveweight basis, since there is
relatively good correlation between the two methods [26].
The amount of waste produced per day by livestock is estimated
using the generation ratio of neighboring European countries (Table 3).
It was averaged taken as 23.25 kg manure/day/head for bovines,
1.05 kg manure/day/head for swine and 0.08 kg manure/day/head
for chickens.
The total manure produced in a year is calculated by multiplication
of the manure production per year and the number of livestock.
Therefore, in 2009, about 13.84 million livestock produced
13,177.53 ktonne of manure in a year (Table 4).
The quantities of manure listed in Table 3 are only fully available, if
all of the animals are kept in stables all of the time and if the stables are
designed for capturing urine as well as dung. Thus, the stated values
will be in need of correction in most cases. The residues recovery rate
for animal droppings and chickens has been assumed as 60% and 50%
respectively [26]. Using these ratios, it is determined that the amount
of recoverable animal manure in Portugal is 7875.86 ktonne.
Biogas potential is evaluated, considering the average yields
obtained from the anaerobic digestion process of volatile solids (VS),
contained in the effluents, expressed as percentage of total solids (TS).
These data differ based on the diverse animal species considered
(Table 5).
Table 6 shows the average potential production of biogas from
different feedstocks and the comparison with the earlier works of
Miguel et al. [16] and Monteiro et al. [4].
From Table 6, it is possible to conclude the very different biogas
potential estimated from different authors and in this work. This
situation founds explanation in the assumptions made in the potential
determination procedure.
Miguel et al. [16] are the most optimistic considering that all
organic effluents are anaerobically digested and assuming that the
resulting biogas contains 65% of methane.
In this work as well as in the work of Monteiro et al. [4] the
produced biogas lower heat value is 6.0 kW h/m3, which corresponds
to 60% of methane in its composition. The main difference between
this work and Monteiro et al. [4] is the consideration of the recovered
Table 3
Standard liveweight values of animal husbandary [26].
Livestock Liveweight (kg) Daily manure yield as % Manure (kg/day/
liveweight. head)
Chickens 1.5–2 4.50% 0.0675–0.09
Swine 30–75 2% 0.6–1.5
Bovine 135–800 5% 6.75–40

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Table 4 Table 8
Generation and recoverable rates of animal manure in Portugal. Forestry biomass in Portugal [30]. Note: HHV per dry tonne is used for calculating
energy yields: 19 GJ/tonne.
Livestock Average generation Manure generation Manure recovery
ratio (kg/day/head) (ktonne/year) (ktonne/year) Residues Production Availability GWh/year
[Mtonne/year] [Mtonne/year]
Bovine 23.25 12137.76 7282.65
Swine 1.05 733.22 439.93 Brushwood 4 – –
Chickens 0.08 306.56 153.28 (uncultivated)
Total 13177.53 7875.86 Brushwood 1 0.6 3167
(cultivated)
Wood production 0.5 –
Branches and foliage of 1 1 5278
Table 5
trees
Biogas production from different feedstocks [27].
Biomass from burned – 0.4 2111
areas
Type of manure Total solids Volatile solids (%) of Biogas yield (m3/
Wood industry – 0.2 1056
(%) TS kgVS)
Total 6.5 2.2 11611
Chickens 10–29% 75–77% 0.2–0.4
Swine 2.5–9.7% 60–85% 0.26–0.45
Bovine 6–11% 68–85% 0.20–0.26 does not changed too much with a reduction in the maritime pine area.
In opposite, there is an increase in the eucalyptus area. This behavior
has to do with the shorter rotation of the eucalyptus. Such as forest area
Table 6 allows the definition of a technical potential of forest residues in
Average production potential of biogas in Portugal animal manure.
Portugal shown in Table 8.
Livestock Biogas Biogas Biogas Table 8 shows the amounts of forest biomass according with the
residues kind, distinguishing between what is really produced by the
Miguel et al. [16] Monteiro et al. [4] This work forest and the effective availability. The amount of available forest
biomass is approximately 2.2 million tonnes per year (11.578 GW h
Mm3/year GW h/year Mm3/year GW h/year Mm3/year
GW h/year /year), including residues from wood industry.
The discrepancy between the produced and available forest biomass
Chickens 44.80 291.2 5.95 35.7 5.1 30.6 values in Portugal is due to the fact that only a diminutive part of this
Swine 48.44 314.6 14.60 87.6 6.9 41.4
residues are economic viable for energy production. Moreover, by
Bovine 258.12 1677.7 180.97 1085.8 108.9 653.4
Total 351.36 2283.5 201.52 1209.1 120.9 725.4
sustainable forest exploration reasons, it is recommended that part of
the residues be reintegrated in forest soils. Another important issue is
that part of Portuguese forest biomass is already used for energy
manure instead of the manure generated as expressed in the Table 3. production especially in the pulp and paper industry as can be seen in
Therefore, the cattle manure biogas energy potential in Portugal is Table 9.
most likely to be 725.4 GW h/year. Table 9 shows the whole picture of the biomass already used in
Portugal in the industry (pellets, cogeneration, cement) and the
predicted to be implemented through the open tender of 2006 to
3.2. Forest residues allocate 100 MW through 15 biomass power plants (now 13, due to two
retirements), more 150 MW assigned in public interest projects, and
Forest residues can play an effective role to produce biomass energy some other projects in the pipeline, which all together will certainly
[28]. The Portuguese forests have some distinctive characteristics in increase the forest biomass raw material needs.
the context of European forests. The state and other public bodies own Taking into account the biomass consumption expressed in Table 9,
only about 2.5% of the forests being the remain owned by local the needs of raw material to supply all those biomass power plants
communities or private landowners [29]. (after all projects being working), and considering the already running
The Portuguese territory is very rich in raw materials that can be such as the cogeneration plants, pellets plants, and cement incineration
used as sources of biomass. More than one third of the territory is plants, will be around 6.0 Mtonne/year [30]. If this forecast is
forests, about 3.2 Mha of Portugal land area. The evolution and confirmed, the energy sector based on forest biomass, considering
quantification for nine types of forest vegetation of the dominant tree the power to install, exist a real need to move into energy forest crops
species in Portugal are shown in Table 7. to complement the existing surplus. Otherwise, considering the values
As can be seen from Table 7, in the last decades the total forest area of Tables 8 and 9, Portugal may have a deficit of forest biomass around
4.0 Mtonne/year, if all the programmed plants enter into operational
Table 7 phase.
Forest area of Portugal [21].
A possible contribute to overcome this forest biomass deficit can be
Forest area by specie (103 ha) in Portugal 1995 2005 2010 a sustainable raw material production strategy based on transforming
some of the biomass production into available biomass approximating
Maritime pine 977.9 795.5 714.5 the both values expressed in Table 8. This can be made through direct
Eucalyptus 717.3 785.8 811.9
Cork-oak 746.8 731.1 736.8
actions like collection of pine and eucalyptus stumps, residues from
Holm-oak 366.7 335.0 331.2 cleaning and weeding of pine and eucalyptus plantations, and the
Stone pine 120.1 172.8 175.7 material of the weeds cleaning areas, such as acacia [31].
Oaks 91.9 66.0 67.1
Chestnut 32.6 38.3 41.4
Acacia 12.3 12.2 11.8 3.3. Agricultural residues
Carob 2.7 4.7 5.4
Other hardwoods 155.2 169.4 177.8
The agricultural biomass mainly comes from agricultural produc-
Other conifers 61.3 73.4 73.2
Total 3284.8 3184.2 3146.8 tion by-products and agro-food industry: wine, horticulture, olive oil
production, dried fruit, cereals and forage. Straw cereals, olive pits/

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Table 9
Biomass power plants in Portugal.
Source:Adapted from [30].

Entity Local Power (kW) Biomass consumption (tonne/year) Status

Public interest projects

EDP Bioeléctrica Mortágua 7400 115 000 Running

Centroliva V.V. Rodão 6000 60748 Running
Central Biomassa TS Maria Oliveira Azeméis 10044 121500 Running
Rodão Power V.V. Rodão 13232 140000 Running
EDP Bioeléctrica Constância 13020 140000 Running
S.P.C.G. Setúbal 12090 146000 Running
Enerplus Aveiro 12500 146000 Running
EDP Bioeléctrica Figueira da Foz 27900 400000 Running

2006 tender
Probiomass Valpaços 11000 133.645 Adjudication in 2008
MIESE (lote 3) Braga 10000 121500 Adjudication in 2010
PA Termoflorestal Monção 4650 61000 License awarded
Ecotator Belmonte 1920 24300 Running
MIESE (lote 5) Alijó 11000 133645 Adjudication in 2009
SIAF Mangualde 10000 121500 Not awarded
Biobeiraner Viseu 5000 61000 Under project
Palser Sertã 4000 36500 Running
Enerwood Covilhã Fundão 10000 121500 Adjudication in 2009
Centro + Bioenergia Sertã 10000 121500 Adjudication in 2010
Enerwood Portalegre 10000 121500 Adjudication in 2009
Tecneira + Forestech Rio Maior 6000 73000 Adjudication in 2009
Tecneira + Forestech Odemira 3000 36500 Adjudication in 2009

Pipeline projects
EDP Bioeléctrica Gondomar 13050 175500 License awarded
EDP Bioeléctrica Mortágua 10000 243000 License awarded
EDP Bioeléctrica Cabeceiras de Basto 10120 133645 License awarded
EDP Bioeléctrica Oleiros 9300 121000 License awarded
EDP Bioeléctrica Monchique 14650 189000 License awarded
Forestech Alcácer do Sal 1200 12150 License awarded
Isohidra Anadia 5000 121500 License awarded
Triquimica Sintra 960 12150 License awarded

Cogeneration
Portucel Viana 8000 97500 Running
Enerpulp Cacia 6000 110370 Running
Enerpulp Figueira da Foz 15000 219960 Running
Enerpulp Setúbal 12000 168480 Running
Caima Constância 4000 54600 Running
Celtejo Ródão 4740 n.d Running
Sonae 5000 65000 Running

Pellets plants
Gesfinu Lousada Lousada 161000 Running
Gesfinu Mortágua Mortágua 161000 Running
Gesfinu Alcácer Alcácer do Sal 161000 Running
Enerpellets Pedrógão Grande 161000 Running
Pellets First Alcobaça 161000 Running
EnerMontijo Montijo 161000 Running
Novalenha Oleiros 150000 Running
Stellep Vidago 103500 Running
Palser Sertã 150000 Running
Pinewell Arganil 241500 Running
Techpellet Famalicão 161000 Running

Cement incineration plants

Sécil Setúbal 30000 Running
Cimpor 5000 Running

stones and remaining pomace resultant from olive oil extraction, solid
wastes generated during the pruning of olive trees and vineyards
(leaves and small branches), dried fruits shell, are some examples of
this biomass. Some of those wastes generated during the pruning of
olive trees and vineyards, dry fruit shell, and olive pits are already used
for heat production by direct combustion, with no records of such use,
which weigh down their accounting.
The agricultural sector, just like other sectors, has attracted the
attention of EU, to green growth. In the European Parliament resolu-
tion on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 [32], it
is believed that, thanks to improvements in production factors linked to
advances in knowledge, farmers are well placed to contribute to green
growth and respond to the energy crisis through the development of
green energy in such forms as biomass, bio-waste, biogas, second-
generation biofuels and small-scale wind, solar and hydro energy,
which will also help create new green job opportunities.
The agriculture ministers of EU countries consider that the main
goal of agriculture is food production, so the energy crops agriculture

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S. Ferreira et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235

100
Table 10
Main crops in Portugal in 2014 [33]. MBT Incineration Recycling
Biodegradable wastes Composting Landfilling
80
Species Area (ha) Production (tonnes)

Waste Treatment (%)

Cereal grain 301915 1333256 60
Dried leguminous vegetables 4040 2333
Patato 27214 539872
40
Major crops for industry 33230 1340361
Fresh vegetables 36667 988650
Main forage crops 233747 6197582 20
Main fresh fruits 43293 574936
Berry fruits 1385 6934
Main subtropical fruits 3340 43464 0
Citrus fruits 19804 304016 2005 2009 2009 achieved 2011 2011 achieved 2016
Main nuts 67561 31982 Year
Vineyard 178986 818871
Fig. 5. Comparison of the 2009 and 2011 MSW treatments in Portugal with PERSU II
Olive grove 352350 455374
targets [36].

policy should not compromise this goal, emphasizing that the focus
should be making a better use of agricultural and agri- -food industry
by-products and residues.
Within the EU the opinion is that the agricultural biomass should
be used locally on a small scale to not undermine the agriculture main
objective, which is food production.
The available data by the Portuguese official sources did not allow
an evaluation of the biomass of agricultural biomass potential for
energy purposes. Instead, the available data allows an evaluation of
agricultural production areas by specie or culture, with no data on the
amounts of by-products and organic waste capable of energy use
presented in the Table 10.
Table 10 allows verifying that the main crops produced in Portugal
are forage, crops for industry and cereal grain. However, in terms of
agricultural area the major are olive followed by cereal grain and forage
crops. The latest data from the potential energy derived from residual
agricultures are presented in Table 11.
3.4. Municipal solid wastes
The definition of municipal solid wastes (MSW) used in different
countries varies, reflecting diverse waste management practices.
Portugal, as a UE member state, must adopt the definition presented
in the EU's Landfill Directive [35]. MSW is defined as “waste from
households, as well as other waste which, because of its nature or
composition, is similar to waste from households”.
The characteristics and quantity of the MSW generated in a region
is not only a function of the living standard and lifestyle of the region's
inhabitants, but also of the abundance and type of the region's natural
resources. Urban wastes can be subdivided into two major components
- organic and inorganic. In general, the organic components of urban
solid waste can be classified into three broad categories: putrescible,
fermentable, and non-fermentable. Putrescible wastes tend to decom-
pose rapidly and unless carefully controlled, decompose with the
production of objectionable odors and visual unpleasantness.
Portugal has made substantial progress in the waste area since the
end of last century, when closing open dumps was the first process
adopted for MSW management. Despite this progress, Portugal is
facing various problems with the MSW management [15].
Landfills are the dominant technology in waste management in
Portugal, but the country has invested in many other treatment
options, including incineration, composting and mechanical biological
treatment (MBT), which will be essentials to achieving the goals of
PERSU (strategic plan for the urban wastes) II.
The lesson learned with PERSU I, is that the result from closing the
open dumps, although being positive, was the replacement of these by
landfills, which also have environmental problems. Portugal was
unable to take a big step from the open dumps, replacing them by
systems for MSW management, with selective collection, recycling and
other forms of valorization.
Fig. 5 shows the waste treatment plan established for the period
2005–2016, which include 2005 as baseline. A moderate scenario goal
for 2009, 2011 and 2016 was adopted.
Fig. 5 shows that for Portugal incineration has been attaining the
PERSU II targets, which means that the PERSU II 2016 targets will be
achieved through a reduction in the landfilled MSW that should be
accomplished by increased recycling, composting, biodegradable
wastes and in mechanical biological treatment.
Fig. 6 shows the MSW production in Portugal of the last decade and
the type of target operation as well.
Analyzing the Fig. 6 it can be concluded that the PERSU II is really
put in place in the last year where the increase in the MSW production
was absorbed by the recycling and the organic recovery operations
instead of the landfill as verified in the years of 2008–2010.
Considering that the average MSW production in the period 2005–
2014 was 5.029 Mtonnes/year, and a lower heating value of 17.96 MJ/kg
[38] the available energy of MSW is around 25.1 TW h. However, by the
reasons presented above, a more realistic energy potential should be
considered based only on the MSW destined to energy recovery and landfill
of the last three years, when the Portuguese MSW management system has
been really put in place. Therefore, the energy potential is around 17 TW h
considering the average of the last three years of 3.405 Mtonnes/year.
6
5
4
Landfill Energy recovery Organic recovery
Recycling Production
Mtonnes

3
Table 11
Potential derived from agriculture residues [34].
2

Specie GWh/year
1
Cereal straw 1500
Olive husk 167 0
Pruning residues from vineyards, fruit-trees and olives 2361 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Almond residues 500 Year
Total 4528
Fig. 6. MSW in Portugal: production and by type of target operation [37].

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3.5. Wastewater biogas from municipal wastewaters of 70.6 million cubic meters, but
conclusion cannot be drawn due to the lack of information about the
Without treatment the water from toilets, baths, sinks and washing way this value was obtained.
machines from domestic and residential premises, industrial waste
water discharges to sewers and the rainwater contaminated with
3.6. Energy crops
metals, oils and other pollutants in rainwater run-off from urban areas
draining to sewers would have significant adverse impacts on the water
Beyond the use of the residues and wastes, the biomass can be
environment. The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive [39] is one
produced in dedicated crops for energy production.
of a number of EU Directives that have the objective of protecting the
As mentioned above, it is estimate that the needs of raw material to
water environment for the animals and plants that live in and around
supply all the biomass plants will be 6.0 Mtonnes/year. With these
water, for recreation, and its use as a resource for drinking water,
supply needs, the energy sub-sector based on forest biomass, may have
sanitation, industry and commerce. Urban waste water is defined in the
to appeal to energy crops to ensure a medium term sustainable supply
Directive as the mixture of domestic waste water from kitchens,
to comply with a 4.0 Mton/year raw material deficit [30].
bathrooms and toilets, the waste water from industries discharging to
The energy crops route can be a solution to increase the biomass
sewers and rainwater run-off from roads and other impermeable
supply for energy purposes, while carried out on edafoclimatic condi-
surfaces such as roofs, pavements and roads draining to sewers.
tions compatible with the requirement of each crop, with adequate
Urban waste water is often referred to as sewage. Although untreated
forestry and agricultural production models from the technical, eco-
waste water is mostly water, without treatment the waste water
nomic and environmental point of view, and ecological conditions not
produced every day would cause significant damage to the environ-
competing with food production crops or with forestry production
ment.
activities already established in the country.
The water sector in Portugal covers water supply, wastewater
Fast growing species plantations that can be located relatively close
drainage and treatment, waste management, and associated activities,
to the biomass consumption centers, can set a good response to this
for both the urban and rural populations. The Portuguese water sector
increased demand for forest biomass [43].
is regulated by the Water Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR). In
If this consumption deficit of around 4.0 million tonnes is
2015, Portugal counted 277 water supply managing units, which
confirmed, which implies the entire ongoing biomass projects enter
supplied 95% of the population with drinking water. These units cover
into operation, the Portuguese forest, by itself, does not give an answer
over 100,000 km of water pipelines and more than 20,000 related
to these needs.
infrastructures, including reservoirs, treatment plants, and capitation
Considering an energy crops productivity of 20 t/year (according
sources. Under wastewater treatment, there are 283 managing units
with existing tests the productivity varies from 10 to 40 t/ha/year,
that provide drainage services to around 8.4 million people, represent-
depending on the species and soil) it will be need an area of
ing 83% of Portuguese homes. Approximately 2630 wastewater treat-
approximately 200,000 ha to meet the needs of forest biomass
ment plants were operational, producing almost 100,000 t of sludge.
(4.0 Mtonnes) in 2020 [43].
The largest water operator in Portugal is Water Group of Portugal,
Examples of energy crops that could be produced in Portuguese soil
which is responsible for most of the partnerships with municipalities,
and climate conditions are [43]: eucalyptus spp, salix spp, populus spp,
supplying water to 80% of the Portuguese population. The current
and Paulownia tomentosa.
national programme for Portugal's urban water sector is PENSAAR
The production capacity of agricultural raw materials for energy
2020 – New Strategy for Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
production of biofuels was estimated by national authorities [34]. To
Sector - in force until the close of 2020.
estimate the national capacity for energy crops, only those that can be
The potential substrate for anaerobic digestion process is the sludge
cultivated in Portugal were considered, and the area with adequate
resulting from wastewater treatment. For populations over 10,000–
climatic conditions and the transformation revenue into biofuels. The
15,000 inhabitants it is economical to carry out anaerobic digestion of
crops considered for bioethanol production were: corn, sweet sorghum,
the sludge with biogas production [40]. Given the tendency for the
cereals (wheat, rye, barley and triticale), sugar beet and potato and the
installation of centralized treatment plants comprising several munici-
bioethanol potential crop area is 450,000 ha.
palities or geographic regions, the importance of the sludge segment
For the biodiesel production, the considered crops were: soy,
will tend to grow [16].
rapeseed, sunflower and palm. As potentially usable area to produce
The volume of sewage treated in Portugal [41] in the last six years is
these different cultures we have about 380,000 ha and plus 50,000 ha
shown in the Table 12. The average volume of treated wastewater was
for sunflower due to the higher Portuguese experience with this culture.
486 million cubic meters. Considering a production of 0.08 m3 of
Table 13 shows the estimated potential crops.
biogas per cubic meter of wastewater anaerobically digested [26], the
To determine the potential for biofuels production different con-
attainable biogas production is 38.9 million cubic meters, which
version indices were applied to the productions of the different regions
corresponds to 233.3 GWh considering that the methane percentage
of the country. It was concluded that, if the productions of the
in the biogas is 60%, which corresponds to a lower heating value of
cultivated areas were affected to bioethanol, this could originate about
6 kW h/m3 [42].
925 million liters. Regarding biodiesel, it was estimated a national
Miguel et al. [16] shows a more optimistic volume of attainable

Table 13
Table 12 Estimated crops production to Portugal [34].
Wastewater treatment volume and attainable biogas.
Crop Production M liters GWh/year
Year Volume of sewage treated Mm3 Attainable biogas Mm3 GW h
Bioethanol 924 5.654
2010 472.3 37.8 226.7 Wheat 218 1.334
2011 485.0 38.8 232.8 Barley 12 73
2012 450.6 36.0 216.3 Corn 552 3.378
2013 505.0 40.4 242.4 Potato 98 600
2014 547.0 43.8 262.6 Sugar beet 44 269
2015 456.0 36.5 218.9 Biodiesel 300 2.724
Average 486.0 38.9 233.3 Sunflower 300 2.724

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S. Ferreira et al.
production of 300 million liters [34]. The energy yields were deter-
mined taking into account the lower heating value of 22.1 MJ/l [44]
and 32.8 MJ/l [45] for bioethanol and biodiesel, respectively.
According to LNEG-ECS [46] the total biofuels produced in the
Portuguese market in 2012, by the general regime producers and by the
small dedicated producers was 3265 TW h (renewable), they also
indicate that the use of endogenous agriculture raw materials was zero
in 2012. This situation is confirmed by the MDRAP report [34], which
says that in Portugal, besides the potential for agricultural raw
materials, the production of these crops is not competitive. The
production of agriculture energy crops would be competitive if some
of the following situations happen: distinctive quality that allows the
rising of the prices, new market opportunities that cover the production
costs, providing subsidies to these cultures by environmental reasons.
4. Biomass conversion technologies
Biomass conversion technologies rely mainly on two pathways:
thermochemical and biochemical conversion [47,48]. The biomass
conversion processes are normally selected based on the following
factors: the desired final form for the energy, the environmental
standards, the type and quantity of biomass available, the project
specific factors and the governmental policies. However, it is the form
in which the energy is required that determines the process type,
followed by the available types and quantities of biomass [48].
4.1. Thermochemical conversion
Within the thermochemical conversion processes three main op-
tions are available: direct combustion, pyrolysis and gasification [47–
49]. Thermochemical processes are commonly employed for converting
biomass into fuels with high heating value [50].
4.1.1. Direct combustion
Combustion is widely used to convert the chemical energy stored in
biomass into heat, mechanical power, or electricity using various items
of process equipment, such as, stoves, furnaces, boilers, steam
turbines, turbo-generators, etc. [48]. It is a proven technology,
although performance improvements are still possible. Combustion of
biomass produces hot gases at temperatures around 800–1000 °C and
it is possible to burn any type of biomass. However, this process is only
reliable for moisture content below 50% [48].
Small scale applications, like domestic cooking and space heating,
are very inefficient due to heat transfer losses of 30–90% [51]. On a
larger scale, biomass, such as fuelwood, forestry residues, bagasse and
MSW, can be combusted in furnaces and boilers to produce process
heat, or steam for a steam turbine generator. Power plant size is
constrained by the local feedstock availability and is generally less than
25 MW. However, by using dedicated feedstock supplies, such as short
rotation plantations or herbaceous energy crops, the size can be
increased to 50–75 MW, gaining significant economies of scale [52].
Large biomass power generation systems can have comparable
efficiencies to those of fossil fuel systems, but this comes at a higher
cost due to the moisture content of biomass. However, by using the
biomass in combined heat and power production systems (cogenera-
tion), the economics are significantly improved.
4.1.2. Gasification
Gasification is the conversion of a solid carbon-based material into
a combustible gaseous product by the supply of a gasification agent at
high temperatures, normally in the range 800–900 °C in order to
optimize the gas production [53–55]. The produced gas of low calorific
value (about 4–6 MJ/Nm3) can be burned directly or used as a fuel for
gas engines and gas turbines [48]. High efficiencies (up to 50%) are
achievable using combined cycle gas turbine systems, where waste
gases from the gas turbine are recovered to produce steam for use in a
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235
steam turbine [56].
The majority of commercial gasifiers are of the downdraft type,
fluidized bed systems and updraft type. The classification of the
gasification type depends on the way the feed is made, since it can be
from the top, the bottom or the side of the gasifier. Another important
aspect is the type of bed; if it is a fluidized bed or fixed bed.
One type of reactor is not necessarily suitable for the full range of
powers. There is an adequate range of application for each one. For
example, the fixed bed (updraft and downdraft) are suitable for smaller
scales (10 kW to 10 MW); fluidized bed are more suitable for the
intermediate units (5 MW to 100 MW); the entrained bed reactors are
used for large scale plants ( > 50 MW) [53].
There are a large number of different biomass feedstock types for
use in a gasifier, each with different characteristics, including shape,
size, bulk density, moisture content, energy content, chemical compo-
sition, ash fusion characteristics, and homogeneity of all these proper-
ties.
Biomass moisture contents above 30% result in a lower gasification
thermal efficiency, as energy is needed to evaporate the water, with the
resulting steam also affecting the gas composition. Higher moisture
contents also reduce the temperature that is achieved, increasing the
proportion of syngas tars in the syngas due to incomplete cracking.
However, drying feedstocks to less than 10% requires ever increasing
energy inputs [57], and hence a moisture contents in the 10–20% range
are preferable [53]. Ash is the inorganic material (or mineral content)
in biomass which cannot be gasified. It ranges from less than 1% (on a
dry mass basis) in wood to above 20% in some animal manures and
herbaceous crops. Low-ash content feedstocks ( < 5%) are usually
preferable to minimize disposal issues.
Ash composition is also important, since feedstocks with low ash
melting points can be difficult to gasify in some reactors. This is
particularly important for fluidized beds, since melting ash can make
bed particles adhere, requiring a shut-down and clean-out or major
overhaul. Catalytic bed additives, such as olivine or dolomite, can be
used to prevent sand bed agglomeration, but this is an additional
expense. Whilst woody biomass feedstocks usually meet the ash
requirements, crop residues (such as straw and husks) may have to
be first screened for their ash melting characteristics.
A special category of biomass feedstock is the MSW, which
represent the largest waste stream around the world. The MSW
management activities contribute to the generation of greenhouse gas
and consequently to the climate change problem. When combusted,
there are the potential generation of dioxins and furans [58].
Gasification is a conversion method that offers a most attractive
solution to both waste disposal and energy problems. In fact, the
environmental performance is one of the greatest strengths of gasifica-
tion technology, which is often considered a comprehensive response to
the increasingly restrictive regulations applied around the world [59].
4.1.3. Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of biomass into a
range of useful products, either in the total absence of oxidizing agents
or with a limited supply that does not permit gasification to an
appreciable extent [48,53].
Pyrolysis involves heating biomass or other feed in the absence of
air or oxygen at a specified rate to a maximum temperature, known as
the pyrolysis temperature, and holding it there for a specified time.
The nature of its product depends on several factors, including
pyrolysis temperature and heating rate.
Depending on the heating rate and residence time, biomass
pyrolysis can be divided into three main categories: slow (conven-
tional), fast and flash pyrolysis, mainly aiming at maximizing either the
bio-oil or biochar yields [60].
The operating parameters of a pyrolyzer are adjusted to meet the
requirement of the final product of interest. Tentative design norms for
heating in a pyrolyzer include the following [53]:
S. Ferreira et al.
• To maximize char production, use a slow heating rate ( < 0.01–
2.0 °C/s), a low final temperature, and a long gas residence time.
• To maximize liquid yield, use a high heating rate, a moderate final
temperature (450–600 °C), and a short gas residence time.
• To maximize gas production, use a slow heating rate, a high final
temperature (700–900 °C), and a long gas residence time.
Pyrolysis has been applied for thousands of years for charcoal
production, while fast pyrolysis at moderate temperatures of around
500 °C and very short reaction times has become of considerable
interest recently [61]. This is because the process directly gives high
yields of liquids of up to 75 wt% which can be used directly in a variety
of applications [62].
Feedstocks generally considered for pyrolysis conversion are wood
and wood waste, energy crops such as short rotation forestry and sweet
sorghum, agricultural waste and refuse. The main technical criteria for
suitability for pyrolysis processing are generally the same of gasifica-
tion: size, shape, moisture content, ash content and hydrogen-to-
carbon ratio [53].
Finer biomass particles offer less resistance to the escape of
condensable gases, which therefore escape relatively easily to the
surroundings before undergoing secondary cracking. This results in a
higher liquid yield. Larger particles facilitate secondary cracking due to
the higher resistance they offer to the escape of the primary pyrolysis
product. Generally the pyrolysis requires a feedstock at less the 15%
moisture content, but there is an optimization to carry out between
moisture content and conversion process efficiency.
4.2. Biochemical conversion
There are two main processes that can be used as biochemical
conversion processes: anaerobic digestion and fermentation.
4.2.1. Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a biological process in which organic matter
is degraded to methane under anaerobic conditions. Methane can then
be used for energy to replace fossil fuels and thereby to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions. Anaerobic digestion reduces pathogens and odors,
requires little land space for treatment, and may treat wet and pasty
wastes [63].
Anaerobic digestion takes place in basically three stages. According
with Themelis and Ulloa [64], in the first stage, complex organic
macromolecules are hydrolyzed into simpler soluble molecules. In the
second stage, these molecules are converted by acid forming bacteria to
simple organic acids, carbon dioxide and hydrogen; the principal acids
produced are acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and ethanol. In
the third stage, methane is formed by methanogenic bacteria, either by
breaking down the acids to methane and carbon dioxide, or by reducing
carbon dioxide with hydrogen.
With anaerobic digestion there are two main products that can be
obtained; biogas, generated by the decay in the absence of air of sewage
or animal waste and, landfill gas, that represents the anaerobic
digestion of MSW buried in landfill sites.
Biogas is most commonly produced by using animal manure mixed
with water which is stirred and warmed in digesters. The landfill gas
can be extracted from existing landfill sites by inserting perforated
pipes into the landfill. In this way, the gas will travel through the pipes
under natural pressure for use as the energy source, rather than simply
escaping into the atmosphere to contribute to greenhouse gas emis-
sions. The landfill gas is generally used for electricity generation, using
internal combustion engines. Typically, the engines drive 500 kW
generators to match the normal gas supply rates of around 10 GJ/h.
Biogas can be used directly in spark ignition gas engines and gas
turbines and can be upgraded to higher quality, by the removal of CO2.
Used as a fuel in spark ignition gas engines to produce electricity only,
the overall conversion efficiency from biomass to electricity is about
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235
10–16% [47].
Anaerobic digesters are classified according to their operation type:
batch, semi-continuous or continuous operations. When it comes to
plant size, anaerobic digestion of organic wastes and energy crops can
be divided as follows [65]:
1. Horizontal digesters (volume 50–150 m3) suitable for the smallest
size plants and well-suited for treatment of cow manure as well as
co-digestion with energy crops due to good mixing conditions.
2. Upright standard agricultural digesters (volume 500–1500 m3). The
tanks are equipped with heating system and external agitators for
mixing, while in the top of the tank a double-membrane, gasholder
roof is fitted. This device has a treatment capacity up to 10,000 m3/
year and the hydraulic retention time is between 3 and 80 days
depending on the input substrate.
3. Upright large digester (volume 1000–5000 m3). In these devices the
input material is pre-heated and mixing is performed by centrally
located, continuously operating, roof- mounted mixer. The advan-
tages of preheating and continuous mixing achieve much lower
hydraulic retention times (20–30 days). This type of digester is used
for the treatment up to 90,000 m3/year.
The technology of anaerobic digestion is nowadays well developed
and advanced large-scale systems are developed and commercially
available. The plants have passed from common small agricultural
plants ( < 150 m3 reactor volume) to large-scale commercially con-
trolled plants with more than 7000 m3 reactor volume [66]. The key
technology players of biogas are Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.
The exploitation of landfill gas for electricity production is based on
established and proven technology adapted to meet the fuel character-
istics. Landfill gas has a relatively low calorific value (about half the
heat value of natural gas) and it contains trace impurities that cause
corrosion and accelerated wear. The use of wear-resistant materials,
development of special lubricants and careful attention to maintenance
has increased the reliability of landfill gas fuelled engines, and load
factors higher than 85% are common [66].
4.2.2. Fermentation
Fermentation is used commercially on a large scale in various
countries to produce ethanol from sugar crops (rich in sugars, e.g.
sugar cane, sugar beet) and starch crops (rich in cellulose, e.g. maize,
wheat) [47]. The biomass is ground down and the starch is converted to
sugar by enzymes. After that, sugar is converted to ethanol using yeast
and ethanol is purified by distillation. The solid residue from the
fermentation process can be used as cattle feed. In the case of sugar
cane, the bagasse can be used as fuel for boilers or subsequent
gasification.
The choice of biomass is important as feedstock costs typically
make up 55–80% of the final alcohol price [67,68]. On one hand, starch
based biomass is usually cheaper than sugar based materials but
requires additional processing, on the other hand cellulose materials,
such as wood and straw, are readily available but require expensive
preparation. The method is quite simple, typically a sugar extraction is
made from the biomass crop by crushing, mixed with water and yeast
and kept warm in tanks called fermenters. The biomass is ground down
and the starch converted by enzymes to sugars, with yeast then
converting the sugars to ethanol. Purification of ethanol by distillation
is an energy-intensive step, with about 288–447 l of ethanol being
produced per ton of dry corn according with the US National
Renewable Energy Laboratory [69]. The conversion of lignocellulosic
biomass (such as wood and grasses) is more difficult, due to the
presence of longer-chain polysaccharide molecules and requires acid or
enzymatic hydrolysis before the resulting sugars can be fermented to
ethanol.
S. Ferreira et al.
4.3. Chemical conversion
The process to produce biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters-FAME) is
called transesterification. Methyl esters from triglycerides are produced
using inexpensive base catalysts (NaOH or KOH) and methanol at low
temperatures (60 °C to 80 °C) and pressures (1.4 atm) in both batch
and continuous systems [70]. The other major chemical platform, fatty
acids, can also be used to produce methyl esters. Fats are hydrolyzed to
free fatty acids and glycerol in one of two ways:
• continuous, high pressure, counter current systems at 20–60 bar
and 250 °C with or without catalysts, which are typically zinc oxide,
lime, or magnesium oxide added to water;
• counter current systems at atmospheric pressure with small
amounts of sulfuric/sulfonic acids in steam.
Methyl esters are produced from fatty acids using strong mineral
acids, such as sulfuric acid or a sulfonated ion exchange resin, and
methanol in counter current systems at 80 °C to 85 °C under mild
pressures. If a feedstock contains triglycerides and free fatty acids, acid
esterification is performed on the entire feedstock first, followed by
transesterification to convert the remaining triglycerides. Water man-
agement is a key to high yields and low processing problems. Yields of
glycerides and fatty acids to esters for all processes generally exceed
97% and can reach 99% with careful management of equilibrium
conditions.
Fatty acid methyl esters are one of two primary platform chemicals
produced by the oil chemical industry. One of the first uses of
transesterified vegetable oil (biodiesel) was to power heavy-duty
vehicles in South Africa before World War II.
Rapeseed production and subsequent esterification and distribution
is an established technology in Europe. Rapeseed Methyl Ester (RME)
is produced in Europe in significant quantities manly in France and
Germany. However, RME still required substantial subsidies to com-
pete with diesel, as well in long term to. The subsidies in Europe are
usually a combination of farm subsidies and tax exemption of the
biofuel. In Portugal the recent tax exemption of the biofuel aligns with
those policies. The rural employment and the flexible nature of the
crops, because they can be easily replaced by conventional food crops
when desired, are the key drivers for the implementation of RME
schemes.
5. Biomass related technology practices in Portugal
5.1. Combustion plants
The use of wood in fireplaces and small furnaces in houses for
domestic heating is a classic application in Portugal, but like in many
others countries this utilization is not well documented.
The developments in this technology lead to improved heating
systems, automated and with catalytic gas cleaning allowing standar-
dized fuel use (e.g. pellets), and efficiencies of 70–90% with very low
emissions [71]. With these technology developments a significant
market was developed for biomass wood chips and pellets in Europe.
The availability of biomass fuels in this format (e.g. wood chips,
pellets, briquettes) and automated combustion equipment has renewed
the interest in solid biofuels for home heating in Portugal.
The national experience on medium and large scale biomass
combustion power plants has been remarkably increasing in the last
decade as can be seen in Table 9.
With the public tender launched in 2006 for the allocation of
100 MW for residual forest biomass power plants and 150 MW already
allocated in public interest projects, out of the same tender, the goal
was to reach 250 MW dedicated residual forest biomass power plants.
According to Table 9 only ten of those biomass plants are running
representing 108.106 MW of installed power, which is far behind the
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235
target of 250 MW.
There are several reasons for the failure of this public tender: power
plants bad location; raw materials high costs relatively to the feed-in
tariffs; problems in procurement, logistics and raw materials avail-
ability; bureaucratic procedures of the public tender, and more
recently, lack of financing [30].
5.2. Gasification plants
In Portugal according to 2010 Worldwide Gasification database
[72], two gasification plants are registered: the Quimigal Amonia plant
in Barreiro and the Portucel atmospheric fluidized bed plant.
Although the several possible routes using gasification, some
technological challenges remain such as, gas cleaning, scale-up of
process and process integration. In Germany, Sweden and Netherlands
the interest to develop advanced gasification for syngas production is
growing and plays a role in long-term research and development
strategies. According to Faaij [71] this option has a strong position
from both efficiency and economic perspective. Considering this and
the research and development efforts supported by the EU to reach
commercial status in this technology, Portugal needs to promote and
support more demonstration projects with this technology. At the
moment, there is one pilot scale fluidized bed gasification unit in the
Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre and some other lab scale units in
various universities.
5.3. Pyrolysis plants
The Portuguese experience with pyrolysis is very limited. In
Portugal, pyrolysis is still confined to pilot plants, namely a paper-mill
plant, which uses as raw material, wood ships, rice, corn shell and
sugar cane [73]. At the moment, there are also some lab scale pyrolysis
units in universities.
To date, pyrolysis is less developed than gasification. Although
considerable experience was gained over time, still, very few successful
pilot schemes were realized (a prime example show by Fortum, a Finish
Oil company). Pyrolysis now receives most attention as a pre-treatment
step for long-distances transport of bio-oil that can be used in further
conversion (e.g. efficient power generation or oil gasification for syngas
production) [71].
Such as gasification, in the Portuguese case it is still necessary to
promote and support demonstration projects within these technolo-
gies.
5.4. Biogas plants
In Portugal, anaerobic digestion is yet very reduced regarding the
existing potential for this technology. In the eighties and nineties about
80 systems of this type were implemented in Portuguese farms, only
about 30 steel running [34]. The produced heat usually is used in the
process. These residues have a reduced potential when compared with
the political target for the RES, but they have a high impact in the
reduction of the greenhouse gases emissions and energy invoice.
Regarding the exploitation of farm cattle manure for electricity
production in Portugal Monteiro et al. [4] have concluded that is
residual compared to its potential, and point some reasons for that, like
the reduced dimension of the cattle explorations, which makes biogas
production unfeasible. The authors suggested various options to
increase or improve biogas production such as co-digestion, centralized
plants and modular plants. They also point horizontal digesters as the
most suitable for the typical Portuguese plant size with the advantage
of being also suitable for co-digestion due to the very good mixing
conditions. Mesophilic anaerobic digestion due to a more robustness,
stability and lower energy consumption is pointed as the choice. In the
fishing sector there are some unused residues with potential for this
technology, like fish waste, aquaculture products and waste, etc. These
S. Ferreira et al.
residues are generally used for producing fish oil, not existing
experiences within this issue [34].
The interest in biogas wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and its
energy recovery begin to rise in Portugal, and there are some projects
in the exploration phase.
At the moment, are identified in Portugal mainland 23 urban
WWTP with biogas production systems integrated with cogeneration,
other 4 under construction and is planned the construction of one more
[74].
The 28 treatment plants are located near large urban centers,
mainly in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto. Of those, only 4
have a capacity below 50,000 p.e. (population equivalent), correspond-
ing to 15% of the total facilities. It was also verified that there are
inoperative cogeneration systems because of deficiencies in the design,
or because the poor quality of the biogas produced mainly due to
presence of H2S.
Another aspect in evidence is that it is not identified a clear
relationship between installation size (given by population dimension)
and the installed power capacity. An example of that is the Chelas
WWTP dimensioned to serve a 210,700 equivalent population, with an
installed power capacity of 284 kW and Choupal WWTP dimensioned
to serve a 200,000 equivalent population, as an installed power
capacity of 30 kW.
The available data indicates that the anaerobic stabilization process
of the WWTP survey target are explored in mesophilic regime, with
temperatures varying between 30 and 37 °C and that the cogeneration
technology used is spark ignition engine, except the Choupal WWTP
that uses a turbine. On the other hand, the set of facilities that
responded to the survey, only the North Leiria WWTP practices co-
digestion, with an expected daily reception of 280 m3 of swine
explorations effluent to joint with digestion sludges produced in the
North Leiria WWTP (which corresponds to 52.8% of the flow diges-
tion). It also refers that the Évora WWTP receives skimmings, oils and
fats from Águas do Centro Alentejo, S.A. multi-municipal WWTP
system to joint with the installation sludge.
The dimension of WWTP in Portugal is a barrier to the viability of
biogas production. A possible solution to this problem may be multi-
municipal WWTP, as the case of the Évora WWTP, which will increase
the potential of biogas production.
5.5. Biofuels plants
The Decree-Law 117/2010 of 25 October defines a 10% biofuels
incorporation [75], which remains in the national action plan for
renewable energy 2020 [76]. The PNAER 2020 also considers the
possibility to increase to 5% (in energy content) the incorporation of
first generation bioethanol in gasoline, as well 10% by volume of first
generation biodiesel in diesel. Note that since 2011 the Portuguese
government ended with the tax exemption of the biofuels.
In 2012 were registered in Portugal six companies classified as
General Regime Producers (GRP), dedicated to the production of
Biodiesel FAME. In this period, the total production of FAME by
GRP was 351,345 m3 (313,048 t corresponding to 3219.3 GWh)
representing 89% of the 2012 DGEG allocated quota to those GRP
[46]. There were also 17 small dedicated producers with a global
production in 2012 of 4934 m3 of "biofuel diesel substitute", which is
equivalent to 45.25 GWh [46].
5.6. Pellets plants
Densified biomass, especially pellets has drawn attention due to its
superiority over raw biomass in terms of its physical and combustion
characteristics. Moreover, pellets have other value-added advantages
over raw biomass. Pelletization reduces moisture content, increases
energy content, enhances combustion efficiency and produces greater
homogeneity of composition when compared to raw biomass [77]. The
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235
bulk density of biomass pellet is 4–10 times that of ‘as received
biomass’ [78], which makes easier the handling and transport. All these
factors make pellets one attractive form of biomass-based energy.
The Portuguese solid biofuels market has been developing in the
recent years, and it were identified eleven pellets production plants in
operation (Table 9), and a consumption of about 1.77 million tonnes of
biomass [30]. Moreover, there are some other pellets plants running
but of reduced expression in biomass consumption.
According with ANPEB - Portuguese Pellet Association - for the
year 2012 were produced in Portugal about 690,000 t of pellets, an 8%
increase compared to 2011. The pellets domestic consumption was a
significant increase of 41% compared to 2011, with 73,000 t consumed.
The capacity installed in 2012 was of 904,000 t. However, it is planned
the construction of new pellets plants that will allow to reach a
production capacity of 1,240,000 t per year.
6. Plans and strategies to promote biomass use in Portugal
The financial crisis that stills remains in Portugal makes necessary a
reflection in RES policy. The crisis represents a structural break for
power demand. This demand contraction combined with the
Portuguese strong investment in RES and combined cycle plants, leads
to an imbalance between electricity production capacity and consump-
tion, resulting in an oversupply and high coverage rates.
The consequences of this RES policy, becomes more visible in the
end of the last decade, and are the result of the feed-in tariffs,
associated with the macroeconomic imbalances, and economy struc-
tural weaknesses. Regarding with this consequences, one of the
financial assistance programme goals for the energy sector, was the
renegotiation in RES electricity production contracts, to reduce the
feed-in tariffs for the existing projects and revise downwards the feed-
in tariffs for new contracts.
However, despite the many changes after the financial assistance
programme, fossil fuel demand still affecting negatively the Portuguese
trade balance and energy costs. In 2014 the coal, oil and gas gross
inland energy consumption was 66.9% [79].
The macroeconomic scenario, consumption and funding con-
straints, and oversupply led the Portuguese authorities to a reflection,
in particular regarding the renewable energy Directive 2009/28/EC
[80] that results in the PNAER 2020 [76] and replaces the PNAER
2010. PNAER 2020 provides a 18% reduction in RES installed capacity
compared with the PNAER 2010, but renewable base load electricity
share of PNAER 2020 is higher (60% vs. 55%), as the RES global target,
which is expected to stand at around 35% (compared to the 31% target
of PNAER 2010). The mandatory target for the energy final consump-
tion in the transportation sector expressed by the directive 2009/28/
EC is 10%.
The PNAER 2020 established a more careful selection of support,
which should be directed to RES with greater technological maturity
and economic rationale for Portugal, leaving the supporting of lower
maturity technologies for the instruments to promote research and
development of to release the electricity consumers of the additional
investment funding in experimental technologies, without prejudice to
projects that will prove beneficial to the national economy.
The PNAER 2020 suit, thus, the evolution of future production
capacity and technological choices to a logic of economic rationality
and free initiative of the promoters, whose investment decisions are no
longer dependent on subsidy mechanisms or guaranteed remuneration
and mitigation risk, in accordance with the scheme introduced by the
Decree-Law N°. 215-B/2012 [81].
With the review undertaken in PNAER 2020, the Portuguese
government aims to achieve the national and European objectives,
minimizing the necessary investment and increasing national competi-
tiveness. The PNAER 2020 key policies and measures for the energy
sector based on biomass are presented in the Table 14.
The contribution of biomass for power production, heating and
S. Ferreira et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 78 (2017) 1221–1235

Table 14
PNAER 2020 key policies and measures by sector [76].

Description Expected result

Heating and cooling sector

Promote the installation in buildings of more efficient biomass energy systems, with 1830 GW h in 2020.
better environmental performance for heating and cooling purposes.

Power sector
Creation of a decentralized biomass plants network following the public tender of
2006 for the allocation of power production.
Awarding incentives to forest biomass power plants in the context of a binding
framework to certain conditions, following voluntary agreements with the power
plant promoters.
Biomass installed power production reinforcement, promoting a management
improvement in the electricity supply chain and in the security of supply.
Draw a commitment framework with the biomass power plants promoters that enable
the projects execution, linking the promoters with the support and implementation of
the forest policy measures, organizing of the forest supply chain, local economic
recovery, social responsibility and also a compliance with the project construction
deadlines.

Transportation sector
Promote the utilization of endogenous resources and residues to biofuels production Significant increase in endogenous resources utilization for biofuels production.
and promote the technologies related to second generation raw materials
(lignocellulosic and non-food cellulosic materials).

Common measures
Evaluate the bio-methane potential in Portugal and its alternative applications, and Allow the bio-methane utilization for other purposes than power production.
create the necessary regulations and specifications for bio-methane injection into
the natural gas network.

Promote the Biomass Center for Energy. Advancing a research center, certification and coordination of the biomass sector.
Growth of the sustainable use of biomass.

cooling and transportation sectors estimated for 2020 by the PNAER reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, thus contributing to the
2020 is expressed in Table 15. combating of climate change. On the other hand, diversification of
Table 15 reflects the estimates of total contribution of different supply sources through endogenization of fuel production, leads to
renewable energy technologies for meeting targets set for Portugal, greater security of supply, essential in the transportation sector. The
taking into account the availability of resources, the maturity of goal of the transportation sector will be fulfilled in 2020 in real terms,
technologies, specific instruments and commitments applicable to each 4.5% of substitutes for gasoline biofuels, 87% of substitutes for diesel
RES. The estimated values are based on an average annual growth of biofuels and 8.5% of renewable source electricity.
5% for installed capacity and 1% for the power production.
In the heating and cooling sector the projection for 2020 is an
increase of 9% of the value recorded in 2010, with a greater contribu- 7. Conclusion
tion of solar thermal, followed by biomass. In this area, it is highlighted
the important role that will come to have the regulations on energy This paper presents the scope, potential and technologies related to
performance of buildings, which can make a significant contribution to the use of biomass resources in Portugal. The general conclusion is that
the promotion of heating technologies, environment and domestic hot the Portuguese energy market stills largely based on imported fuels.
water, based on the use of RES in especially through the use of solar Domestic production has increased, especially from renewable energy
thermal collectors, biomass boilers and heat pumps. sources, other than biomass that is far from the targets.
The focus on the use of renewable energy sources in the transporta- The results concerning the biomass potential estimated based on
tion sector leads to a reduction of dependence on oil and, consequently, several entities and scientific literature for the various sectors of the
a reduction in the deficit of foreign trade balance, as well as the country shows a total biomass potential of 42,489.7 GW h per year. The
main biomass resource are the municipal solid wastes (16,987 GW h/
year) followed by the forest residues (11,611 GW h/year). The energy
Table 15 crops have the potential to be the third biomass resource in Portugal
Estimate of the contribution of each biomass-based technology to achieve the mandatory accounting for 8378 GWh/year.
2020 targets [76].
The results reveal the possibility of overexploitation of forest
Biomass Power (MW) Energy (GWh) biomass resources in 4.0 Mtonne/year if all the predicted biomass
power plants enter into the running phase. Not only because of this
Electricity biomass deficit but also due to the inadequate location of the biomass
power plants, raw materials high costs relatively to the feed-in tariffs,
Biomass:
Solid 769 4306 logistics, lack of financing the public tender for the allocation of
Biogas 59 413 250 MW of biomass power plants has been failing.
The results also reveal underexploited biomass resources such as
Heating and cooling municipal solid wastes, waste waters and animal manures. The use of
Biomass:
anaerobic digestion based on various substrates such as animal
Solid – 26163 manure, waste waters and municipal solid wastes is still very low
Biogas – 139.5 compared to the estimated potential for this technology. Particularly,
the animal manure is strongly encouraged by the EU and by the
Transportation
Portuguese guidelines for energy-environmental and agricultural po-
Biofuels gasoline substitutes – 302.3
Biofuels diesel substitutes – 5848.9 licies. The waste waters treatment plants were constructed across the
territory through small scale plants, which makes the biogas produc-

1233
S. Ferreira et al.
tion not viable in a great number of small towns. There is also a great
potential for landfill biogas production that is not being realized in the
country. However, it is expected that this potential will decrease in
favor of recycling, composting and MBT according to the future
prospects for this biomass resource.
The future prospects for biomass in Portugal are mainly derived
from the EU strategies for the biomass. However, the national
authorities also adopted policy measures expressed in the PNAER,
which estimates an average annual growth of 5% for installed capacity
and 1% for the power production. These measures are fundamental to
capitalize the available biomass in Portugal for energy and fuels
production which in turns contributes to: the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions, country energy independence, and security of supply
and to reduce the trade deficit. At the local level will also contribute to
boosting employment and socio-economic development, which are also
EU targets.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude to the Portuguese
Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) for the given support
trough the grant SFRH/BD/91894/2012.
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