In recent years, Weishan County of Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province has attached great importance to the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. It has continuously harnessed renewable resources to foster and develop the clean energy sector, with the biomass pellet fuel industry thriving vigorously.
At the Renewable Resources Utilization Co., Ltd., rotted wood and bark are piled up like mountains in the yard. Meanwhile, a fleet of trucks from Lincang is unloading rotted wood transported from afar in an orderly manner. The workshop and warehouse are filled with waste wood and walnut shells. These seemingly useless scraps are all valuable treasures for the company. The main raw materials include waste wood, as well as straw, tobacco stalks, bark and old timber—all of which are usable.
Biomass pellet fuel is a new type of clean and renewable energy. It is typically a granular fuel produced from biomass materials such as crop straw and forestry waste through processes on a wood pellet mill production line, including crushing and compression. When burned, biomass pellet fuel emits relatively few pollutants, which helps reduce carbon emissions and air pollution. It features a wide and sustainable raw material supply, high energy density of finished products, and ease of storage and transportation. Compared with traditional fossil energy, it has a lower usage cost, making it a high-quality alternative energy source.
Biomass pellet fuel has a wide range of production and application scenarios, mainly for flue-cured tobacco production, boiler fuel, walnut processing and other fields, serving as an excellent alternative energy source in agricultural production. According to the company’s person in charge, taking flue-cured tobacco production as an example, only about 400 kilograms of biomass pellet fuel is needed per mu of tobacco fields. This can save 20% of fuel costs compared with coal combustion and 60% compared with electric curing.
Biomass pellet fuel stands as a representative of the renewable resources industry development in Weishan County, Dali, Yunnan. The aforementioned Renewable Resources Utilization Co., Ltd. was fully completed and put into production in early 2023. In just ten months last year, it produced 15,000 tons of biomass pellet fuel, with an output value reaching 15 million yuan.
Feng Guangxiong, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Industry, Science and Technology of Weishan County, stated: “Our county has actively fostered the development of biomass pellet fuel enterprises and supported their growth to replace the use of traditional energy sources such as coal, natural gas and electricity. At present, there are more than ten enterprises and individual operators engaged in the biomass pellet fuel business in the county, among which four have settled in industrial parks. Through cultivation, one of them has grown into a above-scale enterprise.”