What is the price of biomass? Biomass buyers, such as utilities and power plants, are only interested in the energy density or "calorific value” of biomass — how much heating power the biomass can deliver. It is the quantity of heat produced by the complete combustion of a given mass of a fuel, usually expressed in joules per kilogram or gigajoules per tonne. When the energy content is higher than average, the biomass value is higher; when the laboratory tests show a lower calorific value, the biomass is worth less and the price goes down. Biomass traders are often not interested if the feedstock is palm kernel shells or woodchips — all they want to know is the “gigajoule per tonne” number or how much "energy density” are they

buying or selling. These numbers are made available during laboratory tests during the port of loading and port of offloading, when biomass is shipped to its final destination.

Some average calorific values of different types of biomass, biofuels, and coal (in GJ/tonne) are:

• Wood fuel (bone dry): 18-22

• Wood fuel (20% moisture): 15

• Palm kernel shells: 15-17

• Wood pellets: 16.8

• Wood chips (depending on moisture level): 9.5-14.3

• Agricultural residues: 10-17

• Charcoal: 30

• Ethanol: 26.7

• Biodiesel: 37.8

• Coal (bituminous): 27-30

• Coal (lignite): 15-19

Unfortunately the calorific value of fossil fuels is about 3 times higher than biomass. So if you heat a building with biomass only, you need 3 times more biomass feedstock "in bulk” for the same energy content as heating oil.

If you evaluate biomass, you must check the key components:

• Bulk density (kg/m3)

• Mass (kg)

• Moisture content (%): more moisture means less value

• Energy density (kWh/kg or GJ/tonne).

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