Research conducted on biomass for Ulcos (“Ultra-
Low CO2 Steelmaking” European Integrated Project)
has progressively focused on charcoal supply from
tropical eucalyptus plantations. The sustainability of such
plantations is being investigated from the viewpoint of
their carbon, water and nutrient budgets: they must all
be neutral or positive. Field research is producing results
at the tree or stand level in several sites of Congo and
Brazil, while a spatial model is developed to identify
the conditions of biomass neutrality at the scale of the
forest ecosystem. The productivity of biomass has been
analyzed through the description of practices along the
Abstracts of technical articles
various supply-schemes that competitively feed the steel
industry in Brazil and the identification of bottlenecks for
further expansion.