Commercialization, Potential Uses, and Application of Bioenergy in the South

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Commercialization, Potential Uses, and
Application of Bioenergy in the South

• Susan L. LeVan-Green
• Forest Products Laboratory
• Madison, WI

August 29-31, 2005 University of Georgia
Athens, GA
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Renewable Energy Consumption(2003)
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Price Comparisons of PopularHome Heating Options
Cost/Million Btu
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Commercial Wood Fuels

• Whole-tree chips - 4500 Btu per pound
• Electric power generation
• Source
• Bole chips (uniformity)
• Entire tree
• Mill chips - 5100 Btu per pound
• Heat generation
• Slab wood from mills (chipped screened)
• Pellets (highest cost) 8,200 Btu per pound
• Firewood (seasoned) 20 million Btu per cord
• Sawdust (green vs. dry)
• Bark (more energy vs. more difficult handling)

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Useable Energy Forms

• Electricity
• Heat (steam, exhaust gas, hot water)
• Cooling (air-conditioning)
• Producer (wood) gas (crop drying, duel-fuel)
• Bio-fuels
• Bio-ethanol
• Bio-oil
• Bio-methanol
• Bio-diesel

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Comparative Energy Recovery From 1 Ton of Dry Wood
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Benefits of Using BiomassOver Fossil Fuels

• Economic advantages
• Can be cheaper than fossil fuels
• Stimulates rural economies
• Provides more local jobs
• Encourages local energy production consumption

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Benefits

• Energy advantages
• Reduces reliance on fossil fuels oil prices
  (OPEC)
• Enhances national economic security
• Highly efficient heating combustion methods

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Benefits

• Environmental advantages
• Greenhouse gases-carbon dioxide (CO2) vs. methane
  production (20X)
• Eliminates acid rain (wood contains minimal
  sulfur)
• Reduces amounts of landfill (waste wood is
  biomass fuel)
• Can create habitats for wildlife
• Renewable energy source

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Carbon Cycle

• Even allowing for
• emissions of CO2 in
• planting, harvesting,
• processing and
• transporting the fuel,
• replacing fossil fuel
• with wood fuel will
• typically reduce net CO2
• emissions by over 90.

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Electricity Large Scale gt10MWe

• Steam boiler/turbine
• McNeil Power Plant 50 MWe
• Ryegate 20 MWe
• Cofiring with coal (5 to 15 wood) several
  across country
• District Energy of St Paul 25 Mwe all urban
  tree waste

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District Energy(St. Paul, MN)

• Urban wood waste
• Daytime
• Heating coolingto downtown
• Electricity to grid
• Night
• Cooling downtown
• Uses electricity

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Small CommercialBioenergy System
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Small-Scale Wood Combustion

• Typical features
• 3 million Btu per hour (900 kW) output
• 850 pounds per hour (green) fuel input
• 45 moisture content (wet basis)
• 201 turndown ratio (Divide the maximum energy
  output by the minimum energy output at which
  efficient, smoke-free combustion can be sustained)

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Multi-Fuel Boiler (HS TARM)

• Wood pellets or corn
• Water storage tank
• Design
• 80 overall boiler efficiency
• 85,000 Btu/h
• Hourly consumption
• 12.5 lb pellets
• 14.0 lb corn
• 2,000 ft2 heating space

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Institutional Uses

• Schools
• Factories
• Hospitals
• State buildings (Vermont)
• Community centers
• Jails/prisons

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Cost Estimate for Small-Scale

• Initial capital costs
• 50 to 75 per pound of steam generated per hour
• Biomass system capital costs are the highest of
  any fuel
• Typically 1.5 to 4.0 times the cost of a fossil
  fuel system
• Fuel-handling system
• Fuel storage
• Low energy density fuel compared to fossil fuels
• Annual cost
• Full life cycle vs. payback (advantage-wood)
• Wood is typically the cheapest fuel available in
  many regions

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Union-32 School(East Montpelier, VT)

• Total installed cost 325,000 (200,000 ft2)
• Total heating capacity 4.5 million Btu/h (1.35
  MW)
• Fuel quantity 1000 tons of green chipsper year
  (30/ton)
• 75 system efficiency 0.20 per ft2 annually

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Fuels for Schools
Darby, MT
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Memorial Medical Center(Ashland, WI)

• 125 HP boiler system, 5.16 million Btu/h
• Fuel requirement
• 3,000 to 3,800 tons per year
• Truckload delivery every other day
• Source of fuel wood chips from hardwood
  manufacturing facility
• Hospital size 3 floors, 210,000 ft2

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Memorial Medical Center

• Steam
• Uses
• Heating
• Air conditioning
• Process steam (sterilization)
• Costs of producing
• Wood fuel 0.08/lb
• Gas 0.28/lb

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Financial Tools

• WOODBOILERFEAS preliminary feasibility of
  converting heating system with a wood heating
  system
• Spreadsheet available on web

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66 x 106 MT CO2
Power Export 3.8 BillionorLiquid
Fuels/Chemicals 5.5. Billion
Syngas
O2
Black Liquor Residuals
Manufacturing
?Extract Hemicelluloses ?New Products
Chemicals Polymers 3.3 Billion
?BL Gasifier ?Wood Residual Gasifier ?Combined
Cycle System ?Process to Manufacture Liquid
Fuels and Chemicals
Steam, Power Chemicals
?Pulp 5.5 Billion
The Forest Biorefinery
Net Revenue Assumptions Acetic Acid -
1.73/gallon Purchased Electricity -
43.16/MWH Ethanol - 1.15/gallon Exported
Electricity - 40.44/MWH Pulp - 100/ton net
profit Renewable Fisher Tropsch Fuel - 57/bbl
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BioMax

• Gasification with internal combustion engine
• FS/DOE/CEC demonstration project
• 15, 20 50 kWe of electricity
• 7 sites
• Suited for small scale applications where
  residues and waste chips are readily available

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BioMax 15
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North Park High School (Greenhouse)(Walden, CO)
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BioMax 5Residential Application
Research DemonstrationHouse at FPL (Madison, WI)

• Electricity 24/7
• Unit chargesbatteries
• Automatic shutdownwhen fully charged
• Heat for hot water

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Wood Fuel Market Barriers

• Central California to restrict wood-burning
  fireplaces (500,000 homes)
• Greater capital costs of equipment compared to
  oil or gas
• Lack of specified and public knowledge about wood
  fuel systems
• Resistance to community/micro-district heating
  schemes

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Barriers

• Maintenance costs
• Difficulty in changing peoples heating habits
• Introduction of imported liquefied natural gas
  (LNG)
• Lack of storage space for wood fuel in the urban
  environment

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Factors PromotingWood Fuel Market

• Continual rise in oil and gas prices
• Introduction of a carbon tax
• Potential tax breaks for new house builders
  installing cordwood/pellet heating as standard
  options
• More grants to help with capital costs

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Factors PromotingWood Fuel Market

• Marketing campaign, specifically aimed at
  architects and homebuilders
• Introduction of wood fuel community heating
  schemes/blocks of flats in urban areas
• Subsidizing transportation costs (20/ton)
• Open vs. closed-loop biomass power plants
  (0.015/kWh)
• New Energy Bill

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Grants

• Biomass Research and Development Initiative
• http//fedgrants.gov/Applicants/USDA/NRCS/2890/67-
  3A75-5-2
• Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
• http//www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs
• FS Woody Biomass Grant
• www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu (under biomass grant)

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FS Woody Biomass Grants

• Help reduce management costs
• Create incentives and/or decrease business risk
• Institute projects aimed at removing economic and
  market barriers
• Stimulate commercial incentives for hazardous
  fuel removals

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Eligibility

• Non-profits
• Local/state governments
• Tribes
• Businesses, companies, corporations (for profit)
• Special purpose districts ie. PUD, port, fire
  districts, conservation districts
• Inclusive of adjacent lands, must have NFS
  component

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FS Woody Biomass Grants

• FY 06 Program
• 4.3 million available
• Wildland hazardous fuels funds
• Aimed at reducing cost/acre on nfs lands
• 2-step process
• Pre-application
• Full-application
• RFP available October 2005

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FS Woody Biomass Grants

• 50,000 - 250,000
• Details of applying www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu under
  biomass grant

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Criteria

• Tangible and intangible benefits to national
  forest lands (40)
• Technical feasibility (25)
• Financial feasibility (25)
• Qualifications (10)

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Impact on NFS hazardous fuel reduction projects
(40)

• Fire class condition (higher classes have more
  weight
• Documented work on NFS
• Direct, tangible benefits (acres, volumes, raw
  material values)
• Indirect, intangible benefits (air, water,
  socioeconomic)

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Technical Approach Work Plan (25)

• Technical feasiblity
• Adequacy and completeness of tasks
• Likelihood of meeting project objectives
• Reasonableness of time schedule
• Identified deliverables
• Timeliness

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Financial feasibility (25)

• Realistic budget and timeframe
• Thorough documentation of financials
• Cost share

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Qualifications of applicant (10)

• Past efforts
• Documentation of capabilities

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Tangible Benefit Examples

• Project involves acquiring more efficient
  equipment, which allows lower unit costs per acre
  treated
• Business contractor can lower cost/acre bid with
  offset from higher value uses for material from
  hazardous fuel treatments
• Investment in wood processing facility provides
  outlet and revenues for material that previously
  was hauled to landfill, lopped and scattered,
  piled and burned, masticated or burned on site.

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Intangible Benefits

• Removal of material hindered by smoke issues
• Reduced fire risk
• Improved protection of wildland urban interface
  areas
• Protection of sensitive watersheds

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References

• http//www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu/small-scale_wood_ener
  gy.htm
• http//www.dectra.net/garn/
• http//www.woodboilers.com/
• http//www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999
  /v4-282.htmlconversion
• http//bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/energy_conv.
  html
• http//www.hearth.com/fuelcalc/findoil.html
• Cogeneration from Biofuels A Technical
  Guidebook

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For more Information

• Susan L LeVan-Green
• slevan_at_fs.fed.us
• 608-231-9518
• www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu (under biomass grants)

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QUESTIONS?