Buy Wood Pellets or PKS (Palm Kernel Shell)?

The need for biomass fuel as a decarbonization effort because it is a renewable fuel that is carbon neutral is increasing. Two biomass fuels that are popular in the world and compete fiercely are wood pellets and palm kernel shell (PKS). Under normal conditions or without a spike in demand, the price of wood pellets is usually more expensive than PKS. This is understandable because wood pellet production requires more effort than PKS. Wood pellet production requires a number of equipment with an expensive investment, while PKS only requires minimal equipment, namely just a screening/sieving machine.

But what if the prices of wood pellets and PKS are almost the same or even PKS is even more expensive? This can happen due to several factors, namely first, the influence of market demand. High market demand, especially PKS from Indonesia and Malaysia, means supply is reduced or inadequate. PKS production in Indonesia and Malaysia is indeed much greater than wood pellet production from these two countries. Apart from the larger production volume, factors such as availability and continuity (long-term security of supply) can be guaranteed more than wood pellets. This is because it is estimated that there are 1500 palm oil mills in Indonesia and Malaysia that produce PKS which is a by-product or waste of palm oil mills. This allows for long contracts between sellers or suppliers (exporters) and buyers who are usually not end users but trading companies in Japan and Korea.

Loading PKS for export with transhipment (ship to ship)

The second factor is levy and tax. PKS exports in Indonesia are subject to levy and tax whose value is correlated with the price of crude palm oil (CPO). This is because PKS in Indonesia is included in the palm oil derivative product category, whereas in Malaysia it is not subject to these levy and tax, because PKS in Malaysia is included in the palm oil waste category. When levy and tax are high, the price of PKS will automatically become expensive. This levy and tax factor is something that PKS exporters cannot control. Through the APCASI organization (Indonesian Palm Kernel Shell Entrepreneurs Association) they are fighting for levy and tax to be more measurable or cheaper, even if they can be eliminated like in Malaysia.

Basically buyers will buy the best possible goods at the cheapest possible prices, or better quality goods but cheaper prices. The quality of wood pellets is better than PKS, namely in terms of calorific value, ash content, shape uniformity and moisture content. However, due to volume factor and continuity (long-term security of supply) which are often or still widely in doubt, the choice to go to PKS is still being made. To overcome this, wood pellets production must meet production capacity with a reliable source of raw material supply. Production of wood pellets from energy plantations is the solution.

With wood raw materials from energy plantations, the supply of raw materials will be more stable, unlike those that rely on collecting wood waste from sawmills or wood processing industries. With Indonesia's production forest area reaching tens of millions of hectares, of course land is not a problem in wood pellet production. Wood pellet production centers can be created on these production forest lands, for more details, you can read here.
 

Will PKS for Export Disappear from Circulation and be Replaced by Wood Pellet?

 The need for palm kernel shell (PKS) is increasing due to the increasing need, especially for the export market, making the price even more expensive, even matching the price of wood pellets. Nearly all of the biomass plants in Japan have experienced delays in their operations, now come online for more details can be read here. This has led to an increase in the price of the PKS.

Palm kernel shell (PKS) is a biomass fuel that is the main competitor for wood pellets, because the quality or specifications have many similarities. Previously, PKS were always cheaper than wood pellets, even in the international market some time ago the price of PKS was only about half the price of wood pellets. But currently the price of PKS equals even slightly above wood pellets. This of course will make users switch to wood pellets because of better quality such as lower moisture content, higher calorific value, uniform size and shape, and generally lower ash content.

When users flock change to wood pellets, the PKS commodity for export will get smaller in portions and even disappear altogether. Moreover, wood pellets from Vietnam and Russia are known to be cheap with large capacities. Vietnam is even the largest producer of wood pellets in Asia with a production of more than 1 million tons / year. Of course, this condition is very sad for exporters who have been doing business by exporting the PKS. The high tax and levy in Indonesia make it more difficult for exporters in Indonesia, whereas in Malaysia they do not exist. The most important thing that must be done is to be able to maintain the price of the export PKS so that the PKS is still worth it with its quality. It is not easy, of course.

Vibrating Screen for Cleaning the PKS for Export Oriented

One of the quality parameters for PKS or palm kernel shells for the export market is the cleanliness factor. This cleanliness factor is very much associated with a lot or  little impurities in it. PKS in palm oil mills are usually only piled in a back yard the palm oil mill. This is very possible to mix with a number of impurities that are in the vicinity of the location or because of a number of waste or garbage that might also be disposed of at the location of the PKS pile. PKS impurities commonly found are metal, plastic and stone. For export purposes, the amount of impurity allowed or tolerance level is very small, which is around 1%. Why does the PKS need to be cleaned in such a way? This is because the impurities will interfere with the combustion process or utilization of the PKS and the power plant is the largest user. And for more details can be read here.

Manual Screener

Screener is the equipment used to clean the PKS from the impurities. The impurities or foreign materials will be separated from the PKS due to differences in size. And specifically for metal impurities, the separation is done by magnet (magnetic separator). The cleaning process with this sieve is basically very easy, even with a manual sieve it can be done. But for a large enough volume, for example up to thousands of tons, the manual sieve is inefficient and takes a long time, so it takes a sieve that works mechanically. There are two mechanical sieves that are commonly used, namely vibrating screen and rotary screen.

In practice the type of vibrating screen is more popular than the rotary screen. This is because the construction and operation of vibrating screens are easier, besides the price of vibrating screens is also cheaper than the rotary screen. Vibrating screen is a sieve that operates due to vibrations from eccentric movements. The higher the rpm the vibrating screen movement will be smoother. Both the vibrating screen can also be equipped with multiple sieves or multi-level sieves so that a number of product fractions can be obtained based on their size. It's just that it's also easier to do with a vibrating screen. In PKS sieving it is usually only one to three levels of sifting.

PKS needs for the Asian and European markets are predicted to continue to increase every year to reach millions of tons. This is because electricity production using PKS is increasing. PKS supply or supply mainly originates from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as several countries in West Africa, the origin of palm oil trees. Indonesia and Malaysia mainly supply the needs of Japan and Korea in Asia while West Africa supplies countries in Europe. PKS as a biomass fuel also has competitors, especially wood pellets. PKS prices on the world market are much cheaper than wood pellets so that many biomass power plants prefer PKS. PKS production for export is also easier than pellet wood. Exports of PKS from Indonesia and Malaysia are quite large, because the number of PKS produced is also large, while the needs are also large. Besides that, the use of PKS in the country that is still small makes the PKS export more dominant

To order a vibrating screen machine, you can email it at cakbentra@gmail.com or call +62 813-288-41805

Tips for Choosing PKS

For the CPO producers, tenera is preferred because the thick coir (mesocarp fiber) will produce more CPO. Whereas for PKS (palm kernel shell) users such as power plants and a number of industries, the type of dura palm oil is preferred. PKS tenera has a thin shell (0.5-4 mm) so that the calorific value tends to be lower than the dura with a thicker shell (2-8 mm). Old palm oil plantations usually use tenera types to maximize CPO yield, while old palm oil plantations usually use a type of dura. PKS as a byproduct or one of the solid wastes in a CPO mill is actually not a major concern for palm oil mills, and CPO is clearly the main focus. PKS is primarily a concern of traders and users, so quality factors emerge as a consequence of buying and selling transactions.

Indonesia has around 12 million hectares of palm oil plantations at present, consisting of 4.8 million hectares of smallholder plantations, 6.2 million hectares of private plantations and 0.8 million hectares of state plantations. There are still many regions in Indonesia that use the type of dura on their palm oil plantations. Smallholder palm oil or community palm oil plantations are one of the many that produce this type of dura palm. When PKS demand increases sharply as it is today, especially for export markets to Japan and Korea (more information read here), then PKS dura types are the first choice. In practice it is difficult to find PKS that is 100% dura because the source of palm oil fruits used in CPO production also comes from various sources. The source of the nucleus (company plantation) can be the majority in the form of tenera, while palm oil from community plantations can be the majority of the dura. The composition of the dura and tenera also varies depending on composition the nucleus and plasma plantations. For example, a CPO mill with a nucleus plantation which is majority still new plants so that the palm oil fruit majority comes from the community plantation. Or it could be that the nucleus plantation has entered the replanting phase so that supply is limited and relies on community plantations and so on.

According to botany, dura-type plants have dominant alela homosigot (sh + sh +) so produce thick shells. Whereas hybrids from dura with pisifera, which are tenera-type plants that have alela heterosigot (sh + sh-) have thin shells and are surrounded by fiber rings in the mesocarp. Pisifera type plants themselves have recessive alela homosigot (sh-sh-) so they do not form shells. Generally this type of pisifera is not used as a commercial for palm oil plantations because it fails to form fruit. But indeed there are several types of pisifera that are still fertile and capable of reproducing. Dura type plants can also be said to be parent plants because the tenera type is a crossing of dura and pisifera.

PKS For Coal Powerplant in Europe

Europe with its bio-economic program in the RED (Renewable Energy Directive) has targeted the use of renewable energy to reach a minimum of 20% by 2020 with biomass consumption reaching 70% of all renewable energy and by 2030 to be at least 27%. For biomass energy, Europe is also the largest producer of wood pellets, which is currently estimated at 13.5 million tons / year while its consumption is 18.8 million tons / year. The biggest wood pellet producing countries in Europe are Germany and Sweden. Even though the production of wood pellets of 13.5 million tons / year has not been able to meet the internal needs of the region, so it still needs supply from outside. America and Canada are the main suppliers of wood pellet needs for the country. Most of the use of wood pellets for electricity generation. In addition to wood pellets, PKS has also been imported from Indonesia. Along the size of the target to be achieved, the need for biomass fuel is predicted to increase.

Although most power plants currently use pulverized coal boiler technology which reaches around 50% of the world's electricity generation, the use of grate combustor boiler technology and fluidized bed boilers is also increasing. Pulverized coal boiler is mainly used for very large capacity plants (> 100 MW), while for ordinary medium capacity uses fluidized bed technology (between 20-100 MW) and for smaller capacity with combustor grate (<20 MW). The advantage of boiler boiler combustion and fluidized bed technology is fuel flexibility including tolerance to particle size. Various agricultural waste, municipal waste, used tires and so on can be used as fuel. When the pulverized coal boiler requires a small particle size (1-2 cm) like sawdust so that it can be atomized on the pulverizer nozzle, the combustor grate and fluidized bed the particle size of gravel (max. 8 cm) can be accepted. Based on these conditions agricultural waste, namely PKS has a great opportunity as fuel for these boilers.

49 MW Biomass Powerplant with Fluidized Bed Technology
in Japan that use PKS as fuel, has been operating since 2015 

To be able to fuel the boiler combustor grate and fluidized bed boiler PKS can be used directly, without additional pretreatment. More specifically for fluidized bed boilers, circulating fluized beds (CFB) boilers are more suitable for PKS compared to boiler fluidized bed (BFB) boilers, for more details read here. Then is PKS not suitable for pulverized coal boiler? There are several things that need to be considered for the use of PKS in pulverized coal boilers. The first thing that can be done is to reduce PKS particle size to a maximum of 2 cm so that it can be atomized in a pulverized system. The second thing to note is the percentage of PKS in coal, or the term cofiring. Unlike a grate and a fluidized bed combustor that can be flexible with various types of fuel, pulverized almost all use coal only. Of course it can also be pulverized to be replaced with biomass, especially PKS, but there are specific things that distinguish biomass and coal fuels, namely ash content and ash chemistry. Both of these things greatly influence the combustion characteristics in the pulverized system.

Coal ash content is generally greater than biomass, besides that coal ash chemistry is very different from biomass ash chemistry. Biomass ash has lower an inorganic than coal, but the alkali content in biomass can change the properties of coal ash, especially aluminosilicate ash. Practically, if you want to change the pulverized system from coal to biomass, especially PKS, it is necessary to modify the power plant and this is also not cheap, but if you want without modification or just a small modification of the power plant is needed, namely the cofiring method. Biomass cofiring with coal in small portions for example 3-5% does not need to modify the pulverized power plant. For example, Shinci in Japan with a capacity of 2 x 1,000 MW of supercritical pulverized fuel with 3% cofiring requires 16,000 tons / year of biomass and no modification, likewise with Korea Shoutheast Power (KOSEP) 5,000 MW with 5% cofiring requiring 600,000 tons / year of biomass and also without modification. Why is the cofiring in the pulverized system discussed a lot? In addition to this type of generator, the most number with a very large electricity production capacity so as to be an effective means of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere which also automatically reduces coal use, also the use of biomass in cofiring has an effect on plant operations and the price of electricity produced. The other main reason is because is the cheapest way to enter renewable sector especially for big coal powerplants.

Denmark 700 MW Studstrup power station conducts cofiring up to 20% with straw

Combustor grate technology, fluidized bed and pulverized are basically combustion technologies. Combustion technology is one of the 3 thermal biomass processes that are widely applied, with the other two are gasification and pyrolysis. Gasification as well as pyrolysis can also be used for electricity production, but its use is not as much as combustion technology and its electricity production capacity is generally also small. Almost the same as a combustor grate and fluidized bed, fuel for gasification and pyrolysis is also flexible, including coal and PKS. In gasification technology mainly to maximize gas products (syngas) while in pyrolysis to maximize its solid products. PKS can be pyrolyzed to produce charcoal while coal will produce coke if it is pyrolyzed. Charcoal from PKS can be used for fuel, briquette production and activated charcoal while coke for steel smelting. Syngas is a pyrolysis by-product that can be used for electricity production while in gasification, syngas is the main product that can also be used for electricity production.

Why use PKS for the powerplant fuel? This is because PKS has almost the same characteristics as wood pellets, many are available and are cheap. Indonesia and Malaysia are the two main producers of PKS. PKS is produced from palm oil processing and considered as waste. With an area of ​​Indonesian oil palm plantations reaching 12 million hectares in Indonesia and 5 million hectares in Malaysia, the number of PKS produced from both countries reached 15 million tons / year. The number of PKS in both countries exceeds the production of wood pellets from the United States and Canada, or the two largest producers of wood pellets today. And of course the United States and Canada cannot produce PKS, because they do not have oil palm plantations, but Indonesia and Malaysia can also produce wood pellets because they have large forests. The production of wood pellets in Indonesia and Malaysia is still small today, which is less than 1 million tons / year, but the production of PKS is quite large which can act as an initial driver of bioeconomy in the countries and supply the PKS biomass to Europe.