"The Humitest contributes to improve the biofuel."

A worldwide leader in energy valorisation of biomass, Dalkia has equipped its staff with the Humitest for biomass plus since it was launched in 2009. Pierre Casini, biomass Engineer and manager of the region of "Central France Mediterranean" of Dalkia, testifies about the use of this moisture meter within the scope of its soaring development (20% annual growth).

Measuring woodchips, barks and other biomasses moisture content instantly

"We use our Humitest for homogeneous products: barks, woodchips and fine homogenate. One of the key points for a reliable moisture measurement is compliance with the operational mode by users. They are always the same people who take measurements: guarantee of seriousness, it’s a security for precise moisture measurements. As for the difference between the temperature of the moisture meter and the temperature of the biomass being measured, it has to be as little as possible to ensure the reliability of measurements.
The great reproach to the oven drying method is: "it takes long", which means invoicing delays. With Humitest, it's immediate and easy."

A calibration per biofuel, for an optimal precision

"For woodchips, we use the Humitest for biomass plus on small heating rooms with a moisture content measurement precision of 2%. It's free of worries.
For biomass (mix), we made comparative tests with the oven drying method. At the platform of Décines, we had differences between 5 and 10% with a biomass water content ranging between 35 and 50%. At the heating room of Narbonne, we had a 2% difference with a mix of biomasses moisture content of 35%, even 30%. This gap can be explained by the nature of mixes: in Narbonne, it's a finely crushed mix, quasi homogeneous.
As a way of improvement, we should characterize mixes and create the corresponding calibrations."

Measuring water content contributes to improving the operation of a heating room

"The Humitest is a tool for piloting. It contributes to improve the biofuel and enables us to validate the implementation of our specifications.
We sometimes confront technicians of local authorities who use a probe for grains and set against us random measurements. Most of our clients trust us because they know we are equipped with monitoring systems and do moisture tests. One wishes everyone improves; biomass business would benefit from a wider knowledge of the Humitest for biomass."

Business
Europe's leading provider of energy services to local authorities and companies, Dalkia has massively developed biomass, in heating systems or industrial cogeneration installations in particular.
In 2010 Dalkia consumed 2.4 million tons of biomass worldwide. In France alone, Dalkia could be recycling four million metric tons by 2015.