Since its creation in 1994, the CARTIF Technology Centre has promoted and developed technologies for the energy use of biomass through research projects.
Its Biomass Analysis and Testing Laboratory (LAE), established in 2004 to meet the need for biomass analysis and characterization for its projects, soon expanded to offer services to its clients as well. In 2012, it undertook the challenge of achieving accreditation under the requirements of the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) for all parameters regulated by the ENplus® quality seal, and in 2015 it became the first laboratory in Spain to obtain ENAC accreditation for testing solid biofuels.
Since then, the volume of samples managed and analyzed at the LAE has been increasing to the present day, not only of wood pellets, but of many other biomasses of very different origins and natures: wood chips, olive pits, fruit shells, cereal straw, etc.
In your experience over these ten years, how has the quality of the pellet evolved?
The current landscape of the wood pellet market in Europe is very different from what it was just 10 years ago. While countries whose markets were already mature at the beginning of this decade, such as Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and Germany, continue to be major players in wood pellet production, some emerging markets like Spain and Portugal, apart from the Eastern European countries, have experienced extraordinary growth in pellet production, and Italy and the United Kingdom have seen a sharp increase in consumption.
The Spanish market is much more mature than it was 10 years ago and has better capabilities; it is better prepared for the challenges it will have to face in the coming years.
It will grow less intensely but more stably and will have to face competition from other emerging markets.
Has the influence of certification systems like ENplus been noticed?
This drastic evolution in the market has been significantly boosted by the implementation of the European-wide ENplus® scheme, achieving two key objectives: firstly, protecting and strengthening the European wood pellet market; and secondly, protecting the customer as the end user of the product by regulating and ensuring the quality of the pellets they use.
Meeting ENplus® quality specifications is not easy, which highlights the great effort producers make to bring a quality product to market.
CARTIF's LAE will issue a "product sheet" attached to the Test Report to facilitate the understanding of the tests carried out, the results obtained and the quality achieved by the sample.