Bioenergy startup Futerra Torrefaçao e Tecnologia SA revealed that it has begun construction of its first commercial scale torrefied pellet production plant in Valongo, Portugal. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 120.000 tons of torrefied pellets and 55.000 tons of industrial wood pellets.
According to Henk Hutting, president and co-founder of Futerra Fuels, roasting will play a fundamental role in the future of biomass for power generation.
Torrefied pellets burn cleaner than regular pellets and can be made from a much wider variety of biomass feedstocks such as grasses and agricultural residues. With torrefaction we can create a new generation of biomass fuel that can be produced sustainably while competing on an economically viable basis, Henk Hutting said.
Roasting is a promising technology that can significantly affect transportation costs for wood pellet supply chains.
According to Futerra Fuels, the highest calorific value of the pellets pelleted: 21 GJ / ton or even more.
We are currently setting up test projects in residential boilers to validate our assumptions, Hutting said.
This new technology, designed and supplied by Yilkins BV, Based in the Netherlands, it is a precursor to the Futerra Fuels deployment of new production plants, initially in Europe and America.