introducing wood pellet fuel to the uktonne/hr pellet mill currently operating, a 5tonne/hour...

INTRODUCING WOOD PELLET FUELTO THE UK

ETSU B/U1/00623/REP

DTI/Pub URN 01/1014

ContractorRenewable Heat & Power Ltd

Prepared byR.A CottonA. Giffard

First published 2001© Crown copyright 2001

The work described in this report was carried out undercontract as part of the DTI Sustainable EnergyProgrammes, with support from the EuropeanCommission’s ALTENER programme. The views andjudgments expressed in this report are those of thecontractor and do not necessarily reflect those of theDTI or the European Commission.

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INTRODUCING WOOD PELLET FUELTO THE UK

Executive Summary

Introduction

Wood Pellets are now a major fuel resource for heating in many parts ofEurope as well as in the US and Canada. Wood pellet-fired heating also hasthe potential to make a significant contribution to the energy needs of the UK.

The wood pellet industry has been established in Scandinavia and NorthAmerica for over 20 years and consequently wood pellet-fired appliances arenow highly reliable, with many tens of thousands of systems in operationranging in size from 10kW up to more than a MW.

Wood pellet boilers and roomheaters are highly automated. They haveautomatic ignition and are well suited to meet varying load demands. Allpellet appliances have thermostatic controls or can be operated on a timer.This means that the level of convenience is equivalent to that of oil firedheating systems, but wood pellets have added environmental and localeconomic benefits. Because the rate of fuel feed and amount of combustionair are controlled precisely, pellet appliances achieve very high efficiencies(typically 90%+), comparable to that of an oil-fired system.

Wood pellets are compressed wood made usually from sawdust and shavings.However, they can potentially made from any biomass material (e.g. straw,forestry residues, specially grown energy crops etc.) and hence have thepotential to be sourced from locally unused material, which can giveconsiderable benefit to the local economy.

At the start of the project “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK”, the useof wood-fuel pellets was largely unknown in the UK. There was no fuel-pellet production capacity, nor any pellet appliances on the UK market to burnpellets. This project has addressed a wide range of technical and non-technical issues to help establish a wood pellet industry in the UK.

Aims and Objectives of the Project

The overall aim of the project was to help establish a wood pellet industry inthe UK. This aim was achieved by:

• Reviewing the historic growth and current status of the wood pelletindustry in other European countries and North America.

• Reviewing UK standards, legislation, and regulations and developing UKvoluntary standards for biomass pellets and appliances.

• Identifying and quantifying markets for pellet heating in the UK.

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• Organizing a series of workshops, seminars and other events todemonstrate pellet burning appliances in order to raise awareness of thetechnology.

• Carrying out trial pelletisation of a variety of biomass feedstocks availablein the UK and helping to establish fuel pelletising facilities within the UK.

• Helping establish a number of demonstration installations of pellet-firedappliances.

• Undertaking a promotional campaign for wood pellet fuel.

• Compiling resource directories for pellet fuel and pellet burningappliances in the UK.

Summary of the Work Carried Out

The work programme was comprised of three phases:

Phase 1. Reviewing existing pellet markets, the potential market withinthe UK and the identification and engagement of interested parties in theUK.

A review of how the wood pellet industry became established in otherEuropean countries and in North America and the current status of thoseindustries was carried out. Interested parties in the UK were identified and aBiomass Pellet network was established by British BioGen consisting ofapproximately 250 names of interested individuals. Standards, Legislationand Regulations effecting the production and use of wood pellet fuel in theUK and wood pellet appliances were reviewed. An overview of the potentialmarkets for biomass pellet appliances in the UK was investigated. The firstUK Seminar on Wood Pellet Fuel was held in Nottinghamshire in Sept 1999.

Phase 2. Identification of resources and potential heating sites andpelletisation trials

An assessment of biomass resources in the UK was undertaken which lookedat the following potential feed-stocks; primary processing residues andsecondary raw materials, recovered wood and biomass waste, forestryresidues and energy crop products and straw. A more detailed resourcesurvey was carried out in South Wales and the South West. A programme ofidentification and quantification of markets was carried out in South Walesand the South West. Pelletisation trials were carried out using a range ofpelletisation equipment and a range of biomass feedstocks that are found inquantity in the UK.

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Phase 3. Commercialisation of wood pellets, training and promotioncampaign

Help was given on commercial considerations in terms of UK pelletproduction and installation of pellet-fired equipment. A number of trainingevents were given to installers and service engineers on brand-specific pelletburning equipment. A series of events were held where wood pellettechnology was explained and demonstrated and a promotional campaign wasundertaken to raise general awareness of the use of wood pellet fuel.

Summary of the Main Results

This project has achieved all of the following:

• Development of UK voluntary standards for wood pellet fuel andcombustion appliances.

• The first seminar dedicated to wood pellets in the UK was held withexperts from Sweden, Austria, the US, Italy and the UK presentingpapers. This attracted over 130 people from around the UK and aconference proceedings was published and widely disseminated.

• A database of about 250 individuals in the UK with an interest inwood pellet fuel has been compiled.

• Help was given in the establishment of a number of sources of UKmanufactured wood fuel pellets including the construction of a5tonne/hour pellet mill in South Wales.

• Pelletisation trials on equipment suitable for pellet production in theUK at a number of scales, using a wide variety of biomass materialsavailable in the UK, have been undertaken including preliminary trialsusing a grass mill for the seasonal production of wood pellet fuel.

• Agreements have been made with a number of pellet stove and boilermanufacturers and UK companies to import equipment into the UKand a number of UK companies are currently developing pelletappliances.

• About a dozen pellet burning appliances are now operating in the UKwith many planned to be installed over the next year.

• Six heating engineers have been trained in the general installation ofwood pellet-fired appliances and in brand-specific appliances.

• An analysis has been made of the economics of wood pellet fuel in aUK context.

• A general resource assessment has been compiled for the UK and adetailed resource assessment for two specific regions of feedstocks forbiomass pellets.

• A promotional campaign is underway, both for brand-specificequipment on a local level and generic promotion of the concept ofheating with wood pellets at a national level.

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• A centralized information service and website has been set up dealingwith all aspects of promoting wood pellet fuel.

• Close links have been established with Trade Associations, “PelletClubs” and companies involved with pellet production or pelletappliance manufacture in Europe and North America.

Conclusions

The project “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK” has been a success.There are now a number of groups either producing wood pellet fuel orplanning to produce wood pellet fuel in the near future. These include a 1tonne/hr pellet mill currently operating, a 5tonne/hour machine due to startproduction in towards the end of 2001 and a modified grass mill with capacityfor about 6,000 tonnes of wood pellets per annum which has successfulproduced wood pellets.

There exists a large potential for a low cost feedstock of clean wood wastecoming out of the waste sector. However, it is clear from pelletisation trialsfrom this project and elsewhere that a critical issue in the acceptance of thesematerials is quality control procedures to ensure that there are nocontaminates within the feedstock.

The lack of an organization in the UK with a specific remit to promote the useof wood pellet fuel at all levels will retard the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK. Most European countries now have a “Pellet Club” – atrade association for the wood pellet industry.

The current Building Regulations (Document J) have not taken account of thecoming into being of a class of forced draft appliances of low output such aspellet fueled roomheaters. The present minimum recommended size of125mm diameter for any solid fueled appliance is inappropriately oversizedfor most pellet stoves and also represents an unnecessary cost burden.

In general, the economics of wood pellet fuel in the UK look promising.Wood pellet fuel is competitive with oil and LPG in the UK at the time ofwriting although the higher capital cost of pellet-fired appliances compared tofossil fuel boilers is a major barrier to the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK.

The favourable fuel costs coupled to the environmental benefits of heatingwith wood fuel and the fact that the wood pellet industry could make asubstantial contribution to the rural economy, would imply that an emergingwood pellet industry in the UK has a good chance of becoming a majorrenewable energy sector.

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Recommendations

A number of actions are required to help the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK over the next few years.

• The introduction by the UK government of a capital grant scheme forbiomass heating systems.

• More work on Quality Assurance schemes to ensure that waste woodfrom the waste handling sector is reliably sorted to exclude anymaterial not complying with the present and likely future Europeandescriptions for “biomass fuel”.

• Generic promotion at all levels of the use of sustainably producedbiomass fuels in substitution for fossil fuels.

• Encouragement of R & D by grants to UK appliance and boilermanufacturers to develop new combustion hardware.

• Undertake work with the Building Research Establishment to confirmthe suitability of 100mm flues and chimneys for pellet fueledroomheaters.

The wood pellet industry has the potential to be a substantial industry in theUK over the next few years. The examples of other countries suggests thatpellet fuel is by its nature sufficiently specialized that it requires its owngeneric promotion and there are European initiatives to accomplish this whichthe UK should support.

The role of a Pellet Trade Association, or a specialized sub-section of anexisting Trade Association would be the following:

• Run a central information service on all aspects of wood pellet fuelincluding lists of manufacturers of appliances and suppliers of woodpellet fuel.

• Develop an accredited training programme in wood pellet heating,covering both pellet stoves and central heating systems, similar to thatof the CORGI training for gas-fired appliances in the UK and theHeath Education Foundation in North America.

• Represent the Wood Pellet Industry’s interests at National governmentand local government level.

• Develop and refine standards on pellet fuel and appliances to complywith the latest legislation.

• Co-ordinate all promotional activities of wood pellet fuel.

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In addition, an R&D programme is needed on specific activities. Theseinclude

• Seasonal conversion of grass mills and sugar beet mills to wood pelletproduction.

• Distribution and delivery of wood pellet fuel to customers in the UK atvarious scales.

• Quality Control procedures for wood residues from the waste sector,which may open up new resources for pellet production.

Contents Page

Executive Summary

1 Introduction 1

2 Standards, Legislation and Regulations 22.1 Review of Industry Standards 22.2 Regulations for Pellet Burning Equipment 22.3 UK legislation & regulations of materials for pellets 2

3 Reports on national pellet markets; Sweden, Austria and the US 5

4 Suppliers of Pellets, Pelletising Equipment and Appliances 5

5 One-day Seminar on Wood Pellets in the UK 6

6 Potential Feed-stocks for Biomass Pelletisation in the UK 76.1 National UK Biomass Residue Resource 76.2 Feedstock for Pelletisation Somerset and Devon 106.3 Feedstock for Pelletisation in South Wales 14

7 The Economics of Biomass Pelletisation in a UK Context 167.1 The Economics of the Heating Market in the UK 167.2 The cost of production of wood pellets in the UK 20

8 Trial Pelletisation 258.1. EcoTre Pellet Mill 268.2. Farm Feed Pellet Mill (25hp) 308.3 Conversion of a Grass Mill to a Wood Pellet Mill 32

9 Market Development Strategy 359.1 Survey of reactions to pellet-fired heating 359.2 Market Development Strategy for Biomass Pellets 36

10 Conclusions 37

11 Recommendations 38

Appendix 1 Commercialisation report

Appendix 2 Codes of Good Practice for Pellet fuel

Appendix 3 Pellet fuel standards in Sweden, Austria and the US

Appendix 4 Codes of Good Practice for roomheaters

Appendix 5 List of suppliers of pellet mill machinery, pellet suppliers inthe UK and abroad and pellet-fired heating appliances (stovesand stoker/boilers)

Appendix 6 Programme for “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK”seminar

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1. INTRODUCTION

Wood Pellets are now a major fuel source for heating in many parts of Europeas well as in the US and Canada. Wood pellet-fired heating also has thepotential to make a significant contribution to the energy needs of the UK.

There is a wide range of potential biomass feedstocks for fuel use which varyin nature, particle size, shape and moisture content. The use of thesefeedstocks for the production of wood pellets results in a low moisture, highdensity fuel of small particle size (commonly 6-12mm diameter). This fuel iswell suited to being used in automatic heating systems and allows a consistentfuel quality to be achieved.

The wood pellet industry has been established in Scandinavia and NorthAmerica for over 20 years and consequently wood pellet-fired appliances arenow highly reliable, with many tens of thousands of systems in operation inEurope ranging in size from 10kW up to more than a MW.

Wood pellet appliances are highly automated and have automatic ignition andare well suited to meet variable load demands. All pellet appliances havethermostatic controls and can be operated on a timer. This means that thelevel of convenience is equivalent to that oil fired heating systems, but woodpellets have added environmental and local economic benefits. Because therate of fuel feed and amount of combustion air are controlled precisely, pelletappliances achieve very high efficiencies (typically 90%+), comparable to thatof an oil-fired system.

Wood pellets are compressed wood made usually from sawdust and shavings.However, they can potentially made from any biomass material (e.g. straw,forestry residues, specially grown energy crops etc.) and hence have thepotential to be sourced from locally unused material, which can giveconsiderable benefit to the local economy.

At the start of the project “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK”, the useof wood-fuel pellets was largely unknown in the UK. There was no fuel-pellet production capacity, nor any pellet appliances on the UK market to burnpellets. This project has addressed a wide range of technical and non-technical issues to help establish a wood pellet industry in the UK.

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2 STANDARDS, LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS

2.1 Review of Industry Standards

Standards on wood pellet fuel have been independently developed in the US,Sweden, Austria and Germany. Although there is some variation between thevarious standards, there is fairly close agreement on the main characteristics,for example, moisture content, calorific value, etc. These standards have beenused as a starting point for the development of a voluntary UK standard.

A Biomass Pellet Technical Committee was set up which was comprised ofsixteen people from industry, chosen from about 250 on the project database,who had a broad range of interests in wood pellet fuel e.g. potential pelletproducers, heating equipment manufacturers etc. This committee met twiceduring the project and developed a code of good practice for wood pellets forthe UK. This is given in Appendix 2. The Swedish, Austrian standards andUS wood pellet standards are given in Appendix 3.

2.2 Regulations for Pellet Burning Equipment.

A code of good practice for pellet room heaters (COGPP) has been developedfor the UK which has used as a basis the P-mark certification programme inSweden and the US standard ASTM 1509-95. The former is a voluntarystandard existing in Sweden whereby a product can be granted permission todisplay the P Mark- symbol after certification by SP, the Swedish NationalTesting and Research Institute. Such certification involves verification thatthe product fulfils applicable requirements in respect of standards, codes ofpractice for the sector concerned, regulations etc., and that there is verifiedand approved continuous inspection and quality control of production.

The certification rules describe the conditions for certification, technicalrequirements and requirements for continuous inspection and quality controlof pellet stoves. The technical requirements include characteristics toguarantee minimum levels of safety, efficiency and reliability as well asmaximum emission levels. Details of the COGP for roomheaters are given inAppendix 4.

2.3 Review the UK legislation and regulations of materials for pellets

British Biogen, in collaboration with other partners, wrote a positiondocument on the regulations governing materials for pelletisation forsubmission to DETR/EA. It continues to be difficult to get definitiveguidance from EA/DETR until a ruling emerges from the European Court ofJustice. There is also work being done by a CEN Technical Committee on“recovered fuels” which is not expected to be completed for some time.

The types of material that may be used to manufacture biofuel pellets and thetypes of combustion equipment for those pellets, will be heavily influence bythe 'waste status' of the material, the types of any material other than biomassthat it might contain and the 'traceability' of the material.

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So far as legislation and regulation are concerned there are four key issues:

Will the material be subject to the new Waste Incineration Directive? Is the feedstock defined as a waste? Can a waste be made into a fuel that can be burned without a Waste

Incineration Licence? Is it desirable to make biofuel pellets out of waste feedstocks?

It is currently somewhat less than clear what feedstock is a waste and what isnot, the EU Waste Framework Directive defines it as 'any substance or object… which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.'

There is a range of regulations and guidance regarding the definition of wastein the UK. As yet however there is no definitive guidance as to what types ofbiomass feedstocks are currently defined as waste and if and how thosefeedstocks might be recycled into a non-waste product.

The draft Waste Incineration Directive however specifically excludes,amongst other materials:

vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry wood waste with the exception of:

o those that may contain halogenated organic compoundsor heavy metals as a result of treatment;

o treated wood originating from building and demolitionwaste,

The whole area of biomass fuels and waste, and the manufacture of biomassfuels from biomass wastes is currently subject to some debate. As thedevelopment of EU standards for solid biofuels moves forward, DG XI havesoftened their position on the manufacture of fuels from waste and arecurrently considering when a waste may become a product. In addition,various other rulings of the EU may apply. CEN technical Committee on“Solid Recovered Fuels” (CEN/BT/TF118) are working on these issues.

2.3.1 Waste Management LicensingA pellet mill that takes and recovers waste wood material will need theappropriate Waste Transport and Management Licenses. This involves somecost but may also allow the mill to take in packaging waste for recovery, suchas clean pallets, and issue Packaging Recycling Notes (PRNs), which willhave some value.

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2.3.2 Biofuel Feedstocks:It is important to ensure that biofuels are manufactured from appropriatematerials and to sensible product standards to ensure that problems of poorappliance reliability, emissions problems and potential health risks areavoided. This requires the Biofuel Pellets Network and wider industry to takea precautionary approach to the selection of pellet feedstocks.

Although it was initially proposed that there be two categories of feedstockfor biofuel manufacture, the final decision made by the Biomass PelletTechnical Committee is that the Voluntary Standard for Biofuel Pellets shouldonly include wood pellets made of 100% pure wood with no materials otherthan Biomass (such as resins used in making plywood, MDF and chip board)

2.3.3 Relevant waste legislation:Council Directive 75/442/EEC, amended by Council Directives 91/156/EECand 91/692/EEC is commonly known as the Framework Directive on Waste.In the UK waste definitions and controls are legislated for in section 30(1) ofthe Control of Pollution Act 1974 and its reenactment in sections 75(1) and75(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The Packaging Waste Directive gives provision for the issue of PRN’s.Currently about 50% of all wood packaging now comes under the scheme.PRN's are likely to be issued by wood packaging processors rather than theend user which gives the possibility that pellet mills may be able to issuePRN's.

Following the adoption of the Waste Framework Directive the UKGovernment has decided to replace UK definitions of waste with that used bythe directive. Primary legislation will be required to amend the 1990 act butfor the time being the change has been applied through amendments to theWaste Licensing Regulations 1994.

The most recent guidance on the application of waste legislation andregulation is given in joint circular DoE 11/94.

The most recent guidance on waste definitions is given in the DETR note 'TheDefinition of Waste' of 27/11/98.

The forthcoming Directive on the Incineration of Waste specifically excludesmost biomass feedstocks and may therefore set a precedent for whatfeedstocks may be used for the production of pellet fuels which are not subjectto waste incineration regulations.

The Framework Directive on Waste is under continuous review by theTechnical Adaptation Committee with possible implications for biomassfeedstock and fuel use.

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2.3.4 Non Waste combustion:Currently the combustion of 'non-waste' wood fuel is regulated in the UK bythe Clean Air Act 1993 with notice to be given to Local Authorities andbasically a requirement that “… furnaces shall be so far as practicablesmokeless”'. There are tighter restrictions on appliances and fuels used inurban Smoke Controlled Areas.

3 REPORTS ON NATIONAL PELLET MARKETS;SWEDEN, AUSTRIA AND THE US

Separate reports were compiled on the current markets for wood pellet fuel inSweden, Austria and the US, which included a historic perspective to showhow the industry evolved in each country and the main factors determiningthe expansion.

The report on the wood pellet industry in Sweden and the report of the woodpellet industry in North America are available from the British Biogenwebsite. A report on wood pellets in Austria is contained in the conferenceproceedings for the one day seminar “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to theUK”, Boughton Sept 1999. This is available from the British Biogen Website1.

A document entitled “Wood Pellets in Europe” was published in January2000, funded by the European Commission DG XVII under a Thermie Bproject2. This report gives details of the wood pellet industries in Sweden,Norway, Germany, Austria and North America.

4 SUPPLIERS OF PELLETS, PELLETISING EQUIPMENTAND APPLIANCES

Three separate databases have been compiled containing a list of suppliers ofthe following:

a) Wood pellet fuel

b) Equipment for the production of wood pellets

c) Pellet-fired heating appliances (roomheaters and stoker/boilers)

These databases include companies from the EU and the US and are given inAppendix 5.

1 www.britishbiogen.co.uk2 Wood Pellets in Europe, published by the Industrial Network on Wood Pellets, January2000, EU reference Thermie B DIS/2043/98-AT, edited by UMBERA GmbH, [email protected]

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5 ONE-DAY SEMINAR ON WOOD PELLETS IN THE UK

The first seminar dedicated to wood pellets in the UK was held at Boughtonpumping station on September 22nd 1999. The one day seminar “IntroducingWood Pellet Fuel to the UK” was organised by Renewable Heat & Power Ltdwith British Biogen.

The seminar drew together experts from The US, Sweden, Austria, Italy andthe UK to look at how substantial markets for wood pellets have evolved inother countries and to discuss the potential for establishing a pellet fuel marketwithin the UK.

There was strong interest in the seminar and it attracted over 130 people froma wide variety of backgrounds including solid fuel appliance manufacturers,sawmill owners, waste companies, foresters etc. A 45 page seminarproceedings has been published containing papers from leading experts on allaspects of the wood pellet fuels industry from the US, Sweden, Austria, Italyand the UK.

The papers include an overview of wood pellet markets abroad, pelletstandards, current economics, the energy balance of pelletising, appliancestandards, pellet mill construction and contains contacts for furtherinformation. The proceedings were distributed free of charge to all delegateswho attended the seminar. The seminar programme is given in Appendix 6. Acopy of the conference proceedings is available from the British BioGenWebsite www.britishbiogen.co.uk.

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6 POTENTIAL FEED-STOCKS FOR BIOMASSPELLETISATION IN THE UK

6.1 National UK Biomass Residue Resource

For the purpose of this section of the report, the potential feed-stocks havebeen divided into four categories, namely;

1. Forestry and Energy Crop Products2. Straw3. Primary Processing Residues and Secondary Raw Materials4. Recovered Wood and Biomass Waste

6.1.1 Forestry and Energy Crop ProductsForestry and Energy Crop Products include Round wood and whole treechips, wood brash and residue chips, energy crops; short rotation coppice,miscanthus, whole crop hemp & various others. The recent report “New andRenewable Energy: Prospects for the 21st century: supporting Analysis” byETSU for the DTI3 suggest the following current and future resources:

Table 1: Estimated Current and Future Forest Residues.

Wood Fuel Resource (1000’s dry tonnesper year)

1998 2013Residues and Residuals 309 660Dedicated Wood Fuels 148 380Broadleaf Woodland 203 203Arboricultural arising 484 484TOTAL 1,144 1,728Source ETSU Report R-122 (rounded to nearest 1000 tonnes)

An estimated 1.1 million dry tonnes of wood is available from forestryresidues, thinning operations, whole tree harvesting, broadleaf woodlandmanagement and arboricultural arisings. As the UK forestry industry enters amajor harvesting phase over the next 20 years, roundwood production isexpected to double, along with sawmilling capacity and the forestry residueresource. Energy crops are not yet a major source of wood fuel in the UKwith just over 900 hectares planted to date. British Biogen suggest thatestablishing 125,000ha of energy crops should be a realistic target by 2010which would producing approximately 1.5 million tonnes of wood fuel peryear.

An energy crops scheme has been introduced which gives grants to establishenergy crops and to assist the set up of producer groups. A total of £30millionhas been allocated over 7 years.

3 ‘New and Renewable Energy: Prospects for the 21st century: supporting Analysis’, ETSU R-122, March 1999, Harwell, Oxon

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6.1.2 Straw:Straw is probably the largest single resource in the UK at the present timewith over 6 million tonnes presently unused and hence, in principle,accessible for energy use. There is a strong geographical variation in theproduction and usage of straw. For example Wales is net importer of almost 1million tonnes whilst England produces a surplus of about 4.4million tonnes.The regional distribution of use and production of straw is given in table 2:

Table 2: Regional Distribution of Straw Produced and Used.

(1000’s tonnes per year at 15% moisture)Total strawproduced

Total strawused

Total strawunused

Yorkshire & Humberside 1,491 877 614East Midlands 1,938 618 1,320East Anglia 1,840 371 1,469South East 2,352 749 1,603West Midlands 950 737 213Grampian 526 253 273Tayside 334 99 235TOTAL 9,431 3,704 5,727Source ETSU Report R-122. Excludes regions with less than 200,000 tonne surplus

While there is clearly an abundance of straw in certain regions and hencewould represent a low cost feed-stock and straw is a clean material and sowould classify as ‘biomass’, it does have fairly high ash content with a lowmelting temperature. This means that burning straw may result in ‘clinker’formation and therefore straw pellets will usually require specialistcombustion equipment and be an unsuitable fuel for use in domestic scaleappliances which have been designed to operate on fuel with an ash contentbelow 1%.

6.1.3 Primary Processing Residues and Secondary Raw Materials:This includes residues from sawmills, timber production and other woodprocessing industries which are estimated to have produced some 1.1 milliontonnes of sawdust, shavings and off-cuts in 1997. As wood production andsawmilling in the UK grows, so too will processing residue production,perhaps to some 2 million tonnes by 2010.

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6.1.4 Recovered Wood and Biomass WasteThis is an interesting category of wood waste as it does includes a substantialamount of good, dry woody material that may be available at low or zero costbut which may also contain materials other than biomass. This feedstockmight include;

Furniture factory waste Wood packaging waste Construction industry wood waste Wool & cotton waste from textile industry Sludge from papermaking. Wood panels industry waste Demolition wood waste Paper and cardboard waste

Total industrial and commercial waste from 'textiles, wood and paper' isestimated at some 9 million tonnes per year. The Environment Agencyestimates that perhaps 1 million tonnes of wood packaging waste is producedin the UK each year. Of this about 115 thousand tonnes was recovered for usein 1997, almost all of it in chipboard manufacture.

The DETR have recently published two documents entitled WasteManagement Statistics and Waste Strategy 2000, both of which are availablevia the Internet at:

http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/wastats/mwb9899/index.htm

http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/waste/strategy/cm4693/index.htm

From the end of 1999 those recycling wood packaging will be able to issuePackaging Waste Recovery Notes, or PRNs. This is expected to encourage afar greater use of recycled wood packaging in the board industry.

The Landfill Directive will require increasing quantities of 'organic' materialto be diverted from landfill, a reduction to 35% of 1995 levels by 2016. Howthe Directive is to be implemented in the UK remains to be seen but there isincreasing emphasis, in the Draft Waste Strategy and elsewhere, on therecovery of material from the waste stream.

Wood pellets have been produced from the fines arising from “clean” woodwaste in Durham County and during pelletisation trials on a small scale pelletmill (see section 8). From these trials it has become apparent that qualitycontrol procedures are of critical importance to ensure that the resultingfeedstock for pellet production are free from materials other than biomass asrequired by the EU definition of “Biomass” and the UK Code Of GoodPractice for pellets.

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6.1.5 Conclusions on national biomass feedstocks• The expected rise in UK timber production, the deployment of energy

crops, the application of the Packaging Regulations to wood packagingand the implementation of the Landfill Directive may all be expected toincrease the volume of wood and wood residues available.

• Current prices for 'clean woody materials' collected for the pulp and boardindustries would seem to be in the region of £20 per green tonne.However, some mills require that material of less than 3mm is screenedout and some use only virgin chip material.

• There is also a substantial straw resource available that might be used tomanufacture pellets for industrial and commercial heat and CHPinstallations.

• In practice the resource needs to be looked at in detail for particularregions to see what is available where, in what form and at what price.

6.2 Feedstock for Pelletisation in Somerset and Devon

6.2.1 Wood Waste Potential in SomersetThe wood waste potentially available for pelletisation in Somerset has beenestimated using the following methods:

• Hand sorting of representative samples of wood waste in the region• Previous work undertaken by Wyvern Waste Ltd (a project partner)• Compilation of a database of approximately 120 companies likely to

produce wood waste and the mail-shot of a questionnaire.

Two “ro-ro” skips of household wood waste from two separate Civic Amenity(CA) sites were sorted by hand into three categories. The two sites wereDimmer and Somerton, both owned by Wyvern Waste Ltd. The total amountof waste sorted was about 6 tonnes. Photograph 1 shows a typical sample ofsorted wood waste.

The three categories used were:

(i) Class A: Clean wood waste.This material included clean pallets, joinery waste, unpainted furniture etc.This category specifically excluded chipboard, MDF and any wood wastewith paints or preservatives.

(ii) Class B: Processed wood waste.This material included chipboard and MDF and also included some laminatedmaterial. The majority of the wood waste consisted of chipboard coated withwhite finish as is typical in low cost furniture. Again, any wood waste withpaints or preservatives was specifically excluded.

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(iii) Other material ‘Class C’:This class contained all wood material which was excluded from Classes Aand B. This included painted material and pressure treated wood, all of whichmay only be burned with a waste incineration licence.

Table 3: Breakdown of Results

Conclusions: The total amount of clean wood waste is around 10% of thetotal, 50% of the wood waste is in the form of chipboard or MDF and theremaining 40% is painted wood (old doors, windows, pressure treated woodetc).

The amount of time spent on sorting approximately 6 tonnes of waste wasapproximately 12 person hours, indicating that one person could sort ½ tonnein one hour. This is clearly a major problem in making economically viablethe use of wood waste as raw material for pelletisation.

It should be noted that the wood waste in Sample 1 (Dimmer) had beenheavily compacted and broken up into relatively small pieces, whereasSample 2 (Somerton) had not been crushed and whole pallets were included inthe sample. The time taken to sort Sample 2 was approximately half that ofSample 1 i.e. the uncrushed wood waste was much easier to sort.

The exercise of hand sorting waste wood and talking to people in therecycling/waste recovery business gave valuable insights into the commercialviability of utilising such wood waste materials. It is strongly argued that forwood waste from civic amenities to be used as commercial fuel (i.e. not underan incineration licence), sorting at source will be necessary.

A questionnaire was written and sent to about 120 companies in Somersetwho were likely to produce significant quantities of wood waste. Theseincluded, Carpenters, Joiners, Sawmills, fencing manufacturers, packagingmanufacturers etc. It also included some less obvious company types such ascompanies dealing with aircraft spares (two in Somerset) and paper mills allof which currently dispose of large quantities of wooden pallets to landfill.

The responses from the questionnaires, together with previous work by GavinLeslie of Wyvern Waste Ltd, have been used to make an estimation as to thetotal wood waste available in Somerset. This is summarised in figure 1. Itshould be noted that there are additional companies producing significant

Dimmer CA Somerton CA(tonnes) (tonnes)

Class A 0.46 0.20Class B 1.64 1.38Class C 1.24 1.06TOTAL 3.34 2.64

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quantities of wood waste who did not respond to our questionnaire. Forexample we later learned of a door manufacturer producing about a thousandtonnes of clean waste per year.

Figure 1: Annual available wood waste in Somerset

Photographs 2 shows waste pallets outside a packaging company in Somersetwhich are currently sent to landfill. This is typical of a number of companiesin South West.

6.2.2 Wood Waste Potential in DevonThe questionnaire was then sent to 125 companies in Devon who were likelyto produce significant quantities of wood waste. The response in general waslower than that of the mail-shot in Somerset, with only 21 companiesreplying. However, a significant number of sites where substantial quantitiesof wood waste are produced have been identified.

In particular, two large sawmill sites each producing approximately 2000 and2500 tonnes/year of clean wood residues in the form of green slab wood andsawdust have been identified. The current price obtained for these residues is£5/tonne and £15/tonne respectively. In addition, ten sites have beenidentified, where between 75 to 200 tonnes/year of clean wood residues areproduced. The current prices obtained for the materials are between+£15/tonne to -£30 (i.e. they pay to dispose of it). There are also severalcompanies who have thousands of tonnes of clean pallets per year which theycurrently pay to dispose of to landfill. In Plymouth there is a recyclingoperation for wood waste where material is sorted to exclude painted material,then chipped as raw material for a board mill.. The chips are screened with allfines passing a 3mm screen sent to landfill. A sample of these fines waspelletised but it was clear from microscopic examination of the material that

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the chipping process concentrates contaminates such as paint and the resultingpellets are clearly not a biomass fuel.

6.2.3 Summary of resultsA large resource of clean wood residues in Devon and Somerset has beenidentified, amounting to over 10,000 tonnes per year, and we have compiled adatabase of almost 250 companies who currently produce some woodresidues. In particular, about 20 sites have been identified where there ismaterial in quantities of greater than 100 tonnes per year of clean woodresidues, where the price currently obtained for this material is sufficientlylow to make it suitable to be pelletised economically. Extrapolating theresults from the sample of companies who replied to the total number ofcompanies who were approached, this would imply a resource of about 50,000tonnes per year, although this figure could be very much greater.

The smallest pellet mill that has been commercially successful in the US andin Sweden has been at a production rate of 5000 tonnes/year. Therefore, it isconcluded that there is sufficient raw material in the South West, evenexcluding forestry residues, SRC and other agricultural materials (e.g. straw,flax etc).

However, the overriding conclusion from resource surveys is that althoughthere is considerable resource, there is no single concentration of potentialfeedstock to justify the considerable investment required to set up a pellet millfacility. This problem has led to the idea of a Mobile Pellet Mill. The thoughtbehind this is that, rather than transport low density raw materials to a centralfacility, the pellet mill would visit a number of sites throughout the yearspending perhaps a few days or weeks at each site to pelletise the stored rawmaterial and then either bagging on site or transporting the high densitypellets in bulk to a local bagging plant.

A mobile pellet mill would allow a secure supply of locally produced pelletsto be available to support the emerging market for wood pellet appliances.This idea could be extended beyond the South West to supply markets in otherparts of the country to kick-start the industry there, in anticipation of fixedlarger scale pellet mills once pellets are established in an area. The database ofcompanies producing wood residues in Devon & Somerset is available onrequest.

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6.3 Feedstock for Pelletisation in South Wales

The construction of a wood pelletisation plant near Bridgend in South Walesis currently underway. A detailed study has been carried out to identify andquantify the potential feed-stocks of waste wood for pelletisation in SouthWales. The plant is being designed to initially take 5,000 tonnes of wastewood per year on a single shift operation.

A database has been compiled containing approximately 250 wood-workingcompanies located within 20 miles of Bridgend, South Wales. Each companyin the database belongs to one of 5 categories:

(i) Furniture and joinery(ii) Wood component manufacturer(iii) Shed and fencing(iv) Retail(v) Sawmills

In addition, the resource has been split into 4 types:

(i) Sawdust waste(ii) Shavings(iii) Wood chips(iv) Off-cuts

A sample of 32 companies was chosen which contained approximately pro-rata numbers from each category: 19 Furniture and joinery companies, 8Wood component manufacturers, 2 Shed and fencing companies, 1 Retailcompany and 2 Sawmills. From this representative sample, the total woodwaste resource suitable for pelletisation in the Bridgend was estimated. Theresults are as follows.

Table 4: Wood waste resource suitable for pelletisation in the Bridgend area

Total waste woodresource

Total available wastewood resource

Sample of 32 companies 11,170 tonnes/year 8,775 tonnes/yearTotal of 250 companies 89,360 tonnes/year 70,260 tonnes/year

A breakdown of the resource by category and resource type is shown infigures 1 and 2 respectfully. The estimated total resource (fromapproximately 250 companies) by type in the region is given below.

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Table 5: The estimated total resource by type in the Bridgend area

Total waste woodresource

Total available wastewood resource

Sawdust waste 23,440 tonnes/year 15,096 tonnes/yearShavings 13,920 tonnes/year 12,584 tonnes/yearChips 16,400 tonnes/year 12,312 tonnes/yearOff-cuts 35,600 tonnes/year 30,208 tonnes/year

Figure 2: A breakdown of the resource by category for the 32 sampledcompanies.

Figure 3: A breakdown of the resource by resource type for the 32 sampledcompanies

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7 THE ECONOMICS OF BIOMASS PELLETISATION IN AUK CONTEXT

The economics of producing wood pellet fuel and establishing a wood pelletindustry in the UK are complex. The following analysis looks at the twocomponents determining the economic viability of wood pellet fuel in the UK,namely;

The economics of the heating market in the UK i.e. a comparison ofcompeting heating fuels, which will in turn determine the maximumprice that wood pellet fuel may be able to command, and

The cost of production of wood pellets in the UK

7.1. The Economics of the Heating Market in the UK

There are two key factors which effectively set a maximum price that woodpellets can be produced for in the UK to be competitive in purely economicterms:

a) The world market price of wood pellets andb) The price of fuel oil in the UK.

The price of oil is a critical measure because the replacement of fuel oil isseen as the major market in which wood pellets can hopefully compete withinthe UK in the near future.

It should be emphasised at the outset that domestic consumers may be willingto pay a premium for pellets over oil since:

(i) Pellets are a renewable source of energy – much easier to usethan logs or chips

(ii) Pellets are an indigenous source of energy(iii) Pellets are not as susceptible to large price fluctuations that can

occur with the world oil market – i.e. they have greater longterm price stability

A recent study has looked at the public attitude to pellet fuel in relation toother domestic fuels in Austria, Sweden and the USA4.

It should also be noted that for domestic and small commercial heating, woodpellets offer convenience that is approaching that of oil heating e.g.convenient fuel handling, stoves and boilers which are self igniting, cleanburning etc. although hoppers must be loaded from a few days to weeksdepending on the system design and demand for heat. Pellet burners requireweekly ash removal, although automatic ash removal is becoming available.This is an important factor which should be taken in to account when

4 J.Vinterback et al, “Pellet consumers in Austria, Sweden and the United States”, Bioenergy’98: Expanding Bioenergy Partnerships

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comparing with other traditional log wood fuel. In comparison to wood-chips,pellets are viewed as having the advantages of being small, dense,homogenous particles of uniform size which flow easily. Because of theseadvantages the capital cost per kW of appliances is lower for pellets, largelybecause the handling systems are simpler and lighter e.g. chips require aheavier drive train and feed screw. This is of course offset by the costinvolved in pelletisation which means that, generally speaking, for largersystems, chips may be the preferred option.

In addition, due to the high density of wood pellets they do not have the samerestrictions as chips on transport distances. Pellets have been shipped formCanada to Sweden, whereas wood chips can really only be transportedeconomically within a local region (say 40-50 miles radius).

7.1.1 The price of fuel oil and the world market for pelletsThe following is a brief analysis of the economics of virgin wood pellets.There are two bench-marks which effectively set an upper price level forwood pellets:

7.1.1.1 World Commodity PriceThere is a world commodity price of about £80 per tonne delivered in bulk toa UK port equipped with grain handling facilities. If a UK pelletmanufacturer charges significantly more than £80 per tonne bulk for pellets,the user can simply get pellets shipped in at lower cost from abroad.

A list of pellet suppliers, together with contact details is given in Appendix 2.A number of these companies were contacted to get budget prices forimported pellets. The main motivation for this work was to establish the costof importing relatively small quantities of pellets to ensure a secure supplyuntil local sources of pellets are established.

Pellets are available at lower cost in the Ukraine and Estonia. However,transportation costs are likely to make the cost of importation impractical.

A lower grade of 10mm diameter pellet for commercial/industrial firing isbeing made in Holland from “clean” wood from the MSW stream. Althoughthey are unsuitable for domestic appliances and do not conform to the BritishBiogen Code of Good Practice, these pellets are quoted at £45/tonne FOBAmsterdam. The market for these pellets was large district heating schemesin Sweden however the Swedish authorities are currently moving to ban suchfuels.

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7.1.1.2 The price of fuel oilThe price of fuel oil (domestic heating oil) is crucial to the future of the pelletindustry in the UK since this is seen as the major market which wood pelletswill hopefully compete against in the UK in the near future.

The importance of the price of fuel oil was shown clearly in Sweden. In 1991Sweden introduced a ‘carbon’ tax of 27.4 Euros per tonne of CO2 whilst at thesame time reducing the then ‘energy’ tax by 50%. Overnight it was cheaperto burn wood pellets than coal, oil or gas. The pellet industry has grownsubstantially since then and now burns almost ½ million tonnes of indigenouswood pellets annually. Figure 4 shows the growth in the Swedish pellet millcapacity since 1995.

Figure 5 shows the price pellets can command at retail to be equivalent to fueloil (in terms of equal p/kWh) as a function of fuel oil price5. The current priceof fuel oil is about 20 - 25 pence per litre (retail price for domestic consumers,excluding VAT) although this price did exceed 25p/litre in early 2000 incertain parts of the UK.

5 This graph assumes an energy density of fuel oil of 36MJ/litre (10 kWh/litre), and an energydensity of wood pellets of (18MJ/kg).

Wood Pellet Capacity in Sweden

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It can be seen from the graph that an oil price 20p/litre is equivalent to about£100 per tonne for wood pellets. Therefore it is concluded that wood pelletsare likely to be close to being competitive in purely economic terms with fueloil at current prices. However, it should be noted that the current price of fueloil in Sweden, for example, is equivalent to almost 45p/litre.

There are other factors here that need to be considered. Firstly, it is not yetclear how pellets will be sold in the UK. It is clear that for large installationspellets will be sold in bulk – either large bags (500kg or 1 tonne bags) or willbe air handled in bulk. However, it is likely that for domestic situations,certainly initially, pellets will be sold in bags through pellet stove appliancesuppliers, stove shops, garages, DIY chains etc. This will mean that the priceto the consumer will be substantially higher than the price paid to the pelletmanufacturer. Also the cost of bagging pellets can be significant additionalcost (estimated to be about £15 per tonne for use of bagging machine, pallets,bags and labour. The current retail price of bagged pellets in the US, wherefuel oil has about the same cost as the UK, is about $170 per US ton,corresponding to about £125 per metric tonne at the exchange rate at the timeof writing.

This analysis has only looked at the fuel costs – and has not considered thecost of the heating appliance. Pellet heating systems are considerably moreexpensive than oil systems and so this is a major barrier – therefore pelletsmust either be cheaper or some capital grant scheme is needed to overcomethe differential cost between oil-fired and pellet appliances.

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7.2 The cost of production of wood pellets in the UK

Biofuel pellets can be manufactured from a wide range of biomass materials.In practice, the viability and value of a particular feed-stock depends on

a) The composition of the feed-stock i.e. whether it is clean virginbiomass or whether it has other materials in it and, if so, the nature ofthose materials and

b) How much processing it needs before pelletising e.g. drying wetmaterial and breaking down lumpy material is expensive.

c) The quality of the resulting pellets

7.2.1 Costs of Pelletising WoodThe processes and costs involved in pelletisation are:

1. Raw material for pelletisation2. Transport of raw material to pellet mill3. Sorting of material and reduction of material to correct particle size4. Drying of the raw material5. Conditioning material e.g. adding lignin/soyabean oil6. Pelletising7. Bagging and storage8. Transport of pellets

The other major cost is that of debt service on the pellet mill and depreciationof equipment. Clearly the type of material being used will greatly determinethe price that can be paid for it: i.e. how much processing it needs beforepelletising. e.g. dry and fine material will clearly cost less to pelletise thanwet, lumpy material.

7.2.2 Cost of the pellet production processThe following is a compilation of the costs involved in pelletising wood,derived mostly from US and Canadian sources with some additionalinformation from Swedish and UK sources.

None of the figures given are from audited sources, but rather from informalguidelines offered by the Pellet Fuel Institute in the US, supplemented by thegeneral openness and kindness of various individual plant operators.

7.2.2.1 Raw MaterialsRHP have carried out extensive surveys on the prices paid for raw materials,talking to pellet mill owners in Sweden, the US and Canada.

The highest cost anywhere of materials for pelletisation was quoted at£23/tonne in 1998 for a mixture of green sawdust and kiln dried shavings inSweden. This is an artificial price set by the timber companies who generallyown the pellet mills. The price has more to do with the Swedish corporate taxsystem than a supply/demand equilibrium..

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The next highest price for raw materials quoted was along the Columbia Riverin Oregon where there are huge sawmills but also board mills with a greatappetite for raw materials for making chipboard which uses sawdust as filler.This pellet mill was paying about £20/tonne for generally kiln dried materialprobably about 15%mc. The mill owners stated that it was only just possibleto break even at this price.

The lowest price quoted for raw materials was in British Columbia where kilndried material costs £4.60/tonne. This mill is able to ship across the Atlanticand to the Eastern US by railroad by virtue of its low cost raw materials, theshipping cost by sea being about £16.40/tonne.

From the above, a tentative conclusion might be that raw material for woodfuel pellets must not exceed £20/tonne and at that price must be well reducedin particle size and with a low mc. The average price for raw materials in theUS appears to be less than half that amount. Chipboard manufactures in theUK pay around £18-25/tonne delivered for chips with some variationdependent on average moisture content from individual sources..

7.2.2.2 Particle Size of raw materialsThe final hammer mill screen prior to material entering a pellet mill with onequarter inch dies, making a standard stove pellet, would be 3/16” or 4.8mm.Thus if the raw materials are pallets, furniture or other large size material,there will need to be a “hogging mill” ahead of the final hammer mill. Ifpallets are being used there will need to be magnetic separation of fastenings.

7.2.2.3 Moisture contentA drier will generally be required as raw material with a moisture content ofmore than about 16%mc will not pelletise well and the pellets will tend todisintegrate. In addition, pellets would not meet the required calorific valueof 4.7kWh/kg or the required 10% moisture content. Careful sampling oftypical raw material streams before planning a pellet mill is required to ensureadequate drier capacity and allowance must be made for the fuel needed,usually natural gas, but this can be other waste materials such as bark.

7.2.2.4 Costs for the UK MarketSawmills in the UK can generally sell all the off-cuts that they produce,especially the larger off-cuts, for fire wood etc. The saw dust/shavings have amore limited market but most of this goes for farm animal bedding but alsothe manufacture of wood pellets for cat litter. Sawmills would not like to losethe fairly lucrative business in selling wood off cuts etc., for which they canobtain up to £20 per tonne, but this is seasonal. Most would be prepared tosell at around £10 to £15 per tonne if a regular all year round outlet wereavailable.

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The following are indicative costs for pellet production in the UK based onoperation of pellet mills in the US.

Labour £8.00 per tonneElectrical Power £4.00 - £7.00 per tonneDies and Rollers £2.00 - £4.00 per tonneMaintenance £4.00 - £7.50 per tonne,

depending on whether second hand or newequipment is being used

Dryer fuels £0.00 - £5.50 per tonne

Total cost of the production process therefore ranges from about £18 - £32 pertonne

Additional overheads £10.00 per tonneDebt repayments £4.00- £7.00 per tonne, depending on whether second hand or new

equipment is being used

Therefore we can see that the total range of costs, excluding the raw materialdelivered to site ranges from £32 - £49 depending on raw material and pelletmill set up. This analysis does not include profit.

7.2.2.5 Connected Electrical LoadThe following is an estimate of the electrical power requirement for a 2-3tonne/hr pellet mill6.

Raw material feeders 7.5 kW Counterflow cooler 1.5 kWTransfer conveyor 2 kW Cooler blower 12.5kWHammer Mill 75 kW Cooler conveyor 1 kWHammer Mill Air system 24 kW Bucket elevator 2.5 kWLive bottom/mixing bins 7.5 kW Screener 1.5 kWPellet Mill 225 kW Bagger conveyor 1 kWConditioner 6 kW

This gives a total of 367kW. Not included are power or fuel for dryer, nor ahogging mill if required. Additional power equipment needed would be alarge bucket loader for moving raw materials and a forklift able to handle two-high loads of one tonne pallets.

6 Source: Great Lakes Study. Wood Pelletisation Sourcebook. A sample business plan forthe potential pellet manufacturer, NEOS corporation, US, March 1995

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7.2.2.6 Capital CostsA pro-forma business plan and spreadsheet has been published which includesa sample costing for capital equipment for a nominal 3.5tonnes per hourcapacity. This dates from 1995 but what follows has been up-dated in thelight of comments from the Pellet Fuel Institute. The contractors wish tothank Averill Cook, the President of the PFI, for his help generally with manyaspects of this project.

Three buildings, two metal, one wood $ 65,000Front end loader $ 65,000Primary grinder $ 20,000Blending hopper $ 6,000Live bottom bin $ 12,000Conveyors $ 14,000Hammer mill $ 32,000Rotary drum dryer $ 200,000Installation of above $ 117,000New ring-die pelletiser (inc controls) $ 120,000Steam boiler $ 15,000Pellet cooler $ 18,000Pellet screener $ 12,000Installation of above $ 111,500Bagging bin $ 4,000Bagging system $ 25,000Installation $ 7,500Fork lift (propane) $ 18,000Total $862,000

If £1 = $1.5 Total with contingency = £575,000.

Another actual figure, eight years old, derived from the construction of a 2 tonper hour mill on a greenfield site was $1.2million = £800,000. It should beremembered that land is generally much cheaper in North America than in theUK.

7.2.2.7 Pellets from Recycled Material – (not RDF)If we now look at recycled material the world price is considerably lower.For example pellets from recycled material (formally known as “class Bpellets”) can be bought for £45 per tonne FOB Amsterdam. This reflects thevery low (or negative) value of the raw materials.

This appears to be consistent with the above figures as this price covers thecost of pelletisation. Pellet mills are presumably taking their profit out ofmoney paid to handle the waste material i.e. the avoided cost of putting thewaste in landfill. This class of pellet is potentially very important to the UK,since it is these sorts of materials which we have in large quantities. Their usein larger installations will depend on clarification of the regulationsconcerning waste materials by the CEN committee and the DETR.7.2.3 Energy Balance. How much energy is used in making pellets?

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The energy inputs, as a percentage of the energy content of the manufacturedpellets, for the transport of raw materials, drying, pelletising and transport offuel from Swedish studies are as follows7:

Road Transport of raw materials 2% per 10km.Drying 0-10%Pelletising 5%Road Transport of pellets 3% per 40km.

Note the high estimated energy cost of transporting raw materials, whichwould also apply to transporting wood chips, about two and a half times thecost of moving finished pellets.

For pellets made from Short Rotation Coppice, if the energy inputs of thecoppice establishment, cultivation and harvesting are accounted for, the totalenergy input, including the above figures, can rise to as high as 30%.However this is not an even handed comparison as, in making such acomparison, the costs of equivalent costs for fossil fuel, in intercontinentaltransport and refining for example, are almost never considered..

7 Taken from Pelletspärmen, the Swedish Manual on Wood Pellets 1997, produced by theSwedish Institute of Agricultural Engineering http://www.jti.slu.se

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8 TRIAL PELLETISATION

The main problem facing a potential pellet industry in the UK at the beginningof the project was how to establish secure supplies of locally made price-competitive wood pellets without an established market.

The construction of a full-scale pellet mill in the UK on a purely commercialbasis would not be viable since it cannot be predicted how fast the market forwood pellets will grow from a starting point of zero. Therefore, other wayswere investigated. It is interesting that the establishment of pellet supplies ishappening by different routes in the three regions of this study; South Wales,The South West and Durham County.

In Wales, since this is a favoured region (Objective 1) and the new WelshAssembly are supporting sustainable development, the construction of a5tonne/hour pellet mill has been capitalized largely through grant funding. InDurham County, pellet production has occurred through the waste sector,driven by the need to find alternative sources for clean waste wood whichwould otherwise go to landfill.

In the South West, several avenues have been explored which have entailedthe modification of an animal feed mill for wood pellet production. This hasenabled local wood pellets to be manufactured with a very low capitalinvestment.

This section details pelletisation trials on three types of pellet mill using awide variety of raw materials that are found in quantity in the UK. Nocombustion trials have taken place by the project partners, since the majorityof materials used in pelletisation trials were pure biomass. The density, bulkdensity and moisture content were measured for all pellets produced (detailsbelow).

A database containing information on the composition of biomass and wastematerials can be found at www.ecn.nl/phyllis

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8.1. EcoTre Pellet Mill

8.1.1 BackgroundThe first pelletisation trials using a variety of feed-stocks available within thechosen areas was carried out using equipment manufactured by the Italiancompany EcoTre Slr. They have developed a pellet mill which hasconsiderable innovation, part of which has been patented. The aim of thedevelopment was to minimise energy consumption 8. The project partnerswere introduced to the technology when a representative from EcoTre wasinvited to speak at the Seminar held on 22nd Sept, in Nottinghamshire, UK.

Parts of the mill are novel which marks a departure from traditional pelletmanufacturing designs. Specific electric consumption ranges from0.025kWh/kg to 0.045kWh/kg depending on the type of wood, according tocompany literature. The mechanical design and logistics are also new. Thepelletiser has two grooved dies and pellets are drawn from outside towardsinside each die. The system operates without any additives to the material tobe pelletised and the maximum operating temperature of the dies is claimed tobe 55 to 60°C.

The low-temperature die operation claimed by EcoTre would offer severaladvantages: no fumes or vapours, direct pellet bagging without additionalcooling devices; simplicity and lower investment costs.

It was therefore decided that these claims by the manufacturer should betested and that trial pelletisation should be carried out using a of range of rawmaterials which are found in large quantities in the South West of Englandand other areas of the UK. A total of four samples (approximately half atonne each) were tested which included mixed softwood sawmill slabwoodwhich had been chipped, Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) poplar stems felledone year and stored outside, SRC willow stems chipped green and chippedkiln dried oak from a flooring mill. To the authors knowledge SRC has notbeen pelletised before.

8.1.2. Pelletising Wood with the EcoTre Pelletiser.

a) IntroductionThe design of ring die pelletisers was originally inspired by the need topelletise animal feeds such as grass and grain. The forces involved inpelletising wood are greater, as the density of the finished pellet is greater andthe material is harder than cereals. Traditional machines have a revolvingring die penetrated by numerous holes, generally between 6 & 12mmdiameter, through which the feed-stock is forced to form pellets.

A schematic of the EcoTre pellet mill is shown in figure 6.

8 Emidio TOSI, EcoTre System s.r.l., Via delle Cantine 12, I-50040 Settimello (FI)

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Figure 6: A schematic of the basic EcoTre pellet mill set-up

Inside the die are two or three revolving rollers almost in contact with theinner surface of the die and material is fed in to this inner cavity being trappedat the pinch points between the rollers and die, whence it is extruded outwardsthrough tapered die holes.

Both the ring die and the rollers are “overhung”, that is outside the forwardshaft bearings. In pelletising wood the forces on the shaft are greater thanenvisaged in the original design and machines are called on to operate at theabsolute limit of their capability and shaft failures at the stress concentrationoutside the forward bearing are not uncommon. Bearing replacement costsare a significant expense. There is often difficulty in achieving the pelletdensity required by the Standards that have been adopted for wood fuelpellets.

The EcoTre system has set out to address these problems by placing the die,or dies, between the bearings of the shafts and by using massively heaviershafts and pressure lubricated bearings. Also the rollers are outside the ringdie allowing for placement of up to six rollers around a single die, or tenrollers around a two-die machine with the pellets being extruded inwards.

b) The EcoTre SystemThe machine observed had a 600mm die and four rollers. It was observedover one and a half days pelletising dry beechwood sawdust, hay and the foursamples of wood chips from UK sources. An additional run was done usingas a feedstock, reground wood pellets that were outside the moisture contentlimits of the UK Standard.

Material to be pelletised is dumped into a circular receiving hopper which hasa swept floor with an opening into a short screw conveyor which introducesthe material into an air handling system. This introduces the material into an

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EcoTre “refining mill” (patent pending) which is a 7kW paddle fan combinedwith a small hammer mill discharging through a screen. Screen size can bechanged as appropriate to the die hole diameter.

From the refining mill, material is air conveyed to a storage hopper and thenby belt conveyor to a smaller feed hopper directly above the mill.Conditioning water can be introduced at the entry to the mill. Finished pelletsare extracted from the inner cavity of the die by pulsed suction and airhandled to a screen for removal of fines, which are returned onto the beltconveyor.

c) Wood samplesA. Mixed softwood sawmill slabwood chipped to 50mm chips for

a board millB. Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) poplar stems felled one year and

stored outsideC. SRC willow stems chipped green.D. Chipped kiln dried oak from a flooring mill.E. Wood pellets made from samples B and C

d) Results of Pelletisation trialsSamples of the raw material were taken immediately prior to the pelletisationtrials. In addition samples of the raw materials were taken after they hadpassed into the refining mill but before they entered the pelletiser. This wasto determine at which stages in the pelletisation process a reduction inmoisture was taking place. Lastly samples of pellets were taken. The resultsare given in table 6.

All moisture contents were determined from samples taken at the time ofpelletisation. These samples were stored in air-tight containers and analysedat the RHP offices. Samples were oven dried at 110ºC for 1.5 hours andweighed on a verified spring balance with 500g full scale and a sensitivity ofone gramme.

Table 6. Results of pelletisation trials

Sample Moisture contentRaw Material

Moisture contentAfter refiningmill, beforepelletiser

Moisture contentof Pellets

Bulk Densityof final pellets

Ratio ofaveragelength todiameterof pellets

A 45% 26% 17% 530kg/m3 1.5 : 1B 44% 31% 17% 468kg/m3 1 : 1C 36% 32% 17% 458kg/m3 1.2 : 1D 11% 11% 11% 665kg/m3 2.5 : 1E 17% 12% 11% 605kg/m3 2 : 1

It can be seen that the raw materials for A, B and C are of high moisturecontent and that although pellets were produced the moisture content of the

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pellets are far too high to be acceptable. It was also noted that the percentageof moisture reduction varied considerably from sample to sample.

A possible explanation for the different amounts of decrease between thesamples is the different feed rates used for the refining mill. The slower thefeed rate, the longer would have been the exposure of the material to air blastin the handling system. Sample A was much coarser than B and C and had tobe fed very slowly as the chips were larger than the specification for therefining mill. Sample B contained some twigs, which C did not, entailing asomewhat slower feed rate. Sample D had a very slow feed rate.

It should be noted that the ambient temperature was 23ºC. It is surmised thatmoisture losses in the refining mill will depend heavily on ambienttemperature and relative humidity.

From the figures in table 6 it can be seen that samples D & E are close to theUK standards for wood fuel pellets. The ratio of length to diameter givessome idea of the fragility of the pellets. Damp pellets have little cohesivestrength and hence tend to break into short lengths (of the order of thediameter), whereas high quality, low moisture content pellets tend to be longand ‘pencil-like’ in shape.

It should be noted that no fine tuning of the system was attempted. The samedie speeds were used for samples regardless of the nature of the samples. Thesame die was used as for hay.

e) Power consumptionSample E was produced at a peak rate of 16litres/minute, which, at a bulkdensity of 605kg/m3 as measured, is a production rate of 581kg/hour.Amperage draw was 82A at 380V three phase.

f) Preliminary conclusionsIn general the equipment performed well, although in the author’s opinion theclaims about moisture reduction from raw material to pellets is somewhatexaggerated by the manufacturers. There does appear to be significantadvantages in using an air handling system. However we believe under likelyUK ambient conditions of cool damp air, that there is no possibility of makingwood fuel pellets that conform to the British Biogen Code of Good Practicewithout the use of a drier. A large Ecotre mill is currently being installed inMassachusetts and results from operation of it will be available from theauthors as they become available.

The main conclusion is that the EcoTre system looks very promising,although there are some aspects which, in the authors opinion, needaddressing. In particular, for operation in the UK, with the climate and likelyraw materials to be used, a drier is essential. The authors believe that theEcoTre system is a serious candidate for anyone contemplating the purchaseof a pellet mill.

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8.2. Farm Feed Pellet Mill (25hp)

8.2.1 BackgroundWood pellets as a fuel are very new to the UK with no market at present in theSouth West. Therefore, as a business investment, a large scale pellet mill isnot possible without grant aided capitalization, or at the very least would bespeculative for anyone investing in pellet production. Therefore, two ideashave been researched to try and overcome this barrier:

Firstly, the idea of modifying small-scale, low-cost pelletising equipment usedin the feed industry to produce relatively small quantities of pellets. Woodpellets for fuel have never been made on small scale equipment (say 25hp)before and therefore a research and development (R&D) programme iscurrently underway to see if this is possible and if so, how the pellet machinewill perform.

The second idea, is to modify an existing grass mill for pelletising woodresidues. The details of these preliminary trials are given in the next section.

Research has concentrated on modifying relatively low cost pelletisingequipment which was originally designed for animal feed for use with woodas a raw material. There are three major variables in the design of a pelletmill.

1. The area of contact between the die and roller for a given power ofmachine

2. The ratio of the die holes to undrilled metal area on the inside of thedie

3. The geometry of the die hole itself. This geometry is of crucialimportance to the performance of the machine, production rate andquality of pellets. The optimum geometry of the die is also highlydependant on the type of material that is being pelletised. Forexample, a die used for grain will not produce good wood pellets (orwood pellets at all) as different compression ratios are required. Thegeometry also varies between hard and soft wood, moisture content ofthe wood and particle size of the raw material.

It is found that if the compression is too high the die will plug up withcompressed wood and the machine will not function. If the compression istoo low the pellets are not of sufficient density and will fall apart.

A major advantage of using small scale equipment is that it is relatively easyto make modifications to the die since it is small and relatively inexpensive,whereas for large scale pellet machines each die costs several thousands ofpounds. In comparison, for a small machine, a die geometry can be tested andone modification can be made in a single day. In this way it is hoped that theoptimization of the die for the small machine can make it more efficient andcompensate to some extent for the lack of power in the mill drive.

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A series of trials has been carried out. Three feedstocks have been chosen anda die optimized for each one.

a) Soft Wood Fines from the waste sector.A sample of soft wood fines from Plymouth was tested. This material wasfrom a waste stream of mainly clean wood waste which is sent to be made intochip board. The resulting fines from the reduction process are not suitable forchipboard and are currently sent to landfill. This material containedapproximately 2% paint residues which would be unacceptable as a biomassfuel (this must be burnt with an incineration licence). The sorting could bevastly improved but there is certainly an issue of quality control.

This material was pelletised using a 7.5mm die. After approximately 1 weekof modifying the die, a successful die geometry was achieved with the correctamount of taper. Pellets of the correct density were made.

b) Kiln dried oak sawdust.The use of hard wood was found to be more difficult as is well known in theNorth American industry. Although pellets were successfully made in smallquantities it was felt that oak material was too hard for a machine of thispower. Therefore no further tests were made.

c) Soft wood sawdust from a sawmillTwenty 30kg bags of clean, softwood sawdust from a small Devon Sawmillweres used in the trials giving a total of 600kg. The moisture content of thesawdust was measured to be 18-20%, slightly varying from bag to bag. Adrying machine suitable for sawdust was constructed to reduce the moisturecontent. Pelletisation trials using material with known moisture contentranging from 8% up to 15% was carried out.

Photograph 3 shows clean soft wood sawdust at approximately 10-11%moisture content being pelletisated using a 25hp Farm Feed Ltd Pellet Press.These pellets are of reasonable quality having an absolute density greater than1000kg/m3 and a moisture content of about 9% (since there is a reduction of 1or 2% in the pellet pressing).

Clean soft wood sawdust at approximately 10-11% moisture content wassuccessfully pelletised using a 25hp Farm Feed Ltd Pellet Press. These pelletswere of reasonable quality having an absolute density greater than 1000kg/m3

and a moisture content of about 9% (since there is a reduction of 1 or 2% inthe pellet press).

However, when sawdust of a lower moisture content (below about 8%) wasintroduced into the pellet mill, it was found that the amount of compressionreduced significantly and the pellets started to disintegrate on exit of the pelletpress until sawdust was simply blown through the die i.e. pelletisation hadceased. Photograph 4 shows this process beginning to occur on the right handside of the picture.

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Once the correct moisture content had been ascertained for a specific diegeometry, time trials were carried out to determine the hourly production rate.The pellet press was run for approximately 10 minutes to allow the machine toreach operating temperature and to ensure pellet production was runningsmoothly. Then a 50kg sample of sawdust was pelletised under timedconditions. This was repeated a number of times consecutively to see if therate of production was fairly constant or changing with time. Photograph 5shows pellets being produced under one of these timed trials.

8.2.2 ResultsA 25hp Farm Feed machine produces approximately 700kg per hour of pelletsmaking animal feed. However, despite a manufacturers claim that productionon wood pellets would be of order 500kg/hours, under optimum conditions awood pellet output of only 285kg/hour was measured although the quality ofpellet (in terms of density and appearance) was slightly lower than is required.Higher quality pellets were produced on the Farm Feed system, but the outputsuffered slightly.

Therefore, it is concluded that a production rate of only 250kg/hr of pelletsconforming to the UK standard can be produced on this machinery. It isconcluded that this system is only likely to be economically viable in asituation where there is an onsite resource (such as a joinery or waste handlingfacility) and there is existing infrastructure (e.g. available labour, auxiliaryequipment etc.).

The low outputs simply would not justify setting up a dedicated pellet millusing this equipment. These output figures are consistent with data laterobtained from the US where a figure of 10kilos of pellets per hour per unitHorse Power of the mill motor are an accepted bench-mark.

8.3 Conversion of a Grass Mill to a Wood Pellet Mill

8.3.1 BackgroundIn the light of the relatively disappointing results using the Farm Feed system,a second research programme was initiated. This programme was to modifyan existing grass mill for pelletising wood residues.

There currently exist about twenty grass and sugar beet pulp mills in the UKwhich produce high density grass or pulp pellets for animal feed. These aresimilar in many ways to the wood pellet mills common in many EuropeanCountries and North America. Plant layout includes high capacity drumdriers for reduction of moisture. But unlike wood pellet mills, grass millsoperate on a seasonal basis from April to September each year to coincidewith the growing season and there is an eight month seasonal period ofinactivity during the winter i.e. the heating season. Substantial spare capacitytherefore exists within the grass mills across the UK.

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Pelletising grass in known to be substantially more difficult than, for example,pelletising grain. In this respect grass more closely resembles sawdust thangrain. Grass mills are always equipped with drying equipment (since grass istypically 70-80% moisture) and hence would be ideally suited to pelletisegreen sawdust.

There are at least 13 grass pellet mills and six sugar beet pulp mills in theUK. Assuming an average spare production capacity of 5000 tonnes per yeargives a possible output of 65,000 tonnes per year. A production of 5000tonnes per year from a single grass mill would support an installed capacity ofabout 25MW (for example 50 sites of 100kW and 800 sites of 25kW). This isa very significant capacity to accelerate the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK and has the following advantages:

i. Low start-up costs since most of the machinery and auxiliaryequipment already exists

ii. Production start-up could be very rapid, whereas a new pellet millgenerally takes of order two years from conception and raisingfinance, obtaining planning permission to final commissioning

iii. Production of wood pellets at any given mill could start productionmodestly and increase as market demand grows

iv. There is considerable expertise in pelletising grass and sugar beet pulpin the UK, although virtually no experience with wood

v. The production capacity of wood pellets would be distributedthroughout the UK. This means that an industry can be built up on an“Islanding” strategy whereby supplies of pellets, heating equipmentand service engineers are established simultaneously within, say, a 50mile radius to support installations

vi. Once a market has been established in an area, it would be envisagedthat other dedicated wood pellet mills would emerge when installedcapacity reaches a certain level.

The fact that large capital equipment for pelletisation is left idle for more thanhalf of the year means that, with suitable research and modifications,relatively large quantities of wood pellets at a number of locations throughoutthe UK could be established for very low capital investment and hence lowbusiness risk, which will greatly accelerate the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK.

Photograph 6 shows the entrance to the grass mill with sawdust being loadedinto to hopper (centre) before entering the drier. Steam can be seen exitingfrom the drier chimney.

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8.3.2 Results

The initial tests have used 6 tonnes of green sawdust from a local sawmill and5 tonnes of “pole roundings” – light wood chips/shavings from processingfence rails.

Sawdust :Using green softwood sawdust with a measured moisture content of55%, 7.5mm wood pellets were produced using an existing grass die. Thisinvolved careful adjustment of the drying temperatures and residence time toensure that the moisture content was between about 8-14% entering the pelletpress.

However, it was found that the compression on the grass die was too high andthat, although the pellets were very hard and dense, the output was lower thanexpected and the pellets themselves had been slightly scorched showing thattemperatures in the die were too high.

Pole Roundings: Pole roundings (light wood chips from the process ofproducing fencing rails) were also successfully tested. This material containsa mixture of sawdust, shavings and small thin chips a few tens of millimetressquare. The grass mill is equipped with a hammer mill to reduce further theparticle size of the raw material and a screen to ensure that no particles largerthan about 5mm could enter the pellet press.

Again it was found that although pellets could be produced using this rawmaterial, a die with lower compression is required. Such a die, without anytaper, was obtained by the sub-contractor and satisfactory pellet pellets wereproduced.

Renewable Heat & Power Ltd believe that the seasonal conversion of existinggrass mill for wood pellet production could have a very substantial positiveeffect on the wood pellet industry in the UK.

There is still much research to be on ensuring efficient materials handling,production and processing but these tests show conclusively that it is entirelypossible and feasible to make this conversion given modest additional R&D.

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9 MARKET DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

9.1 Survey of reactions to pellet-fired heatingDuring the project it was important to try to gauge the reactions of people inthe UK to the idea of heating with wood pellet fuel since this is an entirelynovel technology to the people of the UK. During the project there were anumber events organised by project partners where considerable numbers ofpeople from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests were givenpresentations were able to view working appliances and see wood pellet fuel.

There were also a number of events that project partners attended todemonstrate pellet burning equipment, such as agricultural shows or to givepresentations as part of an appropriate conference.

During each of the above events discussions between project partners andpeople attending the events took place and reactions were recorded. Thefollowing are the key findings

i. A very large percentage of the people asked had never heard of woodpellet fuel. They did not realize that wood pellet fuel is a major fuelsource in many other European Countries and North America.

ii. There was an almost universally positive reaction to the idea of pelletfuel and pellet burning appliances. This was largely based on:

a. The automatic and convenient nature of the appliances (e.g.automatic feeding, auto-ignition, thermostatic control etc.)

b. The environmental benefits of wood as a fuel

c. The fact that it could be a local fuel which would reduce theimpact of transporting fuels long distances and the fact that itwould directly help the local economy

iii. The main negative reaction was the higher capital cost of theequipment compared to, for example, oil-fired boilers. This is seen asa major barrier, since although the price of wood pellet fuel iscompetitive with fossil fuels (excluding mains gas at the present time),the savings on fuel will generally only off-set the higher capital costover an unacceptably long time-scale to make the wood pellet systemattractive in purely economic terms.

iv. The reaction to pellet stoves was mixed and there was a regionaldistinction. In the South West the general feeling was that “traditionallooking” pellet stoves common in North America (i.e. ones made tolook like traditional wood fired appliances) were more attractive thanthe more “modern looking” stoves common is most EuropeanCountries. However, the reverse was true when the cross-section ofpeople were from more urban areas.

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v. There was also a mixed reaction to the higher cost of a pellet stovecompared to a traditional log burning stove. Some thought the addedconvenience for them personally would not off-set the higher cost,although this view was not held by the majority.

In general, the reaction to wood pellet fired appliances was very positive andencouraging.

9.2 Market Development Strategy for Biomass Pellets

It is important to look at how the pellet industry has grown in other countries.The establishment of a pellet industry in the UK is complex since four thingsmust happen simultaneously:

i. Pellet Supply. There must be a source of high quality wood pelletsavailable and this supply must be perceived as being reliable andstable in terms of price and quality. Ideally the pellet supply shouldbe locally produced as this is one of the true environmental and socialbenefits of wood pellet fuel. If not locally produced, at the very least,the pellets must be produced within the UK.

ii. Availability of Pellet Appliances. There are two main markets;

a) Stoker/boiler central heating systems. These typically rangefrom 15-300kW and are totally automated, behaving in analmost identical way to modern oil-fired central heatingsystems. This sector of the market can be further divided intoboiler conversions, where an oil burner is replaced with a pelletburner head, and new complete boiler/burner units.

b) Pellet Stoves. The outputs range from about 6 to12 kW andare either the main source of heating for a house or an attractiveadditional heating source in a living room, similar to an openfire except at much higher efficiencies and with boththermostatic control and automatic ignition.

iii. Marketing. This breaks down into two phases.

c) Generic Promotion. The concept of heating with biofuels isbecoming better known in the UK. The biomass heatingindustry is becoming aware of pellets as a fuel. However therewill need to be a sustained marketing effort preceding any saleseffort. The cost of this will have to be capitalised.

A number of high profile sites where pellet systems are installed,need to be established, as well as generic promotion to introducepellet appliances into the small scale commercial and domesticsector. Institutional promotion will be needed to architects,building engineers and the domestic wood-stove sector.

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d) Sales. There are three main market areas for wood pellets:

1. Public buildings and other larger scale sites2. Smaller scale commercial and domestic buildings3. Replacement of existing stokers e.g. under-fed coal systems,

oil fired boilers

iv. Training. At present there is very little experience in the installationof pellet burning equipment . This is a crucial area which must bedeveloped.

It can be seen that without any one of these elements the industry cannotgrow.

A model that has incorporated these elements and has worked successfully inother countries is the ‘Cluster’ model whereby a pellet mill is constructedlocally, whose personnel also co-ordinate installation of hardware, servicingand marketing in a relatively small area. This means that a small number ofskilled installers operate in a region. As a rule of thumb the maximumtraveling time to any site by an installer/service person must be no more thanone hour.

This essentially means that clusters of pellet networks develop with a radiusof say 40 miles. As pellet fuel grows, so does the number of clusters. Theseclusters then begin to overlap until the whole country has access to a reliablesupply of local pellets, a range of burning appliances, trained installers andafter-sales service. UK Clusters are now being formed in Durham, southWales and the South West.

10 CONCLUSIONS

The project “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK” has been a success.There are now a number of groups either producing wood pellet fuel orplanning to produce wood pellet fuel in the near future. These include a 1tonne/hr pellet mill currently operating, a 5tonne/hour machine due to startproduction in towards the end of 2001 and a modified grass mill with capacityfor about 6,000 tonnes of wood pellets per annum which has successfulproduced wood pellets.

There exists a large potential for a low cost feedstock of clean wood wastecoming out of the waste sector. However, it is clear from pelletisation trialsfrom this project and elsewhere that a critical issue in the acceptance of thesematerials is quality control procedures to ensure that there are nocontaminates within the feedstock.

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The lack of an organization in the UK with a specific remit to promote the useof wood pellet fuel at all levels will retard the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK. Most European countries now have a “Pellet Club” – atrade association for the wood pellet industry.

The current Building Regulations (Document J) have not taken account of thecoming into being of a class of forced draft appliances of low output such aspellet fueled roomheaters. The present minimum recommended size of125mm diameter for any solid fueled appliance is inappropriately oversizedfor most pellet stoves and also represents an unnecessary cost burden.

In general, the economics of wood pellet fuel in the UK look promising.Wood pellet fuel is competitive with oil and LPG in the UK at the time ofwriting although the higher capital cost of pellet-fired appliances compared tofossil fuel boilers is a major barrier to the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK.

The favourable fuel costs coupled to the environmental benefits of heatingwith wood fuel and the fact that the wood pellet industry could make asubstantial contribution to the rural economy, would imply that an emergingwood pellet industry in the UK has a good chance of becoming a majorrenewable energy sector.

11 RECOMMENDATIONS

A number of actions are required to help the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK over the next few years.

• The introduction by the UK government of a capital grant scheme forbiomass heating systems.

• More work on Quality Assurance schemes to ensure that waste woodfrom the waste handling sector is reliably sorted to exclude anymaterial not complying with the present and likely future Europeandescriptions for “biomass fuel”.

• Generic promotion at all levels of the use of sustainably producedbiomass fuels in substitution for fossil fuels.

• Encouragement of R & D by grants to UK appliance and boilermanufacturers to develop new combustion hardware.

• Undertake work with the Building Research Establishment to confirmthe suitability of 100mm flues and chimneys for pellet fueledroomheaters.

The wood pellet industry has the potential to be a substantial industry in theUK over the next few years. The examples of other countries suggests thatpellet fuel is by its nature sufficiently specialized that it requires its own

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generic promotion and there are European initiatives to accomplish this whichthe UK should support.

The role of a Pellet Trade Association, or a specialized sub-section of anexisting Trade Association would be the following:

• Run a central information service on all aspects of wood pellet fuelincluding lists of manufacturers of appliances and suppliers of woodpellet fuel.

• Develop an accredited training programme in wood pellet heating,covering both pellet stoves and central heating systems, similar to thatof the CORGI training for gas-fired appliances in the UK and theHeath Education Foundation in North America.

• Represent the Wood Pellet Industry’s interests at National governmentand local government level.

• Develop and refine standards on pellet fuel and appliances to complywith the latest legislation.

• Co-ordinate all promotional activities of wood pellet fuel.

In addition, an R&D programme is needed on specific activities. Theseinclude

• Seasonal conversion of grass mills and sugar beet mills to wood pelletproduction.

• Distribution and delivery of wood pellet fuel to customers in the UK atvarious scales.

Quality Control procedures for wood residues from the waste sector, whichmay open up new resources for pellet production.

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12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Main Authors

Robin Cotton & Adam Giffard, Renewable Heat & Power Ltd

Additional Contributors

Jim Birse, formerly British BiogenDes Godson, British BiogenMarc Howell, Groundwork BridgendDavid Beedie, Groundwork BridgendChris Snow MandixDon Snow MandixHorst Jauschnegg, Landeskammer für Land- und Forstwirtschaft Steiermark, AustriaGunnar Sahlin, Sahlins EcoTec, Sweden

We would like to thank ETSU and the DTI for funding and financial support for thiswork and to the ALTENER programme of the European Union.

We would like to thank all those who have contributed to the current project bothformally and informally. And in particular

Averill Cook, President, US Pellet Fuels Institute , Catamount Pellet Fuel Corp, USJan-Erik Dahlström, JED Biosol, Sweden

Disclaimer The authors of this report have made every effort to ensure that theinformation given herein is accurate, but no legal responsibility can be accepted forany errors, omissions or misleading statements.

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Photograph 1. Waste wood from a Civic Amenity sorted for quality in Somerset

Photograph 2. Waste pallets outside a packaging company in Somerset which arecurrently sent to landfill. This is typical of a number of companies in South West

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Photograph 3. Farm Feed system 25hp ring die pellet press successfully producingpellets using softwood sawdust at a moisture content of about 11%.

Photograph 4. Pelletisation beginning to stop as drier sawdust is introduced(moisture content about 8%) due to loss of compression.

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Photograph 5. Timed production runs of softwood pellets during pelletisationtrials

Photograph 6. Entrance to the grass mill at Higher Bickington, Devon

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Appendix 1

COMMERCIALISATION REPORT

Contents

A1.1 Introduction

A1.2 Market Development Model for Biomass Pellets

A1.3. Markets for Biomass PelletsA1.3.1 Domestic heating marketsA1.3.2 Commercial and Institutional markets

A1.4. Demonstration of Pellet Burning Appliances and PresentationsA1.4.1 Events Organised by Project PartnersA1.4.2. List of Events Attended by Project Partners

A1.5. The Commercialisation of the wood pellet industry in South Wales.A1.5.1 The Pellet millA1.5.2 Pellet installations in South WalesA1.5.3 Training in South Wales

A1.6. The Commercialisation of the wood pellet industry in Durham.A1.6.1 Pellet ProductionA1.6.2 Pellet installations in Durham

A1.7. Commercialisation in the South West.A1.7.1 Development of local supplies of wood pelletsA1.7.2 Site identificationA1.7.3 Training of appliance installers and service personnel

A1.....2

A1.1. Introduction

This report contains information about the progress with commercialization ofwood pellet fuel, both nationally and in three regions, South Wales, Durhamand the South West

A1.2. A Market Development Model for Biomass Pellets

The main emphasis of this work has been to look at the current fuel usagewithin the various heat markets in the UK and to define the main drivers andbarriers to be overcome, which will enable biomass pellet fuel to penetrate theUK market. This work is presented in a short report by British Biogen withinput from HeatNet, a Network of 80 or so UK member businesses devoted tothe promotion and commercialisation of biomass heating in the UK.

Pellet ‘Cluster’ Model

In addition to looking at the potential markets for pellet fuel and the driversand barriers, it is important to look at how the pellet industry has grown inother countries. The establishment of a pellet industry in the UK is complexsince four things must happen simultaneously:

1. Pellet Supply. There must be a source of high quality wood pelletsavailable and this supply must be perceived as being reliable andstable in terms of price and quality. Ideally the pellet supply shouldbe locally produced as this is one of the true environmental andsocial benefits of wood pellet fuel. If not locally produced, at thevery least, the pellet must be produced within the UK.

2. Availability of Pellet Appliances. There are two main markets;

a) Stoker/boiler central heating systems. These typically rangefrom 15kW to up a MW and are totally automated, behaving in analmost identical way to modern oil-fired central heating systems.This sector of the market can be further divided into boilerconversions, where an oil burner is replaced with a pellet burnerhead, and new complete boiler/burner units.

b) Pellet Stoves. The outputs range from about 6 to12 kW and areeither the main source of heating for a house or an attractiveadditional heating source in a living room, similar to an open fireexcept at much higher efficiencies.

A1.....3

3. Marketing. This breaks down into two phases.

a) Generic Promotion. The concept of heating with biofuels isbecoming better known in the UK. The biomass heating industryis becoming aware of pellets as a fuel. However there will need tobe a sustained marketing effort preceding any sales effort. Thecost of this will have to be capitalised.

A number of high profile sites where pellet systems are installed,need to be established, as well as generic promotion to introducepellet appliances into the small scale commercial and domesticsector. Institutional promotion will be needed to architects,building engineers and the domestic wood-stove sector.

b) Sales. There are three main market areas for wood pellets:

i. Public buildings and other larger scale sites ii. Smaller scale commercial and domestic buildings iii. Replacement of existing stokers e.g. under-fed coal systems,

oil fired burners

4. Training. At present there is very little UK experience in theinstallation of pellet burning equipment . This is a crucial area whichmust be developed.

It can be seen that without any one of these elements the industry cannotgrow.

A model that has incorporated these elements and has worked successfully inother countries is the ‘Cluster’ model whereby a pellet mill is constructedlocally, whose personnel also co-ordinate installation of hardware, servicingand marketing in a relatively small area. This means that a small number ofskilled installers operate in a region. As a rule of thumb the maximumtraveling time to any site by an installer/service person must be no more thanone hour. This essentially means that clusters of pellet networks develop witha radius of say 40 miles. As pellet fuel grows, so does the number of clusters.These clusters then begin to overlap until the whole country has access to areliable supply of local pellets, a range of burning appliances, trainedinstallers and after-sales service.

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A1.3. Markets for Biomass Fuels, including Pellets

A1.3.1 Domestic heating marketsTargets have been defined for new installations of biomass heating in the UKto 2010: This target is for new and replacement 'modern biomass heating' in176,000 homes. Assuming an average of 15kW heating system perhousehold, this equates to a total of 2640MWth. The targets for expansion ofbiomass heating in the domestic sector in the UK is given in table A1.1.

Table A1.1 Heat, Domestic; new and replacement'modern biomass heating' in 176,000 homes, 2,640 MWth.

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

MWth installed 2 4 10 30 90 270 500 1200 2000 2640

A large proportion of this target for market development will need to be metby installation of pellet heating systems, the remainder being met by efficientlog systems and a limited number of chip systems. If we assume that thistarget will be met, this equates to a total consumption of about 600,000 tonnesof pellets per year for the domestic sector by 20109.

Target marketsFor biomass heating to successfully compete with fossil fuel heating systemsit must be:

• Affordable – wood heating must not cost substantially more than thecompeting fossil fuel heating system; typically oil or LPG.

• Convenient and reliable – wood heating must be as or more reliable andconvenient as the competition.

• Green – wood heating must be demonstrably efficient, clean burning andsustainable.

• Accessible – marketing of wood heating needs to offer a clear range ofproduct packages that directly meet customer needs.

Biofuel pellets have a major role to play in allowing these requirements to bemet for a much wider range of heat markets that are practically accessible bywood chip and log fired systems.

Applying these criteria defines the key target market drivers: Biomass heat is competitive with oil, LPG and electric heating, but is

unlikely to be competitive with coal or natural gas on purely economicconsiderations. Target customers for biomass heat will thereforegenerally, but not always, be those without access to the mains gasnetwork.

9 This assumes an average house would use 3.5tonnes of pellets per year

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Biomass heat has a wide range of environmental benefits that may beused to attract a wide range of customers with 'green objectives'.Application of COGPP's will safeguard the green credentials ofbiomass heating.

Target market - all customers without mains gas (and a few with) and with'green objectives'.

Where wood fuel is available on-site at low or no cost biomassheating is particularly good value. Self-supply is a substantial sector,mainly in the wood processing industry and for traditional domesticwood heating, but it is perhaps largely saturated and 'self driving' -systems used are often not the 'modern and efficient biomass heating'that the industry now wishes to promote.

Target market - customers with access to low cost wood fuel.

The Climate Change Levy will raise fossil fuel prices for non-domestic customers. A levy of 0.15p/kWh on coal and gas and0.07p/kWh on LPG will make biomass heating more attractive to non-domestic customers, especially those with high-energy intensity.

Wood chip fuel may be produced in the UK at a price competitive tocommercial / industrial fossil fuels.

Wood pellet fuel may be competitively produced where suitable lowcost feedstocks are available.

Biofuel pellets will generally be considerably more expensive thanwood chips.

Biofuel pellets may be used in a wider range of heat markets thanchips - especially on smaller and more urban sites.

Properly applied 'biomass heat services' (ESCo's) offer a route to bringthe reliability and convenience of biomass heat up to that of fossil fuelheat - avoiding fuel supply and plant performance problems.

Target market - non-domestic customers, especially with high-energy use. Ingeneral, chips for larger users, pellets for smaller and urban users.

Biofuel pellet heating systems need no more space than and are asconvenient and reliable as oil-fired heating. The spread of pelletsystems in the UK will open up substantial domestic and smallcommercial heat markets where chip systems are not practical.

Biofuel pellets are comparably priced with other domestic heating fuelprices. The cost of heating a home with pellets is no more than heatingit with oil. Pellet heating systems and conversions are relativelyaffordable.

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Target market - domestic and small commercial customers, with greendrivers, without mains gas.

Access for biomass heating installations to access 'green value' fromEnhanced Capital Allowances (ECA's) and carbon credit sale will have theeffect of greatly improving it's competitiveness in all of these target markets.

The key market drivers outlined above, define the two key biomass heatingmarket sectors;

a) Commercial and institutional heat customers andb) Domestic, small commercial, live-work etc.

Target customers for biofuel pellet heating within these sectors will be thosewho have:

high heat utilisation; green objectives; no access to mains gas; access to biofuel pellets from a local supplier

Marketing toolsThere are a variety of marketing tools that HeatNet, as a group, can make useof:

Promotional literature Biomass heating display Target customer listings Biomass Heating Web site Targeted customer listings Domestic 'woodheat' newsletter.

Marketing routesHeatNet's marketing tools may be used to access target markets through arange of marketing routes:

Adverts, inserts or editorials in targeted publications Direct mail-out of promotional material, newsletters etc. Stands and demonstrations at shows and exhibitions. Seminars and workshops for marketing targets, incorporating site

visits etc.

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A1.3.2 Commercial and Institutional markets

There are two main types of commercial and institutional customer:

The self-supply customer; with access to low cost wood fuel, will usuallysimply wish to purchase a fairly basic combustion unit, often for a factory orworkshop, that may even be hand fed. Some of these customers may view thebiomass heating system as much as a waste disposal route as a heating system.There is perhaps substantial potential, with the application of the CCL andmaturing of technology, for the application of CHP in this sector.

The heat service customer; without direct access to low cost wood fuel, willneed a biomass heating service which is reasonably cost competitive, clean,reliable and convenient. The most effective way to deliver this service isthrough an ESCo approach where a Wood Energy Business purchases,installs, maintains and fuels a wood heat plant and sells retail heat direct to thecustomer.

The self-supply market sector is already well served and is largely driven bydirect commercial concerns and relevant legislation. The HeatNet strategytherefore concentrates largely on the 'heat service customer sector.

Market scale - sales in rural areas

Table A1.2. Estimates of annual* rural sales toselected "commercial" sectors

Potential Target Markets SizekW

No.Sites*

Installed MW

SalesUnits/yr

SalesMW/yr

Sports / leisure complexes 1,000 1,000**

1,000 67 67

Hospitals and residentialcare

500 5,000**

2,500 333 167

Farms - glass houses 1,000 2,300 2,300 153 153Schools, other rural 250 6,000 1,500 400 100Schools, long hours rural 250 5,000 1,250 333 83Schools, boarding 250 1,000 250 67 17Higher Education 2,000 70 140 5 10Country estates 200 2,000 400 133 27Hotels 100 3,000*

*300 200 27

Prisons 2,000 70*** 140 5 10Total - - 9,780 - 652

A1.....8

Drivers and barriersDrivers

Demonstration and education re renewable energy Wish to be green or to be seen to be green Creation of local industry / employment (especially for the Public

Sector) Use of Climate Change Levy exempt fuel Potentially Enhanced Capital Allowances and Carbon Credit sale Utilising a free, existing resource - as in wood processing industry

Barriers Relatively high capital cost & difficulty of accessing capital finance /

funding Fuel supply difficulties or perceived difficulties Plant performance problems Uncertainty over how to approach a 'new thing'

Marketing targets

Energy managers LA21 officers Regional Development Agencies AECB members Architects Energy agencies Directors of Environment etc.

A database of these contacts is being built up and will be used to direct mailmarketing information and to invite marketing targets to events, seminars andworkshops.

Marketing partners and networksHeatNet are networking with a range of organisations that may provide accessto marketing targets, may be partners in promotional events and to so,including:

Local Government Association Local Government Management Board Local Chambers of Commerce National Energy Foundation Energy Efficiency Advice Centres Energy Savings Trust National Trust Agents and Managers Local Agenda 21 Officers Land Agents and Estate Managers Groundwork Trusts National and local environmental and countryside groups

A1.....9

Domestic and small commercial heat marketsHeatNet aims to have 2,640 MWth of new 'modern biomass heating' installedin the UK domestic heating sector between 2000 and 2010. Customers maybe divided into two broad groups, self supply and fuel buyers:

Fuel buyers will demand three main types of appliance: Log stoves - for room heating. Pellet stoves - for room heating. Pellet boilers, including retrofit - for wet heating systems.

Self supply customers, with their own wood fuel supply, will demand threemain types of appliance:

Log stoves - for room heating. Log boilers, usually with accumulator tanks - for wet heating systems. Chip boilers - for wet heating systems.

Markets in rural areas

Table A1..3: Estimates of annual rural sales to selected "domestic" sectors

Potential Target Markets Size1

kWNo.

Sites*Installed

MWSales

Units/yr Sales

MW/yr

Country Houses 50 90,000 4,500 6,000 300

Farms - target sectors 20 12,500 250 833 17

Pubs and restaurants 40 22,000 880 1,470 59

Other rural smallbusinesses

40 150,000 6,000 10,000 400

Total - - 21,410 - 1,437

Market Drivers and barriersDrivers

The main driver for the domestic biomass heat market will be the clean andgreen image of biomass as a renewable fuel. However, pellets must bedemonstrably “green” made from pure biomass fuels only. In competitionover other renewable forms of heat, pellet heating is flexible, easy to manageand operate.

Wish to be green or to be seen to be green Log installation give 'real fire' ambience Pellet installations are easy to operate and manage Possibility of 'climate care grants' Utilising a free, existing resource - for self supply customers only.

A1.....10

Barriers Fuel supply security will be a major concern for pellet customers. Relatively high capital cost Uncertainty over how to approach a 'new thing' Time needed to manage installation - for self-supply customers only.

Marketing targetsTargets for marketing activities include:

'Green consumers' Stove shops and heating suppliers Heating installers Architects Housing Associations

Marketing partners and networksPotential partners in marketing activities include:

National Energy Foundation Small Woodlands Association 'Hearth Industry' publications HETAS Energy Efficiency Advice Centres Energy Savings Trust National Trust Agents and Managers Local Agenda 21 Officers Forestry Commission Woodland Officers Groundwork Trusts National and local environmental and countryside groups

Marketing programme

OutlineWith the limited budget available for promotional activity the programmemust be initially be limited to activities such as:

Organise further regional pellets launch events Develop 'Biofuel pellets in the UK' promotional leaflet Develop 'Biofuel pellets in the UK' display boards Work with NEF to promote pellet appliances through 'WoodFuel' Supply promotional materials for use of regional pellet clusters. Develop a Biofuel pellets web site. Undertake a mail-out to stoves shops, installers … Attend one or more heating industry events

A1.....11

Promotional literatureBritish Biogen will develop a 'Biofuel pellets in the UK' promotional leafletfor use in general marketing and promotion as well as by those groupsdeveloping regional pellet clusters. In addition the NEF publish 'WoodFuel'Newsletter and have agreed in principle to enter a strategic alliance withHeatNet to produce and distribute 'WoodFuel' to marketing targets and to usethe publication to promote the use of biofuel pellets.

Mail-outs

Installers Stove shops Green architects

Collaboration with:It is extremely important that the industry work with other organisations thatare involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy promotion.

Energy Savings Trust Energy Agencies National Energy Foundation BSRIA (centre for building services research) BRE (Buildings Research Establishment) ETSU

Exhibitions and eventsThere are a number of appropriate exhibitions and events that would be anappropriate forum to promote wood pellet fuel in the UK. These include:

Interbuild - domestic markets and raising awareness within the trade The Ideal Homes Exhibition - best way to reach a wide domestic and

commercial audience Building exhibitions Trade Exhibitions Agricultural shows

Seminars and WorkshopsSeminars and presentations represent and important media to impartinformation on wood pellet fuel to specific sectors. A major industry seminar“Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK” was held in Boughton,Nottinghamshire in September 1999.

Web site www.britishbiogen.co.ukThe British Biogen web site is being developed to provide:

An on-line wood heat enquiry form. A guide to UK pellet installations – case studies etc. On-line and downloadable copies of promotional literature. Codes of Good Practice Pellet equipment Guides, with links to members web sites.

A1.....12

A1.4. Demonstration of Pellet Appliances & Presentations

During this project, opportunities for presentations on wood pellet heating andthe demonstration of working wood pellet appliances, have arisen throughspecific events organised by the project partners and by project partnersattending relevant events organised by others. These events are listed belowand are split into the two categories.

A1.4.1 Events Organised by Project Partners

May 18th 2000 Launch of the Valleys Forest Bioclusters Heating ProjectAn major high-profile event organised by project partner GroundworkBridgend on May 18th attracted over 140 people which included politicians,both local and from the Welsh Assembly, the media and a range of peoplewith an interest in automatic wood heating, renewable energy and ruraldevelopment.

The event consisted of a programme of speakers and an exhibition anddemonstrations of working pellet stoves and pellet burners. Somephotographs of some of the equipment on display is shown overleaf.

Figure A1.1: Margam Park, South Wales.

A1.....13

Four working systems were shown; an air heating system (100kW), a pellet-fired boiler system (48kW) and two brands of pellet stove. Also staticexhibits of a 25kW under-fed burner and a 25kW horizontally fired burnerhead was shown as well as manufacturers literature and display boards withphotographs and information on pellet heating.

Figure A1.2: Equipemnt on displayat Margam Park 18th May 2000

The seminar room at Margam Park

Envirofire Stove, 11kW

PellX stove 6kW

PellX burner head 25kW, horizontal flame

EcoTec underfed stocker 25kW

A1.....14

Oct. 11th 2000 Institute of Mechanical Engineers. An evening seminarwas given by RHP for the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.An overview of using wood pellets as a fuel anddemonstrating burning hardware was given.

Oct. 12th 2000 Royal Society of Architects in Wales. A half day seminarfor the RSAW giving an overview of using wood pellets as afuel and demonstrating burning hardware

Oct. 17th 2000 Somerset County Council. A presentation was given onwood pellet fuel to the architect’s practice of SCC.

Nov 2nd 2000 Presentation to Devon County Council and HemyockPrimary School committee responsible for deciding on thetype of new heating system to be installed.

A1.4.2. List of Events Attended by Project Partners

June 2000 The ‘House of the Future’ in the Museum of Welsh Life,Cardiff, launch event. An 11kW pellet stove was installed atthis a high profile venue which attracts ½ million visitorsper year.

June 6th 2000 Business Opportunities & Training in Renewable EnergyTechnologiesOne day workshop, Loughborough, organised by CREST,Loughborough University. A one day workshop aimed atSME’s in the East Midlands area was held and apresentation on wood pellet fuel was given by Robin Cotton,RHP. A mail shot of over 3,000 farms, engineering andmanufacturing firms was made which included literature onwood pellet fuel. Over 100 people attended from industryand the public sector.

June 27th 2000 Open day at Shenstone School near Cannock. A pellet-firedboiler is now operating and was open to the public withpresentation.

July 22nd 2000 Mid-Devon Show, DevonThe Mid-Devon show is the major event for the farmingcommunity within a 30 mile radius around Tiverton andattracts many thousands of people. A demonstration trailerwas constructed which had a working pellet burner and aworking pellet stove. The stand attracted many hundreds ofpeople and literature was available.

Aug. 2nd 2000 North Devon Show, DevonThe North-Devon show is the major event for the farmingcommunity within a 40 mile radius around Barnstaple andattracts many thousands of people.. The stand consisted ofthe demonstration trailer containing a working pellet burnerand a working pellet stove.

A1.....15

Aug. 18th 2000 Dunster Show, SomersetThe Dunster show is the major event for the farmingcommunity within a 40 mile radius around Minehead inSomerset and attracts many thousands of people.. The standconsisted of the demonstration trailer containing a workingpellet burner and a working pellet stove.

Dec 5th 2000 A 35 minute presentation on wood pellet fuel at a one dayconference in Yeovil, organised by South Somerset DistrictCouncil and The Somerset Trust for SustainableDevelopment. About 70 business people, district & countycouncillors and other interested parties attended.

A1.5. The Commercialisation of the wood pellet industry inSouth Wales.

A1.5.1 The Pellet millDuring December 2000, the Local Authority approved the detailed planningapplication we submitted for building a Raw Material store, a Pellet-mill, aFinished Goods warehouse and a Training/Visitor facility. A localconstruction Company has been awarded a “design and build” contract, andwork has now started on-site, with the construction due to be completed bymid June.

The diagram below shows the site plan and the ultimate scheme for the 0.75Ha site. The first building to be established in 2001 will be that housing theRaw Materials store and the Pellet Mill. The Training/Visitor facility willlink-up with a planned cycle route at the southern-end of the site and isplanned to be built in 2002 while the Finished Goods store will be required in2003 as production will then be required during the summer months for winterdemand. During the first two years of operation, it is anticipated that peakcustomer demands in winter can be met on a “Just-in-Time” basis.

The specification for the 5 tonnes/hour pellet-making plant is complete andwe are in the process of reviewing proposals from three European equipmentsuppliers. We expect to place an order by the end of March for installation byAugust.

A1.....16

Figure A1.4. Bridgend site under construction April 2001.

Figure A1.3. A plan view of the 0.75 Ha Bridgend site with buildings for a RawMaterial store, Pellet Mill, Finished Goods store and a Training/Visitor facility.

A1.....17

A1.5.2 Pellet installations in South Wales

Room heatersTo date we have installed a total of12 off pellet-fired room-heaters, withtotalled installed capacity of 144kW.Almost all installations areintentionally within an hour’s driveof Bridgend, thereby ensuring high-quality after-sales service, and allwere surveyed before sale to ensurethat the sites had suitable exhaustventing routes and adequate roomfor fuel-storage.

Fuel is delivered in 20kg bagsusually in 1 tonne increments. Allcustomers received intensive trainingat the time of installation and allhave had regular follow-up visits.The earliest installation was over 18months ago, and to-date we have hadzero field failures.

The details of current room-heater installations are as follows; -

Commercial installations2 off in the office and workshop of a small industrial unit, which does nothave access to the gas main, and which was previously using propane burners.

2 off in a local herb grower’s polythene tunnels. He was previously usingparaffin-heaters.

2 off in industrial workshops, which were previously unheated and whichwere uneconomic to connect to the gas pipeline.

1 off in an industrial workshop previously heated with bottled propane.

1 off in a small theatre, which does not have access to the mains gas network,and which, previously, was unheated.

1 off in the premises of the Pembrokeshire Energy Agency, where themanager had specified renewable-energy heating.

1 off in the offices of Coed Cymru, replacing a previous wood log burningstove.

1 off at the showroom of a wood-stove dealer.

Figure A1.5: The “Envirofire” pellet-firedroom-heater with variable heat output from0.5kW to 12kW, now available in the UK.

A1.....18

Domestic installations1 off in the “House for the Future” at the National Museum of Wales’ St.Fagan’s site. This house has been designed according to the principles ofsustainability and the heater is used to complement a ground-effect heat pumpthat provides domestic hot water. See the website for details;

http://www.nmgw.ac.uk/mwl/buildings/future/latest.en

EnquiriesA steady stream of enquiries are currently being received, mainly from smallbusinesses, and we are anticipating the installation of a further 120kW ofcapacity during 2001.

Hot water boilersTo-date we have installed a total of 1 off pellet-fired hot water boiler, with atotal installed capacity of 70 kW. Groundwork Bridgend operates the boilerand it supplies “wet-heating” to two industrial units of 200 sq.metres floorarea. The unit is used as a demonstration facility to show interested parties.

We have provided 11 quotations to date for boiler installations at industrialunits, new community centres, new public buildings, educational centres (onmains gas and LPG), hotels (on LPG) and schools (on coal, oil and LPG) andwe are anticipating the installation of a total of 290 kW of pellet-burningcapacity during 2001. Orders received to date from customers within anhour’s drive of Bridgend are as follows; -

Figure A1.6: The Passat pellet-boiler installed in Bridgend. ThePassat is now available in the UK.

A1.....19

New-build domestic house 20 kWHeritage Centre 70 kWBusiness Incubator Centre 200 kW

A1.5.3 Training in South WalesDuring November 1999, a north-American manufacturer of pellet-fired roomheaters provided training to one Groundwork Bridgend employee over aperiod of 3 days. The training covered the following areas; -

Design and manufacture of the pellet-heater Installation and venting Fault finding

Passat Energy BoilersDuring November 2000 a Danish manufacturer of pellet-boilers providedtraining to 3 Groundwork Bridgend employees and to a local boiler-installation company that usually installs oil-fired equipment. The trainingwas provided in Bridgend and coincided with the commissioning of the firstpellet-boiler installation in Wales.

The training lasted for 2 days and covered the following areas; - Principles of pellet-boiler operation, including fuel feed mechanism,

water temperatures, thermal output, pressurisation and return watertemperature control

Pellet-boiler control system, including action of oxygen control systemand draft stabiliser

Design of wet-heating systems using pellet boilers, including heat loadassessment and boiler sizing, hopper refilling systems and silos,multiple boiler installations

Planning for safety, including chimney design, pressure relief andburn-back extinguishing

Training on heat-load assessmentsIn July 2000, one Groundwork Bridgend employee received training in theuse of heat loss calculation and design software. The software and trainingare provided for heating system installers by a UK boiler and radiatormanufacturing group. The course objectives were:

To re-visit and understand the traditional long-hand heat losscalculation methods

To re-visit and understand additional heat loss factors including‘correction factors’

To enable the user to complete a full-house heating design calculation,using the automated computerised process. To enable the user to usethe program as a heating design and quotation package

A1.....20

A1.6. The Commercialisation of the wood pellet industry inDurham.

Wood pellets are currently being produced in Durham by VKS Fuels inconjunction with Durham County Waste Management (DCWM). Thesepellets are being supplied to two schools that have had their coal fired boilersmodified to run on wood pellets.

A1.6.1 Pellet Production The feedstock for the pellets are fines resulting from the chipping of palletsand wood packaging waste at DCWM’s wood processing site. Other cleansources of feedstock are being actively sought.

Samples of potential feedstock from a number of furniture factories have beenanalysed. While the factories have made assurances that the feedstock isclean but analyses have shown high levels of certain contaminants such aschloride. This highlights the need for any pellet manufacturer to adopt a strictand rigorous quality control regime.

Pellet milling is currently being undertaken on a different site than the woodprocessing plant. The current pelletising plant is producing 10mm pellets at arate of one tonne per hour. It is planned to install a new pellet plant at thewood processing site with a capacity of 3.5 tonnes/hour. With in three years itis hoped the plant will be producing 200-300 tonnes of pellets per week.

Recently the die, specially designed for wood pellets, has been showing signsof excessive wear. To prevent damage to the press, production hastemporarily ceased. This has damaged the confidence of customers inswitching to a fuel which is not readily available on the open market. Suchproblems will hopefully not arise in the future as a number of pellet plants aredue to start production this year.

Fuel delivery Delivery of pellets to the two schools has been by plastic sacks and dumpybags. Bulk delivery of pellets using a pneumatic coal wagon has taken placesatisfactorily, and works well for buildings such as schools where this was thenormal form of delivery. The pellets stood up well to being blown into thebunker but a certain amount of dust was created which raises some health andsafety issues, yet to be addressed.

A1.6.2 Pellet installations in Durham

Boilers Two boilers have so far been converted to run on pellets. These are both inschools and their preliminary success has lead to around ten other sites beingconsidered for conversion and it is planned that one new build primary schoolwill have a biomass boiler. The County Council passed a resolution to phaseout the use of fossil fuel heating in all County Council properties by 2005.

A1.....21

There is therefore confidence in Durham that many more pellet fired heatinstallations will come on-line in the near future. The first school is now undergoing long term trials with the lead boiler firingon wood pellets and another two boilers fuelled by natural gas. The school isa 1950s comprehensive with a swimming pool and has a continuous heatdemand all year round. The conversion of the welded steel boiler in the first school has involvedmodifications to fuel feed-rate and primary and secondary air supply, plus theaddition of an anti-burn-back device onto the feedscrew, which is an AshwellScott stoker. The coal bunker has had to be reduced in size and altered toensure that the pellets flow onto the feed screw. Further internal modificationsto the boiler are under discussion.

A more modern smaller special school with two coal heating boilers and onefor domestic hot water, has recently had one heating boiler converted to woodpellet firing with the other retained on coal. These are older cast ironsectional boilers known as Beeston’s Robin Hoods. The stokers are by Rileywith a less sophisticated feed control system than the ones at Ferryhill. Initialtrials suggest that these will also perform satisfactorily with minimummodifications. This work on the boilers is funded by the DTI and a local environmental trust,from landfill tax credits, and is a partnership project between Durham CountyCouncil, North Energy Associates and pellet supplier DCWM. The work hasincluded regular sampling and analysis of the pellet feedstock by a local firmand emissions and performance monitoring by CRE Group. Specialist woodcombustion advice has been provided by Ian Chappell working for Nordistand project co-ordination is being undertaken by Nicky Smith of NorthEnergy Associates.

RoomheatersThere have not been any pellet fired roomheaters installed in Durham. It isplanned that a market for pellets will first be built on the large marketprovided by the schools. These will enable financing of a new larger pelletmill, from which smaller systems can be supplied. Despite no installationsthere is still a great deal of interest in the potential of pellets at the domesticscale.

Training held in County Durham.A local solid fuel company, CES Ltd. has provided training to schoolcaretaker staff on operating the pellet fired systems.

Promotional ActivitiesIt is planned to set up the Ferryhill boilerhouse as a demonstration centre withintepretation and leaflets. Some modifications will be made to enable visitorsto view the pellets in the bunker and as they travel to the boiler. The intentionis to use the facility both to promote wood heating to other heat users and alsoas a tool to be used in environmental education.

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A1.7. Commercialisation in the South West.

A1.7.1 Development of local supplies of wood pellets

The main problem facing a potential pellet industry in the UK at the beginningof the project was how to establish secure supplies of locally made pricecompetitive wood pellets without an established market.

In the South West, several avenues have been explored which have entailedthe modification of an animal feed mill for wood pellet production. This hasenabled local wood pellets to be manufactured with a very low capitalinvestment. Initially work focused on the conversion of a small scale (30hp)grain mill for the production of wood pellets. However, after extensiveresearch it was concluded that the outputs on such machinery were too smallto be economically viable.

Therefore a second research programme was initiated. This programme wasto modify an existing grass mill for pelletising wood residues.

There currently exist a number of grass mills in the UK which produce highdensity grass pellets for animal feed. These are similar in many ways to thewood pellet mills common in many European Countries and North America.Plant layout includes high capacity drum driers for reduction of moisture. Butunlike wood pellet mills, grass mills operate on a seasonal basis from April toSeptember each year to coincide with the growing season and there is a sixmonth seasonal period of inactivity during the winter i.e. the heating season.Substantial spare capacity therefore exists within the grass mills across theUK.

Pelletising grass in known to be substantially more difficult than, for example,pelletising grain. In this respect grass more closely resembles sawdust thangrain. Grass mills are always equipped with drying equipment (since grass istypically 70-80% moisture) and hence would be ideally suited to pelletisegreen sawdust. The investigation of using other materials is an output of thisproposal.

There are at least 13 grass pellet mills in the UK and six sugar beet pulp mills.Assuming an average spare production capacity of 5000 tonnes per year givesa possible output of 65,000 tonnes per year. A production of 5000 tonnes peryear from a single grass mill would support an installed capacity of about25MW (for example 50 sites of 100kW and 800 sites of 25kW). This is avery significant capacity to accelerate the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK and has the following advantages:

A1.....23

vii. Low start-up costs since most of the machinery and auxiliaryequipment already exists

viii. Production start-up could be very rapid, whereas a new pellet millgenerally takes of order two years from conception and raisingfinance, obtaining planning permission to final commissioning

ix. Production of wood pellets at any given mill could start productionmodestly and increase as market demand grows

x. There is considerable expertise in pelletising grass in the UK, althoughvirtually no experience with wood. This project will tap into theexisting expertise in grass pelletisation and through R&D andinformation transfer this expertise could be rapidly transferred to thegrass milling industry through its Trade Association.

xi. The production capacity of wood pellets would be distributedthroughout the UK. This means that an industry can be built up on an“Islanding” strategy whereby supplies of pellets, heating equipmentand service engineers are established simultaneously within, say, a 50mile radius to support installations

xii. Once a market has been established in an area, it would be envisagedthat other dedicated wood pellet mills would emerge when installedcapacity reaches a certain level.

The fact that large capital equipment for pelletisation is left idle for half of theyear means that, with suitable research and modifications, relatively largeproduction quantities of wood pellets at a number of locations throughout theUK could be established for very low capital investment and hence lowbusiness risk which will greatly accelerate the expansion of the wood pelletindustry in the UK.

ResultsThe initial tests have used 6 tonnes of green sawdust from a local sawmill and5 tonnes of “pole roundings” – light wood chips/shavings from processingfence posts.

Sawdust Using green softwood sawdust with a measured moisture content of55%, 7.5mm wood pellets were produced using an existing grass die. Thisinvolved careful adjustment of the drying temperatures to ensure that themoisture content is between about 8-14% entering the pellet press.

However, it was found that the compression on the grass die was too high andthat, although the pellets very hard and dense, the output was lower thanexpected and the pellets themselves had be slightly scorched showing thattemperatures in the die were too high.

Pole Roundings: Pole roundings (light wood chips from the process ofproducing fencing rails) were also successfully tested. This material contains

A1.....24

a mixture of sawdust, shavings and small thin chips a few tens of millimetressquare. The grass mill is equipped with a hammer mill to reduce further theparticle size of the raw material and a screen to ensure that no particles largerthan about 5mm could enter the pellet press.

Again it was found that although pellets could be produced using this rawmaterial, a die with lower compression is required. Such a die, without anytaper, was obtained by the sub-contractor and satisfactory pellet pellets wereproduced.

Renewable Heat & Power Ltd believe that the seasonal conversion of existinggrass mill for wood pellet production could have a very substantial positiveeffect on the wood pellet industry in the UK.

There is still much research to be on ensuring efficient materials handling,production and processing but these tests show conclusively that it is entirelypossible and feasible to make this conversion given modest additional R&D.

A1.7.2 Site identification

A total of 22 potential sites where pellet burning equipment could be installedhave been identified. These include three sites owned by Exmoor NationalPark authority, one by the National Trust, two schools, several farms, theshow rooms of a sawmill/wood product manufacturer, a town hall, severalguest houses/hotels, a municipal swimming pool and several local councilowned and privately owned buildings. RHP are currently in discussion with anumber of site owners in order to secure sales of pellet equipment andsuccessfully make installations into a number of the above sites before the endof the year.

A1.7.3 Training of appliance installers and service personnel

The directors of RHP have successfully completed the “Pellet ApplianceSpecialist Certification Programme” of the Hearth Education Foundation inthe US. The US course was taken since there is at present no UK or Europeanequivalent. This intensive course covered all aspects of pellet stoveinstallation, including venting, operation and maintenance. The projectpartners sat the US exams associated with this training and both passed.

Two RHP employees attended a two day training workshop on EcoTec pellet-fired heating systems, which is one of the leading Swedish manufacturers.The training included Principles of operation of the pellet burner and boilersystem including fuel feed mechanism, automatic ignition, safety features andthe control of the system

A2.1

Appendix 2

The British BioGen Code of Practicefor biofuel pellets

FINAL Version 2.3 February 2001

INTRODUCTIONThese COGPs are to ensure that the biomass industry develops a goodreputation with customers for quality equipment, installations and fuels thatwork. The codes are voluntary but all members of the industry are stronglyencouraged to comply with them. This COGP will be revised from time totime in line with the development of new Euro Norms and in light of industryexperience. It is advisable to contact the BioGen office to ensure that youhave the latest version.

1. Pellet Raw Materials1.1 The COGP recognizes only one grade of pellets: “Premium Biofuel

Pellets”. British BioGen also recognizes that there are other grades ofrecovered fuel pellets but these are subject to the Waste IncinerationDirective and outside the remit of this COGP.

1.2 The materials used in the manufacture of Premium Biofuel pellets shall belimited to those listed in the draft EU Mandate for European Standards forSolid Biofuels, as it may be amended from time to time. These arecurrently:

• products from agriculture and forestry• vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry• vegetable waste from the food processing industry• wood waste with the exception of:

- wood waste that may contain halogenated organic compoundsor heavy metals as a result of treatment

- treated wood originating from building and demolition waste• cork waste

All of the above materials fall outside the Waste Incineration Directive.

1.3 This COGP acknowledges that CEN is currently forming a new group toconsider the question of all “recovered fuels” (such as paper andcardboard) and the outcome of their deliberations may require amendmentof 1.2.

1.4 This COGP strongly suggests that manufacturers of pellets should notpromote or package pellets other than Premium Biofuel Pellets intomarkets where appliances have not been tested for performance andfitness of purpose with pellets not conforming to this COGP.

A2.2

2 Physical and chemical attributes of pellets

2.1 SUMMARY OF COGP STANDARDS FOR PELLETS

Class Size Ash MoistureContent

CalorificValue

BulkDensity

Sulphur Chlorine

PremiumBiofuelPellets

∅>4mm-20mmLength <5x ∅

<1%, 3% or6%

<10% >16.9MJ/kg >600kg/ m3 <800ppm <300ppm

2.2 The only additives that may be used in COGP pellets are lignin as a binderand trace amounts of vegetable oil as a die lubricant. The use and amountof any additive shall be disclosed.

2.3 The amount of ash resulting from burning any fuel must be taken intoaccount in the design of the appliance and all COGP pellets shall beclearly labeled as follows:

<1% ash, “Low Ash”<3% ash, “Standard Ash”<6% ash, “High Ash”

3. Quality Assurance & Miscellaneous3.1 All fuel manufacturers shall operate a quality assurance procedure to a

standard satisfactory to British BioGen.

3.2 Bags or boxes of pellets for retail sale shall be clearly marked “PremiumBiofuel pellets”, with the sub-heading ‘wood’, ‘straw’ etc as appropriate.Size and ash content shall be prominently shown. The legend “Thesepellets conform to the British BioGen Code of Good Practice for PremiumBiofuel pellets” shall also appear.

A3.1

Appendix 3

Wood Pellet Standards in Sweden, Austria and the US

A3.1 Regulations & Standards for Pellets in Sweden

The current set of standards used in Sweden took 4 years to develop andinvolved both pellet manufacturers and companies supplying pellet appliancesincluding both stoves and large scale boilers. The Swedish National TestingInstitute (SP), co-ordinates all aspects of regulations and standards, includingmeasurement methods. Three classes of pellets have been defined all ofwhich use virgin wood only, although group 1 includes bark. Theclassification of pellets includes dimensions, bulk density, calorific value,moisture content, ash content and chlorine and sulphur content. Ash is animportant consideration which includes the melting point of the ash as well asash content. It is also a complex subject and a PhD thesis has just beencompleted in Sweden on the various types of ash and their melting points of arange of materials. SP are now looking into the health issues surroundingparticulates in emissions and it is likely a new standard will be introduced inthe near future.

Table A3.1: The Swedish Pellet Standards

Property Test method Unit Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Dimensions:diameterlengthat the storage of theproducer

Throughmeasuringof minimum 10randomly chosenfuel pellets

mm givenmax 4 * ∅

givenmax 5 * ∅

givenmax 5 * ∅

Bulk density SS 18 71 78 kg/m3 ≥ 600 ≥ 500 ≥ 500

Mechanical strengthat the storage of theproducer

SS 18 71 80 Fine fractionweight %<3 mm

≤ 0,8 ≤ 1,5 > 1,5

Net calorific value(at the customer)

SS-ISO 1928 MJ/kg ≥ 16,9 ≥ 16,9 ≥ 15,1

kWh/kg ≥ 4,7 ≥ 4,7 ≥ 4,2

Ash content SS 18 71 71 Weight % ofdry matter

≤ 0,7 ≤ 1,5 > 1,5

Total moisturecontent(at the customer)

SS 18 71 70 Weight % ≤ 10 ≤ 10 ≤ 12

Total sulfur content SS 18 77 77 Weight % ofdry matter

≤ 0,08 ≤ 0,08 given

Additives content Weight % ofdry matter

Content and type given

Chlorides SS 18 71 85 Weight % ofdry matter

≤ 0,03 ≤ 0,03 given

Fusibility of ash SS-ISO 540 °C Initial temperature(IT) given

A3.2

A3.2 Regulations & Standards for Pellets in Austria

According to the Austrian pellets norm wood used to produce pellets has to bein natural state without wood and trunk preservatives, glues and plastics,varnish and other coating materials. Pellets must be manufactured withoutbonding agent. The following technical specifications have to be met:

Table A3.2: Fuel technical demands on pellets

Parameters Pellets

profile [mm] 4 ≤ x ≤ 20length [mm] ≤ 100gross density [kg/dm³] ≥ 1water content [%]• compressed wood ≤ 12• compressed bark ≤ 18ash content [% of dry substance]• compressed wood ≤ 0.5• compressed bark ≤ 6.0calorific value [MJ/kg]• compressed wood ≥ 18• compressed bark ≥ 18sulphur content [% of dry substance]• compressed wood ≤ 0.04• compressed bark ≤ 0.08nitrogen content [% of dry substance]• compressed wood ≤ 0.30• compressed bark ≤ 0.60chlorine content [% of dry substance]• compressed wood ≤ 0.02• compressed bark ≤ 0.04

A3.3

A3.3 Regulations & Standards for Pellets in the US: The PFI pelletStandard

Although the chemical constituents and moisture content of different biomassmaterials vary, the Pellet Fuel Institute has identified common characteristicsand developed fuel standards. These voluntary industry standards assure asmuch uniformity in the final products as is possible for naturally grownmaterials that become processed, but not refined fuel. PFI graded fuel mustmeet tests for:

Moisture content: less than 8% wet basis Density: consistent hardness and energy content (minimum 40lbs/cu.ft) Dimensions: length 1 ½” max. Diameter ¼” or 5/16” to assure

predictable fuel amounts and to prevent fuel jamming. Fines: No more than 0.5% passing a 1/8” screen Chlorides: salt content limited to no more than 300 parts per million to

avoid stove or vent rusting. Ash Content: The PFI identifies two different grades of pellet fuel.

Standard GradeUp to 3% ash content. This is usually derived from materials which result inmore residual ash, such as sawdust containing tree bark (which contains moreimpurities) or agricultural residues such as nut shells. Standard pellets shouldonly be used in stoves designated for their use.

Premium GradeLess than 1% ash content. Ash content varies in premium fuels from about0.3% in softwood to about 0.7% in pellets made from hardwoods. Premiumpellets make up over 95% of production in the US.

Other parameters: There are a number of variations in pellet fuels that arenot included in PFI standards. For example calorific value which can rangefrom 8,000 to 9,000 Btu per pound. The most commonly used value is 8,200Btu/lb.

Pellet mills strive for consistency despite the variable nature of the rawmaterial. Slight variations in fuel even from bag to bag are inevitable but thedifferences are usually insignificant and much smaller than found in theoriginal raw material before processing. .

A4.1

Appendix 4

The British BioGen Code of Practicefor biofuel pellet burning roomheaters <15kW

FINAL Version 2.3 February 2001

INTRODUCTIONThese COGPs are to ensure that the biomass industry develops a goodreputation with customers for quality equipment, installations and fuels thatwork. The codes are voluntary but all members of the industry are stronglyencouraged to comply with them. This COGP will be revised from time totime in line with the development of new Euro Norms and in light of industryexperience. It is advisable to contact the BioGen office to ensure that youhave the latest version.

1.0 Appliance Integrity1.1 All pellet roomheaters made in the UK or imported into the UK shall

have been awarded a CE Mark and shall be so labeled.

1.2 All pellet appliances made in the UK or imported into the UK shall havebeen tested in accordance with ASTM E 1509-95 or the relevant P Marktest of the Swedish National Testing Institute. These tests may beperformed in any accredited testing laboratory and the appliance shallbe properly labeled in accordance with the respective standard.

2.0 Appliance Safety2.1 All appliances made in the UK or imported into the UK shall have been

tested in accordance with either ASTM E 1509-95 or the relevant PMark and shall be so labeled.

3.0 Appliance Emissions3.2 For appliances which rely on ASTM E 1509-95 under headings 1.2 and

2.0 above, the appliance shall be type tested in an accredited laboratoryfor CO emissions in accordance with prEN 13240 and shall achieve aClass 2 rating until June 2003, thereafter Class 1.

4.0 Appliance efficiency4.1 For appliances which rely on ASTM E 1509-95 under headings 1.2 and

2.0 above, the appliance shall be type tested by an accredited laboratoryfor efficiency in accordance with prEN 13240 and shall achieve a Class2 rating until June 2003, thereafter Class 1.

5.0 Appliance Noise5.1 Pellet roomheaters which rely on ASTM E 1509-95 under headings 1.2

& 2.0 above may be type tested for noise under ISO 3741 (EN23741)with the fans & feed motor(s) running at the mid point of the speed-range, and if they achieve a rating of less than 45dBA may bear the

A4.2

legend “complies with British BioGen noise test”. This legend may alsobe used for heaters that have been awarded a P Mark.

6.0 Quality Assurance & Miscellaneous6.1 All appliance manufacturers shall operate a quality assurance procedure

to a standard satisfactory to British BioGen.

6.2 All appliances shall prominently state in their instruction manual thesize of pellets for which the appliance is designed and what ash contentit will tolerate. This information shall also be labeled on the applianceso as to be plainly visible when refilling the fuel hopper.

6.3 All appliances on sale in or promoted for sale in Smoke Controlled areasmust be approved under the Clean Air Act.

6.4 Any appliance which conforms in all respects to the foregoing, and uponsupplying documentation to British BioGen in support of this, may belabeled, “This appliance complies with the British BioGen Code ofGood Practice for pellet burning roomheaters”.

7.0 Venting & Chimneys7.1 All appliances shall be installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s

instructions and with relevant sections of the Building Regulations, byinstallers generally recognized as competent within the meaning offorthcoming regulations on that subject. Chimneys shall conform to BS4543 or prEN1856 and flexible liners shall be approved by TUV orCSTB.

7.2 This section shall also apply to requirements for venting with respect toprovision of combustion air.

A5.1

Appendix 5

Wood Pellet Suppliers, Pelletisation Equipment and ApplianceManufacturers

A.5.1 Engineers and Pellet Plant Suppliers10

The following is a list of consulting engineers and suppliers of new andreconditioned pelletising equipment including some indicative prices. Pleasenote that this list in not exhaustive.

********************************************************************

Buhler Ltd, StroudContact: Mr Steve Clewley, Dudbridge Works, Stroud,Gloucestershire, GL5 3EY.Tel: 01453 763611 Fax: 01453 [email protected] www.buhlergroup.comTurn key pelletising plant and equipment, Bulk Material Handling Solutionsand Machinery. Built 90,000 tonnes per anum Lulea plant in Sweden.

********************************************************************

CPM (California Pellet Mill Europe Ltd), DaventryContact: Martin Visser, .47 Brunel Close, Drayton Fields Industrial Estate,Daventry, Northants, NN11 5RB.Tel: 01327 704721, Fax 01327 971831

Worldwide, the biggest manufacturer of pellet mills which are gear driven.Their sales engineers in Sweden and Holland have extensive experience withwood pelletisation. They hire from Amsterdam a skid mounted pellet mill forexperimentation.Dutch manager Jürgen Hartmann, Phone 0031 20 49 46 111, Fax 0031 20 6364 294

10 Please note no endorsement of these firms is intended.

A5.2

********************************************************************

EcoTre Systems, Italy

Contact: Emidio Tosi Via delle Cantine, 12-50040 SETTIMELLO (FI), ItalyTel: + 39 55 8825380/1, Fax: +39 55 8826090, Email: [email protected]

Produce an innovative design of pellet machine. For more details please seeseminar proceedings “Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK”, Sept 22nd

1999

********************************************************************

Heat-Win LtdContact: Thomas J Stubbing. Spout House, Bitterley, Ludlow, Shropshire,SY8 2HQ.Tel: 01584 890 827 Fax: 01584 890 [email protected]

Airless drying technology for energy savings and other process andenvironmental benefits. Design and supply of energy efficient superheatedsteam dryers for pre or post-pelleted biomass.

********************************************************************

Henley Burrows, Worcester.Contact: Fred Bluck Phone 01905 611961, Fax 01905 26694, Mobile 0860642383.Consulting Engineers.

********************************************************************

Kerry Die Products, IrelandContact: Liam O’Connor, Fossa, Killarney, Co. Kerry, IrelandTel: + 353 (64) 44233, Fax: + 353 (64) 444333

Manufacturer of pellet dies for the wood pelletisation industry

********************************************************************

********************************************************************

A5.3

Sevale Engineering, GloucesterContact Chris Graham, Phone 01452 303180, Fax 01452 306250.Commissioning engineers and suppliers of reconditioned equipment.

********************************************************************Sprout-Matador, DerbyshireUK sales contact: John Broomhead, Warmbrook House Thornell Close,Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, Derbyshire SK23 0NR. Tel 01298 81 27 09,Fax 81 27 03, Mobile 0831 853 379

A large Danish/American firm, a division of ANDRITZ Inc. Manufacturersof all elements of a pellet making plant except dryers . Can bring in companyexpertise from Denmark.

********************************************************************

Universal Milling Technology, HullContact: Ian Dray Phone 01482 825119, Fax 839806,

Manufacturers of the Paladin line of pelletisers, in use world-wide. These arebelt driven machines. This avoids having shear pins and possible geardamage. Belts are cheaper to replace. The company also refurbishes theirown brand of machines and can provide advice on setting up a plant.

**********************************************************************

A5.4

A.5.2 List of Wood Pellet Burning appliances

UK Manufacturers of Pellet Appliances

1. Talbotts Biomass Energy SystemsBen Talbott, Drummond Road, Astonfields Ind. Estate, Stafford ST16 3HJTel. 01785 213366, [email protected]

2. Cornwell Heat LtdMalcom Cornwall, Bells Lane, Hawstead, Bury St. Edmund,Suffolk IP29 5NW Tel. 01284386447, Fax 01284386 808

UK agents of pellet-fired appliances

1. Renewable Heat & Power LtdRobin Cotton, Pinkworthy Barn, Oakford, Tiverton, Devon EX16 9EUTel: 01398 351166, Fax 01398 351115, [email protected] of Sahlins EcoTec pellet burners 15 – 300kW

2. Welsh Biofuels LtdMartin Jolly, Unit 28, Brynmenyn Industrial Estate, Bridgend CF32 9TZTel: 01656 729714, Fax 01656 729714, [email protected] of Passat Energy pellet burners up to 1MW, Importers of Envirofirepellet stoves

3. Foundation Business CentreJoe Zygmunt, 39B Park Farm Industrial Estate, Buttingford, Herts SG9 9AZ.Tel: 01793 271271 [email protected] of Baxi Multi Heat pellet burners

A5.5

Manufacturers and sales representatives offering pellet furnaces in Germany

Manufacturer/sales representative Furnace type Nominal Suitable fuel type

heat power wood straw, etc.output[kW]

logs woodchips

pellets choppedfuel

pellets

AustroflammGfereth 101, A-4631 KrenglbachTel.: 0043 7249/464430 fax 46636

chimney stove (automaticcharging, with water heatexchanger)pellet boilers

6-11

15

×

×

Biogen Heiztechnik GmbHPlainburgerstr. 503, A-5084GroßgmainTel.: 0043 6247/72 59 fax: 8796

boiler integrated furnace 15-120 × × × ×

Biotech GmbH - siehe Fa. Lambelet pellet boilers 15 ×

Compello/ Sonnenkraft GmbHReitfeld 6, 93086 Wörth a.d. D.Tel.: 0982/90103 fax: 90105

chimney stove (automaticcharging, with water heatexchanger)pellet boilers

9

15

×

×

Georg Fischer GmbH & Co.Bruck-Waasen 7, A-4722 PeuerbachTel.: 0043 7276/2441-0 fax: 3031

pellet boilers ×

Fröling, Heizkessel- und BehälterbauGmbHIndustriestr. 12, A-4710 GrieskirchenTel.: 0043 72 48/606 fax: 62 387

pellet boilersprefurnaceboiler integrated furnace

1815-12020-1000

×××

×

Ernst GerlingerFroschau 79, A-4391 WaldhausenTel.: 0043 7418/230 fax: 2304

pellet boilers, boilerintegrated furnace 45-88 ×

×

GutekunstWangener Str. 100, 88212 RavensburgTel.: 0751/36661-0

pellet boilers ×

Hargassner, HolzverbrennungsanlagenGunderding 8, A-4952 WengTel.: 0043 7723/5274 fax: 52745

boiler integrated furnace 15-140 × ×

Herz-Feuerungstechnik, A-8272SebersdorfVertrieb: Harald WichmannLessingstr. 21, 87439 KemptenTel.: 0831/14 24 fax: 14924

pellet boilersboiler integrated furnace

1525-170 ×

×

Hestia GmbHKappelstraße 12, 86510 Ried b.MeringTel.: 08208/1264 fax: 1514

pellet boilers 25-50 × ×

Heizomat-Gerätebau GmbHMaicha 21, 91710 GunzenhausenTel.: 09836/9797-0 fax: 979797

boiler integrated furnace 14.5-800 × ×

Kanad. Holzgranulatofen - see Fa.Lambelet

chimney stove (automaticcharging, with water heatexchanger)

7 ×

KWB/ Fraidl GmbH.Lindenstr. 16, 86643Rennertshofen/AmmerfeldTel.:09094/1467 fax.: 902266


10-2025-100 ×

××

Fa. LambeletSalzwerkstr. 8-10, 79639 Grenzach-WyhlenTel.: 07624/91590 fax: 4136

pellet boilerschimney stove (automaticcharging with water heatexchanger)

157

××

LohbergerPostfach 90, A-5230 MattighofenTel.: 0043 7742/52 11-0 fax: 521110


1520-80

××

×

A5.6

Ökofen GmbHMühlgasse 9, A-4132 Lembach i.M.Tel.: 0043 7286/7450 fax: 7809


10-3020-70 ×

××

Ökotherm/ Fellner GmbHTräglhof 2, 92242 HirschauTel.: 09608/9200 49 fax.: 920011

boiler integrated furnace 20-140 × × × ×

Passat Energi GmbHMorgenstern 16, 24870 EllingstedtTel.: 04627/189500 fax: 189501


10-2323-180 ×

××

Pfeifer BiomassetechnikMittelösch 12, 88213 RavensburgTel.: 0751/36661-0 fax: 794143


15-2550-300 ×

××

Perhofer Biomat GmbH & Co KGWaisenegg 115, A-8190 BirkfeldTel.: 0043 3174/3705 fax: 37058

pellet boilersprefurnaceboiler integrated furnace

2235-7015-70

××

×

Rendl Heizkessel und Stahlbau GmbHFriedrich-List-Straße 84, 81377MünchenTel.: 089/718555 fax: 7145436


1320-200 ×

××

RIKAMüllerviertel, A-4563 MicheldorfTel.: 0043 7582/686-0 fax: 68643

chimney stove (automaticcharging, with water heatexchanger )pellet boilers

9

15

×

×

Sommerauer & Lindner/Vertrieb: Reinhardt EnergietechnikGmbHGalgenberg 1, 94474 VilshofenTel.: 08541/910831 fax.: 910832


1430-50

××

××

Whitfield Entwicklungs- und VertriebGmbHAuf Kasal 59, A-6820 FrasanzTel.: 0043 5522/52836 fax: 54111

chimney stove (automaticcharging, with water heatexchanger)

8 ×

Ingfried Wodtke GmbHRittweg 55-57, 72070 TübingenTel.: 07071/70030 fax: 700350

chimney stove elementschimney stovestiled stove elementspellet chimney stove(automatic)

8-117-9

6-106-8

×××

×

A5.7

Producers of pellet stoves and boilers for pellet-burning, available in Sweden or Nordiccountries

Name Made in Representative in Sweden Price, EUR

Pellet stoves

Austroflam Integra Austria Jötul 3,340

Enviro Fire Canada Convent Energi 2,010

Eco Logica Italy Narvells 2,910

Quadra Fire USA Ezy Energi AB 2,570

Whitield Quest Plus USA Kennedygruppen AB 2,540

Eco Tec Tyr Sweden Eco Tec 2,900

WodkeTopline Germany SBS Janfire AB 4,760

Wodke Smart Germany SBS Janfire AB 3,200

S:t Croix Lövhult USA Albinpannan AB 2,670

S:t Croix Töre USA Albinpannan AB 2,110

S:t Croix Kalix USA Albinpannan AB 2,330

Thelin ( Kentucky ) USA Convent Energi 2,230

PellX (pelletstove) Sweden Scand Pellets AB 2,180

Waterford Erin Ireland Narvells AB 3,320

Jamestown USA Svenska Gräs AB 1,890

Grenfire Denmark Grenfire ApS

Specification for pellet stoves above taken from BIOENERGI no 6 1998

Pellet burners

PellX Sweden Scand Pellet AB 1,790 P

Janfire Sweden SBS Åmål 1,990 P

EcoTec Sweden Ecotechnology AB 1,890 P

Ivabo villa S Sweden Ivabo 2,000

Ivabo villa XL Sweden Ivabo 2,780 P

Bio Warm Sweden El Team 1,790

Biopell Sweden Albinpannan 1,820 P

Cello Sweden Iton HB 2,010

PellEco 2000 Sweden TräEnergi Teknik 2,240

Pelda 21 Sweden Nils Gunnar Norman 2,180

EP - brännaren Sweden Altbergs Plåt 2,100 P

Tekno Term Sweden Tekno Term Energy 2,000

Torsbyugnen Sweden Torsbyugnen 1,780

Villamatic Denmark Värme och Miljö AB 2,790

Roslagsbrännaren Sweden BWA Energi 1,670

Eldoradobrännaren Sweden JWT Development 2,800

Säätötuli stoker Awede Nymans försäljning

Specification for pellet burner is according to the specification in the magazine BIOENERGY no. 5 1998. Aboveburners are <25 kW. Some producer have burners available for >25 kWPellet boilers

Combifire Sweden Vedsol AB

Multi-Heat Denmark HS Perifal 4,470

Passat Compact Denmark Thermia Värme AB

Specification for boilers like pellet burner above

P = Certified according to the Swedish recommendation for small pellet burning equipment.

A5.8

Austrian manufacturers of biomass furnaces[Ref.: List of the Austrian Biomass Agency, Ökoenergie May 1998]Name of company Address Telephone

numberJosef Binder A-8570 Voitsberg 03142 - 22544Biogen A-5084 Großgmain 06247 - 7259Anton Eder A-5733 Bramberg 06566 - 7366Ing. Friedrich Enickl A- 4407 Dietach-Steyr 07252 - 38267Heribert Erhart A-8504 Preding 03185 - 2311Fischer A- 4722 Peuerbach 07276 - 2441Fröhling A- 4710 Grieskirchen 07248 - 6060Ernst Gerlinger Bioheiztechnik A- 4391 Waldhausen 07418 - 230Hager Energietechnik A- 2170 Poysdorf 02552 - 2110Hargassner A- 4952 Weng/Innkreis 07723 - 5274Harreither A- 3334 Gaflenz 07446 - 6660Hechtl Landmaschinen A- 8561 Söding 03137 - 2339Heizomat Energiesysteme A- 4810 Gmunden 07612 - 737600Herz Feuerungstechnik A- 8272 Sebersdorf 03333 - 2411Hoval A-4614 Marchtrenk 07243 - 550-0ID Energiesysteme A- 9971 Matrei 04875 - 6172Jäger Technik A- 8141 Unterpremstätten 03136 - 549060Köb & Schäfer KG A- 6922 Wolfurt 05574 - 6770Kohlbach A-9400 Wolfsberg 04352 - 21570Kr Ing. Ernst Kurri A-2700 Wr. Neustadt 02622 - 23865KWB A-8321 St. Margarethen an der

Raab03115 - 6116 -0

Lohberger A-5230 Mattighofen 07742 - 52110Mawera A-6971 Hard 05574 - 74301-0Meva A-5431 Kuchl 06244 - 6056Michelitsch A-8551 Wies 03468 - 230Oekofen A-4132 Lembach 07286 - 7450Perhofer A-8190 Birkfeld 03174 - 3705JPA Pöllhuber Fördertechnik A-4845 Rutzenmoos 07672 - 28530Pöllinger A-3385 Gerersdorf 02749 - 8684Polytechnik Klima-Luft-Wärmeanlagen

A-2564 Weissenbach 02672 - 890

Prüller A-4463 Großraming 07254 - 7325August Rath jun. A-1015 Vienna 01- 5134426Reinisch A-8045 Graz 0316 - 972297Rendl A- 5020 Salzburg 0662 - 433034Rika A-4569 Micheldorf 07582 - 686Sommerauer & Lindner A- 5120 St. Pantaleon 06277 - 7804Sonnenkraft Vertriebs GmbH A- 4655 Vorchdorf 07614 - 6006TM - Feuerungsanlagen A- 8271 Waltersdorf 0333 - 2155Thermostrom Energietechnik A-4407 Steyr 07252 - 38271Urbas A-9199 Völkermarkt 04232 - 2521Vaillant A-1231 Vienna 01 - 863600Vanicek A-8230 Hartberg 03332 - 6021Wagner A-8152 Stallhofen 03142 - 21207Windhager Zentralheizung A-5201 Seekirchen 06212 - 2341

A5.9

Wuck/Biothermal A-8793 Trofaiach 03847 - 2243

Manufacturers and sales representatives offering pellet furnaces in other countries inEurope

Manufacturer/sales representative Furnace type Nominal

heat power

output[kW]

Talbotts, UKDrummond Road, Astonfields Industrial Est.Stafford ST1 63AJTel: +44 1785 21 33 66, Fax: +44 1785 25 64 18Contact: Bob Talbott

25kW- 12MW

Power-Matic, DenmarkViborgvej 442, Læsten 8900 Randers, DenmarkTel: 86 45 01 34, Fax: 86 45 13 30

boiler integrated furnace 25 -125

Art Metal, FranceBoulevard des Loges, F-53940 St. BerthevinTel: +33 243 69 16 15, Fax: +33 243 66 13 03

80kW+

Spanex GmbHOtto Brenner Strasse 6D-3418 Uslar 1Tel: +49 1575 1440 35, Fax: +49 1575 1445 005

20kW+

Zander and Ingestrom, SwedenBox 502 SS-16929 SolnaTel: 46 8 80 90 00, Fax: +46 8 80 65 67Web: www.zeta.seContact: Lars Olof Larsson

Large industrial

Compte R.ZI de VaureuilF-63220 ArlancTel: +33 473 95 01 91, Fax: +33 473 95 15 36Contact: Eric Compte

55kW -industrial

Seccacier204 Rue de VaugirardF-75015 ParisTel: +33 01 42 75 30 30, Fax: +33 01 42 19 23 18Contact: Braquenie

65kW -industrial

Weiss France410 route de Thones – BP 51F-74210 FavergesTel: +33 04 50 44 55 00, Fax: +33 04 50 44 49 18

100kW+

HjallerupOverdahl Kedler Hjallerupvej DK 9320Tel: +45 98 28 16 06

Low cost, ‘agriculturalengineered’ system

37kW

Cogra 48ZI de Gardès, F-48000 MendeTel: +33 466 65 34 63, Fax: +33 466 65 22 24Contact: Bernard Chapon

Pellet stoves. Importers ofHarman stoves

A5.10

A.5.3. List of Pellet Manufacturers located in the UK orinterested in export trade to the UK.

The following is not an exhaustive list of pellet manufacturers. A full list ofNorth American manufacturers can be found of the web site of the Pellet FuelInstitute of the US http://www.pelletheat.org

UK Manufacturers1. Western Wood Pellets LtdContact Simon Wills, Pinkworthy Barn, Oakford, Tiverton, Devon EX16 9EUTel: 01398 351348, Fax 01398 351115, [email protected]

2. Welsh Biofuels LtdContact Martin Jolly, Unit 28, Brynmenyn Industrial Estate,Bridgend CF32 9TZTel: 01656 729714, Fax 01656 729714, [email protected]

3. Saturn U.K.Terry Lawson, County Durham, Tel: 01740 656185 / 650317

4. PowershredContact Mr Mike JonesUnit 5, Dynsdale Road, Croft Business Park, Bronborough, L62 3PYTel: 0151 343 0908, Fax: 0151 343 1000, [email protected]

Overseas Manufacturers1. Fulghum Fibrefuels Ltd Nova Scotia, CanadaJohn Colquitt, President, Fulghum Fibrefuels LtdPO Box 15022, Savannah, GA 31416 USA, Tel: (912) 691 0607, Fax: (912)3527463, [email protected] WEB: www.fulghumfibrefuels.com

2. Modis Ltd UkraineAnn and Velentin Bochovrka, Modis Ltd65056 app15, 10/13 pr. Shevchenko, Odessa, UkraineTel: 380 482 68 78 89, Fax: 380 482 68 78 89 [email protected]

3. Hansa Graatma Ltd EstoniaRainer KuutmaTel: +372-50-41099(mobile), Tel: +372-76-69340, Fax: +372-76-69349Email: [email protected] WEB: http://www.hansagraanul.ee/

4. Energex North AmericaIn The U.S.Energex Pellet Fuel, Inc. 20 Airpark Road, PO Box 5399, West Lebanon, New Hampshire 03784Tel: 603-298-7007, Fax: 603-298-7888In CanadaGranules Combustibles Energex, Inc.3891, Presidént Kennedy, Lac-Mégantic, QC, G6B 3B8,Tel: : 819-583-5131, Fax: 819-583-5862 [email protected] WEB: http://www.energex.com/

A5.11

5. Pellet-Flame CanadaJohn Swaan, Prince George, British Columbia, Tel: 250/963-7220This mill, with No. 6 below is shipping pellets through the Panama Canal to Sweden

6. Pinnacle Pellet CanadaRob or Jim Swaan, Box 35, Durrell Site, Quesnel, British Columbia, V2J 3H5Tel: (250) 747-1714 Fax: (250) 747-1712 Email: [email protected] Brigden, Box 35, Durrell Site, Quesnel, British Columbia, V2J 3H5Tel: (250) 747-1714 Fax: (250) 747-1712

7. Pacific Bio Energy Corporation CanadaStaffan Melin, 501 Centennial Parkway, Delta, British Columbia, V4L 2L5Tel: 604 943 1646, Fax: 604 943 8493, [email protected]

A6.1

Appendix 6

Programme of speakers at Boughton Pumping stations 22nd September 1999.Workshop proceedings available from the www.britishbiogen.co.uk

Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UKWEDNESDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER 1999

Organised by Renewable Heat & Power Ltd and British Biogen

Supported by the Department of Trade & Industry & The ALTENER programme of theEuropean Commission

FINAL PROGRAMME

10.00 Registration. Tea & Coffee

10.30 Introduction to the Project Peter Billins, Chief Executive, British Biogen

10.35 Introduction to Biomass Pellets Adam Giffard, Renewable Heat & Power Ltd

10.50 The Existing Market: Presentations & Panel discussionThe US & Canada Averill Cook, President, US Pellet Fuels Institute

President, Catamount Pellet Fuel Corp, USSweden Jan-Erik Dahlström, JED Biosol, SwedenAustria Horst Jauschnegg, Landeskammer für Land- und Forstwirtschaft Steiermar

11.25 Energy Balance & Economics: Comparison with wood chips & briquettesWood Chips Robert Rippengall, LRZ Ltd

Briquettes Ian McChesney, ESD LtdWood Pellets Robin Cotton, Renewable Heat & Power Ltd

12.00 Regulations for Pellet Burning EquipmentUK Adam Giffard, Renewable Heat & Power LtdUS Averill Cook, President, US Pellet Fuels InstituteThe Pmark Gunnar Sahlin, Sahlins EcoTec, Sweden

12.40 Lunch & Tour of Gasifier

13.45 Regulations & Standards for Pellets & Materials for PelletisationSwedish Standard Jan-Erik Dahlström, JED BiosolThe US PFI Standard Averill Cook, President PFIUK Resources & waste regulations Jim Birse, British Biogen

14.30 Wood PelletisationBengt Nilsson, CPM, Sweden

15.00 Low Energy PelletisationEmidio Tosi, EcoTre Systems, Italy

15.15 Tea & Coffee

15.30 Market Development and Plenary Discussion

16.25 Summation Peter Billins, Chief Executive, British Biogen

16.30 Depart

introducing wood pellet fuel to the uktonne/hr pellet mill currently operating, a 5tonne/hour...

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