Implementation and development

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry financed the design and development of the Biomass Atlas 2014-2018. The work was coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and carried out in cooperation with Tapio Oy, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Universities of Vaasa and Eastern Finland. The production of the versatile information contents has been made possible through the cooperation of several actors. Further development has been carried out in several projects, such as the Biokiertomoduuli project (2022-2024) funded by Makera.

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Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) is the home organization of the Biomass Atlas, which produces data on agricultural and forest biomass and maintains a biomass database and map service. Up-to-date biomass data are produced by research and public authorities in the form of crop statistics, forest inventory, modelling of logs, and livestock manure modeling using the Finnish Standard Manure System. Luke's researchers have compiled the data and transformed it into harmonized spatial data. Luke has handled the communication about the mapping service and promoted the implementation of the mapping service.

At Luke, the Biomass Atlas has been implemented by project manager Eeva Lehtonen, Senior scientists Perttu Anttila, Kaija Hakala, Sari Luostarinen and Oiva Niemeläinen, communication specialist Merja Lindroos, specialist Timo Muhonen and the application development team: Senior specialists Virpi Mäntylä, Anil Maharjan and Harri Pitkänen.

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Tapio Oy has contributed to the development of the Biomass Atlas by providing data on boiler ash.

Tapio's forest information expert Ari Kotiharju and communication expert Essi Lahti have been involved in the development of the Biomass Atlas.

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The Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) has selected, described and verified biodegradable waste fractions from the supervision register of the Finnish environmental administration (YLVA). Syke produces updates for biodegradable waste and ash data for the Biomass Atlas.

From Syke, Senior Scientist Suvi Lehtoranta, Group manager Tuuli Myllymaa and senior coordinator Teija Haavisto have been involved in the further development and design of the Biomass Atlas. Senior coordinator Kirsi Merilehto is responsible for waste data production.  

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University of Vaasa. Harri Lehtinen, Project Manager at the Levón Institute of the University of Vaasa (www.uva.fi), has been involved in the technical design and implementation of the Biomass Atlas as an IT expert, mainly responsible for user interface design, preliminary user testing and IT consulting. He is particularly interested in the use of open interfaces of the Biomass Atlas in future applications.

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University of Eastern Finland. The Environmental Informatics Research Group, led by Professor Mikko Kolehmainen, has contributed to the design of the data models and application architecture of the Biomass Atlas. Special interest is given to the integration of different computational models into the Biomass Atlas environment and the integration of other information systems. In addition, international research projects will be carried out to promote the use of the Biomass Atlas outside Finland.

In addition to Mikko Kolehmainen, researcher Robert Ciszek has been involved in the design and implementation of the project.

The Biomass Atlas service aims to promote the sustainable use of biomass. The service has been used in a number of different projects and service developments and it is hoped that this collaboration will continue in the future. The transition to more sustainable and resource-efficient activities requires cooperation between all actors in the sector. 

The Biomass Atlas is based on data from official registers and statistics. The advantage of national registers is, among other things, that the data cover Finland and the calculation is consistent throughout the region. It is also possible to update the data on a regular basis. 

In Finland, there are now also services that allow by-product producers to self-declare the materials they want to discard. Similarly, these services can also offer the possibility of processing materials from other producers. Taken together, the different mapping services provide a more comprehensive picture of the potential of biomass-based by-products.

KiertoaSuomesta

KiertoaSuomesta.fi is a marketplace that connects sellers and buyers of materials. The site mainly serves as a marketplace for bio-based side streams (e.g. manure, grass, plant waste) and helps sellers and buyers find each other. The service will contribute to the development of regional nutrient and material cycles and thus promote the circular economy. The main target groups are companies that produce bio-based side streams from agriculture, forestry and the food industry, as well as industries that use raw materials and the public sector.

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Materiaalitori

Materiaalitori is a circular economy marketplace for companies and organizations to search and announce on side streams, surplus materials, waste and reusable materials and products. It also allows users to search for and offer circular economy services, such as waste management and expert services. The service is owned by the Ministry of the Environment and operated by Motiva Oy.

Biogas tool

The Biogas tool, maintained by the Natural Resources Institute Finland, allows you to estimate the energy potential available from different feedstocks, compare the profitability of different processing options and energy recovery forms, and make a preliminary estimate of the size of a potential biogas plant investment. Tip: The Biomass atlas can be used to estimate the amount of biomass suitable as feedstock for biogas process in a selected area. 

Circwaste

The Circwaste project, funded by the EU LIFE program, has compiled information on the properties of nutrient-rich biomasses, which can be combined with information on the amount and location of biomasses in the Biomass Atlas.

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The Biomass Atlas will continue to evolve through new projects and user feedback. New features will be introduced as needed and communicated directly to registered users. 

The following features have been added or developed since the release:

• Boiler ash was added to the Biomass Atlas in 2017. Field biomass and side streams were added in the first half of 2018. Horticultural crop production data was revised in the summer of 2018. 
• The Biomass Atlas has been translated into Swedish and English. 
• Data cards describing biomass characteristics have been added to the map service in 2023. 
• The Biomass Atlas project pages have been updated in 2024, including a section on value chains. 

In the future, it is planned to update the field, manure and waste data approximately every three years, and the forest data approximately every five years. The ash data and the Vantaa food waste pilot were added to the Biomass Atlas in separate projects, and there are currently no plans to update the data.