Final Paper

Export Idea to the United States of America

Corn Stalk Pellets
By: Liam Bracken
Word count: 3446

Reference word count: 741

Retrieved from: https://cmfenews.com/wood-pellets-market-estimated-to-observe-technological-

advancements-further/

Introduction:

The United States of America (U.S.A.) is the 3rd largest country by land mass in the

world, supporting a population of 323 million people (U.S. Department of State, 2017). Canada

and the U.S.A. share one of the longest international border in the world, and are also among one

of the closest, and most extensive trading relationships in the world. More than $1.8 billion of

goods are traded per day. About 380,000 people cross over the border each day. The countries

share the worlds largest trading agreements, supporting millions of jobs in each country. Corn

stalk pellets is a potential exporting idea from Canada to the U.S.A. This product is a sustainable,

renewable, economical, and environmentally friendly heat source. The overall goal of this

product being exported to the U.S.A is to benefit both Canada and the U.S.A. Extensive research

has been collected to ensure the product is logical commodity to produce, and export. From the

extensive research, this products benefits, makes corn stalk pellets an ideal product to export to

the U.S.A.

Part 1: Product Information on Corn Stalk Pellets

Product Description:

A potential product that I would like to export to the U.S.A is corn stalk pellets. Corn is a

factor driving most agricultural industries, being the third most valuable crop in Canada,

producing 10,688,700 tonnes of corn (Gov. Canada, 2015). Corn stalk pellets can be burned in
pellet stoves to heat residences in the winter. Corn stalk pellets are 8mm in diameter and 1.5-

2cm in length (Olsson et al., 2002). When corn is harvested for the grain, the chaff of the plants

(stalk) is ejected out the back of the combine. Figure 1 shows a picture of corn stalks lying in a

field. The pellets are made from the stalk of corn plants, that would otherwise not be utilized.

Being a crop that is grown in abundance annually in Canada, and this excess product that is not

being used, indicates that the stalks are cheep to purchase (Yan et al., 2009). Also, due to the

woody structure of the corn stalks, it provides a perfect product to use as a heat source (Yan et

al., 2009). The ash contents produced from the corn stalk pellets is minimal, indicating an

efficient burn. An efficient burn produces less emissions making corn stalk pellets tremendously

environmentally friendly (Environ. Sci. Technol., 2012). Heating your home in the winter is a

necessity to survive, and with the discussion about global climate change, this would be an ideal

product to produce, and export to the U.S.A.

Figure 1.

Retrieved from: http://ethanol.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553cd9c8588340133ed5a45a8970b-pi

Where and How the Corn Stalk Pellets are Made:

Corn stalk pellets will be produced in Woodstock, Ontario which is located in southern

Ontario, by a company called Eco Wood Products. Eco Wood Products sells a variety of wood-

based products, such as mulch for gardens and mulch for playgrounds, wood fuel pellets, and

animal bedding products. In addition, Eco Wood Products offer delivery of their products, and a

wood waste removal service (Ainscough, 2017). (figure 2 below shows the pelletizing plant in

Woodstock Ontario).

Figure 2

Received from: https://assets.rbl.ms/6432219/980x.jpg

Information on Eco Wood Products, contact Brian Ainscough at briana@ecowood-products.com

Ontario is the largest corn producing province in Canada, producing 8.2 million tonnes of

corn grain per year; where most of the production is in southern Ontario (Gov. Canada, 2015). If

all the excess farm bio-mass comes from a 20-km radius, 100,000 tonnes of pellets could be

produced (Canadian Biofuel, 2012). This provides an ideal situation to produce corn stalk pellets,

being the components to make the product are in such close proximity to the pelletizing plant.

The process of making the pellets is an efficient and relatively quick process (Pel-Heat,

2015). The following steps outline the process to produce the corn stalk pellets in order of
occurrence, from the field, to the pellet. This whole chain of processes can be completed in half a

day (PelHeat, 2015). Table 1 below describes the steps in producing corn stalk pellets.

Steps Details of Steps

1. Pick up corn. The corn can be baled with a special Hillco
single pass bailer behind the combine (figure
3), or can be raked and baled. The corn can
also be collected with a forage wagon pulled
behind combine.
2. Transport to plant. The corn stalks will be transported by transport
trucks to the pellet plant.
3. Hammer mill. The corn stalks will be grinded into inch
chips.
4. Dryer. The inch chips will be placed into a dryer to
reduce the moisture level from 50% down to
10%.
5. Hammer mill. The inch dried chips will be grinded through
another hammer mill to decrease the size to
5/16 strips.
6. Meal bin. The 5/16 strips of corn stalks will be
compressed between two rollers, pressing
through a die (a hole that shapes the pellet).
From the rollers creating heat from friction,
heats the lignin (a natural fiber from the
structure of the plant) holds the pellet together
in a tight compact form.
7. Cool, and blown into silo. The pellets are sent to a cooling machine, and
blown up into a silo to wait to be packed.
8. Pack and stored. The corn stalk pellets will be in packaged in
plastic bags, and stored in a building, to wait to
be retailed.
For more information on the production of pellets watch this video https://youtu.be/g37Wba2U49Ior
contact the president of Gildale Farms Scott Abercrombie T 519.284.0960 | M 519.276.7264
| F 519.284.2207 2913B Rd 122, R.R.#7 | St. Marys | Ontario | N4X 1C9

Figure 3.
Single pass Hillco baler on the back of a combine baling corn stalks.

Received from: http://secure.tractor.com/images/content/Hillco-SPRB-Profile.jpg

Equipment Involved in the Production of Corn Stalk Pellets:

There are multiple machines involved in the process in making pellets. Since the

processes involved in the production of corn pellets are the same as the production of wood

pellets, Eco Wood Products will not have to purchase any additional machinery, thus decreasing

the initial start-up cost.

It would be ideal if the farms that the corn stalks are being purchased from, would bale

their own corn stalks, or a hired custom operator to bale the corn stalks for them. This would

decrease the costs for the company, by not having to pay for workers, initial cost, and

maintenance of equipment. If a pellet plant were to purchase equipment to bale the stocks, the

total initial cost for a combine, Hillco baler, a Kenworth transport truck and trailer would be

around $1 million (John Deere, 2014; Dozier, 2017). The equipment that Eco Wood Products

uses to pelletize wood and other biomasses are bought from other countries such as Austria,

Denmark, and China (Canadian Biofuel, 2012). Table 2 shows the machinery/equipment that

Eco Wood Products uses to produce pellets.

Machinery/Equipment Name of Machinery/Equipment, place of Origin, Manufacturer

Pelletizer Andriz- Sprout- based out of Denmark, with a location in Brantford

Ontario. Pellet Mill PM30.

Grinder Andriz- Sprout Hammer Mill 4360. Based out of Denmark, with a

location in Brantford Ontario.

 Fine grinder Andriz- Sprout Multimill, Based out of Denmark, with a location in

Brantford Ontario.

Cooler Fabricated by Eco Wood Products.

Packaging Machine Made by Hamer- Fischbein, manufactured in the U.S.A.

Saxon SB 1000.

Dryer Andriz- Sprout type- CM. Based out of Denmark, with a location in

Brantford Ontario.

Received from: https://www.andritz.com/products-en/feed-and-biofuel/feed-biofuel/conditioners

& http://www.hamer-fischbein.com/company/

Inputs and Cost of in the Production of Corn Stalk Pellets:

If Eco Wood Products were to produce corn stalk pellets, the increase in production of

pellets may provide a decrease in price of pellets (Sokhansanj and Turhollow, 2004). It has been

found in the U.S.A. to produce corn stalk cubes as feed for livestock to be $1.30 for a 40lb bag.

The cost of production for the 40lb bag includes transportation from 40 miles away, and

purchasing the stalks off the farmer for $0.20 per 40lb bag (Sokhansanj and Turhollow, 2004).

The cost of producing corn stalk pellets may be different due to an extra drying process. Also,

baling corn stalks in Canada is not a common practice, which may provide a decrease in

production cost from a new commodity being repurposed in the Canadian market.

Eco Wood Products current retail pricing is $5.99 per 40lb bag of wood fuel pellets

(Ainscough, 2017). It has been found that the total cost of producing wood pellets is $1.01 per

40lb bag (Mani et al., 2006). From all the research collected with this product, and its

environmental benefit, I believe this product could be sold for $6.99 for a 40lb bag for retail.
Charging $6.99 for a 40lb bag will cover all cost of manufacturing, labour, and transportation.

The benefits corn stalk pellets provide, will aid in marketing for consumers to purchase this

product.

U.S.A. can Reduce Their Carbon Foot Print with Corn Stalk pellets:

The U.S.A. produces 5833.13 million tonnes of CO2 per year (Shen et al., 2012). A large

contribution to the U.S.A. is from fossil fuels, and wood stoves heating homes in the winter. Its

estimated the 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2 per year in the U.S.A. are from heating homes in the

winter (Lehmann, 2007). Due to increasing costs of fossil fuels, U.S.A. found an increase by

65% in the use of wood stoves from 2000-2010 (Sippula et al., 2007). Although wood stoves and

fire wood is economical, they produce an abundance of emissions; and they can be dangerous

without proper cleaning. Even though pellet stoves are economical and efficient, burning wood

produces a combustible chemical called creosote that sticks in the chimney (Bafver et al., 2011).

If a chimney is not cleaned annually, the build up of creosote can combust causing a house fire.

Wood burning stoves production of creosote can be up to 110mg/h or 450g for 100 days of

usage, whereas pellet stoves only produce benzene emission of 30mg/h or 70g during 100 days

of continuous use. Wood burning stoves produce 180 times larger particles than pellet stoves.

This is due to fans in pellet stoves blowing the particles around burning all the fuel available

(Bafver et al., 2011). 220 billion tonnes of biomass is produced each year, with over half of the

biomass produced it from agriculture (Naik et al., 2010). That number describes a large amount

of potential fuel that is not being utilized, instead that bio mass is rotting away. This available

biomass should be taken advantage of. Table 3 below describes the percentage of ash left after

fuels are burnt. This number represents the amount of fuel left that has the potential to be burnt

(Olsson et al., 2002).

 Wood Stove or Pellet Stove with Fuel Being Percentage % of Ash Left After Being Burnt

Burnt

Wood Stove Burning Wood Logs 60%

Pellet Stove Burning Wood Pellets 40%

Pellet Stove Burning Corn Stalk 25%

Table 3. Information received from:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953402000831

Niche Market for Corn Stalks:

Although U.S.A. is the largest exporter of corn in the world; exporting 150 million metric

tonnes of corn, and they could just as easily produce corn stalk pellets, their market for reusing

corn stalks is for feeding livestock (USDA, 2017; Parker, 1972). In the south-central states of

U.S.A., it is common for severe droughts to occur during their summers, which impedes with

grass growth for hay (Parker, 1972).

The increasing cost of fossil fuels, and other sources of heating, in addition to the

production of harmful greenhouse gases by fossil fuels is convincing homeowners to find a more

efficient, and clean method of heating their home (Pin Koh and Ghazoul, 2008). These factors

provide a niche market for corn stalk pellets.

Figure 4 shows a drought monitoring map of the U.S.A during the late summer. Figure 5

shows the increasing cost of methods to heat homes.

 Figure 4.

Received from: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/assets_c/2012/11/screen-shot-

2012-11-22-at-4-58-20-pm-thumb-615x456-106176.png

Figure 5.

Received from: http://www.pelletheat.org/assets/docs/2014-pfi-annual-conf/pellet-markets-

overview-strauss.pdf

Benefits for Canada from the Production of Corn Stalks:

The overall goal for this project is to benefit both Canada and the U.S.A. with this

product. The clean, economical, and renewable corn stalk pellet could also be used in Canada to

help lower Canadians carbon footprint. The average Canadian burns 35 000 pounds of wood in
wood stoves, compared to pellet stoves burning 14 000 pounds of wood pellets (Belanger et al.,

2008). From the numbers shown in table 3, burning corn stalk pellets would reduce the overall

weight of pellets needed for a winter, due to being more efficient fuel. In the winter, 29% of the

total emissions produced by Canada is produced by wood stoves (Belanger et al., 2008). Also,

with all the corn that is produced in Ontario, and Quebec, there will be a sufficient amount to

export to the U.S.A, and for Canadians to utilize (Government of Canada, 2015). Additionally,

the corn stalks being harvested from farmers land will help generate a supplementary revenue for

Canadian farmers. Figure 6 shows the amount of corn produced in each province of Canada.

With the 5.7% unemployment rate in Woodstock, Ontario (where Eco Wood Products

pellet plant is located), the expansion of the company to produce the additional corn stalk pellet

product, will help provide jobs for the unemployed (Canada-Labour, Occupation, and Industry,

2017).

Figure 6.

Received from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/96-325-x/2014001/article/11913-eng.htm