fall 2011 pellet mill magazine

INSIDE: RESPONSE TACTICS DEVELOPED FOR WOOD PELLET SILO FIRES

Fall 2011

www.biomassmagazine.com/pellet-mill-magazine

Export Enhancement U.S. Prepares to Meet Growing Global Wood Pellet Demand2

Plus:Canada Positioned to

Increase its Market SharePage 38

How Pellet Exports Could Impact U.S. Trade Defi cit

Page 30

www.andritz.com

PROCESS SOLUTIONSA full range of single equipment choices or

complete turnkey pellet plants.

DIVERSE CAPABILITIESFrom biomass, to wood waste or whole tree

chipping, ANDRITZ has the solution.

PARTS AND SERVICEOur knowledgable service department is

available around the clock to meet your most demanding schedules.

ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL 336 West PennMuncy, PA 17756PHONE + 1-570-546-1253FAX + 1-570-546-1266

ANDRITZ FEED AND BIOFUEL Glentevej 5-7Esbjerg, Denmark, 6705PHONE + 45 72 16 04 70FAX + 45 72 16 03 01

ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL Constitution No. 464 entreVeracruz, Ver. MexicoPHONE + 52 229 178 3669FAX + 52 229 178 3671

Wood Pellet ProductionThe global leader in wood pelleting plants

FALL 2011 | PELLET MILL MAGAZINE 3

Contents »

FALL 2011 | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 2

FEATURES

CONTRIBUTIONS

DEPARTMENTS04 EDITOR’S NOTE

Pellet Industry Gears Up for Rising Demand By Rona Johnson

06 INDUSTRY EVENTS

07 STANDARDS STEWARDTwo Ships Passing in the Night By John Crouch

08 TESTING GROUNDSThe ‘End of an Era’By Chris Wiberg

09 MAINE-LY PELLETS Maine Removes a Roadblock to Pellet Heating SystemsBy Bill Bell

10 INDUSTRIAL INSIGHT The Case for Importing Sustainable Industrial Wood Pellets from the USBy M. Seth Ginther

11 BUSINESS BRIEFS

EXPORTS Exporting Expertise Inaugural North American Pellet Export Conference zeroes in on the growth potential for exports to the European Union and Asia.By Lisa Gibson

PROCEDURE Silo Fires Require Specifi c Response TacticsAs the wood pellet industry grows, it is becoming imperative for those involved to understand the nature of pellet silo fi res and learn the appropriate response tactics.By Henry Persson

46

12

24

18

30

38

34

42

SAFETY For Safety’s Sake The Wood Pellet Association of Canada has enlisted the help of the British Columbia Forest Safety Council and Aon to lower insurance rates for pellet mills.By Lisa Gibson

USE Conference Addresses Burning Questions The Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference covered everything from pellet mill safety and plant optimization to government affairs and quality standards.By Lisa Gibson

POLICY Trade TalkThe U.S. has recognized wood pellets as an export growth sector and has tasked various government agencies to gather information and produce reports about export opportunities.By Matt Soberg

CANADA Positioned for Growth With its 981 million acres of forest, Canada is a leader in the wood pellet industry, producing 1.5 million metric tons in 2010.By Matt Soberg

BUSINESS A Pellet Maker’s Successes, Solutions and Challenges The owners of Equustock Virginia Inc. credit their success with their ability to serve a variety of markets in the U.S. and overseas. By Debbie Sniderman

INTERNATIONAL Big in the Baltics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are quietly becoming major supply hubs for wood pellets.By Peter Taberner

4 PELLET MILL MAGAZINE | FALL 2011

Pellet Industry Gears Up for Rising DemandThis is the second edition of Pellet Mill Magazine and, as usual, the editors had no trouble coming up with

content. A new addition to this issue is a regular column (see page 10) from Seth Ginther, executive director of the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association.

Although we cover all aspects of the pellet industry, all eyes are currently on global demand and how that demand is going to be fi lled.

Word on the street is that the global demand for wood pellets, which is currently estimated at 10 million metric tons, could increase sixfold by 2020, with much of that growth anticipated in the European Union. The U.K. has several biomass power plant projects in development and there are many coal-to-biomass conversions taking place, including one that’s being billed as the largest conversion of its kind in the world. The Rodenhuize Biomass Power Station in Belgium now produces 180 megawatts of biomass-based power, enough to run 320,000 households for a year. The plant is owned by Electrabel, a subsidiary of GDF Suez, and Ackermans & van Haaren.

This growth potential has prompted Anglo-Dutch power and gas exchange APX-Endex and the port of Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest port, to start a biomass exchange. The wood pellet futures contracts are listed on Trayport’s Global Vision Trading Gateway.

Asia is also starting to get into the market, with South Korea calling for a 30 percent reduction in green-house gases, which has some estimating that the country’s wood pellet demand could increase from 0 to 5 million tons in the next 10 years.

With new demand expected in the European Union and in Asia, there are plenty of plants being devel-oped all over the world. The latest announcement came out of Brazil, where Suzano Energia Renovavel, a subsidiary of Brazilian pulp and paper company Suzano Papel e Celulose, plans to build two pellet mills with total production capacity of 2 million tons per year.

Projects have also been announced in the Southeast U.S., and you can bet Canada is preparing for in-dustry growth as well.

In the U.S., the USDA recently announced payments to more than 160 bioenergy producers in 41 states, which included several pellet mills (Rocky Mountain Pellet Co. Inc., Appling County Pellets LLC, Rocky Canyon Pellet Co. LLC, Southern Kentucky Pellet Mill Inc., Enviva LP, Corinth Wood Pellets LLC, Geneva Wood Fuels LLC, Maine Woods Pellet Co. LLC, New England Wood Pellet LLC and others.) The individual grants to pellet mills ranged from $1,193.26 to $240,837.45.

Of course, there is room for caution here as many countries are experiencing budget shortfalls, which could lead to reductions in support for renewable energy. Let’s hope world leaders understand the economic benefi ts and job creation opportunities involved in all aspects of pellet production before they start the bud-get cutting process.

Associate Editor Matt Soberg writes about the Canadian pellet industry, how much it has expanded and what it is doing to prepare for in-creased global demand. Soberg also delved into the U.S. National Export Initiative to see what, if anything, the federal government has done or is doing to increase U.S. pellet exports since they have been identifi ed as one of the most promis-ing export markets.

Associate Editor Lisa Gibson attended the Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference in July and the North American Biomass Pellet Export Conference in September and writes in detail about both of them in this issue. She also reports on a collaboration between the British Columbia Forest Safety Council and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada to improve safety conditions at pellet mills.

Rona [email protected]

Matt SobergLisa Gibson

« Editor’s Note

For more news, information and perspective, visit www.biomassmagazine.com/pellet-mill-magazine

Associate Editors


EditorialEDITOR

Rona Johnson [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITORSAnna Austin [email protected] Gibson [email protected]

Matt Soberg [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann [email protected]

ArtART DIRECTOR

Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNERElizabeth Burslie [email protected]

Publishing & SalesCHAIRMAN

Mike Bryan [email protected]

CEOJoe Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTTom Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & MARKETINGMatthew Spoor [email protected]

EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT MANAGERHoward Brockhouse [email protected]

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jeremy Hanson [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGERSMarty Steen [email protected]

Chip Shereck [email protected] Brown [email protected]

Andrea Anderson [email protected] Austin [email protected] Kilgore [email protected]

CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

SUBSCRIBER ACQUISITION MANAGER Jason Smith [email protected]

ADVERTISING COORDINATORMarla DeFoe [email protected]

SENIOR MARKETING MANAGERJohn Nelson [email protected]

Subscriptions to Pellet Mill Magazine are free of charge—distributed twice a year—to Biomass Power & Thermal subscribers.To subscribe, visit www.BiomassMagazine.com or you can send your mailing address to Pellet Mill Magazine Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to (701) 746-5367. Back Issues & Reprints Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at (866) 746-8385 or [email protected]. Advertising Pellet Mill Magazine provides a specifi c topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To fi nd out more about Pellet Mill Magazine advertising opportuni-ties, please contact us at (866) 746-8385 or [email protected]. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. Send to Pellet Mill Magazine Letters to the Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.

TM

Please recycle this magazine and removeinserts or samples before recycling COPYRIGHT © 2011 by BBI International


Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade ShowNOVEMBER 1-3, 2011Hyatt Regency AtlantaAtlanta, GeorgiaWith an exclusive focus on biomass utilization in the Southeast —from the Virginias to the Gulf Coast—the Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show will connect the area’s current and fu-ture producers of biomass-derived electricity, industrial heat and power, and advanced biofuels, with waste generators, aggrega-tors, growers, municipal leaders, utility executives, technology pro-viders, equipment manufacturers, investors and policy makers. (866) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com/southeast

Pacifi c West Biomass Conference & Trade ShowJANUARY 16-18, 2012San Francisco Marriott MarquisSan Francisco, CaliforniaWith an exclusive focus on biomass utilization in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada, the Pacifi c West Biomass Confer-ence & Trade Show will connect the area’s current and future pro-ducers of biomass-derived electricity, industrial heat and power, and advanced biofuels, with waste generators, aggregators, grow-ers, municipal leaders, utility executives, technology providers, equipment manufacturers, investors and policy makers. (866) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com/pacifi cwest

California Biodiesel & Renewable Diesel ConferenceJANUARY 16, 2012San Francisco Marriott MarquisSan Francisco, CaliforniaPresented by the California Biodiesel Alliance and Biodiesel Maga-zine, CBA will kick off its fi rst statewide conference on Jan.16 in downtown San Francisco. This one-day event, with evening recep-tion, will take place as part of BBI International's Pacifi c West Bio-mass Conference & Trade Show to be held Jan. 16-18 at the Mar-riott Marquis. Details are being developed now and will be posted as they become available. (866) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com/pacifi cwest

International Biomass Conference & ExpoAPRIL 16-19, 2012Colorado Convention CenterDenver, ColoradoOrganized by BBI International and coproduced by Biomass Power & Thermal and Biorefi ning Magazine, this event brings current and future producers of bioenergy and biobased products togeth-er with waste generators, energy crop growers, municipal leaders, utility executives, technology providers, equipment manufactur-ers, project developers, investors and policy makers. It’s a true one-stop shop—the world’s premier educational and networking junction for all biomass industries. Presentation ideas are now be-ing accepted online. (866) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com

« Industry Events

Biomass Event Hotspot: Atlanta in November

If you go to one event in the Southeast this year, make it BBI International’s Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show, produced jointly by Biomass Power &

Thermal and Biorefi ning Magazine. The Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show returns to

Atlanta this year and will be held Nov. 1-3 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

The conference, one of three distinct regional offshoots of the International Biomass Conference & Expo, will feature more than 60 speakers in four tracks:

• Feedstocks • Biomass power and thermal • Biorefi ning • Biomass project developmentThe Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show will connect

the area’s current and future producers of biomass-derived electricity, industrial heat and power and advanced biofuels, with:

• Waste generators • Aggregators• Growers• Municipal leaders• Utility executives• Technology providers• Equipment manufacturers• Investors • Policy makersThe Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show is designed

to help biomass industry stakeholders, identify and evaluate solutions that fi t their operations.

It’s time to improve your operational effi ciencies and tap into the revenue generating potential of sustainable biomass resources in the region.

Register today at www.biomassconference.com/southeast.

11/01


Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then dark-ness again and a silence.—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Somewhere out in the Atlantic Ocean, two ships pass in the night. Both loaded with energy, bound to a distant port. Both voyages a result of government policies and incentives designed to encourage the energy market in a particular direction.

But, the sad news is that only one of these cargoes is sustainable, and it is not going to my country, but is leaving my country. The cargo bound for my country, is not from my friends, but may, in some cases, be from the country of my some-times and future enemies. The cargo from my country, and my friends in Canada, is full of renewable wood pellets, but it is bound for Europe and the U.K.

The cargo bound to my coun-try, especially to the Northeast of my country, and to Eastern Canada, is crude oil.

One cargo represents the energy future, and one, the energy past. One represents a sustainable future, and the other does not. Our two countries in North America are just not confronting the obvious, which is that for heating oil (and propane), one of the characteristics

that make them so useful—the abil-ity to transport them long distances, and store them for long periods—is also their long-term vulnerability.

In the case of heating oil, we are dealing with a product similar to diesel fuel. Known as a “midlevel” distillate, it comes from the same portion of the refi nery column as diesel. Every day, thousands of new diesel-burning trucks roll off assem-bly lines all over the world. House-holds, schools and businesses that burn fuel oil for heat are competing with every trucker in the world for this fuel. Who do you think will ultimately win? At some point in the future, our children will be incredu-lous that we used this transport fuel for heat. “Didn’t you have anything else to burn,” they’ll ask? Of course the answer is, “yes, actually, we did have something else to burn that is reasonably stable, easy to store, burn and transport, but we shipped most of it, wood pellets, to Europe.”

The bottom line is that the ships of oil will not always come our way, at least without changes in the cost structure. In the case of natural gas, we are already seeing some of the license applications for imported liquid natural gas terminals of the past decade, being altered and resubmitted as export terminals. There may even be a few propane cargoes headed “out-bound” in special circumstances and times of the year. Certainly the idea that we in the U.S. and Canada can

use any fuel for heating we wish, and set the price of that fuel on the world market, is either dead, or will soon be. The two key fossil fuels that heat most of North America not connected to natural gas, are increasingly part of a tightening global market, which must inevitably impact all other sources of thermal energy, including biomass.

I am indebted to Charlie Nie-bling of New England Wood Pellet for the image of the two ships pass-ing in the night. He used this during the exporting session at the Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference in July, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

When I think of my children’s future, I can only hope that some-day North America will come to its senses, and stop encouraging the use of oil for heat, and instead, use wood pellets. It will be interesting how many dollars we send to the Middle East and Venezuela before we come to our senses.

Someday, we will take the right path toward sustainable, biomass, pellet heat, and as a result, the ships will no longer pass in the night.

Author: John Crouch Director of Public Affairs

Pellet Fuels [email protected]

www.pelletheat.org

Two Ships Passing in the Night

Standards Steward »

BY JOHN CROUCH


As I write this column, the Pel-let Fuels Institute and the American Lumber Standards Committee are nearing completion of an agreement that will dramatically improve the quality of pelletized fuels through-out the United States. This agree-ment is the direct result of nearly seven years of hard work carried on the backs of dozens of volun-teers, thousands of man-hours, and ultimately the heavy hand of the U.S. EPA. During this period, the European Union developed numer-ous standards for solid biofuels that are now being converted to ISO standards for use around the world and the European Pellet Council has developed and implemented the EN plus certifi cation scheme on an international basis. Finally, many of the largest European wood pellet buyers have come together to develop a standard specifi cation for industrial wood pellets. This process is also nearing completion. We are nearing the end of an era where consumers have had to ques-tion “what is in the bag” and where producers take great risk selling into markets with requirements that may be poorly defi ned, but carry great penalties for noncompliance.

I, personally, take great pride in having been part of making this transition a reality. At times, these efforts have been highly conten-

tious and, believe me, supporting standardization hasn’t always been a good political position to be in. However, as these initiatives have progressed, I have witnessed a large shift in the attitudes of many people from vehement rejection to accep-tance and even ultimately embracing standardization. This transition has been most apparent when I speak at conferences and is manifested in the tone of the audience. Years ago, other standards developers and I would kid each other over who gets to wear the bull’s eye this time, when deliberating who would give the next standards update at a con-ference. By contrast, in the past year I often fi nd myself on the podium defending why the standards aren’t stricter. I consider this a welcome transition and the end of an era where we need to convince people that standardization is a necessity.

This is also the end of an era for me personally. As many of you know I have been a long-time fi gure at Twin Ports Testing in Superior, Wis. After 12 years of service, I have moved on to the next phase of my professional career. I am now the manager of Biomass Energy Laboratory, which is a joint venture between Timber Products Inspec-tion and Control Union USA. I will also be managing all biomass energy services for Timber Prod-

ucts Inspection including auditing and quality management consult-ing services. The purpose for my transition is to develop a model for the industry that provides biomass fuel producers and users with all of the services they need to comply with any of these standards and/or certifi cation systems, both domesti-cally and internationally. This is being developed under the um-brellas of BEL, Timber Products Inspection and Control Union USA and includes third-party testing, inspection, auditing, quality manage-ment consulting, QA/QC sampling, logistics and sustainability. I will still maintain my role as co-chair of the PFI Standards Committee as well as my participation on the U.S. Techni-cal Advisory Group for ISO TC 238 and other various initiatives I have been part of in the past.

I have enjoyed being part of the development of this industry and look forward to continuing my involvement long into the future. I, for one, am ready for the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

Author: Chis WibergManager, Biomass Energy Laboratory

(218) [email protected]

The ‘End of an Era’

« Testing Grounds

BY CHIS WIBERG


The recent annual meeting of our Maine Pellet Fuels Association brought forth unanimity on an important point: the economic success of the four pellet manufacturing fi rms in our state is to considerable extent dependent upon the success of the fi rms installing pellet heating equipment. Our manufactur-ing fi rms are therefore fully behind association efforts to open more doors for installers

One effort has already met with signifi cant success, and is of national signifi cance. As of late September, Maine law now prohibits the state Commissioner of Public Safety from having any rule which would disallow “the connection of a solid-fuel burning appliance to a chimney fl ue to which another appliance burning oil or solid fuel is connected.” In other words, it is now, in Maine, OK to have a pellet stove or central heating system hooked into the same chimney fl ue as an oil burner.

The earlier law prohibiting dual connections exists in many states, and is based upon a model law set forth in the mid-1990s by the National Fire Protection Association. Since that time, the technology surrounding heating systems has changed markedly, par-ticularly with regard to high-effi ciency pellet heating systems. Maine’s fi re marshal, while opposing the change in Maine law, was unable to come up with any instance in which an accident could be attributed to dual connections

involving pellet heat. The new law, of course, contains safeguards, such as assurance of suffi cient draft, a carbon monoxide detector in or near any bedroom, and—most important to our industry—approval of pellet heating appliances by Underwriter Laborato-ries Inc. or a similar organization, and installation according to manufacturers standards. This means that manufac-turers will need to modify their current prohibitions, set forth in their manuals in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association model, against installation into an existing oil burner fl ue system. Some manufacturers are now doing so, in view of Maine’s new law, and others will no doubt follow suit if requested by the heating fi rms installing their equipment.

In many instances, this change in Maine law considerably reduces the cost of installing a pellet heating system. Another barrier to conver-sions is, of course, the huge question of fi nancing. Many states have enacted a Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE legislation approach, whereby the fi nancing takes place through the municipality and is rolled into the ho-meowner’s property tax bill. However, this mechanism has come up against many roadblocks, with lenders and reg-ulators having all-too-vivid memories of the 2008 meltdown in homeowner fi nancing instruments. Our Maine Pel-let Fuels Association is working to fi nd ways around the roadblocks.

A third roadblock to residential and small commercial conversions from oil to pellet heat is the pellet distribution system. The distribution dilemma is classic to the introduc-tion of many new technologies. Bulk delivery is clearly the cost-effi cient system of the future, but how to get to that point? It’s our understanding that in Upper Austria—our best model—pellet heat was fi rst installed in large facilities taking bulk deliveries, so that a distribution network was readily es-tablished to serve homeowners as well. Not so in Maine, although we are being helped by having a number of public buildings converted thanks to $13 mil-lion in federal Recovery Act fi nancing provided through the Maine Forest Service. We’re looking to new delivery and pellet storage technologies to help solve distribution questions.

And who has a superb system, with the confi dence of homeowners, and trucks going into every neighbor-hood? Our friends selling home heat-ing oil, of course, and we are welcom-ing increased collaboration with those oil dealers now thinking of their fi rms as fuel suppliers, delivering pellets as well.

Author: Bill BellExecutive Director

Maine Pellet Fuels [email protected]

Maine Removes a Roadblock to Pellet Heating SystemsBY BILL BELL

Maine-ly Pellets »


« Industrial Insight

Firing industrial wood pellets in traditional coal-fi red power plants in Europe is an environmentally sound means of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by electricity generation. Wood pellets are also economical, effi cient and available on demand, meaning they can be used to generate dispatch-able, fi rm-capacity power. Empirical analyses of the carbon footprint of wood pellets manufactured from woody biomass harvested and processed in the United States and transported to Europe, includ-ing all leakage within the supply chain, manufacturing operations and shipping logistics, demonstrate that electricity produced from wood pellets can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 80 per-cent when compared to electricity produced from coal. Most recently, a study published by the University of Washington comparing biomass power to coal power shows biomass emits just 4 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by coal.

Many pellet manufacturing facilities are located in the South-eastern United States. This region is advantaged in a number of ways, most notably the density of raw materials and the well-established forest products and timber indus-try that, for more than 100 years, has developed this sustainable and rich wood basket. Wood fi ber is abundant in this region, and the growth-to-drain ratio (the amount of new tree growth compared to the

amount removed for use in paper mills, sawmills, biomass energy, etc.) has remained greater than one. Data from the USDA Forest Service confi rms the quantity of timber growing in the Southeast United States has roughly doubled over the past 60 years, and this trend contin-ues today.

A key driver of this growth has been the development of the robust system of sustainable forestry prac-tices applied throughout the region. Sustainability is not a new concept for U.S. foresters; it is a method of growing and managing timber and fi ber resources developed over decades. This ensures that more U.S. forests will exist tomorrow than do today, and that careful and precise silviculture practices preserve and protect the environment, including water and air quality. This can only be done when a commercial outlet exists for healthy forest products to ensure wildlife and biodiversity, and to help reduce the risk of wildfi re, disease and infestation. The use of woody biomass for energy creates an economic value that secures the continued existence of forests, without which the likelihood of conversion of such timberland to nonforest use would be high.

Many U.S. pellet facilities will be Green Gold Label certifi ed to ensure the sustainability of the biomass sourcing. In addition to GGL, there are several other well-respected groups that work to pro-tect, preserve and ensure the health

and future of the forest, including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Forest Stewardship Council and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certifi cation. Industrial wood pellet manufacturers embrace these stringent third-party stan-dards and certifi cations, which are achieved through rigorous audit processes and build upon existing U.S. forestry sustainability initiatives such as those in their own opera-tions and supply chains.

As the conversation about energy and the environment grows alongside demand for industrial wood pellets, we must consider the facts about the role these environ-mentally benefi cial fuels play in for-est health and diversity, in addition to the substantial improvements in the greenhouse gas emissions profi le of energy generation. The United States Industrial Pellet As-sociation was formed in early 2011 to address, among other topics, the importance of environmental sustainability of our industry from forest to furnace. We understand the fundamental need to ensure the continued healthy development of our forests as an integral part of our environment and a way to help meet our current and future energy needs.

Author: M. Seth GintherExecutive Director

U.S. Industrial Pellet Association(804) 771-9540

www.theusipa.org

The Case for Importing Sustainable Industrial Wood Pellets from the USBY M. SETH GINTHER


Timber Creek Farms to Partner with CellMark Energy in Brazil

Timber Creek Farms Industrial has signed a marketing agreement with CellMark Energy (division of CellMark AB, Gothen-burg, Sweden) for 100 percent of the output of its upcoming wood pellet manufacturing facility in Pien, Brazil. CellMark Energy will handle the sales and marketing functions for TCF as well as provide all logistic solutions for the company. Pien is currently the site of intense activity as TCF fi nalizes the construc-tion and installation of pellet equipment that will transform wood resources from the Paranagua region into renewable fuel. The company expects shipments at the 90,000-ton facility to begin in the fi rst quarter of 2012. CellMark Energy is fi nalizing sales agreements with major European utilities.

Jennifer Hedrick appointed PFI executive director

The Pellet Fuels Institute board of directors has appointed Jennifer Hedrick as its executive director. Hedrick's appointment marks the fi rst time in its 26-year history that PFI, a trade association dedicated to advancing the use of densifi ed biomass fuel, will have a full-time executive director. Hedrick has been with PFI since 2008, serving fi rst as the association manager before being ap-pointed acting executive director in July 2011. As association manager, Hedrick was the point person for PFI's standards program, as well as the PFI annual conference. She played a key role in the association's overall management, strategic development, and membership out-reach. Prior to joining PFI, Hedrick worked for a public policy initiative at Georgetown University Law Center that focused on work-place fl exibility.

CPM and Pellet Technology form strategic alliance

CPM and Pellet Technology LLC, have formed a strategic alliance to help bring sus-tainable, renewable energy to electric utilities and biofuels producers. Pellet Technology has developed a complete supply chain solution for biomass users that includes feedstock supply contracting, harvest management and patent-pending production technology to turn corn stover into PowerPellets. Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to market Pellet Technology’s bio-mass engineering processes along with CPM’s hammermills and pellet mills. Together, they will implement a “fi eld-to-fuel” program that provides electric utilities and biofuels produc-ers with an affordable and reliable source of renewable energy.

CBI introduces new equipment

Adding to its line of portable grinders and chippers, Continental Biomass Industries Inc. has introduced the Magnum Force Disc Chipper 754 and the Flail 604 debarker/delimber. This integrated, high-capacity chipping system was designed specifi cally for logging contractors who want to maximize throughput, minimize downtime, increase production and lower operating costs. The Magnum Force Flail 604 is a four-roll fl ail design that has been engineered for high-volume debarking while reducing fi ber loss, chain wear, and fuel consumption. The heavy-duty units were designed to work together as one in the fi eld and built to be legally transportable.

Buhler acquires pelleting die manufacturer Tijdhof

The Buhler Technology Group acquired Tijdhof Persmatrijzen with headquarters in Oldenzaal, Netherlands. This manufacturer of dies and rollers for feed pellet mills will be integrated in the Feed & Biomass business unit. Tijdhof Persmatrijzen, which was set up 30 years ago, specializes in the manufacture of pelleting dies and rollers, which it supplies to the animal feed and biomass industries world-wide. The management and roughly 20 em-ployees will be retained in the company, which will be continued under the Buhler Tijdhof product brand. The acquisition allows Buhler to supply its customers with all the wear and spare parts of a pellet mill from its own single in-house source, including consulting services.

Viridis begins shipping pellets to Europe

Viridis Energy Inc. has begun shipping wood pellets to Italy via an off-take agree-ment arranged through its strategic alliance with Abellon Clean Energy Ltd. that was signed recently. The agreement marks Viridis’ second major off-take agreement in Europe. In addition, the Viridis/Abellon joint alliance is scheduled to begin shipping wood pellets to Switzerland. Abellon Clean Energy is an inte-grated sustainable energy solutions provider based in Ahmedabad, India, with operations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, U.K., India and Africa. Viridis commenced its collaboration with Abellon in August to identify and secure supply agreements for the company’s existing production, partner on the proposed acquisi-tion of Monte Lake property and the develop-ment of a production facility, and to provide a strategic investment in Viridis by Abellon.

PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPSBusiness Briefs

PH

OTO

: C

BI

HEAVY METAL: CBI's new chipper and fl ail were designed to maximize production and lower operating costs.

SHARE YOUR INDUSTRY NEWS: To be included in the Busi-ness Briefs, send information (including photos and logos, if available) to Industry Briefs, Pellet Mill Magazine, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You may also e-mail information to [email protected]. Please include your name and telephone number in all correspon-dence.

Jennifer Hedrick has been appointed to serve as the fi rst-ever full-time PFI executive director.


« Exports


September’s North American Biomass Pellet Export Conference offered valuable insight into the global pellet industry and connected buyers and sellers. BY LISA GIBSON

Exports »

“Come on in. The water’s fi ne.” The phrase was a warm welcome to prospective wood pellet export-

ers, uttered by Harold Arnold, president and CEO of Georgia-based pellet producer and exporter Fram Renewable Fuels, at the inaugural North American Biomass Pellet Export Conference in New Orleans. “I think it’s a great business to be in,” he added.

The event, held Sept. 8-9, was a learning tool for stakeholders in many aspects of the pellet industry, from mill building and raw material supply, to production, quality standards and sales. Focused for the most part on exporting to European industrial pellet users, the conference also offered insight into Asia’s emerging pellet market, as well as pre-dictions from industry experts about how and where the markets will develop in the future. Relevant topics and speakers chosen by the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, the event’s organizer, helped paint a clear picture of the global market opportunities, challenges and facets of the pellet business.

Supply Side“I see you as the supply side,” Henry Pease, in biofuels development

for RWE Supply & Trading in Geneva, told the crowd of about 200 people during the event’s fi rst panel, a roundtable of European utilities and other experts. Utility representatives such as Pease offered an invalu-able take on what they and their industry expect from producers and in product quality. RWE has a multitude of power plants using biomass in Europe, and Pease said the continent sees biomass power generation as a low-cost, reliable and 24/7 renewable energy source. “We like it in Europe because the price is right,” he said, adding that baseload power is crucial. “We see a huge role for [all renewables] but biomass is very important.”

Speaking from the end-user’s perspective, Pease said Europe’s utili-ties will buy what the U.S. producers manufacture. “We can commit to buying what you supply,” he said. “But we can’t trust you’ll make it,” he said later, drawing laughter from the crowd.

The export conference wouldn’t have been possible a year earlier, Pease said, because of the lack of a solid pellet industry infrastructure in the U.S. Today, however, a number of pellet companies are working the market, he added. “The U.S. is on the map in a way that it wasn’t before.”

Exporting Expertise

« Exports

A hammer blow to your operating costs. The hammer mill Granulex™ is the new dynamic grinding machine from Buhler. Designed for ultimate power, Granulex™ delivers high capacity grinding up to 15 t/h for wood and 75 t/h for biomass. Heavy design and supreme ease of maintenance minimize downtime, so you can make maximum use of this productivity. It’s an investment in quality that is sure to show a rapid return – and deliver a hammer blow to your operating costs.

Buhler Inc., 13105 12th Ave N., Plymouth, MN 55441, 763-847-9900

[email protected], www.buhlergroup.com

GranulexTM

High capacity hammer mill.

Powerful 500 hp (400 kW) motor for high capacity grinding.

Largest screen area of any 500 hp hammer mill reduces wear of screens and hammers.

Screens and hammers designed for replacement by a single person in less than 30 minutes.

Smooth running sliding doors on both sides for fast and easy maintenance.

Very high rotor speed for superior grinding effi ciency.

Innovations for a better world.

And wood products group The Wester-velt Co. is adding itself to that map, with a business plan to produce 1 million tons of pellets from existing byproducts of forestry thinning and harvesting operations on its 520,000 plus acres, as well as residues from saw and timber mills. “Pellets are an obvious choice for us,” said Mike Williams, director of strategy for Westervelt. The company plans to sell its pellets to European utilities.

And it isn’t alone. Biomass is expected to play a sizeable role in the tremendous renew-able energy growth anticipated in Europe, according to Nicolas Denis, partner with consulting fi rm McKinsey & Co. “Most but not all European regions theoretically have suffi cient biomass to fulfi ll their mandates domestically,” he said, adding that it is un-likely much of that biomass can be success-fully mobilized. North America and Brazil are best situated to supply Europe’s growing demand, he said.

Not surprisingly, utility Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG) Energy had a presence at the show, as 60 percent of all energy con-sumption last year in Denmark came from biomass. But the demand there is still grow-ing and resources in the small country cannot

support it, said Niels Bojer Jørgensen, head of procure-ment for DONG Energy. In 2009, 90 percent of biomass consumption was imported, he said, from the Baltics, North America and Europe. “I think we’re in all markets,” he said. Although the Baltics represent an ideal location to supply all Denmark’s bio-mass needs, icy waters during Denmark’s prime biomass use months can interrupt the sup-ply chain, he said.

For Baltic producers, major markets in-clude the U.K., Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium, said Simon Rodian Christensen, principal for commodity broker Copenhagen Merchants Group. Different buyers have dif-ferent product parameters, he said, and even color can be a signifi cant aspect in some resi-dential markets. “As a producer, you should try to meet and understand all the specs pos-sible,” he told the conference attendees.

But with globalization of the biomass in-dustry, issues such as sustainability will come into play, Denis said. “The headline against

SHIPSHAPE: Pellets destined for the export market are poured into a ship's holding area at the Port of Vancouver.

all of this is sustainability, and that means nothing and everything at the same time,” said John Keppler, CEO of Enviva LP.

Sustainability was a theme throughout the event and was the focus during the fi nal panel. It is the core of pellet production, ac-cording to Morten Neraas, CEO of Florida-based pellet producer Green Circle Bio En-ergy Inc., and without it, the business is not successful. Arnold added that sustainability here in the U.S. is even a growing concern in the sought-after European pellet markets.

PH

OTO

: FIB

RE

CO

EX

PO

RT

INC

.


Exports »

Reliability and AccountabilityEnsuring the reliability of producers is

yet another crucial supply issue addressed by many of the event’s speakers. “We are go-ing to hold you accountable for delivering on your promise,” Pease said.

Reliability, along with sustainability, is among the key criteria for “culling the herd” of pellet manufacturers, according to Carl Williams, principal of private equity fi rm Riverstone Holdings. Ranking up there with it are health and safety, and product quality. “When you say a shipment of pellets will show up, it sure as hell better show up,” Wil-liams said.

He and Justin DeAngelis, a director for Denham Capital Management LP, offered conference attendees the view from a cru-cial vantage point: private equity fi rms. Pel-let exporting is a diffi cult business, they both agreed. The two were not the only speakers who referred to the pellet export industry as nascent and fragmented. Economies of scale and scope are crucial, and it’s diffi cult to realize “cash-on-cash” returns, according to Williams. “I will tell you that it is possible to do that in this business, but it is extremely diffi cult,” he said.

To be completely successful, the pellet industry needs to become a mini coal indus-try, DeAngelis said, because power companies want to burn coal. In addition, pellets need to become a real commodity, instead of the nascent product it is today. “Basically, people want to deal with coal at the end of the day,” he said. The survivors in the industry will be those that look like coal companies, he added, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if coal compa-nies are making pellets 10 years from now.

DeAngelis added that a global strategy for a pellet business provides for the highest potential value. “We believe if you have a truly global footprint … it allows you to supply cur-rent demand, but also to switch when the mar-ket picks up elsewhere.”

Opportunities in AsiaAnd that switch, or at least some rapid

growth, could be coming out of Asia. Todd Bush, of Pöyry Management Consulting Inc., shifted the focus from European to Asian pel-let market potential.

Bush briefl y addressed conference at-tendees during lunch the fi rst day of the con-ference, discussing the sometimes overlooked potential for pellets in Asia. He singled out

Korea, saying plans are uncertain for Japan after the Fukushima disaster, and China has ample agricultural residues to feed its biomass power plants.

Dedicated biomass power, as well as co-fi ring with biomass are both incentivized in Korea through renewable energy certifi cates, he said, calling bioenergy Korea’s “low-hang-ing fruit.” Pellets, he assured, will be a large portion of bioenergy generation in Korea.

Currently, Malaysia, Canada and Chile are supplying biomass pellets to Korea, he said, but demand will grow rapidly. “Korea is going to become a competitive market,” he said.

Contract Considerations Pellet producers who have not gotten

into export markets may not realize the mul-titude of factors they’ll need to specify in sales and shipping contracts. Roderick W. Simmons of law fi rm Hirschler Fleischer was on hand to address aspects of international contracts that concern producers.

To begin, Simmons introduced the In-ternational Commercial Terms, or Incoterms, which defi ne the roles and responsibilities of buyers and sellers, including the division of costs such as insurance. The two most com-


« Exports

From Concept To Completion Alternative Fuel Solutions From Vecoplan

mon sets of Incoterms Simmons said he’s encountered are free on board (FOB) and cost, insurance and freight (CIF). Under an FOB contract, sellers are only responsible for getting the pellets to the ship, the subsequent responsibilities of the transaction falling upon the buyers’ shoulders. Under CIF contracts, however, the seller maintains responsibility for the pellets until they are discharged off the ship at their destination.

Simmons continued through a list of con-tract aspects, beginning with basic commercial terms that will need to be agreed upon be-tween supplier and buyer. Those include ton-nage, price, contract term, pellet specifi cations, and number and frequency of shipments over the life of the contract.

“In the purely shipping mechanics arena there are a number of things that need to be ironed out,” he said, listing nomination of port and of vessel, loading and discharge rates, and several other factors. Delivery-related terms include weight determination, payment, sam-pling and analysis, and acceptance and rejec-tion.

Nonperformance aspects that need to be considered include remedies upon contract breach, termination provisions and credit sup-port. Simmons also discussed the inclusion of

allocation of certain risks into contract nego-tiations. That includes sustainability criteria, warranty limitations and liability limitations.

The panel also included Henrik Chris-tiansen, president of shipping company Old-endorff Carriers Inc., who informed attendees about the shipping industry as it relates to pel-let exports. “We are the biggest carrier, I be-lieve, of pellets for the last fi ve years,” he said.

Pellets are still a “new” commodity, he said, and have experienced just in the past three years the weeding out of what Chris-tiansen called “cowboys,” those who called themselves producers but were ill-equipped to enter the pellet market. It was commonplace for prospective producers to underestimate storage, logistics, construction and more, he said, adding that the industry environment has improved. “Today is much better,” he said. “People in the industry know what they’re do-ing and it’s much more professional.”

Most of the 1.3 million metric tons of pel-lets Oldendorff has shipped in the past three years went to Europe, with the U.K. emerging as a strong pellet user. But pellet shipping can be tricky, Christiansen cautioned. “In the be-ginning, ship owners were scared of pellets,” he said. The stowage factor of pellets is larger than that of coal, he said, pellets can’t get wet,

and the temperature in the cargo hold needs to be monitored.

Much like the shipping aspect of the pel-let export business, the supply side carries chal-lenges, and Mike Williams of The Westervelt Co. focused briefl y on them, including resis-tance from industries such as power, and pulp and paper. He also emphasized the continued resistance from environmental and other op-position groups, and the need to keep them properly informed about what’s really happen-ing in the industry. “We can’t afford any major slip-ups,” he said. “The unfortunate thing is they’re more organized than we are and they have more funding than we do.”

But a robust commodity futures market will emerge, Williams predicted. And that will open the doors for more profi t possibilities in an industry already making a name for itself in clean energy.

“Just because we’re doing something good doesn’t mean we can’t do it well and profi tably,” Keppler said. “We have a fantastic, fact-based story to tell here.”

Author: Lisa Gibson

Associate Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine(701) 738-4952

[email protected]

Lend your voice to the Densified Biomass Industry Join the Pellet Fuels Institute in 2012!

PFI Members Receive:

• Opportunities to speak on behalf of the industry to policymakers in Washington, DC• Guidance on grassroots advocacy• Reduced cost to participate in the PFI Standards Program• Opportunities to network with Industry Members• Discounted prices to attend and exhibit at the PFI Annual Conference

And much, much more…

To find out more about the benefits of joining PFI, visit the PFI website at www.pelletheat.org and click on Join PFI.

PFI is a North American trade association promoting energy independence through the efficient use of clean, densified biomass fuel.

Pellet Fuels Institute1901 North Moore StreetArlington, VA [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook


« Safety


Safety »

A collaboration between the British Columbia Forest Safety Council and the Wood Pellet Association of Canada could help reduce safety issues and incidents in the pellet sector. BY LISA GIBSON

Safety’sFor

Sake

In 2005, the British Columbia forestry industry had a fa-tality count of 43, well over its annual average of 20. The unacceptably high fi gure prompted a public outcry and the formation of a safety task force to evaluate and implement preventative measures. The industry has now been working under an independently audited safety cer-tifi cation program and has brought down its yearly fatality average to 10. So far this year, the number is four.

The British Columbia Forest Safety Council, a not-for-profi t group formed after 2005’s disturbing number of deaths in the forestry industry, is that auditing agency. The organization is funded through a levy collected from the industry and has played a pivotal role in the safety improvements of the sector. This year’s goal was zero forestry-related deaths, accord-

ing to Stephen Chaplin, director of training and program development for the BC Forest Safety Council, and while that won’t be met, the number is substantially lower than 2005’s because of the systems the safety council has put in place. “Things have gotten much bet-ter,” he says.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a direct result of the BC Forest Safety Council,” he adds. “I would say it’s a shared responsibility with government, health and safety associations, and industry all working together putting safety in the forefront.”

The 2005 safety task force’s action plan was based on four key pillars: cultural change: the development of sector-wide health and safety accord; assured capacity: the development of a sector-wide health and safety assurance; shared responsibility: promotion and implementation

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. 22 Whittier Street, Newton, New Hampshire 03858 USA

CBI’s Magnum Force 6400 — one of the most productive and reliable drum chippers in the global market today. With the push of a button, the unique clamshell design of the hog box pro-vides service-friendly full access for easy daily maintenance. Available in stationary, wheel or track-mounted versions, the 6400 produces a uniform, precision chip from 4-30 mm, suitable for biofuel, pulp and wood pellet production. With throughput of up to 200 tons per hour... it will challenge even the best loader operators!

To learn more about CBI’s rugged line of chippers, grinders, shredders and flails, please call 603-382-0556 or visit us online at www.cbi-inc.com.

The Biofuel Experts

« Safety

Five Years of Fatalities in B.C's Forest Industry

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Direct Timber Harvesting 39 11 11 16 4Associated to Timber Harvesting 0 0 2 5 2Forest Products Manufacturing 4 1 2 0 0Combined Total 43 12 15 21 6

SOURCE: BC FOREST SAFETY COUNCIL

of cascading respon-sibilities; and rigor-ous implementation: creation of an imple-mentation team.

The BC Forest Safety Council has taken on the imple-mentation team role and was integral in

developing the audit and certifi cation program, which begins with a basic audit questionnaire that includes eight elements. The fi rst is man-agement leadership, including many aspects such as company health and safety policies, and health and safety responsibilities such as the communication to workers of their spe-cifi c safety responsibilities and evaluation by the manager of the company’s safety program. Next is hazard identifi cation and risk control, which include inspections and risk manage-ment.

Third, the audit questionnaire addresses standards, procedures and work instructions. Those questions draw information about a company’s safety rules, regulatory compliance and emergency response. Training, education and certifi cation come next, evaluating, as the

name suggests, training, education, orientations and certifi cation. Next on the questionnaire is the section dedicated to health and safety com-munication systems including safety meetings and documentation. Incident reporting and in-vestigation systems follow, addressing recom-mendations and follow-up actions.

Nonprime contractor management in-cludes questions about selection criteria, as does the next section of the questionnaire about prime contractor management. The fi -nal questions concern injury management and return to work programs and include aspects such as return to work policy, management and leadership, and communications. Following the main audit areas are technical audit modules, where companies answer questions only rel-evant to their industries.

With accidents such as explosions and fi res on the rise in Canada’s pellet mills, could this all-encompassing safety action plan be broadened to include other forestry-related in-dustries, such as the wood pellet sector?

Chaplin is confi dent it can.

Addressing the Pellet Industry While the need for change in the forest-

ry industry came about because of the high


number of fatalities, the impetus in the pellet industry is high insurance rates resulting from an increase in the number of accidents, some-times causing deaths. Most accidents are re-lated to dust explosions and fi res, self-heating and spontaneous combustion, and hazardous emissions.

“They have wood dust explosions,” Chaplin says. “They're catastrophic. We don’t see a lot of fatalities, although there are some, but mostly we see explosions.”

Because of a large number of incidents and insurance claims from Canadian pellet mills, two insurers have already left the pellet

sector. “If that keeps going and other insurers follow their lead, we’ll be in trouble, won’t we?” says Gordon Murray, executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada. The few insurers who remain, have implemented as-tronomical rates, restrictive terms and provide less capacity.

Unless a best practices plan incorporat-ing risk management and risk control is put in place, insurance may not be available to some Canadian pellet manufacturers, Murray wor-ries. One letter to the Canadian pellet industry from the Lumbermen’s Underwriting Alliance, which has since pulled out of the pellet indus-

try altogether, reads, “We have in-curred an inordinate number of claims … causing us to pay out far more in settlements than we ever charged in premiums.”

Such concerns prompted Murray to approach the BC Forest Safety Council, Chaplin recalls, wondering if its success in reducing accidents could be transferred and used just as effi -ciently in the pellet industry. “The answer is yes,” Chaplin says.

“They’ve been through this

before in the harvesting sector,” Murray ex-plains. “We have to decide as an industry that this is unacceptable and we have to change our culture here.” Development of a similar sys-tem for the pellet industry does include a whole new set of concerns and aspects, Chaplin cau-tions, including contractors, how the product is received and the different processes.

So with the help of Canadian insurance broker Aon, the safety council and pellet as-sociation developed a pellet mill-specifi c au-dit questionnaire to accompany the basic audit already developed for the forestry in-dustry. “We’ve developed these questionnaires through every part of the process from grind-ing through drying, pelletizing and cooling,” Murray says. The questionnaires convey the importance of measures such as spark detec-tion and isolation of fi re hazards. “It’s going to become an audit system and if [mills] pass, they’ll be certifi ed as safe,” he adds. Just as it is in the forestry industry, the BC Forest Safety Council will be the safety auditing and certifi -cation body for the pellet mill industry.

The pellet addendum to the program also includes an important insurability audit to help in the qualifi cation for lower insurance costs. “So when folks build a new plant, they can SOURCE: BC FOREST SAFETY COUNCIL

PLANT SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

PLANT SYSTEMS GROUP, Inc. 507 N. York St., Suite 2A Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 (717) 795-9122 Ext 101

Bulk Storage and Weighing Railcar Load / Load Out Truck Load / Load Out Dust Control Systems Structural Systems

Bulk Material Handling Engineers & Design Builders Since 1993

www.plantsys.com

Rail Load Out

Truck Load Out Bulk Storage

Systems Modeling

Safety »

Forestry Related Fatalities


take those measures into account,” Chaplin says. “Or if they already have an existing plant, if they follow those things … the hope is, if they’ve done the audit and they’ve done the insurability audit, that they’ll be able to have lower rates.”

The insurance aspect, catering to wary in-surers and developed with the help of Aon, asks specifi c questions, such as whether the fi ber pile sits at least 30 meters away from any major building on-site, whether multiple fi ber piles are at least 10 meters apart, and whether the maximum size of fi ber piles is less than 150 meters by 100 meters by 20 meters. The questionnaire also includes inquiries about mobile equipment and their fi re suppres-sion systems and preventative maintenance systems for daily inspection and cleaning of mobile equipment used for transporting fi ber. Process-related questions regarding primary building construction are accounted for also, including dust isolation, fi re suppression sys-tems, fi ber in-feed, fi ber sizing, fi ber drying, pelletizing, cooling, fi nished product storage, and dust collection and ventilation.

Important technical audit subjects for pellet mills would also include off-gassing, hot works, lockout, working at heights, respiratory protection and combustible dusts, Murray says.

The pellet mill safety system integrates both the safety and business mod-els, Chaplin explains. “By doing that, you have high productivity, good morale, good culture, good safety and good business,” he says.

Implementation Murray planned to present the fi nished

system proposal, complete with estimated costs, to the Wood Pellet Association of Can-ada board of directors on Oct. 26. The board will make the fi nal decision as to whether par-ticipation in the audit and certifi cation system

will be required for Canada’s pellet industry. “So far, my board has been supportive of all this, but they’ve stopped short of making the absolute requirement for certifi cation,” Mur-ray says, adding that the October meeting could end with a vote on implementation of the system, or the board could decide to study it further and vote at a later date. “I just can’t say for sure,” he says.

The safety program implemented in Brit-ish Columbia’s forestry sector has indeed led to a decrease in insurance claims registered (see table above), while providing the even more necessary benefi t of reducing deaths. With the pellet addendum, it could be used all over the world in both the forestry and pel-let sectors, Chaplin says. “It’s about sharing of learning and partnerships and we’re happy to share anything. Potentially, I could see that it could apply anywhere.”

Together, the BC Forest Safety Council, Aon and the Wood Pellet Association of Can-ada have identifi ed their insurance and safety issues through pellet plant visits, and have gained grassroots support for their effort to create a meaningful and audited safety certifi -cation program.

“It just makes you feel good in your belly when you can go out and help make a differ-ence,” Chaplin says.

Author: Lisa Gibson

Associate Editor, Pellet Mill [email protected]

(701) 738-4952

« Safety

SOURCE: BC FOREST SAFETY COUNCIL


« Use


The Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference drew pellet industry players to Florida to learn more about issues relevant to their industry, including PFI’s new fuel standards.BY LISA GIBSON

Burning

Use »

About 240 pellet fuel industry stakehold-ers gathered at the Sawgrass Marriott in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this summer to network and gain a stronger grip on the pertinent issues impacting their industry.

The Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference pro-vided a venue to discuss pellet plant safety, fi re preven-tion, government affairs, plant optimization, and the ongoing development of PFI’s third-party verifi cation standards system, among other topics. And of course, golf enthusiasts got a chance to play the famous TPC Sawgrass course, just a short jaunt from the PGA Tour headquarters.

But getting down to business, the U.S., despite being years behind Europe in the commercial and in-dustrial use of pellets for heating and power, is still un-der that continent's watchful eye. Players in Europe’s better-developed pellet markets are still interested in what the U.S. has to offer, curious about fi ber and ship-ping costs. Some are looking for opportunities to build plants here, but their interest could also be yet another indication of the potential for pellet exports from U.S. producers.

Conference Addresses

Questions


« Use

Exploring ExportingThe pellet export market is in for a wild

ride in the next 10 years, and Harold Arnold, president and CEO of Georgia-based Fram Renewable Fuels LLC, recommended indus-try stakeholders hold on to their hats.

“The industry will see wild growth over the next few years,” he told conference attend-ees. “Expect the unexpected. For some, these changes will be good; for some, they’ll be bad, but either way, we’re in for a wild ride.”

Fram Renewable Fuels operates a 230,000-metric-ton pellet mill that uses about 460,000 metric tons of raw materials. Draw-ing from his export experience and observa-tions, Arnold said the 2011 export market has been stronger than usual. That strength could be infl uenced by extreme cold in the Baltics and resulting diffi culties in exporting from Estonia. Spot sales, however, are a different story and pricing is an ongoing struggle, he said, even though demand continues.

Arnold referred to a Pöyry study that es-timates current worldwide demand for pellets at 16 million metric tons, but he added that the number is one of the more conservative. Not surprisingly, Western Europe dominates current use, but markets are growing in Asia. That doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that all Asian countries will begin to import mas-sive amounts of pellets. Instead, it is likely that some, such as China, will use primarily their own materials, according to Arnold.

Global capacity is around 32 million met-ric tons, and both global production and de-mand are expected to grow. Still, that doesn’t mean all pellet mills will enter the export sector. “Many facilities may never get into exporting because of logistics,” Arnold said. He refers to logistics as “the great equalizer,”

citing problems encountered in the U.S., such as a lack of discounts, few suitable ports and limited port storage.

Europe is a policy-driven market, fellow speaker Seth Walker, associate economist in timber and bioenergy for RISI, told attend-ees, and 75 percent of demand could come from the U.K. alone in the next few years. The growing European market opens up an enor-mous window of opportunity for pellet pro-ducers in the Southern U.S. That region is the largest timber producer in the world, Walker said, and also has port availability and a close proximity to Europe, relative to other regions of the world.

The fi nal speaker on the panel, Joanne Littlefair, international trade specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce, discussed three main goals of the department related to exporting: trade advocacy and promotion, ac-cess to fi nancing, and reducing trade barriers and enforcing trade laws.

The department has 107 global U.S. Ex-port Assistance centers to promote trade and answer questions producers may have, Little-fair said. Reducing trade barriers and enforc-ing trade laws is crucial, she emphasized, to ensure that global export market participants are “playing by the rules.”

And as always, fi nancing is a vital aspect of exporting and Littlefair named a few help-ful programs the Department of Commerce operates, including Export Express loans, the Export Working Capital Program, and the International Trade Loan Platform. Littlefair also mentioned the Export-Import Bank, and the fi nancial assistance it can offer.

Global Pellet Consumption (in millions)

2010 2015 2020Western Europe 10.8 16.4 23.8China 0.6 3.0 10.0Japan/Korea 0.2 3.8 5.5North America 3.4 4.3 5.6TOTAL 15.0 27.5 44.9

SOURCE: PÖYRY

Global Pellet Production (in millions)

2010 2015 2020Western Europe 7.7 10.7 13.0China 0.6 3.0 10.0Japan/Korea 0.1 0.4 1.1North America 4.9 8.5 11.0TOTAL 13.3 22.6 35.1

SOURCE: PÖYRY

On the Web: Financing websites and contacts:Joanne Littlefair: (202) 482-4855 or [email protected] of Commerce: www.export.govExport-Import Bank: www.exim.gov


Use »

An important new export market de-velopment Arnold emphasized is the Euro-pean standards expected to come out within the next year. As sustainability is a growing concern for European Union utilities, a buy-ers group is currently working to develop a sustainability certifi cation program. Arnold recommended that pellet manufacturers looking to export plan how they source, track and certify their pellet fuel.

A Standards Update In forming its standards, PFI will keep a

close eye on the European standards, leaving as few gaps and discrepancies as possible in the major areas, according to John Crouch, PFI’s director of public affairs. And the process hasn’t come without an enormous amount of work.

When speaker Chris Wiberg, co-chair of PFI’s Standards Committee, was intro-duced it was said that he has spent thousands of hours on the ongoing project. Taking the

stage, Wiberg, who currently manages the Biomass Energy Lab-oratory in Conyers, Ga., said he wished it were an exaggeration.

During his pre-sentation, Wiberg out-lined changes to the standards that have come about since their initial draft release in October 2010. That draft outlines three fuel grades: premium,

standard and utility. It specifi es parameters for a number of properties including ash content, diameter, durability, fi nes, moisture and chloride content, among others.

But perhaps the most important as-pect of the system is the third-party audit of those parameters. PFI proposes a three-level verifi cation system, beginning with the pellet mill itself. The second verifi ca-tion comes from on-site visits by inspectors who are well-versed in the timber industry, doing other forest product inspections such as lumber grading. Finally, the inspectors’ assessments will be audited by the accredi-tation body, which Wiberg announced at the annual conference will be the American Lumber Standard Committee. “I’m feeling

confi dent that they are the right body,” he said. The internationally recognized group is experienced in such dealings, he told confer-ence attendees, and already accredits several auditing agencies.

Also, internal laboratories at mills are no longer required, he announced, the standards specifi cation document has been restruc-tured, and the inspection and re-inspection criteria have been altered. Now, a product must be within 95 percent compliance for grade qualifi cation.

Undoubtedly, pellet producers will won-der how much it will cost them to comply, but Wiberg said it will differ mill by mill. In-fl uential factors include the PFI enrollment and operations fee, internal lab quality as-sessment and quality control program devel-opment, third-party lab and testing services, auditing services and ALSC’s cost to admin-ister the program. Roughly, though, Wiberg estimated it will cost 50 to 70 cents per ton.

The last portion of the conference was a four-hour symposium detailing the stan-dards and compliance for pellet manufactur-ers. Eventually, PFI hopes that the standards will be adopted by appliance manufacturers who will outline the use of certain grades and void warranties where the specifi cations aren’t followed.

In the future, the standards commit-tee will fi nalize the language in the formal agreement with ALCS; and ALCS and PFI boards will need to review, approve and sign the agreement. With such involved process steps still on the horizon, a timeline for the release and implementation of the standards is hard to nail down.

Optimization and Effi ciencyBesides broad industry topics such as

standards and export markets, the confer-ence also touched on more specialized areas such as individual pellet plant effi ciency and optimization, crucial factors that received input from two speakers. Plant optimization and effi ciency can hinge on multiple factors, not the least of which being raw material variances and the use of proper machinery.

In his 30-minute presentation, Clyde Stearns, vice president of engineering for Zilkha Biomass Energy and biomass and wood pelleting expert for equipment manu-facturer Buhler Inc., emphasized minimiz-ing raw material variance. “You have to have

Chris Wiberg, manager of the Biomass Energy Laboratory, has been integral in the development of PFI's wood pellet standards.


really intimate knowledge of your raw ma-terial,” he said. Showing a map of the U.S. and the varying available wood types, he ex-plained, “The U.S. is not homogenous at all for wood species.” The external selection of raw material is important, making it crucial for a pellet company to understand the dif-ferent types of wood it will use, and what form it will be in.

Subsequently, internal homogenization requires constant material supply character-istics. Stearns included in his presentation a fact-versus-fi ction element of pelleting, saying that contrary to popular belief, a complicated and expensive mixing system is not essential in a mixed-species wood pellet plant. A basic system is suffi cient, he assured, but chip size and variance need to be relatively uniform.

He also addressed minimizing moisture and equalization in a pellet mill, discussing drying time and predrying. “In an ideal world, I would recommend covered chip storage,” he said. “If that can be done, it dramatically improves the drying operation.”

Stearns also discussed wet material siz-ing, complemented later by the presenter who followed him. Cole Martin, sales manager at Dieffenbacher Inc., described the company’s two new sizing technologies being used in Eu-rope today.

The fi rst, The Eco Pulser, is a noncon-tact sizing machine that uses shock waves designed to minimize the wood size, he said. The material is fed into the machine through the middle, and into the counter-rotating mo-tors. Any sand, stone or similar material is powdered, and contaminants such as plastics and metals are detected through frequencies within the process and released for disposal. The system, which has installations in Ger-many, uses less power than traditional sizing equipment, emits no pollutants and makes little noise, he said. The Eco Pulser, however, is not for absolute sizing.

Dieffenbacher’s ClassiSizer is a better fi t for that. While it is an impact sizer, it uses no hammers, knives or fl akers, Martin said. The system has been used in wood chip processing

and residential wood processing and is break-ing into the pellet mill market with one instal-lation already and another in the near future. “It’s used in a number of different industries,” Martin said.

Because there is no cutting of the chips, the system experiences little wear. It is also insensitive to contaminants and is low mainte-nance. It functions through a rotor that throws the wood at a screen, Martin explained. Some goes through and is sized, while other material comes back to be thrown again. The process requires half the energy of a traditional ham-mermill and can handle frozen material.

The presentations were crucial for pro-spective pellet manufacturers, as they offered an overview of effi ciency factors, as well as an explanation of the equipment that can en-hance them.

Overall, attendance at the conference was similar to past years, and offered well-balanced content and extensive networking opportunities, according to Jennifer Hedrick, PFI’s executive director. “We were quite pleased,” she said. “From the staff perspec-tive and from the comments we received from members alike, [there was] a lot of feedback on the balance of the conference.” The pro-gram’s “nuts and bolts” aspects in topics such as plant safety nicely complemented the big picture topics regard-ing industry status, she said. “People really want to know that type of information.”

Attendees also ap-preciated the network-ing opportunities such events offer, to bolster business. “People really use this as a place of business to grow and develop,” Hedrick said. “This provides an opportunity for that.”

For more information on the conference and speakers, visit the PFI website: www.pelletheat.org.

Author: Lisa GibsonAssociate Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine

[email protected](701) 738-4952

« Use

PFI Executive Director Jennifer Hedrick says the PFI Annual Conference offered attendees well-balanced content and opportunities to network.

Pellet Mill Magazine’s Pellet Producer Map is the only comprehensive and up-to-date producer map created today. This map identifies and documents current pellet producers in the U.S. and Canada.

Listings include name of facility, city, state, feedstock and capacity.

Pellet Producer Map is distributed to:

• Biomass Power & Thermal subscribers

• Pellet Mill Magazine subscribers

• All International Biomass Conference & Expo attendees. (In attendee bags)

• Pellet mill owners, operators & management

• Regional biomass conference attendees. Including the Pacific West, Southeast and Northeast Conference & Trade Shows

Become a part of the premier trade journal for the biomass industry. Contact an account representative today.866-746-8385 | [email protected] | www.biomassmagazine.com/pellets

Announcing Pellet Mill Magazine’s 2012 Pellet Producer Map

Ignite Your Sales and Brand

Contact us today to learn how you can reach 8,000 Pellet and Biomass industry professionals.

Deadline: Thursday, March 8th, 2011

COMING SOON!

Ad Space is Going Fast!


« Policy


TalkTalkThe U.S. government is pooling its resources to tackle the nation’s trade defi cit, and wood pellets may be the solution.BY MATT SOBERG

Trade Trade Policy »

The U.S. imports more products than it exports and the Obama administration has been vocal about the impor-tance of enhancing export opportunities. The president directed the National Export Initiative in 2010 seeking to double U.S. exports within fi ve years, aimed at putting more Americans to work.

“Creating jobs in the United States and ensuring a return to sus-tainable economic growth is the top priority for my administration,” Obama said. “A critical component of stimulating economic growth in the United States is ensuring that U.S. businesses can actively par-ticipate in international markets by increasing their exports of goods, services and agricultural products. Improved export performance will, in turn, create good high-paying jobs.”

As governments in Europe and Asia initiate policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, those regions need renewable fuels and technology. That has prompted a fl urry of activity in the U.S. pellet industry, and the U.S. government has zeroed in on the potential for pellet exports as one way to make up for its trade defi cit.

Subsequent to the NEI, the Renewable Energy and Energy Ef-fi cient Export Initiative (RE41), a coordinated effort to promote re-newable energy exports in the U.S., targeted wood pellets as one of the most promising export markets and indicated that the USDA would expand its analysis of exporting wood pellets and chips in relevant countries. The purpose of the analysis was to provide U.S. industry and policymakers with information on the sector’s growth, export op-portunities in emerging markets and policy updates.

The government’s emphasis on wood pellet exports was good news for the biomass industry. As a result of the NEI, seven federal agencies, including the U.S. DOE, USDA, Department of Commerce and others, collaborated on the RE41 project.

With various government agencies involved in producing pellet-directed reports, multiple sources exist for company research and in-formation. The questions now are, what happened with the NEI, what are agencies doing and where can the information they have generated be found?


« Policy

National Export InitiativeThe NEI created a national export

cabinet to develop and coordinate its im-plementation. This cabinet includes the secretaries of state, agriculture, commerce and other offi cials. According to the NEI, various department offi cials continue to be engaged in interagency coordination of ex-port promotion efforts.

When launching the NEI, the presi-dent noted that 95 percent of the world’s customers and fastest-growing markets are outside U.S. borders. He mentioned that our exporters have faced the obstacle that the federal government, frankly, just hasn’t done a good enough job advocating for them abroad—at least compared to the ad-vocacy that other countries are engaging, and that is why the U.S. must go to bat for businesses.

Understanding the need to focus on energy, in light of the NEI, the Trade Pro-motion Coordinating Committee’s Renew-able Energy and Energy Effi ciency working group was formed. Sally Klusaritz, USDA director of public affairs and executive cor-respondence, says the group’s mission is to support the NEI by developing an export strategy to guide the U.S. government pro-grams that support U.S. renewable energy and energy effi ciency companies wishing to compete for sales abroad.

The TPCC is an interagency task force formed to coordinate and develop a govern-ment-wide export promotion plan. Made up of 20 agencies, the core partners include the Department of Commerce, Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corp., U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Small Business Administration, Department of State and the USDA. The working group’s main initiatives include training specialists, marketing exports, integration of export programs and education to provide U.S. companies with the most accurate service and information quickly.

As mentioned earlier, the working group’s export strategy, RE41, which was released in December, demonstrates the commitment started by the NEI, and is the country’s fi rst-ever attempt to coordinate U.S. government programs in support of

renewable energy exports, according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. The initiative was launched with 23 commit-ments from eight different U.S. government agencies and was modeled to proceed with-out any further funding or taxpayer cost.

A specifi c example of the RE41 com-mitments includes an online portal for RE41 access, which provides news, events and market research at www.export.gov/reee.

Pellet PolicySubsequent to the NEI, the wood pel-

let industry achieved government exposure in the RE41, when it targeted wood pellet exports as a high-growth sector.

In the RE41, the USDA pledged to support the efforts of the working group as follows: “USDA will also expand its biofuels annual reports to cover biomass in the form of wood pellets and wood chips in relevant countries so as to provide much-needed in-formation to the U.S. biomass industry and policy makers. This reporting will provide information on the sector’s growth, export opportunities in emerging markets, and pol-icy updates.”

In addition, the RE41 provided that the USDA would “seek to identify an ap-propriate U.S. wood pellet industry partner to undertake foreign market development and export promotion activities under the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Ac-cess Program and Foreign Market Develop-ment programs.”

The government’s target of wood pel-let exports seems to be well-timed, if not overdue. Since the publication of RE41, Klusaritz says the USDA has fulfi lled its commitments by improving the reporting guidelines for the “Biomass for Heat and Power” section of the annual biofuels re-port of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Global Policy Analysis Division.

The expanded report now includes production, consumption and trade statis-tics for wood pellets. FAS analysts in Eu-rope, Canada and Russia have reported on wood pellets in the past, but the new in-structions will harmonize and expand the knowledge of the biomass industry, and the

wood pellet industry in particular, accord-ing to Klusaritz.

The USDA reports that in 2010, the U.S. exported $128 million (736,000 metric tons) of wood pellets, which was a 37 per-cent increase from 2009. USDA represen-tatives in foreign countries submit reports on biofuels developments in their countries, which are called Global Agricultural Infor-mation Network reports.

For example, the 2011 GAIN report on Canada, published in July, provided in-formation on wood pellets under its analy-sis of biomass for heat and power. The ana-lyst in Canada recognized the country’s plan to take advantage of Europe’s current pel-let demand. According to the report, “there is interest in exporting wood pellets from Canada to Europe to meet the increased demand for biofuels in European countries. The E.U. has increased funding for renew-able production, including doubling the fi -nancial contribution to renewable energy in 2007 for 2010 targets.”

The report continued by providing sta-tistics on Canada’s pellet production, stating the wood pellet industry in Canada, espe-cially in the West, has grown at an annual average rate of more than 20 percent over the past fi ve years due to a steady supply of wood residues, and increasing demand from Europe. In 2010, Canada’s plants produced about 1.3 million metrics tons of pellets per year, the USDA said.

The GAIN reports analyze specifi c ex-port and import statistics for each country researched. Canada imported more than 365,000 metric tons of pellets from the U.S. in 2007 compared to 531,000 in 2010, which was approximately 98 percent to 99 percent of its total imports. For 2007 ex-ports, Canada shipped more than 1.2 mil-lion metric tons of pellets, with 647,000 to the U.S. (51 percent) and 245,000 to Europe (19 percent). Things changed in 2010, how-ever, with Canada exporting a total of 1.6 million metric tons. Of the total, Canada now sends 368,000 to the U.S. (22 percent) and 1.1 million metric tons to Europe (71 percent).

Although the USDA has reported on pellets in the past, and intends to follow


through with the NEI, it appears limited current information exists about pellets. It is likely increased reports will be published now that the global market is more active. U.S. companies can use GAIN reports to track trends of competitors and follow market opportunities once the information is available. A GAIN report search engine exists that is particular to countries, topics and time frames and can be found at www.gain.fas.usda.gov/Pages/Default.aspx.

In addition to GAIN, the USDA wel-comed its fi rst biomass energy cooperator into the Cooperator Program in 2011, ac-cording to Klusaritz. The American Bio-mass Trade Cooperative, a new agricultural marketing group representing domestic producers of biomass energy products, received its FAS Market Access Program startup on Jan. 1.

The ABTC is a nonprofi t trade asso-ciation comprised of commercial biomass growers, manufacturers and industry spe-cialists from all across the U.S., with the primary purpose of promoting common interests in those engaged in the industry, and more particularly those in the woody biomass and wood pellet industry. The ABTC adds that it is solely focused on the development of biomass as a major staple in America’s export portfolio. This year, the group was charged with conducting market research activities in the EU to better un-derstand that growing market.

“The European Union is the primary market for U.S. biomass pellet exports,” Klusaritz says.

Practical EffectWith the launch of the export initia-

tive, and agencies such as the USDA try-ing to follow through with commitments in 2011, the practical impact of the pellet policy for U.S. exports cannot yet be suf-fi ciently determined. Sometimes the wheels of government turn slowly.

Well-established U.S. companies are exporting signifi cant amounts of pellets overseas. For example, Florida-based Green Circle Bio Energy is producing at capacity, approximately 500,000 metric tons of wood pellets annually, and exports 100 percent of

its production, according to president and CEO Morten Neraas. The company targets European markets, primarily utility com-panies in the U.K., Holland, Belgium and Scandinavia.

Neraas says that for the most part, wood pellet exporters are already aware of market trends and pellet market opportuni-ties worldwide.

Other considerations, such as the cur-rent exchange rates between currencies, could signifi cantly impact expansion plans of pellet exporters and existing European plants, according to Neraas. He says that government help for pellet exports would best be in the form of information on where to fi nd export-friendly fi nancing, lowering tax rates for manufacturers or pro-viding education for the workforce to im-prove quality and effi ciency. Companies are not seeking subsidies, but they are looking for assistance with fi nancing opportunities.

The National Export-Import Bank is the offi cial Export Credit Agency of the U.S. government and its mission is to pro-mote and fi nance the export of U.S. goods and services and to increase jobs. The bank has a mandate to support renewable energy and tripled its support in 2010.

The bank does not compete with pri-vate lenders, but assists projects and fi lls in the gaps left open by trade fi nancing. The bank provides working capital guarantees (pre-export fi nancing), export credit insur-ance, and loan guarantees and direct loans (buyer fi nancing).

The bank provides fi nancing for vari-ous exporters, including bioenergy compa-nies, and further information can be found at www.exim.gov/index.cfm.

Author: Matt SobergAssociate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal

[email protected] (701) 746-8385

Policy »


« Business

PELLET PRODUCERS: Lori Tiller, Equustock Virginia director, and Frank Perry, plant operations engineer, survey an incoming load of fi ber at the plant. PHOTO: EQUUSTOCK VIRGINIA INC.


Overcoming the challenges of an industry in its infancy involves understanding logistics, shipping, raw material supply, the art of manufacturing and entering the right markets.BY DEBBIE SNIDERMAN

A Pellet Maker’s Successes, Solutions and Challenges

Business »

Equustock Virginia Inc., a midsized wood pellet manufacturer in southern Virginia, produces fi ve different types of pellet products at a single, unique manufacturing facility. Pellets for fuel, animal bedding and cat litter are produced for its marketing partner Equustock LLC, with customers mainly in the United States as well as export desti-nations in Italy, Australia, Korea, the U.K. and Taiwan.

A can-do attitude, coupled with the partners’ unique back-grounds, perspective and approach, helps overcome never-ending issues. This pellet maker has not only survived in a time when neighboring mills were closing their doors, but has expanded ca-pacity.

Brenda Robinson, partner at Equustock Virginia Inc., spoke with Pellet Mill Magazine about the company's processes and prod-ucts, reasons for its success, and challenges it has overcome and is still facing.


« Business

LAB SERVICES

CHRIS WIBERG, LAB MANAGER1641 Sigman Road, Conyers, GA 30012

Phone: 218-428-3583

E-mail: [email protected]

BIOMASSENERGYLAB.COMNEW SITE COMING SOON . . .

For more info:

Profi table Processes and Markets

Equustock Virginia began operations in 2007 and recently doubled its capacity with the addition of a second milling machine. Now able to produce 80,000 tons of pel-lets per year, the company operates around the clock, in two 12-hour shifts. Robinson says that additional capacity was added in response to and in preparation for the mar-kets they serve.

Producing Big Heat Fuel Pellets at Equustock involves running raw materials through screens and hammermills, reducing the particles to a size that allows them to fl ow into a pellet mill, where they are ex-truded through a die to form the pellets. Robinson describes their proprietary mill-ing processes as an art not a science, noting that how the raw materials are combined and how the equipment is used affects the pellets’ performance and quality.

In addition to fuel pellets, Equustock's diverse and complimentary product line in-cludes Guardian Horse Bedding, Guardian Angel Litter for small animals, Guardian An-gel Cat Litter, and Absorb&Clean, an absor-bent used for spill cleanup.

These are more than skilled artists who are doing something right. As Robinson dis-cusses the reasons for her success, it becomes apparent that each story of overcoming a challenge has also been or continues to be an area of concern, where learning has oc-curred.

Location Offers Multiple Benefi ts

Equustock Virginia's production facility is situated in the Sustainability Park on the James River in Chester, near Richmond in southeast Virginia.

The Sustainability Park houses several business that turn recyclable waste or by-

products into usable new products, includ-ing glass and construction recycling.

Robinson attributes part of the pellet mill’s success to being located at this facil-ity. As a tenant, the company fi ts the facil-ity’s purpose, which is to support the cre-ation of new products from recycled raw materials instead of fi lling landfi lls.

The park’s 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space, loading docks, scales, and other infrastructure, which is needed for large-scale manufacturing at this 140-plus acre plant that formerly housed an old Brown & Williamson tobacco plant, provides Equustock the opportunity for growth and fl exible operations.

The park also contains a water treat-ment system with 2 million gallons of wa-ter. Robinson says having water located on-site provides extra protection against the risk of fi re, which pellet mill regulators are focused on minimizing.

In addition to being a partner in Equustock, Robinson owns the Sustain-ability Park.

Her background is in the environment and energy; Robinson came from the boiler world, where coal was used to make elec-tricity from steam and used for domestic heat. She was attracted to the industry be-cause of regulatory issues driving biomass as a coal replacement. There is no doubt that her “evolution” to wood products also has been a major factor to Equustock’s suc-cess.

Regional Sourcing andFeedstock Alternatives

“Critical to our success has been learn-ing how to manage our suppliers and trans-portation,” Robinson says. “It’s important that we learned how to receive and keep moving.”

Equustock pellet feedstock is raw wood materials that would otherwise have been deposited in a landfi ll. The materials are delivered by tractor trailer and unload-ed directly from a box trailer.

“Since we are using byproducts, we’re dependent on the lumber and sawmill in-


dustry and all of their links to the construc-tion industry,” Robinson says. “We’ve got established suppliers and know where to pull from to manage the supply.”

“Depending on how concentrated the mills are, it could be hard to get enough to feed everyone,” she says. “We source re-gionally; you can’t go 400 miles to bring it in.”

Raw material supply has been a con-cern, and is one reason Equustock is evalu-ating alternate feedstock materials for pro-ducing pellets. Its current fuel pellets are produced with soft woods, such as pine, and also use some hardwoods and soft/hard wood blends.

Equustock has investigated using mul-tiple materials for pellets. “Currently we are running initial evaluations and testing hard-woods for pellet making,” Robinson says. “Understanding the fl exibility of what can be used is also key to our success.”

Multiple Processes at One Location

In addition to producing different grades of fuel pellets at the Virginia mills, Equustock also manufactures pellets that serve different needs from fuel pellets, in-cluding pellets for horse bedding. These pellets are designed to expand into soft, dry bedding when exposed to moisture and are more absorbent and durable than pel-lets used for fuel.

Horse bedding pellets are made from soft wood pine shavings using different processing steps than fuel pellet produc-tion, including kiln drying, treating with high heat, double screening, aspiration, and vacuuming for dust and particle texture control before going through proprietary compression processes that form the ex-panding pellets.

The bedding is also packaged differ-ently from fuel pellets. To save space, they are ultracompressed in vacuum packages, in contrast to most fuel pellets, which are packaged in bags of various sizes for resi-dential, retail and international customers, or super sacks or bulk delivery for indus-trial facilities, boilers or utility companies.

Other products milled at the facility also are packaged differently and may not be produced in pellet form. Loose wood absorbents for example, are packaged in plastic containers, and small animal litter in pellet or cobble form is packaged in buck-ets. Managing equipment and maximiz-ing throughput with the complexities of running multiple processes, products, and packages at a single facility is also critical to their success, Robinson says.

Still to UnderstandRobinson says they are still working to

understand many aspects of this emerging industry, such as the supply chain, the fl ex-ibility of what feedstock can be used, and regulatory issues.

Shipping continues to be an issue in these uncertain economic times, she says. They have learned how to get their materi-als into containers and on to ships for ex-

port but notes that the cost of fuel for land deliveries and its volatility remains a chal-lenge, making logistics costs harder to deal with and to predict.

Equustock has seen individual truck drivers who offered price advantages over larger shipping companies go out of busi-ness in the recent economy, despite a higher demand for their services,

Equustock Virginia recently completed a market survey, and successful testing and sampling rounds that have given Robinson confi dence that their current capacity with their second pellet mill machine will soon be fi lled. She says the company is looking at a third machine, and sees “lots of domestic opportunity and ready, large, growing mar-kets in Europe.”

Author: Debbie Sniderman Freelance Writer

[email protected]

Business »

Firefly - Second to none!

The latest technology to prevent fire and dust explosions

North American representation +1 (620) 205-9730

www.firefly.se


« Canada


With vast expanses of renewable resources and a well-established pellet industry, Canada is ready to fi ll the needs of an expanding global market.BY MATT SOBERG

Positioned for Growth

Canada »

It's no wonder Canada is a world leader in forestry and wood products. The country has 10 provinces, three territories and endless shorelines along the Atlantic and Pacifi c oceans. In between its coastal boundaries, Canada boasts 981 million acres of forest, making up 10 percent of the world’s wood reserves.

The wood pellet industry has increased signifi cantly over the past few years due to improved technology and export capabilities.

The country’s pellet industry is represented by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada, which is funded largely by the pellet producers. WPAC’s mandate is to foster good working relationships between the pellet industry, government and the public, to provide safety certifi ca-tion and quality standardization and to research the enhancement of pellet fuel potential.

Although forestry is a prominent business in Canada, pellet manu-facturers are not clear-cutting trees and destroying the environment, says Gordon Murray, WPAC executive director, who stresses that pellet companies have created a sustainable industry out of material that was previously considered waste.

The fuel is manufactured from forestry leftovers including fi red logs, beetle-killed timber and residues. Vaughan Bassett, vice president of sales and logistics at Pinnacle Renewable Energy, says its facilities primarily use forest and sawmill residuals to produce pellets. Pinnacle is the largest pellet manufacturer in the world, according to Bassett, and operates six plants in British Columbia, where raw materials are abundant.

Forests in British Columbia have suffered from a serious invasion of mountain pine beetles, which have devastated the pine tree popula-tion. Because beetle-killed timber tends to develop cracks, it cannot be used for sawmilling without creating signifi cant waste wood, but it is suitable for pelletizing. When harvesting beetle-killed timber, the re-sultant cleared areas promote new timber growth and reduce methane emissions from the rotting residue. This is only possible if the extract-


« Canada

Than Just More Results

wwww.twinportstesting.com

Fuel Testing

Pellet Quality

Biomass Analysis

Consulting Services

1301 N 3rd Street Superior WI 54880 715-392-7114 800-373-2562

Providing the expertise for innovative solutions that lead to

a sustainable tomorrow.

ed beetle-killed timber fi nds an economic home, which it can in the pellet mills.

It is important to understand the en-vironmental impact of the pellet combus-tion process. “The pellet industry has good green credentials,” Bassett says. Unlike coal, when wood is burned, the carbon released is recaptured by photosynthesis, thereby closing the loop sustainably without atmo-spheric change, he adds.

The Canadian industry primarily sells pellets to utilities for power production, but pellets are equally useful in industrial or residential thermal applications. Bassett be-lieves the pellet industry has the potential to replace hydrocarbons for heating purposes, especially in remote areas, or in areas that are off the gas grid.

The bottom line is that, “energy policy means making tough decisions, weighing costs and benefi ts and even judging the next turn in the fi nancial road,” according to Pin-nacle. “Pellet fuel can put North America ahead in all those areas. It will encourage the economic and energy independence of your communities, reduce costs and clean the air.”

Robust Canadian IndustryNorth America is leading the pellet

export race, with Canada and the U.S. sur-passing Sweden as leaders in pellet produc-tion capacity. With strong global demand

for wood pellets in Europe due to govern-ment initiatives, Canadian capacity has risen sharply. “Capacity has grown more than one-third over the last year, from 2 [million] to nearly 3 million metric tons,” Murray says.

In 2010, Canada had 30 operating pel-let plants and 24 in the construction or de-velopment phase. The country produced about 1.5 million metric tons of wood pel-lets in 2010, with British Columbia account-ing for 64 percent of that total. Today, the country has 37 pellet plants in operation.

An internal dichotomy exists between the pellet industries in Western and East-ern Canada. Plants in the West focus on in-dustrial pellets for export from the British Columbia ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert to Europe and Asia, and plants in the East market their pellets locally and in the Northeast U.S.

Murray notes that a 1 million metric ton pellet capacity in the East competes for 100,000 metric tons in demand. Most of the product is bagged and used for residen-tial heating. Only three of the 21 plants in Eastern Canada ship overseas from ports in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Belledune, New Brunswick.

Operating in the far western expanses of Canada, Pinnacle produces and exports 1.1 million metric tons of wood pellets an-nually, according to Bassett.

Policy and PelletsPinnacle and other Canadian pellet

manufacturers are well-aware that the new demand is being triggered by energy policy. Europe is leading the way, using sweeping national policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, setting a goal of produc-ing 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020.

Meanwhile, North American govern-ments have been slow to introduce national renewable energy policies. North America is highly reliant on fossil fuels and is resistant to change. “It is a lifestyle issue,” Murray says.

The U.S. oil industry is huge, with large companies employing signifi cant numbers of people. The companies also utilize serious lobbying power and dollars to expand their business. Government subsidies for fossil fuels alone substantially outnumber revenues from the pellet industry. Murray also believes many in North America don’t take global warming seriously.

The Canadian government has recently taken steps in the right direction with a policy to reduce the use of coal and convert to bio-mass fuels and natural gas. To stay on top of technology, the WPAC has spearheaded an investigation and study into available coal al-ternatives such as cofi ring and torrefaction.

As Canada and the U.S. initiate sustain-ability directives, Murray predicts that de-


mand for wood pellets will increase in do-mestic markets. Pellets may be the best way for countries to satisfy policy requirements in a cost-effi cient way. They are also easy to transport and store, and require minimal technology and modifi cation for coal con-version purposes.

Canadian ExportsTo satisfy government emissions direc-

tives across the Atlantic, experts have pro-jected that European wood pellet demand could increase from nearly 10 million metric tons in 2009 to more than 50 million by 2020, according to the WPAC. Murray warns, how-ever, that forecasting future European con-sumption may prove diffi cult because it’s not clear yet how the reduction in national defi -cits will impact renewable energy subsidies.

What is clear, however, is that European demand is strong, and Canadian companies are trying to capitalize on their established export capabilities. Murray says Canadian pellet exports to Europe currently consist of 1.7 million metric tons annually.

European countries use pellets for pow-er and thermal applications with Belgium, the Netherlands, and England as the main power markets, while Scandinavia uses pel-lets for area heating, often in conjunction with power generation. Germany and Italy are large markets for residential heating ap-plications.

Approximately two-thirds of Canada’s total pellet production capacity is in Western Canada, where manufacturers can take advan-tage of backhaul rates, fi lling empty ships with pellets for export. Backhauling allows western producers to export at only marginally higher costs than eastern companies from Atlantic ports.

Because European pellet consumers pre-fer receiving small quantities at a time, pellets are transshipped, meaning they are off-loaded into smaller carriers, Murray says. The port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Europe’s largest port, is one of the most popular transshipping loca-tions. Murray says that signifi cant amounts of cargo are processed at Rotterdam, specifi cally 430 million metric tons of dry and liquid bulk cargo, compared with the relatively small Cana-dian ports of Vancouver and Halifax at 75 mil-lion and 12 million metric tons, respectively.

Transportation and handling make up the highest proportion of the total wood pellet cost for producers.

Expanding MarketsBy constantly targeting emerging markets

such as Europe and most recently Asia, Canada is leading the pellet export race. The govern-ments of South Korea and Japan recognize the need to reduce GHGs and are setting en-vironmental policy that is more advanced than in North America, thereby fostering pellet de-mand.

Although China is behind in emission reduction legislation, Murray says that Cana-dian companies have had early discussions with the highly industrialized country, which could also provide potential sales for pellet producers.

To stay on top of the market, Murray and the large wood pellet producers traveled to South Korea to promote and gauge the country’s interest in Canadian wood pellets.

South Korea is committed to reduce GHGs 30 percent by 2020. The country’s energy target is 10 percent renewables by 2022, which could translate into more than 4 million tons of wood pellets. Korea is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world, ranking fi fth in oil and second in coal im-ports. Its high coal consumption makes co-fi ring with wood pellets an excellent way to meet the country’s emissions directives.

British Columbia is the closest province to Korea, and it is twice as far from the Van-couver port to Rotterdam than to South Ko-rea. Pinnacle understands the potential for pellet imports to Asia, and Bassett expects increased trade activity in Korea, Japan and even China.

Author: Matt SobergAssociate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal

[email protected] (701) 746-8385

Canada »

Grinding—Pelleting—CoolingFrom start to finish, CPM specializes in total solutions for superior production levels of high-quality pellets. The latest technology. The highest-quality pellet mills and dies. Efficient and economical. Built to run 24/7 in the toughest conditions.

For high-capacity wood and biomass pellet production, low energy consumption and superior pellet quality, look to Your Partner in Productivity. Look to CPM.

YOUR TOTAL BIOMASS PELLETING SOLUTION

800-366-2563 | 319-232-8444 WWW.CPM.NET | WATERLOO, IOWA

CPM Roskamp Champion @CPMRoskamp


« International


With an abundance of raw materials and easy access to export markets, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are major league players in wood pellet production. BY PETER TABERNER

BIG IN THE BALTICS

International »

In this not-so-talked-about part of Northeast Eu-rope, the Baltic states—Latvia, Estonia and Lith-uania—almost secretly possess a successful and burgeoning wood pellet industry, exporting to many major European pellet markets.

“The ever-growing level of production capacity in the Baltic region was the key reason we decided at Argus to put together our weekly fob (free on board) Baltic index for spot deals,” says Brodie Govan, editor of Argus Biomass Markets. “The Baltics have become one of the major supply hubs in the wood pellet sector, along with Portugal in Europe and the West Coast of Canada and Southeast U.S. The region has long been considered a reliable exporter to end-users in Scandinavia but that reputation is changing as more buyers from mainland Europe sign up for supply deals.”

Brodie estimates the Baltic’s current wood pellet production capacity at about 1.3 million metric tons per year. Latvia leads the way with 800,000 metric tons per year, Estonia at 450,000 metric tons and Lithuania at 120,000.

“It’s diffi cult to put a fi gure on projected production growth in the region,” he says, “but if Baltic production is currently around 1.3 million metric tons per year, then we can expect this number to continue rising to meet ever-increasing demand.” The level of increase will depend on the cost of raw materials in the region, which, he adds, have been volatile of late and now account for more than 50 percent of the fi nal pellet price for some produc-ers, “forcing some to look elsewhere, to the likes of Belarus and Ukraine,” Brodie says.

Producers in the Baltics are well-aware of the interest in their pellet production, but they need to consider their current produc-tion capabilities, logistics and raw material availability before they can make expansion plans.


“Denmark and Sweden are our biggest export markets and we sell to Lithuania and Estonia,” says Daiga Markova, a spokesman for Latvia-based pellet producer Latgranula, which produces pellets using pure sawdust that it secures from domestic markets. “We export pellets packed in bags and in bulk by vessels from the port of Riga. There is big interest for pellets from such countries as Italy, Germany and Austria but they are using pellets in diam-eter of 6 millimeters, but we produce only 8 millimeter pellets so this market is closed for us at the moment.”

Gatis Eglitis, director of Ekoliesma, also reports a signifi cant export wave. “We export about 90 percent of our total yield, and the main markets are Denmark, Germany and also a signifi cant portion to Italy,” he says. “For industrial products we have markets in the Netherlands and Sweden.”

Ekoliesma would like to expand its export markets to developing ones such as the U.K., but because of transportation issues shipping to bordering European countries makes more economic sense.

The domestic market in Latvia is a bur-geoning one, but there are obstacles to over-come.

“While the local market is growing, there are issues such as the scarcity of raw materials like sawdust,” Eglitis says. “There is also com-petitive pricing with heating pumps that pro-

duce heat and are about 30 percent cheaper than most other forms of electricity genera-tion.”

Estonia ExportsA number of correlations exist between

the Estonian and Latvian markets in the sense that while the domestic market is increasing, it’s the exports that make it all worthwhile.

Figures from Statistics Estonia paint an in-teresting picture regarding its electricity “trade balance” with 1,100 gigawatts being imported, vastly outweighed by 4,354 gigawatts exported with wood pellets being a signifi cant part of its overseas sales.

The export market trail leads mainly to Denmark and Sweden, with Italy and Bel-gium also providing trade routes for pellets. “In Estonia, the traditional raw material—saw-dust—is used by existing production units,” says Jaanus Roots, manager of Timber OU, in explaining the domestic market. “In addition, pellets are produced from pulp wood. The price of the pulp wood is, in turn, infl uenced by state [subsidies], therefore the raw material prices and sales prices are currently increasing. Guaranteed access to raw material is the key for opening pellet production in Estonia these days.”

A special mention should go to AS Graanul, the Baltics’ largest pellet producer, one of the top fi ve producers in Europe,

which has a foot in both the Estonian and Lat-vian markets.

Total production from its six factories, with one of them operational in Alytus, Lithu-ania, has reached 500,000 metric tons of saw-dust pellets per year, with volumes expected to increase by 25 percent over the next fi ve years and ambition to be the continent’s largest pro-ducer.

AS Graanul’s goal is to manufacture an additional 320,000 metric tons of pellets, and it hopes that will be achieved by raising its activity in Lativa with a new 180,000-metric-ton capac-ity plant it plans to have completed by the end of this year. Increased production is planned at AS Graanul’s two existing pellet plants, and fi nances are expected to be fi nalized soon.

“Domestic markets in the Baltic states are growing quite fast, but it is still a fraction compared to the actual production here,” says Raul Kirjanen, head of sales for AS Graanul. “I think in 10 years, more than 50 percent of the pellets produced here will also be locally utilized.”

“Our production is 50 percent residential quality and 50 percent industrial quality, which is fl exible between markets, so we are able to produce the pellets that the markets need,” he says. “For premium pellets we use bark-free raw materials shavings, sawdust and chips. For industrial pellets, we use logs and industrial chips.”

« International


The company has also received a boost from the European Bank of Reconstruc-tion and Development, which is providing a senior corporate loan of 34.4 million euros (46.9 million) to fund two combined heating boilers in AS Grannul’s pellet mills.

Another interesting development in Es-tonia is the decision by Swedish-based fi rm Stora Enso to build its own plant in Imavere Parish, a rural municipality in Estonia’s Jarva County area.

This is an unusual logistical move but Tomas Isaksson, director of pellet opera-tions for Stora Enso, is unperturbed and be-lieves the new plant will be a success provid-ing more pellets for the Swedish market.

“We plan to start in December this year and initially will look to produce 75,000-80,000 [metric tons] but the maximum ca-pacity will reach 100,000 after the fi rst year, Isaksson says. “All of the pellets will be ex-ported to Sweden and the produce will be for the domestic market.”

Lithuania Lags Despite having the widest land mass and

the highest population at 3.3 million, Lithu-ania is the youngest sibling when it comes to the pellet market, as both Estonia and Latvia started manufacturing pellets earlier.

Lithuania currently has four plants in full operation and total production stands

at 150,000 metric tons per year, with 5,000-6,000 of those metric tons used within the domestic market, according to the Lithuanian Biomass Energy Association. As for exports, pellets are being shipped to Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden.

There is room to grow the domestic market as 50 percent of the population re-ceives heating through districts, which feed heating into small cities and rural areas via local boiler houses and they could be rebuilt into using biomass for heating. The district system is not unique in Lithuania as it’s also used in Sweden and Finland.

Those who reside in private houses with individual heating plans are also interested in receiving biomass-based heating, the motiva-tion perhaps stemming from high gas prices.

“In Lithuania, the potential is there to grow the wood pellet market as gas prices here are the highest in Europe so pellets are more affordable to the consumer,” says Remigijus Lapinskas president of the Lithu-anian Biomass Energy Association. “We have a lot of high-quality raw material and only the highest standards of pellets are pro-duced.”

It’s debatable just how much of an ad-vantage building a plant in the Baltics really is, however, despite the obvious geographical advantage for export markets into Scandina-via and Central Europe.

Eglitis and others argue that there is an abundance of raw material, while others warn of its fi nite volumes. The cost for labor is viewed as being more economical by some observers such as the International Energy Agency, but Lapinskas believes labor costs are higher in Lithuania than in many other countries.

“Ten years ago, building and operating such a pellet plant as ours was something innovative in Latvia,” Markova says. “Now people are used to pellets as heating energy and have equipped their houses with pellet heating boilers. Now they are satisfi ed and see advantages for using biomass heating en-ergy, but now when there are lot of pellet plants in Latvia, competition has been grow-ing as well as a shortage of raw material such as sawdust. I am talking about high-quality, pure sawdust, as we are producing only pre-mium class pellets. So nowadays for building and operating new pellet plants, I don’t see a big advantage.”

Despite the concerns over the amount raw materials, the evidence suggests there is likely to be more talk about this corner of Northeast Europe in the future, as it would seem that the pellet markets can only esca-late.

Author: Peter TabernerFreelance Writer

[email protected]

International »


Silo Fires Require Specific Response Tactics As the use of wood pellets for biomass and thermal energy increases, it’s important to learn more about how fires develop, are detected and extinguished in storage silos.BY HENRY PERSSON

The replacement of fossil fuels with renewable fuels impacts fi re safety is-sues in many ways. In particular, the use of solid biofuels presents new risks and chal-lenges for the industry and fi rst responders alike. One common type of refi ned solid bio-fuel is wood pellets, which are often stored in large silos after production or shipping. In the case of a silo fi re, it is important to understand the nature of the fi re and to use appropriate response tactics.

In the past 10 years, the use of solid biofuels, and in particular wood pellets, has increased dramatically. In 2000, the annual production of wood pellets in Europe and North America was about 1.5 million tons, while the expected production for 2010 was about 16 million tons. Sweden is the largest wood pellet consumer with a consumption of about 2.3 million tons in 2010. The production of wood

The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily refl ect the views of Pellet Mill Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).

« Procedure

CONTRIBUTION

STEEL STORAGE: A 300-cubic-meter test silo was used for the gas distribution tests.


pellets in Sweden was about 1.65 million tons, while the remaining part is imported by ships, typically from North America and in the Baltic states. Pellets consumption is increasing dramatically in several other European countries as well, however, and as a consequence, handling and storage of wood pellets is also increasing.

To improve the knowledge of fi re development, detection and extinction techniques in silos, two main test series have been conducted at the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden. Experience from these projects has resulted in recommendations concerning proper extinguishing practices. Silo Extinguishing Tests

The main purpose of the fi rst project conducted in 2006 was to study fi re extinction techniques in silos and to provide a basis for guidelines concerning the tactics to be used. The project also provided valuable information about the initial fi re development of a simulated spontaneous ignition in the stored material and the possibility for early detection of such fi res.

The silo used for the tests was 1 meter (3.28 feet) in diameter and 6 meters high. Close to the base of the silo, a ventilation duct was installed, which was used both to provide ventilation to the silo during the “pre-burn” phase and for infection of inert gas during the extinguishing phase. The silo was fi lled with wood pellets up to a height of 5 meters during the tests. Local auto-ignition was simulated using a coiled heating wire placed in the pellets, located centrally in the silo.

The experimental results from one of four tests are summarized in Figure 1. The

extension of the pyrolysis zone was mainly downwards, towards the air inlet, where a heat/moisture wave, with a temperature

less than 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), slowly moved upward (see Figure 2). Although the distance from the

Procedure »

Figure 1

Figure 2

HEATING UP: Visualization of the recorded temperatures inside the silo during one of the fi re tests

AFTER BURN: Photos taken during dismantling of the silo showed that the pellets formed a congealed pile in the top part of the silo (left), and the pyrolysis zone about 1.5 meters below the ignition source (right).

« Procedure

Proven Technology with Aftermarket ServiceThe Complete Package

Proven Technology with Aftermarket Service

point of ignition to the pellet surface was only about 2.5 meters, it took about 20 hours before the fi re could be detected by gas analysis in the top of the silo, clearly indicating the problems of early fi re detection of smoldering fi res in silos.

Gas Filling TestsThe purpose of the second project,

conducted in 2008, was to investigate how nitrogen should be injected into a real silo during extinction to achieve optimal gas distribution. The experiments were performed in a 300-cubic-meter steel silo with a diameter of 6 meters and a height of 10.5 meters and fi lled with about 260 cubic meters of wood pellets. In total, fi ve gas fi lling tests were conducted where the gas was injected from the center of the base of the silo, or alternatively at one point along the silo wall. All tests were conducted in a cold (no fi re) silo as the main focus was

to study the gas distribution in the bulk material. The tests showed that the gas distribution was signifi cantly infl uenced by the gas fl ow rate, the location of the inlet and the properties of the bulk, showing the need for several distributed gas inlets when inerting large diameter silos.

Real Fire ExperienceThe results from the fi rst silo project

have successfully been applied to several real silo fi res in Sweden. In one fi re incident, auto-ignition occurred in a silo, 47 meters high and 8 meters in diameter, fi lled to about 40 meters with wood pellets. Elevated temperatures had been noted for some time and the plan was to empty the silo within the next few days. However, before such action could be taken, smoke was seen emerging from the top of the silo and the fi re brigade was called. Initially, extinction was attempted using the application of liquid carbon dioxide to the top

volume of the silo. Approximately 35 tons of carbon dioxide were applied intermittently over a period of approximately 18 hours. The application seemed to control the fi re but it was not possible to verify how much of the gas penetrated into the bulk. Consequently, it was not possible to determine when a discharge operation could be safely started.

Nitrogen was therefore, injected close to the silo base according to the recommendations from the silo experiments in order to control the effect of the gas injection, temperatures and concentrations of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen were measured in the top of the silo. In total, nitrogen injection continued for almost 65 hours without interruption until the silo content was discharged. Approximately 14 tons of nitrogen was used, which gives total gas consumption of approximately 5.6 kilograms per cubic meter, well in line with the recommendations from the research project.


Procedure »

Summarized GuidelinesBased on both the results of the research

projects and practical experience of real silo fi res, the following recommendations are given:

• Make an initial risk assessment of the situation. Concentrations of carbon monoxide in indoor areas in the vicinity of the silo may be dangerously high. Further, consider the risk for dust and gas explosions in the silo and associated systems.

• Close all openings to the silo and turn off ventilation so that air entrainment into the silo is minimized. A release hatch or similar opening in the silo top for gas and pressure relief should be present while still preventing any infl ow of air.

• Inject nitrogen close to the bottom of the silo. A large diameter silo will require several gas inlets. The nitrogen should be injected in gaseous phase, and an evaporator must be used. Assume an injection rate of

5 kilograms per cubic meter hour (cross-sectional area) and a total gas consumption of 5-15 kilograms per cubic meter (gross volume) of the silo.

• If possible, measure the concentration of carbon monoxide and oxygen at the top of the silo during the entire extinguishing and discharge operation.

• Do not begin discharging the silo until there are clear signs (low levels of carbon monoxide and oxygen) that the fi re is under control.

• Be aware that the discharge capacity might be considerably reduced compared to a normal situation and that the discharge operation might take several days to complete.

• The discharged pellets must be inspected for slowing or burning material and extinguished with water if necessary.

• The gas injection should continue during the entire discharge process.

Some important things to remember are:

• Do not open the silo during the fi re fi ghting operation. This will cause air entrainment, which will increase the fi re intensity and might cause dust and gas explosions and an escalation of the fi re situation.

• Do not use water inside a silo fi lled with wood pellets. Water application will cause considerable swelling of the pellets, which could both damage the silo construction and cause signifi cant problems for the discharge operation.

Author: Henry PerssonProject Leader Fire Dynamics Section, SP

Swedish Technical Research [email protected]

+46 10 516 5198


Pellet Mill MagazineAdvertisers' Index

52

51

23

44

2

36

50

14

48

20

41

15

37

49

27

26

28

33

17

21

22

40

45

16

2012 International Biomass Conference & Expo

2012 Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

2012 Pacifi c West Conference & Trade Show

Airofl ex Equipment

Andritz

Biomass Energy Laboratory

Biomass Power & Thermal

Buhler Inc.

Ceco Abatement Systems, Inc.

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc.

CPM Roskamp Champion

D&S Engineering, Inc.

Firefl y AB

GreCon, Inc.

Industrial Bulk Lubricants

Jackson Lumber Harvester Co.

Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories

Olson Search International, Inc.

PFI Pellet Fuels Institute

Plant Systems

Seedburo Equipment Company

Twin Ports Testing

USCJO

Vecoplan Midwest, LLC

The Largest Biomass Industry Networking Event in the World!Sponsorships and Exhibit Space

Now Available

April 16-19, 2012Colorado Convention CenterDenver, Colorado

The International Biomass Conference & Expo is anticipated be even larger than last year ’s successful event. With an anticipated 1,500 attendees, 230 exhibitors, 120 speakers and 60 sponsors, you’ll experience firsthand why the majority of our past exhibitors and sponsors have walked away with valuable contacts and sales leads.

Register Today and Grow Your Future.

CONTACT US:[email protected] Follow Us: twitter.com/biomassmagazine

Sponsors as of September 14, 2011

A New Era in Energy: The Future is Growing

fall 2011 pellet mill magazine

Documents

wood pellet industry

pellet exports

pellet mills

wood pellet silo firesfall

pellet makers successes

wood waste

complete turnkey pellet

nature of pellet silo