Willow as a feed stock for biomass? Pellets?

[Lake Girl]

I found this study about harvesting willow for biomass http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Publicati...opment-Technical-Reports/Biomass-Reports.aspx #7 10-23 Reducing the Cost of Willow Biomass by Improving Willow Harvest System Efficiency and Reducing Harvesting Costs - October 2010

Then I found this article: http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/8561/windy-conditions-make-willow-a-better-feedstock

How common is willow as biomass and has it been used for pellets? I know a couple of forum members tried the Haliburton Highland pellets and didn't like the way they burned (white hardwood - no specifics of feedstocks). So would willow be similar with lots of ash? I would imagine bark would be included due to small diameter... but they do grow more quickly than the pine, fir, spruce. I haven't seen any BTU numbers yet.

Curious...

 

[DAKSY]

Don't know how reliable this source is, but if you scroll to the bottom of the chart, you'll notice that willow is the only one rated as "POOR.."

http://forestry.usu.edu/htm/forest-products/wood-heating

 

[Bioburner]

I have a few willow trees left on my property and they are huge. Trucks are close to four feet at base or more. After getting dried down the wood is great for a quick fire in a wood stove or fireplace or a hot starter fire. Not much mass without water.

 

[JustWood]

It's commercially grown for power plants, not really pellets.Super fast regen wiothout replanting for high volume crops.
You'll see miscanthus pellets long before they use willow.
20-30 years ago NYS planted 1000's of acres of willow in a study to eventually be used by Niagara Mohawks power plant here. I don't know what happened but it was never harvested and the chit is out of control. It was planted on abandoned farm land that is now unusable. The root systems on the willow is gonna raise hell with any new crop planted there in the future. You simply can't kill the stuff without serious chemical treatment.

 

[Lake Girl]

Apparently widely grown in Sweden as biomass feedstock ... but where is it being used there? Trying to track this down but limited success...

Grown for Niagara Mohawk but never used? What a waste of farm lands and likely money...

 

[JustWood]

Apparently widely grown in Sweden as biomass feedstock ... but where is it being used there? Trying to track this down but limited success...

Grown for Niagara Mohawk but never used? What a waste of farm lands and likely money...

More than likely power plants. Europe is big in biomass power.
I think it was state funded (study?). With the intent to use as feedstock.
The plant here is/was easily reconfigured to burn biomass and/or coal. I think they are burning a chip/coal combo now but the effective biomass mix percentage is a lot lower than they originally thought they could use and the chips acquired are from a sawmill and cheaper in price than the harvesting costs of willow. I'm not 100% sure on some of this info but I do hear bits/pieces from my contacts involved in biomass.

 

[Bioburner]

Ethanol plant in Little Falls MN went to burning wood chips for heating and power. Huge decrease in cost of use of NG alone.