Category: Biomass


World's largest biomass power plant to be built in Poland

April 8th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

Poland is going to be the home of what has been touted as the largest biomass powered plant in the world. GDF Suez and Foster Wheeler have entered into a contract under which the two companies will build a biomass power plant, called the "Green Unit", in Polaniec, south-east Poland. The power plant is to have 190 MW of capacity, and will burn wood and agri-fuels to produce heat needed for making superheated steam.

Poland is aiming to achieve 15% renewable energy production by 2020, and the new biomass plant is going to play a significant role in making this happen. The technology chosen for the new power plant is the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler system, which will be the first of its kind capable or burning only biomass fuels. Foster Wheeler will be developing this part of the project.

[source: GDF Suez]


RWE Innogy starts constructing pellet factory in Georgia, USA

March 27th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass
Together with the Governor of the State of Georgia, Sonny Perdue, RWE Innogy held the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction phase of a large wood pellet plant in Waycross

Together with the Governor of the State of Georgia, Sonny Perdue, RWE Innogy held the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction phase of a large wood pellet plant in Waycross

RWE Innogy begun the construction phase of a large wood pellet plant in Waycross in the southern region of the US state of Georgia. Once complete, the plant will produce 750,000 tonnes of wood pellets each year. The pellets are intended for use in RWE power plants, both in dedicated biomass facilities and in combined coal and biomass combustion. The Swedish company BMC Management AB is in charge of project management, and the total investment volume is 120 million EUR.

The biomass pellets are initially to be used as fuel in the existing power plants of Amercentrale in the Netherlands where up to 30% of the hard coal input has already been replaced by biomass today. The significant biomass volume from Georgia will contribute to extending this cofiring to up to 50% in the medium term. The reduction of CO2 emissions will be roughly on the same scale.

What is more, the use of biomass pellets is to be extended in the years ahead to include additional dedicated biomass facilities and conventional power plant sites in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and the UK.

Construction in Waycross is expected to take around 15 months, creating 70-80 jobs in the process. The first pellets are due to be produced in the third quarter of 2011.

[source: RWE]

Virent, Shell demonstrate biogasoline production plant

March 27th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

Virent Energy Systems and Shell successfully started production at the world's first demonstration plant converting plant sugars into gasoline and gasoline blend components, rather than ethanol.

Located at Virent's facilities in Madison, Wisconsin – this demonstration plant is the latest step in a joint biogasoline R&D effort, announced by both companies in March 2008. The plant has the capacity to produce up to 38,000 litres (10,000 U.S. gallons) per year, which will be used for engine and fleet testing.

This new biofuel can be blended with gasoline in high concentrations for use in standard gasoline engines. As such, it has the potential to eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, engine modifications, and blending equipment necessary for the use of gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol.

Virent's patented BioForming platform technology uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules like those produced at a petroleum refinery. Traditionally, sugars have been fermented into ethanol and distilled. Virent's "biogasoline" fuel molecules have higher energy content than ethanol and deliver better fuel economy.

The sugars can be sourced from non-food feedstocks such as corn stover, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstocks such as wheat, corn and sugarcane. The demonstration plant is currently using beet sugar.

[source: Virent Energy Systems, Shell]

UK aiming to become a major global commercial algae biofuel developer

March 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

The Carbon Trust made public plans to try and "take on the world" in the race to develop sustainable and cost-effective biofuels from algae. Eleven major UK institutions are joining the Carbon Trust in a quest to find the winning formula for cultivating 70 billion liters of algae biofuel annually by 2030. This kind of production, if made possible, could supply about 6% of road transport currently using diesel as fuel. The eleven institutions were selected among eighty which were originally included in the proposals.

The production process will start with research into thousands of strains of algae which will be screened to find the few that will be the most promising and capable of delivering the amounts of biofuel needed to make the planned target. Algae has potential to deliver 5 to 10 times more oil per hectare than conventional cropland biofuels, according to the Carbon Trust analyses. With biofuels currently costing anywhere from 5 to 10 USD per liter at the moment, the goal is to reach USD 1 per liter in the future.

A lot of work is needed to achieve all this though. Just to illustrate the scale of what is talked about – in order to produce 70 billion liters of biofuel, man-made algae ponds equivalent to the land area of Wales will have to be built around the world at various optimal locations. Carbon Trust is investing GBP 8 million over the next three years.

[source: Carbon Trust]

Farmers' Ethanol to make a bioethanol plant in Smederevo, Serbia

March 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

Farmers' Ethanol plans to invest $135 million in development of bioethanol plant in Smederevo, Serbia. According to the company's spoke-person in Serbia – Maja Fragner, the facility will directly employ 200 people, and an additional 5,000 in acquiring the raw material for the biomass production.

Farmers' Ethanol has signed a Letter of Intent with the local municipality of Smederevo, and at the moment they are working on Memorandum of Understanding, said Fragner.

The American company is present on the Serbian market for 4 years, and their headquarters for central and Eastern Europe is based in Belgrade…

[Via: Beta]

Mitsui, Inbicon sign licensing agreement to refine biomass into ethanol

March 1st, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

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

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

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

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

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]

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