Bioenergy Insight March/April 2016

MARCH/APRIL 2016 Volume 7 • Issue 2

Full speed ahead

UK prepares for low carbon transition

Mission: White House

Does the future of the US bioenergy industry depend on the next president?

Regional focus: bioenergy in the US

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contents Bioenergy

Issue 2 • Volume 7 March/April 2016 Woodcote Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.bioenergy-news.com MANAGING DIRECTOR Peter Patterson Tel: +44 (0)208 648 7082 peter@woodcotemedia.com EDITOR Liz Gyekye Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4183 liz@woodcotemedia.com DEPUTY EDITOR Ilari Kauppila Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4146 ilari@woodcotemedia.com INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER George Doyle Tel: +44 (0) 203 551 5752 george@bioenergy-news.com NORTH AMERICA SALES REPRESENTATIVE Matt Weidner +1 610 486 6525 mtw@weidcom.com PRODUCTION Alison Balmer Tel: +44 (0)1673 876143 alisonbalmer@btconnect.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES £160/$270/€225 for 6 issues per year.

Contact: Lisa Lee Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4160 Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4130 marketing@woodcotemedia.com

Contents 3 Contents 4 News 19 Technology news 20 Depackaging biowaste and managing contaminants

Packaged food waste is not welcome in an anaerobic digestion (AD) system

22 A dry spell

Using superheated steam to dry AD sludge facilitates the production and transportation of value-adding fertilisers

24 Future of biomass conversion to aviation fuel

Lignocellulose, a raw material in biomass, can be converted to biofuels and is often considered a long-term alternative to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels

26 Green page 28 As the foundations shake

Despite receiving a tax credit extension, US biomass producers stand on a precarious footing

29 Incident report 30 Regional focus: bioenergy in the US

The future of the US bioenergy industry depends on the country’s next presidential election. Or does it?

34 Full speed ahead

The Energy Technologies Institute calls for UK government to accelerate the transition to bioenergy

36 A brief history of dryers

Single pass drum dryers are becoming the industry standard for large-scale pellet producers in the US

Follow us on Twitter: @BioenergyInfo Join the discussion on the Bioenergy Insight LinkedIn page

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.

ISSN 2046-2476

Bioenergy Insight

40 Plant update: US 43 Changing the perception of waste disposal

The US is expanding plans to recover waste and convert it into an alternative fuel source

44 Creating a richer biofertiliser

Evaporation technology can increase AD producers’ profits from digestate

MARCH/APRIL 2016 Volume 7 • Issue 2

46 Wood shredding for biomass: Performance vs safety

In the modern resource sector, biomass producers are constantly pressured to work ever-smarter, to the point that the ‘performance vs safety’ battle can become hard to manage.

48 Upcoming events

Full speed ahead

UK prepares for low carbon transition

Mission: White House

Does the future of the US bioenergy industry depend on the next president?

Regional focus: bioenergy in the US

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

March/April 2016 • 1

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comment Bioenergy

Chip off the old block

F Liz Gyekye Editor

irst off, an introduction is in order. I have recently taken up the post as editor of Bioenergy Insight and I very much look forward to meeting many of you and working with you, to make the magazine as informative, relevant and valuable as it can be.

A bit about me… Having worked as a journalist for some nine years across a variety of titles, I have built up strong experience, particularly in environmental publications. I have worked on a variety of trade magazines within the environmental sector, so the challenges experienced by the green industry are by no means alien to me!

Nonetheless, over the coming weeks I’ll be refreshing my knowledge and getting to grips with the key issues facing the bioenergy community, so I hope to talk to as many of you as possible, in person and conferences, via social media (tweet me @bioenergyinfo), and through phone interviews and emails. Please feel free to contact me at any time at

liz@woodcotemedia.com if there’s a particular topic you’d like to see covered in Bioenergy Insight, or just to say hi — I’ll be happy to hear from you.

In the meantime, we have a selection of articles to keep you up-to-date on the industry’s latest technical advancements. In this issue of Bioenergy Insight, we have a focus on biomass shredders. When processing waste wood for biomass, operators understandably focus on performance-centric criteria such as shredder capacity, throughputs and cost efficiencies. However, as waste shredding specialist UNTHA points out, the spotlight is now growing on energy consumption (see page 46).

Elsewhere, Bioenergy Insight questions which US presidential candidate will be good for the bioenergy sector. Hardly a day goes by when a story about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump doesn’t hit the headlines.

Will he back a green energy plan? See Bioenergy Insight’s special focus on page 30.

President Obama has done his best to introduce regulation to tackle climate change. He has introduced a Clean Power Plan. The regulation is intended to lower US power plant CO2 emissions to 32% below 2005 levels by 2030 and push the country to take up renewable energy — including biomass and biofuels — and natural gas to replace coal-based power. However, this plan is facing hurdles from the US Supreme Court (see page 6).

Speaking of hurdles, the anaerobic digestion (AD) community faces the challenge of depackaging biowaste before it enters the AD process. The presence of inorganic materials such as plastics, metals and glass can cause damage to AD equipment and block pumps. In this issue we feature one firm that has launched technology to tackle the problem.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Bioenergy Insight.

Best wishes, Liz

Follow us on Twitter: @BioenergyInfo

Bioenergy Insight

March/April 2016 • 3

biomass news

xxxxxx Bioenergy

Environmental groups call to remove wood-based biomass from EU Renewable Energy Directive More than 110 environmental groups across the globe have signed a declaration demanding that bioenergy be excluded from the EU’s next Renewable Energy Directive (RED).

The EU is considering renewal of the RED from 2020 onwards in a consultation which ended on 10 February. A decision is expected by the end of the year.

The RED will determine Europe’s path forward on meeting its carbon emissions reductions targets following the Paris agreement signed in December 2015.

Bioenergy already accounts for around two-thirds of energy classed as renewable in the EU, and the EU currently anticipates that industrial bioenergy will continue playing a major part in its renewable energy strategy.

In a statement, US wood protection group Dogwood Alliance, said: “Burning wood for energy increases carbon pollution in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, published science shows.

Indeed, so-called ‘biomass’ is even more carbon-intensive than coal when measured at the smokestack.

“The EU, however, currently treats wood energy as ‘carbon neutral’ despite contrary scientific evidence.”

The group claims that this stance is “damaging trees”.

“Rapidly increasing European

US wood production lobby Dogwood Alliance urges EU to declare wood-based biomass non-renewable

demand for wood pellets globally, with US leading the way, is having a devastating impact on the forests and communities of the Southern US,” said Adam Macon from Dogwood Alliance.

“We’ve joined with over 110 other groups to send a strong signal to the EU and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they must change their mind on bioenergy or risk doing far more harm than good.

It’s clear that support for bioenergy in the EU is directly impacting forests internationally and the people that

depend on them, as well as incentivising even greater carbon emissions.”

In the US, the forest products industry and several states are pushing the EPA to classify biomass energy as a “carbon neutral” method of complying with the Clean Power Plan’s carbon pollution standards for power plants, according to Dogwood.

In February, the Senate adopted an amendment to a bipartisan energy bill that could force EPA and other agencies to ignore biomass carbon pollution despite the science. l

Construction to begin at €32.5m biomass plant in Scotland Construction work is due to begin on a new biomass pipeline at the planned St Andrews University biomass plant in Scotland.

Located at Guardbridge, Fife, the £25 million (€32.5m) plant is being built on the site of a former paper mill.

Hot water will be pumped from the plant four miles underground to

4 • March/April 2016

provide heating to laboratories and student housing at St Andrews.

The construction works are expected to last approximately eight weeks.

The project, started in 2013, is backed by a £10 million investment from the Scottish Funding Council, which is supporting carbon reduction schemes across Scottish higher education.

St Andrews University is aiming to become the first carbonneutral university in the UK. l

St Andrews University is aiming to become the first carbon-neutral university in the UK

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

Stora Enso reiterates commitment to bioenergy Finnish pulp and paper manufacture Stora Enso said it will invest €16 million to start wood pellet production at its Ala sawmill in Sweden and €10 million to revamp its biomass-fired boiler in Finland, as it attempts to transform into a renewable materials company.

In its 2015 fourth-quarter statement published on 4 February, 2016, the firm said sales decreased by 2.5% to €2.49 billion for the fourth

quarter of 2015 compared to €2.55 billion the same period a year earlier.

Stora Enso’s CEO, KarlHenrik Sundström, said: “Stora Enso has shown its ability to transform into a renewable materials growth company. In the fourth quarter, sales excluding the structurally declining paper business and divestments increased 5.4%.

“This was mainly driven by the Montes del Plata pulp mill and kraftliner from Varkaus Mill. We also continued to generate strong cash flow during the quarter.

“Operational earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the fourth quarter increased 15.8% to €242 million year-on-year, mainly

due to strong performance in the Biomaterials division, lower variable costs and favourable foreign exchange.

Division Wood Products delivered its highest fourthquarter operational EBIT ever, mainly due to lower wood costs and positive foreign exchange impact.”

The group’s wood products division will invest €16 million to start pellet production and to build a new boiler at Ala Sawmill in Sweden, and €10 million to renew the boiler at its Honkalahti sawmill in Finland.

He added that a “lot of work” still needed to be done to help Stora Enso’s transformation from a packaging company to a renewable materials firm.

However, he explained: “The transformation is visible in the value we bring to our customers, and it has started to be reflected in our improved operational EBIT and return on capital employed (ROCE). We have exciting opportunities ahead.”

The news comes as the firm recently announced that it signed a contract with Finnish biomass boiler provider KPA Unicon to take delivery of a boiler plant for its sawmill facility in Sweden.

The new Unicon Biograte 15MWth boiler plant will utilise bark and wood residues from the Ala sawmill as fuel, and it will produce hot water to the sawmill´s drying kilns. l

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March/April 2016 • 5

biomass news

Comet Biorefining to build first commercial biomass sugar plant in Canada Comet Biorefining will build its commercialscale biomass-derived sugar facility in the TransAlta Energy Park in Sarnia, Ontario.

The 60 million tpy plant will come online in 2018 producing dextrose sugar from locally-sourced corn stover and wheat straw.

Corn stover consists of residues left in the field after harvest, including stalks, leaves, husks, and cobs.

Using its proprietary patented process, Comet converts non-food agricultural and forest residues into highpurity dextrose sugars that will

be transformed into bio-based products, such as organic acids, amino acids, and bioplastics.

These low-carbon bio-based products replace traditional petroleum-based materials, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help contribute to Canada’s efforts on climate change, the company stated.

Andrew Richard, CEO of Comet, said: “Construction of this first-of-a-kind plant represents a key step towards the large-scale commercialisation of our cellulosic sugar business. It highlights the important role our technology plays in the value chain, helping to drive the bioeconomy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Comet dextrose is cost- and

US Supreme Court blocks EPA’s carbon emissions reduction plan The US Supreme Court has barred President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) from taking effect until legal challenges against the legislation are solved.

In a tight vote of 5-4, the court decided to put the plan on hold after receiving a request from 27 US States, led by Texas and West Virginia, and several businesses to block the CPP. The regulation is intended to lower US power plant CO2 emissions to 32% below 2005 levels by 2030 and push the country to take up renewable energy — including biomass and biofuels — and natural gas to replace coal-based power.

In a statement the White House said it disagrees with

6 • March/April 2016

the court’s decision but has full faith that the plan will prevail on its merits.

“Even while the litigation proceeds, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has indicated it will work with states that choose to continue plan development and will prepare the tools those states will need,” said the White House, adding that it will continue to take “aggressive steps” towards decarbonisation.

But the Supreme Court’s decision may hinder longterm establishment of the CPP — the US’ main tool for reaching the goals of last December’s Paris Climate Accord — as it may bite into the plan and strike it down even if a lower court would find the plan legal. l

performance-competitive with commercial dextrose sugars, the benchmark raw material for today’s biochemical production.

Comet chose to locate in Sarnia by working together with Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), and an Ontario farmers’ cooperative on a project to attract sustainable technology providers to the region and to meet increasing demand from chemical suppliers and consumers for low-carbon products.

“Comet’s cellulosic sugar technology was one of the clean sustainable technologies recommended, with the best fit for the region and

an excellent opportunity to accelerate the growth of the bioeconomy in rural Ontario”, noted Murray McLaughlin, executive director at BIC. “Establishing new uses for agricultural residues in the bio-based chemical supply chain leads to sustainable farms and new markets. Both outcomes are primary goals of the OFA, and this project does just that,” said Don McCabe, OFA’s president. l

Tasmania state in Australia considers biomass power The Tasmania state government in Australia is actively considering the use of biomass as a renewable energy source.

Tasmania Minister for Resources Paul Harriss said that due to recent unprecedented events, including the failure of the Basslink, which is the world’s second longest undersea electricity cable, and low rainfall, the government is now considering the use of biomass to generate energy.

Specifically, the government is considering the use of residues from value-added forest operations.

Harriss estimated significant volumes of residues to be generated to power approximately 70,000 homes for a year.

“In the light of the recent unprecedented events affecting our energy security, I can confirm that the Southwood project is once again being actively considered by the government,” he said in a notice.

According to Harriss, the Southwood project was designed to incorporate a biomass power plant fuelled by forestry residues.

He said the project remains investment-ready and would add significantly to the state’s renewable energy capacity. l

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

Danish joint venture completes UK biomass power plant ahead of schedule The joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), PensionDanmark, and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has completed the construction of a £162 million (€233m) biomass power plant investment in the UK well ahead of schedule.

The construction of the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, the JV’s first 40MW strawfired biomass plant contracted in August 2013, has now been completed.

The plant was handed over to the

owners in January after a construction period of less than 27 months, which is three months ahead of schedule and within the agreed investment budget.

Brigg, which is located in Lincolnshire, East England, is based on Danish biomass energy technology supplied by BWSC under a turnkey EPC contract.

In addition, BWSC is responsible for operation and maintenance of the plant under a 15-year O&M agreement, which commenced on the date of completion of the plant.

Brigg is owned by the CIP fund and Copenhagen Infrastructure I which has PensionDanmark as the founding and sole investor, together with BWSC. l

European Commission opens probe into Drax biomass plant subsidies The European Commission (EC) has opened a formal investigation procedure related to the planned UK subsidy contract for a 645MW biomass-fired power unit of Drax.

Drax is working to convert to biomass three of the six coal-powered generators at the Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.

The third unit is planned to receive a Contract for Difference (CfD), which means the UK government will compensate Drax through subsidies should the market price for electricity fall under a pre-fixed price.

According to the EC investigation document, the EC suspects that the power producer would receive more than “the minimum necessary” aid and that subsidising

the project would create “undue distortions” in the upstream biomass market.

Between 60 and 80% of the about 2.4 million tonnes of wood pellets required at the plant annually will be sourced from southeast US and an approximate 16% from South America.

The EC is concerned that the potential negative effects on other wood pellet market participants will outweigh the expected environmental benefits, which the Commission admits would contribute to the EU’s renewable energy targets.

The Commission has invited UK to submit its comments on the investigation.

“Drax welcomes the opportunity to work with the UK government and the EC to complete the State aid clearance process,” Drax said in a statement. l

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youtube.com/siwertell siwertell.com March/April 2016 • 7

biomass news

Enviva posts strong 2015 results Despite challenging market conditions in the broader energy sector, Enviva completed 2015 with continued strong operating performance, said chairman and CEO John Keppler during the company’s Q4 2015 and yearend financial earnings call.

For Q4 2015, Enviva reported net revenue of $116.8 million (€106m), a $37.8 million, or 48%, increase over Q4 2015, and Keppler said that Enviva expects to distribute at least $2.10 per unit for

2016, a 27% increase over the annualised minimum quarterly distribution announced at our IPO less than a year ago.

Keppler emphasised one of the year’s highlights was the “Southampton dropdown,” Enviva’s acquisition of a 510,000 tpy pellet plant located in Southampton County, Virginia.

The facility was developed by its sponsor, Enviva Holdings, under a joint venture with affiliates of John Hancock Life Insurance Co., and includes a 10-year take-or-pay off-take contract (385,000 tonnes in the first year), and a matching 10year shipping contract.

After the financial portion of the call, Keppler went on to discuss current and potential market opportunities.

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In Europe, Enviva’s core market, many countries are still behind major renewable energy requirements, Keppler pointed out.

“The UK is still our largest and currently projected consumer of industrial wood pellets, and there have been several positive developments from a policy standpoint, as well as progress at the individual plant level.”

On the policy front, the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change recently announced plans to close all coal fired plants by 2025, Keppler noted.

“As such, renewable energy will play a larger role in UK power supply.”

He added that policymakers are beginning to compare renewable energy options on a total-cost basis, appropriately including the cost of backup generation and intermittent power sources. He quoted the head of DECC and UK Energy Secretary, who recently said: “In the same way generators should pay for the cost of pollution, we want

intermittent generators to be responsible for the pressures they add to the system when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.”

With the success power generators have already achieved converting coal-fired plants 100% biomass and its cost-effectiveness compared to other renewables, Keppler said that Enviva expects biomass and demand for wood pellets to continue to grow significantly.

He also said that “additional demand is expected due to the enhanced renewable heat incentive the UK government announced as well”.

At the plant level in the UK, there have been some recent key developments, according to Keppler, one being the European Commission’s approval of state aid for the 420MW Lynemouth coal-tobiomass conversion, and its sale from RWE to EP UK Investments, which intends to convert to wood pellet fuel by the end of 2017 and is estimated to require about 1.5 million tonnes annually. l

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8 • March/April 2016

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

Sumitomo invests in biomass pellet production in Brazil Japanese Sumitomo Corp. has signed a contract to acquire up to 20% of Cosan Biomassa, a subsidiary of the world’s largest sugar and ethanol company, Cosan S.A. Industria e Comercio.

The sale is subject to the prior approval of anti-trust authorities in some jurisdictions.

Cosan Biomassa has developed a fuel pellet made from sugarcane residues, such as bagasse from the sugar mill and straw leftover in the sugarcane field.

The company built a large-scale production plant (annual capacity 175,000 tonnes) last September, which commenced commercial production in December 2015.

“Brazil is already among the largest producers and exporters of agricultural commodities in the world.

Pelletised biomass is a new commodity being created to serve the low carbon economy,” said Mark Lyra, Cosan Biomassa CEO. “By making use of sugarcane residues and

sustainability condition when compared to other biomass sources in the world,” said Yoshinobu Kusano, general manager of biomass business at Sumitomo.

Sumitomo regards biomass as a promising source of renewable energy, and started importing biomass fuel for power generation to Japan in 2008.

In addition, Sumitomo’s subsidiary Summit Energy Corp. has been managing a biomass power plant and plans to build more.

Sumitomo has been in search of competitive and sustainable resources outside of Japan to supplement domestic biomass resources and to step into the European market, where the bulk of fuel pellet demands exist. l

Japanese Sumitomo is searching for biomass resources outside Japan

benefiting from the economic and environmental advantages that the shift to rail logistics brings to the game, Brazil is positioned to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.”

Through the participation of Sumitomo, Cosan will increase its exports to Japan and Europe along with increased domestic sales.

There is a potential of 45 million tpy of sugarcane pellets from the sugarcane farms in Sao Paulo state alone.

Sumitomo aims to produce 2 million tonnes by 2025, and as much as 8 million tonnes in the future, subject to future

growth of the market as well as a satisfactory return.

“Sugarcane’s productivity and abundant availability tied to the fact that we are using its residual by-product as a raw material gives us a unique

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Solar 21, an Irish renewable energy company, is set to build a 22MW biomass power plant near Hull in England.

The company has acquired the project rights and is seeking to raise €60 million through a fundraising round for the scheme.

The Hull plant is the first in a pipeline of five projects in partnership with energy recovery systems company Heat Recovery Solutions, Solar 21 says.

The project, on which construction work began in last October, will benefit from revenue backed by the UK government. l

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March/April 2016 • 9

biogas news

Thai biogas plant begins operation Asia Biogas, an Irish-Singaporeanowned bioenergy developer, has begun commercial operation at 12,300MWh per year biogas plant in Thailand.

Krabi Waste to Energy Co., a subsidiary of Asia Biogas, will operate first phase the plant, which is located in the tourist region of Krabi.

The project generates electricity using two CAT CG170-12 engines, supplied

by Metro Machinery, which run on biogas produced

from the processing of palm oil mill effluent in an anaerobic digester.

The electricity will be sold under the Kingdom of Thailand’s ‘Very Small Power Producers’ scheme to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).

The project will export 12,300 MWh/y while contributing to Thailand’s renewable energy targets by capturing and removing methane gas that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere.

Asia Biogas is currently planning the second phase of the project, in which it will produce biogas and compost products from

Asia Biogas’ Krabi plant will produce power in Thailand – a popular tourist destination

empty fruit bunches, a solid waste produced by the hosting palm oil mill.

The additional biogas will be used to produce electricity with a further three engines

to be put into operation.

Asia Biogas hopes the second phase will be operational within 18 months and is currently awaiting approval from PEA. l

Tanzania backs biogas The government of Tanzania is working with the Norwegian Embassy and the Netherlands government to fund a twoyear drive to promote the use of domestic biogas in rural Tanzania.

According to news website The Daily News, the East African country will implement the plan via its government-run Rural Energy Agency (REA) — a body which aims to support the use of modern energy.

The drive, which will cover 2016 and

10 • March/April 2016

2017, aims at building and running 10,000 biogas plants across the country with support from a goverment-run Tanzania Domestic Biogas Programme (TDBP).

Speaking separately at the official public event to inaugurate the drive under the REASNV project launch held in Boza Village, Pangani District in Tanga region, the REA, SNV senior officials, the Tanga regional commissioner (RC) Mwamtumu Mahiza hailed the move as a crucial step in both protecting the environment and fighting the rural poverty.

Also present at the event was the TDBP coordinator who doubled as the Centre

for Agricultural Mechanisation and Rural Technology (CAMARTEC) representative at the event.

“Launching the second phase of the TDBP after the first phase that started in 2009 will no doubt herald a new era of improved health, sustainable and humane life by the rural population,” said Martijn Veen, the SNV sector leader on renewable energy.

He added: “The biogas revolution is expected to consolidate itself and contribute to increased access to clean, modern energy in rural and peri-urban households of Tanzania.” l

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news

Weltec Biopower acquires 3.3MW biogas plant Weltec Biopower’s subsidiary Nordmethan has acquired a decommissioned biogas plant in Germany.

The German biogas plant manufacturer will invest €2 million in the renovation of the combined heat and power (CHP) facility, which is located in Falkenhagen, Brandenburg, and will use mainly maize silage and pig manure.

The company hopes that the plant, which has power generation capacity of 3.3MW, will become operational towards the end of 2016.

The power generated will be supplied to the grid and the exhaust heat will be used for the digestate drying process.

The move builds on Weltec’s acquisition of two biomethane refineries in 2015.

It said that if things develop as expected, it might expand its biomethane refinery and biogas plant operations.

Speaking about the plant, Jens Albartus, director of Weltec Biopower, said: “The biogas plant features a concept that we can build on.”

In a statement, the firm said: “One of the reasons

Weltec hopes that the 3.3MW plant will become operational by the end of 2016

for the purchase was that due to Nordmethan’s nearby biomethane plant, the company has long-standing contacts with local farmers.

Thus, it was easy to find regional partners to supply substrates — primarily maize silage and pig manure — for the Falkenhagen site.” l

REA calls on UK government to back on-site AD

The Renewable Energy Association (REA), a UK-based renewable energy trade body, has issued a new report calling on the UK government to support on-site anaerobic digestion (AD).

In its new report, entitled ‘REA paper on support for small scale AD Feb 2016’, the REA states that AD can provide supplementary income for hard pressed dairy farmers and help to decarbonise the UK’s food supply chain.

In a statement, the REA said:

“The last government created a degression system for the Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FITs) that discriminated against smaller-scale AD and was not reflected by actual deployment.

“The new cost FITs control mechanism introduced on 8 February, 2016, will compound the situation and penalise small-scale AD even further, due to extremely tight caps and high levels of degression that will occur each quarter, combined with a very narrow differential between tariffs across the different scales of AD.” The trade body said it was now seeking the provision of enhanced support for a limited

According to the REA, UK AD industry needs government support

period with “a degression mechanism that is well understood (without unfair expenditure caps making it even harder to develop the on-site market)”.

The REA added: “Support is needed because such plants lack economies of scale available to larger plants, so it is harder to develop projects and secure funding.” l

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March/April 2016 • 11

biogas news

Suez buys 52% stake in Meta Bio Energies

New powder additive for AD launched

French recycling and recovery group Suez has bought a 52% stake in Meta Bio Energies’ waste recycling centre in a bid to strengthen its biowaste-to-energy activities.

Omex Environmental, a digestate treatment company, is introducing a new powder additive for the anaerobic digestion and biogas market called Nutromex Biopack.

Nutromex Biopack is a solution of bio-available trace elements and specially selected bacteria which is used to supplement the existing microbial populations in anaerobic digesters and biogas plants.

According to the company, this addition improves overall plant functionality, leading to optimum performance.

In a statement, the firm said: “Nutromex Biopack has an advantage over current products in the market due to its’ easy application. It is a water soluble powder available in 250g biodegradable bags which are administered directly into the digester on a daily basis.

“Each individual digester needs essential metals to create the perfect balance for microbial populations to thrive and break down feedstock effectively and its’ performance and cost effectiveness is highly dependent on the microbe strains present. Nutromex Biopack provides both bacteria and trace elements in one hit.” l

France-based Meta Bio Energies, owned by French firm Chazé Environment Group, specialises in biowaste-to-energy recovery by methanation and the production of organic soil conditioners.

Strategically located in Combrée, France, near the major waste-producing urban centres of Rennes, Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, Cholet and Laval, the site’s activities include deconditioning, methanation and composting.

Under the agreement signed between Suez and Chazé Environnement, Suez has become the majority stakeholder in the Méta Bio Energies waste recycling centre.

The other partners, each with a 12.5% share of the capital, are the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (23%), the Avril group, through its subsidiary Sofiprotéol, specialised in the funding of agrifoods businesses, and Evergaz, which specialises in the development, funding and operation of methanation units.

Philippe Maillard, Suez’s CEO of Recycling & Recovery in France, said: “We are very happy with the acquisition of this interest in the centre, which furthers Suez’s strategy to quickly acquire four to five methanation sites, as part of our drive to increase our capacity to produce energy with biogas from waste by 30% in the next five years. l

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Handling a World of Materials

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biogas news

Dong Energy unveils plan for ‘world first’ enzymeenabled bio plant Dong Energy, a Denmarkheadquartered energy firm, has unveiled plans to build a bio plant which turns unsorted household waste into energy in the UK. The plant, which the company will finance, build and operate, will use an enzyme technology it calls REnescience.

Dong claims that “it will be the first bio plant in the world to handle unsorted household waste, without prior treatment, using enzymes”.

The facility will be built in Northwich, Cheshire.

According to the company, the commercial full-scale plant will be able to receive unsorted household waste, which — through enzyme treatment — will be converted into biogas as well as recyclable plastics and metals.

Dong Energy will build the first bio plant in the world to handle unsorted household waste, without prior treatment, using enzymes

Recovered biogas will then be converted to power via gas engines.

The plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes of waste, which will be supplied by waste management specialist FCC Environment, which already collects household waste in the Northwich region.

Dong Energy said the plant will be

operational in 2017 and around 150 people will be involved during the peak phase of construction, with an average of 75 at any given time. The plant will also require around 24 full-time local employees to operate it.

Brent Cheshire, Dong Energy’s UK chairman, said: “It’s fantastic to see the world’s first bio plant of this type being built in Northwich, underlining the UK is once again leading the way in renewable energy. This new plant also highlights our commitment to investing in the Northern Powerhouse.

“REnescience is a brilliant new technology and generates as many resources as possible from everyday household waste. This new bio plant will see us handling waste in a much smarter way.”

Dong Energy has announced it will start work this month on a state-of-the-art waste to energy plant in Cheshire. l

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www.williamscrusher.com March/April 2016 • 13

wood pellet news GE selected to build ‘world’s largest’ commercial biomass-fired plant US power generation specialist GE has been selected by Belgian Eco Energy (BEE) to build a 215MW biomassfired power plant in Ghent, Belgium.

A proposed biomass power plant, which the company claims will be the world’s biggest, will see an investment of approximately $358m (€329m).

GE Steam Power Systems will take responsibility to provide overall design,

engineering and construction of the greenfield plant, which is said to become the largest of its type in the world.

It will also integrate the in-house critical parts of the power block including the circulating fluidised bed boiler, steam turbine, generator and air quality control systems.

Belgian Eco Energy’s CEO Michael Corten said: “We are pleased to work with GE on this project and with their approach to focus on optimising the technical solution for this plant.

“GE’s technology will help us reach the highest

Artist’s impression of proposed biomass-fired power plant to be built in Ghent, Belgium

net efficiency, and reduce operational costs.”

The power plant will use wood chips and agro residues as fuel to generate clean energy for the industry and nearby households.

“By leveraging technologies across different GE businesses — the GE Store — we are well positioned to provide complete, customized

solutions to best meet our customers’ needs,” said Steve Bolze, president and CEO, GE Power. “The project in Ghent demonstrates GE’s capabilities to deliver a broad range of steam power technologies to help our customers deliver reliable power across a variety of fuels including biomass, coal and nuclearbased technologies.” l

Bioenergy creates ‘significant’ carbon savings, study finds

A report recently released to the European Union Directorate-General for Energy, titled ‘Carbon impacts of biomass consumed in the EU: quantitative assessment’, has maintained that using bioenergy can create significant carbon savings and reduce greenhouse (GHG) emissions.

The report includes an assessment of direct and indirect GHG emissions associated with different types of bio-based fuels used for electricity production and heating and cooling in the EU under a variety of scenarios looking out as far as 2015.

The goal of the report is to provide information on which to base further development of policy on the role of biomass.

All six bioenergy scenarios addressed in the report achieved significant reductions in total annual GHG emissions, including those that involved increased bioenergy consumption in the EU. The analysis also determined deprioritising bioenergy could lead to significantly higher overall energy system costs with significant logistical challenges. l

14 • March/April 2016

Bioenergy Insight

wood pellet news

Astec highlights pellet plant activities as it unveils annual results Despite a challenging quarter that saw a 10% decrease in net sales, Astec Industries president and CEO Benjamin Brock said it saw an increase in inquiries for its pellet plants.

Comparing Q4 2015 to Q4 2014, net sales were down to $215 million (€196m) from $239.5 million. Brock said that weak sales were caused by a slow-down in

the aggregate and mining group and energy group.

However, Brock said Astec has been active on pellet plant inquiries and that the company is confident that some of the inquiries will turn into orders in the coming year; one from a previous customer is expected to be delivered in 2016.

“We are optimistic that we will announce our next pellet plant order very soon,” he said. “The potential order is in the $115 million to $125 million range and it would ship this fiscal year.

While we are very optimistic this order will be announced in the coming weeks, it always could be longer than we anticipate.” l

German Pellets files for insolvency German Pellets, a wood pellet manufacturer, has announced that a German court has appointed a provisional insolvency administrator with regard to insolvency proceedings that have been initiated against the assets of the company.

A statement issued by German Pellets indicates the insolvency court in Schwerin, Germany, has appointed Bettina Schmudde, a lawyer with the firm Kanzlei White & Case, as the provisional solvency administrator. The notice also states that in its resolution dated 10 February, 2016, the court instructed the provisional solvency administrator to safeguard the company’s assets.

The administrator also has the task of ascertaining whether there are sufficient grounds to commence proceedings and assessing the prospects for the

company’s continued existence.

The wages and salaries of the company’s approximately 650 employees are guaranteed for three months during the provisional insolvency proceedings by means of insolvency substitute benefits.

The notice goes on to state that the declaration of claims shall not be possible until the insolvency proceedings have commenced, which is likely to be in early May. Creditors are directed to refrain from declaring any claims before that date.

On day prior, on 10 February, 2016, German Pellets issued a statement noting had petitioned the court to restructure through bankruptcy proceedings under its own administration. The company also said it intends to continue its business operations in full during the preliminary insolvency proceedings.

The company said it fell into economic difficulties due to factors such as lower pellet revenues due to two warm winters and a bad investment the company made in 2010 in KAGO, a furnace manufacturer. l

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March/April 2016 • 15

wood pellet news

Japan’s wood pellet imports surge The growing biomass market in Japan is driven by an increase in the number of power plants using woody biomass, including wood pellets, wood chips and waste wood, to generate heat and electricity.

According to data from Argus Media, around 18 dedicated biomass plants with a combined capacity of 282MW became operational in 2015, burning a range of woody biomass fuels. In additon, large power producers have increasingly looked towards co-firing coal with biomass.

Pellet consumption has grown rapidly since the

government’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme was expanded to include biomass and other renewables in July 2012.

Japan has diversified its power mix since the suspension of the country’s nuclear generation following the Fukushima disaster in 2011. And it has set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

Under the FIT scheme, generators receive ¥17-32/kWh (€0.13-0.26/kWh) depending on the wood source they use.

Canada remains Japan’s biggest source of imports, supplying 146,000 tonnes last year, up by 61% from 91,000t in 2014, and accounting for 63 % of total wood pellet imports. Canadian producers have become increasingly active in the growing Japanese market as they struggle to compete in South Korea with

Canada remains Japan’s biggest source of imports

cheaper Vietnamese supply.

Japanese buyers have stricter criteria for pellet sustainability and quality than their South Korean counterparts, and are concerned with reliability of supply. Japan’s willingness to sign long-term contracts makes it a more attractive market for producers that are able to guarantee supply quality and stability, a benefit

to Canadian exporters.

According to the data from Argus, Vietnam accounted for 12 of Japan’s wood pellet imports, or 27,500 tonnes in 2015, up from just 2,000tpy earlier. Although Vietnamese pellets are very price competitive, Japanese buyers require forest management certificates for imports, which not all Vietnamese producers can provide. l

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wood pellet news

RusForest starts up Russian pellet mill Sweden-based forestry company RusForest has announced that its 30,000tpy pellet mill in Magistralny, Russia, began operations during the final quarter of last year.

According to RusForest, the facility is gradually ramping up production, with 1,847 tonnes of pellet produced during the fourth quarter of 2015. The company also indicated 1,772t of wood pellets were sold from the Magistralny pellet plant during the three-month quarter.

“RusForest finished the year on a strong note in terms of production, with increased sawmilling and harvesting in

Q4 2015 compared with the same period in 2014,” said the company in a statement.

It added: “Both the new pellet mill in Magistralny and the new harvesting operations in Ust-Ilimsk were launched in Q4 2015 and are working to gradually ramp up

production. At the same time all of our sawn wood markets except for Japan were very challenging in Q4 2015, with a year-on-year decline in average price received as a consequence. Price visibility further into 2016 for all markets remains difficult.

“The Russian rouble continues to be weak, however, domestic prices are slowly catching up to the new currency environment through increased price inflation, especially in imported equipment and materials.” l

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technology news Saxlund to supply new kit for UK-based EfW project Energy and environmental technology firm Saxlund has been awarded a new contract

by Danish energy-from-waste firm Babcock & Wilcox Vølund to design and supply two new automated management systems for its bioenergy project in Teesside, UK.

The two systems will be for the reception, delivery and mixing of fuel storage. The entire fuel management system, including storage and feed systems, will be designed for efficiency, minimum maintenance and high availability, while the environmental

impact in the form of dust and noise is limited, according to Saxlund.

The system also offers flexibility in the use of waste wood of different types and quality. Both with full capacity to provide 100% redundancy a fuel content of up to 125MW, the company said.

“The Port Clarence project will provide 40MW of renewable energy to the UK energy market through the combustion of waste wood, and will have the capacity to consume about 250,000 tonnes of waste wood per year,” said Matt Drew, European sales director and UK managing director of Saxlund International.

“The waste wood used to fire the power station will be diverted from landfill sites and the feedstock will be

provided by Stobart Biomass Products Limited; specialists in the provision of renewables logistics,” he continued.

“Schemes like these have the potential to tick all the boxes — contributing to UK renewable energy targets and a balanced energy economy, as well as waste recycling targets,” Drew added.

Overall, the company said that it has won more than £8 million in orders with Babcock & Wilcox Vølund for various projects in the UK over the past 12 months.

The contract value is more than £2.7 million and is due to handover in 2017.

Previous projects are at Margam in South Wales and Templeborough Biomass Power Plant in Sheffield. l

Hurst Boiler commissions poultry litter-fuelled biomass boiler in North Carolina Hurst Boiler, a US biomass boilers firm, has announced the commissioning of its third poultry litterfuelled boiler.

Prestage AgEnergy of Clinton, North Carolina, is completing the 1,600 horsepower Hurst boiler installation.

According to the firm, this is the first boiler in the US designed and engineered specifically to be fuelled by poultry litter.

This cogeneration facility is scheduled to be commissioned mid-2016 and will support Prestage Farm’s turkey operations, located in North Carolina, US. “While we have been carefully evaluating the potential to use litter in our boilers in the US market, one of our solid fuel boilers in Guatemala began running almost three years ago on 100% litter simply because it was the most cost-effective

Bioenergy Insight

and reliable fuel. Since then, two more systems have been installed and are providing steam to poultry facilities using only chicken litter,” said Tommy Hurst of Hurst Boiler.

Litter has posed a challenge for many boiler systems due to its high ash content and ash characteristics, according to the company.

Hurst Boiler’s boiler sales spokesman, Charlie Coffee, said: “We are well aware of the many challenges and problems of litter as a fuel, which is why we spent an inordinate amount of time and resources making sure that we had measures in place to ensure success in the US market.”

Litter is significantly different from other biomass fuels. In the past, there were problems using poultry litters in boilers designed for biomass, according to the company.

To mitigate the challenges associated with using this type of fuel, Hurst boiler

strategically considered each aspect of the process – from the way litter arrives at the facility and the material handling (fuel receiving) equipment, through the way in which emissions are treated.

The result is Hurst’s new poultry litter-fuelled biomass boiler system that successfully overcomes the challenges to deliver an energy efficient and environmentallysustainable solution.

Hurst’s biomass boiler system allows facilities like Prestage’s to take advantage of the many unique benefits poultry litter offers. For example, the ash from litter is particularly rich in available potassium and phosphorous.

Coffee said: “By concentrating these nutrients in ash, these systems can transform the potential risk of phosphorous regulation into an economic asset for companies.” l

March/April 2016 • 19

Bioenergy technology Packaged food waste is not welcome in an anaerobic digestion (AD) system. A French firm has unveiled a piece of kit that is tackling the contaminant

Depackaging biowaste and managing contaminants

T

he overall legislation concerning the obligation to recover biowaste in European countries is becoming increasingly stringent. Biowaste producers — food industries especially — supermarkets, and catering companies are strongly encouraged to avoid the incineration and landfilling of organic waste. Composting and AD on the other hand, are strongly promoted.

In France, from January 2016, the law required commercial and industrial businesses to take all reasonable steps to recycle as much of its waste as possible.

Businesses which produce more than 10 tpy of biowaste are required to present it for separate collection.

In 2025, as required by the French law on energy transition, this measure will be imposed on everyone, biowaste producers and householders alike.

Processing packaged biowaste remains a major challenge.

The presence of inorganic materials such as plastics, metals (steel, aluminum), and glass, is a real problem in the waste management and recovery processes. The AD process is like a human stomach and needs the right material to keep it working.

Contaminants, such as food packaging, are not welcome in an AD system as they cause damage to equipment, block pumps and pipe work, and accumulate in the digesters, affecting performance.

Depackaging is therefore a key stage in preparing

20 • March/April 2016

biowaste for its transformation into biogas or compost.

The package/organic waste separation step must lead to the recovery of an optimum organic soup (with the lowest levels of contaminants), while extracting a maximum volume of organic matter from the packaging.

Industry players however, need to face a common issue: the inescapable presence of inert material in the organic soup, along with its negative impacts. In the medium term, thin plastic bits build up into a floating layer in the digester, which hinders the AD process, such as phase separation.

Heavy fragments (metal or glass for instance) sediment at the bottom of the tanks, cluttering various equipment and transfer systems. On top of this, excess inert is a problem for the end product itself — whether digestate or compost — because once scattered on the field, quantities of packaging residues end up on the surface.

This explains why depackaged organic soups are increasingly rejected by AD units, when they are too polluted.

New-generation depackager Most technologies dedicated to the separation of organic waste from packaging rely on fast grinders and screw presses that compress waste brutally and imply high water consumption.

A new solution — with an opposite approach — has recently been launched. In recent years, Green Creative, a young French company, has focused on the issue of

The packaged food is placed in a hopper before it is transferred to the Flexidry system to be depackaged

depackaging biowaste, with the dual challenge of meeting water consumption restrictions and the demand for a highquality organic output.

After several years of research and development and two pilot sites, Green Creative launched Flexidry in 2015, a new generation depackager.

This machine separates packaging from organic material without water and without grinding — eliminating to a maximum the risk of contaminating the substrate.

“Recent analyses prove the high quality of the organic soup obtained with Flexidry. The

average rate of inert materials on dry matter is approximately of 0.2%,” says Lucile Noury, president of Green Creative.

Flexidry’s process is based on three patented technologies: • Punching, with two toothed disk mills to open the packaging • Rolling, to extract the product through the mesh of the rotative drum • Brushing, to clean the packaging.

“Our system retains the packaging’s consistency throughout these different stages, in order to produce the most qualitative organic

Bioenergy Insight

technology Bioenergy soup possible. Moreover, Flexidry remains simple and similar to agricultural systems — a true strength for maximum autonomy,” explains Rémi Gomez, the inventor of Flexidry.

“On top of this, Flexidry is the first depackaging machine without water,” explains Noury.

“Of course, you can still input water at any time during the process, especially if the organic soup calls for a low rate of dry matter, for instance, in order to reach a rate of dryness of 12%. This flexibility allows to control water consumption and to adapt to the needs of different sites.”

Think local With a depackaging capacity of 2,000 to 10,000 tpy, Flexidry was designed to provide a local solution for the recovery of packaged biowaste.

Initially, biowaste depackaging activities were held in large dedicated centers, sometimes coupled with biogas plants with a capacity of several megawatts. These sites can process more than 30,000

Green Creative’s Flexidry machine

tonnes of organic waste per year, implying the transport of waste over long distances.

In recent years, new kinds of depackaging units have appeared, encouraged by local authorities that promote “close to source” organic waste processing solutions.

“Willing to benefit from an input with a strong methanogenic power, farm biogas sites, or even industrial medium-sized sites have entered the biowaste

Trommel ensures packaging is sifted away from food in order to get non-contaminated pieces of food for composting

Bioenergy Insight

depackaging market — thereby improving the profitability of their facilities,” says Noury.

“Expectations on the quality of the organic soup and digestate are very high on these sites.”

Strong demand “Two depackaging lines equipped with Flexidrys were commissioned in France, during the summer of 2015.

This launch helped validate our process and given its good results, paves the way for future prospects,” says Lucile Noury. “Our development continues in France, and at the end of last year, we sold our first Flexidry for export.

The machine will be installed in the coming months on a biogas plant in Switzerland.”

Established in Champagne, France, “la Compostière de l’Aube”, an in-vessel composting centre, is one of the first sites to have invested in this tool. The site, owned by farmers, recovers approximately 25,000 tonnes of green waste, sewage sludge, and organic waste into compost each year.

The Compostière de l’Aube also chose Flexidry based on a biogas investment project due to be launched in a few years.

This choice allows the project holders to anticipate and secure deposits in the area.

As early as 2012, the owners of the site came up with

a solution to biowaste, by producing compost. In order to extract the maximum amount of organic matter, the farmers initially installed a machine with a coarse grinding system, recovered from the agricultural field.

“However, the compost complied with the French 44051 NU standard, including in terms of rate of inert material,” says Serge Ninoreille, manager of la Compostière de l’Aube. “But this quality of compost was not suitable with our own standard for spreading on land because it still featured a strong presence of unwanted material. Which is why we invested in Flexidry, with a promise to produce an output organic matter with less than 0.2% of inert on dry matter. Indeed, this is what we get — and without water!

This will eventually allow us to produce clean digestate and reduce our maintenance problems with our digester.”

This year, the site should recover 1,500 tonnes of biowaste and reach a target of 5,000 tonnes in five years. In addition, the combination of AD with composting enhances the economic value of the same product twice. l For more information:

This article was written by Clotilde Fonbonne, sales and marketing director at Green Creative.

Visit: www.green-creative.fr

March/April 2016 • 21

Bioenergy drying technology Using superheated steam to dry AD sludge facilitates the production and transportation of value-adding fertilisers

A dry spell

U

sing chicken manure as a feedstock in biogas production has been possible only in a limited scale because of ammonia inhibition risk. A new fermentation process has been developed

by Ductor, a Finnish bioenergy company that removes nitrogen from chicken litter before biogas processing. This treatment produces a high phosphorus digestate. To fully exploit this natural fertiliser, economic drying technology, such as a superheated steam (SHS) dryer, is needed. A combination of these two technologies opens up the possibility to use chicken litter — among other high nitrogen materials — as feedstock in biogas production and turn the digestate to dry fertiliser.

Drying the sludge can increase the value of biogas digestate by making its storage and transport more feasible and economic. There are two main parts to the drying 1 Ductor fermentation

process: 1) mechanical water separation and 2) removing the mound water. Mechanical water separation is performed by a physical principle (molecule size difference, density difference) to remove as much water from the sludge as possible. A biogas sludge from the biogas fermenter has less 10% solids content and can be mechanically dried to around 30%.

The best way to remove the remaining water is thermal drying, in which water is evaporated by a heat source.

The source can be flue gas, hot air, steam, or a combination of the three. In direct thermal drying a heat source is in contact with the sludge, while in indirect thermal drying a surface that is in contact with the sludge is heated.

Thermal drying with superheated steam While direct drying is a well-established method, the

3 Sludge drying

Figure 1. A biogas plant with Ductor fermentation and drying

22 • March/April 2016

4 Dryer body and mixer 5 Dry sludge outlet

2

3

4

5

Figure 2. The superheated steam dryer

use of SHS is less common.

SHS is formed when water is heated above the steam saturation point. For example, at a pressure of 100 kPa(abs), steam is saturated at 100°C and raising temperature

2

3

2 Superheater 3 External energy feed

1

2 Biogas production

1 Sludge feed

1

higher causes the steam to be superheated. This way additional energy can be stored in the steam, and this energy can then be used for drying. Saturated steam at 100kPa(abs) and 100°C has an enthalpy of 2676kJ/kg, and superheated at 150°C the enthalpy is 2776 kJ/ kg. One kilogram of this superheated steam can evaporate 44g of water at 100 kPa(abs) and 100°C. But how to utilise this in drying? In the late 2000s, inventor Heimo Välimäki came up with an interesting idea and design: the formation of steam from the water in the sludge and using external energy to superheat the steam. Figure 2 shows the design and main parts of Välimäki’s SHS dryer.

The external energy used in the SHS dryer can be steam, hot air, flue gas, or electricity.

The risk of fire from dust explosion is avoided by the

Bioenergy Insight

drying technology Bioenergy

1 Wet sludge

2 Dry waste water sludge with CaO after drying

Figure 3. Results in drying of waste water sludge

design, as only sludge, water, and steam can enter the dryer chamber. Superheated steam is a good leaching agent, and it penetrates the structure of the sludge. By agitating the sludge during the drying, good granulation is achieved. The high temperature used has also natural hygienic effects as well. The steam leaving the dryer still contains a significant amount of energy in a useful form. It can be used in a second dryer or condensed into hot water, for heating or energy purposes.

The drying capacity can be expressed as the amount of wet organic material dried in a time period or as the amount of water evaporated during the drying per time. As the SHS dryer is operated continuously, the latter method is more useful. The evaporation rate can be determined either directly measuring the amount of steam or condensate leaving the dryer or indirectly measuring the input and output dry matter content of the sludge.

The drying rate depends mostly on the energy flow, which is governed in the SHS dryer by the performance of the superheater, the steam fan performance, and mixing performance inside the drying chamber.

Bioenergy Insight

Currently, the SHS dryer unit has a maximum capacity of 2,000kg/h of water evaporated. It is possible to construct larger dryers, but this current size is optimal for most biogas plants.

Heat transfer One essential part of the SHS drying process is heat transfer in the superheater, i.e. the device that transfers external heat to the circulating steam.

The two mechanisms involved are external heat transfer, which occurs from the source of energy to the structure of the heat exchanger (usually tubes), and internal heat transfer, which in turn is the transfer of heat to the steam. In order to determine the local heat transfer coefficient, complex models involving local geometries can be used. However, a simplified approach can be taken with the SHS dryer.

If the source of energy is saturated steam, heat transfer from the steam to the structure is not a limiting factor, but the heat transfer from the structure to the superheated steam can be.

When flue gas (or hot air) is used as the external energy source, the dimensioning calculations need a recheck on the heat

transfer coefficient from flue gas to sludge. Usually a correlation for heat transfer in turbulent conditions inside the superheater can be used.

One interesting phenomenon is that the heat transfer at the flue gas side is almost the same as at the superheated steam side. Therefore, dimensioning the superheated side correctly leads to a well working drying system. In practice, the SHS dryer is actually a flue gas boiler.

The agitator inside the drying chamber is equipped with steam channels and therefore it has two functions: mixing and breaking up the structure of the sludge and then heating it. Mixing and agitation influence the drying efficiency. Without mixing, the sludge would form a pile with a small surface area, causing water to migrate long distances from inside the sludge to the surface.

The agitation breaks down the structure of the sludge, first to large lumps and then to smaller and smaller particles as the drying process proceeds. The reduction in particle size increases the surface area significantly, thus helping the drying process.

The SHS dryer was originally designed for drying wastewater sludge, but it performs very well also with

other sludges and biomasses.

Figure 3 shows wastewater sludge before and after the SHS drying. Similar results have been achieved when drying biogas residues.

Conclusions Drying sludge with SHS dryer is a good solution for handling digestates from biogas production. The sludge thus dried is dry, granular, and homogenous in structure, which allows for storage and transportation over longer distances. Combining the Ductor ammonia removal process to the drying system makes it possible to use chicken litter and other such feedstocks to produce a high nutrient value, dry fertiliser product. The application of these two technologies significantly improves the economics of biogas production. l

For more information:

This article was written by Pasi Makkonen and Ilkka Virkajärvi of Ductor. Visit: www.ductor.com

March/April 2016 • 23

Bioenergy aviation from biomass Ligno-cellulose is considered a long-term alternative to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels

The future of aviation biofuels

A

viation is responsible for 2% of global manmade greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expect aviation to grow by 5% annually until 20301 (EBTP 2015). Clearly, decarbonisation of the aviation sector can make a vital contribution to global GHG reductions and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have CO2 reduction targets of 50% by 2050 (ATAG 2012).

But, while low carbon electricity can be produced from biomass, wind, or sunlight, there are relatively few options available for decarbonising the aviation industry. Solar planes are being developed at small scale, but biofuels are the only “near to market” option that can match the energy density of kerosene, and so they are being relied upon to deliver significant GHG reductions by many national governments.

But how much aviation biofuels could sustainably be produced? How close is the technology to commercial maturity? What level of GHG savings will actually be achieved and what is being done to accelerate progress?

Sustainable production Estimates of bioenergy potential vary widely depending on the objectives set and assumptions used in the calculation. Globally, there is a very significant potential

24 • March/April 2016

that could be accessed, but the feedstocks that can most readily be converted to aviation biofuels are oils, including palm, soya, and rapeseed, with perhaps camelina or jatropha. However, these all have significant land-use and sustainability constraints associated with feedstock supply.

Therefore there is huge interest in developing advanced biomass-to-liquid (btl) processes that could convert lingo-cellulosic material to aviation biofuels. This would give a much larger feedstock base and potentially deliver greater carbon reductions than the relatively carbon intensive production of oil seed crops. But the processes are relatively unproven and broadening the “feedstock properties envelope” while retaining compliance with extremely tight fuel quality standards, is challenging.

Recently researchers in the UK established that (even in

such a small and relatively densely populated country) biomass could sustainably supply up to 44% of UK energy demand from 2050 without impacting on food systems2.

However, the most significant resource is waste and there are significant challenges in processing a contaminated and variable feedstock to meet strict fuel quality requirements.

Commercial maturity Viable processes to deliver aviation biofuels comprise a sequence of process steps summarised in table 1, while the major unit processes and current activities are depicted in figure 1.

The status of the main process units shown in figure 1 is summarised in table 2.

This includes the approximate current size achieved today, the TRL (technology readiness level on a scale of 1 being fundamental research to 9 being commercial

operation), and the major risks or uncertainties.

GHG savings To date, hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) have been a key biofuel development focus. These are akin to first generation biofuels, produced from conventional oil seed crops, and their relatively intensive agronomic production means that they achieve greenhouse gas savings of only 20-54%3.

Using crops such as jatropha or camelina might increase this to 66 or 85%3, but the biomass to liquid processes outlined in table 1 have much more significant GHG reduction potential, promising up to 95% reductions if aviation biofuels are produced from forestry residues3. However, assessments to date have been based on high level models of the processes involved. Only as we progress the process technological development will

Table 1: Process steps to aviation fuels Primary conversion

Secondary conversion

Fast pyrolysis to bio-oil

Catalytic cracking of biooil for deoxygenation

Tertiary conversion

Refining

Alcohol dehydration and oligomerisation

Refining to specified fuel standards

Hydrodeoxygenation of bio-oil Fermentation of syngas to ethanol or butanol Gasification to syngas

Synthesis of alcohols (MeOH, EtOH etc.) from syngas Synthesis of hydrocarbons e.g. Fischer Tropsch et al.

Hydrothermal processing to bio-crude

Hydrodeoxygenation of HTU product

Bioenergy Insight

aviation from biomass Bioenergy it be possible to improve these estimates by incorporating refined figures into rigorous life cycle assessment calculations to quantify what reductions aviation biofuels could actually deliver.

3, 4, or 5 are likely to require 15 years or more to properly develop, demonstrate, and introduce into the market. So, while the technology could progress within a timeframe that could deliver required GHG reductions and there are still opportunities for disruptive technologies to make a significant contribution, none of this is likely until a policy framework exists which actually values the GHG reductions that would be achieved. l

Accelerating the process Clearly there is a need to demonstrate the feasibility of the production technologies at commercial scale. But at present there are no “best methods” of production and we first need to narrow down the process options to the most promising routes for development. As stated above this prioritisation should be informed by evaluation of the actual GHG reductions that the aviation biofuels will achieve. However, there are many other pertinent factors, including cost.

Realistic development and capital costs are needed, with a key issue being scale of implementation. The oil industry has traditionally taken advantage of economies of scale. The minimum Fischer Tropsch plant size considered viable by the oil and gas industry is 25,000bb/ day requiring 5 million tpy

Figure 1: Process routes to hydrocarbon aviation fuels

biomass. That is a very significant biomass logistic supply chain undertaking!

So the dispersed nature of biomass and waste may require different approaches. Using it will be capital intensive at small-to-medium scales, while biomass cost will dominate at large scales.

One way forward may be integration into established infrastructure. A crude or semi-crude hydrocarbon could be synthesised from biomass for feeding into a conventional refinery in the short-tomedium term. This would take advantage of economies of scale and in-built know-how while avoiding some of the most extreme biomass logistic

challenges and delivering a market compatible product.

This would also help address technology risks associated with next generation facilities, which is an important issue for investors faced with finance requests for medium-to-large scale plants of billions to euros.

Even then, it seems unlikely that investors would commit funds in the current policy climate, where the GHG emissions from international aviation are not counted and reductions not rewarded. At present there is no economic incentive for aviation biofuels and current production costs are 63% higher than conventional kerosene4.

Current process units at TRL

For more information:

This article was written by Patricia Thornley at the University of Manchester, Anthony Bridgwater at Aston University, and Temitope Falano at the University of Manchester.

All authors are members of the UK’s Supergen Bioenergy hub. Visit: www.supergen-bioenergy.net

References

1 EBTP (2015) European Biofuels Technology Platform 2 Welfle A, Gilbert P, Thornley P, Securing a bioenergy future without imports, Energy Policy 68, pp. 1-14, 2014 3 E4Tech, Review of the potential of biofuels in aviation, 2009 4 Sierk,de J., Hoefnagels,R. Slade,R, Mawhood, R., Junginger, M.,(2015): The Feasibility of Shortterm Production Strategies for Renewable Jet Fuel-a comprehensive techno-economic comparison.

Biofuel, Bioprod.Bioref

Table 2: Major process units status from figure 1 Process

Product

Maximum size achieved

TRL

Risks

Primary conversion Fast pyrolysis to bio-oil Pyrolysis liquid 125t/d 7 Scale up Gasification to syngas Syngas 50t/d 7 Size, gas cleaning Hydrothermal processing Viscous liquid 25t/d 3 Pressure, feeding Secondary conversion Fermentation of syngas Ethanol 1000t/d 7 Contamination Cat cracking bio-oil Aromatics t/d 6 Not well proven HDO bio-oil and HTU oil Hydrocarbons kg/d 2 Hydrogen requirement, incomplete

deoxygenation, unproven Alcohol synthesis Ethanol or mixed alcohols 1000t/d 8 Minimal Hydrocarbon synthesis by Hydrocarbons 200kbbl/d 9 Minimal Fischer Tropsch Tertiary conversion Alcohol dehydration and Hydrocarbons kg/d 3 Unproven oligomerisation Refining

Refining to aviation Refined aviation fuel 200kbbl/d 9 Minimal fuel standards Key bbl =barrels

kbbl = kilo barrels

Bioenergy Insight

March/April 2016 • 25

green page Six ways carbon capture might backfire Major carbon capture methods and their issues The sword in the fight against climate change may be double-edged

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BCCS)

Carbon capture is being hailed as one of, if not the most important way in cutting back global CO2 emissions and limiting global warming to the 2°C agreed on internationally at the COP21 climate conference in Paris last December. Case in point, the Committee on Climate Change in the UK encouraged the UK government to re-establish its scrapped carbon capture scheme.

But what if carbon capture ended up harming the environment more?

So thinks Phil Williamson from the Natural Environment Research Council at University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences. In a paper published in the peer-reviewed Nature journal Williamson outlines ways in which most ­— if not all — modern carbon capture methods pose environmental risks.

According to Williamson, climate modellers estimate that as much as 600 billion tonnes of CO2 may need to be extracted from the atmosphere by 2100 to deliver the Paris goals.

“But removal will be expensive, and is currently unproven at the scale needed ­— so it would be much better to reduce emissions as rapidly as possible,” Williamson says.

Several CO2 removal techniques have been proposed.

Yet there’s no real evidence available, at least not yet, on whether any of them will work on the frankly outrageous scale needed to satisfy Paris.

“Crucially, large-scale CO2 removal, by whichever means, will have knock-on effects for ecosystems and biodiversity. There could be benefits, but damage seems more likely,” says Williamson. “For example, the amount of bioenergy crops we would need to grow could use up to 580 million hectares of land — or half of the land area of the US. This would in turn accelerate the loss of forests and natural grassland with impacts for wildlife, whilst also having implications for food security.”

“As well as this, very little is known about the effect of future climatic conditions on the yields of bioenergy crops. For example, we don’t know what the water requirements of these crops might be in a warmer world,” Williamson concludes.

The important thing now for securing a green and cool future is for governments and companies to invest in new research. What we need is ways to either come up with more secure technologies or to perfect the current ones. The big issue, though, in the end is uncertainty. We might already have what we need to decarbonise the world. We just don’t yet know how to use it properly. l

How it works: Crops grown for the purpose are burnt in power stations providing energy, and the resulting CO2 is captured for secure long-term storage.

26 • March/April 2016

The problem: In order to have a significant impact, bioenergy crops would need to be planted on an area about half the size of the US. It would compete with food for land use, and the use of fertilisers could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon capture and storage is costly and not in advanced stages.

Biochar How it works: Carbon from partly burnt biomass is added to soil, with agricultural benefits.

The problem: The use of biochar raises land use issues. In addition, millions of hectares of soil darkened by the application of biochar would decrease albedo, increasing heat absorption. Long-term effects on soil are also unknown.

Afforestation and reforestation How it works: Large-scale tree plantations increase natural storage of carbon in biomass and forest soil.

The problem: Planting forests could result in the loss of natural ecosystems and cause changes to the soil-water balance and cloud cover.

This could actually have a net warming effect.

Enhanced ocean productivity How it works: Marine photosynthesis and CO2 drawdown from the atmosphere is increased, either by adding nutrients to promote phytoplankton growth in the open ocean or through seaweed cultivation in shallow seas.

The problem: The CO2 would be released when the algae and seaweed die and decompose. Also, an increase in these populations may disrupt underwater ecosystems and displace fish and other marine life.

Enhanced weathering using silicate rock How it works: Crushed olivine or other silicate rocks are added to the soil surfaces or the ocean for chemical absorption of CO2. Could also help reduce ocean acidification.

The problem: Addition of pulverized rock to the soil surface would increase reflectivity, and the volume of rock needed would exceed the amount of coal currently produced worldwide, with the total costs of implementation rising up to $600 trillion. The chemistry and biology of rivers and adjacent ocean areas would be radically altered.

Direct air capture (DAC) How it works: Chemicals and low temperatures are used to extract CO2 from ambient air.

The problem: The operational costs for DAC can rise to rival those of weathering. The extraction process would also need land and probably water, and, as for BCCS, there is a risk of CO2 leaking out of geological reservoirs. The technical feasibility, costs, and potential environmental impacts are not clear.

Bioenergy Insight

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March/April 2016 • 27

Bioenergy regulations Despite receiving a tax credit extension, US biomass producers stand on a precarious footing

As the foundations shake

B

By Ilari Kauppila

iomass energy producers in the US had more reason to celebrate the beginning of 2016 than just the regular New Year’s jubilations, as the US Congress passed a regulation extending the production tax credit (PTC). The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2016 extended the tax credit for biomass energy technologies commencing construction through 31 December, 2016, and established it retroactively for 2015.

The amount of credit that producers can claim is $0.023/ kWh for closed-loop biomass generation and $0.012/kWh for open-loop biomass, landfill gas, and municipal solid waste generation. An important feature of the extension was also the fact that — unlike solar power credits (at the same level as closed-loop biomass — the support for biomass generation will not be phased out. Wind power generators, unfortunately, will see a phaseout process for their credits begin at the end of 2016.

Additionally, Congress approved an investment tax credit (ITC), which renewable energy producers can opt for instead of the PTC. For example, CHP plants producing less than 50MW of power can apply for an unlimited incentive The biomass industry was, needless to say, elated by the news of the tax incentives’ passage. Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of the US Biomass Power Association (BPA), called the tax credit extension “favourable” to biomass and diverse renewable energy growth and “a significant achievement”.

“By not phasing out the credit for biomass, Congress

28 • March/April 2016

is acknowledging the many benefits of our industry.

Beyond reliable baseload energy generation, biomass helps protect forest health and provides thousands of rural jobs,” Cleaves said in a statement.

Biomass on the grow But the role biomass has in the US energy supply seems unclear. The federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) released in mid-January its Short-Term Energy Outlook, which forecasts the roles of several renewable energy forms during this year and 2017. Despite the enactment of the PTC, EIA expects it to have “little effect” on the total share as most plants entering production in 2016 are already being developed and will not be able to reap the full benefits of the credit programme.

The total share of all renewable energy in the US supply is, according to the EIA, expected to increase by 9.5% this year. Wood biomass is predicted to generate 115,000MWh of energy per day in 2016, increasing to 118,000MWh in 2017. Waste biomass is expected to produce a relatively steady 60,000MWh during both years.

Perhaps paradoxically, though, EIA predicts that the total consumption of wood biomass in the US will fall from 2.056 quadrillion Btu (quad) in 2015 to 1.976 quad in 2016, before climbing back up to 1.997 quad in 2017. Consumption of waste biomass, on the other hand, is expected to remain stable at around 0.512 quads for the next two years.

At the same time, total

CO2 emissions from fuel are expected to grow over the forecast period, despite the agreement reached at the Paris climate conference last December. EIA sees that total US CO2 emissions will climb by 28 million tonnes from 2015 to 2016, and by another 29 million tonnes by 2017.

Despite the worrying trends, there are hopes that passing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), intended to curb US CO2 emissions and encourage the uptake of clean power, would see the share of renewables increase as the US begins to reach for the Paris Agreement goals. The CPP may spell good news to biomass producers as well, as according to the BPA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognised biomass as an integral part of the plan.

“Consistent with every State-based renewable energy initiative as well as the international community, the federal government has resoundingly recognised the role of ‘low value’ biomass as a renewable energy source,” said Cleaves. “Biomass has much to offer states in the way of reliable power and a way to put forestry residues and other agricultural byproducts to good use.”

A spanner in the works But the hopes and dreams of those vouching for the CPP are — at least for the time being — stuck in a quagmire of legal hijinks. The US Supreme Court in early February ordered the implementation of the CPP to be put on hold until all legal challenges against it are solved. The decision came in the aftermath of 27 US States, led by economically

fossil fuel-dependent Texas and West Virginia, sending a request to the Supreme Court to halt the plan.

“Without Supreme Court intervention, West Virginia and other states will suffer irreparable harm as job creators and state agencies spend untold resources to comply with a rule that is likely to be struck down as illegal,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in an interview with Reuters in January.

The Supreme Court’s decision may hinder long-term establishment of the CPP as it may bite into the plan and strike it down even if a lower court would find it legal.

Yet, there is still some — albeit quite morbid — light at the end of the tunnel for the CPP. The until now Republicanled Supreme Court decision came only after a tight vote of 5-4, which divided the ninemember court along party lines. But the conservative majority was thrown off balance merely a few days after the decision, with the unfortunate passing away of the Court’s longest serving member Justice Antonin Scalia.

The seat Scalia left behind has to be filled, and a debate has broken out whether President Obama should leave the appointment of a new court member to his successor. Obama has hinted that he intends to do the appointment himself, which would most likely mean a Democrat-majority Supreme Court. Consequently, this might open up the path for the CPP. Should he leave the appointment for later, though, the plan’s future might depend on the outcome of the ongoing presidential election. l

Bioenergy Insight

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

Location

Company

Incident information

01/02/2016

Helsinki, Finland

Helen

Five employees were hospitalised after being exposed to a leaked toxic compound at the Salmisaari co-firing plant.

The leak was caused by a fire, which was extinguished quickly, but the blaze made the leaked waste more dangerous due to gasification.

12/01/2016

Southampton, UK

Eco Sustainable Solutions

A 100m high pile of woodchips caught fire and burned in a massive blaze over several days at King George V Graving Dock in Southampton.

The fire is suspected to have ignited due to spontaneous self-combustion.

No injuries were reported, but the fire may hinder the planned and already ailing 100MW Helius biomass plant in Southampton.

Center for Renewable Energy, University of Illinois

An investigation has been launched into the causes of a fire that occurred on 15 Dec. at the University of Illinois Center for Renewable Energy.

A fire broke out in one of the Center’s four boilers and spread further into the three-story unit.

One firefighter suffered non-severe steam burns during the eight-hour extinguishing operation.

11/01/2016 Illinois, US

anuncio_UK_135x190v02.pdf

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22/09/15

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March/April 2016 • 29

Bioenergy regional focus The future of the US bioenergy industry depends on the country’s next presidential election. Or does it?

Mission: White House

W

By Colin Ley

hich US presidential candidate will be good for the bioenergy sector? It is a challenging question for industry leaders and investors as they contemplate what condition their respective renewable energy ventures may be in by 2025.

It is certainly a sobering thought to consider the length of time during which the next US president will help to shape renewable energy policies, both domestically and across the globe. Making the correct choice over the next few weeks — as the race for nomination heats up — will have a significant impact on how future energy policies develop in the US and how that affects business aims and objectives in Europe, South

30 • March/April 2016

America, Asia, and so on.

Current frontrunners for the Democrat nomination are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, while the Republican list consists of Donald Trump,

caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, there were still seven possibilities to examine from a renewable energy perspective. Only one

“Climate change is more of a talking point with Democrats than it is for Republicans” Maureen Walsh, American Biogas Council

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, and Ben Carson. While Clinton and Sanders are set to battle on for a while, the Republican Five might well have shrunk by the time this analysis is published.

However, following the mixture of primaries and

of the, though, registered a serious negative with America’s Renewable Future (ARF), a group representing a coalition of companies, organisations, and individuals who are committed to pushing presidential candidates from both parties

to support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Although obviously focused mainly of RFS issues, the group’s candidate check list takes an overall view of the broader-based renewable energy stance of each of the White House contenders. In that context, Clinton and Sanders were both ranked as “good” options for president.

The same general ranking, however, was also applied to Trump, Rubio, Kasich, and Carson, with Cruz getting the one “bad” ranking from ARF. Concerning climate Looking at the candidates’ attitudes towards climate change, especially concerning whose fault it is, provides another broad-brush view of what is on offer.

“Generally speaking,

Bioenergy Insight

regional focus Bioenergy climate change is more of a talking point with Democrats than it is for the Republicans,” Maureen Walsh, government affairs director for the American Biogas Council (ABC), told Bioenergy Insight. “Clinton and Sanders both have a strong recognition that the climate is changing and that it’s related, in some manner, to our consumption of carbon and to carbon emissions.

They also accept that the US Government has a part to play in helping the world to combat climate change.”

“When it comes to the Republicans, there are still some on that side of the fence who essentially deny climate change is taking place at all. They may go so far as to say that they recognise the world is getting warmer but not to the extent of agreeing that this is necessarily due to any human contribution,” Walsh said.

Asked to work her way through the individual Republican candidates, according to climate change denial, Walsh said that Cruz and Rubio were the most likely to “pull a quote” claiming that they weren’t scientists and therefore “don’t know anything about this global warming stuff”.

“Trump, meanwhile, is far more middle of the road with his comments,” she said.

“As was the case with Jeb Bush, before he pulled out of the race, Trump is a free market guy who recognises what’s happening and understands that it needs to be addressed. Having said that, he won’t want the government stepping in with regulations and incentives to drive change as he will prefer the market to shape the country’s future energy programme.”

As with all elections, candidates from the “ruling” side carry the advantage of offering a certain continuity of administration, free from sudden changes of direction.

Bioenergy Insight

Kelly T. King, vice president of one of the oldest biodiesel companies in the US, gave Bioenergy Insight her ‘profile’ for what an ‘ideal energy president’ would believe and do on behalf of the renewable energy sector

Profile of the ‘ideal energy president’ “T he ideal energy president would certainly understand the ramifications of climate change and be able to comprehend the science that has attributed it to human activity.

The world needs a US president who acknowledges the urgency, recognises the disproportionate contribution we have made to global warming, and is willing to commit our country to immediate action, both in reduction of fossil fuels and support of clean energy technology.

“To that end, it is essential for the next POTUS to be willing to tax fossil fuels relative to their environmental, social, and political costs, including the cost to defend US oil interests overseas. Obviously, this would require a leader who is honest about the motivations of our military conflicts.

“Lacking the willingness to end petroleum subsidies or enact carbon tax equivalents, however, it would be just as effective to incentivise renewable energy production and to establish subsidies

The world needs a US president who supports clean energy technology

in federal statute (where most of the petroleum subsidies can be found) that will allow renewable energy to compete on a fair market basis. Currently, the renewable fuel sector must fight for renewed incentives every two years.

Indeed, many US businesses have gone bankrupt waiting for the return of the Biodiesel Federal Excise Tax.

Kelly T. King, vice president at Pacific Biodiesel Technologies

“Finally, I believe America needs a president who is able to focus on building bridges, not erecting walls. In all areas of concern, but especially in energy policy, we must use US resources and ingenuity to become the example that elicits the respect and admiration of other countries.

“Not only should our leader be compassionate towards foreign populations already suffering the effects of climate change, but he or she must be able to develop consensus within our own borders. The cleanliness of the air we breathe and the water we drink must be protected for future generations.

“It’s a tall order that requires holding the American people to the ideals we claim to value, but entrepreneurs and visionaries never say never!” l

Kelly T. King is vice president at Pacific Biodiesel Technologies, Hawaii

March/April 2016 • 31

Bioenergy regional focus Even when that advantage is no better than considering “the devil you know” over the various alternatives, it is still an election card which the Democrats are currently playing.

The passing president But how do bioenergy businesses and investors feel about the two terms they have now almost completed under President Obama?

“Over the last eight years the US biodiesel industry has seen significant growth, moving from 700 million gallons in 2008 to a nearly 2.1 billion gallon market in 2015,” said Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), adding that this demonstrates biodiesel’s rising popularity and the fact that consumers are seeking cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels.

“During President Obama’s time in office, bioenergy has had its shares of ups and down, with the past couple of years being especially difficult for the biodiesel industry. However, as his presidency comes to a close, our industry has seen some major policy achievements.”

In addition to commenting that the growth in the biodiesel market shows “without question” that the RFS is delivering significant volumes of advanced biofuel, proving that it is “absolutely working”, Jobe also welcomed the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had finally got its volumes back on schedule through 2017, and that this was providing “much needed stability” for the industry.

Looking forward, of course, NBB will be seeking even more from the next person to move into the White House.

“The industry secured an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive,” said Jobe, adding that the next challenge is to move this towards a production tax credit, providing market predictability

32 • March/April 2016

for the coming year and helping to drive further increases in biodiesel use.

President Obama’s success on energy was described as “reasonable” by Walsh, whose non-ABC time is spent as president of the Dynamic Change Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobby firm representing clients in the renewable and clean energy sectors.

“The President has, in general, tried very much to move the dial forward on renewable energy and renewable fuels and that definitely relates to biomass,” she said, adding that more of the same could be expected of either Clinton or Sanders, given that each one would be likely to rely on many of the former administration’s political appointees, if elected to office.

Both the Democrat candidates also have good “hands-on” knowledge of bioenergy developments and prospects, Clinton through her role as Senator for New York State, and Sanders, as Senator for Vermont.

“Sanders is fairly attuned to the place of biomass and biogas in the economy, having experienced Vermont’s strong focus on the dairy industry and it’s ‘cow power’

qualities,” said Walsh.

“New York State also has a significant dairy industry, so Clinton will also know the role that biomass can play.”

Republican rivals If the Republicans win, however, the White House structure will definitely change, with the prospect of significantly less support being given to renewable energy overall.

“The majority of the Republican candidates at least display some support for the RFS, although they mainly prefer the market to take over with no artificial incentives being given for renewable energy or renewable fuels. In that context, there could be a lack of inclination to continue RFS beyond 2022 and a general lack of support for either biomass or biogas,” Walsh said.

Within that general summary of Republican views, there are still big differences between the remaining five candidates.

“Cruz is very strongly against government intervention. He also comes from the oil and gas-hungry state of Texas and is seen as the furthest to the right in his views on renewable energy,” said Walsh. “Rubio is a little

less dogmatic than Cruz, but still far right, while Trump and Kasich are more moderate in general. While they all back the free-market approach, they wouldn’t necessarily veto support for renewables.”

“Say what you like about Trump, for example, he’s still a businessman. As such, I don’t see him taking any crazy stances, especially regarding essential measures to help a new industry overcome some initial barriers, if it means that industry can grow on to become a dynamic part of the US economy,” Walsh forecasted.

Another question, however, which really must be asked in the midst of the election battle is whether it really matters who wins? This is especially relevant at present, with the US Supreme Court having recently barred President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) from taking effect until legal challenges against the legislation are solved. This action followed requests from no fewer than 27 US States to block the CPP. “It’s an astute question,” said Walsh. “While there’s a global view, for example, that the President is all-powerful, the reality is that his responsibilities are dictated by the US constitution, under which Congress is our legislative body.”

“All any President can actually do is to work with Congress to get his or her programme through and if congress is uncooperative, which it generally has been over the last eight years, there’s not a lot that the President can do.”

Having made that point, however, having a President who is on board with your industry’s aims and ambitions is always better than one that is likely to oppose your every turn. This is why the seven-into-one process being negotiated in the US at present continues to dominate industry and global headlines. l

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March/April 2016 • 33

Bioenergy dedicated energy crops The Energy Technologies Institute calls for UK government to accelerate the transition to bioenergy

Full speed ahead

B

ioenergy has the potential to be a low carbon game changer for the UK’s future energy system, according to a new report from the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). The ETI is a public-private partnership between global energy and engineering companies and the UK government, and has recently published Delivering greenhouse gas emission savings through UK bioenergy value chains, a report which reaffirms the potential of bioenergy in a future UK low carbon energy mix.

Bioenergy’s importance as a development priority has been heightened following recent energy policy announcements by the government. Deployed effectively, bioenergy has the potential to help secure UK energy supplies, mitigate climate change, and create significant green growth opportunities. It is also one of the most scalable, costeffective, and flexible energy conversion pathways available, as its flexibility of operation can be used to generate power, heat, gaseous or liquid fuels, and more often than not, use existing infrastructure.

It can be deployed to meet around 10% of future energy demand and deliver net negative CO2 emissions of around 55 million tpy in the 2050s if used in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology1.

This ability to deliver negative emissions offsets the need for expensive decarbonisation interventions in sectors like aviation, transport, and shipping. The ETI’s latest insight report argues that taking decisions and positive action on the role

34 • March/April 2016

of bioenergy over the next five to 10 years protects the country’s option to pursue the lowest cost route to delivering the UK’s climate change commitments by 2050. The value of using bioenergy to provide energy and help meet UK’s 2050 greenhouse gas (GHG) targets is around 1% of the GDP, and this value could diminish if decisions are delayed2.

Dedicated crops and emissions reduction

The UK government highlighted the need to ensure that bioenergy delivers genuine carbon savings, and that the impact of direct land use change to biomass production were better understood. The work undertaken by the ETI and presented in the insight report is one of the first empirical studies to assess these issues together, taking into account the emissions and savings that could arise from growing and using biomass in the UK. The report is based on more than four years of ETI research into bioenergy, and has involved quantifying land use change emissions in the UK and assessing the ability of different bioenergy value chains (uses) to deliver genuine carbon savings at a system level.

The work has shown numerous bioenergy value chains can deliver genuine system-level carbon savings across all the key energy vectors of power, heat, liquid, and gaseous fuels.

From a long-term low carbon perspective, bioenergy with CCS is a game-changer, since most of these value chains — when using certain UK-grown bioenergy crops in combination with CCS — would deliver

substantial negative emissions.

However, bioenergy deployed without CCS can still deliver GHG emissions savings given the right choice of crop type, location, and ultimate end use in the energy system. The GHG benefits of increased planting of second-generation biomass feedstocks (such as short-rotation forestry, Miscanthus, and shortrotation coppice willow) are relatively immediate, since crops that are well-matched to sites (marginal arable and appropriate grassland) can start acting as net carbon sinks relatively quickly.

The CCS challenge At the end of last 2015, the UK government announced that it was not continuing with its £1 billion (appr. €1.3bn) investment into the CCS demonstrator competition, indicating a period of delay in CCS introduction into the UK energy system. ETI modelling has shown that without using bioenergy or CCS, it will be very hard to deliver an affordable energy system in 2050 that meets UK GHG targets. The potential for delivering GHG savings quickly, along with wider environmental benefits, opportunities for diversification of rural incomes, and job creation, when taken into consideration together with the recent decision to delay CCS, strengthens the argument for accelerating bioenergy’s deployment in the UK. Given the long lead times for market development, and that the time from establishment to commercial harvest is about four years, the UK needs to invest now to realise these benefits in their fullest. It is

not necessary to have CCS capacity in place beforehand.

The longer a decision is delayed around bioenergy, the more rapid the roll-out would need to become, limiting the UK’s ability to identify optimal approaches and share best practice around methods to maximise GHG savings and enhance ecosystem services and the overall productivity and profitability of agricultural land including food production.

“Planting just 30,000 hectares a year of secondgeneration bioenergy crops and short-rotation forestry on marginal arable land or appropriate grassland would keep the UK on the right trajectory for scaling up domestic biomass production out to the 2050s, making bioenergy a significant contributor to a future low carbon energy system,” says Geraldine NewtonCross, strategy manager for bioenergy at the ETI and the report’s author.

According to NewtonCross, with the recent energy policy decisions delaying the deployment of CCS demonstrations in the UK at an energy systems level, bioenergy becomes even more important to drive the country’s preparation for a low carbon transition.

“Despite these decisions, our modelling shows that over the next 35 years, supporting the roll-out and use of bioenergy with CCS enables the UK to deliver a low carbon energy system and meet 2050 GHG emission targets at the lowest cost. This is because of the ability to provide negative emissions through bioenergy value chains, resulting in a net reduction in the level of carbon entering the atmosphere, and

Bioenergy Insight

dedicated energy crops Bioenergy

providing a credit against the emissions from other sectors at the system level,” she says.

Newton-Cross calls for the option to be considered in the long-term solutions the UK adopts if it still aims to meet its emission reduction targets in 2050. In the more immediate timeframe, ETI feels there is sufficient evidence of system-level carbon savings to support the implementation of a national policy framework for large-scale biomass production.

“The longer a decision is delayed, the more rapid the roll-out would need to become, adding expense and limiting the UK’s ability to identify optimal approaches and share best practice,” Newton-Cross concludes.

Public support A recent YouGov survey for the ETI highlighted public support for the use of

Bioenergy Insight

bioenergy as an energy source with 72% of respondents supporting the conversion of biomass to energy, and 81% supporting the process of transferring waste to energy.

At an energy systems level, sustainability, security of energy supply, and public acceptability of bioenergy can be increased if the UK does not rely entirely on biomass imports and instead uses a mixture of “home-grown” and imported feedstock.

When quantifying the land change required to accelerate bioenergy development, the suggested yearly 30,000 hectares of second-generation bioenergy crop would result in 300,000 hectares over the next decade. This number represents only 6% of the low-risk “suitable” land identified by the ETI from a GHG emissions viewpoint, only 4.8% of the total croppable area of the UK, and only 1.6%

of total UK agricultural land.

A ramp-up of such scale is comparable to existing arable cropping land use changes, and would enable the benefits of integrating biomass production alongside food production to be demonstrated at scale. It is also not without precedent, since oilseed rape growth had reached a peak of 750,000 hectares by 2012, with a peak annual increase in planted area of 110,000 hectares (in 2002/3).

on suitable “marginal” arable land today.

By taking these decisions and actions over the next five to 10 years it protects the UK’s option to pursue the lowest cost route to delivering its climate change commitments by 2050. It also provides time to develop a framework to optimise the efficiency, economy, and environmental performance of the UK agricultural sector as a whole. l

Conclusion The ETI believes that the evidence for system-level carbon savings is sufficiently strong and widespread across the UK to support the implementation of a national policy framework for largescale biomass production, targeting second-generation bioenergy crops production

For more information:

This article was written by Geraldine Newton-Cross, strategy manager for bioenergy at the ETI. Visit: www.eti.co.uk

References

1 BVCM report published in 2015 by the ETI and ETI ESME modelling reports 2 Enabling UK Biomass report published in 2015 by the ETI, http://www.eti. co.uk/bioenergy-enabling-uk-biomass

March/April 2016 • 35

Bioenergy drying technology

A brief history of dryers

A dryer drum under construction

Single pass drum dryers are becoming the industry standard for large-scale pellet producers in the US

R

ecent years have seen the construction of several largescale pellet plants in North America.

There are obviously many upfront decisions when setting up a plant, such as availability of fibre, proximity to ports, and ultimately, off-take contracts. But once these basic considerations are settled, a company has to make decisions about which technology to use.

These decisions, while seemingly straightforward, can have a significant impact on the profitability of the venture. Key considerations include performance, reliability, operating and capital cost, and speed of ramp-up to full production. On occasion project developers insufficiently analyse

36 • March/April 2016

competing technologies and focus on capital cost alone.

This is a “fingers crossed” approach that produces uncontrolled outcomes.

In any pellet plant there are three areas (or production islands): • Wood yard/fibre preparation (can include debarking and chipping or just receiving, screening, and storage) • The dryer island (takes the wet chips and dryes them to a uniform moisture level ready for pelletising) • The pelleting island (receives dry chips, grinds them further, and compresses them into pellets).

The root of it all TSI, a process equipment manufacturer based in Seattle,

US, has been active for many years in the rotary drum dryer business, supplying systems to manufacturers of engineered wood products, primarily into oriented strand and particle board plants. This industry is a mature business that has a relatively small number of participant companies, usually with multiple plants, and a wealth of operating experience. Up until the end of the last century the technology of choice was triple pass drum dryers. A bit like a Russian matryoshka doll, these dryers are essentially a tube in a tube in a tube.

This technology served the industry well for many years.

In the same time period, a small percentage of mills tried conveyor (or belt) drying technology, but the general

trend came to eschew this technology in favour of drum dryers. The reasons stated were not that the conveyor dryer technology did not work, but centred on cost/ performance ratios and a general preference of mill personnel for the simpler drum technology. At the time TSI held the patent for drying wood strands in conveyor dryers, so the company has first-hand experience of the issues. The arguments for low temperature drying and the reduced emissions associated with conveyor dryers proved insufficient to overcome the tide of triple-pass technology.

In 1999, TSI began to promote “single pass” dryer technology. These machines are still drum dryers, but with a series of flights

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drying technology Bioenergy pass drums are the same, when in fact they are not.

When interviewing a potential system supplier, it is important to have an indepth discussion about design and operating philosophy and to have that backed up by a detailed mass flow and energy balance that carries with it production guarantees.

That should then be verified by independent third party references to be sure that the claimed performance has been realised elsewhere.

The technology

Single pass dryer connected to a reciprocating grate furnace

and baffles instead of the multiple tube approach.

This gave tangible benefits to the producer, namely: • Better energy efficiency (for both heat energy and operating power), with about a 20% gain over triple pass • Better moisture control (±1% readily achievable) • Better conditioning (less case hardening) • Lower emission rates (smaller emission control systems required) • Safer, less likely to catch on fire Given these benefits, single pass technology almost completely displaced triple pass dryers as the technology of choice in the engineered wood industry. Triple pass, however, maintained a role in smaller wood processing plants, where the lower capital cost was the only consideration. With the advent of larger industrial pellet plants built since around 2005, the majority have opted for single pass technology. Certainly, all the big new plants built for producers such as German

Bioenergy Insight

Pellets, Drax, and Enviva have chosen single pass systems.

Not all the same Considering the main technology choices (single pass drums, triple pass drums, or conveyor belt dryers), there is the most divergence of detail design in the single pass class.

This is not readily apparent, as they all look almost the same on the outside and the inside of the drum is not visible during normal circumstances.

The major suppliers do not all have the same explanation for

A single pass internal flighting system

exactly how the technology works and this is due — in large part — to the configuration of the drum internals.

Heating can be claimed to be largely via radiant, convection, or conduction transfer, depending on who you talk to. The residence time may also vary. The result is that single pass dryers from different manufacturers can perform quite differently. It is frustrating for a manufacturer to hear from clients who have had a bad experience with single pass technology and who think that all single

Single pass dryers are all drum based technologies. Wet wood chips are introduced into the system through an airlock mounted in front of the drum and are conveyed through the drum pneumatically. At the exit to the drum, a duct will transport the now dry chips to a cyclone system that separates the chips from the spent exhaust gas. The spent gas is partially recycled back to the drum inlet, with the balance being exhausted to atmosphere (often after further treatment to clean the particulate and volatile organics from the gas stream).

Inside the drum are a series of fixed flights or baffles designed to interact with the wood chips while the drum rotates. Wood chips are conveyed through the drum by means of an induced draft (ID) fan that creates a gas flow through the drum.

The chips are therefore moved by the kinetic energy of the gas stream.

A heat energy source is connected directly to the front of the drum. In larger scale plants this is often a furnace designed to combust the bark that is removed from the logs in the wood yard.

Alternatively dust burners, which burn some of the wood that has been dried and ground, can be used.

In both cases the fuel is renewable and — since this is usually the single biggest

March/April 2016 • 37

Bioenergy drying technology energy source in the whole plant — the renewable fuel component reduces the plant’s carbon footprint.

The ID fan draws the heat directly from the heat source into the system to power the drying process. The heat source obviously has a high temperature, so the hot air has to be cooled before it enters the dryer. This is done by blending a portion of the spent exhaust gas (recycle) from the dryer drum back into the incoming gas from the furnace until the desired dryer inlet temperature is reached. This directly reduces the volume of emissions, and increases energy efficiency.

Since the recycled gas also carries evaporated moisture from the wood, reusing a portion of it will dramatically increase the humidity in the drum. This has some obvious benefits like reducing the potential for dry heat damage

38 • March/April 2016

at the drum inlet and reducing the oxygen level, which in turn makes the system safer, but it also — paradoxically — reduces the speed of the drying process. This has no adverse effect on energy efficiency, but it does mean the chips have to stay in the drum longer than would otherwise be necessary in order to dry.

In practical terms, the drum has to retain the chips for up to 15 minutes, something that triple pass dryers cannot do and also something that different design single pass dryers do with varying degrees of success. This is one of the crucial elements of the system design and often accounts for the varying performance of systems from various suppliers.

Economies of scale The latest generation of industrial pellet plants, which are only now coming online,

are designed on the basis of a single dryer drum. The logic is that the bigger the dryer system, the better the ratio of capital cost to production.

So the question is now, how big can the dryer drum be?

With current state-of-the-art technology, the answer is big enough for a plant that will produce over 500,000 tonnes of pellets per year. These seem to be a good match for localised wood procurement in the more productive wood baskets, so they are becoming the plant size of choice for the latest generation of US plants.

The dryers in this latest generation are truly massive machines. Typically they can measure up to 24ft in diameter and can be over 100ft long. They operate at moderate inlet temperatures for better product quality.

Some in the industry have hesitated to have the entire production of the plant

go through one machine, which has made system reliability and uptime key considerations. Unlike some other systems in a modern pellet plant, the dryer island is designed to run constantly, and indeed runs best if kept in a steady state of production for months at a time. A well-run plant should have a dryer uptime in the high 90th percentile and almost no system outages for unscheduled maintenance.

Such a dream of continuous production is becoming a reality for some of the better producers. This signifies the growing maturity of the pellet industry and is helping keep costs in check and improve the profitability of these enterprises. l For more information:

This article was written by Andrew Johnson, vice president at TSI. Visit: www.tsi-inc.net

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March/April 2016 • 39

Bioenergy plant update

Plant update – US Aria Energy

Camco Clean Energy

Location Nokomis, Florida Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 4.8MW Feedstock Landfill gas Construction / expansion / Aria energy has started commercial acquisition operation and energy production at Sarasota County’s Central County Solid Waste Disposal Complex Completion date March 2015

Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

Visalia, California Renewable electricity 6 million kWh/y Cow manure Camco Clean Energy is set to build an AD plant at the Moonlight Dairy, California’s largest dairy producer Designer/builder Regenis Project start date July 2015 Investment $3 million (€2.7m)

BioEnergy Hawaii Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

Project start date Investment

Waikoloa, Hawaii Biogas and fertiliser Landfill waste BioEnergy Hawaii and investment Firm Ulupono Initiative will build an AD plant near the Puuanahulu landfill Construction will begin in summer 2016 $50 million (€44.9m)

Blue Sphere Location Charlotte, North Carolina Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 5.2MW Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / Construction of Blue Sphere’s acquisition Charlotte bioenergy plant is nearing completion Project start date Construction began in March 2015 Completion date Scheduled for 2016 Investment $27 million (€24m)

Centennial Renewable Energy Location Idaho Alternative fuel Wood pellets Capacity 160,000 tpy Construction / expansion / Centennial Renewable Energy has acquisition signed agreements to purchase land for its first wood pellet project in Idaho and is now commencing engineering design Designer/builder Dome Technology Project start date March 2015 Completion date Projected for 2017 Comment Dome earlier constructed the storage facilities of Drax Power in the UK

Columbia Biogas Location Portland, Oregon Alternative fuel Biogas Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / Columbia Biogas has abandoned acquisition the biogas project planned for the Portland site and is exploring opportunities elsewhere Completion date May 2015 Investment $55 million (€50m)

Blue Sphere Location Johnston, Rhode Island Alternative fuel Biogas Capacity 3.2MW Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / Construction is underway at Blue acquisition Sphere’s Johnston biogas facility Project start date April 2015 Completion date Originally scheduled for late 2015, work still ongoing Investment $1.48 million (€1.38m)

40 • March/April 2016

Covanta Energy Corp.

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

West Enfield and Jonesboro, Maine Renewable energy 24.5MW each Biomass waste materials Covanta will close two of its seven biomass plants in the US January 2016 Projected March 2016

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy CR&R Waste & Recycling Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer/builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Perris, California Renewable natural gas Food scraps and garden waste California-based CR&R Waste and Recycling Services is set to build an anaerobic digester complex Greenlane Biogas September 2015 Early 2016 $100 million (€88.7m)

Lignetics

Energy3 Location Alternative fuel Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment Comment

Key West, Florida Renewable electricity Yard waste Energy3 is finalising a contract with Monroe County authorities for a gasificiation plant January 2016 $7 million (€6.41m) If the plant is built, it will be only gasification plant in the US exclusively for yard waste

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

Richmond County, North Carolina Wood pellets Sawmill by-products Enviva is due to open a wood pellet manufacturing facility September 2014 Projected by the end 2017 $107 million (€95.7m)

German Pellets Location Alternative fuel Capacity Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date

JUM Global Location San José, California Alternative fuel Syngas Capacity 10,000 tpd of waste Feedstock Urban waste biomass Construction / expansion / JUM Global has constructed a acquisition gasification demonstration unit at the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility Designer/builder ICM Completion date April 2015

Urania, Louisiana Wood pellets Planned 1 mtpy German Pellets is expanding its Urania mill from 578,000 tpy to 1 million tpy August 2015

Location Alternative fuel Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date

Strong, Maine Hardwood pellets Lignetics has acquired the assets of GF Funding, including its Maine wood pellet plant October 2015

Long Island Compost Location Yaphank, New York Alternative fuel Natural gas Capacity 6MW Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / Long Island Compost is moving acquisition forward with its plans to construct an AD plant Designer/builder American Organic Energy Project start date Construction is scheduled for early 2016 Investment $40 million (€35.6m) PHG Energy Location North Elba, New York Alternative fuel Combined heat and power Capacity 290,500kWh/y Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / PHG Energy is constructing an acquisition AD plant to reduce North Elba’s carbon footprint Designer/builder BioFerm Energy Systems Project start date June 2015 Investment $1.06 million (€948,200) PHG Energy

Greenleaf Power Location Plainfield, Connecticut Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 37.5MW Feedstock “Clean biomass” Construction / expansion / Greenleaf Power has finalised acquisition the purchase of the Plainfield Renewable Energy Plant Completion date July 2015 Comment The Plainfield facility was owned and operated by Leidos since 2013

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Location Lebanon, Tennessee Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 300kW Feedstock Wood waste, sewer sludge, and used tyres Construction / expansion / PHG Energy has been acquisition commissioned to build a wasteto-energy plant by local Lebanon authorities Project start date February 2015 Completion date Mid-2016 Investment $3.5 million (€3.2m)

March/April 2016 • 41

Bioenergy plant update Sevier Solid Waste

Phoenix Energy Location North Fork, California Alternative fuel CHP and biochar Capacity 1MW Feedstock Forestry residues Construction / expansion / Phoenix Energy is set to build a acquisition forest biomass gasification plant Designer/builder Western Energy Systems Completion date Q4 2016 Investment $4.9 million (€4.3m)

Location Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Alternative fuel Thermal energy and biochar Capacity 30 tpd Feedstock Municipal solid waste Construction / expansion / Sevier Solid Waste has engaged to acquisition build a biomass gasification plant Designer/builder PHG Energy Project start date August 2015 Completion date Mid-2016 Investment $2.25 million (€1.9m)

Promus Energy Location Yakima County, Washington Alternative fuel Renewable natural gas Capacity 1,500SCFM Feedstock Cow manure Construction / expansion / Promus Energy is installing a biogas acquisition upgrading solution to a Washington dairy farm Designer/builder Greenlane Biogas Project start date October 2015

University of Louisville Location Kentucky Alternative fuel NuCoal-brand biocoal Feedstock Wood and agricultural biomass Construction / expansion / University of Louisville has acquisition partnered with Integro Earth Fuels to develop pilot plants for its NuCoal technology Designer/builder Integro Earth Fuels Project start date July 2015 Investment $391,890 (€350,560)

Republic Services Location Los Angeles, California Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 20MW Feedstock Landfill gas Construction / expansion / Republic Services is planning to acquisition build a landfill gas-to-energy project at Sunshine Canyon Landfill in LA Designer/builder Sunshine Gas Producers Project start date April 2015

Republic Services Location Union County, South Carolina Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 3,200kW Feedstock Landfill gas Construction / expansion / Republic Services is developing a acquisition landfill gas-to-energy project at the Upstate Regional Landfill Project start date April 2015

Ridgewood Green RME Location Ridgewood, New Jersey Alternative fuel Biogas and effluent Capacity 240kW Feedstock Food waste Construction / expansion / Ridgewood RME is testing a new acquisition Eco-Safe Digester to create effluent for shipping to AD plants worldwide Designer/builder BioHiTech America Project start date January 2016

42 • March/April 2016

US Army Location Hawaii Alternative fuel Renewable electricity Capacity 50MW Construction / expansion / The US Department of the Army is acquisition building a renewable energy plant to supply its Hawaii garrison Designer/builder Hawaiian Electric Company Project start date May 2015 Vega Now Location Colorado Alternative fuel Biocoal and biochar Feedstock Industrial hemp Construction / expansion / Vega Now is planning a torrefaction acquisition facility to produce bioproducts out of hemp Project start date December 2015 ZeaChem Location Alternative fuel

Boardman, Oregon Bioproducts such as sugars, pulp, and lignin Capacity 25 tpd Feedstock Agricultural residues Construction / expansion / ZeaChem is expanding its acquisition biorefinery with advanced biorefining technology Designer/builder PureVision Technology Project start date April 2015 Completion date 2016 *This list is based on information made available to Bioenergy Insight at the time of printing.

If you would like to update the list with additional plants for future issues, email liz@woodcotemedia.com

Bioenergy Insight

energy from waste Bioenergy The US is expanding plans to recover waste and convert it into an alternative fuel source

Changing the perception of waste disposal

I

n an effort to transform the waste disposal industry, Entsorga West Virginia, (Entsorga WV) will be the first to introduce its proprietary system of mechanical biological treatment (MBT) to the US. This technology has been successfully deployed throughout Europe, where Entsorga has provided facilities in five countries that currently process approximately one million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually.

Entsorga’s HeBioT technology utilises a combination of mechanical and biological treatment of waste in order to produce an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognised alternative, renewable fuel source called solid recovered fuel (SRF).

The Entsorga facility in Martinsburg, WV, which broke ground on 6 January, 2016, will achieve approximately 80% landfill diversion and provide SRF to the Essroc Cement plant that will be used in conjunction

with coal as a fuel source for the production of cement.

Once complete, the facility will receive and process approximately 110,000 tonnes of unsorted municipal solid waste that has historically been landfilled. Utilising a combination of automated sorting equipment, enhanced

by extending the life of existing landfills, limiting the expansion of new landfills, increasing recycling rates and providing a sustainable alternative fuel source. The use of SRF will result in fewer carbon emissions than coal or other fossil fuels when used in cement kilns, steel

The emergence of new technologies is the pinnacle to achieving a more sustainable future biological composting, and mechanical refinement, the HeBioT process will ultimately remove recyclables and produce a clean alternative fuel.

Reducing carbon emissions As the demand for landfill diversion and reduction of fossil fuel dependency grows, Entsorga’s MBT technology helps meet these demands

mills, power plants and other industrial applications.

The process will offer a viable alternative to municipal and private landfill operators for the disposal of waste.

Landfills in some parts of the US are dangerously close to reaching their capacities.

Densely populated areas often need to transfer their waste considerable distances due to a lack of availability, drastically increasing disposal costs and

West Virginia is to be home to the US’ first mechanical biological treatment plant

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adding a strain on already stressed municipal budgets.

Despite the enforcement of more stringent regulations for landfill construction, contamination can occur through leaks or spills. A reduction in landfill use limits the potential for these environmental issues. Although the number of landfills has decreased in recent decades, the size and distance to active landfills has dramatically increased. Trucks need to travel further to disposal sites, increasing damage to roads and other infrastructure. The addition of more conveniently located MBT facilities will help alleviate both of these financial and environmental impacts.

The project is being financed with $25 million ($23m) in tax exempt, private activity bonds issued by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority on behalf of Entsorga West Virginia.

As the US continues to increase its waste diversion and sustainability goals, the emergence of new technologies is the pinnacle to achieving a more sustainable future.

Entsorga’s HeBioT MBT technology represents a significant part of the future of the changing waste industry.

The Martinsburg West Virginia project is just the first of what Entsorga envisions to be a network of facilities providing a safe, environmentally efficient solution to the issue of waste disposal in the US. The project is expected to be operational in early 2017. l For more information:

This article was written by Frank E. Celli, director of Entsorga West Virginia. Visit: www.entsorgawv.com

March/April 2016 • 43

Bioenergy evaporation technology Evaporation technology can increase AD producers’ profits from digestate

Creating a richer biofertiliser

F

ollowing the welcome news that the UK’s renewable heat index (RHI) budget is set to treble between now and 2021, the country’s anaerobic digestion (AD) industry is breathing a small sigh of relief. Despite the fact that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has capped Feed-In Tariff (FIT) support at the unambitious level of 20MW per year until 2019, the sector remains healthy. There are more than 270 plants in operation outside of the water sector, and around 90 new plants are in development for 2016, according to the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association.

But against an increasingly sceptical political backdrop, succeeding in the AD industry means optimising every single part of the operation, from the front end right through to the back. Today’s successful operators understand that maximising the value of the significant volumes of digestate generated from the AD process can be the difference between a project’s success and failure.

Benefits of digestate Rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, digestate makes an ideal replacement for chemical fertilisers.

Trials, such as UK think tank Wrap’s DC-Agri project, have shown that using digestate can increase crop yields in comparison with bagged fertilisers alone. It also helps

44 • March/April 2016

requires AD feedstocks to be pasteurised, for example by using technology such as the HRS 3 tank batch sludge pasteuriser system.

Pasteurisation is already a legal requirement for plants processing mixed food waste or other materials that need to comply with the Animal Byproducts Regulations (ABP). Yet, more and more facilities treating non-ABP feedstocks are now producing PAS 110-compliant digestate as a way of demonstrating to potential end-users that it is of a consistent and high quality and is fit for purpose.

Matt Hale, international sales manager, HRS Heat Exchangers

raise soil organic matter levels and increase water holding capacity, creating a better soil structure.

There are also serious cost savings to be made by switching from chemical

Challenges of managing digestate However, achieving the PAS 110 standard is just one of the hurdles that digestate producers need to overcome if they are to make the most of this valuable by-product.

AD is a constant process,

Today’s successful operators understand that maximising the value of digestate can be the difference between success and failure fertilisers to digestate.

The quality standard, PAS 110, has helped reduce negative preconceptions about digestate among the farming community, which until recent years was unfamiliar with its use as a biofertiliser. As well as setting limits for physical contaminants, such as plastics, the PAS 110 standard

which means that digestate is constantly being produced as well. With a typical 1.5MW AD plant producing as much as 40,000 tonnes of low grade liquid digestate each year, AD operators face significant economic and logistical challenges when it comes to storing and transporting their biofertiliser.

Storage is an essential consideration, as digestate should not be applied to land all year round. In nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ), regulations actually prohibit digestate spreading at certain times, but even in other regions it is not good practice and may even be impossible to spread it throughout the year. To make optimum use of the nitrogen content of digestate, it should be applied at times of maximum crop growth, when demand for nitrogen is at its greatest.

Not only will this benefit the crop, but it may also mean that producers can charge more for it at these times.

Ensuring there is sufficient space to store large volumes of liquid digestate until it is ready to be transported and applied to land can be a real headache for an AD operator, not to mention a considerable expense. But separating the liquid fraction to leave only the solid portion — which is easier to handle, transport, and store — can often mean losing valuable nutrients.

Plant operators therefore require a solution that will reduce the volume of their digestate, while locking in the nutrient content.

Concentrating digestate The HRS digestate concentration system (DCS), by the UK-headquartered HRS Heat Exchangers, uses evaporation to significantly reduce digestate volumes, removing up to 80% of the water contained in

Bioenergy Insight

evaporation technology Bioenergy the liquid fraction and concentrating it to 20% dry solids, at the same time as increasing the nutrient content. This makes handling, storing and transporting digestate not only easier, but also less costly.

The first part of the DCS process involves heating the liquid digestate in heat exchangers. No additional water or energy is required, as the surplus water from the plant’s combined heat and power (CHP) engine — which is usually available at 85˚C — is used as the heating media. The digestate is then pumped into a cyclone separator. The high speed rotating airflow causes the solid particles, which are too heavy to follow the tight curve of the airstream, to fall to the bottom of the cyclone, where they can be removed.

The steam produced from this first cycle, usually available at 70˚C, is then used as the heating media for the second effect, whereby the process is repeated. The subsequent steam, usually available at 60˚C, is used as the heating media for the third cycle. The number of effects is determined by the level of dry solids required and the amount of spare heat available, up to a maximum of four cycles. After the final effect, the steam is condensed back into water and can then be used to dilute feedstock going into the front end of the digester, forming a completely closed loop system. The DCS is wholly

Digestate concentration process components

Bioenergy Insight

HRS digestate concentration system (DCS) helps optimise AD plants

Achieving the PAS 110 standard is just one of the hurdles that digestate producers need to overcome self-sufficient, no energy or water is bought in or wasted and everything is re-used.

The high temperatures needed to concentrate digestate can cause the release of ammonia, largely responsible for the odours associated with digestate.

However, the DCS overcomes this by acid-dosing the digestate with sulphuric acid and thereby decreasing the pH levels. This turns the ammonia into ammonium sulphate, which is not only less odorous, but is also an ideal biofertiliser. Therefore, while the volume of digestate is reduced, the nutrient content is not merely locked

in after concentration, it actually increases.

Creating a more concentrated, richer fertiliser is not the only benefit of the HRS DCS. It also reduces operational overheads by cutting transport, water, and storage costs. The DCS may actually halve the amount of storage required. Plant operators can also claim RHI for using their heat within the DCS, increasing their profit margins further, and as a plug-and-play fully automated system, the DCS is flexible and can be tailored to suit each individual operation. l

For more information:

This article was written by Matt Hale, international sales manager at HRS Heat Exchangers. Visit: www.hrs-heatexchangers.com

March/April 2016 • 45

Bioenergy shredders In the modern resource sector, biomass producers are constantly pressured to work ever-smarter, to the point that the ‘performance vs safety’ battle can become hard to manage

Wood shredding: Performance vs safety

T

here are many reasons machinery manufacturers innovate.

Continued research, development and engineering enables them to maintain their competitive edge and capitalise on new opportunities. But that innovation would mean nothing if it did not address the imminent and upcoming challenges customers face.

For example, when processing waste wood for biomass, operators understandably focus on performance-centric criteria such as shredder capacity, throughputs and cost efficiencies. Fortunately, the spotlight is growing on energy consumption too —

after all, there seems little point creating a renewable energy feedstock if the production process itself is a drain on valuable resources.

Shredder manufacturers naturally focus their efforts on developing solutions that will continuously excel in these areas. But could it be argued that, with so much knowledge at their fingertips, they should be innovating for even greater benefit?

Improve safety Safety has not always been a prime concern within wood shredding. But increasingly stringent waste policing, the number of devastating plant fires that dominate the global headlines, and the general

uplift in sector standards, mean safety has stepped to the fore. Now, more so than ever, manufacturers therefore have an inherent responsibility to design shredders with safety in mind.

As the age old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. So, of course sprinkling systems should be installed throughout wood-shredding facilities and rigorous cleaning regimes should be followed daily. But careful design considerations within the shredders themselves will help to overcome the risk of fire or explosion from the outset.

Wood shredding has a natural propensity to produce high levels of dust.

However, shredders can now be engineered to have a

slower rotor speed, without compromising throughputs.

As a result, they generate less dust and the potential for a spark is also reduced.

Studies have also shown that high-speed wood shredders can produce up to 25% fines, whereas with slower speed equivalents this figure will drop to as little as 5%. Choosing the right shredder can therefore protect the safety of a plant whilst yielding up to 20% more material per tonne and reducing the disposal costs associated with non-biomass specification outputs.

For added shredder protection in this potentially volatile environment, antiexplosive Atex-specification motors and electronics

UNTHA’s new XR mobil-e – electronic driven mobile shredder

46 • March/April 2016

Bioenergy Insight

shredders Bioenergy can be installed. Carefully positioned UV, infrared and spark detectors on a shredder’s inlet hopper and discharge conveyor, can also sense when a fire is likely to begin.

And, in the event of alarm activation, extinguishing nozzles, positioned in the same place as the sensors and thus pointing directly at the fire risk, can automatically spray water onto the targeted area to suppress the outbreak.

Such considerations will not only please operators within the biomass industry — they’re likely to appease insurance providers too. If the shredder is mobile, and it is possible to move this high value capital asset outdoors, the insurance benefits are multiplied.

Ergonomic design It is important to realise however, that fire safety is

not the only consideration to make when shredding wood for biomass — ergonomic design is also crucial. Shredders should be purposefully built with maintenance simplicity and operator safety in mind.

That’s why features such as clever foreign object protection mechanisms are now commonplace.

If a shredder automatically stops and the problematic material can be extracted with ease, this minimises the risks associated with an operator entering the machine to retrieve the object. Pioneering computer diagnostics that automatically detect a potential maintenance issue also reduce the need for a human to investigate the situation. These less intrusive operational methods are incredibly beneficial when it

comes to employee wellbeing.

When service and maintenance activity is required, “next generation” wood shredding technology prioritises operators working in an upright position, without the need to hunch or over-stretch. The number of lumbar complaints will fall, employees will be more content and productive in their work, and the business costs associated with unfit or absent employees will be overcome. This adds significant strength to an organisation’s corporate social responsibility status — something a forward-thinking company will strive for.

Even the shredder’s drive concept can improve safety and wellbeing. An electric drive, for example, will reduce noise and exhaust gas emissions, ensuring a more comfortable working

environment. And in the absence of a diesel engine, there will not be any areas of high temperatures where a fire could ignite.

The list of safety considerations just goes on and on, and, ultimately, these factors should be paramount within any waste plant. However, when it is possible to improve safety standards without there being a detrimental impact on site performance, the argument to build such a robust and secure facility, is stronger still. l

For more information:

This article was written by Christoph Lahnsteiner, product manager at waste shredding specialist UNTHA. Visit: www.untha.co.uk

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March/April 2016 • 47

Bioenergy events & advert index Bioenergy events Event

Venue Date

Mon

Tue

World Biomass Power Markets

Wed

Fri

Thu

Sat

Sun

Amsterdam, Netherlands

14-17 March 2016

Salon Bois Energie

Nancy, France

15-17 March 2016

Argus Biomass 2016

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5-7 April 2016

International Biomass Conference & Expo

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1

2

8

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11

12

6

13

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24th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition

Amsterdam, Netherlands

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9 June 2016

7th International Bioenergy Conference and Exhibition British Columbia, Canada

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23

24

25

26

27

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21-23 June 2016

UK AD & Biogas

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6-7 July 2016

9th Biofuels International Conference 2016

Ghent, Belgium

20-22 September 2016

29

30

9th Annual EFIB 2016

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1

2 Glasgow, Scotland

3

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