Energy Consumption at Procurement of Wood Pellets in Japan

Abstract

Domestic unused wood material possesses significant potential as an alternative feedstock to substitute for fossil fuel in combustion fuel production. However, fuel conversion from the unused wood is not very advanced due to economic reasons. In this paper, energy consumption of wood pellet procurement was evaluated. The case analysis of three wood pellet factories (CERES, Inc., Hokkaido Date-shi, and Asyoro-cho) and a wood chip factory (CERES, Inc.) was carried out. The percentage of energy content of pellet procurement is about 20% of output, which is a remarkably high percentage compared with overseas pellet procurement. Energy consumption at procurement included manufacturing and operating energy of tree felling and transport, pellet manufacture and pellet distribution, and output energy is given by the calorific value of the supplied pellet. It was found that the ratio of electric power, which affects the operation of the pellet factory, was highest in input energy. In comparison with chip manufacturing, the energy consumption ratio of pellet procurement was slightly lower. For increased energy efficiency, it is necessary to improve domestic wood fuel procurement fundamentally. © 2010, The Japan Wood Research Society. All rights reserved.