CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS WITH BLACK PELLETS

Power Wood Energy then moves its biomass in bulk, from forest floor to pellet plant 70km away. Articulated ‘walking floor’ trucks take 36 ton batches of wildfire wood on the return legs of 140km trips.

And as big rigs transfer all 116.6 kt of the deadwood harvested to pressurized steam reactors in northern Alberta, they clock up 453,460 km on 3,239 trips while consuming 181,378 litres of diesel. This generates 0.48 kilotons of CO₂ each year. [2]

Over the same distance coal’s higher energy index shows its value. Coal trucks carry 32 ton batches but need just 1,602 trips to haul their entire consignment. They consume 89,712 litres of diesel to cover 224,280 km each year and generate just 0.24 kilotons, half of the carbon dioxide. [2]

All 51.4 kilotons of coal will be crushed, sized, washed and dried at preparation plants – causing the release of more methane.

Thermal drum dryers and plant pump systems are energy-intensive. It takes 39kWh of electricity to process one ton of coal; and 2GWh of energy to process 51.4 kt. [3] According to IEA calculations, this generates 0.9 kilotons of CO₂ with a further 0.1 kt released as methane.

But producing 68.6 kilotons of steam-treated black pellets is a near net-zero event. [4] Wildfires strip deadwood of their outer shells, leaving no need for debarking.

Power Wood Energy fuels its plant machinery, including reactor chambers, with waste stream wood burned in integrated combined heat and power units. No grid energy is used to fuel the process.

Advanced steam-treated black pellets look, act and burn like coal, so they ship like coal too. Rail networks, freight companies and ports handle the biofuel as they do the fossil fuel.

Ultramax bulk carriers cross 7600 km of ocean from Vancouver to Tokyo swiftly, although the heavier weight of black pellets creates a 27% greater carbon footprint.

Our 68.6 kilotons of durable, energy-rich pellets still ship easily thanks to their enhanced bulk density, all-weather resistance and homogenous form.

According to the International Maritime Organization, each dry Ultramax cargo ship emits 3.94 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, multiplied by its consignment weight. [5] [6]

So, dockside to dockside, across northern Pacific waves, our 68.6 kilotons of pellets spawn 2.05 kilotons of carbon dioxide each year - while 51.4 kilotons of coal generates 1.5 kt.

The key carbon benefits of burning steam-treated black pellets come at the point of combustion.

Coal releases carbon from stores that have been underground for millennia. Every ton burned injects 2,325 new kilos of CO₂ into the air, while 51.4 kilotons infuses our atmosphere with 125,400,000kg – according to US EIA data. [7] [8]

Coal’s 125.4 kilotons of carbon emissions look lethal for the atmosphere  beside steam-treated black pellets which are deemed net-zero at the point of combustion.

Power Wood also reforests the areas it clears of deadwood with native seedlings and saplings.

And the dead wildfire wood it uses for pellets simply returns CO₂ to a natural cycle, having been drawn down into the tree during the last century – giving steam-treated advanced black pellets a net-zero carbon footprint.

The total amount of carbon dioxide prevented from entering earth’s atmosphere each year, by switching from coal to Power Wood’s black pellets, can be seen in the table below.

These calculations, using a low energy value (21MJ/kg), estimate the beneficial impact that burning steam-treated black pellets has on our environment, over burning coal.

When energy companies fuel power plants with them, in place of coal, they can reduce the generating station’s carbon footprint by up to 98.7 percent.

Power Wood Energy often uses a figure of 94 percent to be conservative and certain in the claims it makes, but reductions in CO₂ can be closer to 100 percent – and they’re the reason why steam-treated advanced black pellets have an important role to play in the energy transition and a greener future for the planet.