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Date Published:
21 February 2011

Volume 2, Issue 1


EPA’s greenhouse gas tailoring rule

Feature
On 12 January 2011 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will defer greenhousegas (GHG) permitting requirements for facilities using biomass to make electricity. During the threeyear deferral, the agency will consider third party scientific research to determine a future rulemaking specific to biomass electricity. This announcement represented a shift in strategy and tone... [read more]

Your questions answered

Feature
QWhat is the status of co-firing biomass with coal in the US? ALittle has happened over the last year in the area of utility co-firing biomass with coal or the development of stand-alone biomass power plants in the US. State utility boards reviewing utility-scale biomass projects are reluctant to support biomass plants based on fuel cost, uncertainty about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions... [read more]

Blowing hot and cold

Feature
While Europe shivers and winces at its soaring energy bills, across the Atlantic energy prices are trading at historic lows. Yet this is no cause for rejoicing as the contributing factors to the low energy prices are pretty unpalatable: budget cuts, unemployment and a depressed housing market as well as a surge in domestic gas production after pioneering engineers in the US cracked the technology... [read more]

Dr Digester strikes again

Feature
The US may not be as developed as Europe when it comes to producing electricity from biomass, but it is not an industry that should be ignored. Over 70 million tonnes of food waste is generated each year in the US and Canada. In a biogas facility that waste would generate enough electricity to power 2.8 million homes a year, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54.4 million tonnes CO2... [read more]

A special relationship

Feature
It is impossible to write an article about bioenergy without keeping one eye on how old-fashioned fossil fuels are faring. At the time of writing, January 2011, natural gas prices in the US were still low, although higher than some of the lows seen last year, at around $4.50 (€3.30) per million btu. Crude oil was continuing to push higher at almost $90 a barrel and coal was gaining following the... [read more]

The Maine contender

Feature
In Maine there are 15 million acres of forest land. Around 50% of this is certifi ed as sustainable, and this is growing by an additional 500,000 acres a year. The state is home to four pellet producers: Corinth Wood Pellets, Maine Woods, Geneva Wood Fuels, and Northeast Pellets, and just over the border is Canada’s Energex. Corinth Wood Pellets was founded in 2006, and spent 2007 and early 2008... [read more]

Bio-economy, a challenging pathway to sustainability

Feature
The European bioeconomy cannot compete on a global level by delivering only basic agricultural commodities. The exact definition of this concept varies. The KBBE (Knowledge- Based Bio-Economy) focus of EU research illustrates this debate; as EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik points out, highlighting the differences in emphasis: The European bio-economy cannot compete on a global level by... [read more]

Moisture management

Feature
There are two major problems with wet biomass. First of all, when fresh biomass with around 55% moisture is transported to a power plant, most of what is transported is water. Water being a relatively heavy substance means that the weight limit of the truck is probably reached before its actual loading capacity. Of course, the extra weight also adds to the fuel consumption which in turn increases... [read more]

Flying high

Feature
The technique of using bacteria under anaerobic conditions to convert a wide variety of carbonbased bio-materials into methane gas has been used for decades, yet its unappealing association with the treatment of sewage and animal slurry has left it largely ignored as a solution for clean, green energy generation. But that is changing dramatically on a global scale. Almost daily, news about the... [read more]

High standards

Feature
Biomass testing is a relatively new practice in the US and one that developed through a confl uence of various factors: the emergence of international standards, the development of more sophisticated biomass burning appliances, the growing diversity of feedstocks and the increasingly educated consumer. The demand for biomass testing began to emerge in the early 1980s with the development of the... [read more]

Boilers: which to choose

Feature
Boiler design has been honed over 300 years to its current state, and alongside that the design of the furnace grate or bed has been optimised to suit different fuels. You only have to try logs in a domestic coal fire, or coal in woodburning stove to see that grate design matters. Boiler types Early boilers were normally fire-tube designs, and these are sometimes still seen in smaller plants... [read more]

Making maize work

Feature
UK biogas producers should take a leaf out of their continental counterparts’ book and use maize as a highly cost-effective feed source for new energy plants. However, it has to be the right variety of maize, otherwise producers could miss out on 10-15% biomass. Over 90% of all biogas installations in Germany use maize as a principle substrate to fuel plants. And, while other crop use is... [read more]

The need for characterisation

Feature
Biomass and biofuels are very heterogeneous and chemically complex materials. They are mainly carbon- hydrogen- and oxygen-based, while also containing nitrogen and sulphur. Understanding this natural variability is essential for manufacturing plants and research laboratories involved in the development of energy technologies using biomass and biofuel resources. As a result, characterisation of... [read more]