The economic potential of wood pellet production from alternative, low-value wood sources in the southeast of the US

Ric Hoefnagels*, Martin Junginger, Andre Faaij

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The global demand for wood pellets used for energy purposes is growing. Therefore, increased amounts of wood pellets are produced from primary forestry products, such as pulp wood. The present analysis demonstrates that substantial amounts of alternative, low-value wood resources are available that could be processed into wood pellets. For three resources, test batches have been produced and tested to qualify for industrial pellet standards. These include: primary forestry residues from premerchantable thinning operations, secondary forestry residues from pole mills and post-consumer wood wastes from discarded wooden transport pallets. The total wood potential of these resources in the southeast of the U.S. (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina), was estimated to be 1.9 Tg y(-1) (dry) available at roadside (excluding transport cost) for 22 $ Mg-1 (dry) increasing to over 5.1 Tg y(-1) at 33 $ Mg-1 (dry). In theory, 4.1 Tg y(-1) pellets could be produced from the estimated potential. However, due to the geographically dispersed supply of these resources, the cost of feedstock supply at a pellet plant increases rapidly at larger plants. It is therefore not expected that the total potential can be processed into wood pellets at costs competitive with those of conventional wood pellets. The optimal size of a pellet plant was estimated at between 55 Gg y(-1) and 315 Gg y(-1) pellets depending on the location and feedstock supply assumptions. At these locations and plant sizes, pellets could be produced at competitive costs of between 82 $ Mg-1 and 100 $ Mg-1 pellets. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)443-454
Number of pages12
JournalBiomass and Bioenergy
Volume71
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2014

Funding

This analysis was conducted in context of the Inbio project, financially supported under the program Sustainable Biomass Import (DBI) by Agentschap NL (now RVO) with project number DBI01006. The Inbio project aims to make low value residue streams, such as urban wood, available for the production of certified, industrial pellets that are economically attractive for large scale electricity generation in Europe. We would like to thank Agentschap NL for the support and the project partners of the Inbio consortium FRAM Renewable Fuels (U.S.), Everest Energy (NL), Control Union (NL) and SQ Consult for their valuable inputs and feedback. Furthermore, we would like to thank the USDA-Forest Service Southern Research Station and Virginia Tech - Brooks Forest Product Center for the information and feedback provided during the project.

Keywords

  • Bioenergy
  • Wood pellets
  • Economic potential
  • Wood wastes
  • Wood residues
  • Southeast US
  • TECHNOECONOMIC ANALYSIS
  • MARKET
  • TRADE
  • valorisation

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