Summary
• Biomass is a cheap and efficient form of renewable energy.
• Using wood waste can remove disposal problems and costs.
• Several UK timber companies are producing briquettes and pellets.
• Some briquette plants can be connected to dust extraction systems.

Driven by the UK government’s targets to reduce CO2 emissions and the volatile price of gas and electricity, the popularity of biomass is growing quickly.

It is a cheap and efficient form of renewable energy and there is a steady uptake, especially by local authorities, hotels and country estates.

And while the biomass market does create some concerns in the timber industry (see below), there are also opportunities. Timber companies, such as Clifford Jones, Balcas and JELD-WEN, are now producing pellets or briquettes, while others use their own wood waste to heat their factories.

British boiler manufacturer Talbott’s Biomass Energy Systems Ltd is seeing steady demand from its established customer base of furniture manufacturers and timber processors. “Business with the timber industry is remaining steady but the largest growth area seems to be with schools, hospitals and country estates,” said commercial director Amy Fielding.

Fuel supply chain

The company, which exports around the world and whose customers include Prince Charles, IKEA and Bose, has also seen an increase in demand from commercial sectors where waste pallets are used as a fuel. When dealing with these markets, where fuel isn’t readily available on site, Talbott’s puts the customer in touch with a local fuel supplier.

“Now the fuel supply chain is established it’s easier,” said Ms Fielding. “We always try to encourage local fuel supply and self-sufficiency to ensure the project maximises its green credentials.”

In the past year Scott & Sargeant has supplied around nine Comafer Dinamic briquetting presses to timber processing companies.

“People are more and more interested in recycling and not wasting the potential they’ve got,” said managing director Paul Charnaud. “They are either using the briquettes themselves, or selling them.”

The presses, which range in price from £6,500-12,000, can be linked to a dust extraction system and can handle around 200-300kg of waste an hour.

Graham Alderson Ltd, a joinery contractor in Cumbria, has a Dinamic hooked up to the factory’s dust extraction. The machine has saved the company having to store bags of waste which were collected by a farmer for animal bedding.

“It’s freed up workspace, and time,” said owner Graham Alderson. The briquettes also provide a better heat than the previous system which burned the factory’s offcuts.

Wood fuel partnership

Through a partnership with the Briquette & Pellet Company, JELD-WEN recycles nearly 10,000 tonnes of wood waste into pellets for the domestic and commercial markets. Under the partnership, JELD-WEN supplied the building and power source and the Briquette & Pellet Co provided the machinery and sells the pellets.

Dan Rudge, director of Briquette & Pellet Co, is installing a plant with another timber company and is keen to forge links with others.

“Eighteen months ago we thought we’d done well if we’d sold a tonne a week, but now we could sell 300 tonnes,” he said. “The benefits for the timber company are that they pay no landfill tax and they get paid for all their waste, not just bits of it.”

To make it viable, a company needs to have annual wood waste of around 4,000 tonnes, and a 5,000ft² building is required to house the plant.

New power plant

Pontrilas Timber Group also plans to develop a 10MW biomass power plant over the next 12-24 months in a £35m joint venture with Belgian company Renogen.

Managing director Edward Hickman said the plant will process around 120,000 tonnes of wood waste a year, derived from the company’s Pontrilas site and its pallet business. At present its offcuts and waste are sold to panel manufacturers and other biomass users.

The plant will supply all of the company’s electricity needs – around 1.5MW – and the rest will be sold to the grid. It will also supply heat for the kilns, which currently consume 600,000 litres of kerosene a year.

“We are going to be able to sell ourselves on having an integrated business from the forest right through to energy consumption. It’s the renewable cycle, but in one place,” said Mr Hickman.