How to Improve Energy Consumption and GHG Emissions in the Wood Pellet Production in Serbia

Abstract

As Serbia is currently dependent almost entirely on its own forest resources, consumption of raw wood biomass, for all purposes, should be limited within current boundaries, about 9,000,000 m3. This situation requires from the wood processing industry to be responsible for the raw material and to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution at all stages of the life cycle to a minimum. This also applies to the production of wood pellets, which are considered as a (nearly) purely renewable fuel and one of the potential substitutes for fossil fuels for heat production. The attention of this paper was paid to the wood pellet production, because this segment has the greatest impact on overall energy consumption and the influence on the environment in wood pellets life cycle. For the necessary calculations the “GHG Balance of Pellet Production” program with some upgrades, was used. The analysis showed that the investigated Serbian pellet plants, for different reasons, used more raw material and energy for production of 1 ton of pellets than plants elsewhere in Europe and America. In order to change this situation several different improvement methods have been examined and appropriate solutions suggested. The analysis of possible solutions showed that, if the proposed measures were implemented, the possible raw material would be between 7 and 10%. The analysis of possible solutions showed that, if the proposed measures were implemented, the following savings could be achieved: savings in wood raw materials between 7 and 10%, energy savings 12% and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions 23–45%.