Production of Pini Kay Briquette from Plywood and Veneer Factory Waste

Indonesia's plywood production is estimated at more than 10 million cubic meters each year, which is produced from hundreds of plywood factories, even Indonesia once dominated the world wood industry in the period 1980 to 1995. The existence of plywood factories in Indonesia has actually been around for a long time, but its development only became apparent after in 1972. After the period 1980-85 the number of factories increased rapidly. At that time there were no less than 110 medium to large scale factories in almost all provinces in Indonesia. There are five provinces as the largest plywood producers in Indonesia, namely East Java, East Kalimantan, Central Java, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. And six other provinces that are starting to develop are Banten, Papua, Central Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Riau and Jambi. Most of the plywood is for the export market.

APKINDO (Indonesian Wood Panel Association) is a forum for plywood and veneer industry players. When APKINDO was formed on February 12, 1976, it was initiated by 13 plywood companies, while currently it has members from more than 125 industries spread throughout Indonesia. APKINDO aims to foster unity and togetherness and voice the interests of the plywood industry to utilize logs more efficiently, absorb more labor and increase added value. APKINDO's role continues to this day, one of which is to support the SVLK policy which is believed to be able to restore the positive image of Indonesian forestry in the eyes of the world, so that it will make it easier for Indonesian wood products, especially plywood, to win competition in the global market. 

The volume of wood waste in the plywood industry is quite large, reaching almost 55% or more than 5 million tons per year of national plywood production. The potential for this waste is quite large and has great potential to be processed into pini kay briquette (wood briquette screw type). Why should have to process it into pini kay briquette (wood briquette screw type)? Pini kay briquette is the choice for the solution to the plywood waste problem because apart from the production process being easier, the machine investment is also cheaper. This is because plywood factory wood waste is already dry so it does not require a drying process. Apart from being quite expensive, the dryer also have operational costs. It is also very possible to obtain high quality due to the low ash content, because the wood for plywood production has been debarked so that the content can be reduced to below 1%.

Veneer is a thin sheet of board used to make plywood. The veneers are arranged and glued together, in odd quantities, so that they become plywood. Many veneer manufacturers do not have plywood manufacturing units, but in general plywood factories have veneer production units. Veneers can be made by peeling (rotary cutting), slicing, sawing and sharpening. Indonesian veneer production is currently quite large as is the waste it produces. This waste will also have great added value by processing it into pini kay briquettes, just like the plywood waste above.

The pini kay briquette production process can use the plywood and veneer industry waste mentioned above. Before being compressed into pinikay briquettes in a briquette machine or screw press, the waste needs to be uniform in size to the size of sawdust and also have a dryness level of around 10%. Wood waste that is large in size needs to be reduced in size first and the dryness level also needs to be tried to reach the 10% range. With a screw press / extruder, wood biomass from these wastes can be compacted (densified) up to 1400 kg/m3 or much denser than wood pellets which are around 700 kg/m3. The pini kay briquette product can then be cut into certain sizes and ready to be marketed, especially for the export market. The need for pini kay briquettes is mainly as space heating fuel. Furthermore, this pini kay briquette can also be further processed into charcoal briquettes or commonly called sawdust charcoal briquettes. With this density, the burning time for briquetted charcoal is twice that of ordinary charcoal or more. Meanwhile, the main use of charcoal briquette is for barbeque.

For the plywood and veneer industry which produces up to thousands of tonnes of woody biomass waste every month, potentially becoming an environmental problem, the production of pini kay briquette could be an effective solution. And if there is a plywood and veneer industry that is interested in producing pini kay briquettes, we are ready to help the market.

Another Form of Reclamation - Energy Plantation for Wood Pellet Production and Integrated Farming

 

Post-mining reclamation is the obligation of mining companies / IUP (Mining Business License) holders so they must prepare funds for this. Apart from reforesting mining areas in forest areas, other forms of reclamation are more flexible because there are many types, but the aim can provide economic, social and environmental benefits. If the mining company does not carry out reclamation, it will receive heavy sanctions, namely a fine of up to 100 billion rupiah. Post-reclamation business or activity management is also flexible according to the agreement as long as it does not conflict with the above objectives.

Don't Choose The Wrong Machine: Wood Pelletizer With Feed Pelletiser, and Wood Extruder With Charcoal Extruder

The visual appearance alone can sometimes be unbelievable. Two things can visually appear the same or very similar but turn out to be different. This often happens in the production of wood pellets and wood briquettes (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). And what's worse, this machine is the heart of the industrial production process, namely the pelletiser in the wood pellet industry and the extruder in the wood briquette industry (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). So that errors in selecting the machine can also have fatal consequences, namely not only is the production target not achieved, even the product in question is not successfully produced. This is why the buyer or user of the machine must be careful about the machine that will be purchased and used.

In the wood pellet industry, mistakes often occur, namely pelletisers are used for animal feed but are used for wood pellets. As a result, wood pellets may not be formed at all because the power for feed pelletisers is much smaller compared to pelletisers for wood or wood pellet production. Offers of cheap prices often make buyers or users tempted and do not look further, so that as a result they will be disappointed.

Likewise in the wood briquette industry (pini kay briquette / uncarbonised briquette). Wood extruders also have much larger motors than charcoal extruders. Briquettes produced with a wood extruder apart from not requiring additional adhesive are also denser and harder due to the use of a high-powered motor. The mistake that can occur is that a charcoal extruder is used for a wood extruder and this also usually happens because the price is cheaper. The briquettes produced from the wood extruder can then also be made into charcoal, producing the final product in the form of charcoal briquettes. Although charcoal briquette production using a charcoal extruder will also produce this product, the process route and product quality are different. Below is the route for the charcoal briquette production process.

The raw material used in route 1 is wood dust such as sawdust which is then pressed or compacted with a wood extruder. With strong pressure and high heat, no additional adhesive is needed, but lignin, which is a natural polymer found in wood, acts as an adhesive. The resulting briquettes can then be charcoaled in a carbonization furnace and the final product is charcoal briquettes. Meanwhile, in route 2, the raw materials are charcoaled or carbonized first, then the charcoal is mixed with adhesive, usually starch and pressed or compacted using a charcoal extruder. The use of additional adhesive is because in charcoal, lignin has been decomposed in the previous carbonization or carbonization process. The final product produced is charcoal briquettes. The quality of the charcoal briquettes in the route 1 process is better than the route 2 process because apart from being denser so the burning time is longer as well as the heat produced.

So, in order not to make the wrong choice, buyer / user have to be careful and precise about the specifications of the machine, as well as knowing the raw materials and production process and don't be easily tempted by offers of cheap prices. The greater the production capacity, the greater the need for pelletiser and extruder equipment, so that if the wrong choice occurs, the risk is fatal, because these machines are expensive. It is also important to note that the equipment purchased also comes from a manufacturer that has been tested so that it has reliable performance.

Why Is It Better For Palm Oil Mills To Use Pyrolysis Rather Than Combustion Furnaces?

The palm oil mill production process or CPO production always requires steam for sterilization, this means a boiler is needed. The heat needed by the boiler usually comes from a furnace with fuel in the form of mesocarp fiber and palm kernel shells. Apart from being used for sterilization, the steam is also used to rotate turbines and produce electricity. With continuous pyrolysis, heat for the boiler can be supplied from syngas and biooil products. Apart from that, pyrolysis also produces biochar as the main product and pyroligneous acid, which is a kind of wood vinegar. The last two ingredients will be very useful in palm oil plantations. Using these two fuels (gas and liquid fuel) will make the furnace produce cleaner smoke compared to burning solid fuel in the form of mesocarp fiber and palm kernel shells which is usually done up to now.

Many palm oil plantations are on acidic soils so the pH needs to be raised and biochar can be used effectively. The biggest operational cost for palm oil plantations is fertilizer and the use of biochar will increase fertilizer efficiency thereby reducing fertilizer input and saving costs. The application of biochar in palm oil plantations apart from improving soil quality thereby increasing the productivity of palm oil fruit or FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunch) is also part of the climate solution, namely carbon sequestration which receives compensation in the form of carbon credits. The carbon credits will also provide additional income for the palm oil company. Apart from that, pyroligneous acid can also be used as fertilizer and biopesticide.

The development of combustion technology is also increasingly developing, starting with the use of moving grates to reciprocating grates used to increase boiler efficiency. But the basic question is how profitable is the use of this technology for palm oil companies in overall? The use of the combustion furnace only increases the efficiency of the boiler, whereas the use of continuous pyrolysis in addition to sufficient boiler heat can also produce other benefits in the form of environmental and financial benefits. Environmental benefits from improving soil fertility conditions and minimizing fertilizer being leached or lost into the environment with the slow release fertilizer technique, for more details read here and also the income from carbon credits which is also big.

The application of biochar is for palm oil plantations, while biochar production is from palm oil mills, while the plantation division and mill division are two separate organizations within the palm oil company. The role of the general manager in particular is needed to handle this so that the company's big goals as a profitable, environmentally sound and sustainable company can be achieved. Factors in the form of maximizing profits, improving land and the environment, as well as being part of the climate solution with carbon sequestration will be a strong driving force for the use of continuous pyrolysis compared to combustion furnaces.

Decarbonization of Coal Mining with Reclamation for Energy Plantations for Wood Pellet Production

Wood pellets are carbon neutral fuel so they do not add CO2 to the atmosphere, which is different from fossil fuels such as coal which are carbon positive, namely adding CO2 to the atmosphere, which is part of the climate solution. Net zero emissions and decarbonization efforts are also accelerated by the use of carbon neutral fuel such as wood pellets. This is an important and main reason for the production of wood pellets in mining companies, especially coal, so that they can reduce CO2 emissions from burning coal. Post-mining land at coal companies can be reclaimed in another form, namely by creating energy plantations as raw material for wood pellet production. There are millions of hectares of ex-mining land that have potential as energy plantations, for more details read here.

Cofiring coal with biomass is an easy and cheap entry point for coal power plants to gradually use renewable fuels. Over time the biomass to coal cofiring ratio can continue to be increased so that CO2 emissions from carbon positive coal are reduced. Technically, a cofiring ratio of up to 5% does not require equipment modifications at the coal power plants. The amount of CO2 that can be replaced (carbon offset) with carbon neutral fuel such as wood pellets also has the opportunity to get carbon credits or other compensation. The implementation of a carbon tax also increasingly encourages a reduction in the use of coal in power plants and vice versa, namely encouraging an increase in the use of renewable fuels, especially wood pellets in these coal power plants or an increase in the cofiring ratio, even ideally fulfiring can be done, namely 100% using renewable fuel.

The implementation of a carbon tax in Indonesia is planned for 2025, after several postponements. The lowest carbon tax rate is IDR 30 per kilogram of carbon dioxide equivalent (IDR 30,000 or around US$ 2 per ton of CO2 equivalent). This tariff is actually much smaller than the initial proposal of IDR 75. With a tariff of IDR 30, Indonesia is one of the countries with the lowest tariff in the world for carbon tax. By burning 1 ton of coal, it will produce around 3 tons of CO2 emissions, so the carbon tax imposed will reach IDR 90,000 per ton of coal. Meanwhile, the use of renewable or carbon neutral fuels such as wood pellets is not subject to the carbon tax. Apart from that, mining companies are also obliged to reclaim their post-mining land, which if not done will be subject to heavy sanctions.

Energy plantation plants are a type of pioneer plant, easy to grow, efficient at using water, fertilize the soil and have strong roots to resist erosion. Legume types such as calliandra and gliricidia are commonly used as energy plantation plants. Integration of energy plantation product processing must be carried out so that optimal benefits are obtained, namely the main product is wood for wood pellet production, leaves as ruminant animal feed and honey as high quality food. The energy plantation must also be created to be able to produce sustainably, namely by maintaining a balance between wood productivity for wood pellet production, environmental functions in the form of maintaining erosion and groundwater, and the volume of wood harvested must not exceed the growth rate or be at least the same (carbon balance) and using by-products for additional revenue, such as using leaves for animal feed and honey from honey bee farms.