Forest biomass as source for energy independence

A few years ago I was retained by a large investment fund to do due diligence research on a biomass electrical generation plant in the far east.
The project centered (literally) around the fuel source which was rapidly growing, jungle like brush and small trees. The land set aside for growing the biomass to be used for the fuel source was thousands of acres and was enough ground to grow enough fuel to prepetually supply the generation plant, which was located in the middle of the designated land to reduce transportation costs.
The quantity of electricity to be generated was enough that only about 10 to 20% was needed by the host country. The balance was to be used to improve conditions in other third world countries.
I'm no sicientist but I viewed the project as a good thing for humanity and a neutral thing for the jungle in which it was located. It was to provide may jobs for locals harvesting and tranporting the raw materials to the plant and low cost electricity and the resultant higher quality of life for millions of folks that would otherwise do without. I thought is was a very effective way to utilize wealth to make the world a better place with comparitively little negative side effects.

Is a "biomass electrical generation plant" basically a wood-fired power plant?
That sounds a lot simpler and more efficient than turning wood chips into biodiesel or ethanol.

Is a "biomass electrical generation plant" basically a wood-fired power plant?

My non-technical mind would describe it more as a "wood and any other conbustable biological debris and trash" fired power plant. 
From what I understand they basically burn everything that will burn which cannot be used for better purposes elsewhere. I believe that's why they call it biomass fired" instead of "wood fired".

Seattle Steam is doing the wood chip thing downtown.

Steve

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August 30, 2005
Wood may help heat downtown Seattle
# Seattle Steam's CEO wants half of the heat the utility produces to one day be generated by wood, and he's got some other ideas, too.
By DIPIKA KOHLI
Journal Staff Reporter

Photo
Photo by Dipika Kohli
Seattle Steam Co.’s CEO Stan Gent at his company’s Western Avenue plant.

Seattle Steam Co. has applied for permits to convert one of the boilers at its main plant on Western Avenue to burn wood chips instead of natural gas.

Seattle Steam Chief Executive Officer Stan Gent said the utility's goal is to reduce its use of natural gas by 50 percent by January 2007.

The steam company circulates heat and hot water through 175 buildings in the city's downtown core through 18 miles of buried pipes. These weave beneath the area from Blanchard Street to King Street, and from the waterfront to First Hill.

Gent joined Seattle Steam last year after helping create and operate ComfortLink, a district cooling system in Baltimore.

"District cooling is the same as district heating," he said, "except you're running chilled air instead of steam." When new customers signed up, ComfortLink would dispose of their air conditioning equipment. Gent said this reduced the release of chlorofluorocarbons, which are greenhouse gases.

Gent said he wants Seattle Steam to switch to wood fuel so it, too, can reduce its environmental footprint, but he stressed his primary goals are to get more customers and keep their bills low.

"We're not in the business to do environmental things," he said. "We do environmental things because it's good for business."

He has other ideas, such as converting Seattle Steam's other plant on Post Alley to generate both heat and electricity.

For now, Seattle Steam wants to convert its oldest boiler at its Western Avenue plant to one fueled by wood. There are four gas boilers at 1319 Western Ave. and one at Post Alley. Gent said there are no plans set to replace the other boilers.

It will cost $13 million to replace one boiler and build a 6,000-square-foot wood storage facility across the street.

Photo
Photo by Dipika Kohli
The utility plans to convert the boiler attached to the black stack on the left to burn wood instead of natural gas.

The design team includes LMN Architects, Huckell/Weinman Associates and Independent Power. Construction is set to start in February 2006.

Burning natural gas produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Wood fuel will be burned in such a way that no greenhouse gases are produced. The switch would be equivalent to taking 11,000 cars off the road, Gent said.

But that doesn't mean there won't be any pollution.

Gent said delivery areas would be covered to control dust and noise. There would also be controls for particulate emissions, and ammonia would be mixed into the furnace in order to reduce nitrous oxide emissions. Wood fuel burned here would have an ash content of no more than 2 percent, he said.

"Urban wood waste is kind of tricky stuff to work with," said Climate Solutions Research Director Patrick Mazza. Wood stains and paint are often made with toxic petrochemicals that can be released when the material is burned.

"We tend to accept [biomass] as a good clean source of energy," but Mazza said there are caveats. Pollution is often produced at different steps, such as powering a chain saw to cut the wood, milling the wood and moving it around. Mazza said shorter trips mean less pollution, and experts consider burning wood waste to be efficient as long as it comes from within a few dozen miles.

Most wood chips are likely to come from a plant in Auburn that collects and processes wood from land clearing as well as used pallets and packaging.

About once an hour between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., a truck would pull into the covered delivery area. There may be a silo as tall as 80 feet for storage. Conveyor belts would feed chips to the furnace through an existing underground tunnel.

Gent said the recent energy bill doesn't offer tax credits for companies that produce heat from renewable resources such as biomass. But he said in the future if emissions are capped there may be the potential to trade credits. Gent said he will talk about this idea with Mayor Greg Nickels on Friday.

Gent said in the United States, heating accounts for nearly half the energy buildings use. Buildings consume about 40 percent of the energy the country uses, he said.

"I have a personal belief that we can use energy more wisely."

Gent, who is from Northern Ireland, said he also wants to join a group of architects and developers who will look at sustainable design in Europe this fall. Seattle-based company International Sustainable Solutions organizes regular tours to Sweden and Denmark for people to see how those countries approach energy efficiency and green design.

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May 25, 2006
Seattle Steam moves forward with wood-fired boiler project
By JOURNAL STAFF

Image courtesy LMN Architects

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has given preliminary approval to Seattle Steam to replace a natural-gas-fired boiler on Western Avenue with another boiler that will be mostly fueled with wood scraps.

The agency issued a draft notice of construction and will take comments on the project until June 19. A public notice was published in the DJC on May 19.

Seattle Steam, which supplies heat and hot water to 175 downtown Seattle buildings through buried pipes, is planning to replace one of four boilers with one that will use mostly wood fuel.

The $18 million project will include replacing an existing stack, adding a crushed limestone silo and building a 5,000-square-foot wood storage facility across the street.

The fluidized-bed boiler will be moved to the Seattle Steam plant on Western Avenue and upgraded to have a steam generation capacity of 85,000 lbs/hr. The boiler will burn natural gas as a backup if wood fuel supplies are low.

Seattle Steam plans to use wood recovered from land clearing, recycled pallets and crates, and sawdust and wood trimmings from cabinet shops and sawmills. The company will get the wood from Rainier Wood Recyclers in Auburn.

Construction will begin in June, pending final permits, and is scheduled to be completed by March 2007.

Haskell Corp. of Bellingham is the primary contractor. The design team also includes LMN Architects of Seattle and HIPP Engineering of Vancouver, B.C.