Plospan Bio-Energy: bio fuel in the countryside

Plomp en Zn. Wood Fibre & Saw Dust Suppliers in Waardenburg, in the Dutch province of Gelderland, is literally going to the countryside to promote its latest group of products: bio-energy fuel pellets( granules). Using these environmentally friendly granules can save a farmer thousands of Euros in gas and oil. Plomp en Zn. has been in business since 1922 and supplies sawdust for cattle barns and wood fibre for stables. Their products are sold across the globe; they are exported to countries such as in the Middle East and Asia, as well as to America. The company is without doubt one of the leading European companies in processing wood fibre and sawdust. They buy their source material from sawmills, lumber planing mills and carpenter’s yards. Plomp annually processes around a hundred thousand tonnes. The company employs around fifty people, managed by general manager Willem Plomp and his three brothers Frans, Robert and Ruud. They transport the sawdust and wood fibre to their end users in the 30-odd lorries the company owns. The sawdust and wood fibre are sold under the brand name Plospan, the bio fuel under the name Plospan Bio-Energy.

Investments

"Around four years ago we started investing in machines for the production of our pellets," Willem Plomp says. "We bought standard versions of the machines we needed for sieving and pressing the material, and adjusted them ourselves. There was a demand for bio fuel, following the increasing markets in countries surrounding us such as Belgium and Germany where bio fuel is markedly on the rise. We wanted to give the Dutch market an equally strong impulse. As far as the environment is concerned, wood has everything going for it. It gives lumber planing mills and carpenter’s yards the opportunity to sell their residual material for recycling. And in addition, wood is completely carbon neutral, which means that the tree supplying the wood absorbs as much C02 as it produces when it is burned. So our product is completely environmentally friendly and fits in with the governments’ goals to reduce the emission of harmful substances. Bear in mind also that the production occurs without any chemical additions. And burning these pellets hardly leaves any ashes." Once Plomp had invested in machines that would press the residual wood into granules, they could start production. They are still continuing their investments. "The returns we are making on bio fuel now form a third of our overall turnover," says Plomp. "And this percentage is growing." Incidentally, they also make cat litter from the wood granules. For the manufacture of bio fuel they mainly use residual hard wood. For sawdust and absorbent they use residual soft wood. In the processing the wood fibre is first sieved, then pressed.

Saving 


According to Plomp, the agricultural sector, too, can profit from the use of both Plospan sawdust and absorbent and the bio fuel. Sawdust and absorbent form an excellent, environmentally friendly bedding for stables and barns. But of course, the bio fuel can also be used for heating the farm: the pigsty, the calf pens, or the farmer’s actual home. The bio fuel, which is pressed under high pressure, is six millimetres wide and a few centimetres long. The fuel can be fed into a special burner. A computerised programme controls the feed. When the burner is using more pellets, the feed is increased automatically, and the stove keeps itself burning. Plomp supplies the pellets per bag or in bulk delivery. In case of the latter, the material is blown into a silo. There is even an option where you can adjust the settings so that an automated message such as a text message will be sent to Plomp as soon as the stock level in the silo drops below the set limit. Plomp en Zn does not supply the pellet burners himself, but he does have contacts among fitters who will sell and install them. Plomp: "Of course it is quite an investment to buy one of these burners, but you will see a return on your investment within a few years if you realise that two kilos of pellets equal one cubic metre of gas or one litre of fuel oil. On average you will easily save up to a few thousand Euros per year." For further information please contact Plomp en Zn bv.