Case Study India: Priority of Biomass Pellet Production Over Biomass Briquette

There are dozens of biomass briquette machine manufacturers in India and almost all of these machine manufacturers use mechanical press technology for the production of these briquettes. With this technology, briquettes will be formed due to mechanical press such as repeated strokes every minute (about 220 strokes per minute). This briquette machine manufacturer industry has also existed for decades in India so that biomass briquette products have also been widely known in India. Technically, there are actually 2 other technologies for the production of biomass briquettes, namely screw press and hydraulic press. Based on the briquette production technology, the briquette product output is also slightly different, for more details, read here.

The Indian government launched a decarbonization program at their coal power plants, recently, namely on October 8, 2021 which ordered the use of 5% to 10% biomass pellets for cofiring at all power plants and took effect in October 2022 or one year is the target time set. For example, in the early stages, the Indian government targeted only 5% for the cofiring ratio in their coal power plants, where the 5% figure when translated into biomass pellet production would reach around 50 million tons of biomass pellets per year. A very large number especially with a very short target time. And with a cofiring ratio of 5%, coal power plants also do not need to modify their equipment even though the biomass pellets used come from agricultural wastes, whose quality is below that of woody biomass.

With the number of power plants reaching about 900 units with an average consumption of 50 thousand tons of biomass pellets per year or a total of almost 50 million tons per year, so that a biomass pellet factory with a capacity of around 5 thousand tons / month seems to be suitable, and even if each factory supplying one power plant, the need for a biomass pellet plant will also be the same as the number of power plants, which is 900 units. A huge amount.

Production of biomass briquettes or biomass pellets?
In India, biomass briquette is indeed more popular than biomass pellets, but for the world level pellets are much more popular than briquette, even in 2021 alone, the need for pellets for global power generation alone is estimated to have reached 23 million tons. In addition, the production or pellet factory in general is also larger than the briquette factory. There are many pellet factories with a capacity of 5 thousand tons or even 10 thousand tons per month, while for briquettes it is very rare for a biomass briquette factory to have a capacity like the pellets above. Pelletisers for pellet production for commercial capacity have a capacity of 3 tons/hour or more, while briquette machines are generally less than 2.5 tons per hour, even for the screw press type the average machine capacity is only 300 kg/hour. Technically, even though they are both products of biomass densification technology with the difference that the size of the briquettes is larger than pellets, the production of briquettes is easier than pellets. 

The driving force from the business side makes biomass pellet production more attractive, especially because of its need as cofiring fuel in coal power plants as part of the decarbonization program. The need for biomass pellets can be a driving force for the production of biomass pellets or in general, namely the economy in various regions. The program should also be able to provide three benefits at once, namely environmental, social and economic. In addition, because briquette products are mainly used for boilers in industry, while pellets are for power generation, both of them also have their own market segments so that there is no market competition.

What about the Briquette Machine Manufacturing Industry?
Dozens of industries producing biomass briquette machines should now see this as an opportunity so that they can respond to it. These industries can adapt by creating a new line of business, namely helping the manufacture of a biomass pellet factory. Technically, the biomass briquette production line with biomass pellets also has many similarities (both use biomass densification technology) with the main difference being the pelletiser and briquetter. A number of equipment that can be made themself will reduce imported machines. Pelletisers are almost certain to be imported, so the selection of pelletisers as the heart of the pellet production process must be of high quality so that the pellet production target can be achieved. In the production of large capacity pellets, a number of equipments come from a number of providers, as is common in wood pellet factories with a more detailed explanation here.

In the long term, the goal is to minimize import spending, and even 100% can be made or fabricated by themself. This effort will usually take longer because the complexity of the pelletiser is higher than that of the briquetter. These briquette machine-producing industries can also cooperate with machine manufacturers in Europe who are more experienced and proven with pellet production as an effort to accelerate the transfer of the technology. Within one year as the target was set, it is very difficult to do this, so the practical effort is to buy a 100% complete line from a proven vendor, or sort out a number of equipment that can be produced yourself as above and gradually substitute the imported equipment. This is because achieving the production target for the decarbonization effort is a priority.

In conclusion, at this time India has to maximize efforts to accelerate the construction of biomass pellet factories to achieve this target. However, 1 year to achieve this target is very difficult. With these conditions in the future, it is possible that power plants in India will import biomass fuels such as wood pellets and PKS (palm kernel shell) to meet their needs. With the planned cofiring ratio, which is the lowest target of 5%, the need for biomass pellets reaches around 50 million tons, if only 2% of the biomass fuel needs are imported, both PKS and / or wood pellets, it will reach 1 million tons, a fixed amount still quite big.

Build a Large Capacity Wood Pellet Factory, 5k tons/month Up

A large capacity wood pellet factory has a greater risk than a small capacity wood pellet factory. At the factory the production target becomes an important benchmark in addition to the quality of the wood pellets, of course. The consequence is the use of reliable production machines so that the production target can be achieved. Whereas in small capacity wood pellet factories, usually with small production, with short working hours the quality of the production machines is not as good as for such large capacities, so the investment for purchasing machines is also cheaper. Ability to work continuously with long working hours, minimum downtime, as well as stable output and product quality. These high-performance production machines usually have high “flying hour” so they can be relied on. Although the price of the tool is more expensive, it is still an option because the goal is achieved, namely the quality and quantity of wood pellet products according to the plan.

In general, a manufacturer of production equipment or machinery and especially wood pellets does not make from A-Z or all of its equipment (complete line). In general, they are specialists in only one or several equipments, especially the pelletiser / pelleter because it is the heart of the wood pellet production. While other equipments is made by other companies. When the production equipment or machine manufacturer offers a complete line unit for the production of wood pellets, they mean that they have added a number of supporting equipments from several of their network vendors. So is it possible if you want to make your own wood pellet factory according to your own wishes or do customization so that the equipment from a number of vendors is assembled by yourself so that the wood pellet production line is complete? Of course you can, but it requires a number of special skills or is like making your own car with equipments or components from many vendors. For example, assembling a number of these machines and even though they are from well-known engine manufacturers, they may not provide optimal performance because do not know their characteristics including the compatibility.

Although basically to get the best level of performance with a high level of efficiency but looking for the best combination not an easy thing. The price factor is also another variable to get the best combination. Experienced machine providers or sellers can provide according to the buyer's wishes, especially with a limited budget but want excellent performance. The higher “the flying hour” or the experience of the machine provider, the better in providing the offer because they already know the characteristics of each of the equipment. Installation, commissioning, training to after sales service are the next considerations. In the large wood pellet industry, customization of equipment from various vendors making production equipment to the safety aspect is a common thing. Moreover, the selection of the equipment is also based on the experience of wood pellet factories that are already operating. Customization is indeed something unique that is much influenced by previous experiences.

Previous experience with a certain equipment manufacturers is an important experience to determine the performance or characteristics of an equipment. Of course, it is very difficult to know all the characteristics of the equipment available on the market because there are so many manufacturers of equipment providers, the location of the equipment providers and the ability to handle a wood pellet project. In addition to technical factors, human relations factors also play a role in this, especially the success stories of previous projects. Upgrading equipment is usually become an entry point for collaboration with other vendors, especially since the previous vendor did not have this capability, for example, to increase the efficiency and flexibility of raw material belt dryer used to replace rotary dryer due to better drying capabilities, or certain hammer mill that also have certain capabilities and so on. And especially if you already have long experience with them before.