Wood Wood pellets torreFied pellets charcoal coal Moisture Content (wt%) Calorific Value (GJ/t) Fixed Carbon (%db) Volatiles (%db) Bulk Density (t/m ) 3 30-45 9-12 20-25 70-75 200-250 3 7-10 16-20 20-25 70-75 550-750 7-11 no yes yes yes extreme extreme 1-5 20-24 28-35 55-65 700-850 15-19 ? ? ? yes ? ? 1-5 26-32 85-87 10-12 180-240 ~6 ? ? ? yes ? extreme 10-15 17-28 50-55 15-30 800-850 18-24 yes no no yes yes high Volumetric Energy Density (GJ/m ) Hydroscopic Biological Degradation Self Heating Leaching Off-gassing Oxygen Depletion Comparison of torrefied pellets and other fuels. 2-3 no yes yes yes extreme extreme Source: CanmetENERGY Natural Resources Canada Quebec, at the existing Trebio pellet facil-ity. “Raw materials are going to be sourced by our partner Trebio, who has an existing arrangement for local fibre supply,” Varma explains. The company is looking at bri-quetting because “torrefied briquettes can be used just like coal briquettes and they require less energy to manufacture than pellets,” Varma notes, but it is also looking at pellets “depending on future demand.” Airex Energy in Montreal has built a rapid torrefaction unit with its patented CarbonFX technology. President Guy Prud’homme says this proof-of-concept unit produces 0.25 tonnes/hour. As a next step, Airex is connecting with Colacem Canada Inc., through support from the Agence de l’efficacité énergétique, Quebec’s Energy “Currently, we are working through the de-sign and engineering work in order to begin the process validation at 50 kilograms/hour and scaling into five tonnes/hour, which is scheduled to commission in late 2012,” says CEO Anjali Varma. The scalable sys-tem will be able to handle multiple feed-stocks. Torrefuels intends to build a one-to five-tonne/hour facility in Portage du Fort, 16 Canadian BIOMASS July/August 2011
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