Wood pellets: supply and quality in 

Europe 

Christian Rakos 
Pellets use in Europe grows at 20% p.a. and will exceed 

20 Million tons by 2015 

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2005" 2006" 2007" 2008" 2009" 2010" 2011" 2012"

Source:(European(Pellet(Council,(2012

Annual"increase"of"pellet"demand"

for"domes<c"hea<ng""

Boilers"<50KW"

Stoves"
Wood pellet supply in Europe 

Supply for heating markets in EU is based on local 

production from sawmill byproducts 

Supply for power production is mainly based on 

imports from North America – both from sawmill 

byproducts and low grade pulpwood 

Heat for drying of fiber usually supplied by bark 

combustion, electricity consumption equivalent to 

approx. 2% of the energy content of pellets 
The critical role of pellet quality 

Contaminations lead to immediate problems 

with combustion systems – slagging of ash 

Low durability and high content of fines can 

lead to significant handling problems, higher 

emissions and system failure 

Particularly bulk pellet supply is very 

sensitive to pellet quality 
Pellet quality certification 

Introduced by the industry first in Austria 15 years 

ago to manage quality problems 

Instead of testing every delivered batch of pellets 

the pellet plant and the quality management of the 

plant is evaluated by an independent auditor 

annually 

Certification has almost eliminated quality issues 
The ENplus quality certification 

In the past several different national certification 

systems were in place for pellet quality 

2010 the European Pellet council introduced 

ENplus as a system based an the standard EN 

14931-2 for EU wide use 
ENplus became a huge success: after 3 years 50% of EU 

production is certified 

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2011! 2012!

ENplus'produc,on'and'trade'

Produc/on!

Trade!
1"

7"

13"

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4"

6"

8"

10"

12"

14"

2010" 2011" 2012"

Countries"with"ENplus"cer7fed"producers"
Key features of ENpus 

Certification of production and trade 

Only accredited certifying bodies 

Auditor trainings and continued education required 

Test labs must be accredited 

ENplus handbook states detailed requirements 

Strict protection against fraud 
Requirements for certification 

Annual audit of the production plant 

Audits of traders

Pellets must conform with EN14961-2 

Requirements for documentary samples of all 

deliveries
Management of ENplus 

European Pellet Council: updates quality 

requirements of the handbook, organizes trainings 

for auditors, manages certification in countries 

without Pellet Association 

National Pellet Associations: manage the scheme 

locally – promote it, follow up quality issues, 

protect the system against abuse 
Why does the system work so effectively ? 

Consumers and traders require certification 

If producers abuse the system and produce e.g. 

contaminated product they immediately loose certification – 

big impact on business 

System of storing samples of delivered product allow to 

trace back non conformities 

It is fairly easy for an experienced auditor to tell if a plant is 

able to produce consistent quality 
Next steps 

Integration of sustainability criteria into the certification 

system – based on forest certification 

Extension of the certification system to industrial pellets 

Harmonized certification is improving tradeablility of 

product – increased security of supply 

ISO standard for pellets is close to being completed – 

could be common base for US and European pellet 

markets! Lets try to establish harmonized certification! 
Thank you for your attention!