Cost of producing wood pellets

Shahab Sokhansanj, Ph.D., P.Eng., FEC Biomass & Bioenergy Research Group

University of British Columbia

www.biomass.ubc.ca  

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•  Understand structural and compositional make up of biomass – concerned with quality, cost, volumes, and environment.

•  Develop engineering equations and data for design of unit operations.

•  Develop mass and energy balances for TEA and LCA •  Develop logistical and integration models •  Develop standards and practices for quality evaluations -

safety •  Train and mentor highly qualified engineering (HQP) graduates

in clean energy •  Attend to short and long term needs of industry

Approach

Cost  breakdown    for  producing    regular  and  torrefied  pellets  in  Northern  Bri9sh  Columbia  and  transpor9ng  pellets  to  North  Vancouver  for  export    

Cost  items   Regular  pellets   Torrfied  par9cles  $/dt   $/GJ   $/dt   $/GJ  

Raw  material  purchase 13.09 0.73 16.20 0.76 Raw  material  transporta9on  (Truck  45  km) 17.27 0.96 21.48 1.01

Pellet  produc9on Processing 19.13 1.07 25.96 1.21 Repair  and  maintenance,  Personnel 15.94 0.89 39.85 1.87 Annualized  capital  investment 7.68 0.43 9.51 0.45 Transporta9on  to  North  Vancouver  (Rail  750  km   31.24 1.74 28.87 1.36

Total 104.35 5.81 141.86 6.67 Source  Mahdi  Mobini,  UBC  unpublished  doctoral  thesis  2015

Source:    Mobini  (2015)  

Unit operations Cost

($/ton) Energy input

(MJ/ton)

Min Max Min Max

Feedstock 10 60 100 150

Sizing 2 10 100 350

Drying 5 25 1000 2500

Grinding (hammer mill) 2 6 70 175

Pelletizing 3 7 210 175

Storing 1 5 34 35

Transport 25 50 1000 5000

Material handling 1 2 100 2

Total 49 165 2614 8387

Cost & Energy input

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Energy  input  and  CO2  emissions  

Item   Energy  input  (MJ/dt)   CO2  (kg  t-­‐1)  

Drying   1436.4   118.5  Grinding   112.9   0.8  PelleNzaNon   183.0   1.2  Cooling   8.1   0.1  Trucking   53.1   4.0  Rail  transportaNon   254.6   12.4  Total   2048.1   136.9  Heat  content  of  wood  pellet   20000.0  Percent   10.2  

Estimates of capital and operating costs of pretreatment equipment

Opera9on     Produc9on  rate  (dry  ton/hr)  

Capital  cost  ($)  

Hourly  cost  ($/hr)    

Unit  cost  ($/dry  ton)  

Dryer   10   137,000   74.99   7.50  

Pellet  mill   3   180,000   79.90   26.63  

Shredder  (chipper)   30   385,000   208.01   6.93  

Hammermill   5   82,000   52.79   10.56  

Torrefier   5   507,000   34.87   6.97  

Leaching  equipment   6   755,000   140.78   22.52  

Pricing INL-PDU operations

Global  pellet  trade  routes  

Harves9ng  11%  

Sawmill  11%  

Pellet  Plant  27%  

Storage  0.33%   Truck  from  forest  

to  pellet  plant  1.5%  

Truck  from  pellet  plant  to  railhead    3.7%  Rail  from  pellet  plant  to  Vancouver    3.1%    

Ocean  vessel  from  Vancouver  to  Amsterdam    43%  

Transporta9on  51%  

Marine  transportaNon  Source:

Pa, Ann, Jill Craven, Hsiaotao T. Bi, Staffan Melin, Shahab Sokhansanj. 2012. Environmental Footprints of British Columbia Wood Pellets from a Simplified Life Cycle Analysis. International Journal of Life Cycle Assess 17(2012):220-231 (DOI) 10.1007/s11367-011-0358-7

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Stage-­‐wise  percent  of  energy  input  for  producing  pellets  in  Northern  Bri9sh  Columbia  and  transpor9ng  the  pellets  to  Europe  

Major  issues  

•  Sustainability  –  life  cycle  analysis  

•  Cost  reducNon  in  manufacturing  –  reducNon  in  energy  and  power  input  

•  Improving  pellet  handling  properNes  –  hydrophobicity  and  energy  density  

•  Best  manufacturing  pracNces  •  Environmental  assessments  –  reducNon  in  emissions  

   Main  cost  drivers    Capacity  uNlisaNon    Wood  raw  material    Bunker  fuel  for  ocean  transport    Mill  capacity    Moisture  content  of  raw  material  

TEAM  •  PI:  Dr.  Shahab  Sokhansanj    •  CO-­‐PI’s  Professors    Jim  Lim,    Tony  Bi,  Lau,  

Saddler  •  PDF  and  Graduate  students:  Dr.  Fahimeh  

Yazdanpanah,  Dr.  Linoj  Kumar,  \  •  Partners:  Mr.  Staffan  Melin  Wood  Pellet  

AssociaNon  of  Canada,  Cogent  Industries.    •  Funding  leverage:  Mitacs,  CEATI,  

Pinnacle  Energy,  Ag  &  Food  Canada,  LGI,  NRCan,  Global  Coal,  NSERC.  

 •  www.bimass.ubc.ca  

UBC  BBRG/  BFN    Team