Bioenergy Insight Jan/Feb 2014 by Woodcote Media Ltd

january/february 2014 Volume 5 â&#x20AC;˘ Issue 1

Advancing exportation

North American ports are gearing up to handle increased volumes of pellets destined for Europe

A global gathering

The likes of Green Circle, Viridis, Biosev and Vireo Energy give us their market predictions for the year ahead

Regional focus: bioenergy in Europe

Port of partnerships

Bioenergy xxxx

biomass meets

market

xx â&#x20AC;˘ December 2011

Welcome to the port of Amsterdam. Where biomass meets market. The port of Amsterdam has the ambition to grow in a sustainable way. As second-largest coal port of Europe we have all the facilities and experience to storage, tranship and process biomass. Amsterdam has a unique, logistical location within the world largest international, energy hub ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp). Amsterdam has also excellent connections for transit to the hinterland.

The port of Amsterdam offers a dynamic international hub and achieves this by closely cooperating with partners in the business, city and region. Want to know more about the port of Amsterdam where all kinds of biomass meets the market? Go to www.portofamsterdam.nl or contact Port of Amsterdam Commercial Division, Cluster Energy directly via lex.de.ridder@portofamsterdam.nl

Bioenergy Insight

contents Bioenergy

Contents Issue 1 • Volume 5 January/February 2014 Horseshoe Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.bioenergy-news.com publisher Margaret Dunn Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4126 margaret@bioenergy-news.com EDITOR Keeley Downey Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4183 keeley@bioenergy-news.com Deputy EDITOR James Barrett Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4146 james@bioenergy-news.com Staff writer Daniel Traylen Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4143 daniel@horseshoemedia.com

2 Comment 4 News 19 Technology news 26 Green page 27 Incident report 28 Towards international pellet standards 31 Eggborough: the future’s not bright

Another UK power station faces closure

32 Biomethane: a tradable reality?

The development of the Biomethane Certification Scheme

34 A global gathering

Comments from renewable energy producers around the world on what the next 12 months has in store

42 The more the merrier

It has three biogas plants coming online this year, but NPG Energy is not stopping there

44 Highs and lows

While Germany’s biogas market is floundering, other European nations are finally finding their feet

INTERNATIONAL Sales MANAGER Anisha Patel Tel: +44 (0) 203 551 5752 anisha@bioenergy-news.com

47 Plant update: Europe

North America sales representative Matt Weidner +1 610 486 6525 mtw@weidcom.com

54 Looking to the future

PRODUCTION Alison Balmer Tel: +44 (0)1673 876143 alisonbalmer@btconnect.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES £150/€210/$275 for 6 issues per year. Contact: Lisa Lee Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4160 Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4130 marketing@horseshoemedia.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any form by any mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or other means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Whilst the information and articles in Bioenergy Insight are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accuracy, readers should verify facts and statements direct with official sources before acting on them as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect. Any opinions expressed in this magazine should not be construed as those of the publisher.

52 Advancing exportation

North American ports are gearing up to handle increased volumes of pellets destined for Europe The Port of Amsterdam discusses its expanding renewable energy cluster

56 A cautionary tale

A lack of governmental support for biomass means utilities are wary about investing in large projects at the Port of Rotterdam

58 Becoming a biomass hub 60 Biomass handling at ports and terminals 62 Good vibrations

One bulk reclaiming system was the preferred choice for Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminals

65 AD adds up 66 Managing a digestate lagoon 68 Second chances

The Black River retrofit project allowed for a change to the fuel mix at an idled coal burning facility

70 Funding a bioenergy project 72 Making bioenergy businesses work

Alpha Financials Environmental reveals what financial options are available for anaerobic digestion projects

74 Waste not want not

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 Volume 5 • Issue 1

A palm oil producer in Colombia is generating renewables and changing lives for the better

76 Making waves

The advantages of using MSW as a feedstock for ethanol production

Advancing exportation

North American ports are gearing up to handle increased volumes of pellets destined for Europe

77 Events Ad index

A global gathering

The likes of Green Circle, Viridis, Biosev and Vireo Energy give us their market predictions for the year ahead

Regional focus: bioenergy in Europe

ISSN 2046-2476 Bioenergy front cover_Jan-Feb_2014.indd 1

Front cover image: ©cozyta. Image from bigstockphoto.com

Bioenergy Insight

21/01/2014 12:13

January/February 2014 • 1

Bioenergy comment

New year, new challenges

Keeley Downey Editor

elcome to the January/ February issue, where our spotlight turns to all things ports. Last year the US overtook Canada to become the largest wood pellet exporter in the world, but North America as a whole still retains the monopoly when it comes to shipping biomass to Europe. Trade flows, particularly from the US southeast and western Canada, are expected to rise exponentially. As well as providing an overview on how ports such as Brunswick and Halifax are adding more infrastructure to deal with this thriving market, page 52 also reveals why Canadian ports are handling just 38% of North America’s total biomass exports. This figure exceeded 60% in 2011. The UK remains the primary destination for these wood pellets as demand to fuel its numerous biomass energy plants is advancing supply. This number could be one less however, as the Eggborough power station faces an uncertain future. The 2,000MW plant

was to be redeveloped to fire biomass but this £750 million (€910 million) project has been halted after being deemed ineligible for fast-track subsidies at the end of last year. In a bid to prevent a period of stagnation between 2014 and 2017, while the UK electricity market switches over to the new Contracts for Difference (CfD) support mechanism, the Department of Energy and Climate Change published the names of 10 projects that will receive CfDs early. Eggborough, which provides 4% of the UK’s electricity, was omitted from this list and as a result is expected to close and cease supplying power beyond next year. More information on the potential closure, and which biomass projects will receive early funding, can be found on page 31. Additional plans to invest £60 million at Immingham Docks and further capital at Teesport have also been shelved, along with the construction of rail infrastructure which would have been used to move biomass from both

ports to Eggborough. Across the Channel, the Netherlands also has a large appetite for pellets. We have exclusive interviews with the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which reveal a number of largescale developments, either underway or in the planning stages, that will boost this region’s consumption of biomass even more. It wouldn’t our New Year edition without the annual outlook. This year it’s had a slight makeover but the information included is as valuable as ever. Starting on page 34, it includes important market predictions from key industry players such as Green Circle Bio Energy, Viridis Energy, Pemco Trepellets, Emerald Biogas, Vireo Energy and Biosev on what those in the pellet, biogas and biopower sectors should look out for over the next 12 months. The Bioenergy Insight team would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

Best wishes, Keeley

2 • January/February 2014

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biomass news

xxxxxx Bioenergy

PPA approved for Hawaii biomass power plant

Tamil Nadu bio-based plant to be sold

A power purchase agreement (PPA) has been agreed between Hawaii Electric Light (HELCO) and Hu Honua Bioenergy for the latter’s biomass project.

Empee Sugars is to sell its 10MW biomass-based power plant in Tamil Nadu, India.

Hu Honua has proposed to develop a new 21.5MW biomass-fired plant in Pepeekeo, refurbishing an existing plant that was built in 1972 and originally consumed sugarcane bagasse. Under the PPA, Hu Honua will make several changes and upgrades to the existing structure, including the boiler, ductwork and supporting equipment. The project will also include the construction of a new fuel yard. Feedstock for the new facility will be locally grown

The plant, located on 14 acres of land in the district of Pudukottai, has power purchase agreements for third party sale to industries. According to senior officials, the company hopes to concentrate on larger power plants it operates under the power division, with plans for expansion in the power sector already in place. Empee Sugars operates a 20MW cogeneration plant in Andhra Pradesh. l

biomass such as eucalyptus. Once operational, the plant is expected to meet approximately 10% of Big Island’s electricity needs. The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved the PPA, a move which has been commended by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s (DBEDT) state energy office. ‘DBEDT commends the PUC for carrying out the state’s energy policy directives in pursuit of a diversified energy portfolio,’ comments DBEDT director Richard Lim. ‘This decision reflects our policy of balancing technical, economic, environmental and cultural considerations for renewable energy projects.’ ‘Hu Honua will deliver a firm, dispatchable, biomass resource to HELCO’s renewable energy portfolio, which will not only reduce

its dependence on imported fossil fuels, but will also provide necessary grid support services,’ PUC Chair Hermina Morita adds. ‘Importantly, this project will enable HELCO to retire aging and expensive fossil fuel power plants to help lower the high cost of electricity paid by its ratepayers.’ The PUC’s approval of the 20-year PPA includes pricing that is lower than avoided cost and de-linked from fossil fuel pricing. Its community benefits will include economic stimulus and job creation. State Energy Administrator Mark Glick says: ‘The State Energy Office welcomes the addition of this biomass project to Hawaii County’s renewable portfolio, which has the state’s highest concentration of renewables in operation on any island with more than 40% renewable generation.’ l

Rugeley plant conversion plans scrapped Plans worth millions of pounds that would have secured Rugeley Power Plant’s long-term future in the UK have been scrapped. The 1GW coal plant, located in Staffordshire, was to be converted into a biomass energy generator, a move that would have meant it required 3 million tonnes of wood pellets annually. However, plant operator GDF Suez confirmed

the project has been abandoned and the facility will instead continue to operate using coal. The development plans came in response to the UK government’s target to increase renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions. GDF Suez said in a statement: ‘After careful consideration we have decided not to proceed with this biomass project. Rugeley will remain a key coal generator within the UK energy supply market.’ l

4 • January/February 2014

Rugeley Power Plant will continue to fire coal after plans to convert it into a biomass facility were abandoned

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

Birmingham Bio-Power awards contract for UK biomass plant Birmingham Bio-Power is developing a new 10.3MW biomass-fired power plant in Birmingham, UK and has announced that, under a new EPC contract, MWH Treatment will design, build and maintain the facility. Preparation work on the £47.8 million (€57 million) biomass gasification plant has begun with completion scheduled for early 2016. When the plant is up and running it will handle around 67,000 tonnes of wood waste secured under a long-term sustainable contract with a local supplier. It will generate enough electricity to benefit more than 17,000 homes annually. Power will be generated through the gasification of the wood waste, which is then combusted to create steam which drives a turbine unit and generates

Bioenergy Insight

electricity for export to the national grid. Canadabased Nexterra Systems is to supply its gasification technology to the project. Under the contract, MWH will complete construction and commissioning before taking on an operational role running the plant under a five-year contract. The plant will produce power through the gasification of wood waste The investment consortium financing the power plant includes the Green Investment Bank, pleased we have been able to support Gravis Capital Partners, Balfour Beatty, the UK’s first bioenergy plant and Eternity Capital Management and hope it offers a positive demonstration Foresight Group’s UK Waste Resources effect that others will follow.’ and Energy Investments fund. Over its 20 year lifespan, the UK Green Investment Bank CEO Shaun facility is expected to reduce Kingsbury comments: ‘As the UK works greenhouse gas emissions by an towards its targets to generate more estimated 2.1 million tonnes and save power from green sources, it’s important 1.3 million tonnes of wood waste, that we bring on new technologies. I’m otherwise destined for landfill. l

January/February 2014 • 5

biomass news

Energy companies join forces to advance algae crude oil commercialisation Sapphire Energy, an algaebased producer of green crude oil, and integrated energy manufacturing and logistics company Phillips 66 have signed a joint development agreement aimed at pushing production of algae crude oil towards commercialisation. The US-based companies will collect and analyse data from co-processing of algae and conventional crude oil into fuels including diesel, petrol and jet fuel. Current testing programmes will also be expanded. The goal is to complete fuel certifications to ready Sapphire’s renewable crude oil, Green Crude, for wide-scale refining.

Algae holds much promise for the production of transportation fuels

‘In under a year we have entered into contracts with two major companies in the oil and gas industry, which shows there is increasing momentum for algae fuel as a viable crude oil alternative,

and significant interest by refiners to have new and better options to meet the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the federal Renewable Fuel Standard,’ says Cynthia Warner, CEO and chairman of Sapphire Energy. Phillips 66 has previous experience in algae research, hydroprocessing and fuels upgrading. The company’s biofuels platform is part of a strategy that also includes research and development of fuel and solar cells. Sapphire produces crude oil daily from algae biomass cultivated and harvested at its Green Crude farm, located in New Mexico. In initial testing, its Green Crude oil was upgraded into on-spec ASTM 975 diesel fuel. The company says it expects to be at commercial demonstration scale in 2015, commercial-scale by 2018 and projects to be producing 1 billion gallons per year by 2025. l

Energy secretary opens Drax biomass plant A new biomass power plant at Drax power station in Yorkshire, UK has opened.

The biomass power plant now burns wood pellets sourced from the US instead of coal, slashing its carbon emissions by 80%. By 2016, £700 million (€837 million) will have been invested to convert

three of the plant’s six coal-fired generating units to biomass. The facility was opened by energy secretary Ed Davey, who also announced that the government will invest in the £2 million White Rose Carbon Capture Scheme (CCS) at the site. This is the first project to be allocated funds under the government’s £1.64 billion

CCS commercialisation programme. Davey was reported to have said: ‘Our coal industry has powered Britain for more than a century and today we’re seeing a clear roadmap for its future — whether by converting existing plants to cleaner fuels, or building state-of-the-art power stations that mean coal is truly clean.’ l

DP Cleantech signs contract to build coconut-to-energy power plant in Thailand Biomass and waste-toenergy technology provider DP Cleantech has developed a biomass combustion option to convert coconut waste into clean energy. DP recently signed a contract to deliver the new turnkey solution for the Mahachai Green Power project in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. The 9.5MWe high pressure, high temperature plant will be delivered

6 • January/February 2014

on an EPC basis including all electro-mechanical systems, and will run on coconut waste residues (husk, shell, frond and leaves). The new design has been adapted especially for coconut waste to ensure minimal fuel consumption, flexibility, high power yields and will include flue gas cleaning systems to lower emissions below regulatory standards. DP will manage delivery of the project from its headquarters in Bangkok. The project is expected to be grid-connected within 18 months

after the kick-off date. The power generated by the plant will be fed into the public grid, and will benefit from Thailand’s strong biomass feedin-tariffs. Any remaining ashes will be used as fertiliser for farming or filler material for construction. DP CleanTech CEO Simon Parker comments: ‘We believe the energy market in Thailand is ready to be at the forefront of the new generation of solutions for biomass to power, using higher efficiency, multi-fuel and low emissions solutions.’ l

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biomass news

Iogen signs biomass deal in Brazil after a decade of waiting Canada-based biotechnology firm Iogen will see construction begin on a commercial-scale facility based on its technology after a 10-year wait. The company announced the plant will now be built in Brazil instead of Canada as originally intended. Raízen Energia Participacoes (REP) has signed a deal to license Iogen’s biomass-to-ethanol technology, which converts waste, like sugarcane bagasse and straw, into ethanol that can be used to fuel vehicles. It will be used in a $100 million (€73.5 million) plant adjacent to Raízen’s Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in São Paulo. The technology, based on enzymes that can isolate sugar from farm refuse, will be employed to make as much as 40 million litres of cellulosic ethanol annually from sugarcane bagasse and straw left over after Raízen’s mill finishes extracting sugar for human consumption.

The plant will convert sugarcane bagasse into second generation ethanol

Since 2004, Iogen has been operating a small test facility on 10 acres of land that produces 40,000 litres of fuel a month. Canada’s federal government has traditionally been the largest purchaser of Iogen’s ethanol, using it to fill the tanks of its vehicles, some of which run on mixtures as high as 85% ethanol. Iogen has also received investments from Royal Dutch Shell, which first gave funds to the firm in 2002 and agreed to help the company commercialise its technology. Other investors include Goldman Sachs,

which invested $30 million in 2006; Volkswagen, which poured $10 million into the company in 2007; and PetroCanada, which has invested more than $15.8 million since 1997. Falling prices for oil and gas in 2012 meant investments in renewable energies were placed on hold. The company was forced to abandon more than a decade of planning that would have seen the construction of a $400 million plant to make ethanol from Canadian farm bio-waste. Any financial information related to the REP deal has not been disclosed. l

Utility firm backtracks on biomass plans Georgia Power, a US-based electricity generation company, has announced it will no longer convert Unit 3 of its 155MW coal-fired Plant Mitchell to biomass. The reason for cancelling this previously proposed conversion, according to the utility company, comes after ‘extensive review and analysis deemed

8 • January/February 2014

the conversion would not be cost-effective for its customers’. ‘We are continuously evaluating our generation mix to determine what sources provide the best long-term value for our customers,’ says John Pemberton, senior VP and production officer for Georgia Power. ‘Fuel diversity is key in providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy and we will continue to leverage natural gas, coal, nuclear

and renewables, as well as energy efficiency programmes, as part of our robust portfolio.’ Instead, the company plans to file a request this year with the Georgia Public Service Commission to decertify the unit which, if approved, will see the plant retired by April next year – the compliance date of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule. Factors which reduced the benefits of converting

the plant to fire biomass include changing market conditions, increased capital costs and costs related to environmental compliance, the recent economic downturn and lower natural gas prices. The utility says it is still committed to exploring renewables, however, and by 2017 expects to have more than 2,300MW of generation from renewable sources in operation. This includes biomass, landfill gas, wind, hydro and solar. l

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

Work starts on Londonderry plant Building work is due to begin at the site of a new renewable energy plant in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Leidos Holdings’ new biomass power plant is feeding power to the grid

Plainfield biomass plant: ‘substantially’ complete and operational A 37.5MW biomass plant bought out of foreclosure by a Virginia, US-based financier has been brought online and is feeding power into the electricity grid of Connecticut. In January Leidos Holdings, an engineering company which acquired the Plainfield Renewable Energy biomass power plant in October 2013, announced the project reached ‘substantial completion’ at the end of December under the terms of the facility’s EPC contract. Leidos invested in the plant after reaching an agreement with New Jerseybased Enova Energy. Enova, the original owner of the plant, failed to complete construction of the $225 million (€164 million) facility. Connecticut Light and Power will purchase 80% of the power from the plant based on a 15-year offtake agreement. Energy deliveries to regional grid administrator ISO New England have already begun.

Bioenergy Insight

The Plainfield plant helps Connecticut reach its renewable energy goals by providing in-state Class I power. The facility powers the equivalent of 37,000 homes using a variety of fuel sources, including wood from construction and demolition debris, recycling wood pallets and land clearing materials. Leidos will operate the plant and in a

statement said it will begin marketing efforts to sell the facility to renewable power plant investors in an effort to increase the value of the investment for shareholders. ‘The Plainfield project is a unique power plant that creates a beneficial reuse for construction debris by turning it into energy,’ says John Jumper, Leidos chairman and CEO. l

Evermore Renewable Energy has secured more than £80 million (€96.2 million) in funding for the wood fuelled facility to be built at Londonderry Port and Harbour in Lisahally. Work began at the end of 2013, with operations slated to commence by mid-2015. Evermore claims its plant will be the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, and also the first project to be developed and funded by itself. It is expected that the plant will power around 25,000 homes. l

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Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss your chance to appear in the March/April issue of Bioenergy Insight Drying/ evaporation technology

Grinders/ shredders

The major differences between grinders and shredders and is there a preferred choice when it comes to biomass processing?

A look at biomass drying techniques after harvesting

Loading/ conveyors

Corn oil extraction

How biomass loading and unloading technologies vary depending on what material is being handled

The financial impacts of corn oil extraction on ethanol producers and technological advancements over the past year

Separation technology

Fractionation

How this pre-treatment method converts lignocellulosic biomass into a feedstock for the production of renewable fuels

Screens or separators? How biomass is cleaned of impurities to ensure its full energy potential is realised

Regional focus: US

Bonus distribution:

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Feedstock focus: Energy crops

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Biomass pellets help lower mercury emissions

A study by researchers in China has revealed that mercury emissions released from burning biomass are significantly reduced when in densified pellet form compared to raw biomass. In 2010 it was reported that biomass- and coalfired power plants, along with other activities such as gold mining, emitted 2,000 tonnes of mercury worldwide. Mercury has been linked to various health problems, especially in children. The study, published in the ACS journal 'Energy and Fuels', concluded that mercury levels varied greatly depending on the type of biomass used. High mercury emissions were found when raw wood such as Chinaberry and Chinese pine were burned. Pellets, however, made from cornstalks and pinewood released much lower levels of mercury. In China, biomass contributes to nearly one third of the energy used in the nation's rural areas. l

biomass news

Gasified biomass halves IGCC carbon emissions

Biomass can slash CO2 emissions by almost 50% when co-gasified with coal in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) energy plant. This is according to a team of researchers from the Universita degli Studi di Salerno in Italy.

The researchers carried out a study at the Elcogas-owned 335MW Puertollanco IGCC plant in Spain, which typically runs on a 50/50 blend of coal and petroleum coke, to examine the impact on process performance of biomass co-gasification. Two varieties of biomass were tested: olive husks and grape seed meal, with varying amounts of each biomass added to samples of the plant’s usual fuel mixture and gasified in the IGCC plant. Findings showed that the composition of syngas generated with low levels of gasified biomass (up to 4%) was practically the same as that produced from coal and petcoke alone. However, using a computer model of the plant which was calibrated with real industrial data, the team then experimented with biomass quantities up to 60% and found that plant CO2 emissions fell (by as much as 46%) as the percentage of biomass was increased. The power output of the plant decreased by up to 19% with grape seed meal and 14% for olive husks as the concentration of biomass rose. This, according to the team, is directly proportional to the lower heating value of biomass compared to fossil fuels. The net efficiency of the plant, which takes into account the heating value, was virtually unaffected. l

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January/February 2014 • 11

biogas news Cargill sells Idaho biogas plant to UK firm Camco Clean Energy in the UK has acquired Cargill’s biogas plant in Idaho, US for $2.9 million (€2 million). The plant uses cattle manure sourced from Bettencourt Dairies for the production of 2.1MW an hour of renewable electricity, which is

Employment in renewables sees 5% growth in a year

A new report has found record numbers of people are now employed in the renewable energy sector in Scotland. Scottish Renewables commissioned independent researchers to survey more than 540 companies in what is the most comprehensive study to date. The findings suggest 11,695 people are currently in full-time employment, an increase of 5% from the previous year's study. Joss Blamire, senior policy manager for Scottish Renewables, which represents more than 330 organisations working in the industry, says: 'These latest figures show the renewables industry has seen steady growth in the number of people being employed despite an uncertain year.' This represents a higher rate of growth in employment when compared to the Scottish economy as a whole. The survey also found that onshore wind (39%), offshore wind (21%), marine and bioenergy (both 9%) the most notable sources of employment. However, Blamire warned that the industry could not afford to become complacent after 'the survey also found that market reforms in the electricity sector, planning issues and connecting projects to the grid were all cited as potential barriers that could get in the way of future growth'. l

12 • January/February 2014

sold to Idaho Power. This is now the second Camco-owned biogas plant in the state’s Magic Valley. ‘The waste material flows through a series of pipes to our biodigester,’ Greg Wold, former operations manager at Cargill’s Hansen plant, was quoted as saying. ‘The biodigester converts the manure to methane, which we burn in large engines that

is converted to run generators. The remaining material is a liquid waste that goes into dairy lagoons.’ The plant cost $8.5 million to build and began operating in August 2008, producing methane from manure. A 10-year power purchase agreement between Cargill and Idaho Power was approved in 2010 by state utility regulators. l

Renewable transport fuel project set for Philippines UK-based Gazasia is to develop an anaerobic digestion plant in the Philippines with local business Aseagas to provide renewable transport fuel. The project will create the first biomethane plant in the country, which will produce biogas from organic waste. This, in turn, will be processed to generate liquid

biomethane to be used as fuel. The initial $47 million (€34.3 million) project will be situated next to Absolut Distillers, a subsidiary of the Lucia Tan Group. Aseagas will take the effluent wastewater produced from the distillery process and run it through the digester. Figures released by Aboitiz Equity Ventures, of which Aseagas is a subsidiary, estimates the facility will have an annual capacity of 8,000 tonnes of biomethane, capable of fueling up to 200 buses or heavy trucks a year. l

Biomethane will be used as clean transport fuel in the Philippines

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news

Canada’s largest biogas plant opens A Canada-based biogas plant coowned by Lethbridge Biogas and notfor-profit business Climate Change and Emissions Management (CCEM) has opened. The $30 million (€21.8 million) anaerobic digester co-generation facility has a generating capacity of 2.8MW, enough to power 2,800 homes, but this could expand to 4.2MW in the future with the addition of new generating units. The facility — the largest of its kind to be built in Canada to date — is designed to process more than 100,000 tonnes of manure and other

Alberta is now home to the largest biogas plant in Canada

organic wastes to produce gas and generate electricity. CCEM committed $8.2 million to the project, which is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 224,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020. PlanET Biogas provided

the final funding for the project to proceed. Both the county of Lethbridge and the city of Lethbridge supported the project, while additional grant funding came from Alberta Energy and Alberta Financial Services. ‘Alberta is one of the

largest oil producing regions in the world and sustainable projects like this and other renewable facilities should mean it becomes a world leader in these technologies as well,’ says Thane Hurlburt, president of Lethbridge Biogas. l

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January/February 2014 • 13

biogas news

Irish motorists could benefit from biogas transportation research A lecturer in transportation engineering at the University College Cork (UCC), Ireland believes Irish motorists could be relying on feedstock like sea lettuce to fuel their cars in the future. Jerry Murphy, who has a PhD in energy production from waste, has presented the potential for biomethane produced from slurry and grass via

anaerobic digestion. This could help the country meet directives coming from Brussels which want EU member states to be producing more biofuels from waste feedstocks. ‘If we had 1.1% of Ireland’s area of grass available for co-digestion with slurry, we could produce enough biogas to meet Ireland’s 2020 target for biofuel use in transport,’ Murphy was quoted as saying. ‘There are lots of areas of grassland and farms in Ireland where the grass is not used to its

maximum and there is a huge potential to use grass to produce biofuels.’ This would benefit Ireland as a new rule states members of the public should never be more than 150km away from a service station which offers compressed natural gas fuel by 2020. Murphy and his team at UCC are working on a project, with farmers in the west of Cork, in which washed up seaweed is harvested before being digested with farm slurry to produce biogas. l

CHP plant under construction in Hungary Construction has started on a $6 million (€4.4 million) biogas plant in Bekes, Hungary. Hidashati Farm is behind the 1.2MW project and commissioned Biogaz Unio to build the plant. The plant will handle animal waste to generate 1.2MW of renewable energy — enough power for 2,500 homes and heat for 1,500 homes a year.

The feedstock for the plant will be collected from cattle on Hidashati Farm’s 800 acre farm. ‘In the longer term, costs will be reduced and thus increase our competitiveness,’ Hidashati Farm CEO Laszlo Vegh was quoted as saying. ‘The ability to compete against western European companies is an important part of the process.’ The Hungarian government invested $2.9 million in the project, which also received additional funding from local investors. l

Ground has broken on a biogas plant in Hungary

First producer signs up to biomethane certification scheme Future Biogas, a UK-based builder and operator of anaerobic digestion plants, is to become the first registered producer to join the Biomethane Certification Scheme (BMCS) run by private limited company Green Gas Trading (GGT).

The BMCS is an independent certification scheme set up to provide both a credible process for certifying biomethane and a trading platform to

14 • January/February 2014

facilitate the trading of certificates. The biomethane certificates issued under the scheme can be traded separately from the physical commodity gas, allowing the certificate owner to transact the physical commodity at the market price for that product while seeking the highest economic value for the biomethane certificate. Trading the gas and the certificates separately makes it possible to maximise the value of this low carbon, green gas at a market determined price. Future Biogas MD Philipp Lukas says: ‘We believe it is essential to provide the right traceability of biomethane’s

green credentials. Furthermore, the use of a registry and accreditation means the certificates should be tradable across boarders if the opportunity arises in the future.’ Future Biogas officially opened its first biomethane-to-grid plant in Doncaster last December. It was delivered in partnership with National Grid and is now injecting gas into the grid in Yorkshire. ‘We believe the BMCS methodology is a key to acceptance of biomethane certificates as an offset for carbon reporting purposes,’ Grant Ashton, CEO of GGT, comments. GGT was established in May 2012 and is owned by 32 shareholders. l

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biogas news

GPHH handling MSW at Canadian plant

Growing Power Hairy Hillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (GPHH) biorefinery in Canada can now handle 73,000 tonnes a year of municipal solid waste diverted from landfills in the Edmonton area for use as renewable energy. The plant was commissioned in 2005 and initially used contaminated feedstock, including sand laden cow manure and municipal solid waste, in addition to ethanol stillage. GPHH says the opportunity became available to handle a majority of the organics from the Metro Edmonton region and surrounding areas. The plant uses technology from Himak Biogas. Eugene Natty, GM of GPHH, says: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Today the organic material we are handling is being diverted from landfills around Alberta. These include municipal sourceseparated organics, food processing waste and sewer sludge. These materials are converted to energy via accelerated natural breakdown processes in Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest anaerobic digester based in Alberta.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; He continues: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The breakdown process produces methane which is used to power generators connected to Albertaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power grid, as well as boiler fuel for an adjacent industrial plant.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; l

Coryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first AD plant opens Cory Environmental, a UK-based recycling, waste management and energy recovery company, has launched its first anaerobic digestion plant in Weston-super-Mare. The plant can generate up to 500kW of energy per hour, for both onsite use and export to the national grid, using around 12,000 tonnes of food waste a year. Around 7,500 tonnes of this feedstock is part of a seven year waste treatment contract with North Somerset Council. Coryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director of resource management Alistair Holl says: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Initially, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be producing enough energy to power around 1,000 homes, and will soon be working towards the second phase of development which will see an upgrade of the plant to a minimum of 1MW. This will double the volume of our green energy at Weston-super-Mare.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Holl continues: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The team involved in the construction of the plant comprised main contractors, as well as plant and site designers. We achieved energy production just 18 months after planning consent was gained.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; l

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January/February 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 15

biogas news

Romanian Commercial Bank to finance biogas plant construction The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) has announced a financing deal with First Biogaz, a member of Austria’s Biogest, for the construction of a 1.5MW biogas plant in northern Romania. According to Marin Schlerka, Biogest CEO, the plant requires an investment of around €6 million ($8 million) and its output can cover the energy consumption

of around 4,500 households. Tobias Waldemar Seiferth, head of international desk at BCR, says the bank is interested in financing projects for the local economy, including the renewable energy sector. Until recently, investors have held back from investing in such projects due to the difficulties in obtaining the raw materials and finding viable customers to sell output. Biogest has worked on over 90 biogas projects across Europe, including Britain, Italy and the Czech Republic. l

First Biogaz will receive funding from the Romanian Commercial Bank

BioNitrogen commissions feasibility studies BioNitrogen Holdings, a cleantech firm that builds biomass-to-fertiliser plants, has commissioned BioResource Management to conduct feasibility studies for feedstock supply to its plants in Florida and Louisiana states. BioResource Management is a forestry, geography and agriculturebased firm that focuses on biomass resources, working to identify, evaluate, predict and provide biomass supplies to its customers.

16 • January/February 2014

Biomass feasibility studies are a key requirement leading up to tax-free bond financing to ensure that plant sites will be sustained by local biomass supplies. ‘The biomass feasibility studies are a necessary prerequisite to securing competitive feedstock agreements in each location and for selling the bonds,’ explains Ernie Iznaga, VP of operations. ‘The studies by BioResource Management will confirm the work to date on the availability of biomass in Florida and Louisiana to provide biomass feedstock supply for the plants. Both the Florida and Louisiana studies are scheduled for completion in February.’ l

News in brief Indian firm bringing biogas to Africa

Indian meat processing company Allana

Sons is to build a meat facility in Ethiopia, Africa, the waste from which will be converted into biogas and animal feed. The plant will be built on 75 hectares of land and will also include an effluent treatment plant. Commercial operations at the new $20 million (€14.8 million) project are scheduled to begin in September later this year. The design of the plant has been completed and Allana Sons is now in the process of evaluating a contractor, according to reports.

Shropshire Energy completes new AD plant

A new anaerobic digestion plant has been built at Shropshire Energy’s site in Ely, UK. UTS Biogas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anaergia, built the 2.4MW renewable plant which will deliver green heat and electricity for facility operations. The AD system will utilise 20,000 tonnes a year of vegetable waste and 36,500 tonnes of maize silage to produce almost 20,000MWh of renewable electricity and 22,000MWh of renewable heat annually. A surplus 8,700MWh of power will be sent to grid. Will Forbes, director of Shropshire Energy, describes the facility as ‘a model of closed loop sustainability’.

US state grants millions to biogas project Genesee Biogas has received a $2

million (€1.4 million) state grant to build a manufacturing plant in New York’s Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, US. The initial design of the plant, which will be based on three to four acres of a seven acre plot of land, is complete. CH4 Biogas, which owns Genesee Biogas, converts organic waste such as cow manure into electricity, which is then sold to New York independent system operators. CH4 Biogas VP Lauren Toretta reveals the company applied for the grant earlier in 2013, and that the $2 million will be used to build the project. The grant is part of New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s Funding Application Program, which has granted millions to Genesee County businesses.

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biopellet news

$24m authorised for Jackson County port’s wood pellet export facility Supervisors at the Port of Pascagoula in Jackson County, Mississippi have authorised the borrowing of up to $24 million (€17 million) for the construction of a wood pellet exporting facility on Bayou Casotte. The facility is expected to cost around $30 million, with $15 million coming from port bonds. The state has reportedly put up $10 million, and the terminal operator will invest $5 million. Florida-based company Green Circle Bio Energy will use the site to export up to 500,000 tonnes of pellets per year

to European utility companies, it has been reported. An additional $14 million from the US Department of Transportation will also work in conjunction with the project for intermodal improvements like the relocating of a railroad interchange near the site. The money is being given by the department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grant programme. The $24 million authorisation provides the project with a ‘cushion’ should additional modifications be required. Though the engineering design is reportedly not yet complete, construction of the wood pellet facility is due to begin in early 2015. l

UK’s demand for wood pellets to fall

The quantity of wood pellets exported from North America to Europe in the second quarter of this year rose again for the seventh consecutive quarter, according to data from Wood Resources International and reported by the North American Wood Fiber Review.

Between Q3 2011 and Q2 2013 volumes exported to Europe have more than doubled, going from around 500,000 tonnes to over 1.1 million tonnes. Southern US saw the highest increase of exports, while shipments from the key supply region of British Columbia in Canada have also been growing ‘at a fairly modest rate’ since early 2011. However, the quantity of wood pellets exported from Canada as a whole remained relatively unchanged in the second quarter of last year. This suggests the nation has almost reached its production capacity, while limited investment in new capacity

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has led to pellet export volumes remaining static. Nevertheless, wood pellet shipments from Canada are expected to rise in 2014 as additional capacity is planned for British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Of the total wood pellets exported from North America, those from Canada account for 38% today. This is a 24% decrease from 2011 when this figure stood at 62%. The UK has been a major importer of wood pellets coming from North America.

While consumption in the nation is still expected to rise as biomass power plants increase their pellet volumes, the rate of increase will not be

a substantial as we have seen in the past. This is attributed to the closure of RWE’s largescale Tilbury biomass-fired plant in August this year. l

IFH INTHERM 2014 in Nuremberg 08.04. – 11.04.2014

Hall 4, Stand 4.225

Shuttered biopower plants in the UK mean its demand for pellets will fall

January/February 2014 • 17

biopellet news

Wood pellets under consideration by Hawaiian Electric A Texas-based bioenergy company has begun preliminary talks with Hawaiian Electric (HECO) to supply wood pellets to the utility. Zilkha Biomass Energy manufactures pellets from harvested trees at a plant in Texas and estimates Hawaiian Electric could save around 30% on its fuel

costs by burning wood pellets instead of fuel oil to generate electricity. Though a letter of intent is reported to have been signed, both companies say discussions are in the early stages and extensive testing will be required before any contract is signed. Zilkha’s Black Pellets are a form of biomass, an attractive energy source for HECO because it counts

toward the utility’s renewable energy mandate. HECO has committed to using renewable sources to generate 40% of the electricity it sells by 2030. The cost of generating electricity with Zilkha’s Black Pellets may also be cheaper than burning liquefied natural gas, another option under consideration by HECO, according to the company. l

Viridis completes first transaction by new trading subsidiary Canada-based renewable energy company Viridis Energy’s recently launched wholly owned subsidiary, Viridis Merchants — an aggregation and trading service between buyers and sellers of wood pellets, has structured its first transaction. Viridis Merchants has secured approximately 30,000 tonnes of wood pellets from a southeast US producer, representing approximately 30% of the manufacturer’s capacity, to be delivered over the next 12 months to customers in Europe.

JV signed for Canadian wood pellet plant

Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Coast Tsimshian Resources (CTR) have signed an agreement to build a new wood pellet plant in British Columbia, Canada. ‘A wood pellet plant provides a solution for low-end fibre that is sustainable and makes the best use of our forest resources,’ CTR board chair Garry Reece was reported to have said. Pinnacle already owns six wood pellet production facilities in British Columbia, in addition to a newly-built pellet terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert. l

18 • January/February 2014

The first shipment left port and headed to the residential market in Europe. This transaction will generate approximately $8 million (€5.9 million) in annual revenue for Viridis, which will be realised after each recurring monthly shipment. Christopher Robertson, Viridis CEO, says: ‘We anticipate a profitable growth year in 2014 with revenues from production alone more than doubling to over $30 million as we realise the full year production of our manufacturing plant in Nova Scotia. ‘With this first bulk export transaction in Viridis Merchants, Viridis enters 2014 with approximately 240,000 tonnes in combined annual production and purchased capacity, a significant increase from 2013.’ l

German Pellets production plant is ENplus certified German Pellets has announced its US wood pellet production facility in Texas, US has received ENplus certification. This confirms the facility, which commenced operations last summer, is producing high-quality product, thus securing a high level of security of supply for customers in Europe. German Pellets says its import of ENplus pellets also strengthens its selling position to European markets. The company’s Texas plant produces 578,000 tonnes of wood pellets a year and can supply industrial and other business

customers, as well as the private market, with wood pellets for generating electricity and heat. In addition, German Pellets targets markets in Italy, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. The wood pellets are shipped to Europe via Port Arthur in Texas. The ENplus certification attests the wood pellets produced at this plant match Europe’s product expectations and is acknowledged throughout Europe. German Pellets spokeswoman Claudia Röhr says: ‘The US quantities contribute to the supply of wood pellets for the electricity and heating markets in Europe, on a competitive and high-quality basis at all times.’ l

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xx Bioenergy

technology news New collaboration to produce industrial sugars from biomass German company BASF and US technology provider Renmatix have formed a joint venture to scale up the latter’s Plantrose process for the production of industrial sugars based on lignocellulosic biomass. The two companies signed a non-exclusive agreement, under which they have agreed to key financial terms for future commercial licenses. The collaboration follows BASF’s $30 million (€22 million) investment in Renmatix in 2012. ‘Raw material change will only be

possible via process innovations that allow the utilisation of alternative sources of raw materials,’ explains Peter Schuhmacher, president of BASF’s competence centre Process Research and Chemical Engineering. ‘It requires processes like Plantrose, which will be further developed in a joint effort, that enable the use of non-edible biomass as a chemical feedstock and which do not compete with food or feed production.’ The Plantrose technology enables industrial sugar to be produced from a variety of non-edible biomass (lignocellulose) sources. The proprietary process breaks down lignocellulosic sources such as wood, agricultural residues and

straw, into industrial sugars using water at high temperature and pressure. Industrial sugars are important building blocks for various basic chemicals and intermediates that can be produced, for example, by fermentative processes. The availability of these industrial sugars in sufficient quantities and at competitive cost is important to enable both environmentally friendly and cost competitive bio-based products. Incorporating biomass feedstocks as a first step in the value chain, creates a raw material change that can reduce reliance on fossil raw material sources like naphtha as principal feedstock. l

More spaghetti? These yellow tubes constitute the core of Evonik’s SEPURAN® Green membrane technology. They do a marvelous job of separating CO2 from biogas efficiently, yet inexpensively. By introducing biomethane into the gas grid, you supply a substitute for the fossil-based natural gas and can thereby reduce the use of greenhouse gases in a sustainable way.

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January/February 2014 • 19

technology news

A tall order for Rubb Rubb, a UK-based manufacturer of custom engineered fabric structures for the renewable energy and biomass power sectors, worked with engineering firm AJS Contracts to provide a biomass fuel processing and storage facility to energy giant E.ON. At 21m tall and measuring 31.5m span x 137.5m long, the fuel storage facility at the Ironbridge Power Station is the tallest structure to be built by Rubb to date. The roof provides rigidity with minimal deflection, providing stability and support for a 200 tonne roofmounted conveyor system used for the dispersal of biomass fuel products. The complex has helped facilitate the coal-to-biomass conversion at the power station located in Shropshire. The handling and storage structure features a roof pitch of 35° which was designed around the angle of repose of the biomass materials. The team at Rubb was on-hand throughout the project to provide advice, support, recommendations, site visits and ongoing solutions when challenges arose. These included structure height, weight loadings, access and custom door designs.

Custom design: the biomass facility for E.ON at Ironbridge, Shropshire

Under requirements specified by E.ON and AJS, Rubb designed and manufactured all elements of the structure in the UK. The steel framework of the building is protected from corrosion by hot dip galvanising, a process of metallurgically bonding a tough coating of zinc to the steel surface. The frame is clad with polyester-woven base cloth covered on both sides by PVC and coated by a PVDF finish. Martin Wylie, renewable energy divisional manager at AJS Contracts,

says: ‘Rubb supported us throughout all aspects of the project, which proved to be its most challenging build with an almost impossible timescale. Working on a renewable energy project in the UK brings its own challenges. This combined with constructing within a world heritage site, such as Ironbridge, really increased the need and focus to operate efficiently and to achieve a build that is aesthetically pleasing. Rubb has developed a product that can be rolled out globally across the renewable industry sector.’ l

Novozymes and M&G to collaborate on bio-based plastics in China Novozymes will supply enzyme technology to M&G Chemicals’ proposed glycols biorefinery in China.

The biorefinery, located in Anhui province, will have the capacity to process 1 million tonnes of biomass per year, approximately four times the capacity of the biomass conversion facility owned by Beta Renewables in Crescentino, Italy. Construction of the biorefinery, which is slated to begin operations in 2015, is contingent upon successful financing.

20 • January/February 2014

The biorefinery is expected to be realised through a joint venture between M&G Chemicals and Chinese company Guozhen Group, which will make 1 million tonnes of wheat straw and corn stover available annually for the production of mono-ethylene glycol (MEG). M&G’s main application areas are in the production of synthetic polyester fibers and as one of two main components in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production. PET is one of the key building blocks for plastic packaging, including bottles for liquids. The lignin byproduct will feed a 45MW cogeneration

power plant which will be built in conjunction with the biorefinery. Beta Renewables’ Proesa technology will be installed at the plant, while Novozymes will exclusively supply the enzyme technology for biomass conversion over a 15-year period. To support M&G’s vision, Novozymes will provide it with financial support of $35 million (€25.7 million), the exact details of which remain to be determined. Novozymes does not currently expect to expand its enzyme production capacity to serve the new biorefinery. l

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technology news

CBI microchipper chosen for pellet plant expansion CBI is to deliver its microchipping systems to Rentech’s new wood pellet production facilities in Canada.

Rentech is converting two decommissioned wood fibre board mills in Ontario into pellet production facilities, for which CBI is designing and building three flail debarking and chipping systems, scheduled for installation in the spring of 2014. The systems will deliver uniform-sized microchips (6-8mm) in a single pass that can immediately be dried and milled into feedstock for pellet manufacturing. Debarking and chipping in front of a pellet operation is typically done with drum

de-barkers and disc chippers, which are more expensive. Making microchips is a more cost-effective way to produce raw material for a pellet production line. The system consists of a feed conveyer, 2-roll flail de-barker and a 1200hp CBI Magnum Force 8400 stationary chipper with 5-pocket microchip rotor. Each system will have production capabilities of up to 120 tonnes per hour. AgriRecycle was contracted by Rentech as consultants to assist in the design, construction and operation of both pelleting plants as well as evaluate options for new chipping lines. The final result will be two CBI flail/microchipping systems installed at Rentech’s Wawa facility, and a singular

Mobile pellet mill installed at Herty R&D facility Research, development and demonstration facility Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, part of Georgia Southern University, has added a new mobile pellet development unit (MPDU). The pellet system is designed for rapid screening of feedstocks and processing conditions. As a research tool the MPDU is designed to be more versatile and cost-effective than full-scale systems. It can be reconfigured to assess a range of feedstocks and identify suitable processing conditions. The mill can be employed either on-site at Herty or at the client’s site as a skid-mounted unit. The MPDU offers an option of six compression ratio dies and has the capacity to produce 200lbs of pellets an hour, minimising the need for large quantities of feedstock for scoping studies. It provides operational parameters that are relevant at the commercial scale. Herty obtained the MPDU through a donation from Italian firm La Meccanica, which specialises in the design and manufacture of pelletising equipment, and has secured its first client to run trials on it. Operations are scheduled to begin soon. l

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Rentech’s pellet facility will be fitted with flail debarking and chipping systems from CBI

CBI flail/microchipping line at the Atikokan plant, which will also feature one of CBI’s Grizzly Mills to grind the bark into the proper size for boiler fuel. These systems will eliminate hammer

milling of wet product prior to the dryer and produce properly-sized chips for direct feeding into the dryer. The resulting product is then hammer milled immediately after drying. l

You can share the technological experience gained from over 750 projects worldwide

Dreyer & Bosse have become a leading manufacturer of CHP systems, they have developed a large and extensive line of products that combine to make energy from Biogas and Natural gas Our products: z Biogas / Natural gas CHP from 75 – 2.000 kW z In house System programming z Gas cleaning z 24 Hrs 7 days a week service z Project management from idea to realisation Advantages: z Competent experienced team z Highest reliability and availability due to individual design and technology for your project z D&B build and design ready to use with in house employees z We have our own service department with experience of more than 750 units worldwide. z Individual solutions offered for each possible CHP according to customer specifications See us on the web at: www.dreyer-bosse.de Dreyer & Bosse Kraftwerke GmbH Streßelfeld 1, 29475 Gorleben, Germany fon +49 5882 9872-0 • fax +49 5882 9872-20 • info@dreyer-bosse.de www.dreyer-bosse.com

January/February 2014 • 21

technology news

Bandit offers Silo cleaning new system solutions without for drum confined space entry chippers Martin Engineering’s silo cleaning Bandit Industries now offers a new system for hand-fed and whole tree drumstyle chippers, which works similar to a screening system, restricting oversized material from exiting the machine. The Card Breaker technology is optional for most Bandit drum-style chippers, creating woodchips suited for use in expanding biomass energy markets due to its relatively uniform size and shape. The Card Breaker is said to benefit from the throwing power of Bandit’s chippers: chips leave the drum at an incredible speed, with larger sized chips hitting the Card Breaker installed in the discharge. This breaks the chips down further, resulting in a more uniform chip ready for biofuel applications. The system functions without the need for additional chip accelerating devices and overall machine production is unaffected. l

solution helps bulk material handlers safely unblock vessels and discharge chutes.

The silo cleaning service eliminates the need for confined space entry and hazardous cleaning techniques, such as explosives, water and air lacing, typically allowing the material to be recaptured and returned to the process stream. Most cleaning projects are performed with the Martin Heavy Duty Whip, a portable, remote controlled tool that can be lowered into storage vessels through a manhole opening. Powered by compressed air, the HD Whip can be equipped with a variety of flails and cutting edges to knock down accumulated material without damaging storage vessels. Abrasion-resistant steel chain is best suited for most applications, with non-sparking brass chain for combustible materials. Urethane flails can also be employed to protect lined vessels that could be susceptible to damage from metal tools. The tool uses a modular boom arrangement that extends from 2m up to 8.5m and can clean vessels up to 18m in diameter and 68.5m tall from a single central opening of just 450mm. The pneumatic cutting head delivers powerful whip action from the rotating head to remove build-up from walls. The hose reel separates from the boom assembly for transportation and set-up in tight spaces. For extreme blockages where hardened lumps of material have plugged discharge chutes, silo cleaning technicians also use the Martin Buster, which dislodges blockages by the powerful force of expanding CO2 gas. The

The HD Whip is lowered into storage vessels through a manhole opening

technique employs non-explosive generators that cause rapid gas expansion to fracture chunks and compacted material, opening the discharge and restoring normal flow. And when bridged or arched material creates a no-flow condition, technicians can rely on the Martin Drill to bore through tough clogs. The drill’s powerful hydraulic action drives its way through blockages, clearing a pathway at depths up to 45m. l

BTS expands into Japanese biogas market Italy-headquartered biogas plant designer, builder and operator, BTS Biogas, has signed a strategic agreement with Birumen Kagoshima for the construction and maintenance of biogas plants in Japan. Under the agreement, 27 plants are scheduled to be built in the next four years, with a total capacity of 35MW and a cost of approximately €135 million. BTS, which already has some experience of the Japanese market with the

22 • January/February 2014

design for the construction of three biogas plants, is also active in Europe, Brazil, Canada and Thailand. ‘Growth in Japan is part of a general strategy for expansion that has moved into top gear,’ comments BTS Biogas GM Michael Niederbacher. ‘We are convinced of the potential of the Japanese market, all the more so as the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant has triggered an energy transition in favour of renewable energy and created a new awareness for recycling organic wastes and residues. That offers attractive prospects for the biogas industry.’ l

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technology news

Germany lowers biogas formaldehyde emissions Power generation from Germany’s biogas industry produces emissions to air that are regulated by the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft). As part of the approval process, the emissions from each plant have to be tested every three years. Formaldehyde is one of the pollutants of greatest concern because of its carcinogenicity and the TA Luft emission limit is 60 mg/m³. It is also difficult to measure in hot, wet emissions because it dissolves in condensate if the sample gas is allowed to cool. The complexity of formaldehyde analysis has necessitated sampling and laboratory analysis. Test engineers in Germany have therefore deployed the Gasmet DX 4000 FTIR portable

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Gasmet’s DX 4000 FTIR analyser

analyser to measure formaldehyde, with a number of systems currently in use across the country. The DX4000 proved suitable for measuring formaldehyde because it samples at high temperatures (above

180°C) so formaldehyde cannot dissolve in condensate, and the instrument provides accurate realtime formaldehyde measurements. Weighing just 14kg, the analyser is easily transportable between sites. l

January/February 2014 • 23

technology news

Rotork boosts biogas production at wastewater plant Rotork Schischek will supply its explosion proof actuators to assist the production of biogas for district heating systems in Munich, Germany. Biogas is being produced during the effluent treatment process at the city’s largest wastewater plant Klaerwerk Gut Grosslappen and Rotork’s ExMax actuators have been installed in the digester and fermentation tanks, where all electrical equipment must be approved for use in hazardous areas. Built inside four large towers, the fermentation tanks mix

the waste at a defined temperature to produce the biogas. For optimum performance the inner tank temperature must be maintained at 38ºC. Six ExMax actuators are installed in an area known as the lamp at the top of each tower for the operation of air dampers to balance the inside temperature with fluctuating ambient temperatures on the outside. Rotork’s products were selected for this application because of their compact size, ease of installation, standardised connections and Zone 1 hazardous area explosion proof certification. l

New project to raise awareness of renewable energy technologies Consultancy firm NNFCC is collaborating with the Grimsby Institute Group and the Humber Chemical Focus on the recently launched Green Renewable Environment and Associated Technologies (GREAT) project. This new £5 million (€6 million) advisory service offers advice to small and medium enterprises (SME) in Hull, east Yorkshire and north and northeast Lincolnshire on how to engage with renewable energy and its related technologies. SMEs in the region are being offered up to five days free business support and consultancy through the scheme on how they can incorporate renewable and sustainable energy and technologies into their everyday business practices. There are a number of ways in which the scheme hopes to encourage this, such as advising on greener business practices

to reduce a company’s carbon footprint, the benefits of which can be passed to their suppliers and customers. Acknowledging the area’s strong agricultural base and the high concentration of large end users in the bioenergy industry, the GREAT project also aims to provide SMEs access to the existing supply chain and, in doing so, encourage economic growth in the region. NNFCC CEO Jeremy Tomkinson says: ‘This is an excellent opportunity for businesses who are looking to reduce their carbon footprint to get free, impartial advice from industry leading experts on how to utilise government incentives such as the renewable heat incentive, and gain a competitive advantage through installation of low energy solutions which can in turn pass benefits on to customers.’ The EU-backed project is due to run for two years and reinforces the work already being done across the region to increase awareness of emerging technologies in the renewables sector. l

Technology to turn roadside verges into energy Research has begun at the National Trust farm in Snowdonia, Wales to trial the use of a new technology, developed in Germany, which could turn soft rush, gorse and bracken crops into viable biomass fuel. The project, named Combine, is being coordinated by non-profit company Severn

Wye Energy Agency and is partnership with the National Trust and sustainable waste management organisation Cwm Harry Land Trust. The project is funded by the European Union and the Welsh Government Trunk Road Agency. According to Keith Jones, environmental advisor for the National Trust: ‘The crops we’ll be testing from our own estate are not suitable for animal feed or energy conversion technologies currently available. Basically they’re a bit of a nuisance

24 • January/February 2014

for landowners but, if the trial’s a success, it will help secure the livelihood for small farmers and people in isolated areas, who are struggling with the rising cost of energy. And it could have the added benefit of improving biodiversity through improved land management.’ The technology, known as IFBB (integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass), is being trialed in other European regions including Germany, Belgium and France, where roadside

verges are being tested for their potential to be turned into pellets or briquettes. A transportable version of the technology — Blue Conrad — is also being developed, where problematic mineral content from material is washed before being pressed for use as fuel. This pre-treatment process reduces carbon emissions and ash content. Once the four month trial is completed in all regions, the results will be sent back to the University of Kassel in Germany for evaluation. l

Bioenergy Insight

technology news

Kirk expands product range Kirk Environmental, part of Kirk Group, has introduced a new tank system to its product range. The Aqua Tank pre-cast concrete tank for the water and wastewater treatment industry provides a safe, cost-effective method of containment. The robust structure and tried and tested design principals offer life expectancy previously only achieved with cast in-situ installations. Post-tensioned pre-cast tanks have been a commercially viable alternative to a certain selection of in-situ concrete structures for over 30 years. Aqua Tank is able to locate the post tensioning tendons within the pre-cast panel and also incorporates the no maintenance

Two Aqua Tanks from Kirk Environmental

EPDM rubber jointing gasket. A pre-cast tank system is costeffective with off-site manufacture and fast installation times possible. Storage capacities are available in a range of sizes, from 50-12,5003.

Maintenance is also kept to a minimum. Kirk will incorporate its Aqua Tank product into its overall packaged solution along with foundations, access steelwork, GRP covers, pipework and Biodome gas holders. l

Concord Blue and LanzaTech sign agreement for renewable fuels Concord Blue, a waste solutions company, and fermentation technology supplier LanzaTech have entered into an agreement to produce fuels and chemicals from waste materials. Under the agreement, LanzaTech will install a Concord Blue reformer at its facility in Georgia, US to convert waste biomass from regional forestry operations into syngas. The syngas will be converted by LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process into biofuels and chemicals. ‘As the US continues to

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diversify its energy mix and produce more domestic energy, low carbon fuels derived from waste woody biomass and municipal solid waste will play an increasingly important role,’ says Jenifer Holmgren, LanzaTech CEO. Concord Blue CEO Charlie Thannhaeuser adds: ‘This partnership and demonstration facility lays the foundation for the development of large-scale projects we have been awarded, like the Four Forests Restoration Initiative. This represents a step towards achieving our company’s objective to produce drop-in fuels from waste resources and bolster foreign oil independence by producing sustainable non fossil-based fuels.’ l

January/February 2014 • 25

green page ‘Out of this world’ bioenergy project You may be forgiven for believing you’ve wandered onto the set of a sci-fi film the next time you are in the city of Le Sueur in Minnesota, US. A green energy project called Hometown Bioenergy, owned by a unit of the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA), is set to come online early this year after construction was completed last November. The three on-site dome structures, which will store methane from anaerobic digesters before being used to

This facility represents the biggest biogas initiative to ever hit Le Sueur (photo: Bruce Bisping)

create electricity, do offer a futuristic air; perhaps Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comes to mind or, if you squint, the homestead on desert planet Tatooine from the Star Wars saga? The plant owners claim the project has been built using ‘the newest and best

technology available’, which only adds to its technological flavour. The produced biogas will reportedly be fed to power generators between 12 and 16 hours a day across 12 municipal utilities, typically when energy demands peak during mornings and evenings.

The Hometown Bioenergy project is not the first biogas initiative to hit Le Sueur but it is the biggest, costing around $45 million (€33.1 million) to realise. But, now the die has been cast, the owners will be hoping the project will ‘live long and prosper’. l

Its dirty work but someone has to do it ‘Where there’s muck, there’s brass’ is an old English saying which means there is cold hard cash to be made from socalled dirty jobs, and a new joint venture in Missouri is hoping to do just that. Roeslein Alternative Energy and Murphy-Brown of Missouri, a livestock subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, are to work on a reported $100 million (€73.1 million) renewable biogas project powered by pig manure. As Murphy-Brown is one of the world’s largest pork producers,

the waste created by its hogs will be put into existing lagoons to eventually decompose and create gas to be processed and harvested via technology provided by Roeslein. ‘We expect to achieve reduced greenhouse gas emissions, shrink Murphy-Brown’s carbon footprint and eliminate rainfall effects on treatment systems, while capturing a valuable renewable energy resource,’ says Roeslein president Rudi Roeslein. The project will also aim to eliminate waste odour from its farms that reportedly draws complaints from nearby residents. If all goes according to plan it seems the partnership will be bringing home the environmentally-friendly bacon. l

Top BI Tweets Here is a selection of interesting things from our Twitterverse! (@BioenergyInfo) Hansa Green Tour ‫@‏‬HansaGreenTour Sweden has now reached more then 50% renewable energy, 8 years ahead of time for their 2020 target! DECC ‫@‏‬DECCgovuk UK the most resilient of the European markets in 2013, seeing green investment of $13.1bn in 2013 IEA ‫@‏‬IEA Level the playing field for clean energy technologies. Energy prices must reflect the true cost’ of energy KiOR ‫@‏‬KiORFuels More than 1,500 passenger flights around the world using a mix of 50% biofuel already have occurred Genera Energy ‫@‏‬GeneraEnergy Amazing numbers: US biodiesel production up in Oct. 75% over same time previous year

Cleaner living: ‘Well madam, there are no smells coming from over here’

26 • January/February 2014

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incident report Bioenergy A summary of the recent major explosions, fires and leaks in the bioenergy industry Date

Location

Company

Incident information

11/01/14

Kerala, India

N/A

A three-year-old girl died after falling into a tank filled with cow manure that is part of a domestic biogas plant in the city of Kannur.

08/01/14

Virginia, US

Enviva Pellets

A fire started in one of Enviva’s pellet processing systems in the early hours of 8 January. No one was hurt and an investigation into the cause of the blaze is underway. It is not expected the plant will suffer any major downtime or loss as a result of the incident. The $91 million (€66 million) facility opened in May last year.

23/12/13

Middlesbrough, UK

UK Wood Recycling

A 16,000 tonne pile of woody biomass caught fire in December and was not extinguished until 7 January. The wood kept at the site was for firing in the nearby Wilton 10 biomass power plant, operated by SembCorp Utilities. A clean up operation is now underway and, though not thought to be suspicious, an investigation into the cause of the fire has begun. UK Wood Recycling continued to supply the Wilton power station with renewable materials from its other storage sites throughout the incident. The fire was left to burn for almost two weeks in order to reduce the impact of smoke on the local air quality. Cleveland Fire Brigade only decided to tackle and extinguish the fire once the wood pile had reduced in size by 80%.

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January/February 2014 • 27

Bioenergy regulations An overview of new international pellet standards due to be introduced this year

Towards international pellet standards

he International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is currently preparing almost 60 standards for solid biofuels which will supersede EN standards in Europe following the application of Vienna agreement1 (see Figure 1). Due to be published in March 2014 as ISO EN standards, values for these standards have been agreed and include: ISO 17225-12 (general requirements), ISO 17225-23 (graded pellets) and ISO 17225-64 (nonwoody graded pellets). Legislation

• Aquatic biomass • Blends and mixtures. Chemically treated wood (e.g. glued, lacquered, painted) shall not include halogenated organic compounds or heavy metals at levels higher than those in typical virgin material values or higher than typical values of the country of origin2. The property classes of these biopellets made from different kinds of raw materials are not bound together, meaning each class can be identified individually. Mandatory property classes are: Standardisation

No barriers to trade

ISO/TC 238 Solid biofuels

WTO Vienna agreement*

Mandate European Comission

Standards

Information to market actors of solid biofuels

CEN/TC 335 Solid biofuels

Results EU-funded projects

* In EU countries EN standards will be superseded by ISO standards and published as EN ISO standards

•supporting standardisation work • dissemination and promotion and training

Figure 1: European and international framework for solid biofuel standardisation

General requirements This ISO standard includes the raw material classification of solid biofuels, which is based on their origin and source. Stating these is mandatory for all biofuels. ISO 17225-1 includes the following raw materials: • Woody biomass • Herbaceous biomass • Fruit biomass

28 • January/February 2014

• Diameter (D) • Length (L) • Moisture (M on wet basis, w-%) • Ash (A, on dry basis w-%, ashing temperature 550°C) • Mechanical durability (DU, w-% pellets after drum testing) • Amount of fines (<3.15mm) • Bulk density (BD) • Net calorific value as received (Q).

If the raw material includes chemically treated biomass, then nitrogen, sulphur and chlorine content have to be stated. It also has additional properties like fixed carbon and volatile matter, which are specified only for thermally treated biomass such as torrefied pellets. Graded wood pellets The standard for graded wood pellets (ISO 17225-2) includes those for both industrial and non-industrial use. The fuel specification for industrial wood pellets is based on the proposal for fuel of the Industrial Wood Pellets Buyers Group. Biopellets in ISO 17225-1 and industrial wood pellets in ISO 17225-2 also include proprietary classes for particle size distribution for disintegrated pellets. Wood pellets for nonindustrial use will also be specified according to ISO 17225-2. Property class A1 represents virgin woods and chemically untreated wood residues low in ash and nitrogen content. Fuels with slightly higher ash and nitrogen content fall within A2. In property class B, chemically treated industrial wood byproducts and residues, and chemically untreated used wood, is also allowed. Torrefied pellets are excluded from the scope of this standard and will instead be included in ISO 17225-1. It has also agreed to prepare a product standard for graded thermally

treated densified biomass, ISO 17225-8. This standard will be available in 2015. Graded non-woody pellets Non-woody pellets refer to those made from blends and mixtures, including herbaceous, fruit or aquatic biomass. Blends and mixtures can also include woody biomass. ISO 17225-6 includes two classification tables: 1. A and B class pellets produced from herbaceous and fruit biomass and blends and mixtures 2. Those made from straw, miscanthus and reed canary grass pellets. Non-woody pellets have high ash, chlorine, nitrogen and sulphur contents, as well as major element contents, so are recommended to be used in appliances which are specially designed or adjusted for this kind of pellet. When using non-woody materials for combustion, special attention should be paid to the risk of corrosion in smalland medium-scale boilers and flue gas systems. Herbaceous or fruit biomass may influence the fuel ash composition differently depending on growth and soil conditions. The content of chlorine, phosphate and potassium in the material may form chlorides and phosphates and other chemical compounds resulting in high hydrochloric emissions and chemically active ash with low melting temperature, causing corrosion. In general, non-woody biomass materials have higher content of ash-forming

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regulations Bioenergy elements and produces ashes with lower melting temperature compared to most woody biomass. This may result in fouling, slagging and corrosion inside boilers. These problems are especially related to materials that contain high contents of potassium and silicate and low levels of calcium. Fuel specification standards (ISO 17225-serie) will be published in 2014. l References:

1 Alakangas, E. & Groot, M. Implementation of quality standards — General part, Training material, SolidStandards IEE project. 2012. p34 (www.solidstandard.eu) 2 ISO 17225-1, Solid biofuels — General requirements, Final Draft International standard, N161, May 2013 3 ISO 17225-2, Solid biofuels — Graded nonwoody pellets, Final Draft International standard, N162, May 2013G 4 ISO 17225-6, Solid biofuels — Graded non-woody pellets, Draft International standard, N166, May 2013

For more information:

This article was written by Eija Alakangas, principal scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Contact eija.alakangas@vtt.fi

Torrefied pellets are excluded from ISO 17225-2 for graded wood pellets

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Bioenergy regulations

EU BC&E 2014

22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

CCH - Congress Center Hamburg, Germany 23 - 26 June 2014

The leading international platform for dialogue between research, industry, policy and business of biomass EU BC&E in brief • • • • • • • • •

62 countries represented 883 abstracts received 12 sessions on Biomass Resources 16 sessions on Biomass Conversion Technologies for Heating, Cooling and Electricity 18 sessions on Biomass Conversion Technologies for Intermediates, Liquid and Gaseous Fuels, Chemicals and Materials 13 sessions on Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability 8 Industry oriented sessions focusing on the most pressing issues related to biomass and bioenergy A dynamic and stimulating exhibition running parallel to the conference Parallel events complementing the scientific conference, addressing specific topics and including the most recent technology and processes, market and business trends

More information

www.eubce.com facebook.com/ EuropeanBiomassEUBCE twitter.com/EUBCE youtube.com/EUBCE

30 • January/February 2014

European Biomass Industry Association

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regulations Bioenergy

Is closure on the cards for another UK power station?

Eggborough: the future’s not bright

he Eggborough coal power station is a 2,000MW facility located in North Yorkshire, UK. It, like a number of power stations in the country, was to be retrofitted to fire biomass to meet EU air quality legislation. Other power stations, such as Ferrybridge, Ironbridge and Tilbury, are to close by the end of 2015. This £750 million (€910 million) Eggborough conversion project, scheduled to get underway in January this year, was halted after it emerged it would not receive any financial support. The project would have commenced on 6 January and key engineering and construction contracts had already been awarded. Under the new Contracts for Difference (CfD) support scheme, that will be phased in between 2014 and 2017 to replace the Renewables Obligation (RO), dedicated power-only biomass and cofiring plants will no longer be eligible for subsidies. The Department of Energy

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and Climate Change (DECC) first announced this last year, at the time stating these power generators ‘do not offer as cost-effecting a means of decarbonising the electricity grid as renewables technologies’. To avoid a lull in green energy investments during this time, the UK government will offer early CfDs to 10 projects, the names of which were published by DECC last December. Eggborough was not one of them and, as a result, could stop supplying electricity after next year and shut down for good. Despite Energy and Climate Change minister Ed Davey stating the power plant could still qualify for essential subsidies at a later date, Eggborough said in a statement it ‘is not in a position to move forward’ without such compensation. Projects not on the list may still be able to receive financial support, either through the RO scheme or by reapplying for CfDs later in the year. But reports claim

Eggborough cannot wait and required early support to progress with the renovation. CEO Neil O’Hara was quoted as saying: ‘Unless a viable solution is found with the government, the most likely outcome now is we will no longer by supplying electricity to the grid beyond 2015.’ September would see the plant’s unit 2 generator, with a 500MW capacity, close first. A year later and the entire facility could be offline, leaving 800 people jobless. In response to this news, the GMB and Unite trade unions have called for an urgent meeting with Davey to discuss the future of the plant. According to Phil Whitehurst, GMB national officer for engineering construction: ‘Imminent closure of Eggborough is another indictment of the failing energy policy of this government. This power station is a viable generation facility if converted to biomass but has been left high and dry because the carbon capture project at Drax power

station is more favourable. There are foreign investors interested, but without the biomass subsidies the investment will not happen.’ Of the 10 projects that will receive £105/MWh from 2014 -2019 under the CfD mechanism, four involve biomass. They are: units 1 and 3 at Drax Power, Lynemouth power station and MGT Power’s Teesside renewable energy development that will generate combined heat and power. The remaining six are on- and offshore wind developments. Along with its December publication of these projects, DECC said: ‘The government has sent out draft investment contracts to 16 renewables projects that have progressed to the next stage of the FID [final investment decision] Enabling for Renewables process. Ten projects have been told that they are provisionally affordable under the budget caps, but all are able to remain in the process until it is completed and contracts are awarded in spring 2014.’ l

January/February 2014 • 31

Bioenergy biomethane Find out about the development of the Biomethane Certification Scheme

Biomethane: a tradable reality

he road to getting biomethane into the gas grid has been a long one, seemingly strewn with rocks and speed bumps. But, finally, meaningful quantities of gas are flowing to the grid. The anaerobic digestion (AD) industry’s challenge has, in many ways, always been one of scale: how to gain cost-effective access to a (rightly) tightly regulated national energy network with a relatively small amount of gas from a non-homologous source. This issue of scale also extends to the difficulties that AD producers have encountered when trying to gain a proper market value for their ‘premium’ product, in a gas market that is geared towards terawatts rather than megawatts of gas per day. Biomethane is an ultra-low carbon, renewable fuel which has the ability to replace fossil gas in the grid and allow fossil gas consumers to decarbonise their supply. As such it should have a higher value than natural gas. Grid injected biomethane has other advantages, including its ability to be a stored energy source, unlike (as yet) un-storable electricity. This is important as the energy efficiency of grid injected biomethane is much higher than turning the biomethane into electricity via combined heat and power (CHP), unless the producer has a use for the heat output. The key issue that a biomethane producer faces

32 • January/February 2014

when trying to unlock the value of their output is getting a market value which recognises the ‘green’ characteristics of the gas compared to fossil natural gas. Biomethane Certification Scheme The demand for biomethane is growing, both domestically and internationally. Facilitating the ability for biomethane producers and consumers to transact green gas at a transparent, market price was the reason for the establishment of Green Gas Trading (GGT) and the Biomethane Certification Scheme (BMCS). For clarity it is worth noting that, unusually, the UK has two biomethane certification schemes. The other is the Green Gas Certification Scheme, which is administered by REAL, a subsidiary of the Renewable Energy Association. This scheme is run on a not-for-profit basis and tracks the commercial transactions of biomethane

through the supply chain. GGT administers the BMCS, which was proposed by the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) and is owned by 32 shareholders comprising members of ADBA, ADBA itself and environmental investors. A second UK initiative was established to provide a trading scheme in addition to a simple gas tracking scheme, one in which the Biomethane Certificates (BMCs) can be traded separately from the physical commodity gas. Divorcing the physical gas from the certificate allows the producer to transact the gas at the market price for that product, i.e. natural gas, while seeking the highest economic value for the BMC, i.e. the ‘green’ element. The key determinants in the demand for biomethane are consumer confidence in the product and the ability of consumers to use BMCs to decarbonise their gas purchases, knowing there are robust and credible processes which underlie the

certification of that gas. In order to ensure the best solution for each element of the certification process, Grexel — the largest provider of European Energy Certification System certificates — was chosen to provide the registry for the scheme. The scheme will be audited by a ‘big four’ accounting firm and GGT is in the process of obtaining an accreditation to ISO14065 from the UK Accreditation Service for the company. It is thought this will gain acceptance by the UK government of the low carbon credentials of biomethane and thus allow its use as a statutory offset against UK carbon reporting targets. Market development The acceptance of biomethane as an offset is key to the development of this market, and so far has been one of the roadblocks to its widespread take-up by UK businesses. Large corporates are very keen to use biomethane, but the real driver is not voluntary corporate social responsibility purchases, but its use as an offset for statutory carbon footprint reporting. One of the important features of a BMC is that within the certification methodology there is an audited Lifecycle Carbon Assessment of the carbon saving of an individual megawatt of biomethane versus fossil gas. This amortises the carbon input cost of building the plant, its operation and feedstock, as

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xxxxxx Bioenergy well as the decommissioning cost of the plant, over every megawatt of biomethane that is certificated. In this way, a purchaser of a BMC is not relying on an unquantified emission factor for their biomethane; they have an audited number which they can confidently use as an offset against their fossil gas carbon footprint. Producers are also incentivised to reduce process carbon dioxide in their biomethane. In the final analysis, biomethane is a low carbon, not zero carbon, fuel but ‘how low?’ is an audited number, not a story. One of the customer requirements that drove the way in which the scheme was designed was one for a granular level of information about the feedstock from which the biomethane is produced. The BMCS will, uniquely, assign a monthly feedstock composition code to each megawatt that is certificated. This will allow the consumer the ability to understand the exact percentage composition of the feedstock that went into their gas. Clearly, with some plants this composition will never change, but some will change on a monthly basis. To some, this may not be important, but it could drive consumer behaviour for those for whom this is important. Tradability A key driver in the development of the biomethane market is its tradability. It is clear that for the next few years the bulk of transactions in biomethane will be bi-lateral between AD producers directly with purchasers of their entire output. However, central to the development of any illiquid market is transparency. As price transparency increases for a product, so does liquidity, as well as the cost of transacting reducing. A trading platform to facilitate the trading of BMCs will act as an electronic marketplace, allowing

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buyers and sellers of BMCs to anonymously transact on an open, transparent and (hopefully) liquid trading platform. There are three revenue elements that comprise the economics to a grid injecting biomethane producer: the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), the value of the methane, and the value of the BMC. Having a transparent, market driven price for the certificate will strengthen the financing case for AD developers as an open market price is an easier concept for a bank to risk than a more opaque bi-lateral deal.

Scrubs up nicely...

UK biomethane It is easy to look at the UK biomethane market solely in terms of domestic demand. That however misses the fact that a huge amount of demand and development work is going on in Europe to open up the cross-border market in biomethane, both in terms of standardisation and transferability. Europe will play a key part in the development of the UK biomethane market and its ability to transact across borders will be a key determinant of pricing and market structures. In July last year GGT welcomed its first producer, Future Biogas, to the BMCS and anticipates its first issuance of certificates from the company’s Doncaster plant in the coming weeks. 2014 will be a landmark year in the development of biomethane-to-grid in the UK, with a growing number of projects coming to fruition. As the market for biomethane broadens and deepens, the most important element is making that product accessible, credible and accurately reporting the data that is required both by consumers and regulators. l For more information:

This article was written by Grant Ashton, CEO, Green Gas Trading, greengastrading.co.uk

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January/February 2014 • 39

Bioenergy outlook 2014 Bioenergy Insight kicks off the New Year with comments from renewable energy producers around the world on what the next 12 months may have in store

A global gathering

aas Morten Ner

Coal conversions Morten Neraas, CEO, Green Circle Bio Energy HQ: US Fuel: Pellets In the near future, large volumes of wood pellets will be needed for the coal-to-biomass conversion projects in the UK. Soon, Drax will be adding its second and third generating units to the conversion fleet, followed by two at RWE Lynemouth. These will more than make up for the recently closed RWE Tilbury

34 • January/February 2014

and E.ON’s Ironbridge plant that is due to shut at the end of 2015. These large plants will be bringing in millions of tonnes a year of pellets through a limited number of ports and so larger vessels are needed to help alleviate congestion issues. With the UK’s growing thirst for wood pellets, we expanded our Florida production plant from 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes in 2013. We also expect to break ground on the Lucedale facility in Mississippi this year and will ship 500,000 tonnes per year from Pascagoula.

This new facility will be similar to the Florida plant but will likely be shipping in Supramax sized vessels compared to the Handysize vessels we ship from Florida. 2014 will be an interesting year for the pellet industry in many ways. The legislation in the UK that has led to the incentives allowing the large-scale conversions also requires strict sustainability requirements. These necessitate a decreasing greenhouse gas impact for biomass energy over time but will also demand a greater burden of proof in regards to the sourcing of biomass. The UK government wants to be assured, and wants to assure its constituents, that when we source our biomass we are doing so in a manner that protects biodiversity. This includes air, water and soil quality; human rights; and habitat to name but a few. The UK government is soon due to release an amendment to its Sustainable Timber Procurement Policy highlighting these requirements and they will likely be strict. Other countries are plotting their course in bioenergy and are closely watching how the UK is handling these issues. Denmark and the Netherlands already have significant import-based bioenergy projects but are considering how they might grow them further — sustainably. Belgium was one of the first

countries to use imported pellets for power generation and both the Belgian states of Wallonia and Flanders have sustainability requirements, but are helping and watching the UK to chart their path forwards. Then there is the European Union, which could decide to hand down binding sustainability requirements to all member states. All these new potential legislations and policies will require that we, as ‘prudent and responsible’ operators, prove we are a sustainable industry. In anticipation of further demands of assurance, we and others in the pellet industry, along with our customers, interested parties and regulators, have been working hard to develop a broader system that lets us show and report unequivocally that we are caring for our environment. These controls and systems will soon be rolled out on a pilot basis with a select number of producers in hope that the system will be complete later this year. We anticipate 2014 being a formative year for the biomass industry, with developments in the UK being the most important foundation for the future growth in the industrial wood pellet market in the coming years.

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outlook 2014 Bioenergy Domestic consumption to grow Michele Rebiere, CFO, Viridis Energy HQ: Canada Fuel: Pellets Last year was an interesting year from a regulatory standpoint. The UK led the way in terms of change as we experienced finalisation of the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) for biomass, followed by the restructuring of the entire subsidy programme and introduction of the Contract for Differences (CfD). The good news is the CfD scheme will provide long-term support for low carbon generation in the UK, however it also virtually eliminates the value of co-firing with biomass. The long-term outlook is positive but the short-term effect has caused a great deal of scepticism and discomfort among the producers. In Canada many small producers continue to believe UK utilities are the only viable option for year round offtake, while larger producers are starting to look at the emergence of domestic industrial markets (the growth of the heat market) with an eye towards Southeast Asia and the emergence of non-UK demand. The supply and demand imbalance will continue to widen, in favour of the producers. However, today there are large-scale plants in North America challenged with placement of their volume each month, due to the disruption of the UK power utility market in 2013. We believe this will continue in 2014 for the large producers, but average ones (between 100,000 and 300,000 tonnes) are in an

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excellent position to take advantage of this imbalance. Over the next five or six years Canadian producers will focus less on export and look to their own developing market of power utilities co-firing with wood pellets. The current estimate is this demand will grow to 5 million tonne a year which exceeds Canada’s total production. Canada’s domestic market is emerging as a result of the work completed over the past couple of years by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada, Environment Canada, NRCan and the Canadian Clean Power Coalition who have worked together to assess the feasibility of co-firing with wood pellets. The purpose of this work was, in part, to ensure biomass be included as a zero-emission-rated fuel in the new Canadian coal power emissions regulation that came into force in 2012, which require the coal power companies to comply by 2015. A number of initiatives have led to this, including a study led by NRCan and Environment Canada, consisting of lab scale emissions tests in Ottawa, a one week pellet burn at Nova Scotia Power Point Tupper and a one week pellet burn at Ontario Power Generation’s Atikoken Power Plant. Emissions are being measured and results will be used by the Canadian government for policy support to implement cofiring. Based on the number of coal units in Canada, we expect the demand for domestic wood pellets will start to increase substantially in 2014 and 2015. We think the biggest change for wood pellet manufacturers this year will be the shift from

Michele Rebiere 100% dependence on European power utilities (particularly UK-based utilities) to a diversification of market strategy. European pellet producers are likely to shift their focus from power to heat as well, given the dramatic growth in the latter. For example, countries such as Austria, Denmark and Italy are reported as being among the largest consumers of pellets for residential or district heating, most of which is coming from export. Viridis believes many US and Canadian producers have limited resources to tackle the challenges associated with sales, marketing, customer service, logistics and export and are looking

for a partner to provide those skills and resources. In other cases, a producer may not have the volume to do it on their own, or perhaps have the large volume but are not diversified in both heat and power or industrial and domestic use. With that in mind Viridis has recently launched its US-based trading business, Viridis Merchants, to provide access to those markets through aggregation and consolidation in the industry.

January/February 2014 • 35

Bioenergy outlook 2014

pskog Håkon Knap

Scandinavia staying strong Håkon Knappskog, CEO, Pemco Trepellets HQ: Norway Fuel: Pellets

Sweden is an interesting market at the moment. The policy that offers the industry a tax reduction on fuel oil is now gradually being phased out and I expect an increasing

number of industrial actors will start looking for alternatives to fuel oil when the next phase of this tax reduction scheme is implemented in 2015. Pellets are an attractive alternative and we already observe many are in the process of converting from fuel oil. We will most likely experience an effect of the tax reduction scheme in 2014, but I’m a bit concerned there will be a catch-up effect in 2015 when the size of the energy invoice increases for the industrial actors. Sweden’s production capacity is strong at the moment and so I don’t think there will be any major change with regards to imports or exports. In Norway, on the other hand, the construction of some new large district heating facilities will result in an increase of pellet imports. The Norwegian market is expanding and I expect consumption will grow from 66,000 tonnes in 2013 to 100,000 tonnes in 2014. The Swedish market is about 1.2 million tonnes while Denmark is

around 1 million, and I believe both will continue to grow in the future. We will be keeping a close eye on the international market now that the UK’s Drax power plant is ridding itself of coal; it will be interesting to observe how this affects the separate markets in Scandinavia. The industrial pellets used in biomass-fired power plants are different to the first class premium pellets used in smaller heating facilities or in private residences. In other words, premium pellets produced in Scandinavia are of a higher quality and therefore too expensive to export to the UK. We are pleased with the support from Enova, an energy organisation established by parliament in 2001 to speed up the energy transformation of Norway. We are also satisfied with the gradual tax reduction that is underway in Sweden, however would like to see a more aggressive phaseout plan for the period after 2015.

A good year for pellets Jonathan Kahn, CEO, Geneva Wood Fuels HQ: US Fuel: Pellets 2013 was a strong year for US domestic wood pellet producers. Cold temperatures, stable prices on materials and steady production costs have all contributed to strong pellet production accompanied by strong sales. In an industry defined by overcapacity, 2013 demonstrated somewhat a return to equilibrium. Many producers are at full capacity. We think

36 • January/February 2014

the 2014/2015 domestic heating season will have similar results but with some cautionary concerns about the impact of rising commodity prices on production margins. One of the contributing factors to a healthy 2013, production-wise, was stable commodity inputs. Whether looking at biomass costs, costs associated with trucking our product, or electricity prices to run the pellet mills, last year saw stable levels of input pricing. As pellet producers tend to set their pricing decisions with their larger customers early in the

ahn Jonathan K Bioenergy Insight

outlook 2014 Bioenergy calendar year, an accurate estimate on production costs really matter and there is no better result than stable pricing of production inputs. The US economy is on the rise. Household wealth, as measured by investment gains and stable to rising housing prices, is growing and this means consumer confidence is back. But with economic growth comes the associated rise in demand from all aspects of the

manufacturing sector. The very commodity inputs that created our calm, drama-free 2013 may find themselves having many suitors in 2014 beyond pellet manufacturers. Will the production cost estimates manufacturers make in the next few months to set our seasonal pricing bear out? Looking to 2014 we see a double edged sword balancing positive sales growth assumptions associated with strong

consumer confidence with legitimate concerns of rising production costs stemming from those same economic tailwinds. Reading the tea leaves is more challenging than ever. Our customers comprise what is still a young industry where customer expectations, experiences and habits are still being defined. There is an ‘X factor’ in planning for and meeting the needs of our customers that are, for example, distinct from

the planning challenges facing a big industrial pellet mill dedicated to manufacturing pellets for the power industry export. Not less challenging, just different. Pellet producers want their manufacturing seasons to be just right: not too hot, not too cold. We believe that with continuing success comes commensurate challenges that are truly the sign of a growing and maturing industry.

More uses for food waste Philip Simpson, commercial director, ReFood HQ: UK Fuel: Biogas The AD sector has grown significantly during 2013 and this trend looks set to continue as we move into 2014. According to the latest AD annual report issued by Defra in August 2013, 110 AD plants have been built in the UK with a further 200 sites receiving planning consent. The exact technologies may vary from plant to plant and increasingly many are looking at sending gas-to-grid. I believe the rapid growth in AD will continue during 2014, despite challenges facing the industry. These include the fact England is falling way behind its neighbours in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in taking a proactive stance towards food waste. There is a lack of leadership by the UK government to tackle waste effectively, which is disappointing and short-sighted. Nevertheless, as the AD infrastructure continues to grow, it will become easier and more cost-effective for food waste to be diverted to AD and used as an important

Bioenergy Insight

pson Philip Sim source of energy and nutrients, rather than sent to landfill. I am optimistic we will see more of this happening, especially as food banks increase in number and global food resources come under greater stress through climate change and increasing populations. Around 200 AD facilities are in the pipeline for 2014 and ReFood is contributing to this with the opening of its new AD plant in Widnes. Work will also start on a further new plant in

Dagenham, as will the expansion of our existing AD plant in Doncaster. By tackling unavoidable food waste in such a positive way, we are helping to remove contaminants from other waste streams and unlock billions of pounds of value from all wastes. The growth of the sector is vital to help us to reach our ambition of achieving zero food waste to landfill. In a report entitled Vision 2020: UK Roadmap to Zero Food Waste to Landfill, published

last year and authored by us in collaboration with BioRegional, it was found that, if all of the UK’s food waste was diverted from landfill, over 1TWh of electricity a year could be generated — enough to power over 600,000 homes. It would also prevent 27 million tonnes a year of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. We see having a strong AD sector in place as being vital to achieving this goal.

January/February 2014 • 37

Bioenergy outlook 2014 Reaching full potential Warren Campbell, CEO, Vireo Energy HQ: Sweden Fuel: Biogas The underlying fundamentals for biogas developments in Central and Eastern Europe are compelling, with good access to waste organic matter from agriculture and a need for increased base-load renewable energy production to offset the heavy build-out of highly variable wind and solar capacity. Investments in improving agriculture land, as well as rural area employment opportunities, are sought after by legislators and local communities. Given the under-utilisation of agricultural land and possibilities of crop rotation schemes, the food versus fuel discussion is less pertinent in these countries. However, as with other forms of renewable energy, regulatory uncertainty regarding biogas is high in many Central and Eastern European markets. Legislators have, during this period, delayed necessary regulatory action or changed existing regimes and, in doing so, increased investors’ perceptions of the risks of operating in these markets. While this behaviour is understandable at one level — in response to a generally unfavourable financial environment combined with sometimes inflexible incentive systems that have seen overcompensation and a too rapid build-out of some renewable energy forms — it is nevertheless unfortunate, scaring off investors and making financing extremely difficult. This is particularly disappointing for biogas which, despite the clear benefits mentioned above, is only in an embryonic stage of deployment in most of Eastern

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Europe and is now essentially stalled in many of them. 2013 was not a good year for the European biogas market, with the exception of the UK and Italy where positive new legislation has seen boom times. Elsewhere, the development of biogas projects in Germany, for example, has declined following reduced incentives. The result has been a lean year for many biogas equipment and plant suppliers; there have been a number of well-publicised bankruptcies and I doubt we have seen the last of them. Going into 2014 I see three key themes which should and must happen if biogas is to reach its full potential: 1. Regulatory certainty: After a ‘lost year’ in many markets, we hope and believe there will be increased regulatory certainty in several markets during 2014. This would help with the recognition of the benefits of biogas as a part of the energy system, along with the type and level of incentives required to promote the creation of such a young industry. 2. Equipment manufacturer response: One lesson from the recent regulatory changes is that regulators and politicians are much more aware of overcompensation and expect to see declining costs over time. This year the biogas equipment industry must react and begin to respond to this, with increased cost competitiveness and process efficiency. The wind industry has consistently, over 20 years, delivered continuous improvements in productivity and reductions in capital cost. To date, little such development can be seen in biogas, where boom times through the early and mid2000s, backed by attractive

pbell Warren Cam incentives, put an emphasis on growth rather than productivity improvements. For the industry to survive and thrive it requires constant technology improvements to achieve higher system uptimes, more biogas extracted from each unit of available fuel, as well as higher electric and thermal efficiency in gas engines and a more customer oriented, near-to-site service approach. Additionally there is an opportunity for the large engine manufacturers and EPCs to create much more developed vendor financing packages with engine and other large CAPEX costs distributed over several years. A vendor finance package combined with a long-term maintenance contract would create a win-win situation.

technology. Scale needs to be obtainable in some fashion, for example through frame financing agreements where a project developer’s business, business model and pipeline is ‘due diligenced’ once and then each new project can be reviewed and approved in a light touch fashion subject to a review against key criteria. With a more robust regulatory environment there is also a greater chance of attracting equity financing to biogas companies. The regulatory uncertainty combined with the perceived country risk in Central and Eastern Europe currently makes equity partners less interested in such investments, thus stalling potential growth in these markets.

3. New financing models: In 2014 we hope to see commercial banks begin to come back to the renewable market as regulatory certainty improves. As they do so, there needs to be recognition that biogas is not wind or solar. Projects are much smaller scale and more operationally complex; they cannot be effectively financed using the same SPV-based project financing models and applying the same criteria (notably longterm power sales agreements) to projects based on a different

We believe strongly in the merits of biogas technology as a neat solution to several problems: as a base-load source of renewable power production, as an efficient use of energy (when coupled with cogeneration it is possible to use up to 90% of the total thermal energy produced), and as a means to utilise waste and low value organic residues. If real progress is made on these themes in 2014, we should be discussing a much more bullish biogas sector in 2015.

Bioenergy Insight

Vast increase in AD sites Antony Warren, partner, Emerald Biogas HQ: UK Fuel: Biogas Across the UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) sector there has been a vast increase in the number of sites during 2013. AD has been a hot topic within the industry, with overcapacity of recycling and recovery outlets mentioned across the media. Due to this perception, I feel there is a slight lack of confidence being felt by investors and perhaps the reason they are less willing to fund new biogas projects. As the technology for AD is becoming more and more proven, so the risks are known and understood. Therefore the industry needs to sit back, take a pause and allow all the projects come online. Waste and resource efficiency organisation WRAP has been influential in driving AD forward and this is having a beneficial effect across the industry as a whole. As demonstrated in a recent survey by WRAP, AD is helping to stimulate

Antony Warren

growth in the UK’s organics recycling industry, with an increase in both the number of operational sites and the amount of organic waste processed, and we support this view. In 2014 the industry in England will be dependent on legislative changes. Until the government decides to ban food from going to landfill, or introduce penalties for not recycling, there may be an overcapacity for AD. The government has assisted with the development of renewable energy projects such as AD plants and the incentives are there with funding and grants available. The current regulations encourage waste recycling

and biogas initiatives, where the waste hierarchy is applied to the waste stream to determine where it could be recycled. But ultimately the landfill ban, if it comes, will give everyone confidence and there will be plenty of feedstock and more plants. The AD industry continues to face regulatory and technological challenges; there aren’t any scripted requirements available from the Environment Agency and therefore the requirements placed on each individual site are variable. The same applies to the planning and permitting arena. As a relatively new technology, it is important for waste companies to work

together alongside the key industry organisations and regulatory bodies, ensuring a full understanding of each of the parties and their requirements. Another major challenge across the sector is packaging. Much of the waste produced by manufacturers, retailers and supermarkets is double or triple packed. Prior to treating the food, the material must be suitably treated and any plastic, paper or card removed in order to ensure the digestion process and energy production is maximised. This process is particularly essential to commercial waste streams.

spot prices to levels above 250 reais (€78) per MWh from September onwards and completely changed the long-term scenario for prices. In addition, biomass plants had the chance to sell directly to power distribution companies, via contracts that were more profitable than market prices of energy, for delivery in the years 2014 through 2019. We at Biosev believe public policies have advanced in the past few years towards the

creation of more transparent rules for the renewable energy industry and that they will continue to advance in 2014 onwards. However, we remain hopeful that even more effective policies come into place, helping create value for our industry. Renewable energy in general has gained prominence in the government’s planning regarding the electric system in the past few years. Despite the recognition of

Using bagasse as biomass Enrico Biancheri, commercial director, Biosev HQ: Brazil Fuel: Biopower Throughout 2013 Brazil faced plenty of changes that affected the biomass power industry. The beginning of the year saw a significant increase in spot prices, as well as the introduction of a new spot pricing model that came into effect in April.

Bioenergy Insight

Furthermore, there was a narrowing in the gap between the use of biomass-based energy and conventionally produced energy. The price rise at the beginning of the year was particularly good for those companies with available capacity for delivery in 2013 and 2014, since the new price made these contracts significantly more profitable. This increased profitability was also thanks to the new pricing model, which sent

January/February 2014 • 39

Bioenergy outlook 2014 the importance of renewable sources, there is room for a more active posture from the government’s part through incentives directed to these sources, such as energy auctions specific for biomass. According to ANEEL’s (Brazil’s Electric Power Regulator Agency) Electric

Energy and Matrix table, biomass energy accounts for 8.46% of the national power matrix. The single most used raw material for biomass energy production in Brazil is sugarcane bagasse. Power generation using this feedstock, in addition to straw and eucalyptus

biomass, has as much energy potential in volume as a big hydroelectric plant and this should be considered while formulating Brazil’s future energetic matrix. In the southeast and centrewest regions of Brazil, there are more than 300 biomass power plants fuelled by sugarcane bagasse already operating. They can generate electricity more efficiently simply by exchanging their boilers and investing in power lines to distribute the energy generated in these plants, fairly close to big consumption centres. It is important to mention that biomass power plants can no longer take an active part in energy auctions as they did up to 2008. That is because prices in these auctions aren’t sufficient to guarantee a return over the investments needed to generate enough electricity surplus to sell to the grid and, especially, to build the necessary power lines to distribute the power. This sheds light on a big distortion in the energy industry: small and medium power generating companies

must pay both to build power lines and to access local distribution and transmission companies’ grids. We don’t believe that generators should pay for the construction of power lines. In auctions for big projects, such as large-scale hydroelectric dams and plants in Brazil’s north region, power line construction costs are not the responsibility of the companies building the plant. There are a few incentives for renewable sources. The best known is the discount in the Electric Energy Use Tariff (TUSD/TUST), which has a double benefit for generators: it reduces the tariff a generator company pays and increases the value of the energy it produces and sells in the market. This incentive policy, however, has no effect in pricing for those plants selling in energy auctions — the so-called regulated market. The bigger biomass power plants, with more than 30MW available to add to the grid, aren’t entitled with this incentive neither in the regulated nor the regular market.

Enrico Biancheri

Working towards ‘aggressive goals’ Michael Dailey, VP of energy and business development, Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative HQ: US Fuel: Biopower Currently in the US some states have renewable energy mandates that need to be met by certain dates, for example Maryland and Delaware, while others, like Virginia, do not. Nevertheless, many US electric utilities are

40 • January/February 2014

working to diversify their supply portfolios by adding more renewable energy sources, whether or not they are required to do so. In the states with mandates, the goals are aggressive and will be challenging for the utilities to meet. Acquiring funding for any power plant is difficult in today’s market unless it has the backing of a power purchase agreement to support its capital requirements. Biomass-based power can be favourable in terms of capital cost and total-all-in

Michael Dailey

Bioenergy Insight

outlook 2014 Bioenergy cost. It is not as well-known or ubiquitous as solar and wind power across the US, but it’s a reliable source in Virginia. As said in the Commonwealth, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Common biomass feedstocks for renewable power generation include slash and waste wood. NOVEC and its customerowners have been interested

in adding more green power to the Co-op’s energy supply for a while, presuming it’s reasonably marketcompetitive. In 2010, NOVI Energy, a renewable power plant developer, presented us with an opportunity to build a biomass plant in Halifax County, a region called the ‘wood basket’ of Virginia. Timber projections for the southern Virginia region

suggested there are enough forests with associated logging and wood waste to fuel all the requirements for the expected lifecycle of the power plant. After gaining approval from the Virginia State Corporation Commission, we began construction. The grand opening of our 49.9MW biomass plant took place in November last year.

This year and in the years to come, we will work to make our Halifax County biomass plant the best of its kind in the country while continuing to meet our members’ energy requirements. We plan to bring on-line more electricity generated from cost-competitive energy sources and when warranted from renewable sources.

oon due to ‘The UK government is s Sustainable s it to t en dm en am an e releas cy’ Timber Procurement Poli Morten Neraas, Green Circle

Bio Energy

Backing biomass Liz Kress, principal engineer, Santee Cooper HQ: US Fuel: Biopower Forestry in South Carolina and the southeast of the US is a well-developed industry, supporting a strong base of jobs in the production and transportation of wood products. On almost any highway in South Carolina you will pass trucks of woodchips or timber. The renewable energy plants in Dorchester and Allendale counties are relatively smallsized plants, which minimise impacts on the existing forest products markets and draw wood residues for fuel at a sustainable level. Demonstrating the viability of these plants gives Santee Cooper options for the future. Biomass generation is mid-range in cost among

Bioenergy Insight

the renewables available to South Carolina. Although land-based wind could be less costly, it is not available in the state, especially not at utility scale. Offshore wind and solar still presently cost out at a premium to conventional fossil fuels and biomass, even with the recent decline in solar costs. Biomass has the ability to produce power in a dispatchable response to demand, although it requires a different operational model than what is found under the power purchase agreements for the current plants. Whereas wind and solar operate when the sun shines and wind blows, woody biomass plants in particular have the ability to load-follow. This is an important consideration for future generation choices and is especially important with the high proportion of nuclear generation that is planned, since nuclear runs at a constant level. Our plans for 2014 and

Liz kress beyond are to continually study the needs and options for future generation and to make decisions based on facts we obtain from

the large variety of plants and technologies we have engaged.

January/February 2014 • 41

Bioenergy profile It has three biogas plants coming online this year, but NPG Energy is not stopping there. Company MD André Jurres tells Keeley Downey about future plans

The more the merrier

y 2020 Belgium aims for 13% of its total energy consumption to come from renewables. This figure stood at 3% in 2008 and today is approximately 5%, so the country still has a long way to go to hit this goal. More future targets could also be on the cards for Belgium, among other European countries, after it emerged ministers from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Portugal signed a letter in December 2013 urging the EU to establish a 2030 goal. The three sectors contributing most towards Belgium’s renewable portfolio are biomass, wind and PV power. Biomass ranks top with around 5.2% of Belgium’s total electricity output coming from biomass (4.6TWh). However, with federal elections due to take place in Belgium this May, the industry is now on standby as investors wait to see which party is elected and what energy policies they will bring with them. Three is a magic number NPG Energy, a Belgian investor and project developer, has not slowed its activities however and is currently embarking on an aggressive renewable energy expansion plan. The company is active in the segments of biogas, as well as wind and solar and in August 2012 opened its first biogas-to-power plant — Biopower Tongeren. The €11 million plant, built by Schmack Viessmann and located at an industrial estate

42 • January/February 2014

in the Belgian province of Limburg, currently generates 2.8MW of renewable energy using a variety of feedstocks which are converted into biogas through anaerobic fermentation. Two biogas engines generate electricity and heat, which are then injected into the grid and used to dry the

prohibit the use of anything other than agricultural products, such as manure for example. It all depends on individual circumstances. Biogas production is a decentralised, local business. You don’t import products from far away; you buy products locally.’ A further €9 million is to

experiences some years ago when the first biogas plants were poorly planned and built, so today they remain wary about investing in the sector. We have secured €33 million in capital but under an agreement whereby we finance the projects through building, start-up and its operational phase. For the

NPG Energy is bringing online three biogas plants this year

digestate, respectively. Speaking to Bioenergy Insight, NPG Energy’s MD André Jurres says: ‘Between 50 and 60% of the feedstock used at Tongeren is corn supplied by local farmers. This figure used to be around 90% but we cut back because corn is an expensive product. We also use agricultural waste products like grass.’ While a variety of materials can be used in combination with corn at the Tongeren site, Jurres says NPG is limited to using agricultural products only. ‘As this plant is located on an industrial site, the environmental permits

be invested into the plant, expanding its capacity to 5.6MW, but Jurres expects this will be done in two phases. ‘The first phase will take capacity to 4.2MW. Investment would be minimal because it would only require the installation of an additional engine. We would have to make some substantial new investments to bring capacity up to 5.8MW,’ he says. While funding does not seem to be a problem for NPG, Jurres warns that any company looking to develop a biogas project in the Benelux region needs to be ‘cash rich’: ‘Investors had bad

small local developers and farmers who want to set up a biogas project, they either need large companies behind them or to be cash rich because it’s so capital intensive. Most of them don’t have the balance sheet to support it,’ he explians. Ramping up NPG is continuing to invest elsewhere and, with three more biogas plants under construction and due to open this year, 2014 will be a busy year for the company. ‘Our goal is to invest €400 million in sustainable

Bioenergy Insight

profile Bioenergy energy over the next five years,’ Jurres reveals. ‘The company is growing.’ One reason for this ambitious development plan is economy of scale. Jurres explains: ‘We are expanding quickly because owning just one biogas plant makes us vulnerable. More will make us stronger because the biogas industry, as a semiindustrial process, needs scale of economy. We are building three more biogas facilities in Belgium at the moment and have plans to develop another three, two of which will be in the Netherlands. Within the next two to three years we will have five or six new biogas plants in operation. The three we are constructing at the moment will be online by mid-2014.’ NPG Bocholt is one of these

biogas plants due to start energy production later this year. Like Biopower Tongeren it is also located in Limburg, towards the north of the province, 4km south of the border with the Netherlands. Around 60,000 tonnes a year of corn, manure and organic

generate 2.3MW of green electricity from corn, straw and organic materials when it too comes online in the middle of this year. The majority of the generated power will be used by the adjacent Spindor NV carpet yarn business, with any

be used by nearby marine terminal operator DP World. Every cloud

Renewables will account for 13% of Belgium’s energy consumption by 2020 waste will be fed into the plant, generating 3MW of power for consumption by around 6,000 households. Also like Biopower Tongeren, the corn will be produced by local farmers, while the manure will be delivered by nearby cattle farms. In Peer, the Limburg-based NPG Bio I biogas plant will

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remainder injected into the grid. In August last year it was announced NPG commissioned construction company Weltec Biopower to build the plant. The final biogas plant NPG will open this year is Bio II, a 3MW project in Antwerp. When it comes online, much of its energy output will

While Jurres is sceptical that Belgium will meet its 13% renewable energy goal by 2020, he believes biogas plants have significant potential to contribute towards it. ‘Biogas in Europe has much potential,’ he says. ‘It is a very sustainable way to make energy and there are a lot of agricultural and manure waste streams which can be used to do this. Biogas plants also offer enormous efficiency,’ he continues. ‘Our Tongeren plant is 96% efficient, compared with the 43 to 46% efficiency of a coal plant or a gas plant that is 55-60% efficient. That’s quite amazing.’ l

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January/February 2014 • 43

Bioenergy biogas in Europe While Germany’s biogas market is floundering, other European nations are finally finding their feet

Highs and lows

‘T

by Keeley Downey

he electricity produced in Europe today from biogas could replace seven nuclear reactors in Belgium or produce nearly as much power as coal power plants in the Czech Republic.’ These impressive figures were revealed by Jan Stambasky, the president of the European Biogas Association (EBA), in January. More than 13,800 biogas plants are operating across Europe and the number continues to grow. Booming industries have been observed in France, the UK, Slovakia and, in particular, Italy, which more than doubled its number of installations from 521 to 1,264 in a year. Central and eastern Europe An increase in biogas production has also been observed in the Czech Republic, with the EBA’s technical advisor Agata Prządka telling Bioenergy Insight: ‘The market there has improved for sure, it’s an outstanding example. There are between 400 and 500 biogas plants there.’ Although capacity will dramatically slow down

44 • January/February 2014

between now and 2020, after it was announced new developments will no longer be eligible for Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), part of the Czech Republic’s growth can be attributed to the BiogasIN project. It ran from 2009 to 2012 and worked to create a sustainable biogas market in central and eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Slovenia. The core objective of the project was to reduce framework barriers for biogas developments in the region, especially those relating to the permitting and financing phases. The EBA was involved in the project. Prządka explains: ‘The biogas industry is strong in western European countries but, in central and eastern Europe however, it was the other way around. Local authorities lacked the experience needed for new biogas developments because hardly any plants had been built. BiogasIN was created to streamline permitting procedures for biogas investments, improving old and recommending new financing schemes for biogas investments.’

It was hoped biogas investment activity would start to increase as BiogasIN drew to a close. While this was the case in the Czech Republic and also Slovakia, which has built around 200 biogas plants to date, market development in other countries such as Poland has been slower, partly attributable to low incentives. ‘The certificate in Poland has a very low price which is regulated only by the market. There is no minimum price and in 2012 this decreased by 50%,’ according to Prządka. ‘This means there is no stability for a biogas business. Poland should finally publish its delayed Renewable Energy Law this year. According to the latest proposal, RES plants could receive FITs distributed via an auction system, similar to that seen in the Netherlands. Discussions over the law are ongoing.’ Bulgaria and Serbia — two nations where biogas activity has been essentially dormant up until now — also realised benefits, with both opening their first installations a couple of years ago. This brought the total number of European countries producing biogas to 33. Speaking about Bulgaria, Prządka comments: ‘It’s a very

interesting country and one with huge potential due to its abundance of agriculture and attractive incentives. The story also is similar for Romania and Ukraine.’ Mirotin Energo put Serbia’s first biogas plant into operation in 2012, receiving a FIT of €14.22/kWh. Prządka believes Mirotin Energo has paved the way for other biogas producers in the region and, with the recent establishment of the Serbian Biogas Association, hopes to see the industry continue to grow. The Serbian Biogas Association became the 63rd member of the EBA in November last year. Germany While the biogas sector is growing in certain central and eastern European countries and thriving in other western ones, the tables have turned in Germany. By the end of 2012 only 340 new plants had been commissioned compared to the previous year when 1,270 were built. Explaining this significant slowdown, Manuel Maciejczyk of the German Biogas Association says: ‘This massive slump in the construction of new plants in 2012 was mainly

Bioenergy Insight

biogas in Europe Bioenergy the result of the renewable energy act (EEG) and the critical discussion of the new energy policy in Germany.’ Keen for their biogas projects to qualify under Germany’s existing policy, many biogas producers raced to bring their projects online in time. The new EEG came into effect at the beginning of 2012 and limits the percentage of maize silage that can be used to 60%. In addition, the highest FIT is distributed to very small plants of 75kW with utilisation of at least 60% of animal manure (by mass). For a country where 90% of all biogas plants use energy crops, this came as bad news to many and resulted in a 74% drop in project developments. Maciejczyk says he does see the market shifting towards other feedstocks in the near future, particularly dairy manure: ‘I’m sure that manure and livestock waste will become more important in the future. At the moment we are currently utilising about 25% of the total amount of manure available in Germany. There is a lot of potential in this field.’ Food and beverage Another potential waste stream is that from the food and beverage (FaB) sector which, as Prządka highlights, has a number of benefits as a feedstock for energy production: ‘Europe has a problem with waste. AD is the most efficient way of utilising organic waste while avoiding sending it to landfill. It can be digested to generate energy, additional energy products and fertiliser.’ Europe’s FaB industry is the second largest manufacturing sector in the EU27, with a market share of 12.2% in value added terms. The sector generates a turnover of around €917 billion — 14% of total manufacturing turnover. The amount of residues generated in the FaB manufacturing sector is 5% of total food production. In response to the European

Bioenergy Insight

Commission, which wants to minimise the amount of waste coming from the food and beverage industry, a new initiative was established last year, of which the EBA is also a part of. FABbiogas began last April and will run until October 2016. During this 30 month period, the project aims to prove the efficiency and feasibility of FaB waste-based biogas implementation projects. ‘It is important to educate people about the potential of this waste feedstock because,’ Prządka says, ‘utilisation of such residues improves waste and energy managements of the whole food production facility, recycles nutrients and brings them back to the soil, and eliminates the problem of waste streams and water effluents. ‘Some countries are already using food waste, like the UK, but there are other countries that are just using a very small amount of it, or none at all,’ she adds. The implementation of FABbiogas comes at a time when Europe is looking to revise its EU Waste Framework Directive. It is expected this will stipulate more waste separation practices in order to decrease landfilling. Biomethane While the number of anaerobic digestion plants is dropping in Germany, its number of operational biomethane facilities grew to 117 in 2012; their combined raw gas treatment capacity amounted to 116,175m3 per hour. The number of plants is expected to have risen again last year to 130. Biogas is extremely versatile; in addition to electricity, it can also be used to produce heat and transportation fuel. When upgraded to biomethane, biogas offers the ideal replacement for natural gas. Fifteen European countries

are producing biomethane today. Eleven of these are injecting it into the natural gas grid, and it is also being used as a transportation fuel in 11 countries. In order to unlock the true potential of biomethane in Europe, however, free trade across all states is vital. While common standards have been established for natural gas, the biomethane market has not yet progressed that far and as a result full development has been hindered. It is with that aim of establishing common standards to enable trade that the world’s first international biomethane initiative is being developed, headed up by the EBA and the GreenGasGrids project. Six national biomethane registries have so far united and signed a letter of intent for cooperation towards a crossborder trade of biomethane. These registries are: Biomethan Register (Austria), Energinet (Denmark), Gaz Réseau Distribution (France), Biogasregister (Germany), VSG (Switzerland) and Green Gas Certification Scheme (UK). Under the letter of intent, the following key areas of collaboration include: • To create conditions for transfer of information related to biomethane transactions • To establish a methodology by which the complete information pertaining to biomethane ‘guarantees of origin’ is transferred between each registry • To ensure compatibility between the national registration systems • To set the conditions for mutual acceptance of ‘guarantees of origin’ for biomethane. ‘Biomethane is the best use of biogas,’ reveals Prządka. ‘It can be upgraded to the quality of natural gas and stored, which is very efficient. It has a bright future and this is clear, with between 50 and 80 new biomethane plants

built in Europe last year.’ She adds: ‘With about 14 billion m3 of biogas currently produced in Europe, (in natural gas equivalent) biomethane production would be significant if, by 2030, 18-20 billion m3 of biomethane could be produced in Europe. This would correspond to about 3% of the natural gas consumption of the European Union.’ Untouchable? While the number of plants brought online may have fallen significantly over the last two years, Germany remains the clear leader in the biogas sector, in terms of both number of plants and installed capacity. The nation aggressively built up its industry for a decade and has 8,000 plants in operation today. ‘This is enough to substitute 23% of our nuclear-based electricity, or replace three middle-sized nuclear power stations,’ Maciejczyk says. Many of these are located in the states of Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg. The second largest biogas producing nation is Italy, with 1,200 plants. ‘Other countries like France or Poland have a chance to reach the German volume, if enough is done by the local policy makers,’ Prządka observes. With a variety of waste materials able to be converted into biogas for use as electricity, heat and vehicle fuel, its potential to replace fossil fuels and slash Europe’s carbon emissions is great. ‘With over 13,800 biogas plants and nearly 7.5GW of installed capacity, biogas contributes significantly to Europe’s energy security and decarbonisation,’ Stambasky said. l

January/February 2014 • 45

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Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy

Renewable plant update: Europe Vireo Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment

BulEco Energy Grodno, Belarus Renewable power 1MW Biogas from landfill Construction

Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

November 2013 (announced) €1.4 million

Project start date Investment

NPG Energy Location Antwerp, Belgium Alternative fuel Renewable power Capacity 3MW Feedstock Biogas Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Completion date Mid-2014

NPG Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Investment Comment

Limburg, Belgium Combined heat and power 2.8MW Biogas produced from corn and agricultural waste Expansion from 2.8MW to 5.6MW €11 million The project will be carried out in two phases, first increasing capacity to 4.2MW, then to 5.6MW

NPG Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Limburg, Belgium Renewable power 3MW Biogas produced from 60,000 tonnes a year of corn, manure and organic waste Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Completion date Mid-2014

NPG Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Limburg, Belgium Renewable power 2.3MW Biogas produced from corn, straw and organic materials Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Weltec Biopower Completion date Mid-2014

Bioenergy Insight

Bankso, Bulgaria Renewable heat Biomass Bulgarian bank UniCredit Bulbank repossessed the plant after BulEco Energy failed to repay its loan for two years The plant was repossessed and put up for sale in 2013 It is estimated the plant will sell for around €2.4 million

Savon Voima Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Leppävirta, Finland Renewable heat 8MW Biomass including forest residues and peat Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Metso Project start date January 2013 (announced) Completion date End of 2013 Investment €9 million Taaleritehdas Location Alternative fuel Feedstock

Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Comment

Finland Biogas Household biowaste, wastewater slurry, industrial by-products and agricultural waste Construction 2012 (announced) Taaleritehdas plans to invest €90 million over a number of years developing five to seven biogas plants. Each facility could process between 60-120,000 tonnes of feedstock

Neoen Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Investment Comment

Commentry, France Combined heat and power 50MW heat, 15MW power Woodchips Construction Areva, Leroux and Lotz Technologies 2013 €55 million The new plant will cut CO2 emissions by 40,000 t/y

January/February 2014 • 47

Bioenergy plant update Biotricity

Akuo Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment

Estrees-Mons, France Combined heat and power 13MW in total Wood pellets Construction Q1 2013 (announced) €64 million

Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date

E.ON Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Comment

Gardanne, France Renewable power 150MW Biomass The coal-fired power plant will be upgraded to fire biomass Doosan Power systems and ADF 2013 Early 2015 The plant will reduce CO2 emissions by 600,000 tonnes a year

Ireland Renewable power 16MW 90,000 t/y of straw Construction September 2013 Q4 2015

Evermore Renewable Energy Fortum Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date Investment

Jelgava, Latvia Combined heat and power 45MW heat, 23MW power Wood pellets Construction August 2011 September 2013 €70 million

Hidashati Farm Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Bekes, Hungary Combined heat and power 1.2MW Biogas produced from cattle manure Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Biogaz Unio Project start date December 2013 Investment €4.4 million. The Hungarian government has invested €2 million into the project

Südzucker Moldova Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment Comment

Drochia, Moldova Biogas 7.3 million m3 Sugar beet pulp Construction June 2013 (announced) €8 million The plant will be located at the company’s sugar factory

Dalkia Energia Location Pecs, Hungary Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Capacity 70MW heat, 35MW power Feedstock 240,000 t/y of straw biomass Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Completion date November 2013 Investment €80.8 million Evermore Renewable Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date Investment

Comment

Londonderry, Northern Ireland Combined heat and power 15MW 110,000 t/y of wood biomass Construction 2015 £81 million (€97 million). Foresight Group and the UK Green Investment Bank have invested £20 million into the construction of the plant Stobart Biomass will provide the feedstock under a long-term supply contract

48 • January/February 2014

Tergopower Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date

Lublin, Poland Combined heat and power 40MW Wood and straw biomass sourced from local farmers Construction 2014

Polish Energy Partners Location Winsko, Poland Alternative fuel Renewable power Capacity 30MW Feedstock Straw Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder DP Cleantech Project start date January 2013 (announced) Completion date End of 2014 Investment €25.6 million

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy Egger Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date Investment

VänerEnergi Radauti, Romania Combined heat and power 83MW Woody biomass Construction October 2013 €35 million

Location Mariestad, Sweden Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Katrinefors Kraftvärme Project start date April 2013 Completion date End of 2014 Investment €30 million

First Biogaz Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment Comment

Vimmerby Energi and Miljö AB Romania Renewable energy 1.5MW Biogas Construction November 2013 (announced) €6 million First Biogaz signed a deal with the Romanian Commercial Bank to finance the project

RusForest Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Arkhangelsk, Russia Wood pellets 100,000 t/y By-products from the company’s sawmill operations Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Hekotek Completion date Q1 2014 Investment €12 million Comment RusForest has secured financing from Russian bank CentroCredit to purchase the pellet equipment and finance construction and installation Bioenergeticheskaya Kompaniya Location Syktyvkar, Russia Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Capacity 4MW Feedstock Bark and wood residues Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Metso Completion date 2014 Investment Undisclosed ENCE Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Merida, Spain Renewable power 20MW Energy plantation trees such as poplar and eucalyptus crops Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder SENER Completion date Q3 2014

Bioenergy Insight

Location Tallholmen, Sweden Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Capacity 26MW heat, 7MW power Feedstock Local forest residues Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Metso Completion date End of 2014 Investment €25 million

Vamamo Energi Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Sweden Combined heat and power 13.4MW heat, 3.6MW power Biomass such as local forest residues Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Metso Completion date Q3 2014 Investment €17 million

Biogasenergo Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Completion date Investment

Kiev, Ukraine Renewable power 18MW 210,000 t/y of woodchips Construction EIG Engineering Mid-2014 €70 million

Birmingham Bio-Power Location Birmingham, UK Alternative fuel Renewable power Capacity 10.3MW Feedstock 67,000 t/y of wood waste Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder MWH Treatment Completion date 2016 Investment €57 million Comment Nexterra Systems is to supply its gasification technology to the project

January/February 2014 • 49

Bioenergy plant update Imperative Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Birmingham, UK Combined heat and power 17.75MW 130,000 t/y of locally sourced wood waste M+W UK November 2013 2016 £70 million (€84 million)

Emerald Biogas Location County Durham, UK Alternative fuel Biogas Feedstock Commercial food waste Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Entec Biogas Completion date October 2013 Investment €9 million

Kedco Location London, UK Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Capacity 12MW Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Clarke Energy Project start date Q4 2013

Shropshire Energy Producer Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Shropshire Energy Ely, UK Combined heat and power 2.4MW Biogas produced from 20,000 t/y of vegetable waste and 36,500 t/y of maize silage Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder UTS Biogas Completion date December 2013

Estover Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date

Investment

Kent, UK Combined heat and power 8-12MW heat, 11-15MW power Locally sourced low-grade wood biomass Construction October 2013 (received planning consent). Construction is due to start later this year €76.5 million

ReFood Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment

London, UK Biogas Waste food Construction November 2013 €35 million

Energos Location Alternative fuel Capacity Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date

Milton Keynes, UK Renewable power 7MW Construction 2014 2016

North Blyth Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date

Northumberland, UK Renewable power 99MW Biomass Construction July 2013 (announced)

Edgeley Green Power Eco2 Location Lincolnshire, UK Alternative fuel Renewable power Capacity 40MW Feedstock Biomass including straw Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Investment €108 million

50 • January/February 2014

Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date Investment

Shoreham Port, UK Renewable power 32MW Vegetable oils, plant oils and animal fats Construction May 2013 (approved) 2015 €23.6 million

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy BioCore Environmental Location Suffolk, UK Alternative fuel Biogas Feedstock Locally produced energy crops Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder F.L.I. Energy Project start date August 2013

Western Bio-Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date Comment

Wales, UK Renewable power 14.7MW 150,000 t/y of biomass The plant was acquired by Greensphere Capital on behalf of the UK Green Investment Bank October 2013 Greensphere will invest to upgrade the plant and implement plans to increase the quantity of Grade A waste wood that the plant can convert to power

Cory Environmental Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date

Weston-super-Mare, UK Renewable power 500kW 12,000 t/y of food waste Construction December 2013

Drax Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date Investment

Yorkshire, UK Renewable power Wood pellets Converting three of six coal-fired generating units to biomass 2016 £700 million (€837 million)

*This list contains major plant projects in Europe, including the information available at the time of printing. If you would like to update or list any additional plants in future issues please email keeley@bioenergy-news.com

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January/February 2014 • 51

Bioenergy port infrastructure Paul Scott Abbott finds out how ports across North America are gearing up to handle increased volumes of wood pellets destined for Europe’s utility companies

Advancing exportation

orth American ports are continuing to gear up to meet Europe’s growing demand for wood pellets. Plans are moving forward for several new export facilities in the US Southeast, as are developments for shipping methods that avert the traditional need for onport silo infrastructure. In North Carolina alone, new wood pellet export terminals are in the works at both the Port of Wilmington and the Port of Morehead City. Enviva, which already exports pellets from its plant in Garysburg, North Carolina via a terminal in Chesapeake, Virginia, is looking to start exports by 2015 from a $40 million (€29 million) facility it is building in Wilmington. Most of that product is to come from a mill Enviva opened in 2011 in Ahoskie. Meanwhile, San Diego-based International WoodFuels plans to finance and build a $25 million export facility at the Port of Morehead City, according to an agreement recently approved by North Carolina state officials, which calls for shipments to start by late 2014. Forestry experts at North Carolina State University are quick to point out that US wood pellet production is projected to more than triple from 2010 to 2015, when it is anticipated to reach nearly 10 million tonnes. A 2011 statewide maritime strategy developed for the North Carolina Department of Transportation by consultants from AECOM Technology specified wood

52 • January/February 2014

pellet exports as providing a significant opportunity. ‘To meet increasing demand in the UK and elsewhere in Europe for mandated environmentally friendly power plant stock, forests in the southeast of the US are making use of material that, in years past, might have literally been left on the ground to rot,’ says Lori Baer, AECOM’s VP for south region ports and marine. ‘This material, in the form of wood pellets, is now proving to be a significant export commodity at a number of the region’s seaports. The benefits are accruing not only to the forest products industry but also at ports where these pellets are handled.’ Strategically located Ports along the South Atlantic and the Central Gulf coasts are particularly well-situated to handle pellets, as these global gateways tend to be relatively close to the forests and production facilities. This makes for convenient, cost-effective transportation via truck, rail and/or barge to the oceangoing vessels that take the commodity on its journey to Europe. AECOM also urged officials of the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, in a 2010 strategic plan, to pursue such opportunities and, in mid-2013, the port inked a deal to bring a $30 million wood pellet export terminal to its Bayou Casotte Harbour. The project is being financed in part with $10 million in state bond monies. The Pascagoula facility, which is expected to be in

operation by mid-2015, is to get most of its throughput from a $115 million manufacturing facility being built about 35 miles north of the port by Green Circle Bio Energy. Green Circle’s first plant opened in 2008 in Cottondale, Florida, some 200 miles east of Pascagoula along the Gulf of Mexico. The Panama City Port Authority and stevedoring firm SSA Marine put in place $16.5 million of pellethandling infrastructure, which in 2013 moved more than 600,000 tonnes of Green Circle exports to the UK. ‘Wood pellet exports from Panama City have continued to increase year on year,’ says Wayne Stubbs, the port’s executive director. ‘We have made a number of additional improvements, including lengthening the loading berth

with mooring dolphins and adding additional rail siding and dust controls. We have also made investments in additional fire protection.’ Much closer to Pascagoula, the Port of Mobile in Alabama continues to increase its wood pellet export volumes, which are moved by Cooper Marine and Timberlands. ‘It’s really ramping up,’ James Lyons, director and CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority, says of wood pellet activity, which has the potential to reach 750,000 tonnes in annual exports from Mobile. Lyons says the chief uncertainty regarding future volumes lies in whether European government subsidies continue to support the use of wood pellets in power plants, commenting: ‘If something happens to the subsidies, I don’t know.’

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy Lyons notes that the Mobile operation precludes the typical necessity for onport silo infrastructure, as the goods never touch port docks. Instead, floating cranes transfer pellets to oceangoing vessels from barges that bring the product down from storage domes in Aliceville,

At the Port of Brunswick, Logistec Stevedoring’s operation includes a belt-fed chute for loading wood pellets

Alabama, or via a threeday barge float up the river system along the TennesseeTombigbee Waterway. Another approach that averts the need for on-port silos is that being taken by Arrows Up, which has put one of its first jumbo bulk transport systems in place at the Seaonus terminal at the Port of Jacksonville, Florida. Rick Sharp, VP of Seaonus, formerly ICS Logistics, says a tremendous future opportunity for the Jacksonville Port Authority

Bioenergy Insight

is seen in the export of wood pellets using the Arrows Up system. It relies on 8ft x 8ft bins each capable of holding as many as 7 tonnes of wood pellets or related products, plus remotecontrol operated spreader bar technology to ensure soft loading of such bins. Arrows Up’s president and CEO John Allegretti comments: ‘Everybody believes you need silos and all kinds of other infrastructure for bulk commodities, and we’ve eliminated that requirement. Our bins provide transport, storage and loading all in one, with capability to load as many as 1,000 tonnes per hour versus the traditional 500 tonnes an hour.’

Logistec has collaborated with the Georgia Ports Authority on $25 million of infrastructure improvements at the East River Terminal in Brunswick, Georgia. These include berth repairs and dredging to 36ft quayside depth, bulk storage sheds, conveyor systems, a rail pit and ship loader, all of which have enhanced pellethandling efficiencies and vessel-loading productivity. Relying on product from Fram Renewable Fuels, Logistec’s Brunswick biomass distribution centre annually ships out about 500,000 tonnes of pellets, with volumes rising each year, according to Vannelli.

Among other majoring stevedoring entities with which Arrows Up officials are in discussions is Logistec, according to Allegretti. Frank Vannelli, senior VP for commercial and business development at the Logistec Stevedoring subsidiary of Montréal-based Logistec, which handles wood pellet exports from both US and Canadian ports, says his firm has made a commitment in conventional pellethandling infrastructure in the US Southeast.

New markets While total wood pellet export volumes are increasing, or at least holding steady, from ports on both sides of the US-Canada border, the share of North American wood pellet exports moving through US ports keeps gaining and, thus, the comparative portion going out via Canadian ports is decreasing. According to consulting firm Wood Resources International, Canadian ports now move 38% of North American wood pellet exports

— down from 62% in 2011. Logistec’s Vannelli points to recent 16% year on year gains in pellet export volumes from US South ports, adding: ‘With additional capacity in British Columbia, Ontario, Québec and Nova Scotia, pellet exports from Canada will most likely expand significantly in 2014 and beyond.’ He says: ‘The other interesting trend is that now premium pellets being sold in Europe for the residential heating market are in high demand, so this will further increase volumes that were ticketed to go into the industrial sector, to the utilities companies.’ Vannelli also notes that, while Logistec’s volumes through the Port of Montréal continue to largely serve the utilities sector, the firm has been contracted to handle through the Port of Halifax pellets destined for the European home heating market. Lane Farguson, communications advisor at the Halifax Port Authority, explains: ‘We are in the early stages of exploring whether there is value in shipping containerised and/or bagged wood pellets through the Port of Halifax via the handling and storage facilities at the Halifax Grain Elevator. By shipping them as a containerised or bagged product, it may be possible to introduce it to residential consumers. Typically, bulk wood pellets are sold for industrial purposes.’ At the Port of Halifax, pellets customarily have been dry-stored in Halifax Grain Elevator silos until enough product accumulates to fill a large bulk vessel for transport to Europe. Farguson says he is optimistic that export wood pellet throughput at the Port of Halifax will be about 100,000 tonnes in 2014, similar to past years. Much of that product is now coming from a plant opened in mid-2013 by Scotia Atlantic Biomass, Nova Scotia. l

January/February 2014 • 53

Bioenergy port infrastructure

Looking to the future Keeley Downey talks to Bouwe van den Oever about the Port of Amsterdam’s expanding renewable energy cluster

How does the Port of Amsterdam plan to become a ‘rising star’ in biomass in the future?

The Port of Amsterdam is a key player with regards to dry bulk materials such as coal and agribulk. During the past few years it has grown to become one of the world’s leading ports for coal and today is the second largest coal transshipment port in Europe. Dry bulk throughput counts for 43% of the port’s total annual throughput of 78 million tonnes in 2013. Biomass will be an important cargo in the next five to 10 years. We want to be successful in handling biomass like we are in coal and believe we are well positioned to do this; the port has a large dry bulk sector which handles 33 million tonnes of dry bulk cargo, including biomass, annually. Approximately 1 million m2 of covered storage for dry bulk is available. Additionally, experience and expertise in the handling of coal and agribulk, and good hinterland connection by water mean Amsterdam can facilitate the

54 • January/February 2014

expected growth in biomass. Amsterdam has a unique logistical location within the ARA region. It has a seaentrance draft up to 13.7m without lightering. With its lightering facility before the locks in IJmuiden, Amsterdam handles capsize bulk carriers with a draft up to 17.8m. The port also has excellent hinterland connections for inland shipping to ARA ports, Germany and the UK by sea. The majority of wood pellets coming into the port would arrive by barge and a small percentage by rail.

at the Port of Amsterdam. The Port of Amsterdam has a number of projects that will stimulate the volume of wood pellets being imported. For example, Swedish utility company Vattenfall is converting its 650MW coal power plant to co-fire 30% (500,000-600,000 tonnes) biomass to generate renewable electricity for the region of Amsterdam. The project is scheduled to be completed in phases; first 14%, then 28% before reaching its 30% goal. Operations are expected to commence in

the coming three years. There are several parties who also want to invest in biomass at the port, but there first has to be more pellets before they can invest in additional storage capacity. These parties include Cargill and CWT Europe, who are interested in biomass and will be closely monitoring the opportunities in handling biomass. Today there are four terminals handling wood pellets at the port: OBA Bulk Terminals, CWT Sitos and Igma Bulk Terminals, as well as Maja Stuwadoors.

How do you see biomass throughput volumes growing in the future?

Last year the Port of Amsterdam handled around 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets. This figure is quite low but it’s a new industry. We predict the throughput of the Dutch ports will go up to 3.5 million tonnes over the next few years, reaching 6 million tonnes by 2020. Of that at least 1 million tonnes are expected to call

Wood pellets at OBA’s terminal (Source: Wim Bos)

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy

Handling at Igma’s terminal (Source: Ed Seeder)

Together these terminals have covered storage sheds spanning 70,000m2 which can be used for biomass. The concrete sheds, commonly used to store trade commodities, (there are 800,000m2 of covered storage space for cocoa at the Port of Amsterdam) can also be used to house biomass but silos are better suited to the job because unloading can be carried out quicker, which is important because of the trade flow. At the moment, however, the flow of wood pellet cargoes is not enough. When the real flow begins, that is when we will invest in the construction of dedicated biomass storage capacity. I think significant wood pellet imports to the port will come in 2017-2018.

What role does biomass play in helping the Netherlands reach its 2020 renewable energy targets?

The renewable energy target in the Netherlands is 14% by 2020, rising to 16% in 2023. The main types of renewable energy are wind, solar, biofuel and geothermal, but I don’t think the 2020

Bioenergy Insight

target will be met unless biomass is utilised as one of sources of renewables as well. Biomass can help the Netherlands reduce its dependence on oil and gas and reduce CO2 emissions. The government is hesitant about promoting wood pellets because of concerns surrounding their sustainability. The main supplier of wood pellets to Europe, for the next six to seven years at least, will be North America, but they must comply with sustainability requirements. Future potential exporters of wood pellets to Europe are Russia, Brazil and Africa, however it is not currently expected to be possible to receive sustainable biomass from these regions. Their logistics are not yet up to par and there will be some reluctance to meet the sustainability criteria. The main trade flow will come from the US and Canada; logistics in North America are very well developed. In terms of demand, we see the UK as a significant importer of wood pellets in the near future, while Austria, Germany, Italy

and Switzerland have big home heating markets.

Q A

What sustainable practices are in place at the port?

Amsterdam’s Waste and Energy Company (AEB) operates a facility at the site which combusts sewage sludge from neighbouring company Waternet into biogas. This gas is converted into green gas and used, among others purposes, to fuel garbage trucks in west Amsterdam. The remaining sewage sludge is added to AEB’s combustion process and converted into energy. Another thing we aim to do is provide twice as much

storage capacity on the same amount of land because we are running out of space. This is just one solution. It’s a long-term plan that involves a number of tailor-made solutions across the whole port.

How much has been invested in biomass projects at the port?

More than €100 million has been invested to date and more will be spent in the next two years. As volumes increase, so will investments — substantially. It’s big money. l For more information:

www.portofamsterdam.com

Activities at the Port of Amsterdam (Source: Liesbeth Dingemans)

January/February 2014 • 55

Bioenergy port infrastructure A lack of governmental support for biomass means utilities are wary about investing in large projects at the Port of Rotterdam

A cautionary tale

by Keeley Downey

he demand for biomass in northwest Europe today stands at around 45 million tonnes. In this region, domestic supply cannot cope with the increase in demand and wood pellet imports, which already amount to more than 4 million tonnes, will continue grow in the future. The Port of Rotterdam is one of a limited number of ports in a position to become a hub for these trade volumes, expecting to handle between 8 and 10 million tonnes of biomass by 2020. Last year the port handled around 32 million tonnes of coal and biomass. Several stevedoring companies are active in the port area and, to accommodate the growing volumes, are investing to expand their handling and storage capacity. However, with the existing port and industry area quickly running out of space, an expansion project began in 2008. Finalised in 2013, Maasvlakte 2 — a direct extension of the existing Maasvlakte — is well connected with the European hinterland. The 1,000 hectare expansion will be used for deep sea-related container transshipment, distribution and chemical activities. Eighty hectares of this is reserved for a bio-based industrial cluster. To supply this cluster with raw materials, a dedicated biomass terminal will be established on site. Hugo du Mez, business developer for dry bulk at the Port of Rotterdam, tells Bioenergy Insight: ‘The market for biomass imports is depressed at the moment,

56 • January/February 2014

especially in the Netherlands, but we are confident it will rise. Developing a terminal means looking at the bigger picture. It will be for the long-term and require a large investment. We are still looking at this and talking to different stakeholders, utility companies, stevedores, traders and pellet producers to find out what the best possibilities are.’ Sinking support? The port handled around 600,000 tonnes of wood pellets in 2013, down from the 1 million tonne throughput recorded the previous year. ‘This figure dropped last year, partly due to the revision of the SDE+ subsidy scheme in the Netherlands for co-firing biomass. This means it is quite expensive for power plants,’ du Mez reveals. Towards the end of last year it was announced that subsidies awarded to

Netherlands-based biomass co-firing projects would be capped at 25 petajoules (around 800MW at full capacity), a move that will lower energy bills for consumers while also lowering the amount of biomass to just 3.5 million tonnes. There was more bad news to come for the nation’s biomass industry when it was announced five old coal-fired power stations are to shut down. The first three are scheduled to close at the beginning of 2016 before the remaining two are shuttered the following year. ‘This is not good news,’ according to du Mez, ‘as it means they will no longer co-fire biomass either. On the other hand, the abolition of the coal tax will allow the remaining coal plants to be more efficient as they will be able to burn biomass. We hope the new energy policy will come soon and support cofiring. While it would be nice

to see the market develop to a stage where biomass subsidies are not needed, there is a gap between the cost of coal and the cost of wood pellets. Without any form of subsidies, it would be very difficult for the utilities to burn biomass.’ The government has announced support for co-firing of biomass in the so-called SDE+ renewable energy support scheme by the year 2015, provided the biomass meets strict sustainability criteria. Under its renewables target, the Dutch government plans for 14% of the Netherlands’ energy production to derive from renewable materials by 2020, rising to 16% by 2023. Growing throughput A number of on-site projects are currently underway at the Port of Rotterdam and these alone will increase the volume of biomass throughputs when they come online.

600,000 tonnes of wood pellets were handled at the port last year

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy At Maasvlakte 1, E.ON has broken ground on a second 1,100MW plant, a portion of which (permit for 30% cofiring) will be generated by biomass. Elsewhere in the port, GDF Suez is building an 800MW generating station, 50% or more of which could be produced from pellets. And AVR-BEC has started constructing a 22MW plant that will consume only biomass. Other companies at the port have also invested in the necessary infrastructure to handle wood pellets and biomass. ZHD Stevedoring has the capacity to handle large volumes of biomass and has recently invested in expanding its storage capacity. The same applies to European Bulk Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of HES Beheer. It can handle a variety of dry bulk materials, including biomass, at its two terminals in the Rotterdam port area.

One other stevedoring company with a focus on biomass handling and storage is Rotterdam Bulk Terminal. ‘Wood pellets need to be stored in specially-built covered storage facilities because they cannot be kept outside,’ du Mez highlights. Future markets Electricity production is just one market that du Mez believes will contribute to higher imports of biomass arriving at Europe’s shores: ‘The industrial and residential heating sector in countries like Germany, Austria and Italy is already large and continues to grow. Domestic production is not enough to keep up with these demands.’ ‘Also,’ du Mez continues, ‘the bio-refining market, which will use woody biomass to produce biofuels and biochemicals, is growing

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and, in the future, will become an important one. There are a lot of chemical companies at the port itself, so there is a large market for this material on site.’ While most of these imports will arrive from the US East Coast and Canada for now, du Mez believes that could change. ‘We conducted a study and found shipments from North America will diminish in the next decade; most of the material will be consumed domestically, meaning there will be less material to export. We therefore expect more material to come from Brazil, Russia and Ukraine and these will be important players in the future. These regions have a lot of biomass such as energy crops. Some of this material is used domestically but a large portion of it is unused. This is expected to change as demand in Europe

grows. There is a good export opportunity there.’ Although predicted to reach tens of millions of tonnes in the not-so-distant future, pellet throughput today is limited. Demand from the biobased chemical industry will still take years to develop. And although imports for the heating market in countries like Germany, Austria and Italy is picking up, demand for pellets for power production is flat. This, coupled with uncertain support schemes for the industry, means utility companies are wary about investing in large projects at the port. As du Mez explains: ‘Utilities want to be sure the market is right for them to use biomass before going ahead with a project like this. They need to have confidence the market will exist, not only today and next year, but in 20 years’ time.’ l

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January/February 2014 • 57

Bioenergy port infrastructure

Becoming a biomass hub How is the Port of Antwerp equipped to handle growing shipments of biomass?

urope’s 20/20/20 energy objective states member countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20% when compared to 1990 levels, increase their energy efficiency to 20% and generate 20% of all energy sustainably by the year 2020. The first and latter of these objectives can be achieved by increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the energy mix. However, the share of renewables in the region’s total energy portfolio will not be increased by solar and wind alone. Energy production from biomass will make up a key part of the sustainable segment and the demand for woody

renewable materials to meet demand, and flows of biomass coming into mainland Europe after 2014 are predicted to reach between 12 and 50 million tonnes a year. Today Antwerp is ready to act on this and become the biomass hub for northwestern Europe. The facts Covering almost 13,000 hectares, the Port of Antwerp is one of the the world’s largest ports by surface area. It is Europe’s largest port by storage space and its second largest port by total tonnage. Able to handle the largest seagoing vessels, the port allows large volumes of biomass to be imported

World electricity generation by fuel (TWh)

biomass — namely pellets and woodchips — will increase substantially by 2020. Biomass is therefore a fastmoving, upcoming market with large potential, but domestic production will not be sufficient enough to meet this demand. Imports coming from Scandinavia, the Americas and Africa will offer energy producers sustainable,

58 • January/February 2014

and distributed to the final inland destinations. Importantly, Antwerp is already well-equipped with existing infrastructure for handling biomass, with more than 5.6 million m2 of covered storage space in what is one of Europe’s largest warehouse facilities. It is a full-scale deep-sea port, located 80km in land; an

Biomass in the heart of Europe Dry bulk services link

Antwerp with locations worldwide, mostly on a freighting/chartering basis. Antwerp is a leading European port for shipping services to and from the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. In addition, frequent shortsea and feeder services link the port with over 200 locations in Europe and North Africa. Barge connections • Around 915 barges a week depart from the Port of Antwerp, destined for one of 75 European locations. The barges vary in size, providing a range of capacities and capabilities. • Antwerp is directly connected to the Albert Canal and the 1,500km Belgian barge network. Its position in the middle of the Scheldt-Maas-Rhine delta means the network is linked to the pan-European inland waterway network. • Barges can reach the Ruhr area in Germany’s Duisberg in around 20 hours, and Switzerland in 72 hours. • The Port of Antwerp co-operates with several inland ports, including Brussels, Genk, Liège, Limburg and Venlo.

Rail transport • All berths at the Port of Antwerp are rail connected. • Several rail freight operators serve the port, linking it with locations across northwest Europe. Each day around 250 cargo trains link the port with one of the 820 destinations in 23 countries. • Various options are available to customers depending on dry bulk volumes and destinations. E.g. contract-hire of dedicated trainload shuttles, spot hire of individual wagons. Road transport • Antwerp is ideally located at the crossraods of Europe. Trucks can reach Frankfurt in Germany in under six hours and Paris in France in just over four hours. • The electronic prenotification of trucks minimises turnaround times at the port terminals. • International road hauliers offer a range of trucks and equipment and are experienced in transporting various types of dry bulk cargo.

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy advantageous location given that vessels continue to be the most favourable method of transportation with the lowest carbon footprint and its close proximity to many biomass-related customers. The Antwerp dry bulk terminals at the port offer more than 1.4 million m2 of covered and open, multiuse and specialised, dry bulk storage space and can handle over 40 million tonnes of dry bulk annually — a figure that can be quickly increased if required. Efforts towards establishing itself at the heart of Europe’s northwestern biomass industry are already being realised and, in 2012, the Port of Antwerp doubled the volume of biomass throughput to 500,000 tonnes compared with 2011.

Future plans A portion of these incoming pellets will one day be consumed onsite at the Port of Antwerp after the Antwerp Port Authority and Solvay Energy RES directive (2009/28/EC) targets (% of renewable energy sources in total energy mix) established a partnership named Antwerp Biopower. supply an estimated 350,000supply it would bring and the In January 2013 Antwerp 800,000 households with lucrative heat recovery, which Biopower, with its operational renewable electricity when would further improve the partner E.ON Climate and it comes online. Completion ‘green-ness’ of the project. l Renewables, announced plans is expected for 2018. to build a 160-300MW biomass Such a project has been For more information: This article was written by Wim generating power station. requested for by the local Dillen, senior business development Expected to cost between €400 chemical industry for two manager of dry bulk, Port of Antwerp, www.portofantwerp.com and €700 million, the plant will reasons: the stable energy

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January/February 2014 • 59

Bioenergy port infrastructure With wood pellet imports to Europe on the rise, what factors must be taken into consideration when it comes to biomass handling?

Biomass handling at ports and terminals

iomass is one of the fastest growing bulk shipping sectors, comprising mainly wood pellets for use in European power stations. These pellets are either co-fired with coal in existing facilities or fed into new stations. In the UK, for example, half of the Drax power station is being converted to fire wood pellets, a project that, when complete, will require 8 million tonnes a year of pellets to pass through various ports in the area. This in turn will drive significant expansion in port infrastructure. And Drax is only about one third of the 6,000MW generating capacity the UK government planned (in 2011) to be turned over to biomass by 2020. Ironbridge and Lynemouth are part way down the road to conversion as well, and there are over a dozen new stations of smaller size (from 20MW to 200MW) in planning. The story is similar over much of Europe. Materials As Europe does not have enough forests to produce the vast quantities needed, much of the pellets will be imported. Compared with raw biomass — such as woodchips or logs — pellets are three times as dense (around 600700kg/m3 as opposed to around 200 for woodchips). The economics of pelletising means pellets are likely to remain the main biomass commodity traded in large quantity; in spite of the capital

60 • January/February 2014

and energy required to establish and run a large-scale pellet plant, the transportation, storage and processing costs are vastly reduced compared with raw biomass. Pellets are easier to handle and store, so the capital cost of the handling facilities are lower for pellets than raw biomass. Biomass pellets are more similar to animal feed than to traditional solid fuels like coal. They need to be kept dry in storage and, unlike some coals, generally flow well. However, they do present other problems. Dust dangers Biomass dust is far more dangerous than coal dust. The typical moisture content of wood pellets varies between 4 and 8% and are dry to the touch, so dust particles do not bind to the surface like they do to coal. Instead they are lighter and so become easily airborne, travel further and can settle over a wider area compared to coal. Biomass dust also contains mould spores, which are hazardous to health and can lead to ‘Farmer’s Lung’ (alveolitis), the most common industrial disease in the agricultural industry. If the dust settles anywhere damp, the mould will multiply and release more spores. Settling on anything electrical, it causes heat to build up and can start to smoulder and even initiate a fire. Airborne in a cloud, the biomass dust is explosive and can be set off by hot surfaces or sparks. Minimising and controlling

dust has to be top priority, first by designing the handling systems to reduce breakage of the pellets, then by containment and ultimately some extraction where there is no other alternative. Extraction should not be used as a substitute for good prevention and containment; it is the most expensive and least effective contributor to effective dust control. Keep it clean Controlling explosion hazards is vital. Where dust can build up in enclosed spaces (e.g. silos, sheds and filter houses) there is potential for an explosion. With that in mind, either the dust levels need to be kept down or explosion venting should be provided. ‘ATEX’ in Europe stipulates how to carry out a risk assessment and decide on the level of explosion hazard in each area of the plant (known as ‘zoning’). The ATEX equipment ratings then enable the right equipment to be selected, stating which

is safe to use according to the level of explosion hazard present in each area. The most important factor in keeping the plant safe is preventing dust from spreading and cleaning up dust that settles. Dust explosions that demolish facilities and kill people are usually ‘secondary explosions’ caused by dust on the floor being brought up into the air by an initial event, leading to a fireball. Good housekeeping is therefore a matter of life and death for the operatives. Equipment such as shovels and dozers used in biomass sheds and cargo holds for trimming also needs to be protected to avoid producing ignition hazards and overheating due to dust ingress. This first involves converting the machine — a process which can cost more than the initial purchase price. The machines must also be kept clean; around one hour of cleaning for every three to four hours of use, and additionally ensure dust is kept out of the cab.

A number of power plants, in the UK and across Europe, are being converted to fire wood pellets

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy Self-heating and fire protection

Loading, unloading and conveying

In storage, pellets can selfheat if they are not turned around in a short enough time to stop them from reaching ‘thermal runaway’. Proper stock rotation is critical to the operation, as is the need for regular complete emptying to prevent fires (e.g. mass flow (first-infirst-out), discharge or core flow (first-in-last-out)). Temperatures should be monitored regularly and smouldering material coming in to a store should be measured with both CO trending and multi-gas detectors, not an alarm level as used for coal. In addition, a comprehensive fire strategy should be in place; experience has demonstrated that local fire fighters are usually not trained in tackling a biomass blaze.

Grab unloading is the most pellet-friendly form of unloading but causes the most spillage. Continuous ship unloaders are more efficient, however can be more problematic: bucket wheel machines create dust clouds, while pneumatics cause the pellets to break down. There is no single right answer, therefore, and the machine needs to be chosen carefully according to the operating context, as does the storage facility — flat store, dome or silos? Conveyors need to be designed to incorporate the latest ‘hood and spoon’ chute technology — traditional transfer point designs will destroy the pellets and lead to dust-related issues — and implement the latest research in stilling chamber design.

They must be protected against rain ingress and wind lift-off, but whether conveyors should be fully covered or open within a larger windproof gallery is a moot point. Fully covered conveyors contain dust, but if they are not cleaned out regularly they offer the perfect conditions to conduct a secondary dust explosion through the plant. Uncovered conveyors should not suffer excessive dust buildup, if the transfer point designs are done correctly and draughts are kept out of the galleries and transfer towers, but will still require regular cleaning.

it into the curriculum of most engineers and operators, so many people ‘feel their way’ in the technology and this can lead to mistakes. The single most important factor is training, from the procurement team so they know what to buy, through the designers and contractors who optimise the design, to the operators who need to know how to work safely. For this reason, The Wolfson Centre has developed a suite of short courses for those interested in handling biomass. Getting all the people along the chain to know what they are up against is the single most important key to commercial success in the biomass business. l

Training The safety and efficiency of the operation depends on the experience and expertise of the designer and operators. However, bulk solids handling does not make

For more information:

This article was written by Mike Bradley, director of The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, www.bulksolids.com

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January/February 2014 • 61

Bioenergy port infrastructure One bulk reclaiming system was the preferred choice for Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminals

Good vibrations

he strategically placed coastal ports have, for many years, played a key role in both the export and import of huge volumes of fossil fuels used to keep the lights switched on and the wheels of commerce turning across Europe. Millions of tonnes of fossil fuels — specifically coal — have, for generations, passed through these gateways, destined to fuel large industries including the fleet of coal-fired power stations. For decades these facilities have formed the core of power generation across northern Europe at a time when the priority was simply to generate power, no matter what the environmental cost. In the drive to improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of the energy generating industry, large-scale investments have been made, or are in the process of planning, to convert many existing coal power stations to co-firing units, consuming a more sustainable fuel diet which includes large volumes of biomass and wood pellets. Drax Power, located near Selby in the UK, is a leader in the move away from fossil fuels. It has invested heavily in new combustion technology and the associated storage and handling facilities, which will not only store 450,000m3 of wood and agri pellets, but will also have an annual appetite of 7.5 million tonnes of biomass sourced mainly from the US and Canada. This surge in demand has meant not only must the power stations make significant investments, but

62 • January/February 2014

also port facilities such as Immingham, Liverpool, Port of Tyne and Teesport too. At these sites, large ships are unloaded and their cargo temporarily stored in a variety of covered silos and buildings before onward transfer via rail or road transport to the power stations. Investment Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal (IRFT) is one such facility, located at the UK’s Port of Immingham and owned by Associated British Ports (ABP). In March 2013 ABP signed a 15-year contract

with a target completion date in October 2014. The Port of Immingham is the UK’s largest handler of dry bulk cargo and has always been an energy port since it opened just over 100 years ago. The new biomass terminal will be an 11.5 acre fully automated bulk handling facility constructed adjacent to the existing coal terminal. Unlike coal, wood pellets need to be stored carefully and kept protected from the weather. They are also dusty and must be handled correctly in order to control emissions and either manage or eliminate

A new biomass terminal is being built at the Port of Immingham

with Drax Power, a deal which has enabled ABP to invest £100 million (€119.6 million) in its Humber terminals at Hull, Goole and Immingham, with the largest proportion of that investment — £60 million — being made in the Port of Immingham. Graham Construction was awarded an 18 month contract to undertake the design and construction of the Immingham terminal,

fire, explosion and health risks, as the biomass can be approximately 1,000 times more combustible than coal. Operations at the facility will run 24/7 for 365 days a year, with the first phase capable of handling around 3 million tonnes per year, storing 100,000 tonnes in four new concrete silos with a total capacity of 168,000m3. The port has risen to the challenge of handling such

large volumes of wood pellets by providing two continuous ship unloaders capable of handling 2,500 tonnes per hour. Covered conveyors, stretching 1.2km, will be installed to transfer the wood pellets, controlling the dust and isolating the hydroscopic pellets from the elements and harsh salt-laden atmosphere of an east coast UK port. Problem solving Once the wood pellets are stored in the silos, Immingham will face the same issues and risks of spontaneous combustion as a result of degradation and long-term residence. The Drax project addressed this problem by using Vibrafloor as the bulk reclaiming system. Unlike other alternative reclaiming technologies, Vibrafloor requires no routine maintenance, it has no major wearing or rotating parts, achieves 100% clearance of the stored product without generating dust or degrading the pellets, and operates using very little energy. The system works by creating a wave in the flexible surface plate of each module, instigated by a low power centrifugal vibrating motor. This undermines and collapses the leading edge of cohesive and free flowing material through a low pressure zone, creating a progressive avalanche of the stored material. The collapsed material is gently swept away by the wave action (much as the effects of erosion on coastal cliffs), constantly undermining any obstruction or bridged material held in the store.

Bioenergy Insight

port infrastructure Bioenergy

A concrete storage silo

And Drax and Immingham are not alone in adopting the Vibrafloor concept. Tilbury (before the project was cancelled) and other portside and power generation projects which are currently proliferating across Europe, each with similar ambitions to operate fully automated wood pellet and biomass storage facilities, have also included the system within their projects, handling both cohesive and free flowing materials. From the outside, the Immingham project appeared to have many similarities with the larger and more advanced Drax facility, however the detail within has made it a different project. Drax

Bioenergy Insight

sits at the receiving end of the supply chain where the pellets will ultimately be ground to a fine powder and

product from ship to railcar, to avoid pellet degradation and dust generation, is of major importance as penalties are included within the contract for any degradation incurred. Drax opted to build four larger (63m diameter) concrete dome storage vessels with twin conveyor tunnels and a ‘W’ profile silo floor covered with VibraFloor reclaiming modules. They were designed to feed the 16 outlets positioned above the twin reclaiming conveyor tunnels, at an average rate of 2,600 tonnes per hour per conveyor. At IRFT, a different concept is being used, with more traditional slip formed concrete silos (36.5m diameter) constructed with a conical ‘O’ profile silo floor,

Wood pellets need to be stored carefully and kept protected from the weather. They are also dusty and must be handled correctly as biomass can be 1,000 times more combustible than coal injected as a dust cloud into the combustors. Immingham on the other hand is located in the middle of the supply chain as a transfer facility, where gentle handling of the

feeding a single central outlet per silo. Both arrangements have their own advantages and disadvantages, although Graham Construction decided discharging the

silos via a single central outlet at an average rate of 2,000 tonnes per hour made controlling the flow easier and simpler to manage. On a project of the size and complexity of Immingham, which was to be completed within a tight construction programme, security, safety and risk are at the forefront of everybody’s minds. The project was designed to provide a safe and reliable system that will empty ships and refill eight trains per day destined for Drax, at a rate of 1,600 tonnes per hour. This obligation is not only for the 15-year term of the current contract, but also to provide a good return on investment over the 30-year design life of the project. Fire The substitution of sustainable biomass for fossil fuels is broadly acknowledged as a positive step. However, technical and safety issues associated with the combustion and storage of biomass still remain. Not the least of which is the risk of fire within a storage vessel as a result of hot particles or spontaneous combustion. In common with many similar projects, Graham Construction introduced a series of measures to detect or mitigate problems as swiftly as possible. One of the most effective measures is to introduce pressurised nitrogen to a wood pellet silo as a flame retardant. The distribution of nitrogen across the base of a silo to allow percolation through the product had been problematic. At IRFT, nitrogen is pumped in to the silo via pressurised pipes and valves located beneath perforated duct covers which lie between each segment of the silo floor, ensuring an even distribution of gas. l For more information:

This article was written by Simon Prince, commercial director, Vibrafloor, www.vibrafloor.co.uk

January/February 2014 • 63

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agitation Bioenergy How building an AD plant has helped one business save money and expand operations

AD adds up accelerating batch times. Roe says: ‘The first pump we had could manage the 35m head required to make the final discharge to our digestate lagoons, but it would take 24 hours and suffer from wear and tear. The Landia MPTK chopper, which also has to pump 250m horizontally as well as 35m vertically, is more resilient and does the same job in just two and a half hours, which has created benefits all the way back down the production line.’ Electricity generated at the AD plant is sold onto the UK’s national grid and this, in addition to income from waste,

now accounts for around half of Cannnington’s income. The plant produces 2.3MW, with around 1.35MW exported to the grid after approximately 700kW is used to power the site. From truckloads of bulk material from food processors, to collecting single wheelie bins form schools, restaurants and pubs, Cannington now process 60,000 tonnes of food waste a year. Plans are in place for a further three digesters to be fitted at the site later this year. l For more information: www.landia.co.uk

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in handling the corn.’ In 2011, the AD facility was switched from handling corn to food waste, which decomposes twice as quickly, in order to produce the gas much faster. This involved installing two additional combined heat and power (CHP) engines to boost AD output to 1.3MW. Food waste now arriving at Cannington is shredded and de-packaged before liquids are added en route to the reception tank where the POP-I mixer first handles the material (17-20% dry matter content). Unlike many other biogas operations, there is a post-pasteurisation process at the end of the system, whereby organic waste is heated to 70°C for at least one hour. Cannington’s pasteuriser also features a wall-mounted POPTR-I mixer that Landia installed using the existing man-way, removing the need for any additional refurbishment work. There is also a dry-mounted highpressure Landia MPTK-I chopper pump that has proved a key part of the operation by

PaPta etne

igh energy prices in the region of £250,000 (€300,500) a year meant that, for Cannington Enterprises — a family owned company located at Swang Farm in Somerset, UK — addressing electricity bills became a priority. In 2008 the company received planning permission to build an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant and, in 2009, broke ground on the facility. An initial two digesters were installed, followed by a third six months later. The plant was using corn silage from the farm as feedstock, in addition to a small quantity of liquid waste. The process was designed to be feedstock flexible and featured a Landia-branded POP-I mixer at the front end to keep solids in suspension for the main reception tank. Later, a submersible Landia chopper pump was also added, feeding out into a feedstock holding tank. Tim Roe, Cannington MD, recalls: ‘We’ve always been willing to test different pumps, so this Landia unit actually replaced our initial choice (from a different pump manufacturer), which was proving ineffective

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Bioenergy Insight

January/February 2014 • 65

Bioenergy odour With a plan to minimise smells coming from its biofertiliser, one UK farm set about finding the most suitable odour control system

Managing a digestate lagoon

or six days a week, up to 168 tonnes of digestate from the ReFood-owned anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Doncaster, UK is discharged into a storage lagoon on Horncastle Farm. The PAS110 accredited biofertiliser is then used by Metcalfe Farming over 1,000 acres of land used for growing wheat, barley and oilseed rape. More ‘nutritionally readily available than any fossil fuelbased artificial fertiliser’, Metcalfe Farming decided to switch to using digestate full-time and, in doing so, had to meet both regulatory and practical requirements. The farm wanted a simple method of discharging up to six tanker loads a day of digestate in all weather conditions. This was achieved with two discharge points: one beside the lagoon for use in good conditions; and another at the farmyard from where the digestate is piped to the lagoon when access is difficult. It was determined a minimum of four months storage capacity was needed to comply with the Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone rules, which take into consideration factors

such as the closed spreading period (closed periods and controls for spreading manufactured nitrogen fertilisers and organic manures) and practical limitations of working on wet ground. This resulted in a lagoon with a 5,800m2 surface area, measuring 80m x 70m and 4m deep. It has a storage capacity of over 18,000m3. Agitation is key The feedstock at ReFood’s AD facility is food waste, which produces a 4% dry matter unseparated digestate. Easy and thorough agitation is therefore essential for two main reasons: 1. Over 6.5 tonnes a day of dry matter could be added to the lagoon. If this were allowed to settle without the ability to get it back into suspension through proper agitation, at least before pumping and spreading, then storage capacity would be lost. Digging the dry matter off the bottom of the lagoon would also create extra work and expense. 2. A dry matter content of 4% is likely to form a crust on the surface. Agitation must be carried out prior to pumping

and spreading, therefore, to break up this hardened layer. Un-agitated digestate would be lacking in valuable nutrients that would be lying on the bottom of the lagoon. Access to the lagoon itself and the digestate in it, comprising an agitator driven by the power take-off of a tractor, was built into the plan. This also enabled easy access for extracting the now consistent digestate from the lagoon.

Unlike AD plant operators, Metcalfe Farming was not required to have an Odour Management Plan in place or to cover its lagoon under an Environmental Permit. It was decided, however, that odour control would nevertheless be built into the plans to minimise odour problems and complaints from neighbours. As a generalisation, including odour control for a lagoon in a planning application, even if not required in an Environmental Permit, should help mitigate objections from the outset. When Metcalfe Farming set about planning to meet these requirements, location and soil

type meant it was able to start with a banked, unlined lagoon that is centrally positioned to allow ease of access and minimal travelling time or pumping distance for the application of the digestate. The lagoon features both an umbilical dribble bar system for spreading onto established crops, and tankers with injection and dribble bar systems for application onto stubbles. The umbilical system will soon be adapted to also handle injection which, as well as reducing nutrient loss, should also lower odour problems even more during spreading. Achieving the full benefit from the injection of digestate means easy agitation of the lagoon will be even more important. A conventional PVC-type floating cover was dismissed as it would be difficult to securely install onto an unlined lagoon and does not control emissions. Instead gases are trapped and then vented to the atmosphere when the cover is opened. Installing an agitation system that was practical, efficient and cost-effective proved difficult with a conventional cover. On top of these factors,

water. A chelating agent then captures and locks in this nitrogen onto the honeycombed surfaces of the aggregates. In addition, the aggregates are coated with a hydrophobic coating that repels moisture, prolonging its ability to float and preventing it from breaking down due to moisture penetration.

The technology has been used on pig and dairy slurry, digestate, compost leachate, in tanneries and food processing plants. Independent tests show a consistent average removal of 96.7% of hydrogen sulphide with 100% removal being recorded for both H2S and ammonia on a number of days.

Making the right choice

A breath of fresh air Aerocover is made up of

porous lightweight expanded clay aggregates, about the size of the end of your thumb or smaller. During production, clay particles are heated to between 1,000 and 1,200°C to expand the clay into honeycomb centred irregular shaped balls that, when floated on the digestate, form a tight covering

66 • January/February 2014

with a jigsaw-type finish throughout. This ensures noxious and odorous gases rising through the Aerocover will not pass between the aggregates but be forced into their honeycombed interior. Aerocover is treated with a photocatalytic polymer that, on contact, breaks down ammonia, for example, into nitrogen and

Bioenergy Insight

odour Bioenergy removing collected rainwater on top of a PVC cover had to be considered. By allowing for extra freeboard and the additional cost of handling rainwater mixed with the digestate, it was more costeffective to accept that rain would fall into the lagoon. Implementation In the end the Aerocover odour control system was chosen and, before the end of 2012, a specially adapted blower wagon and three bulk ‘walking floor’ lorries delivered 280m3 of product. The cold weather had left the surface of the partially filled lagoon frozen so the Aerocover was blown onto the ice at one end of the lagoon. When the ice thawed, the self-levelling Aerocover floated out and spread over the entire lagoon. Installation took two days.

Now, with over a year of operational experience with Aerocover, Andrew Hoskitt, who delivers the digestate for ReFood, believes Metcalfe Farming made the right choice. ‘It is easy emptying a 28 tonne load of digestate from either discharge point. If the Aerocover is moved away a bit at the discharge outlet, it quickly moves back as soon as pumping stops. There can be a bit of a smell in that corner while emptying but it stops as soon as the Aerocover drifts back.’ In December 2013 the lagoon was just under half full and no problems in accessing the lagoon and digestate for agitation have been reported. The PTO driven agitation shaft can be lowered through the Aerocover and, when turned on, the resulting current rotates the digestate throughout the lagoon with the Aerocover

Aerocover floating on top of Metcalfe Farming’s storage lagoon

moving with it on the surface. After one year, no crust has formed. The Aerocover is also left undisturbed when extracting the digestate, meaning that no odours escape during agitation or extraction. Metcalfe Farming is

now planning to duplicate the whole system on a second farm in 2014. l For more information:

This article was written by Darragh Magee, sales director, Aerocover, www.aerocover.co.uk

ted or pp Su

THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL EFW CONFERENCE

AT THE FOREFRONT OF WASTE TO ENERGY SINCE 2005

In 2013, the Energy from Waste conference brought together over 200 key people from waste, energy, development and finance. Last year attendees came from 16 countries, made up of key opinion formers, industry leaders and top decision-makers. For information, networking and business development, Energy from Waste 2014 is the essential meeting place for senior level people across the international waste to energy sector. Speakers include: l The Rt Hon Gregory Barker MP, Minister of State for Climate Change, DECC l Ed Northam, Head of Investment Banking, Green Investment Bank l David Palmer-Jones, CEO, SITA UK l Paul de Jong, CEO, Twence Holding B.V. l Tim Cesarek, Senior Vice-President, Business Development, Enerkem l Lisa Jordan, European Bioenergy Manager, Air Products

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Energy from Waste 2014 See updated programme at

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