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Author Topic: Biomass renewable energy combustion heat  (Read 1871 times)

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AGelbert

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Biomass renewable energy combustion heat
« on: November 07, 2013, 12:41:41 am »
 Burning Olive Pits



The largest olive processor in the U.S. used to pay to truck around 13 billion olive pits per year to landfills. But the Musco Family Olive Co. now burns what was previously viewed as a waste material to both treat their wastewater and generate electricity to run their plant.

In 2007, after being hit by the state with large fines for water discharge violations, the Tracy, CA-based company began testing a demonstration-sized renewable energy wastewater system (RENEWS) produced by Combined Solar Technologies, Pacific Grove, CA, that proved capable of cleaning the olive plant's wastewater containing salts, olive brine, olive oil, acetic acid, and high amounts of total dissolved solids.

The firm's system begins by feeding pits into burners where they are combusted. Energy from the burner heats a heat-transfer fluid made from white paraffin low-grade cooking oil that travels through pipes to a brine boiler. The CST boiler processes the wastewater using a distillation process, and pressurized steam produced from the wastewater powers a steam engine to generate electricity, which is fed into the facility’s power distribution network. Exhaust heat is used to dry solids separated from the wastewater stream.

Since installing a full-scale sized system in 2010, Musco has been able to treat its wastewater and generate 500 kwh/hr, or half of the plant's electrical needs for operations such as sorters, canners, pitting, packing, and labeling machines.



Storing and Delivering Pits for Combustion

Olive pits have an energy rating of 8,800 Btu per pound, higher than hard wood, and have a similar moisture level. The full-sized system currently in use at the Musco plant burns two to three tons of olive pits every hour.

Pits can be burned straight out of the plant, and there’s an easy screw feed system to get them fired in the combustion unit at a constant rate,” explains Frank Schubert, creator of the Bio-Reactor Burner (BRB) and RENEWS at CST.

Pits are fed into a silo for storage before feeding into a burner, and are even used slightly wet. Schubert says the pits are not saturated; about half of the moisture is on the outside in their wrinkles and folds. On occasion pits will be left to dry in the sun, but after scaling to the full-sized plant, CST developed a system to catch the 50-60 gallons per day of water that drained out of the silo so it could be treated with the mill’s wastewater.

     
Olive pit processing equipment. Photo courtesy of cstgreen.com

Pits are fed into a relatively low-temperature combustion chamber where air is spun in a unique way. Ash is allowed to remain in the burner longer at temperatures lower than other typical systems, creating a carbon sink that holds in heat, sulfur and nitrogen oxide. The pits don't smolder; they start firing quickly when they hit the bed, and burn at 1,800-2,000 degrees F.

As batches of 100 tons are combusted weekly, about one-half ton of residue is cleaned out of the burner. About half of that are “clinkers,” heavy rock-like chunks that look like lava. The other half is powdery fly ash that contains nitrates, potassium, magnesium, and other minerals. Both are spread on the olive fields, offsetting about one-quarter of the facility’s fertilizer needs.

As of 2011, Musco’s CST burner has passed California’s strict air quality laws and is “officially the cleanest burner in California,” producing lower than required limits for nitrogen oxides, according to Schubert. CST's "bioreactor" combustion unit was granted a permit to emit 17.5-ppm levels of NOx and regularly beats it at 4.7 ppm, according to Schubert.

In addition to treating wastewater, the RENEWS system saves charges for fertilizer, waste disposal, fuel, and power, and generating power onsite reduces transmission and distribution losses.
Musco plans to double the size of its current system this fall, which will provide them with 100% of the plant's electricity demand.

Debbie Sniderman holds an MENG from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. She is an independent writer and regular contributor to Mechanical Engineering.

https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/renewable-energy/burning-olive-pits
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Is Shrub Willow a Viable Biomass Feedstock for the US?
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2013, 09:16:17 pm »
“To put an acre of willow in the ground costs up to $1,000 an acre,” said Volk. “But once you plant, you’ve got a crop that can grow 30 feet high and last 20 years.”



Is Shrub Willow a Viable Biomass Feedstock for the US?

Bruce Dorminey, Correspondent

November 14, 2013




Shrub willow — the short rotation crop that kept the world in wicker baskets for centuries — is gradually finding new life as a cold-resistant biomass, particularly in upstate New York where it’s augmenting traditional energy supplies of wood residues and heating oil.

Although willow biomass lab tests and field trials have been ongoing in the Northeastern and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. since the mid 1980s, it’s had mixed results here as an effective biomass replacement and is just now beginning to see commercial use for heat and electricity generation.
“Coupled with low grade natural forest residues, it’s a good complementary source of woody biomass,” said Tim Volk, a research forester at the State University of New York’s (SUNY) College of

Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse. “It’s not the sole solution but a complementary woody feedstock.”

A cousin to the weeping willow, shrub willows grow 10 to 15 times faster than natural forest.

But it took nearly twenty years of research before, in 2004, the first commercial willow producer in New York state actually began planting cultivar hybrids from the SUNY breeding program.

“That was the shift in the paradigm,” said Larry Smart, a Cornell University horticulturalist and geneticist.

Smart notes that as part of a $1.2 million USDA multi-year willow development program, Celtic Energy Farm has planted some 1200 acres of willow in Cape Vincent, New York; the largest commercial plantation in the U.S.

Although willow grows across most of the U.S. and fares particular well in the Great Lakes regions, potential commercial willow sites range south to Maryland and Delaware; north to the upper reaches of New York state and west to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

By some estimates, New York state alone has an estimated one million acres of poorly drained marginal agricultural land on which the willow could thrive.

“We also have a number of rural counties that don’t have access to natural gas lines and are still reliant on fuel oil or wood,” said Smart.

It’s hoped that the willow will be used in these North country counties to generate electricity or replace costly heating oil.

Growing the cultivar is simply a matter of tilling existing acreage and machine-planting dormant stems, says Volk.

After the first year in the ground, the willow is cut back to generate more sprouts, then grown for three more years before harvesting between October through April. It sprouts again in the spring and is left to grow for three more years before again being harvested.

“To put an acre of willow in the ground costs up to $1,000 an acre,” said Volk. “But once you plant, you’ve got a crop that can grow 30 feet high and last 20 years.”

SUNY-ESF has spent more than two decades researching ways to genetically improve hybrids of Shrub willow, such as Salix miyabeana and Salix purpurea, in an ongoing effort to boost the willow’s productivity, cold- and pest-resistance.

At present, SUNY-ESF’s research is primarily aimed at lower production costs, which currently account for more than a third of the willow’s final “delivered cost.”

Researchers are actively working with agricultural equipment manufacturer Case New Holland on designing and improving cut and chip and harvesting systems that would allow more efficient cropping.
A double row planting density of some 6,000 individual plants per acre, in turn, can produce five dry tons of biomass per acre. And unlike many agricultural crops, harvesting can be done with up to a foot of snow on the ground.

To harvest, a mechanized forager cuts off the stems and runs them through a chopper where they emerge as chips of an inch or less.

Because the foragers and cutting heads can have a price tag of up to half million dollars, Volk says the most common business model would be to outsource harvesting to someone who has already made an investment in foraging equipment.

Volk notes that the willow has a long commercial history in New England already.

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s in New England, a huge willow basket industry flourished, making hundreds of thousands of baskets per year. But after World War II, basket-making became much less prominent and commercial production of willow languished. The first field trials for willow as a biomass crop weren’t conducted in the U.S. until the mid-1980s.

Smart says willow could have a bright future as a replacement for commercial wood-burning operations that currently rely on wood harvested from local forests and forest residues.

Although willow has a very low density, Smart notes that on a per weight basis, it has almost the same energy content as nearly every other hardwood species; including oak, ash and maple.

“But if your market disappears in a few years, which happened with co-fired coal plants here in New York state,” said Volk, “landowners don’t want to take the risk.”

When growing an energy crop that’s in the ground for up to 20 years, Volk adds growers want some market assurance.

Because willow has a very predictable yield and harvest cycle, its price can be locked in over the longterm. Smart says that’s not true for forest harvesting operations.

With 1,200 acres of willow now in the ground, Volk says their work has clearly moved out of the research realm and into the commercial development phase.

Thus, ReEnergy Holdings’ biomass-to-energy facilities in the state’s North country is operating a willow co-firing plant at its 60-MW Black River facility near Fort Drum and its 22-MW Lyonsdale facility in Lewis County.

“In harvesting years, we expect that shrub willow will comprise as much as 5 percent of our fuel supply,” said ReEnergy spokesperson Sarah Boggess.

This Fall, says Boggess, the Black River plant is using forest residue as its primary fuel, with shrub willow in the mix; while Lyonsdale will use a mixture of forest residue with 6 to 12 percent shrub willow.

But willow isn’t always a good biomass fit.

Despite a 2011 trial run with willow feedstock for its new $12 million biomass plant, Middlebury College in Vermont is now abandoning the shrub.

The college planted willow stands just west of campus before choosing a ChipTec system to co-generate electricity and heat, says Thomas Corbin, Middlebury’s director of business services.

Corbin says that the ten acres of willow harvested for use in the Middlebury system weren’t a good match — they were overloaded with moisture, had a high bark to wood ratio, and were too dusty and small to be efficiently converted.

“We attempted to use them alone and mixed with hardwood chips,” said Corbin. “Neither worked; so we have given up on willow for our system.”

A bit further north in eastern Canada, initially, there was a sense of possibility that the willow could fill a
much-needed biomass gap while providing economically-depressed northern Quebec with an alternative to traditional forestry.

With continual warming temperatures due to climate change, its Canadian proponents at first thought it might also be able to take advantage of abandoned, deforested government lands in Quebec’s Abitibi County which stretches to the subarctic.

Michel Labrecque, a research botanist at Montreal Botanical Garden, says from 2006 to 2011 several dozen acres of willow were successfully cultivated there. But Labrecque says both changes in Canadian national energy policy and local hydro-power put a squelch on the willow’s inroads into Canada’s renewable energy strategy.

In the last three years, Labrecque says the price of natural gas has declined and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is more supportive of fossil fuel extraction initiatives, such as oil sands or fracking, than green energy.

“I don’t see any change in this for the next five years,” said Labrecque. “But I’m still convinced the willow is a longterm biomass solution for Canada.”

In contrast, Europe has some 40,000 acres in shrub willow plantations, mostly in Sweden.
Swedish willow research started in the late 1960s as a hedge against predicted shortages of raw materials for the country’s paper and pulp industry. As a result, Sweden has seen its willow plantations expand from a few acres in the 1970s to some 34,000 acres today; most of which is used for public heat and power generation.

What’s the willow’s ultimate feedback potential?
Until now, says Smart, willow has been heavily reliant on government subsidies. But he says a willow-growing operation’s high start-up costs can be overcome if there’s a market willing to amortize longterm costs.

“We’re going to reach a tipping point,” said Smart, “when either the price of fossil fuels becomes excessive, or through a carbon tax, we truly start paying for their environmental damage.”

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/11/is-shrub-willow-a-viable-biomass-feedstock-in-the-us

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Biomass renewable energy combustion heat
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2013, 12:56:58 am »
UK's Largest Power Plant Opens Biomass Facility

Biomass from the U.S. to power three converted coal plants.

Diarmaid Williams, International Digital Editor, Power Engineering International

December 09, 2013

LONDON -- U.K. energy secretary Ed Davey has opened the country’s largest renewable electricity generator at Drax, the U.K.'s largest power station.

The facility, which will receive, store and distribute sustainable biomass to support the plant's first converted biomass electricity generation unit, was launched on Monday.



It cost the Selby-based Drax $1.14bn (£700m) to convert three of its six coal-fired power generating units to burn biomass. The first has been running successfully on sustainable biomass since the beginning of April, with the second scheduled to come online next year and the third in 2016.


Each converted unit will provide enough renewable electricity to meet the needs of more than a million homes and Drax claims that biomass can deliver carbon savings of around 80 per cent
relative to coal.


Drax explained that all of the U.S.-sourced biomass used is sustainable, protects biodiversity, prevents deforestation and delivers genuine carbon savings.

Drax chief executive Dorothy Thompson said: "The facilities being opened today are a unique feat of engineering and remarkably they have been delivered at an operational power station which the country depends on to deliver 7-8 per cent of the power we need.


It is the only renewable that can deliver low-carbon electricity on demand, at the scale the grid needs and precisely when it's needed. It is also a low-cost renewable which will help to manage the expense of the UK's transition to a low-carbon economy."


Mr Davey said: "Today is a real landmark for Drax and for Britain's energy security. Drax's ambitious plans have made it one of Europe's biggest renewable generators, helping to increase our green energy supplies.


"In August we announced challenging and tough sustainability criteria for biomass, and we'll be monitoring the sector against those standards."


Meanwhile the Renewable Energy Association’s Chief Executive Dr. Nina Skorupska told Power Engineering International that the body welcomed the news, but added a caveat.

“Through converting old coal plants and building new biomass plants, we can have electricity when we need it and keep the lights on this decade using sustainable wood fuel instead of polluting coal power.


However she added that, “the Government actually plans to withdraw support for new biomass power-only plants – which is a grave mistake.   >:( This makes it all the more vital that Government provides effective support for biomass conversion and combined heat and power under the new EMR package, to reassure investors that it understands the benefits of this cost-effective, baseload source of renewable energy.”


Drax has long been the UK’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide, but the firm said it is already the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plant in the country and the conversion will see its emissions reduced by around 10 million tonnes.

As part of the operation the firm has invested in 200 bespoke railway wagons that will start to deliver biomass to the power station from the ports of Tyne, Hull and Immingham, on England’s east coast.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/uks-largest-power-plant-opens-biomass-facility?cmpid=BioNL-Tuesday-December10-2013

I celebrate that DRAX is moving away from COAL! Goodbye COAL!. Already I can see biofuels replacing coal everywhere they Don't have smart grid and storage from Wind and solar that Fossil Fulers claim cannot deliver baseload 24/7 or ON DEMAND power.  ON DEMAND will BE THERE FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY. Bye Bye Fossil Fuels for BASELOAD! 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Biomass renewable energy combustion heat
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2014, 02:52:01 pm »
Boeing Discovers Promising Biofuel At $3 Per Gallon   



Originally published on Reviving Gaia.

By Roy L Hales.

Boeing has identified a commercially viable “green diesel” that emits 50% less carbon dioxide than conventional fossil fuels.


It is made from oils and fats that are chemically similar to today’s aviation biofuel and, with US government incentives, costs about $3 a gallon. That makes it competitive with petroleum jet fuel.
Were it not for the prohibitive cost, many airlines would already have been using renewable fuels.

Boeing has been a leader in this field since 2011, when a 747–8F flew to the Paris Airshow burning a B15 (15% biofuel) mix from camelina.


This KLM Boeing 747 runs on a blend of Camelina biofuel and fossil kerosene.



Together with 27 other airlines in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, Boeing has been trying to develop a biofuel that is produced sustainably, without adverse impact to greenhouse gas emissions, local food security, soil, water and air.







“Green diesel approval would be a major breakthrough in the availability of competitively priced, sustainable aviation fuel,” said Dr. James Kinder, a Technical Fellow in Boeing Commercial Airplanes Propulsion Systems Division. “We are collaborating with our industry partners and the aviation community to move this innovative solution forward and reduce the industry’s reliance on fossil fuel.”




Significant green diesel production capacity already exists in the U.S., Europe and Singapore that could supply as much as 1 percent – about 600 million gallons – of global commercial jet fuel demand. Diamond Green Diesel and Dynamic Fuels, have facilities in Louisiana. Neste Oil, based in Finland, has large green diesel refineries in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Singapore.

Boeing, the F.A.A., engine manufacturers, green diesel producers and others are now compiling a detailed research report that will be submitted to key stakeholders in the fuel approvals process.
“Boeing wants to establish new pathways for sustainable jet fuel, and this green diesel initiative is a groundbreaking step in that long journey,” said Julie Felgar, managing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Environmental Strategy and Integration. “To support our customers, industry and communities, Boeing will continue to look for opportunities to reduce aviation’s environmental footprint.”

The company is working with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other stakeholders to gain approval for aircraft to fly on green diesel. If approved, the fuel could be blended directly with traditional jet fuel.  ;D

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/21/boeing-discovers-promising-biofuel-3-per-gallon/#g2uj2H8GJjyigSu7.99

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Turning Waste into Wattage
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2014, 01:45:59 am »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad91defwojg&feature=player_embedded
Environmental engineers harvest energy from untapped resources.


Originally published:  Mar 5 2013 - 2:00pm

http://www.insidescience.org/content/turning-food-energy/949
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Biomass renewable energy combustion heat
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2014, 10:20:09 pm »
Combined Heat and Brewing Power
New Belgium Brewery leads Colorado’s craft brewers down the road to sustainability.
Karen Crofton, RMI
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/08/combined-heat-and-brewing-power
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Biomass renewable energy combustion heat
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2015, 11:55:33 pm »
Three tons of HUMAN WASTE has as much energy as ONE TON of FUEL OIL. And no oil rig had to drill for it!  ;D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTV6f853IZE&x-yt-ts=1421782837&feature=player_embedded
Sweden recycles 99% PLUS of their waste. They have been so successful at generating energy from waste that they are importing waste  from surrounding countries (and getting PAID to do it!). 


Quote

How Does Less Than 1% Of Sweden's Garbage End Up In Landfills?
 
Incineration That Creates Energy 

Welcome To Sweden- the world leader in waste energy recovery!

 In Helsingborg, at the very southern tip of Sweden, 40% of households get their district heating from garbage!

 Incineration is controversial but is it better than the stuff going to the landfill? We believe it is better.

3 tons of waste contains as much energy as one ton of fuel.

 2.2 million tons of household waste are converted to energy in these plants. And since they need more garbage than they have- they actually import the stuff!

Sweden imports about 800,000 tons yearly from Norway, the UK, Ireland and Italy.

 Imagine: household and industrial waste are now becoming a valuable commodity!
   


--Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Sweden At South Africa
- See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/how-does-less-than-1-of-swedens-garbage-end-up-in-landfills.html#sthash.Bajv1TTB.dpuf

Renewable energy=                                 =Fossil Fuelers


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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