What is Sumatran Flood Wood For?

Former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), Susi Pudjiastuti, urged President Prabowo Subianto to evaluate and halt the timber industry if it turns out that state revenues from the sector are not commensurate with the environmental damage and human lives lost. The devastating floods in Sumatra (Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra), which killed thousands of people, have captured national and even international attention. The government must elevate the status of the disaster to a national disaster so that the causes, perpetrators, impacts, and future anticipation can be identified. Without an elevating status, the problem will not be adequately addressed and foreign aid will be reluctant to enter. The perpetrators who caused the natural disaster, including the makers of the policies that supported it, must be investigated and prosecuted.

And that's not even counting other material losses, such as the destruction of infrastructure, homes, and so on. This tragic and heartbreaking situation would not have occurred if forests had been properly protected. When forests are cleared for palm oil plantations without adequate consideration and calculation, or solely for profit, the price is thousands of human lives, as Susie Pujiastuti noted. The timber from land clearing for palm oil plantations is so abundant that it becomes a source of significant profits.

Indonesia is currently the world's palm oil king with production of more than half (50%) of the world's palm oil or around 50 million tons of palm oil / CPO per year and the demand for palm oil continues to increase as the world's population continues to need a supply of vegetable oil (for food and biofuel). Palm oil is the world's largest vegetable oil production, beating other vegetable oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil and canola oil. Palm oil with soybean oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed / canola oil are the four main vegetable oils in the world, where producing countries compete with each other (read: trade war) to market their vegetable oil products. The advantage of palm oil is the highest productivity of palm oil among other vegetable oils or the most efficient among the four most consumed vegetable oils in the world. For comparison, to produce 1 ton of palm oil requires 0.25 hectares, while to produce 1 ton of soybean oil requires 2 hectares, then 1 ton of sunflower seed oil requires 1.43 hectares and production of 1 ton of rapeseed / canola oil requires 1.25 hectares.

Another advantage is that palm oil tree cannot grow in subtropical countries like Europe and North America, so this should be a blessing for Indonesia, not a disaster. This is despite the fact that they are not native to Indonesia but originate from West Africa. With an area of ​​nearly 17 million hectares, Indonesia is the owner of the largest palm oil plantations in the world and a significant source of foreign exchange for the country. However, efforts to boost palm oil production through extensification must not ignore the aspects of safety and environmental sustainability. This extensification can even be slowed down through a number of intensifications, one of which is the application of biochar. For more details, read here.

The sustainability and deforestation aspects are 2 important points especially for a number of European countries to assess plantation products, especially palm oil and even the EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) will be implemented in about 1 year or fully effective January 1, 2027. But unfortunately, these European countries apply double standards because palm oil is treated very strictly even with various layered regulations, but this is not the case with other major vegetable oils, namely soybean oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed / canola oil.

The Sumatran floods recently demonstrated a haphazard policy (out of the bounds of sustainability) that was then exposed by the disaster. Land clearing resulted in a massive amount of logs. The abundance of logs created a seemingly endless island of logs, but they also polluted the environment and disrupted mobility. The losses caused by the floods were so great that they formed a seemingly endless island of logs due to the sheer size of the piles. One of the post-flood measures is clearing these logs. Some of these logs have high economic value and can therefore be utilized. Of course the profits from the sale of these logs are given to the people affected by the disaster caused by the indiscriminate logging. This distribution helps accelerate post-disaster recovery.

Technically, the wood needs to be selected based on its type, size, and market potential. Meanwhile, wood that is less economical or considered waste, such as because it is too small, broken into small pieces, split, and so on, can be used for biomass fuel, such as wood pellet production. The production capacity of a wood pellet factory is adjusted to the volume of waste, market demand, and investment in the factory's production machinery. The location of the wood pellet factory should also be close to the raw materials and not far from the export port. Several treatments, such as washing, are necessary because the wood is dirty and muddy. Similarly, wood submerged in the sea can potentially increase its chlorine content. Besides wood pellets, other biomass fuel products that can be produced include wood chips and wood briquettes. Market readiness is crucial in selecting biomass fuel products to be produced.

Biomass fuel production from flood wood waste is certainly not sustainable. Although the volume of wood waste is mounting and will only be depleted in a few years, consideration must be given to continuing to produce sustainable raw materials, especially after the flood wood waste is gone. Bare lands need to be reforested, as do critical and even idle lands. Appropriate plant selection and land mapping are essential. To sustain the production of biomass fuels such as wood pellets, energy plantations need to be established on suitable land. Energy plantation plants such as calliandra and gamal/gliricidia have taproots, making them useful for controlling erosion and landslides. In fact, within a certain area, these energy plantations can generate hundreds of trillions in revenue; for more details, read here. Likewise, other production forests, which produce wood for various industries and purposes, must also be managed properly to be a blessing, not a disaster. 

Hydraulic Press Type Biomass Briquettes, Efficient for Small Capacity

Wood processing factories and sawmills that produce small amounts of wood biomass waste, such as 5-10 tons per day, can process it into value-added products, namely briquettes. Briquettes and pellets both use biomass densification technology, but pellets are far more popular than briquettes. Wood pellets are typically used for large-scale power plants with annual demand of tens or even hundreds of thousands of tons. Briquettes (wood briquettes) are typically used for smaller capacities, and there are also wood briquettes for special applications, such as charcoal and BBQs. The question is, which type of wood briquette is suitable for this small amount of waste?

Compared to wood pellets, which only use one type of production technology—a roller press—wood briquette production uses three types: piston press, mechanical press, and screw press. For more details, read here. Of the three, hydraulic wood briquette is the most suitable type for processing this "small" amount of waste. This is because it uses the least electricity, can operate automatically, and is stable, even for 24/7 operation. The sawmill and wood processing industry, in addition to achieving clean production units (zero waste), also benefits from contributing to renewable energy.

Technically, briquette production is also easier than pellet production, due to the looser moisture content and particle size. Even for abrasive biomass materials, briquetting, particularly with piston presses and hydraulic presses, can handle these materials more effectively than roller-press pelletizing. The wear and tear on equipment in pelletizing these materials is much greater, while in briquetting, this is much less. This is because the contact area during pressing/compaction in pelletizing is much larger than in briquetting. Therefore, in briquetting, it is easier to replace certain machine components that wear out due to abrasive materials, unlike in pelletizing, which requires replacing dies and even rollers.

As the era of decarbonization accelerates, the use of renewable fuels, particularly biomass, such as wood waste, is also growing. Briquetting, particularly hydraulic press briquettes, simplifies handling and use in furnaces. Biomass boilers that feed fuel manually will easily utilize these hydraulic press briquettes. Small and medium-sized industries using small boilers will be able to utilize these hydraulic press briquettes.

Wood Chip Production Waste for Wood Pellet or Wood Briquette Production

The production of wood chips as biomass fuel in cofiring of PLN's (Indonesia's state-owned electricity company) coal powerplants has been increasingly popular lately. Wood chip production is the easiest biomass fuel production compared to various biomass fuel products currently produced by the industry. The availability of raw materials is the main factor in the sustainability of production. The calorific value of wood chips depends on the species or type of wood used and its dryness level (water content). Hardwoods and low water content are ideal products for wood chips. And because it has a low bulk density of around 250 - 350 kg / m3, the transportation factor is another aspect that is very important for the delivery of wood chip products.

The particle size of wood chips has also been determined so that handling and storage are easier. To obtain the desired particle size of wood chips, screening is carried out after the wood trunk or pieces are chopped with a wood chipper machine. With these prerequisites, there are products that are rejected from the production process, namely wood chip products that are too large (oversize) and products that are too small (undersize). Products that are too large (oversize) can be returned to the chipper machine to be chopped again, but wood chip products with particle sizes that are too small (undersize) must be used for other things so that in addition to zero waste wood chip production, it can also provide additional income for the wood chip producer.

Small particle sizes such as sawdust from wood chip waste production can be used for the production of wood pellets or wood briquettes (pini kay briquettes). And even wood briquettes are more tolerant of slightly larger particle sizes because wood briquette products have a higher density than wood pellets, in addition wood briquettes can also be further processed into charcoal briquettes (sawdust charcoal briquettes). Wood briquettes themselves are commonly used in countries with four seasons, especially in winter for home heating. While charcoal briquettes (sawdust charcoal briquettes) are commonly used for BBQ, especially for Middle Eastern countries and Turkiye.

In the production of wood chips, it is estimated that biomass waste that is approximately the size of sawdust is around 20-25%, meaning that if wood chip production reaches 5,000 tons/month, the waste is around 1,000 - 1,250 tons/month. This is sufficient for the production of wood briquettes and sawdust charcoal briquettes. Meanwhile, if you want to produce wood pellets, especially for the export market, usually a production capacity of around 5,000 - 10,000 tons/month is needed. Of course, this cannot be done. In addition, the investment in equipment for the production of wood briquettes, sawdust charcoal briquettes and even wood pellets for this purpose is also much larger than the production of wood chips. This makes it more reasonable if the production of wood briquettes or sawdust charcoal briquettes is carried out by other parties. The other party will process the wood chip factory waste into wood briquettes, charcoal briquettes (sawdust charcoal briquettes) and because the complexity of production and equipment costs are also higher, it is natural that the profits obtained from processing this waste are also higher.

The world price of wood pellets, like palm kernel shells (PKS), has fluctuated a lot, and lately the price has tended to be low. Palm kernel shells (PKS) themselves are biomass fuels that are competitors of wood pellets in the global market but are cheaper because they come from one of the solid wastes of palm oil mills that are processed simply. With these conditions, coupled with the fact that it is very difficult to obtain adequate volumes of waste from wood chip factories, the production of wood briquettes (pini kay briquettes) or charcoal briquettes (sawdust chracoal briquettes) becomes a rational choice. In addition, the stable price of the two products makes it even more attractive to consider them.

Biochar from Wood Waste and Forestry Waste

The era of decarbonization and bioeconomy continues and continues to grow over time. While some people focus on the carbon neutral sector such as the production of biomass fuels such as wood pellets, wood briquettes or wood chips, people who focus on negative carbon seem to be fewer, including the use of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and biochar production. Compared to CCS, biochar production with pyrolysis is easier and cheaper so it is projected to become a future trend. Logically, the negative carbon scenario is actually much better because in addition to reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, while the neutral carbon scenario only does not increase CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, but does not reduce or absorb CO2 in the atmosphere. CO2 sequestration or biochar carbon removal (BCR) is currently also the most industrially relevant carbon removal technology. BCR is a key solution for real climate change mitigation today and its development is very rapid. BCR also has a vital role in the carbon removal technology portfolio. 

Woody biomass, especially from wood industrial waste and forestry waste, is a potential raw material for biochar production, even this type of wood biomass is the best raw material because it can produce high quality biochar, namely fixed carbon of more than 80%. The potential for wood biomass raw materials in Indonesia is very large, estimated at 29 million m3/year from forest harvesting waste, and 2 million m3/year from wood processing industry waste including 0.78 million m3 in the form of sawdust (the yield of the sawmill industry ranges from 50-60% and as much as 15-20% consists of sawdust). And that does not include if there is a biomass plantation or energy plantation dedicated to biochar production.

With the condition of agricultural land, plantations and forestry which are experiencing a lot of degradation, the need for biochar is also very large. Among the factors causing the decline in land fertility is the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for decades continuously and tends to be excessive. This causes a decline in soil quality which has an impact on crop production because it makes the land more acidic and hard which is estimated to reach millions of hectares. In addition, the price of chemical fertilizers is increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain, which results in low agricultural production, so the government is forced to import several agricultural commodities to meet the needs of the community. This actually does not need to happen considering the potential land in Indonesia is very large, it only needs to improve the condition of the land so that it can be optimal again. Making damaged land fertile is not difficult, it only takes perseverance to repair and care for the land so that it continues to be fertile.

Meanwhile, dry land consists of ultisol soil of 47.5 million ha and oxisol of 18 million ha. Indonesia has a coastline of 106,000 km with a potential land area of ​​1,060,000 ha, generally including marginal land. Millions of hectares of marginal land are spread across several islands, have good prospects for agricultural development but are currently not well managed. The land has a low fertility rate, so technological innovation is needed to improve and increase its productivity. Not to mention post-mining land which is almost all very damaged and also covers millions of hectares. And biochar is the right solution that can restore the condition of the land to be fertile again. 

Slow pyrolysis is the best technology for biochar production. But the technology used must be efficient and emissions meet the threshold standards of the country concerned. In addition, excess heat and/or liquid products and gas products from pyrolysis should also be utilized. With the criteria for pyrolysis technology as above, in addition to the quality and quantity of products, namely biochar, can be maximized, the production process also does not cause new problems in the form of environmental pollution. This is very much in line with biochar business activities so that it becomes a solution to the problem of industrial biomass waste from wood and forestry waste as well as a solution to climate problems. Even the utilization of by-products (excess heat and/or liquid products and gas products from pyrolysis) can also encourage the emergence of other environmentally friendly and renewable products.

In economic terms, the outline can be as follows, namely with an investment of 10 million US dollars, approximately 200,000 tons of biochar with more than 400,000 carbon credits will be produced over a period of 10 years. Or if with an investment of 100 million US dollars, almost 2 million tons of biochar and more than 4 million carbon credits will be produced over a period of 10 years. And for example, with a selling price of biochar of 100 dollars per ton and also a carbon credit of 100 dollars per unit (per ton of CO2), then within 10 years the investment has increased 6 times or it only takes about 1.7 years for the initial investment to return (payback period). Of course, when the price of biochar is higher and / or its carbon credits, of course the return on capital will be faster. And that does not include the utilization of liquid and gas products from pyrolysis and excess heat which also have economic potential that is no less interesting. The trend of the future business era will not only focus on financial profit but also provide solutions to environmental problems and climate problems, and of course solutions to social problems by creating jobs.

Industrial Wood Briquette Becomes an Alternative Between Wood Chips and Wood Pellets

Biomass fuel is a renewable fuel or renewable energy that is currently positioned as one of the alternative fuel. However, along with awareness of various climate problems, the use of alternative energy from biomass has increased over time. The decarbonization trend as a response to climate problems has penetrated all lines of life including the industrial sector. As a profit-oriented industry, of course, efforts to maximize are a major concern, including in the use of alternative fuels. There are various types of fuels that can be produced from biomass and especially for solid fuels, including wood chips, wood pellets and wood briquettes. The characteristics of these fuels are slightly different from one another, including their production costs. It is necessary to look more carefully and deeply so that you can get the best biomass fuel according to the goals of the industry.

Industrial briquette can be produced in large quantities at a lower cost than briquette produced with hydraulics or extruders. And when compared to wood pellets, industrial wood briquette is also cheaper to produce. But of course the production cost is more expensive than wood chips. Wood chips can be said to be the easiest and cheapest biomass fuel to produce.

This places industrial wood briquette in a position between wood chips and wood pellets or hydraulic and extruder type briquettes. As a biomass densification product, industrial wood briquette is also more economical for long-distance transport. In addition, a number of industrial boilers have also been specially designed to be able to use industrial wood briquette fuel, even with automatic feeding. Other factors such as uniformity of shape, size can vary and low water content are other advantages of industrial wood briquette.

Boiler users in industry and even coal power plants can consider using industrial wood briquette. Especially for companies engaged in industrial utilities such as steam providers for processing industries so that the operation and maintenance of the boiler including the use of biomass fuel is the responsibility of the company. With a long-term steam supply contract, for example around 5-10 years, the provision of biomass fuel in the form of industrial wood briquette within that period is also very important. In addition to the availability of sufficient, legal and sustainable raw materials, the reliability aspect of industrial wood briquette production machines cannot be ignored.

 

Selling Wood Processing Machines and include Wood Waste Processing Machines

Various wood processed products are increasingly diverse and developing today. The utilization of wood is optimized for its function, especially those originating from production forests. To improve the quality and usefulness of the wood, it needs to be processed specifically, which is carried out in wood processing factories. This also includes the selection of wood plant species that are suitable for the purpose of their use or the product to be made. A number of wood processing products are plywood, blockboard, LVL, barecore, FJLB (Finger Joint Laminated Board), MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), and pulp & paper.

Wood processing in the industry always requires a number of equipment ranging from the simplest, namely sawmills to complex processes such as pulp and paper mills. In addition to the physical or mechanical processing or production process, there is also a chemical process depending on the product to be produced. Sellers or providers of processing equipment or production machines are generally a complete set (complete line) so that they can be used directly and produce when the raw materials are ready. The more efficient and quality the equipment will be comparable to its price which is a fixed investment in the wood processing industry. The cost and benefit ratio factor is very important in selecting the machine or equipment, especially those that are export-oriented with large production volumes.

The concept of zero waste in the wood processing industries has not been fully implemented. There are still many wood processing industries whose waste pollutes the environment and can have social impacts. This includes sellers or providers of these machines, most of whom are still focused on providing machines or production equipment for the main product but not on the aspect of handling and processing waste. In fact, with the potential for waste produced being quite large, processing this waste is important. Pellet and briquette production is one solution to overcome this. Wood waste in the form of wood chips, offcuts, sawdust, slab and bark can be processed into briquettes and pellets. Sellers or providers of machines or production equipment that are innovative and environmentally sustainable will implement this concept. 

Briquette and pellet production will not only solve the waste problem but will also provide economic benefits. With raw materials for briquettes and pellets coming from waste itself, the cost of raw materials can be said to be zero so that in the end it will provide great benefits. Waste production of up to 1000 tons/month is very suitable for the production of briquettes, while if the waste is very large, for example 5000 tons/month or more, pellet production is more recommended. Briquettes can also be charcoaled to become charcoal briquette products which are in high demand from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Meanwhile, wood pellets are widely used for power plants abroad, the need for which is expected to continue to increase along with the decarbonization trend. If the seller of wood production or processing machines also offers waste processing equipment such as pellet machines and briquette engines, it will make it easier for wood product producers to manage their environmentally friendly industry, namely zero waste and maximize profits because all parts of the wood can be utilized optimally.

Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) Exporter Company and Developing Wood Pellet Production Business

PKS loading for export

The decarbonization trend that continues to increase along with the increasing demand for biomass fuel has made a number of palm kernel shell (PKS) exporting companies plan to expand their business into wood pellet production. Established palm kernel shell exporters usually have sales contracts with overseas buyers, which can be short-term or long-term contracts. This palm kernel shell exporters only collect palm kernel shells from a number of palm oil mills/CPO factories, then cleans them and simply dries them before they are ready to be shipped. Indeed, there are also a number of overseas buyers of palm kernel shells which do not need cleaning and drying so the price is also cheaper. Cleaning palm kernel shells usually uses a sieve (screening) machine, either a vibrating screen or a rotary screen, for more details, you can read here. Meanwhile, for drying, it is usually only aired by occasionally turning over the pile of palm kernel shells with an excavator.

Palm kernel shells and wood pellets are two popular biomass fuels in the global biomass fuel market. Palm kernel shells are the main competitor of wood pellet products because they have almost the same properties such as calorific value, ash content, size and so on, but palm kernel shells are usually cheaper because they are a by-product or waste from palm oil mills and only require a simple process to produce then exported. Meanwhile, wood pellets, although the raw material can come from woodworking industry waste or sawmills, require a more complex production process and investment in the equipment required. 

Typical Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) power plant in Japan

Palm kernel shells and wood pellets are mostly used as fuel for power plants abroad such as Japan and Korea. Wood pellets can be used in almost all coal power plants by cofiring, while palm kernel shells are more limited. This is mainly because crushing palm kernel shells and mixing them with coal powder (cofiring) in pulverized combustion is more difficult. Palm kernel shells can be used 100% in power plants with fluidized bed or stoker technology. And currently quite a lot of power plants in Japan use fluidized bed technology.

And because they are in the same market, palm kernel shell exporters are also very likely to know the need for wood pellets. Buyers of palm kernel shells abroad are usually also buyers of wood pellets too. The practice of collecting palm kernel shells from palm oil mills is almost the same activity as collecting wood waste from wood processing industries and sawmills, so it should not be difficult for exporters of palm kernel shells. But creating energy plantations as raw material for wood pellet production is the ideal solution. Collecting wood waste or collaborating with the wood industry that produces this waste is an intermediate solution and energy plantations are the ideal solution. Thus, it is very reasonable for palm kernel shell exporters to expand into the wood pellet production business.

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.

Optimizing Wood Pellet Production from Wood Waste

The volume of wood waste from the woodworking industry in Indonesia is estimated to reach 25 million tons every year. Every wood processing will produce waste such as sawdust, wood shavings, wood chips and so on, the volume of which is around 40% of the raw materials used. However, there is still a lot of waste that has not been processed so it pollutes the environment. Meanwhile, the development of the Indonesian timber industry continues to increase due to high export demand, even though actual realization of the timber industry is still low.

It is estimated that the Indonesian wood industry can actually be optimized until its production capacity reaches 91 million cubic meters per year, but in reality in 2022 the forest products industry will only be able to produce 42.19 million cubic meters per year or around 48.7% of its optimum capacity. There are 3 factors that cause the low realization of the wood industry, namely, efficiency of the wood industry, problems related to raw materials and market availability.

The low efficiency of the woodworking industry is due to the use of old machines or traditional methods for production. Meanwhile, problems related to raw materials are caused by the reduction in forest areas due to the large amount of development that causes forest land to change its function. Efforts to maintain a stable and sustainable supply of wood raw materials need to be made, including land rehabilitation programs and coaching for community forest farmers. National mapping of wood potential also needs to be carried out so that industry can obtain information regarding the supply of raw materials needed. Market availability is also an important factor in the development of the timber industry, so the ability to access information and identify market aspects, both domestic and international, is needed.

As the wood industry increases, wood waste also increases. An environmentally conscious industry certainly pays great attention to waste issues so that ideally it can achieve zero waste. These wastes are raw materials for wood pellets. The need for wood pellets continues to increase in line with the global decarbonization trend. Just as the woodworking industry requires consistency to maintain its products, so does wood pellet production. The consistency of the wood pellet raw material mixture is the key to the quality of wood pellets, including making production optimal.

In large woodworking factories, wood pellet production can be carried out simply by using its own waste, so that apart from solving the waste problem according to the zero waste concept, it can also be used as a new business development. Meanwhile, in the small - medium woodworking industry, because there is insufficient wood waste, some wood waste as raw material for wood pellets needs to be sourced from other places. A wood pellet factory can also be made independently, namely with raw materials that come 100% from other people's woodworking factory waste, meaning that the wood pellet factory is not owned by a wood processing industry. So basically a wood pellet factory is a factory or installation for processing wood waste that produces products with high selling value and is in line with the global decarbonization trend.

Developing Wood Pellet Production Centers in Indonesia

Vast land with a tropical climate with year-round sunshine and high rainfall is a gift from Allah SWT that makes Indonesia a world center of biomass. Biomass-based products such as energy and animal feed are very relevant in the bioeconomy era which is predicted to become a world trend in the near future. Potential optimization must be carried out especially since it is very much in line and relevant to world trends (decarbonization & sustainability) in general and Indonesia's specific national conditions in particular. On the other hand, we can see a number of countries whose majority of their economies depend on fossil energy, especially oil and gas, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar or the Gulf countries in general, have to change their course to fight to reduce dependence on these natural resources. Efforts for realization/implementation and acceleration should be carried out immediately, even though it is actually a little late compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, for more details please read here, but given the potential and future direction of the world economy, of course, besides being urgent, it is also important to do this.  

As a reference for the development of the wood pellet industry in Indonesia, we can take the example of a country in North America, namely Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia. The province has the highest concentration or the most wood pellet factories, which are estimated to reach around 70% of the country's production. From the research conducted, it was found that 85% of the wood pellet raw material used was sawmill waste and the remaining 15% was forest waste. And the forest waste can be further broken down into 11% low quality logs and 4% bush plants. So all the raw materials used in the province use wood wastes produced from sawmills and remnants from the forest. The production of wood pellets basically has to use raw materials from wood wastes or wood which are worth the wood waste.

By utilizing these wastes, in addition to overcoming environmental pollution, even  sawmill operations become zero waste, it also provides additional income or economic benefits which are quite large in value. Forest wastes in Indonesia such as from acacia plantations have the potential to be used for the production of wood pellets. For example, with an acacia plantation, if every hectare produces 20 tons of acacia wood waste, then with an area of 20,000 hectares, 400,000 tons of acacia wood waste will already be produced. The area of 20,000 hectares of acacia plantations is not too big, this is because there are a number of HTI (industrial plantation forest) concession holders covering hundreds of thousands of hectares, so the volume of wood waste produced is also very large. Acacia forests or plantations in Indonesia are estimated to reach 2 million hectares and almost all of these acacia forests are used to supply pulp and paper mills. Every pulp and paper mill always has acacia forests with an area of thousands of hectares to fill the pulp and paper mill. Acacia wood with a minimum diameter of 8 cm is used as the raw material, while those with a diameter smaller than that are only used as waste. After the tree is felled, a new planting is carried out (replanting).

Wood products come from different parts of the tree, each tree has a unique potential, depending on a number of factors including the diameter and straightness of the trunk. In acacia trees trunk diameter is the main parameter.

Likewise in the sawmill industry, apart from waste in the form of sawdust, wood waste such as wood chips can also be used as raw material for the production of wood pellets. Each stage of the sawmill industrial process will produce wood waste, with varying shapes, sizes, quantities and uses. It is estimated that around 40% of wood waste produced from sawmills is around 40%. Factors such as worker skills, operator experience, equipment conditions and the shape of the wood affect the wood waste produced. Based on the above waste percentages, a sawmill that processes 1000 m3/month of logs will produce a total of around 400 m3/month of wood waste. More detail as in the table below:

Energy plantations are another option and are even an ideal option for wood pellet production. This is because the volume is large and its availability can be guaranteed, rather than collecting the wood wastes. With this energy plantation, raw materials in the form of wood will be obtained which costs as much as wood waste. Thousands to tens of thousands of hectares of energy plantations can be made for this purpose. In addition to wood, which is the main product of the energy plantation, by-products with significant value are leaves for animal feed and honey from beekeeping. Optimizing the utilization of all these trees will provide maximum added value from the use of the land. The regions of Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua can become centers of wood pellet production such as the province of British Columbia in Canada.

Wood Pellet Stove for the Community

Wood-fired stoves are still commonly found in various regions in Indonesia. In addition to being inefficient, the stove also produces smoke pollution which pollutes the environment and is detrimental to health. Smoke pollution from wood-fired stoves is reported as the cause of death for millions of people in the world each year. In addition, many of the firewood used comes from forest wood which causes deforestation. While the further impact of deforestation is the occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and landslides.

Cooking is one of the important human activities to get food, so it is also important to be able to do well. Included as part of that effort is maintaining fuel sustainability, affordable fuel prices, health and environmental aspects. Currently, most of the fuel for cooking in Indonesia is LPG, but in reality, nearly 80% of the LPG used comes from imports or a value of around 60 trillion rupiah. Pertamina, as the sole producer of LPG in Indonesia, currently supplies tend to decrease. However, the demand for LPG continues to increase. LPG demand in 2011 was recorded at 4.35 million tonnes. This need continues to increase every year until it has doubled to 8.55 million tons in 2021. This condition is certainly not good, because it creates dependence on imports, even though in Indonesia there are a number of resources that can be used to overcome this.

Various things based on Indonesia's potential to overcome this include adding new oil refineries so that LPG production can be boosted, coal gasification to produce DME (Dimethyl Ether) whose characteristics are similar to LPG, or using natural gas with gas pipelines. From an energy independence standpoint, this can be done, especially since the raw materials are sufficiently available, but from a bioeconomic and decarbonization point of view (replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy), which is also increasing, this is not appropriate. Renewable energy should be as much as possible as a solution. Wood pellets are fuel or renewable energy from biomass which is ideal for substituting LPG. As a tropical country, Indonesia is rich in biomass because the sun shines all year round, whereas in sub-tropical countries when it's winter the plants stop growing. It can even be said that the biggest producers of biomass are tropical areas or areas where the equator passes, so as a gift from Allah SWT we must be grateful for it.

An efficient and low emission wood pellet stove is the best solution. Why not just a biomass stove? Why does biomass waste, especially wood waste, need to be processed into wood pellets first? By making wood pellets, in addition to uniform shape and size, dry, high density, it is also easy to store and use. Even in the rainy season it can be difficult to find dry firewood in a number of areas, on the other hand wood pellets can be very practical to use. So with standard products according to the specifications mentioned above, wood pellets will be a superior and renewable solid fuel, so that wood pellet stoves will work optimally. Meanwhile, if the fuel is from any biomass with various specifications, then the performance of the stove will not be optimal.

Raw materials for the production of wood pellets can use wood wastes from sawmills, wood processing industries and forest wastes. Many of these wastes have not been utilized and even polluted the environment to become useful and have economic value. The production capacity of the wood pellet factory also needs to be determined so that it meets the needs of its use. To meet the needs of the community at the village or sub-district level, a wood pellet factory can be built with a capacity of 500-1000 tons/month.

Regarding reducing CO2 in the atmosphere in line with decarbonization and bio-economy, a number of companies are currently also carrying out carbon projects, namely by making conservation forests as a medium for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon sinks) by receiving compensation in the form of carbon credits. The conservation forest is maintained in such a way that the carbon project is a success. The occurrence of deforestation in conservation forest areas is something that must be avoided. To avoid this, the wood pellet stove program can be a solution. Communities around the conservation forest who use wood pellets for their cooking stoves make firewood no longer used and deforestation does not occur.