Innovation

"Last year, we made the decision to try a new way to dry the fiber, which is an important part of the process in our production. We have to dry the sawdust before compressing it into pellets. The new innovation is that we have installed a low temperature dryer which takes care of the heat waste from the main process. This gives us about 30% more energy in the process compared to what they had before. This innovation and investment have proven to be significantly better than what we calculated in the start of the project. The investment have costed them SEK 40 million but it is going to be repaid within five years."

Inspiration

The idea came to them when they discovered that there is a lot of energy released in the first process, in what is called the drum dryer where a lot of energy goes to waste. Before the innovation, they did not handle it in a good way and could not take advantage of the energy. They wanted to take it a step further and make it possible to dry more of the same raw material, to get the same product but much more through the energy you put in from the start.

Overall impact

• It has an impact on households in Sweden, in the way that they have switched their oil boilers to fuel-pellets-fire boilers, and that severalbig power plants has also done this switch. The reason for the switch is because it is a better financial choice, but also a more sustainable one as well.

• Thanks to the fact that power plants started to use bioenergy, it has spread to other countries. It has spread over Europe, and especially to the Baltics and further down the continent.

• It has an impact on the Swedish forest industry, because they produce pellets of by-products. By using the remains of trees, we can take advantage of something that would otherwise have been lost.

Business benefit

Scandbio are today a 50% cheaper alternative compared to oil fuel, which turns it into a commercial advantage for the company. For this reason, the consumer choose pellets instead of oil as a fuel.

Social and environmental benefit

Their production is all about removing fossil fuels, which reduces the carbon dioxide emissions. The production is very effective in this context and sustainable all the way. The forest industry absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide and creates a closed circle - what is burned down is then taken up by the woods. If you then use the wood for construction, you will bind the carbon dioxide into the buildings. This is a better option compared to using cement, which requires a lot of fossil fuels and does not absorb any carbon dioxide at all in it’s product.

In the past, people chose pellets because of economic reasons. Today people choose pellets because it is a sustainable alternative. This reduces the demand for fossil fuels, which has a positive impact on consumers and society. So today, people make that choice because of environmental reasons and no longer for economic reasons. It is still a good financial option, but not as good as it was 10 years ago. This is because the energy prices have gone down the last few years.

Interview

Peter Granborn, CEO