Those with roots in the North American wood pellet industry may be familiar with the story of the first transatlantic shipload of wood pellets setting sail from North America to Europe, which was done under the direction of industry pioneer John Swaan just over 25 years ago. Few were likely in the business at the time, as it was very small and in its infancy&mdash;but Chris Wiberg was. &ldquo;I started in wood pellets in 1998, that same year,&rdquo; says Wiberg, who is vice president at the Conyers, Georgia-based Biomass Energy Lab. Wiberg joined BEL and Timber Products Inspection in 2011, to assist in building out the lab&rsquo;s biomass-based services. BEL is a joint venture between Timber Products Inspection and Control Union USA, a global supply chain auditing firm, Wiberg explains. While the company operates as BEL for international services, its domestic title is known as Timber Products Inspection.&nbsp; &ldquo;TP is essentially an auditing agency and lab system for wood products&mdash;lumber, treated lumber, trusses, wood packaging materials, log homes, plywood, and wood pellets &hellip;anything made out of wood that has some kind of a grade behind it. Our services include performing third-party verification at the production site to confirm that the plant is doing what it needs to, as well as for the end product quality&mdash;typically, the lab receives samples and runs tests to verify the quality of any one of those various products.&rdquo; TP is a certification and inspection body, and testing laboratory for the PFI Standards Program. As for Control Union, if a ship is readying to load cargo, the company ensures it is clean and ready to accept it, and oversees its loading. &ldquo;During the loading, they&rsquo;ll collect the samples,&rdquo; Wiberg explains. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a wood pellet shipment, then those samples come to our laboratory for testing of the contracted criteria.&rdquo;&nbsp; When the lab was built, it was done so with new equipment aligning with the international pellet standards that were under development, according to Wiberg. &ldquo;The standards were just coming to fruition during that timeframe, and we were really the only lab performing to that international standard, operating out of the U.S.,&rdquo; Wiberg says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s about when I started to understand that wood pellets were something different&mdash;something special.&rdquo; Crafting Standards In 2005, Wiberg became involved with the Pellet Fuels Institute and realized the lack of standards were causing some industry struggles. &ldquo;I attended a PFI conference and it was clear that standards were needed,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I became a member of the PFI standards committee, and we began writing the first version back in that timeframe&mdash;2006, 2007. It took a lot of years for it to come together. It wasn&rsquo;t until about 2010 that the first version came out, and a couple more years until the current program became real. I was chairman of the standards committee and a primary author of a large extent of it, though lots of people worked on the project.&rdquo; Soon, Wiberg became the go-to guy for producers wanting to get involved in the standards program. &ldquo;One by one, I started working with them to get their quality systems set up and their on-site labs built. To this day, I have assisted in launching quality management programs in the neighborhood of 100 plants in the U.S., Canada and overseas. So, you can imagine the time on-site, visiting all of these places.&rdquo; While the PFI Standards were being written, Europe had a similar initiative underway, which ultimately turned out to be the ENplus standards. &ldquo;They were trying to do the same thing at the same time, so we had a lot of back and forth conversations, swapped some language and versions of our standards,&rdquo; Wiberg says. &ldquo;We worked together to try to align them, but over time, ENplus changed direction to become broader and more encompassing&mdash;like covering the complete supply chain, traders, etcetera&mdash;but PFI was written mainly for U.S. producers so that they could comply with the U.S. EPA's New Source Performance Standards for Residential Wood Heaters. So, they deviated over time.&rdquo; Wiberg emphasizes the complicated nature of developing standards and all of the individual testing methods such as ash or moisture. &ldquo;In the early days, we used all ASTM procedures, but they were incomplete for biomass. Coal had a complete set of standards including sampling, sample prep, all test methods and so on. But biomass methods didn't really align. Different methods were picked and matched, like from the RFD [refused-derived fuel] industry and then some coal standards.&rdquo; Wiberg notes that when Europe initiated the development of solid solid biofuel standards, it was done through the EU&rsquo;s Central European Committee for Normalization Technical Committee 335. &ldquo;They wrote the first version of the current solid biofuel standards and various test parameters that are used today, but Canada and the U.S. didn&rsquo;t have a seat at the table. Global standards should have everyone participate, so the EU forwarded its work product to the ISO, which is the format that allows all participating countries to have input and a vote.&rdquo; &nbsp;The technical advisory group that oversees the U.S. position on this matter is the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers working group ES238, which Wiberg has served as the chairman of since 2013. &ldquo;Annually, some other U.S. delegates and I have traveled internationally to wrangle with other countries over how to write these standards. It was difficult at first, as there are many European countries that get one vote each, but the U.S. and Canada each only get one vote, so we were always outvoted. One way to have more influence was to become involved as a project leader, which is what I did. I took on a suite of projects for moisture, volatiles, ash and some other things, and became very involved in the standards writing. Today, Wiberg is on the advisory committee for ENplus and is one of only a few ENplus auditors in North America, overseeing all ENplus certifications in the U.S. Making the Grade Regarding offtake export agreements and producers seeking to determine how the different test methods, standards and contract terms apply to their product and whether it can make the grade, Wiberg can assist. &ldquo;People call me for interpretations or with their conceptual projects, and through some testing, we can tell them if they&rsquo;ll be potentially poised for the ENplus market, the PFI market or the international power markets, helping identify where they can go with their materials.&rdquo; Technical aspects of the job aside, Wiberg says there is never a dull moment. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really multifaced&mdash;we get a lot of calls from people trying everything under the sun, trying to use every possible form of biomass &hellip; pits and seeds of all kinds of fruits, coconut shell husks, oat straw, wheat straw, switch grass, bagasse and some things that we try to steer clear of. Some things you&rsquo;ll recognize, and endless things you haven&rsquo;t heard of. Ask us, and the answer will likely be &lsquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve tried that, too.&rsquo;&rdquo; Those struggling with product quality can also benefit from engaging TP/BEL to assist. &ldquo;For example, if a plant is having a hard time keeping [pellet] durability in spec, they might think it&rsquo;s a compression issue&mdash;it&rsquo;s not durable enough, so they think they need to pack it tighter. However, that&rsquo;s not necessarily true. It could be a moisture problem, a length issue or any number of things. When you look at the data, it will tell you more than you would think. It&rsquo;s not about looking at any one parameter, but about the entire sheet of parameters, and how they link together. We help people understand their data, we use the testing to help solve problems.&rdquo; Looking Ahead As for what&rsquo;s keeping TP/BEL busy, Wiberg says the normal throughput runs at a feverish pace, but even more so as of late. &ldquo;The ships keep ramping up, the number that are going to various customers overseas&mdash;typically to Europe&mdash;and every one of them loaded needs a full analysis. That alone keeps us very busy, but one of the things that has blown the roof off the norm is the absence of Russian volume on the market&mdash;wood pellet buyers are looking all around the globe for any available wood pellet production that could be diverted to Europe.&rdquo; As a result, Wiberg says, there is a huge boom in the number of clients looking to get ENplus certified, including some smaller producers, and though ENPlus certification requirements for Europe were waived for one year, he believes it&rsquo;s likely to return when that time period ends.&nbsp; &ldquo;My phone is ringing off the hook. It is a lot of work to get a plant set up initially, much more so than maintaining the standard once they have achieved it&mdash;and everyone is trying to achieve it now.&rdquo; Wiberg acknowledges that though ENplus is a very sound, comprehensive program designed to check all the boxes, it isn&rsquo;t perfect. &ldquo;A problem is that it&rsquo;s written in such a fashion to capture how people do pellets all over the world, but more so from a European perspective,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So one of the challenges with ENplus is that a lot of the requirements are based on the model of how pellets are used in Germany and Austria, and of course all over Europe. There&rsquo;s the pneumatic truck and conveyance equipment that sends three tons of pellets into somebody&rsquo;s basement hopper, and then they move to the next house. But this isn&rsquo;t how a 500,000-ton plant works&mdash;these producers fill ships.&rdquo; The current model does have some disconnect in terms of rules that don&rsquo;t necessarily apply around the globe, and are more written to reflect the European need, from Wiberg&rsquo;s perspective. &ldquo;For example, there is a temperature requirement&mdash;pellets cannot be distributed to an end user unless they are less than 40 degrees Celsius. But in the U.S. South, ambient air temperatures are sometimes above that. So how can the temperature of the product be lower than the ambient air on certain days of the year?&rdquo; Wiberg reiterates that writing the standards perfectly would be nearly impossible. &ldquo;There are always opportunities for improvement,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very tough to have one scheme that accomplishes the needs of the entire world.&rdquo; As for within the U.S., there is presently no demand for ENplus production, as PFI is considered the golden standard for U.S. product. When asked about the growing barbeque pellet market and whether industry standards should be developed&mdash;an idea that some industry stakeholders have debated for many years&mdash;Wiberg did not hesitate to answer. &ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Even for the simplest idea of preventing chemically treated materials from being used in BBQ,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There are potentially contaminated materials out there, or chemically treated, and there really isn&rsquo;t anything that prevents them from going into the BBQ pellet market. At minimum, there could be some standards for fiber sourcing to ensure the materials being used are clean. Wiberg adds that some standards could enhance the BBQ pellet market, such as a required percentage of wood species used in product to be able to label them as such. &ldquo;This would help with issues like, what does a pellet&rsquo;s composition have be to in order to be labeled as a mesquite pellet&mdash;10%, or 100% mesquite?,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There are those topics of argument, but I&rsquo;m less concerned about things like that. At a minimum, I think the industry would be up to ensuring that corrosive materials are not damaging stoves, and to assure the health and safety of the general public by ensuring the fiber is clean. They can wrangle over what they would like to include, but I think those would be beneficial.&rdquo; Author: Anna Simet Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine asimet@bbiinternational.com

Chris Wiberg is vice president of Biomass Energy Lab, which serves customer needs ranging from routine quality control tests to certification of an export shipment of wood pellets.

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David Robles is lab manager at Biomass Energy Lab.

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(From left to right) Biomass Energy Lab staff: Drake Townsend, Ruben Robles, David Robles, Chris Larson, Walter De Guire and Binh Chau.

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Biomass Energy Lab's Chris Wiberg discusses the inception and evolution of wood pellet quality standards, plant certification and industry trends. 

Quality Matters

Russia has the world’s largest reserves of natural biomass with about 25% of the world’s timber resources and about 45% of the world's peat reserves. The annual amount of organic waste from the agro-industrial complex is about 700 million tons, with a total gross energy content of about 90 million tons of fuel. At the same time, the biomass sector is one of the youngest branches of the Russian timber complex, the actual development of which began a little over a decade ago. In 2013, the first federal program for the development of the domestic biofuel market was adopted—the "Action Plan for creating favorable conditions for the use of renewable wood sources for the production of heat and electricity." As part of this plan, production and use of biofuels in the country were to significantly increase, but Russia’s attack on Ukraine and sanctions pressure from the West has put an end for implementation of these plans—at least in the foreseeable future—and has also significantly impact export markets, with subsequent ripple effects. Densified Biomass Production According to industry trade data, traditionally, 95% of wood pellets and about 60% of briquettes produced in Russia were exported to foreign markets, with more than 80% of its exports being sent into the EU market. The imposition of the fifth package of sanctions by the EU led to the suspension of such supplies, and revocation of Russian exporters' ENPlus certifications. Prior to late February of last year, the annual volume of pellet production in Russia varied in the range of 2.6 million to 2.8 million metric tons (MT), according to Rosleskhoz, the Russian Federal Agency for Forestry. Of these, 2.4 million tons worth €504 million ($611 million) were sent for exports.&nbsp; In 2021, Russia ranked fifth in the world in terms of annual pellet production. While the official results for 2022 have not yet been announced, most analysts expect Russia will lose its status as one of the world’s largest pellet and biofuel exporters, and some have predicted that the overall sales for Russian pellet producers in the domestic and foreign markets will have declined by 80% in 2022 compared to 2021, with sales ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 metric tons per month.&nbsp; During the recent Russian International Forestry Forum—one of Russia’s most important annual events in the field of forestry and biomass—Yuri Vorobyov, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council, said Russian timber companies have been forced to significantly reduce output due to sanctions, with the biggest decline being observed in the case of wood pellets. The domestic market has also seen decreases in demand. In general, according to Vorobyov, logging volumes in Russia have declined by more than 13% across the country as a whole, and by 30% in some densely forested cities of the country. So far, the industry has faced massive shutdowns of enterprises, while some companies are cutting staff or transferring them to part-time. Among the largest producers of wood pellets in Russia in 2021 were Segezha Group (part of AFK Sistema) at 360,000 annual metric tons (MT), Sawmill 25 (part of the group of companies Titanium) at 160,000 MT, and Ustyansky timber processing plant (ULK Group) at 300,000 MT. While the companies were not available for comment, local analysts expect that most of them will revise 2023 production plans. In late December, Lesprom reported that ULK Group, the largest sawmiller in the northwest Russia, announced it would cease all wood pellet production due to lack of sales, and lay off 1,500 workers.&nbsp; According to Rosleskhoz, before sanctions were imposed, Russia’s share of total wood pellets imported into the EU was an estimated 10%. The largest consumers were Denmark (958,000 MT) and Belgium (381,000 MT). Most of that volume was purchased by large energy companies including German RWE and Uniper, the British Drax, the French Engie and the Danish Orsted. A significant portion was also sent to Baltic countries, Scandinavia and South Korea. A Mounting Problem Ekaterina Mikhailova, executive director of the Russian Pellet Union, says the annual volume of sawdust, which is accumulating in Russia and used in the production of wood pellets, is estimated at 12 to 15 million cubic meters. As production has been cut, it is unclear how these volumes of sawdust will be utilized.&nbsp; “If the production of pellets and biofuels stops, then there will be a mountain of sawdust three meters high in our forests, lying on an area of 2,000 hectares,” she says. In this case, according to Mikhailova, the risk of forest fires will significantly increase. In addition, sawmills are left with disposal problems and must seek alternative ways to use the material.&nbsp; Amidst the reduction in exports, prices for pellets in the domestic market are also declining, creating more problems for producers. According to experts of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, demand for wood pellets in Russia is varied, in the range of 200,000 to 600,000 tons per year, or about 23% of domestic production. Due to inability of exports, producers and the government plan to take measures to switch a significant part of exported pellets to the domestic market. As part of these plans, the government is evaluating the possibility of converting approximately 30% of domestic boilers from coal and fuel oil to pellets, as well as the use of up to 5% of fuel pellets for combustion in coal-fired thermal power plants.&nbsp; Despite the potentially positive implications, actual implementation of these plans may be quite difficult due to high costs. As experts of the Russian Ministry of Construction have recently warned, the costs of converting a coal-fired boiler to wood biofuel are comparable to those of building a new boiler. But the department believes that such projects can be important to replace outdated, small-capacity coal-fired boilers in remote areas of the country. In addition, biofuels can be used as additives in waste incinerators, and as the main fuel for new boiler houses in difficult-to-reach areas where it is impossible to provide gas, coal, fuel oil and diesel fuel at affordable prices. Plans of more active use of biofuels in energy complexes have been recently announced by the heads of some regions of Russia. For example, authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia’s largest region in Siberia, are considering the sale of fuel pellets at a discount to municipal boiler houses, while officials of the Russian Arkhangelsk region have the same plans. However, according to experts of the Russian Pellets Union, switching boilers from coal to pellets could take months, while the receipt of all the necessary approvals could take years. In addition, a public campaign is needed to promote the use of pellets for heating private houses in Russia, which, to date, has been uncommon for the country.&nbsp; A significant increase in the consumption of pellets and other biomass in Russia is nearly impossible due to the low popularity of the concept of “green economy” in Russia, and its cheap hydrocarbon reserves. According to data of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, Russia annually consumes only 150,000 to 300,000 tons of pellets, or approximately 5% to 8% of the country’s total production volume, with small households being the major consumers. There were some plans to begin supplying wood pellets and other biofuels to some Russian cement and steel plants, but so far, the initiative has not been implemented.&nbsp; Moving Markets In order to compensate for losses associated with the exit from the EU market, leading Russian wood pellet and biofuel producers are considering increasing supplies to Asian markets. Currently, Asian markets remain available for Russian pellet and biofuel producers, although their consumption is significantly lower than the EU. While South Korea has made significant purchases of Russia’s biofuels, Japan has only explored such a possibility.&nbsp; In case of South Korea, from January to November 2022, Russian companies managed to redirect about 20% of their wood pellets exports from the EU to the South Korean market, despite very high transport and logistics costs. While the government has promised to provide subsidies to cover at least part of these costs, most producers and analysts believe they will be insufficient to ensure profitability. In the case of China, there is a currently a ban on the import of biofuels from other countries, with an exception of some border areas of the country. As Olga Rakitova, head of IAA INFOBIO, tells the Russian Lesnoy Region forestry paper, China produces about 8 million tons of pellets per year, almost 100% of which is consumed in the country. Therefore, the need to import foreign supplies is minimal.&nbsp; In 2011, the Russian Vyborg Cellulose Company launched the world's largest wood pellet plant in Russia. The volume of its production is 1 million tons per year. Prior to the war, the company had the potential to meet about 30% of all European demand. Due to the current situation in Russia and its ever growing isolation, the company will have to find alternative sale markets for its products.&nbsp; The situation is also complicated by the lack of equipment and machinery in the industry. Prior to sanctions, most equipment was supplied to Russia from abroad, particularly from EU states. While the exodus of Russian pellets from the EU market provides an opportunity for foreign rivals to fill the vacant niche, at the same time, there are growing concerns of Russian pellets being recertified, repacked and illegally exported through other countries.&nbsp; Author: Eugene Gerden International Freelance Writer

2023-02-18 - Ripple Effects (Biomass Magazine)

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Once a rising powerhouse in the industry, the Russian biomass sector is on the downslide.


Ripple Effects

Two North American industrial wood pellet manufacturers have recently announced capacity expansions. J.D. Irving Ltd.&rsquo;s Grand River Pellets, located in northern New Brunswick, reported it has undertaken a $30 million project to more than double its capacity, from 140,000 to 220,000 metric tons per year, once commissioned in May. The plant uses sawdust and bark from sawmills owned by J.D. Irving, as well as independent suppliers, to manufacture wood pellets for export markets. Drax also announced plans to expand its Aliceville, Alabama, facility. The $50 million dollar investment will increase production capacity by nearly 50%, from 250,000 tons to 380,000 tons, according to Drax. The company said the expansion includes upgrades to existing systems, as well as new truck dumps and pelletizer units. The additional capacity is expected to begin commissioning in 2024. 
 In late January, Canadian forest products company Canfor Corp. announced it will permanently close its pellet plant in Chetwynd, British Columbia, as part of a restructuring of its operations within the province. Canfor celebrated the grand opening of the Chetwynd pellet plant in August 2016. The facility has the capacity to produce 100,000 metric tons of industrial-grade wood pellets annually. The company said its British Columbia restructuring plan aims to better align manufacturing capacity with the available long-term fiber supply. Canfor&rsquo;s Chetwynd sawmill will also permanently close as part of the restructuring. Canadian wood pellet production for 2022 remained consistent with the previous year, according to a report filed with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Global Agricultural Information Network. Exports were up an estimated 5% due to increased demand from Europe and Asia. Canada produced an estimated 3.5 million metric tons (MT) of wood pellets last year, flat with 2021, but up from 3.3 million MT in 2020. The country has 47 pellet production facilities, unchanged from 2021 but up from 46 in 2020. Total nameplate production capacity was at 4.79 million MT in 2022, down from 5.054 million MT in 2021. Approximately 45% of Canadian pellet mill production capacity is in British Columbia, with 21% in Quebec, 17% in Alberta, 8% in New Brunswick, 7% in Ontario, and 4% located in the rest of Canada. Canada primarily produces wood pellets for export markets. Domestic consumption was at 530,000 MT last year, up from 500,000 MT in 2021 and 430,000 MT in 2020. Producers exported 3.3 million MT of wood pellets in 2022, up from 3.153 million MT in 2021.
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The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released data showing U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 950,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in September, with sales reaching 1.11 million tons. The report was released as part of the December edition of EIA&rsquo;s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report, which contains data for September.&nbsp;&nbsp; The 80 manufacturers surveyed for September had a total combined production capacity of 13.28 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,467 full-time employees. Respondents purchased 2.39 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in September, produced 950,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 1.11 million tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 157,917 tons of heating pellets and 729,921 tons of utility pellets. Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in September reached 212,710 tons at an average price of $208.31 per ton. Exports in September reached 904,9003 tons at an average price of $244.19 per ton. Inventories of premium/standard pellets fell to 185,500 tons in September, down from 256,337 tons in August. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 383,321 tons in September, down from 473,038 tons in August. Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.37 million tons in September, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. 
 NORDEN recently announced a successful customized solution to assist a customer in shipping wood pellets from the U.S. to a small port outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. The operation involved a transhipment of approximately 50,000 metric tons of wood pellets onboard a Supramax vessel to the port of Aarhus, Denmark. Port restrictions prevented Supramax vessels from entering the port, so following the transhipment to Aarhus, eight smaller vessels were used to perform a ship-to-ship operation, discharging the wood pellets directly from the large vessel onto the smaller vessels. These vessels&nbsp; then transported the cargo to its final destination outside of Copenhagen. With this solution, according to NORDEN, the customer only needed to conduct one voyage from the U.S. to Denmark using one Supramax vessel, rather than having to conduct eight voyages with smaller vessels.
 Enviva Inc. on Dec. 21 announced the signing of a 10-year take-or-pay off-take fuel supply contract with an existing European customer, extendable for up to five years. Enviva expects to supply 800,000 metric tons of industrial-grade wood pellets per year, with deliveries expected to commence during 2027, subject to certain conditions precedent. Enviva&rsquo;s total weighted-average remaining term of take-or-pay off-take contracts is approximately 14 years, according to the company, with a total contracted revenue backlog of over $23 billion. This contracted revenue backlog is complemented by a customer sales pipeline exceeding $50 billion, which includes contracts in various stages of negotiation. To recognize and show gratitude toward heroes in communities across the country, Harman and Lignetics Group teamed up for the ninth time to supply a Harman Hero recipient with a Harman Accentra52i-TC pellet insert, 1 ton of CleanFire Superior heating pellets and 1 ton of large animal bedding. This year&rsquo;s Harman Hero recipient was social worker and therapist Rachel Novak of Hanson, Massachusetts. The pellet insert was by The Chimney Chaps, and the heating pellets were delivered by WoodPellets.com, a company under the Lignetics Group, which also donated the animal bedding. Venting was donated by Duravent. &nbsp; Graanul Invest Woodville Pellets LLC celebrated an important milestone in logistics efficiency, the company announced in mid-January. In December, Graanul began loading MS Nemea with 50,042 tons of wood pellets at its logistics hub in Port Arthur, Texas, for shipment across the Atlantic to the U.K. Jason Ansley, Graanul vice president of U.S. operations, thanked partner Drax for being flexible, &ldquo;as the shift from handysize vessels to supra size required some preparations and was not without its challenges.&rdquo; Graanul operates 12 wood pellet plants in the Baltics and the U.S., and six renewable combined-heat-and-power plants in Estonia and Latvia.

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Pellet News Roundup 

The inclusion of a 30% tax credit for qualifying residential pellet appliances in the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has rightly been called the single largest policy victory for the wood pellet industry to date. Certainly, there were some disappointing caveats. The tax credit doesn&rsquo;t extend to commercial installations, and a $2,000 cap on the credit was introduced, significantly blunting the impact of the tax credit on larger, more expensive whole home pellet boiler systems. Still, producers and the Pellet Fuels Institute cheered the tax credit and its 10-year runway. With a trend toward warmer and shorter heating seasons, it is imperative that more pellet-burning units be installed if wood pellet demand is expected to remain stable, to say nothing of experiencing even modest growth. With nearly $370 billion of the legislation&rsquo;s $433 billion in total spending earmarked for energy security and climate change, it is crystal clear that the Biden administration has ambitions for the rapid acceleration of clean energy to be its enduring legacy. Considering the disappointment many in the broader clean energy sector felt when the Obama administration chose instead to feature health care reform as its legacy platform, the Inflation Reduction Act&rsquo;s sharp focus on clean energy may initially feel like a policy dream come true, not only for wood pellet producers, but also for the broader biomass sector. Still, a close read and analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act suggests that the clean energy future that this piece of federal policy imagines and is aiming for is shifting toward an energy system less concerned with &ldquo;renewable resources&rdquo; and is instead tightly focused on net zero carbon. The pivot is understandable, as climate scientists stress that to slow the pace of climate change, carbon is all that matters, along with technologies that have no carbon consequence but deliver energy for our cars, trucks, homes, businesses, airplanes and data centers. The easy targets, of course, are the carbon-dense fossil fuel energy sources the global economy has relied upon since the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution. While opinions may vary about how likely human beings are to actually divorce themselves from the use of fossil fuel, what is not up for debate is that policymakers around the world, heading the pleadings of climate scientists, intend to do exactly that. A close read of the Inflation Reduction Act reveals that electrification will be incentivized to unseat fossil fuels from its incumbent position wherever practicable. Electric vehicles are the most widely reported on and visible manifestation of this aim, but work is being done to electrify almost every other place humans need energy, including space heating. Heat pumps are a mature technology, incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act to the same degree as qualifying wood heat appliances, and are increasingly being tabbed as the swiftest way to the decarbonization of our space heating load. Many states are aligned in this thinking.&nbsp; The report, &ldquo;Building Electrification: Programs and Best Practices,&rdquo; authored in February 2022 by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, found 42 state or local program incentivizing a transition to electrified space and/or water heating via heat pumps, up from 22 in 2020. Of these programs, 13 can be found in the heart of traditional wood pellet markets, the U.S. Northeast. The drive for decarbonization need not be regarded as a death knell for the biomass nor pellet sector. Each corner of the biomass industry points regularly to carbon benefits, and in many instances have earned policy victories and market growth as a result of successfully connecting biomass use to delivered carbon benefit. Consider the subsidies and feed-in tariffs that gave rise to the industrial wood pellet market. That example, however, can be viewed as a cautionary tale, as well as the continued support of power production using biomass fuel, which continues to draw scrutiny and legions of detractors who call for the end of continued subsidization. The domestic wood pellet market for home heating operates in a wholly different marketplace than global power markets. Take away the one piece of policy support the industry currently enjoys, the tax credit for qualifying stoves, and market and industry would continue to march forward. Growing its reach would be a steeper hill to climb, but the industry would remain in place. That said, it is becoming increasingly clear that the long-term prospects for this sector and its continued support from policymakers and regulators alike will hinge on its ability establish and defend its place as a clean, carbon-beneficial solution for space heating. Author: Tim Portz Executive Director, Pellet Fuels Institute tim@pelletheat.org www.pelletheat.org

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The inclusion of a 30% tax credit for qualifying residential pellet appliances in the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has rightly been called the single largest policy victory for the wood pellet industry to date

Electrification Nation

The North American wood pellet industry has gone through several phases in the 15 years I have been writing about it. I recall an interview I had in 2009, with the owner of a plant in Oregon that no longer exists, and he told me, &ldquo;It [the wood pellet industry] goes through [development] cycles and has not experienced very steady growth over the past 20-plus years.&rdquo; He lamented what he essentially described as a gold rush&mdash;too many plants were built in a short time in response to a perceived shortage and soaring demand&mdash;and the result was excessive capacity, he said. Well, a decade and many lessons learned later, things have changed to a degree. While capacity growth doesn&rsquo;t come close to that of some industries in the bioenergy space&mdash;such as renewable natural gas, for example&mdash;it has been moderate, cautious growth. The U.S. heating pellet sector is particularly mindful of market saturation (or oversaturation), and seasoned producers only invest in new hardware when they are confident they can move the additional tonnage. Their relationship with buyers is very different than those of industrial producers that have long-term contracts with overseas clients. Lately, there has been an uptick in announced capacity expansion and new plant plans. As for what&rsquo;s on our radar, Grand River Pellets Ltd. in St. Leonard, New Brunswick, is doubling its capacity to 220,000 metric tons; Drax is expanding its Aliceville, Alabama, plant from 250,000 to 380,00 tons; and California-based Golden State Natural Resources announced initial development of two plants in California, in Tuolumne and Lassen counties, at 300,000 and 700,000 tons, respectively. Requests for interviews with GSNR went unanswered, but they have released a fair amount of information. The last project I&rsquo;ll mention is a plant proposed in Vermont&mdash;30,000-ton-per-year PK Wood Pellet LLC, which was awarded $450,000 via the USDA&rsquo;s Rural Energy for America Program. While this isn&rsquo;t an exhaustive roundup, all of these announcements were made within just a couple of months. As global demand for pellet increases, so does the demand for certifications, particularly ENplus. For this issue, I had a lengthy discussion about standards with Chris Wiberg, vice president of Biomass Energy Lab, from their initial development to potential areas for improvement, to a surge in ENplus certifications. Wiberg is the go-to guy when it comes to meeting specs, and he had a lot of interesting things to share in our page-16 feature, Quality Matters. Our second feature, written by international freelancer Eugene Gerden, provides an overview of the Russian biomass sector. We&rsquo;ve covered the impact of the banishment of the country&rsquo;s participation in the global wood pellet market on other countries, but this piece pivots to the implications on this market itself (though perhaps the situation isn&rsquo;t quite as dire as it should be, as there is growing suspicion Russian pellets are still illegally entering the market). Finally, my usual plug for the International Biomass Conference: If you&rsquo;re reading this, you might be there. We&rsquo;ll have wood pellet trade organization leaders Tim Portz, Pellet Fuels Institute, and Amandine Muskus, U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, joining me on stage for our annual association round table. Be sure to bring your questions&mdash;hope to see you there. Author: Editor asimet@bbiinternational.com

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Building Out Smart

New leading-edge technologies in material handling have yielded major improvements in safety while also increasing throughput and enhancing degradation control in the pellet manufacturing industry. In many cases, product degradation not only reduces the value of the final product, but can also contribute significantly to losses in other areas such as maintenance and clean up, component life, and risk to personnel safety in the workplace. Benetech Inc. is committed to total dust management. The Benetech Toolbox offers a combination of leading-edge technologies to provide solutions that ensure safe production. Our approach is to cure the problem at the source, which often requires a combination of technologies. Benetech&rsquo;s proprietary and complementary technologies ensure our abilities to meet clients&rsquo; safety, production, quality and throughput needs. Our global organization consists of a mix of plant professionals, design engineers and service professionals to provide single-source accountability for effective and innovative solutions. Examples of technologies applied to improve operations can be illustrated by recent projects with leading pellet manufacturers. Pellet production can be an inherently dusty operation that uses standard conveyors and transfer chutes. Over time, material buildup on adjacent structures and components can create a dangerous situation with a negative effect on conveyor component life, as well as a significant risk of fires and possibly explosions, given the right set of circumstances. Maintenance and housekeeping become a very time-consuming, difficult and dangerous task, coupled with the inherent risks to safety and system performance. Also a factor are regulatory agencies, which can issue citations that are not only costly, but can have production performance implications that must be addressed. Using the MaxZone Plus, proper material flow is accomplished through the entire transfer point, increasing belt life and material throughput. Another important feature of the MaxZone Plus is the side kicker plates and deflector spoon, guiding the material to the center of the conveyor belt. The MaxZone Plus is part of the MaxZone system, designed to control fugitive dust as an essential feature of safety by design.

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New leading-edge technologies in material handling have yielded major improvements in safety while also increasing throughput and enhancing degradation control in the pellet manufacturing industry.

Spotlight: Benetech Safety by Design 

Born into the boiler and combustion business, David Duffner&rsquo;s career focus has never been elsewhere. While family-oriented company Duffner Boiler Works was incepted in the 1930s, it was several decades later&mdash;in 1979&mdash;that Duffner purchased George K. Moss Co. Inc., which he has run for the past 40-plus years. Since its founding in 1958, the company has sold more than 1,800 boiler and combustion systems. &ldquo;We specialize in combustion chamber and control retrofits,&rdquo; Duffner says. &ldquo;We design our own control systems, all the software and technology, so that we can engineer and build a custom fit for any particular project. We make systems more dependable and efficient to meet increasing steam or energy capacities while remaining environmentally sustainable and meeting today's stringent emission requirements.&rdquo; Primarily doing all its engineering in-house, the Birmingham, Alabama-based company has found additional niches, one being material handling. &ldquo;Material handling is a big part of our business,&rdquo; Duffner says. &ldquo;We do custom design work and have a complete line of material handling conveyors that allow us to provide the best component technology for every application.&rdquo; Moss can design and fabricate all wood and pellet handling equipment, according to Duffner, including drag chains, screw augers, belt conveyors, bucket elevators, metering bins, wood storage building handling systems, silo and unloader systems, storage tanks and ash handling systems. As of recently, Duffner says, an additional business segment of focus has been torrefaction systems. &ldquo;We got into torrefaction because of our experience in wood combustion&mdash;it&rsquo;s a natural fit along with our controls technology and combustion experience. We have developed a system that can be economically retrofitted into existing pellet plants by tying it in with the existing drying process.&rdquo; An example of a recent project for which Moss has been awarded a contract is the supply of a complete material handling and conveying system for Mission Forest Products, sawmill currently under construction in Corinth, Mississippi. And as for examples of past work, Duffner highlights several completed projects for the U.S. government&mdash;the Navy and Coast Guard&mdash;the United Nations, and many international clients, including in Guatemala and Vietnam. Duffner stands behind the company&rsquo;s assurance that components are competitively priced, and emphasizes that Moss&rsquo;s experience underscores its ability to understand what equipment is required for each unique application. &ldquo;Customers can also take advantage of our leading-edge technology and training that allows remote software updates, troubleshooting, and programming to get equipment back online as soon as possible when experiencing downtime, while avoiding costly on-site visits,&rdquo; he says. &nbsp;Moving forward, Duffner adds, the company will place a strong focus on material handling and torrefaction. &ldquo;We believe this will be a big part of our business,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And we can do the entire system, a custom design for a new project, or replacing an existing system. We like to say that we find ways to solve problems.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Since its founding in 1958, George K. Moss Co. Inc.  has sold more than 1,800 boiler and combustion systems.

Spotlight: George K. Moss Co. Inc. In-House Expertise

When it comes to the science of biomass combustion, no parameter is more complicated than ash fusion. When ash fusion characteristics are favorable, ash remains ash, and the only challenge is to remove it from the combustion system in such a way that it does not build up excessively. Conversely, when ash fusion characteristics are not favorable, strange things happen&mdash;ash can clump together and may need to be broken up, or even chiseled out of an ash pan. It can form a brick, look like a fused piece of glass, or even resemble a honeycomb. This unwanted ash behavior is referred to as fouling or slagging when it builds up in industrial burners, and is referred to as clinkers in smaller scale combustion appliances. No matter what you call it or how it looks, the process by which it forms is relatively simple, as it is just a function of melting point. However, troubleshooting it can be complex because there are many factors involved.&nbsp; First, let&rsquo;s start by qualifying that &ldquo;clean&rdquo; ash (free of dirt, rocks, unburned carbon, etc.) is primarily a combination of inorganic oxides.&nbsp; When biomass is burned, the organic material (essentially all the carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen) is released, and inorganic minerals remain in the oxidized form that we see as ash. Through testing, we know that biomass ash is primarily composed of oxides of calcium, silica, aluminum, magnesium, potassium, manganese, sodium, iron, phosphorus and other minerals. Each of these oxidized minerals is present as a solid, and like any other solid, they have a melting point. The range of melting points for the various mineral oxides present can vary greatly, and the overall melting point of the collective ash is a function of all the mineral fractions and chemical interactions that occur at the elevated temperatures of the combustion system. As a result, ash generally melts over a range of temperatures, rather than a specific temperature. The range can be anywhere from a few degrees to 50 or even 100 degrees Celsius. That&rsquo;s why when you see ash fusion test results, it is reported as a range of temperatures (e.g., deformation temperature=1,310 C, hemispherical temperature=1,330 C, flow temperature= 1,350 C). In this example, the ash melted over a range of 40 degrees C. Deformation temperature (DT) is considered the critical parameter in the ash fusion test because this is the temperature at which the ash first begins to melt and becomes &ldquo;sticky.&rdquo; Sticky ash will collect on essentially all surfaces within a combustion system, creating an insulating effect, which causes the temperature of the overall combustion system to increase. The increased temperature drives more melting. This process continues until the ash becomes fluid and essentially slags/fouls the system (shutdown time). Interestingly, the nature of the slag/clinker can tell you a few things. If the ash is clumpy but can still be broken by hand, then you know you were just above the DT. If you find actual glass, then the ash has fully melted. A brick is generally somewhere in between. The honeycomb effect occurs when settled ash (such as in an ash pan) melts on the top, and the melted droplets run down into the colder ash below. The key to preventing ash fusion problems is to keep the temperature of the combustion system below the DT of the ash. Since most biomass combustion systems operate at or below 1,200 C, it is common practice to assess fuels by verifying DT is somewhere above this temperature. Fortunately, slagging/clinkering is generally not an issue with &ldquo;clean&rdquo; wood (no bark, sand, dirt or other debris).&nbsp; I am currently unaware of any species of North American tree that, by nature of its mineral uptake, has a DT below 1,200 C. Ash fusion with woody biomass is almost always related to some form of contamination getting into the feedstock material. The same can&rsquo;t be said for other forms of biomass (nut shells, agricultural grasses, energy crops, etc.).&nbsp; These materials regularly have high ash content, driving up the chance for a low DT. That said, higher ash alone is not a good predictor of whether a particular form of biomass will have problems with ash fusion. The nature of the mineral composition of the ash is the driving factor. If, for example, the ash is high in calcium, then ash fusion temperatures are generally high. If silica is high, then there is a much greater chance that there will be ash fusion problems, but not always. Silica is interesting in that if it is present as silicon dioxide, then the actual melting temperature is very high (1,710 C).&nbsp; However, like carbon, silica has four active electrons that can bond with other minerals, often resulting in complex silicates that have lower melting points. For this reason, nine times out of 10 when we see ash fusion problems, it is related to silica. There are other minerals can be problematic when elevated, so when struggling with ash fusion issues, a mineral breakdown of the ash is often helpful in finding the source. There are many other factors that can complicate an ash fusion investigation. The combustion system can be oxygen-rich or oxygen-poor, changing melting point conditions. Biomass can be contaminated with obscure materials (e.g., fertilizer and salts), commonly through the use of unclean transport systems. Contaminants are often intermittent, so testing the next batch of fuel will not necessarily help you figure out what caused the ash fusion problem associated with the prior batch of fuel. All said, if you understand the principles above, you should have a better chance of determining&nbsp; what is causing the ash fusion problem you are dealing with. Author: Chris Wiberg VP of Laboratories, Timber Products Inspection/Biomass Energy Lab cwiberg@tpinspection.com www.tpinspection.com

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When it comes to the science of biomass combustion, no parameter is more complicated than ash fusion.

Understanding Ash Fusibility (Clinkers)

The foundation for success of a large project is communication. Whether verbal or written conveyance of peoples&rsquo; roles and responsibilities, when and where things are happening, or the specific metrics for success, a shared understanding by stakeholders is key. Another component of this is the value of visual communication. In engineering projects, visual communication might include organizational charts, project schedules, budget tracking and drawings, all of which are instrumental in project execution. In the absence of these items, misunderstandings, costly overruns, frustrations between project members, project scope deviations and utter chaos can occur. In the example of a recent pellet mill upgrade project, it initially had a clearly defined project scope and budget, which led to the belief that it would be a very manageable project, not requiring the rigor and project controls that one might typically see. The timeline was based merely on promised equipment deliveries, and installation would commence accordingly. Pretty straightforward, no schedule needed&mdash;so some believed. The project budget incorporated a solid contingency for the scope as planned, reserved for those items or circumstances that are generally described as &ldquo;What we don&rsquo;t know that we don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo; Thus, budgetary spending controls were not fully in place, nor expected to be utilized. In some cases, when subject matter experts feel that a project is easy or a no-brainer, the tendency can be to &ldquo;not sweat the details,&rdquo; and to skimp on things like engineering drawings. With this project being a retrofit of a narrow scope, end points and connection points (where the old process meets the new process) were deemed simple and not needing the additional project diligence coming from the proper engineering cycle. Projects of a certain size and scope can be led and managed by a single person. But when projects are large, or small ones grow, it is usually best for a project team to work together toward success. With this project appearing to be straightforward, one person was expecting to manage the budget, scope and schedule, as well as serve as the technical expert for design, installation and commissioning. This considered, the following are some valuable lessons learned, and accompanying recommendations. Communication: Open, Often and Visual Set a project schedule. As the project progressed from initial groundbreaking, contractors mobilized and sought to begin installation planning based on equipment delivery dates. In the beginning, all appeared okay, with a few minor slips and setbacks, but then came notification of the larger delivery delays. Compounding these delays were items being delivered out of sequence and not in full, leaving the installation contractor figuring out how to put the puzzle together. Naturally, questions came about: "When is this arriving? When can that be completed? Do we have enough resources to complete it?&rdquo; If a project schedule had been used to communicate the impact of the delays to all stakeholders, better decisions could have been made to reduce the costly overruns when having too many resources with not enough work, and vice versa. Additionally, the impacts and alternate planning would have been beneficial when it became apparent the project deadline for completed commissioning would not be met. Set a project budget. For this project, spending was fast and furious, as with most capital projects where high-dollar equipment requires larger initial payments. As the project progressed, the subject matter experts projected a large contingency for the initial scope, but did not want to miss out on the opportunity to include a few other items while the plant was down. At first, it was a few items here and there, but the list quickly lengthened&mdash;growing the scope of the project to encompass the entire plant site. With the current project spend not universally being known, the budget turned to managing the contingency drawdown to cover the added scope. When the unknowns became reality, the costs were unavoidable. With more delivery delays, cost overruns became inevitable. When the contingency was used early for added scope, the entire project ran over budget for the duration. Had the budget controls been in place, with visibility of current status and estimate to complete, different decisions may have led to the project coming in on budget. Make the plan and work it. A good engineering drawing set is merely a tool for communicating what to do and how to do it. It can clearly define the plan, and in the preliminary stage, identify areas of concern that need more diligence. A good example of this was in the planning of setting new equipment and conveyors. Equipment locations were predetermined, but the setting of the infeed conveyors was simply left to the installation contractors to modify, relocate and set. Leaving this to contractors can lead to misalignment, wrong configurations and improper design modifications. &nbsp; As the scope of the project increased, more areas of the plant were modified without proper drawing sets. This left the installation contractor to figure out more and more of the design themselves, leading to costly rework upon inspection and commissioning. Had the plan been set from the beginning and been adjusted accordingly&mdash;e.g., drawing sets approved, then revised and communicated&mdash;the plan would have worked to better align with the initial budget, and may have mitigated much of the frustration between stakeholders. Share project execution. When managing small or simple projects, one can be of mind to handle all aspects alone. As projects grow, it is imperative to utilize a team to manage different parts of a project. A project manager or subject matter expert trying to manage everything will lead to missed details, miscommunications, frustrations among stakeholders, and ultimately, burnout. Having people take specific responsibilities within a project and communicate regularly on the status, past performance, and what&rsquo;s ahead can mitigate the pitfalls common to projects that exceed initial project constraints. Specifically, when a group looks after the budget, scope, schedule and performance, collectively, they can make better, more informed decisions than one person can by themselves. As observed, this likely would have helped this project stay under control and finish on time and budget. As we look to have good definition in all phases of pre-project planning, knowing and effectively communicating the plan is critical. When projects are approved for financial expenditure, stakeholders want to know what the risks are and how they are being mitigated. Having a good plan that can be communicated, whether it is written, verbal or visual, is key to mitigating risks and achieving project success. Author: Jeffrey Tuma Senior Project Manager, Evergreen Engineering Inc. 541-484-4771 www.evergreenengineering.com

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In a recent pellet mill upgrade project, several challenges led the project to come in late and over budget.

Project Management:  Development, Execution and Critical Communication

In 1992, Dale Schrock founded Fiber By-Products, a full-service wood waste diversion company that prevents some 150,000 tons of wood waste from being landfilled each year. If Schrock were around today, he would tell you that he didn&rsquo;t launch business by design, but rather, by necessity. Prior to 1992, the large poultry barns on Schrock&rsquo;s farm meant lots of wood shavings, and he was always looking for a better way of doing things, according to his sons, three of whom now run the business. He sought to recycle rather than waste, so he began with creating animal bedding. This soon extended beyond his own farm into other local farms, and it wasn&rsquo;t long before surrounding businesses were impressed with his service and method. According to Cory Schrock, who is now general manager, it was very much a &ldquo;We see what you&rsquo;re doing, and we like it.&rdquo; From there, Schrock&rsquo;s business launched itself into a service-based company that served as a home for wood waste from local saw mills and wood product manufacturers. Along with his four sons&mdash;besides Cory, there are Chad, Brad and Ryan&mdash;Dale incorporated the company in 1994, and they moved off the family farm to build their business and extend their service area. Now, they were fulfilling bedding for all types of farms and creating wood flour for fillers and nonhazardous liquid absorption. Over time, Schrock&rsquo;s sons took over the operations, each lending their strengths in different areas in order to contribute to the company&rsquo;s longstanding success. By 2002, they were overwhelmed with the product residuals they were collecting, but there was a problem&mdash;at the time, the animal bedding market wasn&rsquo;t large enough to match the volume they could produce. Now, the Schrocks&rsquo; focus shifted to finding other ways to utilize the wood fiber, and it wasn&rsquo;t long before pellet production was the primary enterprise, with animal bedding market becoming a supporting operation. A Competitive Edge In 2005, the Schrocks purchased property in White Pigeon, Michigan, to develop and construct a wood pellet manufacturing plant, all while continuing to support the local need for animal bedding. Just two years later, the pellet plant was in full operation. Today, it sits on 35 acres, running operations 24 hours, 6 days a week.&nbsp; The plant is the largest pellet production facility in Michigan, with a 300-mile radius for distribution, primarily servicing the Great Lakes area as well as parts of Indiana and northern Ohio. After Dale passed away unexpectedly in 2011, three of his four sons (Cory, Chad and Brad) continued to be involved with the business, and they&rsquo;ve witnessed its evolution from a small animal bedding operation on their family farm to a business that employs a team of 70 and runs over 20 freightliners and nearly 250 semitrailers. Their vision of pursuing pellet production on a grander scale was successfully achieved, and continues to advance. But since when does a pellet production plant require so many trucks and trailers? Fiber By-Products falls outside the standard kind of service, Cory and Chad explain. Meaning, they are in the unique business of owning and operating their own fleet of semi-trucks and live-bottom, self-unloading trailers. With a leg up on competitors, the obvious advantage is cutting out both the cost of a third-party vendor, and the potential of failing to provide the statement service the company been known for since its inception. It has also allowed them to establish their own service garage that not only maintains and repairs its own equipment, but services the public, too. &ldquo;We started as a service company and this is a way to extend additional support to the community,&rdquo; Cory says. Coppercoin Garage and Coppercoin Transport Inc. are both fully licensed and insured entities that support the pellet plant and distinctly set them apart in the industry. Their garage is ASE certified, state of Michigan tested and staffed with certified mechanics who can repair medium and heavy-duty trucks and trailers, with a specialization in walking floor trailer repairs and parts. &ldquo;Service first, production second,&rdquo; Cory says. This is what Dale would want. The wood waste that arrives at Fiber By-Products is always residuals or by-products of another industry or vendor within a 50-mile radius of the plant. Cory and Chad emphasize that they are not in the business of sourcing material or cutting down trees&mdash;waste material only. Chad emphasizes, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to us that we continue to provide an energy that&rsquo;s both green on the front end, as well as the back.&rdquo; Their entire process is waste-free, in fact. They house a dryer on-site that helps reduce moisture in their collection and ensure they&rsquo;re efficiently converting the wood waste into quality product. And since Coppercoin Transport Inc. offers the opportunity for a vendor to occupy one of their trailers on-site, it enables manufacturers to dispose of their waste faster and more efficiently. This allows the Fiber By-Products team to pick up and collect in a timely manner, even daily, and help reduce the number of weather elements that may affect the residue, another notable advantage of owning their own fleet. Not many producers have the ability to store surplus inventory indoors&mdash;most store their excess supply outside, with potential to experience losses due to the weather. Fiber By-Products is able to store its product in buildings, where it&rsquo;s ready when the demand calls. The plant was built to protect the product and allow space to store it in its dense pellet form, versus loose shavings. Since they know supply and demand rarely meet, their philosophy is to produce both in and off season. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t have it today, we won&rsquo;t sell it tomorrow,&rdquo; Cory says. &ldquo;We want to make sure we remain consistent with our vendors. We really value the long-term relationships regardless of what the collection and supply look like.&rdquo; Today, Fiber By-Products produces roughly 85,000 tons of wood pellets each year, well over double its initial production of 30,000 tons when the plant started up in 2006. Wood shavings for animal bedding, solidification or boiler fuel are often sold directly to customers by the semi- or truckloads. Pellets are packaged into 40-pound bags, loaded up 50 bags per skid, and sold wholesale to big box stores as well as independent businesses such as hearth and home shops and local hardware and retail stores. The company&rsquo;s final product is wood flour with strict quality-control requirements. Chad is emphatic with the company&rsquo;s commitment to quality. &ldquo;Low-quality waste that does not meet our standards and specifications does not get included in our pellets or flour,&rdquo; he says. Animal bedding or solidification for nonhazardous liquid absorption only. Looking Ahead As for growth, Chad and Cory highlight the BTU Act as a potential stimulator. As it stands now, if consumers purchase and install a wood or pellet stove or a larger residential biomass heating system with a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75%, then they can claim a tax credit of 26% until the end of 2022. That credit will drop to 22% in 2023. As of early February, there had not been a renewal to that bill for 2024, but proposed legislation and industry advocates are pushing for it. &ldquo;This tax incentive bodes well for the pellet industry and consumers,&rdquo; Cory adds. &ldquo;A pellet stove doesn&rsquo;t require a chimney, so just about all residential homes can install one. There is a heightened awareness about the benefits of using biomass fuel sources to decrease carbon emissions and provide cleaner air. A pellet stove offers the refined wood fuel to really do that.&rdquo; The company spent much of the last year identifying its five-year plan, Cory says. While always in pursuit for production growth, he adds, they want to be deliberate with their plant&rsquo;s efficiencies&mdash;i.e., concentrating their efforts on equipment changes and upgrades, better insight with tracking and record keeping, increasing internal operations and managing maintenance. &ldquo;These are the things that it takes to continually evolve and meet the industry&rsquo;s demands.&rdquo; While the Schrocks carry on their father&rsquo;s legacy, they find themselves emerged in day-to-day business. Yet, they&rsquo;re always looking ahead in pursuit of ways to improve, upgrade and maximize productivity for a business that is not only their livelihood, but a mission they believe in. Dale would be proud. Contact: Anna Simet asimet@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4961

Fiber By-Products team members (left to right):
Cory Schrock, general manager; Jon Gingerich, sales and procurement; Brad Schrock, yard manager; Matt Myers, 
production manager; and Chad Schrock, president.

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Wood waste received by local sources is prepared on-site for conversion into wood flour, animal bedding, mulch or heating pellets. 

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Through its trucking business Coppercoin Transport, Fiber By-Products operates a fleet of live bottom, self-unloading trailers, and owns a service garage for maintenance and repair work. 

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Bill Elijah moves product in Fiber By-Products' indoor product storage warehouse, where the company keeps its wood pellets until its time to ship out to customers. 

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For 30 years, the Schrock family business has served as a link between waste wood producers and home heating. 

From Family Roots to Fiber

When it was first fired up in 1972, northeast England&rsquo;s Lynemouth Power Station was designed to combust Northumberland coal&mdash;and it did, for its first 40 years of operation. During that time, most of the power generated at the 420-MW station was sent to a nearby aluminum factory, Lynemouth Smelter, which closed its doors in 2012. With the possibility of being converted to biomass already in the works, the plant changed hands a few times from then until now, with RWE npower taking over in 2013, and EPH acquiring the facility in 2016, a year after the plant ceased burning coal. When that happened, the biomass project began to gain momentum, says Jonathan Scott, commercial and fuel director at Lynemouth Power Station. &ldquo;The government was looking at the asset base in the U.K. energy sector and opportunities to reduce emissions&mdash;Drax was another candidate&mdash;and at Lynemouth, this was done by modifying and replacing parts of the plant, from the coal handling system to the combustion process, with some substantial investments.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; The project aligned with the country&rsquo;s ambitious CO2 reductions, and to aid in financials, the U.K. government granted Lynemouth a contract for difference (CfD), a mechanism designed to support low-carbon electricity generation by subsidizing the market price of power generated at the plant. As of now, the CfD extends to 2027. &ldquo;It has been quite a successful project,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve managed to reduce CO2 emissions substantially while maintaining output and efficiency levels similar to what we had with coal.&rdquo;&nbsp; Just a few years after reaching full operations on wood pellets, attention is on potential strategies to keep the plant operating long after the CfD ends, according to Scott. He says most recently, much of the focus has been on fuel and potential alternatives to wood pellets&mdash;alternatives that are compatible with the converted plant and will allow for maximization of conversion investments, which totaled about $400 million. As for what those investments entailed, Scott begins with one of the major components of the project: its fuel receiving, handling and storage operation at the Port of Tyne. The Project &ldquo;Because of the type of storage and handling system needed, it required a substantial investment,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;We identified some local ports that could meet the requirements, but because of the size of the investment required and the risks involved, it meant that we needed to go with just one port and directly invest in the material handling system on their land. So, we own and operate the facility.&rdquo; As part of the project, the port financed a 125-metre quay extension, rail infrastructure and two new ecohoppers, and it provides all marine services and equipment related to unloading vessels, Scott says. &ldquo;There are conveyors, transfer towers, safety systems, screening for ferrous and nonferrous contaminants, and additional conveyor systems for three storage silos, each of which has a capacity of 25,000 tons of wood pellets.&rdquo;&nbsp; The 45-meter diameter, 194-foot-high concrete slip-formed silos can discharge pellets at a rate of up to 1,700 metric tons per hour, according to Spencer Group, the principal contractor, via dual closed conveying systems running 1,364 meters (4,475 feet). From there, Scott says, the wood pellets are reclaimed to a rail-loading silo, which may dispatch from four to six 25-wagon trains to Lynemouth each day. &ldquo;The rail wagons have been specifically designed for wood pellets,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice system. The trains feed into our storage at Lynemouth, which is about 50,000 tons.&rdquo; While material handling was a significant part of the conversion, there was also significant work to prepare, replace and refurbish the combustion and emission control systems, which required major outages of all three 140-MW units. &ldquo;There were four main packages with different EPC contractors for each&mdash;material handling onsite, material handling offsite, the combustion and emission modification, and the control system,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;Tying the whole thing together was quite an investment. This meant going from operating with a full analog control system to a more modern, digital control system&mdash;imagine a coal power station that is 1970s vintage. The control system had to be modified quite substantially.&rdquo; Also onsite at the power station is a warehouse facility that holds approximately 2,300 lines of specialized maintenance equipment, to avoid any downtime or issues related to sourcing spare parts. &ldquo;With biomass, there are some specific dynamics behind this,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;Much is to do with safety reasons, the material handling infrastructure and the various systems on the plant for handling wood pellets. There are many small, safety-critical systems in place after the biomass conversion, and if a system goes down, there is a safety risk and liability, so we need to carry more critical spares. Some are relatively unique and not available in manufactures&rsquo; warehouses, so we hold many spares. If we do lose any production time, it&rsquo;s minimized.&rdquo; As for what aspects of the conversion were the most challenging, Scott says there were many, considering the project's massive caliber. &ldquo;The timeframe was one&mdash;we were to complete the project quickly to get online&mdash;the expectation of the time scale was a challenge. It took a lot of effort from the EPC contractors and the experience of the Lynemouth team. Another [challenge] was getting to efficiency targets aligning with the plant&rsquo;s safety and reliability plan.&rdquo;&nbsp; While the innovation and emissions reductions achieved by converting from coal to wood pellets speaks for itself, the plant isn&rsquo;t stopping there. Innovation &amp; Looking Ahead In a bid to even further reduce its environmental footprint, Lynemouth is on the hunt to find an economical, beneficial use for combustion ash. &ldquo;At the moment, it&rsquo;s conditioned and sent into our ash bins onsite, but it could be used for various other beneficial purposes,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;We have a couple of development trials taking place, centered around land remediation and whether the chemical composition of the ash can be helpful in remediating otherwise barren land. We are also having discussions with third parties in relation to its potential beneficial use in agriculture.&rdquo; These efforts considered, Scott points out that compared to coal, the ash content of wood pellets is significantly lower, so the amount being landfilled since the conversion has been substantially reduced. &nbsp; And, as aforementioned, Lynemouth is in discussions with various U.K. government departments regarding different concepts for running the plant from 2027 and beyond.&nbsp; BECCS is at the forefront of options. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking at business models for continuing to operate this as a biomass station,&rdquo; Scott says. &ldquo;The basis for the conversation investment was having the CfD until 2027, but the plant has a much longer expected life cycle. We&rsquo;re starting to determine what the potential costs would be to extend its operating life&mdash;we believe a lot of the existing infrastructure could be replaced or repaired, and some improvements made. We have looked at alternatives to wood pellets, how to improve our efficiency and to reduce our auxiliary power. We don&rsquo;t see any major barriers so far, with the investment signals from the government. A BECCS project would support the U.K.&rsquo;s Net Zero Strategy, and we could be operating well into the 2030s and &rsquo;40s, supporting those targets.&rdquo; &nbsp; In conclusion, Scott says, with plenty of steps yet to go, the work at Lynemouth Power Station isn&rsquo;t yet done. He adds, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never done.&rdquo; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Glasgow Declaration on Sustainable Bioenergy Lynemouth Power Station has joined many other organizations from the global bioenergy industry in launching the Glasgow Declaration on Sustainable Bioenergy, a signed declaration that outlines the indispensable role that bioenergy will play in net zero ambitions agreed by the international community. It sets out a vision for the sustainable growth of the bioenergy sector to 2050. For Lynemouth, the goal is to complete a comprehensive review of options for the plant from 2027 onward when the current CfD ends. This includes potential for BECCS, how it could be applied to the site, how it would interface with existing operations, and the work required to extend the operating period of the existing plant. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author: Anna Simet Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine asimet@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4961

The Lynemouth Power Station consumes roughly 1.5 million tons of wood pellets annually, which are primarily sourced from Canada and the U.S.

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The Port of Tyne is the largest wood pellet handler in Europe and receives 100% of Lynemouth Power Station's fuel.

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Four years after its conversion from coal to wood pellets, Lynemouth Power Station is evaluating opportunities to extend operations long into the future.

Now and  Beyond 2027

Drax to invest $54m in world&rsquo;s largest carbon capture project Drax Group announced it has approved a further investment in the development of its Yorkshire biomass energy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project, which will see Worley commence work on the front-end engineering and design phase. The &pound;40 million ($54 million) capital investment includes site preparation works for BECCS and decommissioning of coal infrastructure following the end of the plant&rsquo;s capacity market obligations after September. Drax&rsquo;s coal units are due to close then, and BECCS work could get underway as soon as 2024. Drax aims to deploy BECCS on two of its biomass generating units by 2030, capturing and permanently storing up to 8 million metric tons of CO2 a year. Subject to adequate regulatory support, the first BECCS unit could be operational in 2027, with the second commissioned in 2030, according to Drax. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group is the company&rsquo;s technology partner. Andritz reports on Japan project benchmark Andritz recently reported that the biomass-fired PowerFluid circulating fluidized bed boiler (CFB) the company installed at Mitsui Engineering &amp; Shipbuilding&rsquo;s biomass power plant in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, has fulfilled all performance guarantee parameters and the plant&rsquo;s warranty period has ended. The 50-MW facility has been in commercial operation since December 2020. The total project execution time from award of the order to the beginning of commercial operation was 39 months, according to Andritz. The company&rsquo;s scope of supply comprised the engineering work, delivery, erection work and start-up of the fluidized bed boiler, including a flue gas cleaning system with high-dust selective catalytic reduction and auxiliary equipment. Andritz reports that it is currently working on 10 more CFB boiler projects in Japan, some of which are in the start-up phase and others that will go into operation during the next few years. US pellet exports reach 7.52 million metric tons in 2021 The U.S. exported just over 774,410 metric tons (MT) of wood pellets in December, up from approximately 764,259 MT the previous month and 564,826.2 MT in December 2020, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service in February. The U.S. exported wood pellets to more than a dozen countries in December. The U.K. was the top destination for U.S. wood pellet exports at 468,367.6 MT, followed by the Netherlands at 114,434.3 MT and Denmark at 91,434MT. Total pellet exports for 2021 reached 7.52 million MT at a value of $1.06 billion, compared to 7.26 million MT exported in 2020 at a value of $981.46 million. Enviva to double production capacity, signs MOU with SAF producer In mid-January, Enviva Inc. announced accelerated plans to double its wood pellet production capacity, as well as the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a U.S.-based customer to supply wood pellets for conversion into low-carbon transportation fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Enviva did not disclose the name of the company, but noted that the biofuel producer is Enviva&rsquo;s first U.S.-based customer. Under the MOU, the two companies will codevelop a supply chain strategy for advanced low-carbon transportation fuels with a focus on the customer&rsquo;s operations in the U.S. Southeast, and potentially California. Enviva said it is&nbsp; evaluating plans to build one or more facilities in California with the intent of utilizing low-grade wood fiber from high-hazard zones in the state. The newly announced MOU represents Enviva&rsquo;s second agreement related to SAF. In November, Enviva announced the signing of a 10-year, take-or-pay off-take contract with an industrial customer in Europe for 60,000 metric tons per year of wood pellets to be used as feedstock for SAF and other biofuels. Drax begins operations at Arkansas satellite plant Drax Group is ramping up to full production at its Leola, Arkansas, pellet operation, the first of three new satellite pellet plants to be built in the state. Drax is investing $40 million in the facilities, which are expected to produce a total of around 120,000 metric tons of&nbsp; pellets a year from sawmill residues. The plants are all sited near sawmills, reducing infrastructure, operational, and transportation costs. Construction of the second Arkansas satellite plant in Russellville, Pope County, is underway with commissioning expected this year. Drax is continuing to develop plans for a third plant.

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Business Briefs

Moisture sensors are used for measurements in all kinds of wood types including fiber, sawdust, hog fuel, wood flakes, particles and more. Controlling the amount of moisture in wood products is a critical concern of the forest industry. Excess moisture can be impactful on final product quality and production. Near-infrared (NIR) moisture sensing technology allows wood product manufacturers the ability to adjust moisture levels on real-time information, lowering raw material and fuel costs, achieving higher yields, and resulting in more uniform products. NIR moisture measurement is a noncontact measurement that offers clear advantages over the traditional methods, with the most important being ease of use, elimination of hazardous chemicals, and increased efficiency of product testing. With NIR analysis, all manual steps of collecting, drying and accurately weighing samples are eliminated. Continuous monitoring of moisture content enables proactive avoidance of potential issues caused by out-of-tolerance moisture levels. Why Controlling Moisture Matters When moisture levels fluctuate, it can cause significant changes to wood applications. These inconsistencies mean that the final product will have varying quality, depending on when in production they were created. Accurately detecting moisture levels frequently throughout the process allows for line adjustments as needed, improving the overall functionality and efficiency of the facility. Quality and consistency are crucial when it comes to maintaining a manufacturing line with wood applications. It is important to have a consistent product from start to finish, which means being able to detect moisture content accurately and frequently. A moisture measurement system should be designed to provide accurate readings as often as needed to improve the manufacturing line and product. Inconsistencies can lead to wasted product and downtime in the manufacturing process. Optimizing and fine-tuning the production process can yield a multitude of benefits, which include the following. &bull; Minimize costs, increase efficiency &bull; Instant real-time feedback with thousands of measurements per second &bull; Reduced energy usage and downtime &bull; Reduction in fire and explosion risk &bull; Plant production efficiency monitoring &bull; Total dryer control &bull; Blending monitoring for control of moisture and resin &bull; Increased productivity allows operators to make critical process adjustments &bull; Low cost&mdash;instant ROI &bull; Noncontact, nondrift optical scan with +/- 0.05% accuracy Where Moisture Should be Measured Moisture measurement and control is one of the biggest challenges pellet plant operators are tasked with both during production, and while material is in storage. In pellet plant design, it is a crucial implementation for proactive avoidance of quality control issues. As such, it is recommended to install sensors in several locations throughout the process to achieve ultimate efficiency&mdash;including incoming material lines, before and after the dryer, before the pelletizer and hammer mills and on finishing belts. Dryer efficiency is critical in controlling energy costs and product quality; installing a sensor prior to the dryer will monitor levels going into the dryer to provide better control over its efficiency. Moisture sensing after the dryer and prior to the pelletizer will result in significant cost savings. Products that contain too much moisture can cause the pelletizer to plug up, which results in the line shutting down, resulting in wasted time, energy and money. Throughout the plant, there are other production areas that moisture content effects are seen. These can be easily monitored and controlled with a proper system. Wood pellets require refining, drying and blending of wood waste prior to the pellet press; moisture monitoring throughout this process allows for 100% of the product to be instantly monitored. Incoming lines should be measured to monitor overpayment of materials. The higher the moisture content of incoming purchased wood fuels, the higher the overpayment, as the overuse of dryers results in excessive energy costs. Maximizing automation and increasing reliability is critical to operating personnel, and moisture monitoring can help achieve these goals. Moisture ranges outside of tolerance can unravel important facets of the production process, and even create wear and tear on other equipment that wouldn&rsquo;t occur with proper moisture levels. Each phase of the manufacturing process runs more efficiently with accurate moisture content, ultimately increasing profits. Contact: MoistTech Corp. 941-727-1800 info@moisttech.com &nbsp;www.moisttech.com

Each phase of the manufacturing process runs more efficiently with accurate moisture content, ultimately increasing profits.


The Impact of Consistent Moisture Monitoring

At the Hearth, Patio &amp; Barbecue Expo in early 2018, the Pellet Fuels Institute announced a strategic effort to increase pellet appliance installations. This effort was called Operation 100k, aligning the effort&rsquo;s name with the stated goal of returning the yearly average of appliance installations to 100,000 units. Measuring the PFI&rsquo;s progress against this goal was doomed from the start, as sales data from appliance manufacturers is offered on a voluntary basis, and participation is hit or miss. While data exists for pellet appliance sales through 2020, there are varying opinions on how much of the market is represented in that data. Additionally, new installations are only part of the story. Industry observers know that each year, a certain percentage of older appliances come offline. These instances are referred to as retirements. In some instances, retired pellet appliances are replaced with a new pellet appliance, but not always. Together, these factors make it increasingly difficult to calculate how many burn pots are consuming wood pellets in American homes each year. The industry deals in various forms of shorthand, generally referring to wood pellets being a primary heating source for roughly 1 million American homes, but these are little more than educated guesses. Apart from these vague notions of the installed base of wood pellet heating, wood pellet manufacturers are left with just the accumulated data of their past sales, and the sector&rsquo;s overall sales as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in the widely consumed and studied Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report. Not surprisingly, most wood pellet producers are uncomfortable relying exclusively on their rearview mirror to understand where their businesses may be headed regarding the demand realities of tomorrow&rsquo;s wood pellet marketplace. Wood pellet manufacturing is a capital-intensive, cash flow-challenged and low-margin business that rewards producers who consistently match production with expected sales. Talk with any wood pellet manufacturer about how their business is going, and in a matter of minutes, you&rsquo;ll be talking about the depth and length of the current heating season. Wood pellet manufacturers cheer the kind of winter that only heating professionals can love, day after day of below-normal temperatures stretching from the first day of autumn to the very last day of spring. The Heating Degree Day (HDD) has emerged as the go-to unit of measure to quantify space heating demand, and wood pellet manufacturers obsess over these figures throughout the heating season. This year, the PFI launched its own HDD Index to compare this year&rsquo;s HDD&rsquo;s in 12 towns scattered across the pellet burning regions of the U.S. The result is an easy-to-consume, heads-up indicator of how this year&rsquo;s winter is stacking up when compared to last year and the long-term average. The most recent data shows a heating season that, in two-thirds of the reporting cities, has caught up with&mdash;and even surpassed&mdash;last year&rsquo;s winter. For the most part, this year&rsquo;s heating season throughout the mid-Atlantic and New England are on par or slightly ahead of last year&rsquo;s data. The truly compelling and worrisome data is reflected in the column that compares this season&rsquo;s accumulated HDDs with the long-term norm. In all but one pellet-burning location on the PFI HDD Index, this year is lagging the long-term average by more than 10%. The result is lackluster sales, and while the current data available (at press time) via the EIA&rsquo;s Monthly Densified Biomass Report only captures sales through October, the numbers lag last year&rsquo;s by almost 200,000 tons. After discussions with producers, it is clear that the sales figures yet to be shared in the publicly available data for November and December were also lackluster, and will likely result in the smallest pellet-selling year since 2018. Are the past two years and their mild winters the new norm? Will pellet-burning locales consistently deliver 10 to 15% fewer HDDs each heating season? Are we experiencing the new normal in space heat demand? Opinions may vary on the answers to these questions, but what cannot be argued is that driving new pellet appliance installations is every bit as critical today as it was in 2018. If winter is to remain a shorter and milder affair, pellet producers will need more appliances to fuel if the market for wood pellets is to grow. Author: Tim Portz Executive Director, Pellet Fuels Institute tim@pelletheat.org www.pelletheat.org

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If winter is to remain a shorter and milder affair, pellet producers will need more appliances to fuel if the market for wood pellets is to grow. 

Business in an Era of Mild Winters

The groundhog said six more weeks of winter, but most pellet producers wouldn&rsquo;t mind if it extended long beyond that. As discussed in a subsequent column by Tim Portz, Pellet Fuels Institute executive director, while heating degrees days (HDD) in most pellet-consuming regions are currently mirroring or ahead of year&rsquo;s heating season&mdash;a win, of course&mdash;a closer look is a little more telling: This year lags the long-term HDD average by quite a bit. As for what this might mean, I will direct you to Portz&rsquo;s speculations, which you can find on page 6. As for other content in this issue of Pellet Mill Magazine, be sure to check out &ldquo;From Family Roots to Fiber,&rdquo; on page 14. Written by freelancer writer Alison Lee, the feel-good story chronicles the Schrock family&rsquo;s journey from an animal bedding manufacturer to the largest wood pellet producer in Michigan (with numerous other products), complimented by a full-scale trucking business that adds tremendous value to the operation. Our other feature article in this issue, &ldquo;Now and Beyond 2027,&rdquo; page 10, profiles the Lynemouth Power Station conversion in northeast England, which included massive investments in material handling infrastructure&mdash;not only at the plant, but also the Port of Tyne, which receives the wood pellet shipments consumed by the plant. A focus of the discussion I had with Jonathan Scott, the station&rsquo;s commercial and fuel director, was that while completing the conversion and successfully reaching full operations was a tremendous accomplishment, it is certainly not the plant&rsquo;s end game. When that work was finished, the focus quickly turned to the future, which may involve biomass energy carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. Scott told me that Lynemouth is currently working with the government to understand if the project is viable, and whether it would receive necessary support to move forward. As for contributions in this issue, topics include the critical nature of thorough project planning and effective communication to all stakeholders, and understanding ash fusibility and its causes. The latter errs on the side of technical, but Chris Wiberg, vice president of laboratories at Timber Products Inspection/Biomass Energy Lab (and a frequent Pellet Mill Magazine contributor) excels at conveying the subject matter in an easy-to-digest manner. In this article, page 22, he dives into troubleshooting the potential causes of ash fusion and how to identify it based on the appearance of the ash, or clinkers. As a final note, allegedly, Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting early springs and more winter since the 1880s, with 105 continued winters and 20 early springs predicted. This equates to a 39% accurate rate, according to Stormfax Almanac. Not a great record, considering with 130-plus years of experience.&nbsp; Anecdotal weather predictions aside, to all my producer friends and other stakeholders, here&rsquo;s to some long cold snaps on the back end of winter. Author: Anna Simet Editor asimet@bbiinternational.com

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Editor's note from Biomass Magazine, Issue 1, 2022. 

How About 10 More Weeks of Winter? 

Tackling a new pellet mill of any size is a massive undertaking, and the devil is in the details. Even if this isn’t your first rodeo, the considerations are daunting, to say the least. Each improvement over your last build is considered and weighed against cost and timing. It has to produce, but it has to be profitable. It has to fit in the space you procured, and it has to be up and running by third quarter. Steel is up, but your favorite vendors are at least six months out. Thee traffic study is done—you have how many trucks per day? And what about the wood yard? When the phone isn’t ringing off the hook, you’re making calls and setting up meetings. You turn to the usual suspects and begin to prepare to take quotes on truck dumps, hoppers, drag chains, belt conveyors, stacker reclaimers, silos, green hammer mills, dry hammer mills, dryers, cyclones, surge bins, and of course, the pellet mills themselves. The thought lingers in the back of your mind, “Has anything changed in the past few years?” “This kind of research can be fruitful,” says Chris Duffy, sales manager at Bruks Siwertell. Acknowledged as a leader in bulk handling, Duffy points out that in certain applications, air-cushion conveying and enclosed conveyors are a functional shift for the better. He also points to their Tubulator, a fully enclosed system eliminating the environmental impact of fugitive dust. Many clients turn to engineering solutions to remediate fugitive dust on older systems. From truck dumps to conveyors to the various systems in the mill, this is a constant battle. Bob Decker, Advanced Conveyor Technologies, says another emphasis is to avoid drag conveyors in favor of belt conveyors to move the final product. One advantage, he points out, is the ability to forgo dust explosion vents that would be necessary with drag chains. Drag chains are entirely appropriate with the delivered chips, but the industry has moved away from them for pellets. Additionally, with belt conveyors, operators can avoid the pellet degradation issues inherent to drag chains moving finished product. “Ideally, after the cooler, you would use only belt conveyors,” Decker says. Once operators are confidently moving material toward and through their processes, they should shift gears and focus on sizing, screening and drying. Andy Turner, BM&amp;M Screening Solutions, describes the virtues of a gyratory screen offering full contact for greater efficiency and proper sizing. When sizing the machine, he likes to stay twice as long as wide with the screen. Fines are a significant consideration, meaning the higher fines content of the feedstock, the greater the need for more square footage of screen area, so this must be carefully considered by the project owner and their consultants. “Higher capacity is the hallmark of the gyratory screen,” Turner says. “The gyratory screen’s full contact configuration allows you to make use of the whole screen.” The chips may be right where they’re wanted, but they’re still the size they were when they came in—and that’s not going to work. Enter Mark Lyman. Lyman is president of West Salem Machinery, and an all-around sizing expert. The company’s Super Shredder was developed to handle high volumes of green wood fiber from diverse biomass feedstocks.&nbsp; Lyman says the company has come up with a unique concept for high-volume green milling. “Our machine has stood out because it handles high volumes and diverse feedstocks,” he says. “When you’re trying to feed a plant with a million tons of fiber, it increases the ability to handle sustainable biomass materials, including forestry and sawmill residuals, and properly prepares the furnish so downstream equipment can operate to its highest level of performance. It can be a huge advantage, allowing the project owner to go after lower-priced feedstocks. As the industry moves toward those sustainable inputs, it’s important for the machinery to adapt to the broader range of feedstocks.” Raise your hand if you hate damp chips. I see you there, and so does your pelletizer, so let’s tackle the daunting task of drying those out. “So many considerations go into selecting a dryer, from heating technology to passes to material classification,” says Trevor Frazier of TSI Inc. Frazier’s high-level pass at explaining their offering included a few bits of advice project owners can take to heart. TSI’s dryers feature bolt-together setup so they can be deployed quickly. Additionally, the dryer is single pass. The goal of a single-pass dryer is to create a “blizzard” effect inside the drum with a homogenous shower of chips, across the full width and along the full length of the drum. The gas velocity inside the drum is one-third that of an equivalent triple pass. The chips are nudged forward by the hot gas as they shower, and there is a “classification” effect, with small chips traveling faster than larger or wetter chips. This enables the drum to dry everything to the same end moisture content. Typical moisture tolerance is less than +/- 1% (compared to +/- 3% to 5% in a triple pass)—certainly something to consider when making a choice. Naturally, every individual mill has a number of unique factors to weigh, so no solution is one-size-fits-all—and there is innovation in space. A good place to start when determining how to outfit your pellet mill is by choosing a good engineering partner—that is a relationship sure to bear fruit. Author: Aaron Edewards Business Development Director Evergreen Engineering Inc.

2023-02-22 - When Life Hands You Green Chips, Make Pellets (Biomass Magazine)

Bruks Siwertell markets its Tubulator to operators looking for high-capacity, lighter-density dry bulk material conveying.

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Tackling a new pellet mill of any size is a massive undertaking, and the devil is in the details. 

When Life Hands You Green Chips, Make Pellets

Hammer mills prepare woody biomass for the pelleting process. It is vital to pay close attention to the hammer, as it has an important influence on performance.&nbsp; Hammer mills turn heterogeneous material into homogeneous material. Grinding with hammer mills is done in feed mills, food processing, plastic waste and biomass operations. There are many applications for ground woody biomass, such as insulation material, animal bedding, packaging accessories and filling agents.&nbsp; A typical pellet plant has a two-stage size reduction. Wet or green wood hammer mills are designed for wet grinding of shavings and chips in preparation for the drying process. These hammer mills can have a throughput of up to 60 tons per hour. Dry hammer mills further reduce the size of pre-dried woody particles for pelleting. Typical dry hammer mills in wood pellet preparation have a throughput of 9 to 11 tons per hour using a 600 horsepower motor, but performance characteristics depend on the raw material quality. High-quality raw material, such as clean sawdust from a manufacturer’s own sawmill, is so clean that hammers will virtually last forever. Pictures from a German wood pellet supplier with its own sawmill shows very low wear (Image 1), whereas lower-quality raw material, including bark, decreases hammer mill lifetime dramatically. It is obvious that softwood is less aggressive on hammers than hardwood. Other quality factors are metals and dirt in the woody biomass. We have encountered large bicycle parts in eastern European raw material batches, as well as nails and screws in German industrial wood. With very sandy soil, sand can be deposited into the wood. Even with high-quality raw material, the resin content has a significant effect on performance.&nbsp; The performance of a hammer mill is mainly determined by the sieve perforation size and the number of hammers. The more hammers and the wider the holes, the higher the output. Additionally, the distance between hammers and sieves has an influence. With rough grinding, the distance between hammers and sieves is relatively larger than with fine grinding. With a wider distance, the fiber is longer and larger. This is not ideal for wood pelleting, as too many large particles lead to overrunning rollers and clogging of the die (Image 2). Thus, the focus of the maintenance plan should be on material quality and the wear of hammers. In general, the hammers should be changed when the plating is worn off.&nbsp; Reality, however, is sometimes a lot different. With low attention to the hammer mill, completely worn hammers can occur (Image 3), resulting in particles that are too large, and subsequently having a negative effect on pellet mill performance. Author: Holger Streetz COO, Bathan AG h.streetz@bathan.ch

2023-02-22 - Hammer Mill Maintenance: Keys to Performance (Biomass Magazine)

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Size reduction and homogenization is a key parameter to a pellet mill's steady, high output. 

Pellet Mill Magazine Issue 1

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Electrification Nation

Building Out Smart

The Impact of Consistent Moisture Monitoring

Business in an Era of Mild Winters

How About 10 More Weeks of Winter?

Featured

Quality Matters

Ripple Effects

From Family Roots to Fiber

Now and Beyond 2027

Contributions

Spotlight: Benetech Safety by Design

Spotlight: George K. Moss Co. Inc. In-House Expertise

Understanding Ash Fusibility (Clinkers)

Project Management: Development, Execution and Critical Communication

When Life Hands You Green Chips, Make Pellets

Hammer Mill Maintenance: Keys to Performance

Pellet Mill Magazine Issue 1.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Electrification Nation

Building Out Smart

The Impact of Consistent Moisture Monitoring

Business in an Era of Mild Winters

How About 10 More Weeks of Winter?

Featured

Quality Matters

Ripple Effects

From Family Roots to Fiber

Now and Beyond 2027

Contributions

Spotlight: Benetech Safety by Design

Spotlight: George K. Moss Co. Inc. In-House Expertise

Understanding Ash Fusibility (Clinkers)

Project Management: Development, Execution and Critical Communication

When Life Hands You Green Chips, Make Pellets

Hammer Mill Maintenance: Keys to Performance

Pellet Mill Magazine Issue 1