Figure 1. Sawdust trailers being unloaded at a Canadian wood pellet plant

Canada is a leading supplier of wood pellets from certified sustainable and legal sources. Today, electric power stations in Europe and Asia are using Canadian wood pellets to displace coal and reduce fossil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  For example, Drax Power operates the world’s largest biomass power station providing about six percent of the UK’s electricity supply.  Drax was a former coal power station that converted to wood pellets, thereby reducing its GHG emissions by more than eighty percent. Many of these wood pellets are imported from Canada.

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Canada’s forests are some of the most resilient and sustainably managed in the world.  They are subject to stringent environmental regulation, careful management and extensive third-party certification. That’s why customers requiring sustainable biomass products have confidence in the Canadian wood pellet sector.

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Wood pellet plants produce syngas – a highly explosive mix of carbon monoxide, methane, hydrogen and other volatiles – during various stages of the pellet manufacturing process. This combustible gas is produced whenever biomass is subjected to high temperatures in a low-oxygen environment. It often accumulates within enclosed areas such as dryers, ducts, cyclones and piping. If not managed properly, syngas can cause catastrophic fires, explosions and deflagrations and resultant injuries, loss of life and equipment. This phenomenon is equally true for woody and agricultural biomass.

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Canada’s forests are some of the most resilient and sustainably managed in the world. They are subject to stringent environmental regulation, careful management and extensive third-party certification. That’s why customers requiring sustainable biomass products have confidence in the Canadian wood pellet sector.

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The wood pellet industry employs 2,500 British Columbians. Photo courtesy Pinnacle Renewable Energy.

In 2018, the Government of British Columbia released its Clean Energy Plan, promising to create opportunities for all while protecting the province’s clean air, land and water. Remarkably, the plan gives almost no consideration of forest-based bioenergy. Nevertheless, the government did commit to renew the province’s bioenergy strategy, which now – two years later – it is working on. Alarmingly, the government is planning to exclude the use of solid biofuels for heat in B.C. The wood pellet industry is deeply troubled by this.

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