Archive for the ‘Biomass’ Category

Mitsui, Inbicon sign licensing agreement to refine biomass into ethanol

March 1st, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and Inbicon have signed a licensing agreement for the Inbicon Biomass Refinery technology, granting the Japanese company the right to build a number of biomass refineries in Southeast Asia using Inbicon's technology. Mitsui intends to apply the technology in the palm oil industry, where wastes from palm oil production can be converted into ethanol, solid biofuel for energy production, and animal feed.

According to Inbicon's CEO, Niels Henriksen, the licensing agreement is the culmination of year-long cooperation with MES. Throughout 2009, the two companies developed the relationship, and Inbicon sees the deal as a significant step forward into a long-lasting collaboration.

And in case you wonder, this is the first time Inbicon is licensing the technology.

[source: Mitsui]


Tseai Energy plans biomass plant in Sierra Leone

March 1st, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Tseai Energy's team is traveling to Sierra Leone to lay the foundation for its first pilot program. The company installs small-scale agricultural processing plants that take advantage of local crops, employ local farmers and make commercial products in underdeveloped communities. Biomass digesters are added to the plants, converting leftover agricultural waste into biogas, which is then used to produce electricity for locally built schools.

The first plant is planned to be opened in the town of Mile 18 in Sierra Leone. It will process palm fruit, which is abundant in the region, into palm oil. All of the waste generated will be converted into biogas for generating electricity.

As part of its activities in Sierra Leone, Tseai Energy's team plans to meet with local farmers, Schools for Salone NGO, nearby health clinic, Njala University, building contractors as well as the country's ministries of Education, Youth and Sports; and Agriculture and Food Safety.

[source: Tseai Energy]

Alternativa, GreenShift team-up to build biomass projects in Ukraine, Russia and Canada

March 1st, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Alternativa (IOM) Limited and GreenShift Corporation have entered into an exclusive supply and cooperation agreement to design and develop sustainable integrated feedstock and renewable energy production facilities.

The two companies will initially focus on selected geographies throughout the world that have both abundant undeveloped biomass-derived feedstock resources and the downstream supply-chain infrastructure needed for robust distribution and use of renewable energy and other biomass-derived products at scale.

The first facility is planned for Ukraine, and will be designed to process rapeseed into renewable fuels, edible oils and animal feed. While the development of the Ukrainian project is at an advanced stage, Alternativa is also evaluating several additional sites in Russia and Canada. Each site will be designed to cost-effectively refine undeveloped first-generation biomass resources into value-added carbon-neutral products, but also to include fully-integrated applications of innovative second- and third-generation feedstock production and refining technologies, such as GreenShift's oil extraction and Cellulosic Oil technologies…

[source: Alternativa]

Fortum invests 140 million EUR in new waste-to-energy plant in Klaipeda, Lithuania

March 1st, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Fortum is building a new 140 million EUR combined heat and power plant in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Purchasing of main equipment has been now agreed and the power plant will be completed for production by January 2013.

The plant will use municipal and industrial wastes and biomass as fuels, and will have a capacity of approximately 50 MW heat and 20 MW electricity. The district heating will be sold to Klaipedos Energija and the electricity will be sold to the national grid.

Heat production of the plant will replace production in old natural gas fired heating plants of Klaipedos Energija. In addition, the CO2 emissions of the heat production in the area will reduce significantly.

The plant is the first waste-to-energy plant in the Baltic countries and will be an essential element in waste management of the Klaipeda region significantly reducing the need to deposit wastes in the landfill.

[source: Fortum]

ReFill Energy acquires International Green N-ergy – gets new gasification technology for making large volumes of biofuel

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Refill Energy Gasifier - turns biomass into synthetic gas.

ReFill Energy has acquired International Green N-ergy (IGN), a Utah based company involved in biomass conversion technologies. Along with the acquisition of IGN, ReFill Energy has also gotten its hands on the IGN's proprietary Downdraft Gasification Module, which the company fabricated for the purpose of achieving significant technological advantages. The patented technology allows for large volume production of biofuel, deriving from gasification of such biomass sources as sewer waste water, agricultural waste, coal and carcasses. The output is a combination of electricity, steam, ethanol, fuels, chemicals and hydrogen. According to the company, one ton of feedstock is equivalent to about 1 MWh of electricity, or about 100 gallons of usable fuels.

The produced gas, using IGN's technology, is mainly made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The Syn-Gas can be used in IGCC (integrated gasification combined cycle) processes and efficiently converted into electricity, or converted to fuels such as ethanol, gasoline, jet fuel or Diesel.

[source: ReFill Energy, image: ReFill Energy]

Israel talks renewable energy with Egypt and Jordan

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Biomass Solar | No Comments

Just because Israel doesn't get along with most Arab countries in the region, it doesn't mean the cooperation is impossible. Global warming is everyone's problem and solving it should go beyond boundaries and even some principles. On that note, today we're talking about Israel and its plans to work with Egypt and Jordan on renewable energy projects.

In the case of Egypt, the two countries are talking about possibly establishing a joint solar project in Egypt's Sinai Desert, which has clear skies, flat topography and annual average solar concentration of 2,300 KWh per square meter making it suitable for the installation of commercial solar technologies. Under the still-being-negotiated deal, Egypt would give the land and Israel the technology, whereas the energy generated would be used by both countries.

On the other hand, there were talks about building a bio-diesel plant along the border between Jordan and Israel. Salah Azzam, director of the Bio-Fuels Division at the National Energy Research Center in Jordan, outlined plans for the establishment of such a project by the end of 2010.

"This project could serve as a great boost for establishing peace and security in the region and could promote peace efforts between Israel and its neighbors," Azzam said.

[Via: Reuters]

RWE signs milestone contract for biomass plant in UK with Metso and Aker Solutions

February 8th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Signing the contracts, Dave Raybould (Aker Solutions), Peter Sharman (RWE), Dave Ley (Aker Solutions), Lennart Ohlsson (Metso), Martin Lenkens (RWE) and Kari Remes (Metso)

Last week RWE signed what a "milestone" contract with Finnish Metso and Norwegian Aker Solutions who have been selected to be the main contractors for moving on the project for a state-of-the-art biomass plant in the UK, which we covered back in September last year. Metso is going to provide the facility's main biomass boiler, while Aker Solutions will provide construction project management, support services and procurement of some of the plant equipment.

The power plant, to be built at Markinch in Fife (Scotland), is a GBP 200 million project and will be a biomass combined heat and power plant. RWE npower renewables, RWE's renewable energy arm, is working with paper producer Tullis Russell for supplying the manufacturer with steam and electricity from the biomass plant. This will be the biggest biomass facility of its kind in Scotland, with 50 MW of installed capacity, and will replace the existing coal-fired power plant used at Tullis Russell.

This is so far the largest investment in a biomass project for RWE, but there are plans for another biomass power plant with 65 MW of capacity in Lincolnshire. The company has plans for further biomass facility development across Europe, about 390 MW of biomass capacity, by 2013.

All three companies have expressed satisfaction with the signing of this contract. The Markinch biomass facility is now on its way towards a planned completion sometime in 2012.

[source: RWE]

Obama announces steps to boost biofuels, clean coal – strategy to enhance American energy independence

February 6th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | Comments (1)

President Barack ObamaPresident Barack Obama announced a series of steps his Administration is taking as part of a strategy to enhance American energy independence while building a foundation for a new clean energy economy.

During a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy. The President's Biofuels Interagency Working Group released its first report – Growing America's Fuel.

In addition, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies. The President calls for five to ten commercial demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016.

President Obama said, "Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies. But even if you disagree on the threat posed by climate change, investing in clean energy jobs and businesses is still the right thing to do for our economy. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is still the right thing to do for our security. We can't afford to spin our wheels while the rest of the world speeds ahead."

You can read the full press release, including a background on the announcements from DoE's website. The mentioned Presidential Memorandum is available from here.

[Via: DoE]

Mitsubishi Corporation, Weyerhaeuser sign MoU to explore biomass-to-energy business in the U.S.

February 5th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

Mitsubishi Corporation, Weyerhaeuser

Mitsubishi Corporation and Weyerhaeuser signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the possibilities of collaborating in the biomass-to-energy business.

The two companies are specifically interested in assessing the feasibility of jointly investing in and operating a commercial-scale bio-pellet production facility in the United States by 2011. Depending on the success of the joint feasibility study, more facilities could follow in addition to the initial bio-pellet production facility.

The MoU brings together two industry leaders and leverages the strengths of both companies: Weyerhaeuser's capacity to produce renewable biomass at scale from its sustainably managed forests and Mitsubishi Corporation's worldwide network and experience in the energy sector and bio-pellet manufacturing business.

And for the record, the bio-pellets would be produced using wood based biomass from U.S.-sourced sustainably managed forest resources or by-products and sold to utilities and industrial users for energy production.

[source: Mitsubishi Corporation]

British Gas announces five biomethane-to-grid demonstration projects

February 5th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass | No Comments

British Gas

British Gas is set to go ahead with five biomethane demonstration projects that are likely to be the first in the UK to inject green gas into the grid. The announcement follows Government backing for this emerging technology that confirms support for biomethane to grid from April 2011.

The first project will involve working with Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks to build plant at Didcot sewage works. Thames Water already makes and flares raw biogas from sewage processing. The project will design and build a plant to clean the gas and inject it into the grid. The plan is start injecting the gas into the grid in summer 2010. Upon completion, British Gas will also enter into a long-term gas purchase contract with Thames Water.

British Gas has also signed development agreements with four other companies — GWE Biogas (using food waste and farm crops), Potters Waste (manufacturing waste), Dillington Biogas (farm waste slurry) and Adnams Brewery (brewery waste) — to carry out feasibility studies with a view to delivering biomethane to grid. Assessment and development of these projects will start immediately.

And for the record, according to a study by National Grid, biomethane could account for at least 15% of the domestic gas market by 2020.

[source: centrica]

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