Standards for solid biofuels under development

Solid biofuels are the largest renewable energy source and likely to play an important role in a low-carbon future, but their global production has not yet been traded on an equal and harmonised basis at the international level. ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is now working on a series of International Standards on solid biofuel specifications and classes.

Solid biofuels can include wood pellets, wood briquettes, wood chips, non-woody pellets and, recently, biocommodities such as thermally treated and densified biomass fuels. At present, there are a number of different testing methods available to attest to the quality of solid biofuels and various practices to characterise the products. For a supplier trading internationally, this can mean multiple tests or results that cannot be compared.

ISO’s new standards will provide concise and unambiguous criteria and methods for the characterisation of solid biofuels. Eija Alakangas, project leader of this series of standards, explained how important they are for the market.

“If you trade your solid biofuels internationally, you have to complete a number of tests to prove the quality of your fuels and, as things stand today, you cannot compare results because they have been derived using different methods,” Alakangas said. “Now, by using international fuel specification and classes standards (ISO 17225 series), sampling and testing methods, the same quality classification and testing results can be applied worldwide.

Eija Alakangas, project leader of ISO 17225 series.

“The ISO 17225 series determines specifications and classes based on the origin and source of the solid biofuel raw materials: woody, herbaceous, fruit, aquatic biomass and blends and mixtures. Then, for each traded form like pellets, quality properties were selected separately but origin and source and moisture and ash content were specified for all traded forms.”

ISO is preparing almost 60 International Standards for solid biofuels, comprising definition and classification standards as well as standards for chemical and mechanical testing. A standard on sampling methodology is also included as a building block for accommodating certification and various schemes of credit accounting.

The standards are intended for all stakeholders working in the solid biofuels supply chain. Alakangas said they will “serve as a tool to enable efficient trading of solid biofuels and foster a better understanding between seller and buyer, as well as for communicating with equipment manufacturers”.

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