heating industry is still small—in 2020, only 1,857 Japanese pellet stoves were sold in the country, and even fewer imported pellet stoves were sold—a total of 438 units. There are about 1,000 operating pellet boilers and another 1,000 wood chip boilers in commercial industry sectors, according to Kojima. “There are very few pellet boilers working in the single-family houses because we don’t use hot water central heating systems,” Kojima said. “So, this is our challenge—to install [more] pellet boilers in single-family houses.” Heating oil is cheaper than wood pellets right now, he added. Japan has two national pellet quality standards, the Japan Industrial Standard and the Japan Agricultural Standard, the latter of which will be published this year and is based on the European standard. According to Japan wood pellet association, Kojima said, there are eight production facilities certified under the old standard that will be changing over to the JAS standard. Pellets are primarily used at power plants due to the feed-in tariff, Kojima reiterated, and growing pellet imports from Vietnam and Canada—and soon, the U.S.— will rise from 3 million to 6 million tons annually. One issue of concern is that these power plants don’t utilize the generated heat, Kojima said, which he would like to
see change with more combined-heat-andpower application. Kojima emphasized that the price of pellets in the domestic market is currently quite high, which may be a hindrance on future growth of the sector. He concluded by emphasizing the importance of energy security in context of the uncertainty caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19. Forestry Management in Brazil Afonso Bertucci, a representative from Brazil’s Braspell Bioenergia, discussed Brazil’s superior forestry management and its wood pellet production potential. Currently, he said, the country only produces a small volume of pellets, “1 million tons per year in 30 factories,” but that number will rise significantly in the next few years, according to Bertucci. The country’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2050, and Bertucci said forest plantations—and, potentially, wood pellets—will play a key role. Bertucci outlined the plan for this forest-based bioenergy program in his presentation, explaining the plant requirements which include the establishment of environmental debates, bilateral agreements and long-term contracts with offtakers, technological agreements with interna-
tional companies and consolidating carbon dioxide credits market with global coverage. Bertucci said Brazil’s forest plantations have supplied the pulp and paper industry traditionally, but in the future, there will be high consumption in biorefineries, especially in second-generation ethanol. In the white pellet sector, traditional markets include power plants and heating, but there are emerging markets like the cement industry, Bertucci said. Brazil is also looking at opportunities in hydrogen, he added. With outstanding figures for forest productivity, Bertucci said Brazil has the potential to produce 1 billion tons of wood pellets annually. When asked if he sees any short-term potential in helping fill the supply shortage expected in Europe during the next couple of years as a result of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, Bertucci was doubtful, given the timeline of the three large-scale production facilities currently under construction in the Rio Grande region. “In the short-term, I cannot see any possibility, because Brazil exports approximately 600,000 tons and all of it is contract, and there are no existing factories to expend additional supply from,” he said. The next facility will be complete in two years, he said, and it will be able to supply large volumes to both the export and residential markets. As
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