Canadian Biomass • September/October 2010 • Page 11

                                Briquettes are at least as easy to handle as pellets in terms of loading and unloading shipping containers at ports. Winkler says drive-through tipping devices have been de-veloped that allow briquettes to be quickly bulk-loaded into containers. They can also be loaded in super-large sacks. James Brose, president of Kanviromental Corp., a briquetting machine manufacturer in Elmira, Ontario, notes, “It’s also impor-tant and very relevant to appreciate the fact that pellets have 15 times the surface area per similar weight than briquettes do. Mois-ture uptake not only kills the BTU values the pellets left their source with, but addition-ally increases content shipping weight.” END-MARKET USES While residential pellet stoves have made inroads in Canada, briquettes are being used in home heating across many U.S. states. Indeed, the customers of Cleveland, Ohio-based RUF US Inc. (the North American distributor for Germany-based RUF bri-quetters) are producing briquettes mainly for residential heating. The rectangular (6 x 2.5 x 3-inch) briquettes can be used in any wood-burning appliance, says RUF US pres-ident Greg Tucholski, and are available to customers in many mid-U.S. states through retail outlets in bags or by bulk delivery at USD $250–350 per tonne. “Customers are using two to three tonnes a winter,” he ob-serves. “Briquettes produce much less ash and provide a cleaner, more consistent and longer burn than wood. Customers like the convenience and cleanliness of the product and the fact that they last longer during the night than firewood.” Tucholski says the feedstock is mostly kiln-dried residuals from wood product manufacturers and sawmills. He’s sold about 50 machines so far and ex-pects to sell 20 to 30 more in the next 12 months. In Mont Joli, Quebec, Bois BSL Énergie Inc. has been producing “SmartLogs” since 2006 for home heating, which the company claims produce almost 35% more heat than firewood. “Our sales have increased from 2006 to 2009, but are stable since then, hav-ing reached a maximum level in a saturated CanadianBIOMASS 11 