Supply Chain

From Forest to Stockyard to Sawmill to CHP

How Analema connects Japanese forest thinning, stockyard sorting, sawmill residues, and fuel-tolerant biomass CHP into one local supply chain.

Analema forest-to-energy supply chainA left-to-right chain: managed forest, thinning crew, forwarder, stockyard sorting, sawmill, and a fuel-tolerant CHP plant, ending in local power and heat. High-value timber leaves at the sawmill; only residues and chips continue to the biomass plant.High-value productsforest roadgraded logs · truckresidues · chipsForest standThinning crewForwarderStockyard sortSawmillCHP plantPowergrid · townHeatkiln · greenhouseMaterial stateLOGSSORTED GRADESCHIPSENERGY
One connected chain, forest to energy. High-value wood first. Biomass last.
  1. Forest stand (森林) — a managed sugi/hinoki plantation.
  2. Thinning crew (間伐) — selective thinning by chainsaw crews.
  3. Forwarder (集材) — machinery hauls material to the roadside.
  4. Stockyard sort (土場) — logs sorted by grade and destination.
  5. Sawmill (製材) — graded logs become construction timber, furniture, panels, and paper; bark, chips, and sawdust remain as residues.
  6. CHP plant (熱電併給) — residues and chips feed a fuel-tolerant gasification unit.
  7. Power (電力) — electricity serves grid connection or the local town.
  8. Heat (熱) — thermal output serves wood drying, greenhouses, and nearby industry.

Forest to landing

Selective thinning brings material out of the stand and down narrow forestry roads to a roadside landing, where it is staged for transport. This is where forestry work and the fuel-chain first connect.

Stockyard and cascade sorting

At the stockyard, logs are sorted by grade and route. Sawlogs, small-diameter material, bark and branches, and chips each move down a different path. The biomass route is deliberately the smallest and last: it carries only what has no higher-value use.

Sawmill and residues

Graded logs move through the sawmill into construction timber and other high-value products. The sawmill also generates bark, offcuts, and sawdust as a normal by-product of that process — sawmill residues biomass fuel that feeds the local supply stream rather than becoming waste.

Managed versus unmanaged forest, side by side — the difference active thinning makes to a stand (concept rendering)

Fuel-tolerant CHP

Thinnings, small logs, bark, branches, and sawmill residues arrive at the containerized gasification CHP unit as a mixed, inconsistent fuel supply. The technology is chosen specifically because it accepts that variability rather than requiring a uniform feedstock.

Heat and power distribution

The unit's electrical output can serve local use or grid connection. Its thermal output can support wood drying, sawmill operations, agriculture, and other nearby industry — extending the value of the same supply chain the fuel came from.

One connected system

Forest maintenance, timber use, sawmill residues, fuel-tolerant CHP, and local heat and power are stages of a single supply chain, not separate businesses. Analema develops projects across that whole chain, from the forest outward.

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