Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Monday, September 19, 2011

New export pellet testing lab first of its kind in U.S.

Biomass Power & Thermal
By Lisa Gibson September 13, 2011

Biomass Energy Laboratory in Conyers, Ga., is expected to begin operation by Nov. 1, making it the first U.S.-based pellet testing facility that will be fully compliant and accredited under Europe's fuel quality specifications.

Up until now, pellet manufacturers exporting their products to Europe have sent their samples to a lab in Holland for analysis and verification of compliance with their end users’ specifications under ISO 17025, the accreditation process for conducting European testing on biomass. “It’s not that efficient to do that testing overseas and for the most part, all the U.S. producers want some kind of state-side laboratory that can run the analysis compared to having to ship the samples overseas,” said Chris Wiberg, Biomass Energy Lab’s new manager. “So that is why this lab is being set up.”

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