WOOD FUEL USE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA : AN ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL COMBUSTION EQUIPMENT

and the U.S. Department of Energy, Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), where 75% of industrial energy needs are supplied by petroleum and fossil fuel reserves are unknown, the rapidly rising price of petroleum imports threatens industrial growth. To aid government efforts to encourage use of wood products, this report assesses the engineering and economic feasibility of new and retrofit wood fuel industrial combustion equipment. Existing combustion equipment in PNG is relatively small-size, generally overdesigned, and not fully efficient. By comparing such existing equipment and its use with commercially available, state-of-the-art industrial wood fuel systems, the following technologies were selected as most promising for local use: pyrolytic oil and oil-petroleum mixture combustion, lump/crushed charcoal combustion, hogged/chipped wood combustion or gasification, crushed charcoal gasification, and pulverized charcoal-oil mixture combustion. All these technologies are compatible with equipment currently existing in PNG and make centralized use of raw wood and wood wastes through direct combustion or gas conversion. In 11 case studies representing a cross-section of PNG industrial fuel systems, each technology was analyzed in terms of its net present value (NPV) savings over the existing petroleum-fueled system. The report concludes that industrial wood fuel use, especially using a pyrolitic oil system, is attractive for high-use industries and generally has a positive NPV over petroleum-fueled systems. The report recommends that the PNG government: (1) encourage use of wood, pyrolytic oils, and charcoal as industrial fuels when purchasing new equipment, and promote wood and pyrolytic retrofits for existing, heavily used, and well-maintained equipment; (2) establish guidelines for standardizing new wood fuel technologies; (3) offer financial or tax assistance to aid small industry in implementing the new technologies; (4) assist in making existing equipment more fuel-efficient; and (5) encourage development of wind, solar, and other alternative renewable energy technologies. Appended are a 19-item bibliography (1973-80), a discussion of wood conversion technologies, a list of equipment suppliers and manufacturers, and the NPV equations and FORTRAN program.