When converting to bio-mass growers are faced with the decision of whether to use wood chip or pellets.
So let us look at the facts:
Wood chip has a heat value of 3.5 KW/kg and density of 250 kg/cubic mt.
Wood pellets have a heat value of 4.9 KW/kg and density of 650 kg/cubic mt.
So comparing heat value: a tonne of chip at 120 Euro/tonne is equivalent to pellets at 168 Euro/tonne.
It will take 360% more space to store wood chip compared to pellets.
I am an equipment supplier and last year I had to decide what type of Bio-mass boiler I should supply: Chip? Pellet? Or both? Here is why I decided to go for pellet boilers.
The potential saving of 10% in fuel costs is the only positive I could find for woodchip and this saving is almost eliminated due to lower average efficiency of wood chip compared to wood pellets boiler.
I will list the positives for wood pellets:
High efficiency boilers and low capital cost of fully automatic systems. We are comparing 20k for a pellet installation to 70k for similar chip installation.
Maintenance of the smaller hot water wood chip boilers can be high.
The biggest issue is future supply of fuel. The pending sale of our forests or at least the harvesting rights will threaten the supply of wood chip and lead to higher costs. It is not viable to import wood chip because of the low density. Wood pellets can be imported from Canada or even China at current prices. The quality of Chinese pellets is much higher than Irish production. Many other industries are changing to bio-mass so the supply will be a serious issue. Low cost steam boilers and portable boilers are an option with pellets.
I know of only one company that gives the facts to potential customers, a company who sells both systems and his facts are in line with my figures.
2/28/2013 12:07:32 PM You make some really good points regarding the choice for pellets over chip, the only one I can’t seem to understand is “The quality of Chinese pellets is much higher than Irish production.”??
I have never seen documentary evidence to support this – in fact test certificates show quite the opposite, but one need only turn on the news or read an article related to some form of production, in China, that should make a customer consider carefully.
Fermanagh produced brites allow local users to remove their dependency on imported fuels and support local jobs throughout the whole supply chain, from raw materials, through to manufacturing and distribution.
The carbon footprint is negligible due to the renewable energy used to produce brites and a sharp contrast to shipping the same product from across the world, which was more than likely created with fossil fuels.
As the UK and Ireland’s largest and most experienced producer and supplier brites adopted ENplus, regarded as the world’s highest standard in wood pellets, to differentiate the high quality of our product from imported fuel from areas such as China. We stand ready to offer unparalleled customer and technical support to those considering using biomass.
The following countries use the ENplus seal, of which China is not one: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom.
Difference in prices mean very little when completely avoiding parameters like guaranteed energy values, ash melting temperatures related to clinker or corrosive chemicals that can impact an appliances lifespan. Check out the brites website for a brief explanation.
Fuels may appear better value when comparing weight, i.e. a tonne of each costs x and y. However people are buying fuel and should be more concerned with looking at what heat is returned for the cost they paid. This paints a dramatically different picture.
The Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme in ROI seeks to distinguish the differences in wood fuels, so those who want reassurance of the quality, of the home grown product they buy, can get it.
Fuel supply will become an issue for some organisations in the future, so it’s important to align yourself with a supplier that has extensive plans to ensure fuel supply for the lifetime of a customer’s appliance.
If anyone wishes to discuss this further please feel free to contact the brites office on +44(0)28 6641 1001.
Timothy, Enniskillen
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