Higher Power Plant Efficiency Demands Higher Fuel Quality

When we want to refuel our vehicle at a gas station, of course we choose what fuel is most suitable for our vehicle. Our vehicles will be able to run optimally when using the appropriate fuel. Over spec fuel quality or too low (under spec) will only provide less optimal performance. Technically, the vehicle has been designed with a certain pressure ratio on the combustion system, if the quality of the fuel is too high then low compression is difficult to burn perfectly, and vice versa. In the operation of vehicles, even fuel that burns prematurely or after time will produce a performance that is not optimal. High-quality fuels also have higher prices so that they are economically also not profitable, as are low quality fuels, although they are cheaper but performance is also below standard.

The analogy above is also more or less the same for electricity generation. The higher the level of efficiency the higher the quality of the fuel required because the operating conditions are also above the average, for example compression, temperature and so on. If the quality of gasoline is expressed by octane numbers, or on diesel oil the quality is stated by cetan numbers, then in solid fuels such as wood pellets the size of quality is expressed as a caloric value. Other elements that are also considered in fuel are elements that can damage the equipments or machines used. Especially for wood pellets, high potassium and chlorine content can have a bad effect on the power plant. Potassium will be a deposit / fouling on boiler pipes thereby reducing its efficiency, while corrosive chlorine will shorten the life of the power plant.

In 2030, Japan will implement the use of power plants with higher efficiency, which is a minimum of 41%, while most of the efficiency of coal power plants currently ranges from 30-35%. To achieve an efficiency level of more than 41% the technology used is ultra supercritical pulverized coal. Ultra supercritical pulverized coal technology is basically a further development of pulverized coal technology that is most widely used by coal power plants or more than 95% in the entire world today. The difference in ultra supercritical pulverized technology with pulverized is the use of higher pressure and temperature so that its efficiency is also higher. Modification of the power plant can also be done to increase the efficiency. The use of biomass fuels such as wood pellets can be done by cofiring or full firing (100% wood pellets). The characteristics of the fuel used will also affect the boiler technology used.

The ash of wood pellet required for industries such as electricity generation can be up to 6% according to the American pellet fuel institute (PFI). But chemical ash is an important consideration in the use of the power plant. South Korea for example currently requires a maximum chlorine level of 500 ppm (500 mg / kg) or Japan requires a maximum potassium level of 1000 ppm (1000 mg / kg). This makes the production of wood pellets follow these specifications if the specifications are not appropriate. A number of special pretreatments need to be done to achieve these specifications. The potential of wood pellets from energy plantations in Indonesia is very large, as are pellet fuels from agricultural or plantation waste such as palm oil empty fruit bunches which are estimated to reach approximately 38 million tons per year. But once again the specifications of the pellets (wood pellets or agro waste pellets) produced need to be adjusted to the needs of power plants in Japan or South Korea - two countries that are highly energy dependent - of course if the pellet producers are export oriented. What are the next pretreatment questions that need to be done on the production of the pellet? InsyaAllah, we discussed on another occasion.

Wood Pellet Certificate Standards

As a trading commodity that is becoming a world trend, many wood pellet standards are implemented. Basically the wood pellet standard covers only two things, namely quality and sustainability which are mostly related to environmental aspects. Many aspects of quality are related to the technical aspects of the production of wood pellets and also the raw materials used. A number of countries or certain institutions apply the quality aspects that they can receive for these wood pellet products. The application of wood pellet quality standards is also related to the use of wood pellets or more specifically technology or equipment to consume or use wood pellets as fuel. Based on this, usually the market segments are also differentiated, namely for industries and households. The industry segment has its own specifications which are slightly different from households. Some quality standards are widely used today: ENplus, DINplus, PFI, ITEBE, Onorm and CANplus. Following are the quality tables:

The second type of standard is about sustainability and now it has also begun to be widely applied, especially for the trade in large quantities of wood pellets. Sustainability standards include the practice of cultivating trees whose wood is a source of wood pellets. In terms of its implementation there are a number of countries that buy wood pellets that are very concerned about this sustainability standard, but there are also those who do not pay much attention to it. Japan is an example of one of the countries in Asia that is very concerned about the issue of sustainability standards. Some sustainability standards that are widely used today: FSC, PEFC and so on.

Prospective wood pellet producers must pay attention to the problem above, because it is closely related to the market or trade in wood pellets. Without being able to map the market comprehensively, it is very possible that the production of wood pellets will be constrained. For example wood pellet producers will target their markets in Asia, especially in Japan and Korea, even though the market characteristics of wood pellets in Japan and Korea are different.