Tag Archives: pellets
M’sia Eyes Bigger Slice Of Growing Biomass Pellets Market
Published on: Thursday, October 10, 2013 Putra Jaya: Malaysia aims to capture a bigger slice of the growing demand for biomass pellets in Asia driven by renewable energy policies in South Korea, Japan and China. Chief Executive Officer of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, Mark Rozario, said the country has an advantage in terms of logistics and cost of transportation, which were usually dominated by pellet producers from US and Europe. “We want to grab this opportunity and with the establishment of the Pellet Association of Malaysia (PAM) earlier, we have united the manufacturers on issues such as quality, pricing and volumes,” he told reporters after the briefing on the progress of the National Biomass Strategy 2020 here Wednesday. Rozario said demand for biomass pellets in Asia by 2020 was estimated to be around 10 million tonnes per year, mainly driven by renewable energy policies in certain countries. “Right now, Malaysia produces about 100,000 tonnes per year and there is room for us to increase our capacity following the plan to collaborate with more plantation owners to supply the feedstocks,” he said. He said Malaysia could produce about five-seven million tonnes per year of pellets in the next five years. Rozario said PAM now has 10 members and five of them had started production of the biomass pellets. He said the agency was ready to attract more players to invest in this industry. Earlier, Malaysia biomass pellet manufacturers inked deals with companies from China and South Korea to supply biomass pellets to help meet their countries’ renewable energy targets. Detik Aturan Sdn Bhd signed the memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s BC21 Co Ltd and Global Green Synergy Sdn Bhd with Chinalight (GuangZhou) – Bernama Continue reading
German Pellets Plans Second US Plant
German Pellets has announced plans to develop a 1-million-metric-ton plant in the central Louisiana town of Urania. The facility is being developed at the former site of a Georgia Pacific fiber and particleboard plant that closed more than a decade ago. Much of the location’s infrastructure is already in place, including railway siding. The plant is expected to be operational next April. Pellets produced at the facility will be shipped via the harbor of Port Arthur on the Gulf of Mexico, a deep-water port where German Pellets operates storage and loading systems. The company is also developing a 500,000-metric-ton plant in Woodville, Texas. That facility sits in the site of a former wood-chip mill. German Pellets operates 14 additional pellet plants throughout Germany and Australia. Earlier this year, the company announced it was also developing a storage shed for wood pellets on the Wismar seaport in Germany, along with Seehafen Wismar GmbH. Continue reading
Finding a Niche in Pellets
Last month, I was talking to Ontario Power Generation’s Director of Business Development Brent Boyko about the conversion of Atikokan Generating Station (from coal to wood pellets) and he mentioned that part of the wood pellets that will fuel the AGS plant after its conversion will come from Rentech Inc. Turns out, they have acquired Georgia-based Fulghum Fibers, the leading provider of contract wood chip processing services in the U.S. Fulghum has a total of 32 mills, 26 in the U.S. and six in South America, that process 15 million metric tons of wood and bark annually. A notice released from the company discusses how the acquisition provides a platform to launch into the growing and complementary global wood pellet industry. With the acquisition, it has also entered a joint venture with Graanul Invest, a European pellet producer, for development and construction of U.S. pellet plants. Graanul has designed, built, and operates six pellet facilities in Europe, which produce 830,000 tons of pellets annually. I think the stories you will find in this month’s Pellet Mill Monthly newsletter—as well as in the Q2 issue of Pellet Mill Magazine , which is just around the corner—further back that assertion up. Continue reading
