Making the Grade U To help expand residential pellet markets, Canadian wood pellet manufacturers should meet specific pellet standards. become certified and produce graded pel-lets (e.g., premium, standard, utility pel-lets), says Chris Wiberg of Twin Ports Test-ing, who is co-chair of the PFI standards committee. And that could work to those producers’ advantage. First, they’ll gain a mar-ket advantage over those who don’t sell third-party graded pellets. Pellet pro-ducers currently can make claims such as “premium pellets” on their bags, but there’s no set definition for premium, and the consumer must trust the advertising claims, notes Wiberg. Consumers don’t want to buy a winter’s sup-ply of a product that is going to give them problems. On top of that, pellet heat is not promoted as simple and convenient if con-sumers have to fuss with low-quality fuel. Second, it will set producers up to im-plement ISO pellet standards once they’re developed. An ISO technical committee is evaluating the suitability of the European Union’s pellet specifications for ISO as they become finalized as EU standards, says Wiberg, who’s on one of the ISO working groups. Once ISO standards are finalized, he says, the intent is for USA, Canada, the EU, and other countries to adopt them so everyone’s using the same methodology. He predicts a three-year time horizon for that to happen. The costs of accreditation will be fixed, regardless of the operation’s size. However, sampling and testing will be based on pro-duction volume, with cost estimates of 50 to 53 cents/tonne, says Wiberg. It’s a small price to pay for clear benefits to pellet pro-ducers and the industry as a whole. Heather Hager, Editor [email protected] BIOMASS CANADIAN Volume 13 Editor -Heather Hager (519) 429-3966 ext 261 [email protected] Group Publisher/Editorial Director -Scott Jamieson (519) 429-3966 ext 244 [email protected] Contributors -Colleen Cross, Gordon Murray, Reg Renner, Stefanie Wallace Market Production Manager Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] National Sales Managers Tim Tolton [email protected] Ph: (514) 237-6614 Guy Fortin [email protected] Ph: (514) 237-6615 Fax: (514) 425-0068 P.O. Box 51058 Pincourt, QC J7V 9T3 Western Sales Manager Tim Shaddick [email protected] 1660 West 75th Ave Vancouver, B.C. V6P 6G2 Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Production Artist -Gerry Wiebe Canadian Biomass is published six times a year: February, April, June, August, October, and December. Published and printed by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Printed in Canada ISSN 0318-4277 Circulation e-mail: [email protected] P.O. Box 51058 Pincourt, QC J7V 9T3 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $49.50; 2 Yr $87.50; 3 Yr $118.50 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $60 US; Foreign – 1 Yr $77 US Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above.. No part of the editorial content of this publica-tion may be reprinted without the publisher’ s written permission ©2010 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’ s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianbiomassmagazine.com .S. pellet manufacturers will soon have to jump another hurdle to get their pellets on the market. It’s a hurdle that is likely already familiar to large-scale producers who ship wood pellets to European utilities, which often require pellets to meet set specifications. The re-maining pellet producers will now be following suit, with regular third-party cer-tification of all bagged and bulk pellets sold for U.S. residential/commercial pel-let heating appliances. Pellet standards are being developed by the Pellet Fu-els Institute (PFI) based on current European standards and will be regulated by U.S. law through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as early as mid-2012. This is because the EPA is updating its 1988 standards for residential wood heaters, including pellet heating appliances, to minimize particulate emissions. Burn quality and emissions de-pend on the type and quality of fuel. At first glance, Canadian pellet produc-ers might think themselves unaffected by the new U.S. pellet standards. After all, only a very small fraction of Canadian pel-lets are now exported to the U.S. residential market. In fact, pellet exports to the United States have been close to zero since 2009, according to the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC)’s executive director, Gor-don Murray. That’s likely because of several factors, including a strong Canadian dollar, subsidies to U.S. wood biomass users from the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, and additional U.S. pellet production capacity, he says. Although these pellet standards will not be mandatory in Canada (yet), Canadian pellet producers will have the option to 4 Canadian BIOMASS
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