Torrefaction of Ponderosa Pine Pellets

Abstract

Oregon Torrefaction, LLC (OTL) and the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities (USFC) have formed Restoration Fuels, LLC (RF) to construct and operate a 12 ton/h kiln torrefier that targets approximately 100,000 tons of torrefied woody biomass production annually. The plant will be colocated at the Malheur Lumber Mill in John Day, Oregon. Biomass sourcing will be principally smalldiameter, low-value wood from surrounding or nearby national forests including the Malheur and the Ochoco National Forests. The bulk of the woody biomass will be ponderosa pine from the dry land forests that surround John Day. Biomass coming from national forest areas have been evaluated for compliance with the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and are termed “shelf ready” for treatment. Restoration Fuels is now in the process of acquiring biomass supply to feed the torrefier. Early discussions with potential domestic and off-shore customers points to the need to have torrefied, densified test samples available for their evaluation, and it is in OTL’s interest on behalf of RF to produce a test batch of torrefied biomass that would be representative of RF’s future fuel product and to make samples available to serve customer interests. The effort is funded by the USFC and US Forest Service.

To accomplish the test sample production, the OTL provided five tons of wood pellets to the Biomass Conversion Lab (BCL) located in Coleraine, MN for a sustained torrefaction production run using ponderosa pine pellets as feedstock. The targeted heating value specification for the torrefied wood pellets as requested by OTL was 9,500 btu/lb (22.09 MJ/kg). The BCL torrefied and provided over 6,000 lbs (2,727 kg)of torrefied pellets to the OTL.