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The Spanish Company PRODESA started the commissioning of a new pellet plant in the island of Borneo

Posted on : 03 Sep, 2015

 

Once the erection stage was concluded, and the Permitting of the complete installation was achieved, PRODESA began in June with the Commissioning works of the installation. The start-up technicians will be on site for around three months, until the end of September, in order to tune up the installation, and reach the pellet plant nominal capacity.

 

This 120.000 tons-per-year wood pellet plant is one of the biggest in South East Asia. It will supply high quality pellets to South Korean power plants and other markets.

 

The project is located in Sarawak, the Malaysian island of Borneo. It is a 120.000 t/y pellet plant, which uses several and diverse biomass residues from the region as raw material.

 

Cellmark AB, a Swedish multidisciplinary company with its main activity  trading of different products; Sarawak Timber Industries Corp, an important local timber organization in the region; and Derasas Jaya SBD a Malaysian machinery trading company are three main actors involved in the investment of the plant, which have created a Joint venture for it. The resulting pellet installation has been named “GPS” (GREEN PELLET SARAWAK).

 

The pellet plant is designed by PRODESA. In its execution, PRODESA has carefully studied together with the customer how to find the best approach of it with the manufacturing of the main equipment in Europe and some equipment in local workshops.

 

As stated above PRODESA plans to finish the startup of Malaysian plant at the end of September when the plant will be producing its nominal capacity.

 

Due to the specific requirements in the operation and maintenance in pellet plants, PRODESA´s Technicians will stay on site during the first two years: one plant manager and one production manager, both highly experienced, will supervise all the tasks and labors of the workers, and at the same time will continue training them.

It is usually said that it takes between one and two years for pellet plants to reach their maximal capacity. This is because of the period that it takes for local managers and workers to obtain the required operating and maintenance “know how”. With the help of PRODESA´s supervisors the plant will produce 100% of its production from the beginning, and when after two years these supervisors will leave the installation, local managers and workers will have no problems on obtaining the design pellet plant capacity after two years of continuous training.

 

In parallel, PRODESA has also finished the engineering stage of another project in the South-east of Asia. It is another pellet production plant, with the same capacity 120.000 t/y and a similar architecture, but this time placed in Vietnam.