Exhibition WORLD BIOENERGY 2006 (AND PELLETS 2006), Sweden, 2006

This conference was held in Jönköping, Sweden May 29 through June 1. The organizers of the exhibition and the conference did their best. The event comprised three stages:
1) the conference-exhibition itself (May 30 – June 1);
2) visits prior to the conference (May 29);
3) visits after the conference (June 2)
Besides, for all those willing, guided tours to the various bioenergy facilities were organized daily.
The conference was attended by companies from all over the world, but mainly from Europe. And still, for a smaller country like Sweden this turned out to be a large inflow of visitors. So, there is nothing surprising in the catastrophic lack of accommodation. People were staying a hundred kilometers away from the venue in Jönköping. And the in-town hotel room prices skyrocketed to ?500-600 per night.
About a hundred companies were exhibiting. It was extremely hard to visit all stands in one day. Indeed, the leading manufacturers of bioenergy equipment were showcasing.
Here are some more details.
On May 29, one had to choose from several options of guided tours. I’ll speak on the tours I chose and on my impressions. I chose bus 1А, since I was most interested in the timber fuel pellet production plant with the capacity of 50,000 tons per year. The plant’s basis is two Sprout Matador mills. The whole plant is pretty interesting (see photos), especially the fully automated bagging line. There was another tour the same day, to a willow plantation. In Sweden, it is a commonplace thing. A fully looped biological circle, when timber pellets or chips are burned at some heat power plant. Timber ash results, which is then taken to plantations and dispersed by special machines. Then willows are planted – one of the fastest growing plants. It is cut once in two years by combines initially meant to work with sugar cane. Some insignificant adjustments – and they are fully fit to cut willows. Thus, 4 times in the course of 8 years each plantation is harvested. After the eight-year cycle a special tractor roots the willows out, and the process is repeated. The harvested willow is used to produce chips, and then those are either turned into pellets, or burned as they are at power plants. Later in the evening of the same day we were shown to a huge biogas plant. The plant produces gas from all types of household, catering and food wastes. When food stuffs expire and are subject to recycling, they are brought here. It hosts enormous underground tanks, where the wastes are dumped, and where special microorganisms are planted later on to speed the biological decomposition generating methane, which is in its turn purified, compressed and fed to gas stations. Also on the same day, we saw a train working on biodiesel. Biodiesel is an artificial diesel fuel made from rapeseed. When we were traveling across Sweden we saw the bright yellow spots of the rape fields everywhere.
There was yet another tour on May 29. Since there were some Russian colleagues there, we agreed that part of us should go on the first tour, and part – on the second. Therefore, I have some indirect impressions from the second tour. That tour was to a municipal HPP working on chips, to a biogas plant, a peat HPP of 110 MW and a timber pellet plant, producing 80,000 tons a year.
On May 30, the festive opening of the conference and the exhibition took place. After the conference all guests were invited to the exhibition. The exhibition was open the whole day through, but starting three o’clock in the afternoon all sorts of tour were again made available. There were two main tours that day. One was titled Wood Energy, and was dedicated to biomass harvesting right in the forest. This tour showcased mechanisms, all sorts of harvesting equipment used to gather biomass right in the woods, i.e. without leaving a single needle or chip there literally – very peculiar equipment. On principle, there is nothing complicated, and yet unfortunately, in Russia we can merely dream about it. The second tour was a trip to a local Jönköping power plant, utilizing timber dust.
The conference continued on May 31 (Wednesday). It followed the same pattern. Tours started at three. But most significantly – that day a round table session was held to exchange technologies, which I could not take part in, unfortunately.
On June 1, the conference was fully dedicated to eastern companies. Those represented mainly were China, Japan and the Pacific Region. There were also sections in timber pellet marketing and logistics. The Chinese delegation shared information on the state of things regarding pellets in their country. And the Japanese reported on the trade in pellets and standardization is organized in their case. After this, there was a report on maritime pellet delivery. In conclusion, the Czech delegation reported on pellet production development in their republic. By the way, there are already two companies in the Czech Republic aiming at pellet mills manufacturing, though not yet very successful.
Also on June 1 the conference was officially closed.
As regards informal activities, a few words can be added on the working dinner which took place on May 30. It was visited by at least 1000 people. The dinner hosted very many famous people, the so-called first personas in bioenergy equipment manufacturing.
After the official closure of the conference post-conference tours were held. There was a fairly interesting tour to a smaller farm, where a small unit producing biodiesel domestically was deployed. The output of the unit is a mere ton a day. Nonetheless, it is extremely profitable, as the farmer di not just plant rape on 250 hectares, but is also buying rapeseed from his neighbors.
There was a tour to a small plant producing pellets at the rate of 300 kilos per hour. I did not join this one, since I visited the plant during the January business-tour.
Then there were a visit to a poultry farm, equipped with a straw-fuelled heating unit, and a tour to a bioethanol plant. In Sweden it so happens there course buses fueled by bioethanol, as is stated on their decks.
One but the last tour took us to a huge heat and power plant functioning on wastes.
The impressions of the exhibition are positive. To us – manufacturers of the timber pellets – it was interesting to see the new mills. The following manufacturers were represented: CPM, Amandus Kahl, Salmatec, Buhler and La Meccanica. Also exhibited were smaller mills by Larus and General Dies of Italy. A lot of briquette press manufacturers were showcased as well.
It was interesting to visit the stands of the companies leading the industry of dryer drums, especially MEK Drier Systems.
A vast number of chip and pellet heat generators were showcased. Fully automated computer-controlled household boilers were especially numerous.
One of the most significant achievements for our company is the effective negotiations I held with one of the world leaders in manufacturing of timber powder burners (we plan to deploy those in heat generators for drying sawdust). We also negotiated with companies making drying complexes and dryer drums. We spoke with die manufacturers too. Though we already made our choice favoring German dies, it was still interesting to compare. In particular, we talked with an Italian company. They have slightly higher prices and lower quality. So, we once again we reaffirmed in our choice of the die manufacturer.
After this we had negotiations with a Japanese company trading in pellets. It turns out pellets in Japan are times more expensive than in Europe. Thus their market is very perspective, although not for us, but for those leaving east of Urals. Still, we took the address of a company in Japan interested in purchasing pellets.
We could not but speak with СPM representatives, since they are our favorite mill manufactures as of to date. And when we are getting an order for a plant with a rate of 4 tons an hour and higher, we recommend that the mills of this company are used.
From my experience I know that the world leader in grain production and processing is the Swiss Buhler, and naturally, they are one of the leaders in pellet production also. This is why I spent some time talking to them too.
Of course, Russia was also represented at this exhibition, although the Russian delegation was not so big. But still it was pleasing to see our compatriots there. And it was as pleasing to see that our representatives of the biofuel portal enjoyed interest from all visitors – European and Asian alike. But Anton Ovsyanko will dwell on this himself.
In the end of the trip, I visited Germany, where I negotiated with our die supplier.
That is all.
Pavel Slipchenko.
The article was published in Bioenergetika magazine, issue 3, 2006