Wood pellet industry in Indonesia

Indonesia’s biomass energy

It is predicted that Indonesia produce 146.7 million tons of biomass every year, about 470GJ/year. Indonesia’s biomass energy spreads in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Irian jaya and Sulawesi. According to research, the power generation potential of the total biomass energy is 50GW/year, about 470GJ/year.

Indonesia’s biomass energy mainly comes from rice wastes, rubber wood residues, sugar waste, palm oil residues, plywood and veneer residues, logging residues, sawn timber residual, coconut shell, and other agriculture wastes.

The main crop wastes for power generation are palm oil, sugar and rice processing waste. Currently, Indonesia has 67 sugar plant in running and 8 in construction. They process 1000-12000 tons of sugarcanes every day, and produce 8 million tons of bagasse and 11.5 million tons of sugarcane roots and leaves.

Indonesia has 39 palm oil plantations, and 8 in construction. Most palm oil mills adopt palm fibers and shells for thermal-power generation. It is more economical in energy-efficient systems, like biomass gasification power plant.

Urban garbage is another kind of biomass energy. Most of them are household garbage. Currently, these garbage are burnt by residents or collected and transported to landfills by government. Although the government has built infrastructures to treat these garbage, the garbage problem is still serious due to population growth, inadequate waste treatment facilities and budget. Making garbage into biomass fuels is a way to solve this problem.

Indonesia biomass energy consumption

After the 1998 Asian financial crisis, Indonesia’s energy consumption grows up continuously in the past 10 years. Indonesia has passed energy policies to reduce oil consumption and develop renewable energy.

Currently, Indonesia’s biomass industry aims to save cost. In power generation industry, the point is to replace fossil fuels with biomass fuels. The increasing electric power demand will boost the development of biomass power generation.

Wood pellet manufacturer in Indonesia

According to the statistics of Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO). Indonesia wood pellet production increase from 40,000 tons in 2013 to 80,000 tons in 2014. In 2015, the wood pellets production level off at 80,000 tons.

PT south pacific

PT south pacific is a wood pellet manufacturer in Indonesia. The director, Steven Eyskens, is from Belgium. He has been working in Indonesia for 15 years. At first he engaged in timber processing, then set up a furniture factory, and do export business.

In the furniture industry, he met some companies who have sawdust and wood waste problems. After consulting with several Korea companies and European pellet machine manufacturers, he decide to start a wood pellet factory. It is at that time when Korea wood pellet market thrives.

Currently, PT South Pacific has 1 wood pellet plant in running and 4 in construction. They are commissioning a 10t/h wood pellet plant, and training staffs for the new factories. The 4 wood pellet plants are expected to produce 300,000 tons of wood pellets every year.

PT South Pacific adopts raw materials like furniture processing waste, laminboard waste, mahogany and pine sawdust. Besides, they are planting a fast-growing wood together with forestry department. Some wood pellet factories adopt rubber wood and hardwood in construction.

Most of Pt South Pacific’s wood pellets are exported to Korea, China, and Japan, sometimes Europe. It is devoted to promoting the application of wood pellet cook stoves, known as Mimi Moto by local people. It was awarded with the 4th level of the global alliance for clean cook stoves. The company is looking for NGO partners for the cook stove markets.

SingPellet

SingPellet is a wood pellet manufacturer registered in Singapore. It can produce 2000 tons of wood pellets every month. This company targets at Asia wood pellet market, mainly for industrial customers.

SingPellet invests a lot to ensure the safety of raw materials. It runs a 21000 hectare of plantation, and test different types of short-term rotation dwarf forests, which will take on the future raw material supply.

Currently, most of SingPellet’s wood pellets are exported to Japan, under a long-term supply contract. Besides, there are 15 wood pellet manufactures registered for export to China.

Indonesia wood pellet export and import

In 2014, Indonesia exported near 76,000 tons of wood pellets, double the number in 2013. The exportation in 2015 is similar with that in 2014, according to the FAO statistics.

Most of Indonesia’s wood pellets are exported to Korea. According to the executive director of the Canadian sawdust pellet association, Indonesia exported 63,000 tons of wood pellets to Korea in 2014, and 61,000 in 2015.

According to the FAO statistics, from 2013-2014, Indonesia’s wood pellet import almost doubles, although the number is small. In 2013 the import is 18 tons, in 2014 it is 35 tons.