Why is Wood Pellet Production use Wood from Energy Plantation and not from Natural Forest Wood?

Basically, all woody biomass can be used as raw material for wood pellet production, but the economic factor is the main limiting factor. That is why wood pellets are produced only from energy plantations and wood industry wastes, and not from natural forest wood. And basically for wood pellet production only uses wood industry wastes and energy plantations to achieve economic factors or in other words, the raw material for wood pellets is wood or wood waste that is worth like the wood waste. That is why wood from natural forests that are decades old are not suitable for use as raw material for wood pellets. The wood has a higher economic value so that if it is used for wood pellet production, the wood pellet product produced will certainly be expensive so that it does not sell in the market. Energy plantation using fast growing trees and coppice namely leguminoceae groups such as gliricidia and red calliandra, while natural forest wood uses plants that grow slowly so that it takes decades to be able to harvest or take the wood like teak trees.

Biomass or specifically wood is a material that can store carbon from the atmosphere. As long as it is in the form of wood, carbon is still stored in the wood. The longer the use of wood for various things in human life, the longer the carbon is stored in the wood material, and vice versa. A number of attempts were made to extend the life of the wood from a number of damages such as wood drying, use of wood preservatives and so on. Based on the above conditions, the carbon storage time in wood material can be grouped into two, namely, first, long-term storage, namely the use of wood for buildings, doors, windows, furniture, etc., and secondly, short-term carbon storage for use as fuel material or energy source. Wood pellets are the use of wood biomass as a source of energy, and because the wood is produced from photosynthesis, that is, trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, use water and sunlight to become material, especially when burned, carbon emissions do not increase the concentration of CO2 or greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so it is termed as carbon neutral fuel.

In the forest management, namely for energy and wood plantations for industrial needs, whose age is up to decades, certainly has its own mechanism and characteristics. As the earth's temperature reduction program is due to climate change due to high atmospheric CO2 concentrations, biomass as a carbon neutral fuel is increasingly needed. Wood pellet needs are projected to reach tens of million of tons in the next few years. This should encourage the importance of increasing the number and extent of energy plantations for the production of wood pellets. The energy plantation for wood pellet production can be integrated with sheep, goat or cow farms, for more details, please read here. Whereas wood for industrial needs with decades of age for use in buildings, furniture and so on began to occur a lot of decline because many are replaced by other materials that are generally cheaper such as aluminum, mild steel and PVC. Wood materials for various purposes are also increasingly limited in their use. A number of environmental problems are also a concern when the wood is preserved mainly with the use of CCA (copper-chrome-arsenic). Although it will produce wood with good properties such as termite resistance, stable dimensions, high mechanical strength and so on but after it wears out and is no longer used and discarded, the wood will release arsenic and chromium into the atmosphere, so it is not environmentally friendly and dangerous.