In this study, the effects of using fine milled cassava stems as an additive in biofuel Pellet production was compared to the effects of refined starch addition. The bulk biomass fuel raw material, to which the additive was added, was a blend of spruce and pine sawdust. An experimental design in the factors cassava/starch content, moisture content and material temperature was used. Measured responses were Pellet bulk density, Pellet durability, amount of fines, Pelletizer motor current, Pellet temperature, die temperature and CV for Pelletizer motor current (a measure of process stability). Each response was modeled by multiple linear regression (MLR).

Göteborg Energi has a surplus of district heating during spring, summer and fall. The heat surplus is due to a constant production of waste heat from oil refineries and heat from waste incineration over the year. It would be desirable to increase the demand for heat and the uptime for the newly built combined heat and power generation plant, Rya Kraftvärmeverk. One alternative could be to integrate Rya Kraftvärmeverk with a Pellet production facility. By producing heat, electricity and Pellet in a joint process the energy use can be decreased.

As demand for renewable energy is increasing rapidly, the market for biomass Pellets is expected to continue to grow in the near future. Most of the new raw materials that are discussed for Pellet production have one thing in common; the production costs will increase compared to using traditional raw materials such as sawdust and planer shavings. The aim of this thesis is to investigate to what degree increased use of new raw materials for Pellet production will affect the general Pellet prices in Sweden and to survey what plans Swedish Pellet producers have concerning new raw materials. To investigate the raw material situation of the Swedish Pellet producers an industry survey was performed. Literature studies were also made on previous research in the subject field. Calculations of the production costs for Pellets were done for the raw materials sawdust, wet sawmill chips and energy wood respectively. New raw materials are already used by the large-scale Pellet producers in Sweden.

Fuel Pellets are a refined bio fuel mostly consisting of residues from sawmills and wood industry. At Rindi Västerdala AB's combined bio energy plant in Vansbro fuel Pellets are produced, while the waste heat from the process is used for district heating. The Pellets are produced from sawdust, wood shavings and dry wood chips that is dried, milled and pressed into small cylindrical rods. The advantage of refining the wood material in this manner is that the energy value is greater per unit volume and unit weight, thereby the cost of transportation per energy unit is reduced. Also, less storage space is needed.Pellet manufacturing is a complex process since many parameters affects the final results.

In the last decade, member states of the European Union have adopted a range of measures to decrease the dependency on fossil fuels. This has led to an increased use of biomass in heat and power production. In some countries, the lack of forest resource has led to large scale power producers importing their biomass needs. Due to high energy content and homogeneity, wood Pellets have become an internationally traded commodity used for large scale power production. The Baltic States have emerged as one of the largest wood Pellet exporting regions in Europe.

Successful forest regeneration is a prerequisite for sustainable forest management. Therefore, it is important to prevent browsing damage on the commercially important tree species Scots pine. In this study I have tested a new alternative way to increase the available amount of forage and increase the use of these resources by especially moose. The method is based on a slash treatment at harvest, where the accessibility of slash as forage is increased during final felling or commercial thinning by gathering the slash and putting the Scots pine slash on top of the slash piles. This study has compared the availability of forage, the amount of browsed biomass and the number of fecal Pellet groups between conventional and slash treated stands after final felling and commercial thinning in southern Sweden.

This thesis describes the new construction of a small house and it includes studies of three heating systems: geothermal heating, district heating and Pellet. The purpose of this thesis is to project a small house which can manage Building Regulations, BBR conditions and then examine three possible heating systems for the small house. This thesis is a literature study which gives an understanding of the heating systems technical structure, properties and costs. An empirical study completes the literature study by giving a deeper understanding of district heating costs and Pellet costs. The empirical study contains two interviews, one of which was conducted in a district heating corporation and the other interview was conducted in a Pellet corporation.

This thesis describes the new construction of a small house and it includes studies of three heating systems: geothermal heating, district heating and Pellet. The purpose of this thesis is to project a small house which can manage Building Regulations, BBR conditions and then examine three possible heating systems for the small house. This thesis is a literature study which gives an understanding of the heating systems technical structure, properties and costs. An empirical study completes the literature study by giving a deeper understanding of district heating costs and Pellet costs. The empirical study contains two interviews, one of which was conducted in a district heating corporation and the other interview was conducted in a Pellet corporation.

This thesis aims to examine the viability of various techniques for increased electricity generation in CHP plants and the effect of electricity price fluctuations on the profitability.The techniques examined are fuel dryer, Pellet production, methane production, combined methane- and Pellet production, seasonal heating storages in caverns and pit heat storages and condensing tail. Using Excel and Matlab, the prerequisites for investment costs, revenues and expenses were calculated.What affects the price of electricity is a combination of economic and technological development, energy prices, economic structure, population changes and weather. Different scenarios for the electricity price were therefore examined. In the base case, the electricity price was given by the Nord Pool electricity price statistics of area three in 2011. Thereafter, WiMo was used to design the electricity scenarios for 2030, which was then applied to the data to obtain the viability of various scenarios. The techniques examined were found to give greater profits to the CHP plant by increasing and optimizing the production of electricity.

Denna studie handlar om Pelletering som möjlig lönsam marginalaffär vid mindre sågverk/hyvlerier. Studien, vilken skett genom djupintervjuer på plats, omfattar fem olika mindre sågverk/hyvlerier i Småland. Verksamheterna är sinsemellan på många sätt olika men har samtliga satsat på Pelletering av ekonomiska skäl och av miljöskäl.Studien visar att Pelletering är lönsam men också att det krävs vissa förutsättningar för att långsiktigt nå denna lönsamhet. Den viktigaste är långsiktig tillgång till råvara i form av torrt spån men det krävs även ett genuint intresse och en stor kunskap inom såväl teknik som trä för den som skall Pelletera Detta beror på att produktionsprocessen är mycket komplicerad och även beroende av en del yttre omständigheter som t.ex. fukt, kyla och torka.

The sun is essential to life on earth and no matter where you are, there is a constant need ofenergy. Nearly 800 000 years ago man learned for the first time to use fire in a controlled way.Since then, fire has given us the opportunity to inhabit places despite a cold climate. In Swedenthe resident sector accounts for a major part of the total consumption of energy. In a time whenenvironmental issues and greenhouse effects are increasing, we also see a future of rising energyprices. With this perspective, we have in this bachelor thesis in the Building Environment at theRoyal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm decided to focus on the renewable energysource, solar energy.The energy from solar radiation is a free resource and does not have any negative effects uponthe environment.

When constructing a new house many questions appear, from architecture to decisions regarding installations. Sweden is situated in a cold part of the planet and questions regarding which heating system to install face everyone who decides to build a new house. This thesis describes a construction solution of a villa in Kiruna. The extended essay analyzes which heating system is most suitable for the construction. The options are geothermal, district and Pellet heating systems.

Skärgårdsstiftelsen, which is responsible for several of the archipelago islands in Stockholm, has chosen to explore the possibilities for more sustainable heating systems in buildings on the islands in collaboration with KTH. A reduction of energy use and improving the efficiency of existing heating systems are included as part of the environmental work. This report studies the island of Grinda, which is located outside the area of Vaxholm in Stockholm. The study area consists of a guesthouse consisting of a restaurant as well as conference facilities and four neighboring cottages used for overnighting. The cottages now run solely on direct electricity, both for heating and hot water.

The purpose of the house which is the basis of this report is to be able present itself on the market as a relatively cheap and at the same time a climate friendly choice. The house is supposed to be able to be built anywhere in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia in a short period of time. This puts demand on what kind of heating system the house can have, since not all places have the geographic advantage of being able to use geothermal or district heating. Therefore the heating system choices will only include those that are not limited by their geographic location. The house will be built in modules which only require the groundwork to be done before the house can be erected. In this report "System solutions for plus or passive-housing" a comprehensive literature search has been conducted as well as a number of calculations.

Fuel Pellets are in Sweden mainly produced from sawdust and cutter shavings. Before the Pelletising process the raw material is dried to attain consistent moisture content and ground up in a hammer mill. In the densification process (Pelletising) the ground material is forced through holes in a rotating die. This heats up the wood particles which cause them to soften and self bond. After the process the Pellets are cooled, sieved and bagged. The milling process creates a wide range of particle sizes.