Woody biomass is the main energy source in Kenya since most Kenyan households use fuelwood and/or charcoal for heating and cooking needs. It is expected that major reliance of wood fuels will continue for decades, in the face of dwindling feedstock supply due to severe forest loss. As an alternative to charcoal, wood pellets have potential to be widely adopted as a cookstove fuel in high efficiency cookstoves and institutional boilers. This study couples plantation forestry with pellet production to create a sustainable supply of cost effective fuel. This study indicates that production of wood pellets from short rotation eucalyptus production can be an economically attractive approach. The cost of producing and delivering wood chips to a pellet mill was modeled based on yield data with a financial model, and the pelleting operation was modeled using a mass-and-energy-balance approach. Pellet costs were found to be lower than the equivalent charcoal cost, and an optimum production point exists with a sizeable employment benefit to the community. While it may be argued that it is preferable to adopt a policy that encourages abandonment of charcoal and fuel wood in favor of fossil fuels, it may be worth considering rethinking this approach, given the potential for producing pellet fuel in a manner that generates local economic benefit, maintains or reduces costs to the end user, and maintains the renewable, sustainable aspect of this sector of the nation's energy economy.

木质生物质是肯尼亚的主要能源，因为大多数肯尼亚家庭使用薪柴和/或木炭满足取暖和烹饪需求。面对严重的森林流失，原料供应减少，预计对木材燃料的主要依赖将持续数十年。作为木炭的替代品，木屑颗粒有可能被广泛用作高效炊具和公共锅炉的炊具燃料。这项研究将人工林与颗粒生产结合在一起，以创造可持续的高性价比燃料供应。这项研究表明，短周期旋转桉树生产木材颗粒是一种经济上有吸引力的方法。根据收益数据和财务模型对生产和运送木屑到造粒厂的成本进行了建模，并使用质量和能量平衡方法对制粒操作进行建模。发现颗粒成本低于同等的木炭成本，并且存在最佳生产点，并为社区带来可观的就业收益。尽管可能会认为采取鼓励鼓励放弃木炭和薪柴替代化石燃料的政策是可取的，但考虑到以生产当地经济的方式生产颗粒燃料的潜力，可能值得考虑重新考虑这种方法。受益，维持或降低最终用户的成本，并维持该国能源经济领域可再生，可持续的方面。存在一个最佳生产点，为社区带来可观的就业收益。尽管可能会认为采取鼓励鼓励放弃木炭和薪柴替代化石燃料的政策是可取的，但考虑到以生产当地经济的方式生产颗粒燃料的潜力，可能值得考虑重新考虑这种方法。受益，维持或降低最终用户的成本，并维持该国能源经济领域可再生，可持续的方面。存在一个最佳生产点，为社区带来可观的就业收益。尽管可能会认为采取鼓励鼓励放弃木炭和薪柴替代化石燃料的政策是可取的，但鉴于以生产当地经济的方式生产颗粒燃料的潜力，可能值得考虑重新考虑这种方法。受益，维持或降低最终用户的成本，并维持该国能源经济领域可再生，可持续的方面。