Decarbonizing wood pellet production
In efforts to effectively tackle the climate crisis and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, operators across multiple industries have adopted highly deliberate strategies to decarbonize their processes.
Yet as many have discovered, these endeavors have frequently encountered formidable barriers — and the wood pellet industry is no exception.
In the spring issue of Biomass Magazine, Jill Caskey, Global Sales Director at Solex Thermal Science notes that the many different energy-intensive stages in producing wood pellets is adding up to a collective carbon footprint that is no longer sustainable.
"While many efforts are already underway within the wood pellet industry to increase efficiencies at the manufacturing stage, meeting net-zero objectives will require operators to increasingly leverage modern technologies and adopt innovative processes," writes Caskey.
In the Biomass article, Caskey highlights how plate-based moving bed heat exchangers (MBHE) are one the technologies giving pellet producers opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of their existing processes.
Located at the cooling stage, these MBHEs reduce primary energy consumption by indirectly cooling the pellets with water instead of directly with air — which also eliminates emissions. Combined with a heat pump, this process also offers opportunities for waste heat recovery.
"Plate-based MBHEs provide wood pellet producers with an energy-efficient, near-zero emissions solution," writes Caskey.
This entry was tagged Energy, Cooling, and last updated on 2024-4-19
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