'ITC Varaždin' is a wood processing company situated near the town of Varaždin, in northern Croatia. The company produces wooden furniture and annualy processes approximately 35.000 m3 of wood trunks and consequently it is faced with the problem of disposing wood waste. The company was founded in 1962. and from then until 1997. wood waste was used as fuel for the local common heating plant and smaller quantities were sold to households. After the old heating plant was shut down, the company decided to build its own heating plant and immediately after the start it was obvious that the quantities of waste after processing exceed those needed by the plant, especially during the summer period. The decline in demand for wood waste and the increase in demand for briquettes and pelletes led to the planning and building of the factory for their production.

Description
Financial resources / Economic Benefits
Results
Energy production and other benefits
Bioenergy employment potential
Contact


Description

The installed heating plang capacity is 2*2.5 MW. Heat for drying wood is needed during the entire year, while energy demand for room heating and hot water varies depending on the time of the year. Taking that into account, along with the waste type and its wetness, the annual wood ammount needed for heating is approximately 6,000 t. The rest is used for briquette and pellete production.

The briquetting production line is fully operable and started production in 1999, with four trains having the maximal total production capacity of 3,600 kg/h, and it is operated by a personnel of 7 workers.

In the years 2000 and 2001 the company produced approximately 5,000 tonnes of briquettes respectively and in the year 2002 approximately 8000 tonnes, all of which were sold to the Austrian market. The additional gain from briquette production amounted to 75,000 € for years 2000 and 2001, and 120,000 € for 2002.

The pelleting production line started in May 2002, having two trains with maximum total capacity of 2800 kg/h. The production was stopped shortly after start due to techical problems, but was recently resumed.

Results

Energy production and other benefits

The heating plant is annually producing around 66 TJ which replaces app. 1,545,000 litres of heating oil. This saves around 819,000 euros and lower the GHG emission for app. 14,7 kt of CO2eq.


Bioenergy employment potential

Based on the total energy potential of different biomass types in Croatia, amounting to approximately 50 PJ, it is possible to assess the likely impact on new job openings. Research conducted at the national level shows that energy production from biomass could offer approximately 4500 new jobs in the year 2015 in Croatia.

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