Millions to gain on better moisture management
Paying correctly for the energy content in biomass has a major impact on profitability for both buyers and suppliers.
For companies, it makes more sense to pay suppliers based on energy value rather than by the ton. With a fast and accurate moisture measurement, one can efficiently determine the energy value of a sample. This is also good for the suppliers who will adapt their processes to deliver higher quality drier material.
Thus, the pellet industry or other energy companies save drying costs. The diagram shows the energy content of biomass at different moisture contents, converted into value in SEK. The difference in value also corresponds to the costs of drying the biomass if the price is same as the raw material price. If the biomass is partly dried before delivery producers will reduce costs. Thus, measuring the moisture content when receiving biomass is a step forward in improving economy.
Diagram. Energy content per fresh ton biomass at different moisture contents (MC), converted into value in SEK (kr) per ton.
Calculation example:
- If the price is 350 SEK/MWh, the value changes by 21 SEK per ton and percentage unit of moisture.
- So a load of 30 tons gives a price error of SEK 600 per %.
- 300 loads/month gives SEK 180,000 per error % per month.
- 300 loads/month gives SEK 360,000 if there is two % error per month. And so on.
