Largest Pellet Production Plant in South Korea now producing

South Korean energy company SY Energy is performing test runs on its new 300,000 t/yr wood pellet producing facility in Jincheon, Chungcheongbuk-do province, and plans to reach full capacity by September reports Argus Biomass Markets

– The facility will be the country’s largest wood pellet production plant, SY Energy chief executive Kim Ji-Yeung said.

The plant is running at 400 t/day during the current test phase which is slightly less than half full production capacity.

Raw materials, unused biomass sources,  for the facility will be provided by local trading firm LS Network, which will also be the main distributor of SY Energy’s wood pellets in the region. The produced wood pellets will be initially targeted at power generation companies.

The new plant will be SY Energy’s second wood pellet production facility. Its first plant, also in Chungcheongbuk-do province, produces around 20,000 t/yr of wood pellets.  SY Energy is owned by , Shinyoung E&P.

South Korea’s wood pellet imports climbed to 1.72mn t in 2016, after independent power producer Gunjang Energy opened its 250MW coal-fired power plant project in Gunsan, which co-fires with wood pellets. Wood pellet imports could reach as much as 2.2mn t this year.  More project will follow.