Utilization of biomass in Czech republic

Use of biomass for energy records in recent years an unprecedented growth in the Czech Republic both on a small-scale level (individually by households) but also in larger installations (heat and/or power plants in industry and district heating systems).

The reasons are on the one hand relatively low prices of fuel energy in biomass and on the other state/public supports provided in the form of direct subsidies for partial financing of investment costs and in the form of production-based bonification for installations which use biomass for electricity production.

When also production of (heat and) electric energy from biogas shall be included, than the amount of electricity from biomass would increase by additional 150-160 GWh (and about 1 000 000 GJ of heat of which 15 – 25 % may be used for other useful purposes then heating of digestors).

In the residential sector dominates use of fuel wood, especially in the countryside where people can obtain it even just after wood-cutting. Although its procurement and manipulation require more manual work, its price is on average very attractive – compared to usable energy content may be even lower than coal. The present consumption of fuel wood therefore by far outpaces other kinds of fuels from biomass, and its amount is 0.5-1 million tons a year (based on moisture), which is equivalent to as much as 10 PJ of energy.

As energy prices grow, the residential sector is getting an increased interest in bio-fuels such as wooden briquettes and pellets – as an economical and environmental alternative to pricey natural gas, market penetration of which steeply increased during the 1990s thanks to generous state subsidies, and highly polluting burning of coal in individual heat sources.

As regards wood chips, due to their bulkiness, they are not on the retail market offered as a tradable commodity – bio-fuel for individual heating, but they are produced and traded on a business-tobusiness level to be (co-)fired in larger installations where higher transport costs and complicated manipulation could be effectively reduced by savings from the scale of production.

The market demand for briquettes and pellets in the country is practically fully satisfied by local manufacturers. According to the research made by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2004 there were nearly 60 manufactures of briquettes and pellets in the CR.

Altogether, they produced about 125 thous. tons of briquettes and over 12 thous. tons of pellets, however, large majority of which (about 2/3 of production of briquettes and ¾ of pellets) was actually exported, especially to Austria and Germany.

The country’s biggest producer of briquettes as well as pellets is company BIOMAC, with annual production of as much as 80 thous. tons of briquettes and 10 thous. tons of pellets. Among other major producers of briquettes and/or pellets may be named companies IROMEZ, ENVITERM, PELLETIA, HOLZTHERM, and EKOVER.

Only about 45 thousand tons of briquettes and 4 thous. tons of pellets ended on the Czech market, with about 40 thous. tons of briquettes and 3 thous. of pellets consumed by households for individual heating. Considering that the average lower heating value of briquettes and pellets is 17 GJ per tone, that thus equals annual consumption of 0.8-0.85 PJ of energy.

The main reason why most of production of briquettes and pellets ends on foreign markets is lower purchasing power of Czech customers. The domestic market prices at which people are willing to buy these fuels moreover hardly cover their manufacturer production costs, especially when waste wood is used as a raw material (due to a high demand for it which constantly increases its price). Therefore, there is a trend to produce pellets from other, non-wooden biomass materials which are less expensive, 29 such as agricultural by-products, bio-wastes, and most recently grain due to high yields in the last years for which there is no use.