BIOMASSAnalysis

PELLET UTILISATION
of Two-Output TO PRODUCTION:
Inverter For Induction Heating Application
A PARADIGM SHIFT
1 AMIT PANDEY, 2SANDEEP PATEL,
3VISHAL GOSWAMI

3400MW (4X250 + 4X600MW) OPJSTPP

Jindal Power Limited, Tamnar, Raigarh (C.G.)

Abstract- Ministry of Power on 17th Nov, 2017 had issued the policy regarding Biomass utilization for power
generation through co-firing in coal-based power plants. This was followed by an advisory dated 24 th Nov, 2017
from CEA to all the TPPs to utilize Biomass pellets in coal-based TPPs to the extent of 5-10%. For 1 st year 5%
and the obligation shall be increase to 7% with effect from two years from date of issue of guideline i.e., 8 th Oct,
2021. Jindal Power Limited, Tamnar is committed for the successful implementation of “National Mission on
use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plant”. In order to maintain the reliability of supply chain management and
limitations of vendor for pellet manufacturing, JPL is planning to set-up pellet manufacturing plant.

Keeping aforementioned to implementation, Jindal Power Limited, Tamnar (c.g.) has successfully co-fired 5%
biomass pellet on 23rd Feb, 2022 on one of the units (unit-2) of Stage-I (4 X 250 MW). The paper explains about
the challenges encountered during handling and storage of biomass pellets, modifications done in the existing
system and effects of co-firing (5% biomass pellet). Also, the journal includes the challenges encountered in
CAPEX & OPEX management. As the pellet procurement cost is significantly higher as compare to
conventional fuel; this journal explains the organizations pathway to a paradigm shift towards utilizations of
biomass pellet to installation of biomass pellet production plant.

Keywords- CAPEX: capital expenditure, OPEX: operational expense

1. INTRODUCTION chemical structure, constituents & chemical

properties as compare to coal.
Biomass pellets are the biofuels, generally
obtained from biomass or complex organic 2. HANDLING, STORAGE AND BLENDING
matters and used as a heating fuel in various
industries. These pellets are usually derived from
many sources including paddy straw, rice husk, 2.1 HANDLING OF PELLETS
horticulture waste, sawdust, forest waste,
sugarcane waste etc. These are also considered as  The truck containing Biomass pellets enters
the ideal substitute for traditional/conventional plant premises.
fossil fuels for power generation or heating  The vendor test report accompanied with the
purpose. lot shall be checked.
However, the availability of short window  Sample collection and test report by coal
between the harvesting season of paddy and sampling lab;
subsequent bed preparation for the next crop Biomass Pellets Quantity fired at JPL: 25
pushes the farmers to undergo on-farm burning as MT
a comfortable and economical option for
countering paddy straw stockpile. This Pellet Sample Test Results:
unwarranted burning of paddy straw actually has a) Moisture :
the substantial contribution in elevating the b) Ash :
environmental pollution. Biomass pellet c) VM :
conversion from these paddy straws along with d) Fixed Carbon :
binders are actual and economical solution in e) GCV :
countering the environmental problem.
JPL with its total operating capacity of Bagged Supply Constituents:
3400MW intends to utilize agro residue-based
pellets along with coal for power generation a) Rice Husk :
through 5% biomass co-firing which is a b) Paddy Straw :
technology recognized by UNFCCC to mitigate c) Wood saw dust :
carbon emission. The biomass co-firing is an d) Approx. GCV :
intricate process which requires proper storage & e) Price :
handling. The process also involves some
modifications in its co-firing as it has got different

National conference on ‘Biomass Pellets Co-firing’, 29-30th June, 2022 at PMI, Noida
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  Acceptance based on the report given by the
sampling lab.
 After acceptance, the truck shall be weighed.
 After weighment, truck unloaded at
designated unloading point (Stage-1 Yard-3
demarcated area).
 The empty truck shall be weighed.
 After weighment, empty truck to be released
from plant premises.
2.2 STORAGE OF PELLETS
 Biomass pellets kept stored in Stage-1 Yard-
3, having firefighting facilities.
 The volatile matter in biomass pellets is
very high. Hence continuous monitoring of
the area needs to be done.
 The pellet storage area has kept separate
from the coal stock in yard.
monitoring of pressure with which steam will be
added to mills in case of fire.
4. EFFECTS OF 5% PELLET CO-FIRING
 As biomass pellet has high calorific value,
thus significant improvement observed in
specific coal consumption. Average specific
coal consumption as on 23.02.2022 at part
load 145 MW was 0.7724 T/MWH prior co-
firing and was improved to 0.7583 T/MWH
post co-firing. Similarly average specific coal
consumption at full load 260 MW was 0.7509
T/MWH prior co-firing and was improved to
0.7104 T/MWH post co-firing.

2.3 BLENDING OF 5% PELLETS 0.7724

0.78
CONVEYING 0.7583
0.7509
0.76
 Coal (500 MT) and one dumper (25 T 0.74
i.e.,5%) Pellet mixed. 0.7104
 Normal coal mixing at yard-3 for blending 0.72
by Payloader. 0.7
 Stacker Reclaimer-2 positioned at designated
0.68
heap.
 No other coal from any point or source will 0.66
be added during feeding of biomass pellets part load full load
mixed coal.
 Feeding path; coal firing co-firing

Figure 1
Coal From YARD-3 via BC-8
BC-9
SR-2
Bunker BC- BC- BC-6 BC-
5A  At 247 MW load furnace temperature at
4A/4B 3A/3B different elevation before soot blowing were
recorded after co-firing and compared with
3. MODIFICATIONS temperature recorded on previous day at same
load before soot blowing.
3.1 MILL OPERATIONAL LOGIC

 Hot air gate close logic from HAG close at

CORNER-1 CORNER-2
mill outlet temperature > 100ºC to mill outlet
ELEV 16.02.22 23.02.2 16.02.22 23.02.22
temperature > 100ºC OR mill inlet
2
temperature > 195ºC.
‘30’ M 1080 1107 1220 1120
 Mill outlet temperature high alarm > 95ºC to
> 70ºC. AB 1060 1106 1110 1100
 Mill inlet temperature high alarm provided CD 1160 1136 1120 1102
at temperature > 185ºC. EF 1180 1217 1100 1190
 Modification in mill operating temperature is ‘17’ M 1030 1065 1010 1006
done because of biomass ignition ‘8.5’M 850 904 900 906
temperature which is 240ºC which is much Table 1
lower as compare to normal mill inlet
temperature i.e., 270ºC to 285ºC.

3.2 MILL INERTING LINE CORNER-3 CORNER-4

ELEV 16.02.22 23.02.2 16.02.22 23.02.22
Mill inerting lines are provided with additional 2
pressure gauges at inlet header valves for close ‘30’ M 1070 1109 1050 1170

National conference on ‘Biomass Pellets Co-firing’, 29-30th June, 2022 at PMI, Noida
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 AB 1100 1121 1130 977 270000 + 135000 = 405000 MT for
CD 1120 1104 920 1060 year
EF 1000 1202 890 1065
‘17’ M 840 870 1000 1020 7. OPEX (tentative as per offer letter of vendors
‘8.5’M 800 780 810 800 & manufacturers):
Table 2  Raw Material procurement inc.
logistics = Rs.1500.00 to Rs.2000.00
 The combustion parameter does per MT
suggest the positive effect of pellet co-  Production Cost (end to end) inc.
firing as the heat value of the furnace power consumption ranges =
increased and the carbon emissions to Rs.3500.00 to Rs. 4000.00 per MT
the atmosphere gets neutralized by the  Total Production Cost: Rs 5500.00 to
vegetation hence doesn’t increases the Rs.6000.00 per MT
carbon concentration.
5. PARADIGM SHIFT 8. CAPEX (TURNKEY; tentative as per offer
letter of manufacturers):
The idea of setting up of pellet production plant is  For 3 X 3.5 tph pellet plant: Rs. 22
basically targeted on self-consumption and also in Cr (Source: ANDRITZ Technologies
order to meet the requirement of the TPP’s nearby. Pvt. Ltd.)
This step will have many positives to look upon;  For 4 tph pellet production
plant: Rs. 10 Cr
 Competitive market generation (Source: Sarvodaya Plants &
 Quality end-product Equipment Ltd.)
 Strengthening supply chain  For 8 tph pellet production plant:
management Rs. 20 Cr
 Overall cost reduction (Source: Sarvodaya Plants &
 Better sustainability Equipment Ltd.)
 Employment creation through CSR  For 12 tph pellet production
 Waste to heat recovery plant: Rs. 30 Cr
(Source: Sarvodaya Plants &
Lastly, to contribute towards the successful Equipment Ltd.)
implementation of “National Mission on use of
Biomass”

5.1 DATA SHEET 5.2 COMPETITIVE MARKET

1. JPL Operative Units: The one-many approach of pellet

4X250MW + 4X600MW production plant set-up is inversely
proportional to the cost of readymade
2. Station Fuel Consumption/Day: pellet procured or outsourced. The
= 56000 MT/Day data sheet clearly states the condition
of pellet production to procurement
3. Required 5% Biomass Pellet: cost i.e., 1:2. The more the
 56000 X 0.05 = 2800 MT/Day availability of producers the less will
 2800 X 365 = 1022000 MT/Year be the cost and hence increases
competitiveness.
4. Raw Material required:
Considering 95% PGI of Pellet 5.3 QUALITY END PRODUCT
Production
Machine:1022000/0.95= 1075800 Due to the hygroscopic nature of
MT/Year pellets and its chemical composition
using binders, at times the product
5. Harvesting season at Chhattisgarh: received through the seller failed in
 November to January produces: quality resulting in deviation of
3000 MT paddy straw per day supply chain management.
(nearby areas; as per CSR survey)
= 3000 X 90 = 270000 MT 5.4 SUPPLY CHAIN
 April to June produces 1500 MT MANAGEMENT
paddy straw per day (nearby areas;
as per CSR survey) = 1500 X 90 = In house production of pellets will
135000 MT always adhere the supply chain
mechanism in a planned manner
6. Total Raw Material Available: irrespective of the fulfillment of

National conference on ‘Biomass Pellets Co-firing’, 29-30th June, 2022 at PMI, Noida
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 required minimum quantity. As in
the data sheet its clearly shown that
even if 100% of the raw material
made available to production plant
it can only fulfill approximately half
of the pellet requirement round the
year but the positive is rolling
management of the available
quantity, which helps in
maintaining the supply-chain.
5.5 OVERALL COST
REDUCTION
Data sheet exemplifies the condition
that the production cost is way
lower than the procurement. As
some data suggests the price of
biomass pellet ranges between
Rs.8000/MT to 16000/MT at
Northern part of India whereas
production cost as per survey data
suggests Rs.5000 to Rs.6000/MT
which has the tendency to shrink
even lower to approximately
Rs.3000 to Rs.3500/ MT.
5.6 BETTER SUSTAINABILITY
In order to sustain in the competitive market
and to cater the current and upcoming
environmental norms; production plant set-
up will be the game changer. The
organization who can mange the CAPEX &
OPEX can only sustain in the competitive
market.
5.7 EMPLOYMENT CREATION
The huge raw material requirement for
pellet production plant cannot be fulfilled
with the help of CSR. The CSR personnel
can construct the link supply chain with the
locals by training and educating them about
the process hence are helpful in creating
employment.
5.8 WASTE TO HEAT RECOVERY
This unwarranted burning of paddy straw
actually has the substantial contribution in
elevating the environmental pollution.
Biomass pellet conversion from these paddy
straws along with binders are actual and
economical solution in countering the
environmental problem which are having
high calorific value hence acts as a heat
recovery agent.
6.0 CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES
National conference on ‘Biomass Pellets Co-firing’, 29-30th June, 2022 at PMI, Noida
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The production shift comes with its own kind of
challenges. For the matter explained in the journal the
pellets constituents for which pellet production plant
will be designed are:
1. 70% Paddy Straw
2. 20% Rice Husk
3. 10% Horticulture/ Garden wastes
In the data sheet clearly explained that the first and
foremost challenge is to arrange the raw material/ base
constituents for pallet production which is already in
shorter side to mitigate the year ends requirement.
Requirement of the raw material is 1075800 MT/Year
and only around 50% of the raw material can be
arranged within cost effective zones or areas. OPEX
clearly acts as an agitator to the novel cause of the
pallet production plant installation.
CAPEX is also a challenge as there is huge variation in
the costing of the set-up from distinguished vendors. It
is very tough to identify the right assembly as not many
vendors or manufacturers are having complete
TURNKEY manufacturing facility.
Apart from the CAPEX & OPEX, chemical
composition of the pellet plays a challenging
role in its manufacturing and consumption.
There is no doubt that biomass pellet fuel is
indeed an important means to transform
biomass resources and promote efficient use of
biomass energy. Currently, there are two main
types of options for bio pellet upgrading and
modification. i) Optimizing the operating
parameters of the bio-pellet pelletizing process
for example, by controlling the temperature,
pressure, moisture content and other operating
parameters of matrix materials, combined with
response surface optimization and
experimental methods, better biomass pellet
manufacturing parameters were obtained
through multi-parameter optimization, aiming
at high fuel quality (e.g., pellet density, pellet
breaking strength, etc.) and low pelletizing
energy consumption. With high fuel quality
(such as particle density, pellet crushing
strength, etc.), the pellet energy consumption
was low. ii) Matching different types of
biomasses from the differences in the internal
material composition of different biomass
substrate materials for co-pelletizing. As
previously discussed, the use of crops (or
waste) containing oil and lipid, sugar, etc. for
co-pelletizing with herbaceous and woody
(softwood and hardwood) crops is beneficial to
reducing energy consumption in the
preparation of biomass pellet fuel and
improving pellet density and durability.
The transport of different materials required
for pelletizing should be taken into account
when it comes to market applications. The
transport costs of raw materials account for
50-60% of their costs. Therefore, the
limitations of the types of raw materials that
can be selected due to geographical
differences needs to be taken into account.

7.0 CONCLUSION

Based on the perspective of efficient

utilization of biomass pellet fuel, the
influence of the material components of the
biomass matrix material and the pelletizing
operation parameters on the quality of
biomass pellets is reviewed. The components
of lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, protein,
lipids and moisture contained in the raw
material are the main chemical components
that influence pelletizing, and different
chemical components have different effects
on pelletizing. A single chemical component
does not determine the pelletizing process.
Suitable operating parameters (e.g.,
temperature, pressure and suitable moisture
content (generally in the range of 12-16%
depending on the type of raw material)) also
have a significant influence on pelleting, but
the influence of these parameters on pellet
quality and pelletizing energy consumption is
complex and inter-coupled.

Also, apart from the chemical composition

and its effects; by strategically managing
OPEX, CAPEX can be neutralized within no
time.

REFERENCES:

 Sarvodaya Plants & Equipment Ltd.

 Andritz Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 CPM
 Buhler Group
 NTPC
 Elsevier Publication, Better use of
bioenergy: A critical review of co-
pelletizing for biofuel manufacturing.

National conference on ‘Biomass Pellets Co-firing’, 29-30th June, 2022 at PMI, Noida
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