In Port Elizabeth, South Africa, a new project consortium is breathing new life into a shuttered wood pellet plant.
Coega Biomass Centre (CBC) is a new venture formed by UK-headed renewable energy developer Hive Energy Ltd, South African waste-to-energy (WtE) and bioenergy project developers iLive Sustainable Development Holdings Pty Ltd (iLive), and the Netherlands-headed project consultants Partners for Innovation B.V.
The company, funded by Hive Energy has taken over and will restore the existing shuttered pellet plant in Port Elizabeth to produce high-quality wood pellets.
For Hive Energy this venture is an exciting opportunity to invest further in our cleaner world vision, remarked Giles Redpath, CEO of Hive Energy.
Positive impact
The plant will use biomass residues, non-indigenous forest and destructive invasive vegetation, thereby restoring indigenous vegetation, improving water supplies and providing cleaner-burning fuel to replace dirty coal, charcoal and anthracite.
The new venture aims to illustrate the viability of the parties’ innovative approach to establishing sustainable biomass supply chains with a positive impact on the environment that unlocks more end-uses for the global market.
It is an excellent project that will contribute meaningfully to accelerating the transition to green energy globally – not only will this benefit local communities in an area of high unemployment, but it will also positively impact the recovery of local ecosystems and now offer a cleaner energy option for thousands of dirty energy users in other parts of the world that lack this resource, Giles Redpath said.
Start with wood pellets
The initiative will commence with wood pellet production that is suitable to be used in many applications – from home boilers for heating and cleaner domestic cooking to industrial furnaces for steam generation and for power production.
Coega Biomass Centre will undertake a full refurbishment of the plant, which is anticipated to take nine months, and thereafter develop production capacity to eventually produce up to 120 000 tonnes of white pellets annually.
An estimated 200 000 tonnes of equivalent coal carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum could be offset with biomass pellets produced by Coega Biomass Centre.
It’s been a long road to get here, and our dream is now finally coming true! Biomass plays a vital role in addressing climate change and is an important component needed for the transition to cleaner fuels. Combined with the favourable environmental and social impact this will be a flagship project for the South African economy, said Werner Euler of iLive and Managing Director of CBC.
Future outlook
When fully operational, the plant will provide over 100 direct jobs with another 700 indirect jobs generated such as surveying, training, harvesting, collection, transportation and processing of biomass inputs.
Coega Biomass Centre (CBC) is also conducting a feasibility study to introduce new drying and torrefaction technologies to produce so-called black pellets.
The range of feedstocks used to produce black pellets is broad and enables the beneficiation of biomass residues – such as forestry residues that would otherwise be left in the plantations to rot, producing methane which has a very high greenhouse gas (GHG) impact.
In this project, Coega Biomass Centre will work together with all local stakeholders. By creating value from residue and invasive biomass, we will be able to provide a real contribution to sustainable economic growth, that will benefit South Africa, the Netherlands and the planet, commented Emiel Hanekamp, Senior Consultant at Partners for Innovation.
