RE: GAS-L: Shipping biomass

["Marsh Bros." <marshbro@mcbridebc.net>]

Hi All:

I reside just down the road from Prince George based pellet Flame Inc. These
are the folks that are shipping wood pellets to Sweden from BC. Before these
pellets reach the port of Vancouver to be loaded for shipping to Sweden they
must first be moved from 800KM inland where they are produced. The owner
tells me this distance makes the profitability borderline but it was his
only large market to get his business going. This company is also setting up
hopper/automatic fuel delivery systems for local commercial and residential
users. Their truck keeps the hoppers filled with pellets and therefore the
end user finds this type of wood burning as handy as gas or electric heat.
No fuss, no mess. With the development of this local market things are
looking up for PFI.

Phil Marsh
Marsh Bros.
Ph (250) 569-2795
Fax (250) 569-2247

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Reed [mailto:tombreed@home.com]
Sent: October 31, 2001 05:14
To: Weststeijn A; gasification
Subject: GAS-L: Shipping biomass

Deal all:

I'm sure that Tom Miles could say this better than I can, but here goes.

In land shipping there is typically a road limit.  Some products are weight
limited - steel trucks are very low.

Some products are volume limited.  Chip trucks are as tall as allowed under
bridges.

Somewhere at a density of about 1-2 tons/m3 these two limitations meet.
That is what we would hope for in biomass densification.

I hope Tom Miles can tighten up these specs....

Yours truly,      TOM REED

tombreed@home.com; www.woodgas.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Weststeijn A" <A.Weststeijn@epz.nl>
To: "Ian Bywater" <bywateri@caverock.net.nz>; "Edward S. Lipinsky"
<edlipinsk@sprynet.com>; "Tom Reed" <tombreed@home.com>; "'= Jim Arcate'"
<arcate@msn.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 4:17 AM
Subject: RE: Shipping densified TW


> Gentlemen,
>
> It may sound a bit far out, this idea of shipping pre-prepared biomass
over
> long distances, however...
> (some of you I might have told this before)
>
> .....what actually IS already being DONE these days is shipping sawdust
wood
> pellets  (the small type) from the west coast of British Columbia through
> the Panama Canal all the way across the Atlantic to Sweden.
> Sweden....you say....that country known for its endless sea of trees?
> Yes, Sweden.
> And it pays for them.
> This is public knowledge, by the way.
>
> And you can bet that this did not go unnoticed in my country (you know, of
> the wooden shoes, the wind mills and the finger in the dike etc), either.
> No kidding.
>
> Years ago we already commissioned studies to investigate the potential and
> price level of shipping biomass overseas (blue water).
> Charcoal came out ahead on a transportation price per GigaJoule basis (the
> only thing a fuel buyer is interested in, really).
>
> From the steam coal trade it is known that the moment the fuel is in the
> bulk carrier, the actual distance is not so overriding anymore. An extra
> "sea day" is not adding that much. Price levels are seriously impacted by
> handling in the ports (both loading and unloading) as well as inland
> transportation (both feeding and delivering).
> The international oil and grain trades will give other examples.
> Perhaps the wool trade from Australia has examples as well.
> (not to forget the historic guyana fertilizer trade from Chile to Europe
> around Cape Horn, with windjammers, till very late in the 20th century,
due
> to the very low transportation prices involved)
>
> So, as far as the size and shape of compacted TW goes (for overseas
> delivery):
> perhaps the costs of port handling and inland transportation are as much
> (over even more) impacted by the fysical shape and density, than the
actual
> blue water transportation.
> And certain shapes and densities might certainly help in easier and
cheaper
> "collecting" TW from a multitude of smaller production facilities.
> Just a thought.
>
> I once did a study with people from the baltic countries where we were to
> use old, written off, junky seacontainers as cheap packaging. Loading
those
> standing them up on end (with the doors obviously pointing up) and
emptying
> by simply tipping them over.
> Just like coal railroad cars are sometimes turned over in one piece.
>
> Some "best situated ports" might be able to handle containers, but not
bulk.
> Handling bulk, by the way,  is not that cheap unless you have a steady
flow
> of material. Otherwise too many "down days per month" make the price per
ton
> skyrocket.
>
> My advice:
> look closely at the inland transportation and port handling costs in the
> total transportation and handling cost equation.
>
> best regards,
> Andries
>
> > ----------
> > Van: Jim Arcate[SMTP:arcate@msn.com]
> > Verzonden: dinsdag 30 oktober 2001 6:50
> > Aan: Ian Bywater; Andries Weststeijn (EPZ); Edward S. Lipinsky; Tom Reed
> > Onderwerp: Densified TW
> >
> > Hello my friends:
> >
> > My recent message to Peter Davies in Australia included:
> >
> > I wonder if conventional baling (e.g., as used for shipping dried paper
> > pulp) would work for TW.  For example, ship TW bales from N.Z. to
Holland
> > for cofiring with coal for power generation.
> >
> > Reply from Peter:
> >
> > Yes,  I believe it is possible.  Terry Dixon (SRI) told me that they had
> > worked out how to make "binderless' bagasse bales through pre-heating
> > prior to pressing.
> >
> > Peter said earlier:  SRI in Queensland successfully made "ribbon
> > bales"using the sugar cane presses with hot bagasse.  The ribbon bales
> > were 4' wide by 2" thick with a density of around 1000kg/m3.
> >
> > Note:  SRI = Sugar Research Institute  http://www.sri.org.au/home1.html
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > PS: I have known Peter since mid 1999 when he, Thomas Stubbing and I
> > worked on Transnational Technology's TW proposal to the New York State
> > Energy Research & Development Authority.
> >
> > Peter is doing a lot re. packaged firewood, torrefaction of sawdust
> > briquettes, etc. He is also interested in heat treated lumber as
> > ThermoWood.
> >
> > The following is from  "A National Approach to Firewood Collection and
Use
> > in Australia", bold by Jim Arcate.
> >   _____
> >
> > CASE STUDY: Managing native forest for firewood - Neikah, Colinton NSW
> >
> > Neikah is 2522 ha property at Colinton, 70 km south of Canberra, owned
by
> > a family partnership of three brothers - Richard, David and Peter
Davies.
> > Peter and his wife Kerry manage the native forest on the property. The
> > property has annual rainfall of 500-600 mm.
> >
> > In the past the property was primarily managed for grazing, which left a
> > legacy of noxious weeds, pests animals and soil erosion problems. Peter
> > and Kerry found that managing their native forest addressed many of
these
> > problems, improving environmental values of the property and
diversifying
> > their income.
> >
> > Today the property is largely timbered with regrowth dry sclerophyll
> > forest and open woodland.  The property is 60 per cent managed native
> > forest, 16 per cent agriculture with the remaining 24 per cent
maintained
> > especially for conservation.
> >
> > Firewood is the most important forest product from the property. Others
> > include round fencing timber, mulch and other sawn timber products.
Peter
> > and Kerry are also experimenting with producing compressed sawdust
> > briquettes.
> >
> > The property is well situated to take advantage of the market for
firewood
> > in Canberra. Peter and Kerry have also been able to take advantage of
the
> > ACT Government's firewood strategy that requires firewood merchants to
> > offer firewood sourced from a range of species to assist the transition
> > away from box, ironbark and other vulnerable woodland species.
> >
> > Based on research trials, Kerry and Peter believe the sustainable level
of
> > annual wood production to be in the order of 1.0-1.5 tonnes per ha
> > providing a total of 1500 to 2700 dry tonnes per annum from their 1500
ha
> > of managed native forest. At the wholesale firewood price in Canberra of
> > $90 per tonne, this constitutes return of $90-$135 per ha.
> >
> >   _____
> >
> >
> >
> >
>


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