Container Still Become the Main Choice of Wood Pellet Export in Indonesia?

Buyers' satisfaction for getting goods on demand, undamaged and defective, is an important factor in the sustainability of a business so buyers continue to repurchase and repeat orders, by making or renewing existing contracts, even by increasing their purchasing capacity. This also applies to the wood pellets business. Attempts to get goods that order for the buyer one of them by keeping the goods along the journey from various damage is important one by choosing the packaging or the appropriate wood pellet delivery or the type of delivery. Almost all Indonesian wood pellet exports today use containers with wood pellets in jumbo bags and then arranged inside the container. Some use sack packs then place them in containers as well. There is also a way of bulk or not packed in jumbo bag or sack but still in containers. The use of containers is chosen because, firstly the export wood pellet volume is not large yet, second are not yet available adequate supporting facilities for large quantity wood pellets export with bulk shipment.

Wood pellets is a very sensitive product with water, so protection or keeping it out of water should be done to maintain the quality of the wood pellet. By placing the wood pellet in a container then protection from water such as rain water can be done, so it is still used as the main choice. Then how to export wood pellets in large quantity routinely done every month? Need extra effort at this time if want to use bulk shipment, especially for protection from water. Especially in the rainy season. Rainfall intensity in Indonesia is quite high compared to other countries in general, namely, an average of 2700 mm / year or three times higher than the world average of only 900 mm / year. Indonesia's rainfall is higher than India (1,080 mm), America (715 mm), China (645 mm), Brazil (1,750 mm), Argentina (591 mm) and even Thailand (1,625 mm). Only two of our neighbors are able to surpass the Indonesian rainfall of Malaysia (2,875 mm) and Papua New Guinea (3,140). While countries in the Middle East in general have only a small rainfall such as Jordan (111 mm), Qatar (74 mm), Saudi Arabia (59 mm) and Egypt who only get 51 mm rainfall per year. So if bulk shipment of wood pellets will be done then in the dry season will be easier because water protection is easier to do. In comparison we will see shipping of palm kernel shell (pks) which is also biomass fuel has been exported abroad especially with bulk shipment.

Palm kernel shells are not as sensitive as wood pellets or pellets fuel to water, so the handling is also not as difficult as wood pellets. There are three main things that become the main parameters of palm kernel shells that is water content, calorific value and impurity. Related to the moisture content because the palm kernel shells is not damaged by water but only keep it from getting too wet, while wood pellet which is an industrial product of woody biomass compaction (biomass densification) will be damaged and even destroyed by the presence of water in certain quantities. Mechanical interlocking that occurs during the compaction will decompose and loose due to the presence of a lot of water so the wood pellets destroyed. In shipment of palm kernel shells from stockpile locations to export ports, the use of trucks or barges is common and sometimes only sealed with less dense plastic. In wood pellet closure with plastic when heading to the carrier vessel can also be done but if not tight enough will be prone to water especially in the rainy season, plus if loading to the ship is done in the middle of the sea (transhipment) because the ship can not lean on the port like usually done in Kalimantan.

The difference in the tolerance level of water avaibility between the palm kernel shell and wood pellets, has implications for handling and even the equipment used. Weather factors (such as storms) and density loading traffic port add to the difficulty of loading wood pellets onto the vessel. This makes shipping large quantities of wood pellets with bulk shipment still difficult to be done, so shipping with containers are still the main choice in Indonesia. 

Wood pellet terminal in Canada

Wood pellet loading from silos into the ship

Cement terminal at seaport

Cement loading from silos into the ship

Another reference that we can refer to is the bulk cement shipments. Cement is a product that is also very sensitive to water, in the presence of water then the cement will clot so it becomes unusable, so protection against water is absolutely necessary. Cement distribution lines to their bulk shipment are all protected from the entry of water. In the highways we can easily find large trucks carrying bulk cement pass through, then in a number of ports are also built cement terminals in the form of silos or bin like high towers. When wood pellets production reach massive scale, the infrastructure or supporting equipment is also almost the same as cement and it is now also we can see in wood pellets producing countries like America and Canada. On the receiving port side or port of destination the shipment of adequate equipment is also required to handle the unloading of the wood pellets. For comparison, large quantities of feed pellets will also require almost the same equipment for bulk shipment. So whether the biomass fuel such as wood pellets become waterproof (hydrophobic) like coal? The answer can be with torrefaction technology so the product become torrefied wood pellet. Torrefaction will be discussed in more detail next writing. Insha Allah.