Camelina - An Oil-Seed Crop For Different Bio-fuels

As seeding time is quickly approaching, producers will be planning which crops to plant. One crop some producers may want to consider is camelina. Dan Kusalik with the Great Plains Camelina Company says camelina is used for a number of different bio-fuels. "Camelina is an oil-seed crop that we use for bio-fuel, bio-diesel jet fuel production."Camelina can be planted in the winter, too. As long as the soil conditions allow us to take that drill and put the seed a quarter inch into the ground we could do it. Right now they're just under the 25,000 acre mark on the prairies.

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GE Energy, Nexterra Partner for Biomass Power Systems for Jenbacher Engine

After two years of collaboration Vancouver-based Nexterra Energy, developer of biomass gasification systems, has partnered with GE Energy to create modular biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plants of between 2 and 10 megawatts in size. Nexterra has optimized its system to work with GE’s Jenbacher high-efficiency gas engines. Specifically, it has upgraded the syngas that comes out of its system so that it meets the fuel specifications of the Jenbacher engine.

“We believe the combination of biomass gasification and internal combustion engines is a breakthrough for biomass power generation,” said Prady Iyyanki, CEO of GE’s Jenbacher division.

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FDA Approves Camelina Meal for Broiler Feed

Great Plains-The Camelina Company announces that camelina meal will be available for use as broiler chicken feed.The Food and Drug Administration last week approved camelina in rations for broiler chickens and with this action the FDA allows Great Plains to state that camelina has GRAS ("generally recognized as safe") status.

While high in protein and vitamin E, camelina is also a great source for omega-3 fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial in weight gain for the chickens. Further, the meat from chickens will contain the omega-3s, making it healthier for human consumption. Camelina already is used in feed mixtures for beef cattle and pigs.

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Camelina As An Efficient Biofuel Source

Great Plain, the “world’s largest Camelina producer” claim that it’s ‘virtually’ 100% efficient and a sustainable, low-input, biofuel feedstock that can help to combat rising emissions while also adding to food production and crop yields. It seems that the crop may boast a number of key advantages as a biofuel source since:

* It doesn’t interfere with food production because it can be harvested and processed for fuel production and any remainder can be used as high quality animal feed, as well as fiberboard and glycerin;

* It can be grown on marginal land, needing very little water, even in cold northerly states like Montana and even Canada;

* It is an excellent rotational crop that has been shown to boost the yield of subsequent crops such as wheat by up to 15%.

Camelina is already widely grown throughout the U.S. and Canada for fuel and cattle feed. To date, several crushing partners have already teamed up with Great Plains to produce more than 10 million road miles of camelina biodiesel. Moreover, by 2012, the company plans to raise production to 100 million gallons a year.

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Great Plains-The Camelina Company Makes Camelina Biodiesel A Reality

There's a new player fueling the alternative energy market and it's picking up speed as fossil fuels continue to fall short. Camelina, an oilseed crop in the same family as mustard, is currently being grown throughout the United States and Canada and crushed to produce biodiesel by Great Plains-The Camelina Company.

With several crushing partners in North America, Great Plains has produced more than 10 million road miles of camelina biodiesel to date, and plans to boost production to 100 million gallons by the year 2012.

Camelina offers a solution for reaching this biodiesel production goal by providing a sustainable, low-input biofuel feedstock option that does not interfere with food production. Camelina is virtually 100 percent efficient. It can be harvested and crushed for oil and the remaining parts can be used to produce high quality omega-3 rich animal feed, fiberboard and glycerin.

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Kudzu Could be the Next Biofuel

Some researchers estimate that kudzu could produce 2.2 to 5.3 tons of carbohydrate per acre. This translates to 270 gallons of ethanol per acre, comparable to the ethanol yield of corn of 210 to 320 gallons per acre. In other terms, 900 to 2500 liters of ethanol can be produced per hectare of kudzu, compared to 2000 to 3000 liters per hectare of corn.

Kudzu is the kind of stock the U.S. needs to be working with because it is a weed, not an essential food crop in our human food supply. Kudzu needs nothing to grow – no planting, no fertilizer, no irrigation. The deep tap root of the kudzu vine can help hold the soil in place and allows the plant to prosper during dry spells, as opposed to corn, whose growth is dependent on sufficient rain fall and irrigation water.

At present, even if equipment were available that could harvest the kudzu roots, a large fraction of kudzu vines blanket steep hillsides and would be difficult to access. Some experts estimate that about one-third of kudzu plants in the US would be harvestable. If so, they calculate that kudzu could offer about 8 percent of the 2006 U.S. bioethanol supply. However, if existing corn ethanol manufacturing plants could be used to process kudzu, too, then the approach might be economical sooner. Kudzu is not tied to the commodities markets, so the price would not fluctuate as much.

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Chinese Tallow - An Ideal Energy Crop For Biodiesel

In many respects, the tallow tree offers the ideal energy crop for biodiesel production along the gulf coast. It thrives in wet areas that cannot be farmed profitably with conventional crops. It has few insect pests and diseases and is tolerant of salt, prolonged flooding and occasional freezing temperatures. It has low nutrient and other management requirements. These characteristics as well as the tallow tree’s exceptional ability to produce high-quality vegetable oil underscore its commercial potential as a low-input, high-return biodiesel crop.

Tallow seeds contain 45-60 percent vegetable oil, about two to three times the amount found in an equivalent weight of soybeans. Yields average 12,500 pounds of seeds per acre containing 2,300 pounds of stillingia oil, 2,500 pounds of wax, 1,400 pounds of protein concentrate, 982 pounds of fibrous coat and 4,000 pounds of shell (endocarp). Per acre, these oil yields are 15 times more than soybeans, 10 times more than sunflower or safflower, seven times more than peanuts and five times more than rape seed. Annual commercial production averages about 645 gallons – the equivalent of 15.4 barrels of oil per acre. Some experts cite figures as high as 970 gallons or 23.1 barrels of oil per acre.

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Approval Rating for Kudzu Ethanol Soars

Just recently on the Discovery Channel website, there was an article about using kudzu for making ethanol. This article gave another Approval for Kudzu as a Potential Biofuel and could be part of the biofuel solution to making America less dependent on oil.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Rowan Sage of the University of Toronto gathered samples of kudzu from different locations in the Southeastern United States at different times of the year to measure the carbohydrate content of the various parts on the plant including leaves, stems, vines and roots.

Based on estimates completed by these researchers, kudzu could produce 2.2-3.5 tons of carbohydrate per acre or about 270 gallons per acre of ethanol. Corn will produce approximately 210-310 gallons of ethanol per acre. Sage commented in the article that “kudzu will not completely solve anybody’s energy crisis. but it certainly would be a useful supplement.”

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Story of Kudzu

Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Countries were invited to build exhibits to celebrate the 100th birthday of the U.S. The Japanese government constructed a beautiful garden filled with plants from their country. The large leaves and sweet-smelling blooms of kudzu captured the imagination of American gardeners who used the plant for ornamental purposes.

Florida nursery operators, Charles and Lillie Pleas, discovered that animals would eat the plant and promoted its use for forage in the 1920s. Their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley sold kudzu plants through the mail. A historical marker there proudly proclaims "Kudzu Developed Here."

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields of the vines in the 1940s.

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Chinese Tallow Tree: A Great New Biodiesel Feedstock?

Biodiesel Magazine reports on a new potential biodiesel feedstock, the Chinese tallow tree. It is said to be a potential algae-as-feedstock rival if yield reports of 1,000 gallons of oil per acre are true. Although it is known as an invasive nuisance tree, it does have potential for oil extraction from both its seeds and its woody biomass. The tallow tree holds great promise in its oil-for-biodiesel content, so research is underway on how to use this plant to its fullest ability. Time will tell which view wins in this debated tree’s usefulness.

Full article here

Biofuel From Forestry Waste is Close

New types of green fuels produced using waste from forestry may be among the first new generation biofuels to start production, an executive from Finnish forestry and paper group UPM-Kymmene said.

UPM was planning to expand into biofuel production and was currently conducting trials to produce biodiesel, bioethanol and heavy fuel oils from forest residues including tree bark, twigs and stumps.According to their plans they should have the necessary information to make decisions about the first large scale commercial unit by the middle of this year.If current trials were positive, a start to commercial green fuel production from forest residues could be possible in 2012-2013, said vice president corporate relations and development Hans Sohlstrom.

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Chinese Tallow At Biodiesel Show

At the biodiesel confab in San Francisco, experts discuss ways to grow fuel in the desert and Ben Franklin's contribution to alt fuels.

According to Dick Auld from Texas Tech, the castor plant is drought tolerant, salt tolerant, grows on marginal land, probably amenable to genetic modification and is quite oily. The plant could yield 63 to 210 gallons of oil an acre-that's low compared to some crops but it would grown on marginal lands, thereby dropping the cost of production.

It's also not a food crop. The plant, originally from the tropics, produces the highly toxic ricin.But if there's a feedstock on everyone's lips, it's the Chinese Tallow tree, according to Courtney McColgan, an associate at Draper, Fisher Jurvetson.

Ben Franklin is credited with bringing the tree to the continent when the U.S. was still a set of colonies owned by Britain. Since then, it's become a pesky, invasive species in the South. Some experts say it could produce several hundred gallons of feedstock per acre.

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Kudzu Ethanol Plant Planned in Tennessee

Mr. Doug Mizell, co-founder of Agro Gas Industries in Cleveland, Tennessee and company co-founder, Tom Monahan, have dubbed the kudzu-based-ethanol, “Kudzunol.” Kudzu is an obvious resource: “There’s 7.2 million acres of kudzu in the south that’s absolutely good to no one,” said Mizell. “It grows a foot a day, 60 feet a season and can be harvested twice a year and not even hurt the stand.”

Agro*Gas plans to break ground on an ethanol producing plant in McMinn County or a surrounding county by end of the year and hopefully begin production in 2009.

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Montana Legislature Addresses Camelina Biodiesel

A new bill in the Montana Legislature aims to make it easier for Montana farmers and ranchers to produce biodiesel fuel from oil-seed crops like camelina and canola.House Bill 415 would provide regulation for special fuel users who produce biodiesel fuel.

At a press conference on Monday, farmers spoke in favor of the bill. MT State Representative Margaret McDonald (D-Billings), the sponsor of the bill, says producing biodiesel will increase energy efficiency and income in the state: "We need to go in and work on our Montana law and amend it so that people can begin to do this in their communities and really make a difference."

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USAF Launches New Biofuel Testing Programme With Camelina Oil

The US Air Force (USAF) is launching a new synthetic fuels programme to fly its fleet on a jet fuel mix that contains biofuel.The service is working toward an ultimate goal of certifying its fleet to use "hydro-treated renewable jet fuel" (HRJ) by about 2013.HRJs are biofuels derived from oils and fats, which can come from products such as animal fat, jatropha and camelina oil and algae.

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Two Main Reasons for High Yield of Ethanol from Miscanthus

A longer growing season and superior photosynthetic efficiency contribute to Miscanthus' high yield

It makes green leaves 6 weeks earlier in the growing season and keeps them until late October. Corn leaves typically wither by the end of August. While it shares a similar growing season, switchgrass is much less efficient at photosynthesis; Miscanthus has a conversion efficiency of around 1%.

Like many perennial grasses, Miscanthus can be grown in poor quality soil and can store a lot of carbon dioxide making it close to carbon neutral.

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Planting, Management & Harvesting of Miscanthus

The Wales Biomass Centre is an umbrella name for the various energy crop projects currently being undertaken by the research staff at Cardiff University’s Llysdinam Field Centre.

Their website gives a complete information about Planting, Management & Harvesting of Miscanthus

See : Wales Biomass Centre

Uses of Small Scale Anaerobic Digesters

The use of anaerobic digesters on a small scale could provide localized energy sources. while reducing the negative effects of greenhouse gases. While many technologies appear to answer some of these requirements, anaerobic digestion is an especially promising technology as it is efficient, inexpensive and can be quickly scaled and implemented.

In engineered anaerobic digesters, the digestion of organic waste takes place in a special reactor, or enclosed chamber, where critical environmental conditions such as moisture content, temperature and pH levels can be controlled to maximize gas generation and waste decomposition rates. Commercial anaerobic digestion systems can replicate this natural process in an engineered reactor that produces methane gas much more quickly, in as little as two to three weeks compared to the 30 to 100 years required by the anaerobic conditions in a landfill.

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BICAL Believes in Miscanthus

BICAL was established to provide renewable and profitable diversification for farmers and landowners, through supplying growers with Miscanthus planting material, developing a wide range of end use markets and providing contractual and crop marketing support.

BICAL is committed to the expansion of Miscanthus production across the EU and wider. Through the collaboration with leading scientists in the Miscanthus research field,BICAL have set up 4 award winning fuel producer groups across the UK To supply Miscanthus fuel into a range of energy based Projects. BiSel is one of these producer groups, which has a contract to supply 300,000 tonnes per year of Miscanthus to Drax power station in North Yorkshire.

BICAL offers a full service package, from rhizome supply to cane purchase contracts.

Web site:http://www.bical.net/

Anaerobic Digestion Plant Using Food Waste

A New electricity plant could be built in Doncaster to be powered by methane gas created from hundreds of tons of food waste which would be delivered every week.If built, it would take 45,000 tons of food waste every year, some from its own pet food production on site. Other waste would be collected from supermarkets and other outlets in the area.

That would be digested by micro-organisms in sealed chambers to produce methane gas which would in turn be burned to drive turbines to create electricity either for use on site or to be fed into the national grid.The Anaerobic digestion vessel would be 35 metres long, by 10 metres high, and a new steel framed building would also be needed for preparing the waste to be processed and the engines to burn the methane.

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University of Illinois Professor Long Compares Corn, Switchgrass & Miscanthus

Long is the deputy director of the BP-sponsored Energy Biosciences Institute, a multi-year, multi-institutional initiative aimed at finding low carbon or carbon neutral alternatives to petroleum fuels. Long is an affiliate of the U. of I.'s Institute for Genomic Biology, and he also is the editor of Global Change Biology, which published his team's Miscanthus research in july 2008.

Corn, switchgrass and Miscanthus have been grown side by side in experimental plots in Urbana, Illinois since 2005 in the largest field trials of their kind in the United States. In field trials in Illinois, researchers grew Miscanthus and switchgrass in adjoining plots. Miscanthus proved to be at least twice as productive as switchgrass. In trials across Illinois, switchgrass, a perennial grass which, like Miscanthus, requires fewer chemical and mechanical inputs than corn, produced only about as much ethanol feedstock per acre as corn, Long said.

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Hybrid grass Miscanthus - A valuable fuel source

Giant Miscanthus, 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.

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.

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.

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Mendel Biotechnology Announced Acquisition of Miscanthus Breeding from Tinplant

Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. announced the acquisition of the entire Miscanthus breeding program from Tinplant Biotechnik und Pflanzenvermehrung GmbH, a German breeding and plant science company in march 2007. Miscanthus is one of the leading candidates for dedicated energy crops for production of biofuels such as ethanol from lignocellulosic plant material. This acquisition positions Mendel to be the leading developer of Miscanthus varieties for the cellulosic ethanol industry worldwide.

The detailed terms of the acquisition were not made available. However, the transaction includes a 5-year collaboration between Mendel and Tinplant for ongoing breeding work, and establishes Tinplant as a sales agent for Mendel's Miscanthus varieties.

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The Gasification FAQ & Guide

This post will try to present all the questions and answers for gasification technology in general and biomass gasification in particular:

1. What are the major advantages of gasification?
2. What are the key disadvantages of gasification?
3. Which are the largest companies that use gasification to produce fuels and chemicals?
4. What is the minimum size at which gasification technology will be economical?
5. What is the EROEI for gasification in general and biomass gasification in specific?
6. Why isn't the biofuels world shifting fully to gasification?
7. What is the difference between syngas and producer gas?
8. Is gasification and pyrolysis interchangeable?
9. What is the difference between gasification and pyrolysis?
10. Once the biomass or waste is gasified, is there nothing that is left over? What about the left-overs for pyrolysis?
11. What are the capex and operating costs of the gasification part alone? For pyrolysis?
12. What is the capex and operating costs for Fischer-Tropsch process is specific and catalytic synthesis process in general?
13. Is it possible to ferment the syngas into ethanol? How cost effective is it and why should this be attempted when syngas can be directly converted to biodiesel or gasoline using chemical methods?

Potential of Arundo donax (Adx) for Use as Biofuel

Arundo donax has potential as a bioenergy feedstock for several conversion processes. Dried Arundo has an estimated direct combustion High Heating Value (HHV) of approximately 8000 BTUs/lb. Drying such large amounts of biomass may be difficult, however, thus lower actual energy values in power plants will be realized. Arundo is also being considered as a candidate for gasification and cellulosic ethanol conversion.

Yields of Arundo can vary widely depending on available moisture, stand density and period of growth. Initial trials on muck soils at the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, Fla., have produced green weights (50-60 percent moisture) ranging from 20 to more than 40T/A on an annualized basis when harvesting from 7-12+ months of growth.

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Arundo donax for Electricity

Florida-based Biomass Investment Group (BIG), is embarking on a project using Arundo donax as an energy crop that will be grown on 20,000 acres (8000ha). The biomass will be converted into bio-oil, a heavy fuel oil, via a fast-pyrolysis process . This carbon-neutral oil will then be used in a power plant that will provide electricity to some 80,000 Floridian households.

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Arundo Projects Under Development

Michael Birch, managing director of Orapa Ltd., based in Athens, Tenn is working with South Carolinans to license and commercialize the patented propagation and planting technology for Arundo donax. A project in Florida is looking at planting 20,000 to 40,000 acres of Arundo for a biomass power plant using gasification technology, Progress Energy Florida, a utility company, signed an agreement in mid-2006 to purchase electricity from the proposed 130 megawatt biomass power plant in central Florida using a variety of Arundo trademarked as E-grass. The original agreement was with Biomass Investment Group Inc., which has since become part of the Innovative Energy Group with main offices in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Birch has also been involved in discussions with oil and chemical companies in Texas that are interested in exploring Arundo’s potential for phyto remediation of contaminated soils. Several Central American countries are developing Arundo projects to grow biomass for power, many of which have high electrical energy costs due to a lack of local energy sources. Other projects are underway in Europe and Australia. Birch expects to be making further announcements this spring on other projects in development.

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Arundo donax cultivation in South Carolina

South Carolina economic developer Joseph James helped form the South Carolina Biomass Council and chairs the feedstock committee, which is looking at a variety of feedstocks for the Southeast.

James hopes to recruit farmers around South Carolina to plant Arundo this spring. With one eye on the invasive species concerns being raised, they intend to keep plantings on dryland fields with tilled borders to keep the planting contained, James says.

James sees great potential in Arundo crops for South Carolina farmers. He has sent samples to Iogen Corp., a Canadian ethanol producer, which has conducted preliminary tests and finds it promising for the company’s cellulosic ethanol program. The state’s paper industry is quite interested in using Arundo as a pulp source because the cane’s long fibers make particularly high quality paper, he says. A paper plant recently outbid a utility that wanted to cofire Arundo with coal using the limited Arundo supplies now available, he says. Another company is testing Arundo as a biomass source to complement wood in its production of fuel pellets for the European market.

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New Developments in the Giant Reed

An interesting document about Arundo donax from Biomass Research and Development initiative (BRDI) entitled

"New Developments in the Giant Reed (Arundo donax) and Bamboo Two Highly Productive Biomass Crops for Food, Fuel and Fiber"

Uses Of Arundo donax

Arundo donax is used for several purpose which includes:

• Plants are grown alongside irrigation canals to check soil erosion
• The plant can be grown as a windbreak screen. If cut down, the culms branch and in this form the plants can be used as a hedge
• The leaves can be woven into mats etc, whilst the split and flattened stems are used to make screens, walls of houses etc.
• A yellow dye is obtained from the pollen.
• The stems of the plant have a multitude of applications. They are used as plant supports for vines and other climbing plants and to make clarinets, bag-pipes etc. They are also used as pipe stems, for roofing, to make screens, walking sticks and in basketry. They are used to make the reeds of clarinets and organ pipes.
• The fibre from the stems can be used to make a good quality paper.
• Because of rather high yields from natural stands, the plant has been suggested as a source of biomass for energy production
• A particular type of cellulose is obtained from the plant. In Italy, the plant is used in the manufacture of rayon.

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All about Giant Reed - Arundo donax

Giant reed, also known as wild cane, is a tall, perennial grass that can grow to over 20 feet in height. Its fleshy, creeping rootstocks form compact masses from which tough, fibrous roots emerge that penetrate deeply into the soil. Leaves are elongate, 1-2 inches wide and a foot long. The flowers are borne in 2-foot long, dense, plume-like panicles during August and September.

Giant reed was probably first introduced into the United States at Los Angeles, California in the early 1800's. Since then, it has become widely dispersed into all of the subtropical and warm temperate areas of the world, mostly through intentional human introductions. Today, giant reed is widely planted throughout the warmer areas of the United States as an ornamental and in the Southwest, where it is used along ditches for erosion control.

Giant reed has a variety of uses ranging from music to medicine. Primitive pipe organs were made from it and the reeds for woodwind instruments are still made from its culms, for which no satisfactory substitutes are known. It is also used in basketry, for fishing rods, livestock fodder, medicine, and soil erosion control.

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Could ‘Liquid Wood’ Replace Plastic?

A German company, Tecnaro, says it found the magic formula. Its “liquid wood” can be molded like plastic, yet biodegrades over time.Now, Tecnaro’s success could revive interest in lignin and propel the search for better and cheaper bioplastics.Sold as Arboform, the tough mixture is chock full of lignin – sometimes more than 50 percent, compared with the 30 percent threshold where many researchers would max out. The rest is fiber from wood, flax, or hemp, as well as a few additives.Raw Arboform consists of dark brown pebble-sized pellets. It is processed using the same equipment used to make conventional plastic. The granules are dropped into a barrel and heated until they melt. Then the contents are highly pressurized and forced into a rigid mold.As the liquid cools, Arboform actually conforms better than most plastics to the boundaries of complex molds.

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New Bioplastics Manufacturing Process With Less CO2 Emissions

American bio-based plastics developer, NatureWorks LLC has achieved a manufacturing breakthrough with its plant-based Ingeo™ plastics. As per the company release, a new proprietary manufacturing process commissioned late last year lowers CO2 emissions by 60% and reduces by 30% the energy required for production of Ingeo™ plastics compared to previous manufacturing process. Compared to the process of manufacturing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which emits 3.4 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of resin produced, the company claims that new Ingeo™ manufacturing process emits 77% less, with 0.75 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of resin. The new Ingeo™ production technology also consumes 56% less energy than the equivalent weight of PET. The company claims that this advanced production process, Ingeo™ environmentally outperforms all of the most commonly used petroleum-based plastics, including recycled PET.

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Colorado Grants Assist Farm-scale Biodiesel Projects

The Colorado Agricultural Value Added Development Board, part of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, awarded $150,000 in Advancing Colorado’s Renewable Energy grants to two biodiesel-related projects.The facility will produce 100,000 gallons of biodiesel per year. The location for the facility hasn’t been finalized, but it might be built at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Central Great Plains Research Station in Akron, Colo. There, dryland canola and camelina oilseeds from test fields would be crushed for use as a straight vegetable oil fuel or converted into biodiesel to be used in research center tractors.

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University of Illinois - Miscanthus Outperforms Current Biofuels Sources

Researchers from the University of Illinois have determined that the giant perennial grass Miscanthus giganteus outperforms current biofuels sources.

Using Miscanthus as a feedstock for ethanol production in the US could significantly reduce the amount of farmland needed for biofuels, while meeting government biofuels production goals, the researchers reported.

Using corn or switchgrass to produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of gasoline use would take 25 percent of current US cropland out of food production, the researchers report.

Getting the same amount of ethanol from Miscanthus would require only 9.3 percent of current agricultural acreage.

“What we’ve found with Miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce about 2 1/2 times the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn,” said crop sciences professor Stephen P. Long, who led the study.

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Arundo donax as Energy Crop for for South Florida

Helsel is trying to figure out which of the grasses are best-suited for South Florida`s climate, and which have the potential to produce the most energy.The research, which costs about $1 million, is being conducted at a time when record-high fuel prices have increased interest in renewable energy.

Helsel and Curtis Rainbolt, a weed scientist at the center, made the first energy crop plantings about a year ago.After initial evaluations, the two scientists selected the top 20 highest-yielding grasses in terms of biomass and planted them in a second 2-acre block near Clewiston in cooperation with landowner Florida Crystals Corp. of West Palm Beach.

The crop mix includes giant reed, or Arundo donax, a tropical grass that has become a seriously invasive weed in California and Texas.

Millions of dollars have been spent trying to eradicate it from natural areas there, Rainbolt said.

"We don`t have records to indicate its behavior in Florida," he said. "It has not become an invasive problem yet. We are being very cautious with it. We are keeping it very confined."

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Joint venture to Commercialize Arundo & Miscanthus Micro-propagation

Georgia`s Biomass Gas & Electric LLC has created a long-term marketing strategy with Hungary-based Pro System Group to adapt BG&E`s germplasm and micro-propagation technology with PSG`s Fit-Bio-Reaktor technology.

BG&E recently licensed the rights to a micro-propagation technology developed at the University of South Carolina by Laszlo Marton and Mihaly Czako that facilitates the mass planting of sterile-seed plants. The researchers worked with the heavy biomass-producing Arundo donax (giant reed) to develop the patented process. The process will also work with Miscanthus giganteus and over 50 species of perennial grasses. Although arundo and miscanthus can yield between 20 tons and 30 tons per acre, the major limitation in widespread adoption of two biomass crops has been the labor-intensive hand propagation and transplanting required for the sterile grasses. The new micro-propagation process involves a germplasm treatment and the growing of thousands of plantlets in vitro that are then matured in PSG`s bioreactors for mass row planting.

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Fungus as BioControls For Kudzu

Plant pathologist C. Douglas Boyette at ARS` Southern Weed Science Research Unit, Stoneville, Mississippi, recently discovered that the sicklepod fungus Myrothecium verrucaria is also an effective bioherbicide for controlling kudzu. This fast-growing, nonnative weed covers more than 7 million acres of the South.

"Kudzu resembles a giant beanstalk," says Boyette. "It spreads at a rate of about 120,000 acres a year, reducing land productivity. Homeowners have a hard time controlling this vine, which grows up the sides of buildings, along fences, and on trees and telephone poles. Control costs increase by nearly $6 million each year."

In greenhouse and small field plot studies, Boyette and ARS plant pathologist Hamed K. Abbas found that the Myrothecium bioherbicide killed 100 percent of kudzu weeds treated at different growth stages and under varying physical and environmental conditions. It should provide a good nonchemical control alternative, since one spray treatment kills leaves and stems and appears to invade the roots. This research was done in collaboration with Louisiana Tech University-Ruston.

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Kudzu - A New Source of Bioethanol

Researcher in Canada and U.S. Department of Agriculture say the invasive kudzu vine could be an important new source of bioethanol.The kudzu vine could ease the problem, said University of Toronto professor Rowan Sage, one of eight authors whose study was published recently in Biomass & Bioenergy.

The plant is a fast-growing, woody vine that can grow up to 60 feet in one season. Its underground roots, around the diameter of an adult forearm, store plenty of starch essential for ethanol production. Kudzu exists mostly in the southeast but is native to China and Japan, where the starchy roots have long been used for cooking and thickening sauces.

In the U.S., especially in the southeast where it grows rampantly, the plant is considered a nuisance. Sage and his research team gathered samples of kudzu throughout the South, including in Statesboro, Ga. They found the plant stores the most carbohydrates in its roots; these carbohydrates can be converted into ethanol with yeast.

The study found that the amount of energy that can be extracted from kudzu is similar to that of corn. For instance, 900 to 2500 liters of ethanol can be converted per hectare of kudzu, compared to 2000 to 3000 liters per hectare of corn, Sage said.

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Rural Development Programme for England supports Miscanthus Cultivation

Miscanthus growers in Cornwall should have a new outlet for their crops later this year - thanks to a Cornish farmer and the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

The Mutton family, of St Mabyn, has been growing miscanthus for six years - starting as a supplier of rhizomes for other growers and then using the crop as a renewable energy source to heat office units on their farm.

More recently they have been trialling the use of miscanthus (elephant grass) for use as animal bedding. Now the family plans to start up its own process plant so it can produce livestock bedding from its own crops and from other local growers.

The project will include building a new barn and installing equipment for processing the miscanthus and the RDPE grant will provide about 40 per cent of the cost.

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Arundo donax for Technical Textiles and Fibrous Composite materials

The technical plant stem is a biomimetic product inspired by a variety of structural and functional properties found in different plants. The most important botanical templates are the stems of the giant reed (Arundo donax, Poaceae) and of the Dutch rush (Equisetum hyemale, Equisetaceae). After analysis of the structural and mechanical properties of these plants, the physical principles have been deduced and abstracted and finally transferred to technical applications. Modern computer-controlled fabrication methods for producing technical textiles and for structuring the embedding matrix of compound materials render unique possibilities for transferring the complex structures found in plants, which often are optimized on several hierarchical levels, into technical applications.

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Waste2Tricity Fuel Cell Plan to Turn MSW into Cheap Electricity

A new company has been launched to take forward an energy-from-waste it claims could eventually see renewable energy plants developed at a cost as low as £250,000 per MW of capacity, writes James Cartledge.

Waste2Tricity has former defence minister Lord Moonie as its chairman elect and a board that includes former environment minister Tim Yeo MP, as well as both waste management and fuel cell industry experts.

The company is planning to develop community or business-scale plants around the country to turn household or commercial waste into a hydrogen-rich gas that can then be used to generate electricity on-site.

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Fuel Cell Electricity Generation from High Efficiency Gasification Project

AFC Energy has struck a deal to supply its alkaline fuel cells to energy-from-waste firm Waste2Tricity, which wants to use the technology to develop highly efficient gasification plants.

Waste2Tricity is expecting to develop a series of plasma gasification plants that would use fuel cells to convert waste to energy at efficiency rates as high as 60%. Conventional energy-from-waste plants are often only half as efficient as this.

The pilot plant will be built in two phases. The first phase will see the main gasification unit developed, to turn around 50,000 tonnes of municipal waste a year into hydrogen, which would then generate electricity through a standard internal combustion engine.

The second phase will see up to 12MW of fuel cells established to replace the combustion engine with a more efficient system offering more electricity per tonne of waste.

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Anaerobic Digestion and Gasification Needed for UK Waste - National Grid

The National Grid of the UK has called for a multi-billion pound investment in anaerobic digestion and gasification facilities to turn biodegradable waste streams including food waste and wood waste into biogas to heat up to half of the UK's homes.

The power network has published a report in Feb 2009 which claims that using waste to produce biogas requires an additional investment of £10 billion on new waste infrastructure, on top of the £20 billion ‘sunk cost' the UK already requires to tackle "diminishing landfill capacity".

Commenting on the report, Janine Freeman, head of the National Grid's sustainable gas group, said: "Biogas has tremendous potential for delivering large scale renewable heat for the UK but it will require Government commitment to a comprehensive waste policy and the right commercial incentives."

The National Grid study, which was produced for the energy provider by analysts Ernst and Young, claims that, by 2020, waste streams including food waste, biodegradable waste, food waste and agricultural waste could be used to meet up to 18% of the UK's total gas demands, and up to 48% of its residential gas demands.

However, the report stresses that, for this to happen, action would need to be taken as soon as possible to ensure councils use anaerobic digestion (AD) or gasification technology, and not the other waste-to-energy options available to them.

Despite its support for using both AD and gasification technology, the report acknowledges issues with both options, describing AD as "not without its challenges", but highlighting that it is "a very well established technology".

At the same time, while admitting that gasification is "less well developed for use on waste", it added that it was "progressing and developing apace with demonstration plants being built in this country and around the world."

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UK Gasification Speaker Discusses Electricity Issues

UK households will face escalating electricity bills or peak-time power cuts by 2015, according to John Constable, director of policy and research at the Renewable Energy Foundation. Writing in the Guardian newspaper recently, Constable warned that the UK faces a significant shortage in electric generation capacity within six years and that price hikes or power cuts are likely.

Constable wrote: 'The government has underestimated the impact of the regulations and has failed to recognise that the LCPD would probably require the closure of the bulk of the UK's coal generation fleet by 2016.' Constable also described the UK's 'extreme dependence' on imported gas as 'reckless' and warned that ministers have failed to understand that the security of supply contribution from renewables, even if built, would be modest.

He added: 'A modern, diversified power fleet must consist of nuclear plants, high-efficiency and therefore cleaner coal-fired power stations, including gasifiers predesigned to be ready to capture CO2 for the purpose of enhanced oil (and gas) recovery in the North Sea.

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World's First Camelina Biofuel Test Flight

Japan Airlines (JAL) on Friday carried out the world's first successful test flight of a Boeing aeroplane run on biofuel made primarily of a non-food energy crop called camelina.One engine on the Boeing 747-300 aircraft, which took off from Tokyo's Haneda airport, was powered by biofuel mixed with conventional kerosene jet oil, the company said.The biofuel used in the flight is "a mixture of three second-generation biofuel feedstocks" of camelina, jatropha and algae, the airline said.The JAL flight was Boeing's fourth project using biofuel.

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Gasification Technologies Council

An excellent site for the gasification domain...provides lots of useful data, insights and statistics

Global Gasification Capacity Data, Stats

There are more than 140 gasification plants operating worldwide. Nineteen of those plants are located in the United States. (See Existing Gasification Plants in the U.S). Worldwide gasification capacity is projected to grow 70 percent by 2015, with 80 percent of the growth occurring in Asia. (See World Syngas Capacity Growth).

Source - Gasification Technologies Council

Cost of Biomass Gasification Plant

"Pricing for our Biomass Gasification plant is $7.0 million for a 5 MW plant - FOB Lubbock, Texas. This price is for the Biomass Gasification plant only and does not include engineering, permitting, legal, utility interconnect, or other related costs."

So says this company. Of course, we do not know how much the other costs will add up to, but if it going to be less than $10 million in all, that's fairly competitive to capex for wind or solar - at about $2 million per MW.

Wood Biomass Utilization for Power Generation

A very detailed post from Gopinath's Blog on biomass gasification technologies and processes.

Summary

Biomass can play a major role in reducing the reliance on fossil fuels by making use of thermo-chemical conversion technologies. The development of efficient biomass handling technology, improvement of agro-forestry systems and establishment of small and large-scale biomass-based power plants can play a major role in rural development. Biomass energy could also aid in modernizing the agricultural economy. A large amount of energy is expended in the cultivation and processing of crops like sugarcane, coconut, and rice which can met by utilizing energy-rich residues for electricity production. The integration of biomass-fuelled gasifiers in coal-fired power stations would be advantageous in terms of improved flexibility in response to fluctuations in biomass availability and lower investment costs. The growth of the bioenergy industry can also be achieved by laying more stress on green power marketing.

Home-Scale Biomass Gasification

Here's an interesting article by a gasification enthusiast why biomass gasification rocks, especially for home-scale systems.

The author essentially talks about making producer gas (CO, H2, N) which can be used in internal combustion engines.

A detailed and informative article

Biomass Gasification Cannot Supply All Our Energy Needs, But...

Here's an interesting blog post @ Energy Balance that analyses biomass gasification process. One interesting insight is as follows:

"Even at a yield of 10 tonnes/hectare of biomass residue, we need 3.33 x 10^9 hectares or 3.33 x 10^7 km^2 of land to produce it on, which at 33 million km^2 is over twice the area of arable land on earth (15 million km^2) and more than one fifth of the total land area of around 150 million km^2 (30% of the total 500 million km^2 of the surface of this blue planet). Clearly to provide all our energy from biomass is a very tall order, and it is obvious that we cannot simply substitute biomass in matching amount for fossil mass, as supplies of oil, gas and coal begin to wane."

While the analysis is interesting, there is one biomass feedstock that will defy the math - algae. Algae can give biomass yields of anywhere between 100 and 300 T per hectare (macroalgae can give about 70-100 T and microalgae, depending on strains, can give over 200 T per hectare per year under optimal situations. And these do not need arable land...actually, many of the algae do not even need land at all! I'm more and more getting convinced that the ideal combination for biofuels will be algae + gasification.

Latest State-of-Art in Gasification Technologies

One such is large scale biomass gasification plants is gasification in the form of plasma arcs. The very high temperatures created in a plasma arc reduce matter to its basic elements, and they do this remarkably cleanly which avoids the production of the majority of the unwanted combustion products which bedevil so many other waste to energy technologies requiring huge cost to remove and imposing high parasitic loads on the plant itself.

Gasification of wood and wood-type residues and waste in large fixed bed or fluidized bed gasifiers with subsequent burning of the gas for heat production is also state of the art and destined to become commonplace in the quest to use renewable fuels to their fullest.

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Gasification Technology Council Urges Congress to Support Gasification

Clean Gasification Technology Critical to Meeting the Nations Energy Needs

Thursday January 29, 2009

Press release

ARLINGTON, Va.-- Today, the Gasification Technologies Council (GTC) called on Members of Congress to support the Economic Stimulus and Energy Policy provisions to assure completion of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power generation and Industrial Gasification (IG) projects that qualify for tax credits and Federal Loan Guarantees (FLG’s). This will help gasification realize its full potential in creating jobs for American workers and providing an environmentally responsible way to produce power and products from domestic sources.

“Gasification provides the lowest cost solution to produce power, chemicals, fertilizers and fuels from coal, petroleum residues, biomass and wastes while capturing carbon dioxide for sequestration. This way of producing energy provides the path forward for crucial sectors of the economy by using lower cost domestic energy resources,” said James Childress, Executive Director of the GTC. “Congress needs to act now to give the American people the full benefit of this technology. In today’s economic environment, it makes sense to support gasification for both short-term and long-term gains.”

Gasification is an environmentally responsible way to produce power and products from carbon-based materials. Gasification does not involve combustion (or burning), but instead uses intense pressure combined with oxygen and steam to convert carbon-based materials directly into gas. It provides an alternative to natural gas in the manufacture of chemicals, fuels and fertilizer.

In their letter to Members of Congress, GTC specifically asked for:

* A doubling of the Environmental Policy Act of 2005 Sections 48A and 48B investment tax credit (ITC), maximum project caps for all IGCC power generation and industrial gasification projects, and a commitment to a program to commercialize gasification-carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies with ten or twelve commercial scale projects;
* Extensions of “in service” deadlines to accommodate projects that have been delayed by economic and policy driven factors beyond their control;
* An increase in the value of Environmental Policy Act of 2005 Section 45Q CCS production tax credit (PTC) by at least two fold and extension of the PTC availability to all eligible entities through 2019 in order to ensure that new generation and industrial projects can proceed with certainty concerning carbon sequestration; and
* For all projects under development through the FLG process: an increase by $1 Billion in FLG loan volume; coverage of credit subsidy costs; timely regulatory review and process implementation; and extension of credit at reasonable rates to critical independent, but integral, project components (e.g., CCS and air separation).

GTC represents more than seventy-five companies that are playing an important role in revitalizing the American economy, at the same time that they are helping to meet the nation’s energy needs. Members of GTC provide technologies, equipment or services, or own and operate plants that account for more than 95% of gasification capacity around the world. They are also involved in a number of new U.S. projects being planned, designed, or under construction.

For additional information, please contact James Childress at jchildress@gasification.org or see www.gasification.org.

Contact:

Gasification Technologies Council
James Childress, 703-276-0110
jchildress@gasification.org

Vancouver, BC Bioenergy Network Funding for Biomass Pilot Projects

The $25-million provincially funded BC Bioenergy Network is awarding almost $5 million in funding to two biomass pilot projects. “These pilot projects will help to further strengthen British Columbia’s environmental leadership, long-term competitiveness and electricity self-sufficiency,” said Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Blair Lekstrom. “By converting wood waste into clean energy, these projects will help ensure that we meet our province’s future energy demands while at the same time supporting economic growth and job creation.”

The BC Bioenergy Network has awarded $1.82 million in funding to Lignol Innovations Ltd. and a further $3 million in funding to Nexterra Energy Corp. Lignol uses biorefining technology to turn wood waste into fuel-grade bioethanol and biochemicals. Nexterra develops systems that turn wood waste into clean, renewable heat and power using biomass gasification technology.

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Biomass Gasification Tech to Supply Power to Indian IT Parks

In order to supply continuous power to the far-flung IT Parks and Special Economic Zones across the country, AllGreen Energy is setting up biomass-based renewable energy projects in India.

The technology offers several environmental benefits like 'carbon neutral' since only the carbon absorbed during photosynthesis is released back into the atmosphere. Secondly, due to the efficient thermo-chemical conversion in the biomass gasification process, there are no particulate emissions into the atmosphere.

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Kruger Products Canada to Install Biomass Gasification @ Tissue Mill

Canadian tissue manufacturer Kruger Products Ltd. plans to install a biomass gasification system at its tissue mill in New Westminster, British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Nexterra Energy Corp. will supply the gasification system, which will convert biomass into a clean-burning synthesis gas that will be used to offset the use of natural gas at the facility.

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Chalmers Biogas from Gasification Research in Sweden Gets Funding

A new co-operation agreement for the Chalmers University of Technology gasifier has been entered into with boiler manufacturer Metso Power. The agreement, which also includes Göteborg Energi and Akademiska Hus, will reinforce the research project with additional funding of SEK 10 million and will mark the start of commercialisation of the gasification technology that is currently being demonstrated at Chalmers.

Chalmers gasification is a research facility on an industrial scale where the technology that is being demonstrated has the potential to produce more than 10 TWh of biogas each year in the existing Swedish district heating systems. This is equivalent to 10 per cent of the fuel required to meet Swedish transport needs. Through the agreement Metso Power, as one of the leading manufacturers of boilers and gasification equipment for biomass, will give the project a business orientation.

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Enerkem Syngas-to-Ethanol Plant Using Gasification & Catalytic Synthesis

Quebec-based Enerkem Inc. announced it has initiated start-up operations at its commercial-scale syngas-to-ethanol/methanol plant in Westbury, Quebec.

Enerkem’s thermo-chemical gasification and catalytic synthesis technology has been tested at a pilot-scale facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec, since 2003. Construction of the commercial-scale facility began in October 2007 and recently reached completion after approximately 14 months.

The 1.3 MMgy plant is collocated with a saw mill and will utilize waste materials, such as treated wood from used electricity poles, as feedstocks. The company said its technology produces 360 liters (95 gallons) of ethanol per ton of waste.

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Rice Husk Gasification - Waste Turned into Cheap Energy

Millions of farmers in Indonesia could benefit from a simple gas stove which uses small scale rice husk gassification technology, turning rice husk waste into efficient fuel. This is an abundant farm waste in the country which produces about 58 million tons of rice a year.

The burner of the humble, metal cooking stove which generates a clear, blue flame was invented and developed initially in the Philippines and later in Indonesia by Alexis Belonio, a Philippina agricultural engineer, who has worked as a production director of PT Minang Jordanindo Approtech, since 1997.

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Iowa State to Study Biomass Gasification for Ethanol

Iowa State University’s research on gasification technologies for the ethanol industry got a boost this winter in the form of a $2.37 million grant from the Iowa Power Fund. The research aims to create systems that produce process heat from clean biomass-derived synthesis gas. Ethanol plants could use these sytems to replace natural gas usage. Another dimension of the research aims to improve the process of making ethanol from the syngas produced by biomass gasification.

Song-Charng Kong and Robert Brown, professors in mechanical engineering at ISU, are leading the project with Frontline BioEnergy LLC and Hawkeye Renewables LLC as partners.

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Dow and Süd-Chemie Research Alternative Routes to Produce Chemicals

Jan, 2009

The research program will be conducted in The Netherlands at Dow's Terneuzen site and at Sud-Chemie's catalyst research and development centers located in Germany and the U.S.

Recently The Dow Chemical Co. (Dow) and Süd-Chemie announced an agreement to research alternative routes to produce chemicals to help reduce dependence on traditional sources of oil and gas. The collaborative research aims to convert synthetic gas (syngas), that can be derived from abundant resources such as coal or biomass, to "building block" chemicals in a more efficient and economical process.

"Conversion of syngas based on coal or biomass is a promising route for the scale that Dow needs to have an impact," said Juan Luciano, senior vice president, Hydrocarbons and Basic Plastics.

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Bioliq Aims for $2.49/Gallon Fuel Using Gasification, from Wood or Straw

Researchers push gasification pyrolysis as a means to more affordably process wood and other substances into biofuel

Germany is now setting its sights on biofuels. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are working on a process to create relatively affordable biofuels out of common plant wastes, such as waste wood.

They hope the technology will yield fuel that costs €0.50 a liter or $2.49/gallon USD. However, it is dependent on the proper infrastructure being established, says the team.

The new process breaks down wood, straw, or other plant waste by a process known as bioliq. It yields a number of fuel products that could be refined, to produce gasoline, as well as other useful chemical byproducts.

The key obstacle the team foresees to syngas biofuels is the transportation of plant waste and the costs incurred. The team plans to split the pyrolysis process from the gasification. The pyrolysis would occur at numerous smaller plants, which would then deliver biosyncrude to a central plant for gasification. This structure would be more feasible than a design featuring a two phase central plant, they say.

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Mobile Biomass Gasification Plant from IST Energy

For most of the “clean energy” startups, the big question is whether the company’s prototype will still work efficiently when scaled up to industrial proportions. But for IST Energy in Waltham, MA, the question was how to scale down a waste gasification plant until it fit inside a standard cargo container, a space roughly 30 feet by 8 feet by 8.5 feet.

That’s exactly what the startup, a new subsidiary of engineering and defense contractor InfoSciTex, has now accomplished. The company is expected to launch its “Green Energy Machine” or GEM waste-to-energy conversion system, a unit that fits on the back of a truck and can shred three tons of trash per day—including paper, plastic, wood, food, and agricultural waste—and turn it into a synthetic gas mixture which can then be used to fuel electric generators or building heating systems.

In essence, it’s a mobile version of the factory-sized gasification pilot plant. The unit takes up as much space as about three cars, and can be backed up to a building’s loading dock, or wherever its dumpsters are stowed.

The company built the Green Energy Machine in response to a request from the U.S. Army, which wants to cut down on the volume of trash, mostly from field kitchens, that it has to convoy across Iraq and Afghanistan. But GEM is also ideal for commercial and municipal facilities such as industrial plants, hospitals, universities, prisons, sports stadiums, and city waste transfer stations—”really, anybody who generates at least two tons of waste a day, which covers a huge market.”

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Rice Husk Gasification in Continuous Mode

Rice husk gasification can now be done in a continuous mode with the latest design of a continuous-flow down-draft rice husk gasifier. Instead of using a dual reactor, continuous firing can be achieved using a single reactor. With this development, a more convenient and lower cost rice husk technology can be made available to people who wish to use rice husks as fuel as a replacement for the high-cost LPG fuel.

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Ethanol from Biomass Gasification Vs Cellulosic Ethanol

Here's some interesting data:

"Companies working on the other broad category of cellulosic ethanol technology, biochemical conversions, are targeting the cellulose and hemicellulose content of biomass by using pretreatments, enzymes and microbial fermentation.

This approach, however, leaves more than one-fourth of the biomass bound in lignin. Gasifying biomass converts it all with a theoretical maximum ethanol yield of 187 gallons per ton, significantly higher than the other cellulosic ethanol technologies.

While the theoretical yield is promising, the actual conversions being reported by companies working on the thermochemical gasification process are closer to 120 gallons per ton, Brown said. That compares with the theoretical maximum yield of 110 gallons per ton for corn-based ethanol, which the industry is approaching"

I was under the impression that you can get only about 60-70 gallons per T of biomass, so this is certainly great news!

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Torrefaction - A Thermochemical Process with Potential

Torrefaction, a process commonly used to dry and roast coffee beans, may soon become mainstream, as traditional biomass and coal may soon be playing second string to torrefied feedstocks.

The process involves using extreme heat on biomass, during which volatile organic compounds, water and hemicellulose are separated from the cellulose and lignin. These changed properties produce a fuel that is easier to transport and store and is carbon neutral.

This process improves the characteristics of woody biomass, making it a much better feedstock to co-fire with coal, and producing superior pellets and briquettes to use in gasifier operations.

Now on the brink of commercialization, the thermochemical treatment process has the potential to serve as a substantial upgrade for coal and biomass combustion, co-combustion and gasification applications.

Several companies say they will soon achieve commercialization. One of those companies is South Carolina-based Agri-Tech Producers LLC, which expects to have a torrefaction technology commercialized within the next year.

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BioZio Blog Started

This blog will have regular updates on the latest breakthroughs and innovations in bio-based products