Re: GAS-L: Shipping biomass

["Tom Miles" <tmiles@trmiles.com>]

Peter et al.

You can find the BC wood pellet story at http://www.pellet.org/

Find more of the story at the Pellet Fuels Institute
http://www.pelletheat.org/

According to the latest PFI newsletter, that arrived yesterday, more than
730,000 tons of wood pellets were manufactured in 2000-2001. Wood pellet
appliance sales are about 40,000 per year (37,000 last year).

Consumers pay $120/ton or so. Ex plant sales are usually about $60-$80/ton
bulk. Straight operating costs are in the $15-$35/ton range without
packaging and distribution.

Wood pellet buyers are domestic consumers that are buying a "designer" fuel:
dried and densified. Of course it makes a wonderful fuel. . .if you can
afford it.

Pelletizing bagasse is old art. There have been some substantial operations
in the past (since the 1950s) that have failed when the market has gone. We
made bagasse cubes as one of the tests in the Hawaii gasification project.
Very nice fuel but probably not appropriate to most sugar mill
circumstances. It's often best to burn it and generate steam and power on
site.

There are clearly transportation advantages to a fuel that is 480 kg/m3
(30/lb dry/ft3), which approaches the specific density of the fiber,
compared to one with
105 kg/m3 (7 lb/ft3 dry). But it can cost up to $70/m3 to get the density.
Energy consumed is 50-100 Hp/ton.

The economic crossover between weight and volume used to be about 256 kg/m3
(16 lb/ft3) in the US but payload weights have increased in various states
so that density has probably increased slightly.Canada is known to "assist"
those long hauls with subsidies.(For several years one client used tax
incentives to haul hay from Saskatchewan to BC for export to Asia. When the
subsidy ended he moved the plant closer to the port.)

Tom

Thomas R Miles
TR Miles, Technical Consultants
tmiles@trmiles.com
503-292-0107
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Singfield" <snkm@btl.net>
To: <gasification@crest.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 6:39 AM
Subject: RE: GAS-L: Shipping biomass


>
> Hi All;
>
> Would it be feasible to pelletize and market pellets from bagasse??
Bagasse
> is a high ash biomass product -- however.
>
> >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.
>
> Interesting!! What kind of furnaces?? What kind of system??
>
> Peter Singfield / Belize
>
>
>
> At 06:12 AM 10/31/2001 -0800, you wrote:
> >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
>
>
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>
>


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