Biomass Pre-treatment Could Reduce Costs

A recent study conducted by South Dakota State University has been looking into the reducing the costs of biomass transportation and conversion into energy forms. The aim of the study was to look into the issues of biomass having such a low density at harvest, and how to increase that density with as little energy as possible.

The trials mainly focused on switchgrass and corn stalks, both crops which can be grown in most states of the US. The idea was to compress the biomass on site to make it more efficient to transport the material the 50-100 miles to the nearest processing facilities. The logistics of moving biomass is very important, as not only does it impact on how cost competitive the fuel is but also it is necessary to control the carbon emissions generated from transportation. They used a process called Ammonia Fibre Expansion. This process brings the lignin within the material to the surface, this therefore makes it easier to compress the biomass. To look at examples of various different biomass materials compressed into fuel pellets. Another thing that the study did agree on is that the future of biofuels and biomass pellets will focus on a more regional approach to processing biomass. This approach will reduce transportation and develop a local industry and jobs. The local area would be able to produce its own fuel completely locally. At PelHeat we offer various small scale pellet production solutions which are ideal for the principle of local energy loops. These pellet plants are highly automated, and therefore it can keep the operating of the pellet plant and the cost of the fuel pellets competitive. On the next page you can watch a collection of videos of the pellet plants processing wood and biomass. For instance in the Ukraine we installed a plant to process reed into high efficiency fuel pellets.