Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo

Wood Bio Conference: The Big Dogs Were There

Two-hundred twenty-five industry personnel, including executives from the leading industrial wood pellet producers in the world, along with 60 exhibitor companies participated in the fifth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo held April 11-12 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The event was hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine and Georgia Research Institute.

It included 25 presentations on a range of topics and included speakers from industrial wood pellet producers Enviva, Drax, Pinnacle Renewable Energy, Highland Pellets and Fram Renewable Fuels. All of them painted a picture moving forward of increased worldwide demand for industrial wood pellets.

Endorsing that projection was leading wood energy consultant William Strauss of FutureMetrics, who noted that almost exactly 20 years to the day of the conference, in April 1998, the first oceanic bulk shipment of wood pellets from North America arrived at the port of Helsingborg, Sweden.

Strauss—noting that the two major markets for pellets are industrial pellets as a substitute for coal in large utility power stations, and premium heating pellets used in pellet stoves and central heating systems—said global wood pellet demand in 2017 was nearly 16.9 million metric tons for industrial pellets and 13.9 million metric tons for premium heating pellets.

Those numbers, Strauss said citing various forecasts and analyses, could escalate to 44.8 million metric tons of industrial pellets and 24.4 million of heating pellets by 2025. Most of that new demand is expected to come in Japan and South Korea.

He said the total “new” demand in Europe and England will be 5.85 million tonnes per year, with demand settling at about 19-20 million tonnes per year by 2022. In the UK, the EPH Lynemouth and MGT Teeside biomass power plant projects are either in construction or commissioning. Lynemouth will bring 1.54 million tonnes and MGT Teesside another 1.16 million tonnes. Also, Drax plans to convert its fourth unit from coal to pellets at its Selby power plant, bringing in another 625,000 tonnes of pellets per year. Meanwhile co-firing (coal and wood) projects in the Netherlands will add 2.53 million tonnes, with much of that at the RWE Essent and Uniper projects.

Strauss reported that in 2017 North America supplied 81% of the UK demand, with the U.S. at 62.4% and Canada at 18.4% combining for more than 5.5 million tonnes. U.S. producers exported nearly 5 million tonnes worldwide in 2017.

The growth in industrial wood pellet demand will come from Japan and Korea, Strauss said, adding that the U.S. has not been a significant participant in the NE Asian markets, but that’s expected to change. Total potential demand in Japan could exceed 12 million tonnes per year by 2025, while South Korea could demand 9 million tonnes.

He said biomass demand in Japan is driven by a Feed in Tariff support scheme for renewable energy, coal thermal plant efficiency standards and carbon emission targets. There is more uncertainty with regard to South Korea demand, given that the current modus operandi there is short-term supply contracts, whereas producers need long-term agreements to support additional production capacity.

Strauss also addressed the possible influx of black pellets, either steam explosion or torrefied. He cited numerous advantages: pellets don’t disintegrate when they get wet; higher volumetric and gravimetric energy density; significantly less dust and fines when handled; lower power requirements for pulverizing SE pellets at a coal power station. He said there is technology that has overcome the technical shortcomings that have prevented the production of cost competitive steam explosion pellets.

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