While the growth of wind and solar power often grab the headlines, there’s another renewable energy boom that’s emerging from forests and fueled by tree scraps: wood pellets.
Made from recycled sawdust and lumber by-products, wood pellets are feeding the global demand to replace fossil fuel for electricity generation and heating. Driven by initiatives to shift from coal to biomass, the EU is the world’s largest consumer of wood pellets with total consumption doubling between 2010 to 2016 from 11.4 million Mt to 21.5 million Mt. In Asia, South Korea has emerged as a major destination for pellets, where Samsung C&T plays a key role in meeting the country’s rapidly growing reliance on the material by identifying sustainable sources in Russia, Canada, and Vietnam.
In addition to giving new life to industrial by-products, the low moisture content and high density of wood pellets also make them an efficient and cost-effective energy source. For these reasons, the material is considered a potential renewable energy source for the future. Check out the infographic below to learn more about wood pellets.
