2006-05-30

WÄRTSILÄ: Wärtsilä extends its BioPower product range

"WÄRTSILÄ: Wärtsilä extends its BioPower product range
Tuesday 30 May 2006 12:40 EEST Kauppalehti Online

PRESS RELEASE 30.5.2006

Wärtsilä Corporation

Wärtsilä extends its BioPower product range

Wärtsilä Corporation has added two sizes of biomass-fuelled plants to its
BioPower product range employed for electricity generation and local
heating applications. The new BioPower 3 and BioPower 7 plants each
deliver approximately 3 and 7.5 MW of electricity. They join the existing
BioPower 2 and 5 plants to offer an overall electrical output range from
2 to 7.5 MWe.

The new plant sizes allow Wärtsilä to dimension biomass-fuelled power
plants even closer to customer requirements. They also extend the
capacities for heating applications and for condensing plants up to 7.5
MW electrical output. Such higher outputs are in high demand in the
central and southern parts of Europe.

The new, larger plants are based on the same well-proven modular concept
as the earlier plants. The modular approach brings several benefits such
as: consistent quality owing to the factory assembly of modules, less
site work allowing faster delivery time and compact, but well-considered
layout arrangements requiring less floor area for the power plant
building. This technology also results in a reliable, durable plant.
They are also highly automated, enabling unmanned operation with daily
attendance.

Wärtsilä's biomass-fuelled plants are clean and efficient. They are a
practical solution to the need for energy supplies using renewable fuels
with minimum environmental impact. They incorporate patented Wärtsilä
BioGrate combustion technology to burn biomass fuels with high combustion
efficiency and low NOx and CO emissions. They typically use wood-based
fuels, such as sawmill residues, forest harvesting residues, sawdust,
wo"

2006-05-25

Growing use of corn for conversion to fuel may push up world prices of food

Growing use of corn for conversion to fuel may push up world prices of food: "Growing use of corn for conversion to fuel may push up world prices of food
By Finfacts Team
May 25, 2006, 13:17

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The US, the world's largest exporter of corn, will use as much or more of the grain for conversion to ethanol in 2007 than it will sell abroad, according to estimates by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

As gasoline prices rise, farmers are diverting more of their output to producing fuel rather than food or feedstock for animals. The new estimate highlights the growing competition between food and fuel that could push up the price of food globally. .

The USDA says that about 55m tonnes of corn will be converted into ethanol, compared with exports averaging 40m-50m tonnes over the past 15 years. This would be up from an estimated 41m tonnes last year - a quantity of corn that could feed 131m people for a year. The US accounts for 70 per cent of world corn exports.

'This year looks like being the first time ever that as much or more corn is converted into ethanol than exported. If oil prices stay high, it will propel this trend much further,' USDA economist Keith Collins, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

US energy legislation requires ethanol production to increase to 7.5bn gallons by 2012, requiring about 68m tonnes of grain - more than the total grain harvest of Canada, Brazil or Indonesia. US output supplies just 3 per cent of US cars, a figure expected to rise significantly.

Prices of corn have risen by close to 20 per cent in recent weeks as world grain stocks have fallen to their lowest level since the early 1970s.

Use of sugar for fuel in particular in Brazil, have pushed sugar prices to a 25-year high. About 10 per cent of world sugar output is now used to produce ethanol. The level for corn is just 3 per cent for corn but has been rising fast and some experts b"

Hybrid grass may prove to be valuable fuel source

Molly McElroy, News Bureau

217-333-5802; mmcelroy@uiuc.edu


9/27/05

Emily A. Heaton, a doctoral student of Stephen P. Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology, stands next to one of three Miscanthus plots at the intersection of South First Street and Airport Road in Savoy. Giant Miscanthus, a hybrid grass that can grow 13 feet high, drops its slender leaves in the winter, leaving behind tall bamboo-like stems that can be harvested in early spring and burned for fuel.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), a hybrid grass that can grow 13 feet high, may be a valuable renewable fuel source for the future, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say.

Stephen P. Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology, recently took that message to Dublin, Ireland, where the British Association for the Advancement of Science sponsored the annual BA Festival of Science Sept. 3-10.

Closer to home, two of Long’s doctoral students, Emily A. Heaton and Frank G. Dohleman, delivered their Miscanthus findings at the 49th annual Agronomy Day, held on campus Aug. 18 and attended by more than 1,100 visitors from across the Midwest.

“Forty percent of U.S. energy is used as electricity,” Heaton said. “The easiest way to get electricity is using a solid fuel such as coal.”

Dry, leafless Miscanthus stems can be used as a solid fuel. The cool-weather-friendly perennial grass, sometimes referred to as elephant grass or E-grass, grows from an underground stem-like organ called a rhizome. Miscanthus, a crop native to Asia and a relative of sugarcane, drops its slender leaves in the winter, leaving behind tall bamboo-like stems that can be harvested in early spring and burned for fuel.

Rhizomatous grasses such as Miscanthus are very clean fuels, said Dohleman, who is studying for a doctorate in plant biology. Nutrients such as nitrogen are transferred to the rhizome to be saved until the next growing season, he said.

Burning Miscanthus produces only as much carbon dioxide as it removes from the air as it grows, said Heaton, who is seeking a doctorate in crop sciences. That balance means there is no net effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, which is not the case with fossil fuels, she said.

Miscanthus also is a very efficient fuel, because the energy ratio of input to output is less than 0.2, Heaton said. In contrast, the ratios exceed 0.8 for ethanol and biodiesel from canola, which are other plant-derived energy sources.

Besides being a clean, efficient and renewable fuel source, Miscanthus also is remarkably easy to grow. Upon reaching maturity, Miscanthus has few needs as it outgrows weeds, requires little water and minimal fertilizer and thrives in untilled fields, Heaton said. In untilled fields, various wildlife species make their homes in the plant’s leafy canopy and in the surrounding undisturbed soil.

Illinois researchers have found that Miscanthus grown in the state has greater crop yields than in Europe, where it has been used commercially for years, Long said. Full-grown plants produce 10-30 tons per acre dry weight each year. Miscanthus yields in lowland areas around the Alps, where the climate is similar to the Midwest, are at least 25 tons per acre dry weight, wrote Heaton and colleagues in a paper published in 2004 in the journal Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.

Last year, Illinois researchers obtained 60 tons per hectare (2.47 acre), Long said at the BA Festival of Science.

Using a computer simulator, Heaton predicted that if just 10 percent of Illinois land mass was devoted to Miscanthus, it could provide 50 percent of Illinois electricity needs. Using Miscanthus for energy would not necessarily reduce energy costs in the short term, Heaton said, but there would be significant savings in carbon dioxide production.

The Illinois Miscanthus crop began three years ago when Heaton planted 400 Miscanthus rhizomes, which were generated from three rhizomes donated by the Turfgrass Program in the department of natural resources and environmental sciences. Because Miscanthus is sterile, cuttings of Miscanthus rhizomes must be used to create new plants.

Now in their third year, the three 33-by-33 feet Miscanthus plots at the intersection of South First Street and Airport Road in Savoy, Ill., are considered mature. Their 10-foot tall stems are twice as high as switchgrass, a prairie grass native to Illinois. Grown side by side, Miscanthus produces more than twice as much biomass as switchgrass, Heaton said.

To investigate how Miscanthus is so productive, Dohleman and others take measurements of photosynthesis throughout the day. He measures the intensity of the sun and then places a leaf in a chamber, allowing him to measure the rate of photosynthesis depending upon ambient sunlight. Preliminary results show that Miscanthus has a 27 percent greater rate of photosynthesis at midday compared with switchgrass.

Nine different fields across the state are being used to help estimate Miscanthus productivity, Heaton said. Plots in Champaign and Christian counties each have more than 2 acres of Miscanthus, and DeKalb, Pike, Pope, Wayne, Fayette and Mason counties have smaller plots. Plots in Champaign County have shown the greatest yearly yields, according to Long’s 2004 progress report to the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research, which funded the experiments.

“It is my hope that Illinois will take the lead in renewable energy and that the state will benefit from that lead,” Long said.

Other varieties of Miscanthus have been grown successfully in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. However, the giant Miscanthus being grown by the Illinois researchers has the greatest potential as a fuel source because of its high yields and because it is sterile and cannot become a weed, Heaton said. “Miscanthus sacchariflorus and some of the other fertile Miscanthus species can be quite invasive,” she said.

At a research station near Hornum, Denmark, giant Miscanthus has been grown for 22 years in Europe’s longest-running experimental field. The crop has never been invasive and rhizome spread has been no more than 1.5 meters (4.92 feet), said Uffe Jorgensen, senior scientist for the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.

The next step, Long said, is to demonstrate how Miscanthus goes from a plant to a power source. Existing U.S. power plants could be modified to use Miscanthus for fuel as in Europe, he said.

Long collaborates with researchers at the Institute of Genomic Biology to study whether Miscanthus could be converted to alcohol, which could be used as fuel.

icTeesside - Willow power

icTeesside - Willow power: "Willow power

May 23 2006

Anastasia Weiner, Evening Gazette


A thousand tonnes of wet willow wood chip marked the first fuel delivery to biomass power station Wilton 10.

The SembCorp-owned and operated plant is expected to burn 55,000 tonnes of short rotation coppice (SRC) - a fast-growing shrub or small tree willow - and a further 240,000 tonnes of forestry logs and recycled timber a year, when it comes on stream by the middle of 2007.

The £60m plant, which has created 400 jobs during its construction, will generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes.

Greenergy, the firm responsible for sourcing and supplying the fuel, said a further 800 wet tonnes, supplied by Yorkshire willow growing co-operative Renewable Energy Growers, was due to arrive by the end of May.

Willie McGhee, biomass trader at Greenergy, said: 'There are significant opportunities for UK farmers, and other suppliers of renewable or recycled wood stock, for the provision of a UK grown alternative to oil, gas and coal.'


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Northern farmers and landowners are now being offered long-term contracts to grow the crop, which could secure their income for more than ten years.

Environmental issues mean all SRC wood has to be grown within a 50-mile radius of Wilton 10.

Greenergy, which was founded in 1992, has a turnover of £2bn, and supplies around 6pc of the UK road fuels market and 50pc of the biofuels market.

The use of renewable and recycled resources for power generation delivers reduced emissions of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide when compared to fossil fuels."

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Giant grass to get larger role in energy supply

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Giant grass to get larger role in energy supply: "Giant grass to get larger role in energy supply

By Nigel Hunt

LONDON (Reuters) - Fields of swaying giant grass and patchwork patterns of willow plantations could become common sights in Britain as the country turns to crops for heating and electricity to tackle the effects of global warming.

'The main difference is the height (compared with conventional crops),' said Angela Karp, deputy head of the plant and invertebrate ecology division at Rothamsted Research centre.

'People are used to looking at certain landscapes, such as fields of cereals, and this will change,' she said.

The impact on the English landscape -- which has an almost mythical status in the nation's literature and psyche -- could be similar to the change after rapeseed acreage expanded in the 1970s and 1980s, covering the countryside with fields full of distinctive bright yellow flowers.

The use of crops to generate electricity is touted by some experts as one of the best ways to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, blamed by many scientists for global warming.

Biomass -- products from forestry, energy crops and a variety of other materials which might otherwise be treated as waste -- generates about 1 percent of Britain's electricity and provides a similar proportion of heat generation.

Miscanthus, or elephant grass, and short rotation coppice willow, are already helping fire up power stations, heat schools, hospitals and factories.

Karp said research is being carried out on how best to blend energy crops into the landscape, noting in some areas they could eventually account for 10 percent of agricultural land.

In late April, the government announced measures to promote biomass as it seeks to rapidly expand the proportion of Britain's energy needs derived from renewable resources.

'We are going to need everything we can lay our hands on if we are going to reduce our carbon footprint in the world," said Ben Gill, a former president of the National Farmers' Union who leads the British government's Biomass Task Force.

"WATCH THE MONEY GROW"

Britain is seeking to produce 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources such as biomass by 2010 and to double that proportion by 2020.

A government-commissioned task force last year said biomass could reduce Britain's carbon emissions by almost three million tonnes a year if used for heating -- the equivalent of taking 3.25 million cars of the road, according to the government.

Miscanthus is a woody grass which originated in Asia and has very high growth rates. It can reach about 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) in height and can be harvested each year.

Short rotation coppice (SRC) are densely planted varieties of either poplar or most commonly willow. They grow to about 4 metres (13 ft) and are normally harvested every 3 years.

"Short rotation coppice could rise 5 to 10 times from the current area of 3,000 to 5,000 hectares by 2010," said biomass trader Willie McGhee of fuel company Greenergy.

Greenergy said in May it had started taking deliveries of SRC willow wood chips for a 30 megawatt biomass power station in northeast England, expected to come online next year.

One megawatt is roughly enough power for 1,000 homes.

As well as providing cleaner electricity, biomass crops require less care and maintenance, giving farmers the chance to either semi-retire to spend time on other ventures.

"You just stare out of the window and watch the money growing," Greenergy trader McGhee said.

SPARE TIME

Energy crops could provide a boost for a strapped sector: total income from farming fell by 8.9 percent last year as European Union reforms have cut back subsidies and exposed local produce to growing competition from cheaper imports.

Farmers have diversified to cope with the changes; sometimes directly marketing products through farm shops, running farm zoos or converting old barns into commercial properties.

Energy crops offer another alternative and have received government grants since 2000, although the current scheme is due to run out at the end of this year. The government has said it will continue its support in principle.

Britain is also turning to crops to help meet its other major energy need - transport fuel.

Oil from crops such as rapeseed can be used to make biodiesel while wheat is expected to be used to make bioethanol. Biofuels are normally blended with petrol or diesel but can be consumed directly in some vehicles.

Just how much land will be eventually dedicated to growing crops for energy will depend on the wider effects of climate change. If global warming begins to stunt the world's food production as consumption expands, priorities could change.

"The amount of spare land away from food production is going to become increasingly constrained as impacts of climate change become more pronounced," Gill said.

2006-05-16

Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, USA | News

Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, USA | News: "



Biomass generator is green
Published Monday, May 15, 2006 11:49:41 AM Central Time

By MARGARET LEVRA

Globe Staff Writer

When people in the Copper Country flip a switch in their homes in the next few years, the bright light likely will come from power generated by wood chips.

White Pine Electric Power Company currently uses a biomass steam boiler, installed in its infrastructure for $2.5 million. The boiler burns low-grade waste wood products to generate electricity or green power to the market, according to Mike Reid, from WPEP.

When in full production, the plant will need more than 600 tons of waste fuel a day, consisting of scrap tires, paper mill sludge, sawdust and wood chips. That will produce 18-megawatts an hour of power (or green energy) to supply some 15,000 homes and businesses in the U.P. and Wisconsin, Reid said.

Environmental Advantages

Wood fuel has several environmental advantages over fossil fuel. Wood is renewable, offering a sustainable, dependable supply, Reid said.

In addition, carbon dioxide emitted during the burning process is typically 90 percent less than when burning fossil fuel, and wood fuel contains minimal amounts of sulfur and heavy metals.

It does not contribute to acid rain pollution, and particulate emissions are controllable, he said.

Economic Advantages

The main economic advantage of wood biomass energy is that wood is usually significantly less expensive than competing fossil fuels. The refinery spends about $1.5 million a year in heating its electrolyte to make copper cathode, Reid said.

Instead of paying disposal costs, wood combustion for electricity and heat is one way in which forest products companies can use wood residues.

Typically wood, in a variety of forms, has green chips with 45 to 50 percent moisture content. Augers or belt conveyors transport the wood chips to the combustor, where they are burned, and the heat of comb"

2006-05-11

Begining

Hopefully this blog will contain information about my personal and company activities in the field of biomass for energy and utilization of organic waste.

Dienas Bizness: Mežos izkūp miljoniem latu

Dienas Bizness: Mežos izkūp miljoniem latu

Celmi, cirsmu un kokapstrādes atliekas, kā arī speciāli audzēta enerģētiskā koksne un šobrīd nevērtīgās koksnes perspektīvā var kļūt par nopietnu konkurentu fosilajam kurināmajam un dabasgāzei, kuru cenas nemitīgi pieaug, liecina SIA "E&IC" pēc AS "Latvijas valsts meži" pasūtījuma veiktais pētījums, raksta "Dienas Bizness". Pētījumā "No atjaunojamajiem resursiem iegūtā kurināmā (ARIK) izmantošanas intensifikācija Latvijā" secināts, ka šobrīd Latvijā koksne jau tiek izmantota siltuma ražošanā, it īpaši laukos, kur tiek izmantota malka, savukārt kokrūpnieki koksnes atliekas izmanto koksnes žāvēšanai un telpu apsildei. Pretstatā, piemēram, Somijai, Latvijā nav koģenerācijas staciju, kurās bez siltuma ražotu arī elektroenerģiju, izmantojot koksni vai tās atliekas.