SAFEPELLETS

Safety and quality assurance measures along the pellets supply chain

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Isolated incidents due to increased, toxic emissions in pellet storages have aroused great relevance and urgency on operational and customer safety in wood pellet supply chains. Reportedly two cases of death have occurred in large size vessels for ocean transportation and in harbour facilities. Another three incidents were reported in end-users´ storage rooms, the last of which resulted in the death of a German engineer. Furthermore, measurements in pellet storages show significantly increased CO concentrations for a relevant number of storages. Until now a definitive cause for increased CO concentration could not be found.

Within this project the different approaches and results on safety in pellet supply chains are linked with each other and integrated to a supranational scope. This is of great importance as pellet markets are no longer isolated, but increasingly grow to international resource flows. In this regard, decisive parameters like the amount of off-gasses and the potential for self-heating related to the time from pellet production to end use as well as the raw material composition of pellets resulting from their origin have to be investigated within international scope.

The proposed project aims to answer the question, where and under which conditions off-gassing and self-heating from biomass pellets occurs and what measures can be undertaken to reduce these risks. In turn, this project will end out into a draft for setting an international standard on safety measures and inspection methods along the whole pellets supply chain (e.g. by developing Material Safety Data Sheets for wood pellets). This safety issue is decisive for the further extension of pellets markets and thereby reflects high relevance for all enterprises in the pellet utilisation chain.'

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Biomass pellet production and consumption have soared over the past several years. It is no surprise that the buzz surrounding safety issues in the manufacturing, handling and storage of wood pellets has become louder. So loud, that the EU issued a mandate to the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) to develop standards for components of commercial, industrial and small-scale applications.

Wood pellets are currently used as solid biofuel in power plants, district heating facilities, and single-household boilers and stoves. The EU-funded 'Safety and quality assurance measures along the pellets supply chain' (http://www.safepellets.eu/ (SAFEPELLETS)) project worked to develop guidelines that will form the basis for European standards related to pellet quality assurance along the entire supply chain.

The topics handled by SAFEPELLETS include safe production, handling and storage of pellets from different sources. The solutions developed will ensure consumer protection by preventative measures to avoid off-gassing of toxic substances during storage. Furthermore, SAFEPELLETS partners dealt with the problem of self-heating and spontaneous ignition of stored pellets.

A project report outlines some of the inherent risks involved in working with pellets, specifically those related to production, storage, transport and handling issues. With respect to storage, most research was carried out for small-scale users. Large pellet storage facilities are usually equipped with temperature and carbon monoxide detectors to locate self-heating processes and fires.

The SAFEPELLETS project report outlines the current standards and guidelines governing pellet safety. More importantly, it identifies problem areas that are not covered by existing standards. By aiming to address knowledge gaps, SAFEPELLETS work will increase consumer confidence and strengthen European supply chains for biomass.