- Pelletising being slow extrusion press, most of the difficult fibrous biomass can be processed. Fibre can be conditioned by steam before extrusion which is not possible in briquetting.
- Handling of pellet is much easier including pneumatic conveyor and storage in large bunkers.
To handle large quantity of biomass distributed in remote location, biomass depot with capacities of 50,000 MT per annum will need to be planned. In India, govt. is considering establishing few large depots to support chain of biomass fired power plants.
In USA, where DOA is planning to use about 200 MT/annum of biomass in large thermal and power plant installations, pelletising appears to be only solution.Europe has very good demand for biomass pellets to fire its central heating installation. African countries are getting geared to supply for this massive demand from Europe.
In India, to support the proposed 25 million efficient Biomass domestic stoves, palletized biomass fuel appears to be a better option. In USA/Canada/Europe, there is a high possibility of using pellet fired stoves for residential heating.
By 2020 and beyond, densified biomass fuel is going to be key fuel with pellet being the only technology suitable for large scale fuel production.
