Social, Environmental, Economic and Technological Valuation of the Forest

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Considering the diversified and multidisciplinary nature of the programmatic content to be addressed, this unit will be lectured in the form of thematic seminars, provided by experts in the field.

Learning Outcomes

To identify the different types of biomass existing in Portugal and understand the economic, social and environmental importance;

To know the main physical, chemical and thermal characteristics of forest biomass, to identify the transformation technologies and to understand the efficiency of these transformation processes;

To acquire skills to optimize the logistic processes of collection, transportation and recovery of residual forest biomass.

To know the methodologies of extraction, processing and use of natural products obtained from raw materials from the forest, including wastes, for the development of new materials, products and applications.

To understand all the phases of the pulp, paper and fibrous panel manufacturing process, the main species used and identify the technological properties intrinsic to each species, with a view to their transformation into fibrous material.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1 - Biomass, Pulp and Paper

2 - Diversification and valorization of Forest products

3 - Circular Economy - markets and footprints (water, carbon, ecological)

4 - Biorefinery and Biofuels

5 - Quality Management

6 - Human Factor - Population Demographics and Behaviors

7 - Ethical and Values Challenges

8 - Nature Tourism / Forest leisure territory.

Head Lecturer(s)

Alfredo Manuel Pereira Geraldes Dias

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Report of a seminar or field trip: 20.0%
Other: 30.0%
Synthesis work: 50.0%

Bibliography

M. Aresta, A. Dibenedetto, F. Dumeignil, “Biorefinery: from biomass to chemicals and fuels”, De Gruyter, 2012.

Roger M. Rowell Handbook of Wood Chemistry and Wood Composites, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, New York 2013.

Tester, J. W., Drake, E. M., Driscoll, M. J., Golay, M.W,, Peters, W. A., Sustainable Energy – Choosing Among Options, The MIT Press, 2º Edition, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012.

Haygreen, J. G. e Bowyer, J. L. (1982): Forest Products and Wood Science - An Introduction, The Iowa State University Press/Ames, Iowa, USA.

Tsoumis, G. (1991): Science and Technology of Wood - Structure, Properties, Utilization, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, USA.

Walker, J. C. F. (1993): Primary Wood Processing- Principles and Practice, Chapman & Hall.