Visions - Fall 2010 - 6

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Currently, all the suppliers are certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Programme for the Enforcement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Wood chips produced from Eucalyptus Pinus trees grown in cultivated and managed forests that are reforested after harvesting.

Wood Chips

Sumitomo Corporation Chile collects wood chips from four separate suppliers within their borders.These includeVolterra, S.A. (a partnership between Sumitomo Corporation, Nippon Paper Industries and MOL shipping builders), Consorcio Maderero S.A., Forestal Los Andes, and Industrial Bosques Cautin. Sumitomo Corporation owns a 45% share ofVolterra, which produces more than 50% of the actual exported volume of wood chips in the country. Specific to the Chilean projects, Sumitomo Corporation fosters local business development, as well as alliances between the different suppliers and Volterra. The woodchip business started more than 20 years ago, but developed its sustainable wood chip business by employing high-yielding Eucalyptus plantations that help reduce the strain and damage on the natural forests.The three woods used for these chips are Eucalyptus Globulus, Eucalyptus Nitens and Pinus Radiata.The harvested wood supply comes from cultivated and managed forests, meaning that no natural forests are disturbed for the sake of the product.The supply comes from a forest crop specially cultivated for wood-chipping purposes and reforested after harvesting. Currently, all the suppliers are certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Programme for the Enforcement of Forest Certification (PEFC), two organizations that certify that these forests are managed in a proper ecological manner and in harmony with the local environment, as well as adherent to national & international laws.The harvesting cycle is relatively short; at harvest time, the Eucalyptus trees are 12 to 14 years old, and the pine trees are 20 to 24 years old, with a portion of the pine rerouted to lumber manufacturing. Produced in specific mills in different locations in Chile, the wood chip processing itself is fairly simple: the logs are cut and fed into heavy capacity chippers, then the chips travel through a sieve to filter and categorize the specification size chips requested by the customer.The oversized pieces are recategorized, and
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the smaller pieces are reprocessed to be used as biomass.After categorization, the product is stocked at wood chip yards waiting to be loaded in huge 54,000 ton wood chip carriers. SC with the assistance of SC Chile purchases about 750,000 tons of wood chips per year, which is approximately 435,000 bone dry metric tons (BDMT).The woodchips are mainly used to make paper pulp for Japanese, Korean and European customers, but can also provide raw material for chip boards. This business provides consistent employment for the local Chilean communities.Adhering to strict business guidelines set by environmental and labor regulations, companies maintain responsible practices and foster a good relationship with the communities throughout the region.
Biomass

Biomass can be defined as any organic product that can produce combustion in specific appliances in order to generate energy. Biomass can be produced as a by-product of wood processing, which made it a logical business progression for SC Chile.The biomass in the Chilean operation comes from wood chip byproduct (known as “pin chips”), eucalyptus bark, and other resourced residue that results from primary wood processing. Having only operated in Chile since 2008, the biomass supply business represents a fairly new business for Sumitomo in South America.When biomass-burning energy plants created a demand, the forest industry leader was ready with the supply; SC Chile has been supplying biomass to two considerably large power plants located in a specific geographical area of Chile called RegionVIII. Internationally, the biomass business has created a cleaner energy source for the industrial market; customers wanting to replace more traditional fuel with a more “green” alternative now can look to biomass suppliers to give them just that.
For more information, please contact Felipe Salazar at felipe.salazar@sumitomocorp.com.
Visions - Fall 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Visions - Fall 2010
