Ukrainian market of sunflower husk grows

The only available resource left for producing solid fuel in Ukraine is the straw from crops, yet the situation with this feedstock is not easy at all. Lots of experts inform that both production and usage of straw fuel have certain peculiarities, therefore such projects need significant investments and a modern technological base. According to analysts’ data, Ukrainian agro companies receive more than 20 million tones of straw annually, more than a half of it is burnt on fields. Consequently, about 8 million tones of biofuel may be produced of 10 million tones of straw, this amount would allow to substitute 4 billion m3 of natural gas. 

However, for the time being small and middle size fuel production companies get bankrupt as they can’t easily receive the feedstock which was much more available before. As for Russia, as we know, it is more concentrated on processing liquid raw materials. Lots of biogas power stations are planned to be launched near farms. 

The analysis of the Ukrainian sunflower husk fuel market showed that this energy source is mostly purchased by Polish power stations which are subsidized (Euro firewood purchasing) by the Polish government. It’s naturally that globalization increases when the demand grows. Oil-extracting factories forecasted good profits and arranged their own production of biofuel briquettes and pellets. 

Nowadays Ukrainian oil and fat production area features the growth of competitive ability due to the active adoption of new energy saving technologies, for instance the introduction of the projects on processing and further usage of such waste as sunflower husk. 

Fat and oil companies not only produce sunflower husk solid fuel (briquettes and pellets), which is in a great demand on the European market, and thus get a good revenue from sales, they also actively use this waste for their own needs by burning it in boiler houses and receiving heating energy and sometimes electricity. Today the boilers for burning sunflower husk fuel are installed almost at all big specialized enterprises. Thanks for such boilers Ukrainian oil extraction branch saves 200 million m3 of gas every year. Such approach to business allows not to depend on outside sources, moreover it significantly decreases costs for energy and net energy cost.       

For big oil extraction companies the production of own sunflower husk fuel is an additional source of income and the way to reduce the net price of their main products. If the sales are stabile the additional profit may reach 20%. The payback period of such projects for big processing companies is about 3 years.