A strategic analysis of factors affecting the establishment of wood charcoal production in central British Columbia

The mountain pine beetle epidemic has resulted in considerable volume of wood fibre becoming available in the province of British Columbia. The epidemic, combined with the provincial downturn in the forest industry, has encouraged steps to diversify the forestry-based economy of the central interior of British Columbia. Through a review of available literature supplemented with information obtained through the author's employment, global charcoal production and consumption was explored to determine the opportunities and challenges that exist for the production of charcoal from various wood fibre sources. Challenges and opportunities include the availability of biomass feedstocks, domestic market demand, production technology, and funding. It is recommended to investigate further the use of portable pyrolysis technology for access to fibre in remote locations. However, further work is required to examine the overall economics of accessing the fibre and production operations. --P. ii.