WB0820_pgs_bkj.qxp_Wood Bioenergy Magazine 7/7/20 10:03 AM Page 18
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Advanced Pellets Lead
Wood Energy Discussion
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the third in a three-part series reviewing the speaking sessions during the sixth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo held March 10-11 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta and hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine. The seventh Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo will be held March 29-30, 2022 in Atlanta.
By Rich Donnell, Dan Shell and Jessica Johnson
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popular session during the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo was devoted to Advanced Pellet Technologies, and more specifically: Is It Time to Move to Pellets 2.0? What Is the Technical and Economic Status of Advanced Pellet Technologies? Bill Strauss, president of FutureMetrics, served as the moderator. Strauss noted that steam exploded or torrefied pellets produced by thermal treatment have been promised
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for years as a better option to white pellets. They have higher energy per cubic meter, some exhibit hydrophobic characteristics, and in general they require less modifications to pulverized coal power plants that want to co-fire or fully switch from coal to pellet fuel. However, Strauss said, the promises have consistently failed to come true due to technological shortcomings, their inability to compete with white pellets on a dollars per delivered energy cost basis, and to some degree, market inertia in a sector where more than 25 million tonnes of white pellets will be used in power stations in 2020. An illness kept Bjørn Knappskog, CEO of Arbaflame, from attending, but moderator Strauss stepped in and presented Knappskog’s paper, Advanced Pellet Fuel from a Proven Technology. Knappskog has been head of business development of the bioenergy division at Pemco since 2017, which includes both white pellets production and district heating, and development of next generation wood pellets through Norway-based Arbaflame. He has held the role as CEO of Arbaflame since late 2019, with key focus on commercialization and preparation for large scale industrialization of the technology. Knappskog explained that Arbaflame Pellets are handled and used as coal throughout the supply chain. He said in addition to emerging demand from Japan, Arbaflame sees an increased demand for this type of fuel in Europe. “Coal is actually being phased out by EU governments and local stakeholders,” he said, pointing to examples such as Italy, which is expected to phase out coal power by 2025, as is the UK, Finland by at least 2029, Denmark, The Netherlands and Portugal by 2030. Knappskog said Arbaflame has been developing a coal-
Wood Bioenergy / August 2020
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