Iwate Prefecture Introduces Woodchip Boilers

In March 2003 the Iwate Prefectural Forestry Technology Center introduced a boiler system that uses woodchips as fuel. The system came from Europe, where woodchips are widely used for this purpose. This system, costing 47.88 million yen (about U.S.$400,000), consists of two boilers with maximum outputs of 400 and 200 kilowatts each. Not only woodchips but also bark chips can be used without predrying.

The prefecture introduced the boilers to create new demand for unutilized wood, including wood that comes from thinning of forests in the management of tree plantations, and to obtain the technical expertise in utilizing woodchips--as part of its study to use environmentally-benign wood biomass (which can be considered to be renewable biological resources) as an alternative energy source that can replace petroleum. Iwate will conduct various tests to examine the boilers' combustion performance and cost effectiveness compared with boilers that use fossil fuels, and hopes to promote the introduction of woodchip boilers in the prefecture.

Iwate Prefecture is rich in forest resources, and produces a large amount of wood by routine work to thin the forests. Such wood has not been used effectively in the past, however, because of its limited uses and high costs for transport. By utilizing chips made from the thinned wood as an energy source, the prefecture hopes to invigorate its forest industry.



Posted: 2003/06/08 01:44:42 PM
Japanese version