Pellets lack support

Press, 7 June 1980, Page 14

Pellets lack support

PA Auckand . Officials are not interested in paper pellets as fuel, says the Environmental Ethics Trust. It has failed to get any financial backing from the Government or local bodies for the idea. Six companies have now joined the trust to build a $lOO,OOO plant at Onehunga, which should be working by the end of, June. The pellets will be made by compressing clean waste paper, collected from commercial premises. They will be' burnt in a boiler owned by one of the consortium. A report from the. New Zealand Energy Research and Development Committee, said the pellets could be a success —on paper. The aim of the pilot plant is to prove that . the paper pellet, idea can be made to-work on a com- • mercial scale. - Mr Eric Jackson said the trust had searched Tor-the i equipment to build .a $250,000 plant at .half the cost.

“We have had no financial backing from the Government or local authorities, though they all think it is a good idea and . have congratulated us,” he said. Nevertheless, it had been private concerns such as Mobil which had put money into the pellets — “without their support we could not have got this far,” said Mr Jackson. The consortium was convinced the pilot plant would'prove its worth and produce pellets at $23.47 a tonne, compared with coal at $34 a tonne. The aim, however, was not to compete with coal as a solid fuel; coal was too valuable as an industrial and chemical feedstock to be burned to produce energy, he said. Certain, types of waste paper and some plastics are only worth burning as pellets? Other paper,' such as ; newsprint and'-better quality paper, could be reduced and recycled. Two. possible pellet mar-, kets mentioned in the ? report, which , was prepared by an Auckland firm of consulting- engineers, were

domestic use and use in industrial water heaters > and boilers. “We would not consider the domestic market would warrant a pelleting plant to be set up solely for this purpose due to the.rela- ■ tively small and seasonal market,” said the report. “However, coal in 20kg packs retails at about $2;80, or $l4O a tonne, so at least for the larger. pelleting plants, the domestic market could prove worth while.” At the time the report was prepared, coal was selling for $34 a tonne - t from the State Coal Mines'> Mount Eden yard. The pellets can be used -j either on their own or with / coal. ■. .. - . 4 The report added a note of caution: “While'burning ? trials in industrial steam . boilers have been gener- ? ally very satisfactory, it.must be emphasised that.: these have been trials only , and that nowhere in the; world, to oiir knowledge, is a boiler working on a coal- - pellet blend on a permanent basis.” - ; <