With the formulation of the Biomass Nippon Comprehensive Strategy at the end of 2002, the biomass-related market has been attracting a great deal of interest.

With the formulation of the Biomass Nippon Comprehensive Strategy at the end of 2002, the biomass-related market has been attracting a great deal of interest.
Among these, woody biomass is expected to be utilized from the perspective of forestry regeneration.
Wood pellets, which are made from saw dust or bark and hardened into cylinders 6 to 8 mm in diameter and 15 mm in length, are attracting attention as a means of promoting the use of woody biomass.
These pellets are easy to handle and transport, and their homogeneity makes them suitable for continuous combustion.
Kuzumaki Forestry was the first company in Japan to start wood pellet production 20 years ago, and is one of the few companies in Japan that have continued to produce wood pellets to this day.
We interviewed Yasuhito Endo, president of the company.
Kuzumaki Forestry, which began manufacturing pellets as a waste management measure and to develop new businesses, has been engaged in the so-called forestry business since 1922, including forest management, lumber production, production of materials and shaft wood for matches, and afforestation.
In 1965, the company began producing wood chips for papermaking and other uses, as well as wood for lacquerware, in order to utilize low-quality wood.
In 1981, the company began producing wood pellets.
The company's decision to turn its attention to wood pellet production came from the perspective of processing waste wood from its mills.
The company had been incinerating a large amount of hardwood bark (puna, oak, and maple) generated in the peeling process of papermaking chips, one of its main businesses.
At that time, the forestry industry was already becoming more and more severe year by year, and the company turned its attention to pellet production as a cost-cutting measure.
At the same time, of course, they also wanted to develop new uses for forest resources.
The forests of Iwate Prefecture are not famous for their Akita cedars, and the region has long sought ways to survive by making charcoal and producing woodchips.
In other words, there is a strong disposition toward niche and venture businesses.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) at the time of the oil crisis in 1979, when the price of oil was soaring, also started the development of pellet production in partnership with a major trading company that was aiming to popularize boilers for pellets from the U.S. in Japan.
Initially, the company promoted the development of manufacturing technology for domestic production by improving the technology developed in the U.S. for manufacturing ogalite (molded fuel made of oga powder and other materials hardened into a plock shape), but it was unable to establish stable production, and a pellet-molding machine (about 100 million yen) was introduced from the U.S. The company then began to use the same technology to produce pellets in the U.S. and in Europe.
However, pellets made from bark were rarely manufactured in Europe and the U.S., and the molding machine needed to be improved to accommodate bark materials.
The molding machine had to be modified to accommodate the bark material.
Now we can explain that the lignin in bark melts at around 240 degrees Celsius and hardens by applying heat instantaneously, but the truth is that at that time we were able to mold the pellets by chance.
Even after we started production, for a while we didn't really understand why it hardened," he laughs, looking back on those days.
Developing not only pellets but also various other applications.
Since the start of production, demand has increased rapidly, partly due to the popularization of boilers for pellets by a major trading company.
The plant soon reached full capacity, producing 3,000 tons of pellets per year at its peak.
A major customer was a melon grower in Shizuoka.
Compared to petroleum, it was 30% to 50% cheaper, and there was an economic advantage even if the purchaser had to bear the transportation costs to bring it to Shizuoka.
However, such a situation did not last long.
Unexpected fluctuations in the exchange rate and the price of oil continued to fall, and the company quickly lost its cost advantage over petroleum.
Following the success of Kuzumaki Rinko, about 30 plants entered the pellet manufacturing business nationwide over the next few years, but most of them withdrew from the market.
However, most of them withdrew from the market.
There are two factors that have made this possible.
One is that a major trading company, with which the company had a partnership in pellet production development, promoted the spread of pellet boilers in Iwate Prefecture, and Iwate Prefecture has actively supported this effort.
The other is that the company has been developing new uses for the bark, such as in composting materials for livestock bedding, and cultivating new sales channels for the pellets.
Currently, 40% of the hardwoods used as raw materials are produced directly by the company and 60% are purchased from the Kuzumaki Town Forestry Cooperative and other sources.
The wood is turned into chips for papermaking, and pellets, livestock bedding, and compost mixing materials are produced from the bark, of which about 1,000 tons are produced annually.
In recent years, demand for livestock bedding has been particularly strong.
The company is not satisfied with just the bark from chip production, and purchases 300 tons at 1,000 yen/ton from a nearby chip factory.
The company sells the material to a nearby livestock corporation and livestock farmers at 32 yen/kg.
The used bedding can also be used as compost material.
In fact, some users seem to be buying back the bedding that has been returned to the seller.
Meanwhile, the company is also offering a more user-friendly service for pellets.
The company recycles the ash generated after combustion.
Currently, the main customers for wood pellets are swimming schools in Hanamaki and Ninohe (heated swimming pool and hot water supply), the charcoal museum in the town of Kuzumaki (floor heating), hot spring inns around Morioka and Hanamaki (hot spring boiler and heating), nearby livestock farms and plastic house farmers (hot air boiler and heating), and Setagai nursery school in Sumida Town (heating).
Pellet incineration ash is consumed by plastic greenhouse farmers, and the swimming school in Hanamaki has the Agricultural Experiment Station pick it up free of charge; otherwise, Kuzumaki Forestry takes it up free of charge when pellets are delivered.
They are then sold to nearby tobacco farmers at a price roughly equivalent to the cost of transportation (2,000 yen/ton).
The company's underlying philosophy is integrated use forestry management.
However, the company produces only about 1,000 tons per year, one-third of what it did at its peak, and its sales in FY01 were about 600 million yen.
Sales consist of 50% paper chips, 30% wood chips, and 20% bark-based products such as pellets, livestock bedding, and green infrastructure materials.
Sales of wood pellets amount to only about 20 million yen.
In terms of price, livestock bedding is more profitable than pellets if they are made from the same bark.
However, we did not want to inconvenience our users, who have supported us by installing pellet boilers since the beginning of our pellet production.
We also thought that the time would surely come when we would no longer be able to waste oil, and until then we continued production with the belief that we had to pass on the technology," he said.
With the growing interest in biomass utilization in recent years, local governments, NPOs, and companies have been inundated with visits to the plant.
However, Mr. Endo is not so fixated on pellets as a business.
It is just one of the options in the comprehensive use of forest resources.
The decline of the forestry and lumber industry is partly, but not necessarily, due to the push of imported lumber.
I think the decline of the forestry and lumber industry is due in part to the push for imported lumber, but it is not necessarily the only reason.
Mr. Endo has already begun to look in new directions, such as extractive use of the components contained in wood.
Twenty years after starting pellet production, Kuzumaki Forestry is one step ahead based on the concept of total utilization forestry management, while most people do not see the potential of forest resources as biomass.