Torrefied-Hydrochar Blend Wood Biomass Improvement for Fuel Pellet Production: A Tree-to-Customer Analysis

The research presented hereafter shows the investigation of the economic feasibility of biofuel pellet production in Maine in the United States for sale in the United Kingdom. This work focuses on wood biomass improvement using dry torrefaction in combination with a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) binder made from the same feedstock for sale in the United Kingdom at a scale of approximately 100,000 metric tons per year. The primary mode of research was literary review. It was found that this process is economically viable at this scale with a relatively short pay-back period and high internal rate of return. A hazard and operability analysis with health and safety review is presented with appropriate mitigation techniques. Described in this research are the reasons for the chosen ratio of torre ed biomass to hydrochar binder along with the factors that a ected the selection of location for both production and sale, physical properties of the nal fuel pellets, the raw material used for biomass, and manufacturing processes designed to these ends