A Vancouver-based startup is convinced that biocoal could revolutionize B.C.’s burgeoning wood pellet sector, but industry experts say the technology remains unproven.
A few weeks ago, an obscure company known as Global Bio-Coal Energy Inc. burst onto the bioenergy scene with news that it planned to build a $22 million biocoal production plant in Terrace.
Global CEO John Bennett said the facility would be a world first, and there could be as many as “30 or more of these plants operating in the province within the next three years.”
In an interview with Business in Vancouver, Bennett said the technology converts wood waste (think pine beetle wood, bark or branches) into a coal-like product that can be compacted into pellet form and shipped to foreign markets where it’s burned to produce power.
“It’s like accelerating nature by a few million years,” Bennett said.
These so-called biocoal pellets would be direct competition for B.C.’s traditional pellet producers, which include five companies, nine plants and an estimated annual production of 1.1 million tonnes.
Bennett believes biocoal pellets have a leg up on traditional “white” pellets because white pellets aren’t waterproof and have to be transported undercover.
Biocoal pellets, on the other hand, are hydrophobic.
“It can be stored outside because rain doesn’t hurt it,” Bennett said. “It’s just like coal – it can be loaded in the coal ships and go to Europe or Korea and it’ll be replacing the white pellets.”
He added that biocoal pellets can be co-fired with traditional coal much easier than can white pellets, which means they could be a supplemental power source for low-cost coal plants.
But the Wood Pellet Association of Canada has yet to find proof that biocoal is commercially viable.
“Based on our findings, we don’t think it’s as straight forward [as others think],” said Gordon Murray, the association’s executive director. “In our travels around the world, we’ve seen several attempts to do this and they haven’t been successful. The theory works and we’ve seen people do it in small quantities, but there’s nobody that has had commercial success on a large scale.”
However, that doesn’t mean B.C. pellet producers aren’t interested.
Last week, the association, the Ministry of Forests and Range and the BC Bioenergy Network said a $170,000 study was underway to assess the feasibility of a pilot plant in B.C.
The study is not connected to Global Bio-Coal’s plans in Terrace, and both the wood pellet association and BC Bioenergy were careful to differentiate their study from the technology Bennett plans to use.
Murray said the study looks at the feasibility of “torrefied” pellets produced from wood waste.
BC Bioenergy said biocoal, or bio-char, is a different product with a different technology, although both use extreme heat to create a blackened material that can be shaped into pellets.
The energy density of torrefied pellets is believed to be 22% to 24% higher than white pellets.
Proponents say that higher energy density could slash transportation and storage costs by as much as 50%.
“If we can be successful with this process, it has the potential to completely revolutionize wood pellet manufacturing,” Murray said.
Meanwhile, B.C. pellet producers continue to expand their operations to meet a growing demand from European and Asian markets, which see pellets as a renewable energy source.
On September 17, Pinnacle Pellet Inc., the province’s largest pellet producer, announced plans to build a 400,000-tonne-per-year plant near Burns Lake.
COO Leroy Reitsma told BIV his company has looked extensively at the viability of torrefied or biocoal pellets, but has yet to make the economics work.
“There’s no free lunch in this thing,” Reitsma said. “For us to produce a tonne of pellets, it takes X units of input fibre. To produce a tonne of biocoal, it takes almost two and a quarter more fibre input to make the same tonne.”
Yet, industry experts say B.C.’s wood pellet industry needs to stay ahead of the game technologically if it hopes to survive.
More than 80% of the province’s pellets are shipped to European markets, which means B.C. producers compete with other pellet companies around the globe. (See “Producers face biomass burnout” – issue 1081; July 13-19.)
Michael Weedon, executive director of BC Bioenergy, said pellet producers around the world are trying to find a way to make torrefied pellets commercially viable and get an edge up on traditional pellet producers.
Meanwhile, pellets have yet to catch on in North America thanks to an abundance of cheap coal and hydroelectric power.
If B.C.’s pellet producers can find a way to manufacture torrefied or biocoal pellets efficiently, they might be able to compete with traditional coal.
That means they could tap power markets closer to home and ensure their long-term survival, Weedon said.
“If we’re going to access any of the coal markets, you’re going to have to go to the torrefied or bio-char product,” he said. “That’s my opinion, and I think it’s shared by many in the industry.”