Wrap-up of the International Pellet Conference

The International Pellet Conference organized by Bioenergy Europe was a one-day event bringing together pellet professionals to present and discuss technical innovations in pellet production and sharing best practices.

Representatives of three pellet mill manufacturers (Andritz, CPM Europe and Kahl) as well as industry representatives in lubrication, additives, drying technologies and storage systems (Bathan, Crespel & Deiters, MCSystems) spoke about several industry innovations. Gilles Gauthier moderated the event with passion and helped to create vivid discussions. Maurice Bindels of CPM Europe showed the recent developments of oil lubricated rollers, a more durable bolt-on die, Zenith and TT (to be revealed officially soon). Gerald Kreuzhuber of Mühlb?ck presented a belt dryer with 50% lower energy consumption due to reflowing the last three ventilators. Andritz's PhD student Simon Klinge Nielson spoke about die design innovations from his PhD thesis. Carsten Mergelmeyer of Crespel & Deiters shared his passion for wheat and pointed out the advantages of additives in the pelleting process. He also proved that adding additives such as starch are within ENPlus standards.

My own contribution to the conference was to share some insights into lubrication, friction points in pellet production, mayor OEMs in wood pellet and animal feed production as well as the advantages of using ceramic lubricants compared to regular low-cost-low-performance greases. With 95 to 99% lower consumption and improved wear protection the high-performance lubricants pay off and improve OPEX within weeks.

What was also important and has to be stressed more is the awareness for biomass as a valuable addition to climate protection and managing the energy transition. To date, the knowledge of political decision makers is improvable, e.g. by site visits, round tables and a stronger involvement of stakeholders in events such as this conference. The mindset regarding biomass and other renewable energy sources has much less importance than needed. Partially, it is because of the scattered industry with many small companies and therefore the lack of resources and visibility. However, it is also owed to an unclear policy for biomass in terms of applicability (heat, electricity, energy storage).

There is still a long way to go for biomass, but the conference once more showed that there is hope and great momentum with innovative products and technologies to further push renewables. I am looking forward to the future development and more of these events.

Dr. Holger Streetz

Bathan AG

[email protected]