Abstract (EN):
This paper aims to make a comparison between the logistics costs of buying Wood Pellets (WP) and Torrefied Biomass Pellets (TBP) produced in Portugal and exported to the major consumer markets of Northern Europe. The starting point is to determine the value of a shipload of WP and TBP delivered to a North European port and loaded in Aveiro, the main Portuguese WP expeditor port. Torrefaction implies higher energy and bulk density pellets, which contributes to increase the logistics costs associated with them. The loss of mass is greater than the loss of energy. These changes in bulk and energy densities are an advantage in terms of logistics: more tonnes per unit of volume and more energy per tonne will decrease the transportation cost per energy unit. The analysis carried out in this paper determines the energy in gigajoules (GJ) per tonne and all the comparisons are based on the cost per energy unit. This analysis is supported by real data collected in the Argus Biomass Markets report.
Language:
English
Type (Professor's evaluation):
Scientific
No. of pages:
5