Looking at Algal Energy

A new study from the University of Virginia compares 4 different energy-from-algae approaches by VKT -- vehicle kilometres traveled.

In this new study, reported in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, Clarens et al. assess four algae conversion pathways resulting in combinations of bioelectricity and biodiesel:

1. Anaerobic digestion of bulk algae biomass to produce methane-derived bioelectricity;
2. Production of biodiesel from algae lipids with anaerobic digestion of residual algae biomass to produce methane-derived bioelectricity;
3. Production of biodiesel from algae lipids with direct combustion of residual algae biomass to produce bioelectricity;
4. Direct combustion of bulk algae biomass to produce bioelectricity.

_GCC

Images from GCC

...their results suggested that conversion pathways involving direct combustion for bioelectricity production generally outperformed systems involving anaerobic digestion and biodiesel production, and they were found to generate four and fifteen times as many vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) per hectare as switchgrass or canola, respectively. _GCC

Among the many findings:

Algae EROI values computed in the study ranged from 0.65 to 4.10. Previously reported EROI for corn ethanol has been on the order of 1.25. It has been suggested, the authors noted, that the minimum sustainable EROI is roughly 3 but that values from 5 to 10 will be required to maintain quality of life in the absence of readily abundant fossil energy.

Direct combustion of algae to produce bioelectricity is seemingly more efficient than anaerobic digestion regardless of whether or not algae lipids are extracted to make biodiesel.

Selected algae systems dramatically outperform the terrestrial crop systems in terms of VKT production per hectare. Algae generates, on average, 4.2 times and 15.7 times more VKT than the switchgrass and canola systems, respectively.

Misalignment of system boundaries precludes direct comparison with corn ethanol, the authors note, but they estimate that the average algae VKT is roughly nineteen times greater than could be derived from corn ethanol (27,000 km/ha-yr) even when accounting for ethanol coproducts. 29

In terms of VKT, algae bioelectricity systems outperform algae combined biodiesel/bioelectricity systems.

Algae biodiesel and bioelectricity systems exhibit higher net energy use but lower water use and GHG emissions per km than their respective terrestrial benchmarks.

...the tremendous demand for transportation energy, increasing fuel prices, and a lack of mechanisms for monetizing environmental performance in the US make it reasonable to expect that algae’s excellent land use efficiency could render it financially attractive over the next several decades. For this reason, environmental and economic LCA studies will be key tools for improving the overall sustainability of algae-derived transportation energy systems. _GCC

Once again we see the benefits of cellulosic electricity -- or biomass to electric power -- when compared to most current methods of creating biofuels from biomass.

The authors of the study missed a prime opportunity to compare efficiencies from pyrolysis of algal biomass, and gasification of algal biomass via IGCC and CHP, with the 4 approaches analysed.

Anaerobic digestion of algal biomass to produce methane is unlikely to be economical for at least the next 50 years, as the global shale gas bonanza works its way through the markets.

One of the biggest problems with public perception of biomass energy and biofuels, is the expectation that if biofuels cannot replace all other forms of energy, then there is no use pursuing their production. That type of magical thinking, with its hair-trigger relapse to utter futility, is profoundly destructive.

There are no magic bullets. A wide range of approaches will have to be taken before humans can emerge from their fossil fuels Earth-bound economies to more sustainably abundant and widespread economies of the future.

Bioenergy's Incremental Growth

A Rutgers professor is using radical synthetic biology techniques on E. Coli to boost production of bio-oils and hydrocarbons.

Instead of performing minor changes to specific genes he said, the work will modify large sections of the genome and put in “entirely new traits rather than modifying existing traits.” By using the computer modeling approach, the team will speed up the development process and make it a faster, better process according to Lun. There is currently no timetable for work on the new strain. _Biodiesel

Rentech's new Rialto, California, facility will use gasification and F-T to convert bio-waste to fuels plus generate 35 MW of baseload electric power. Rentech recently announced that it will use technology from a Honeywell subsidiary in the conversion of cellulosic biomass to hydrocarbon fuels.

Blue Northern's new continuous biodiesel production process may reduce capital costs by 40% and production costs of biodiesel by 30%.

The US DOE is investing in the basic research of biomass pyrolysis to fuels and associated feedstock concerns:

W. R. Grace & Company (MD) – New Technology for Processing Bio-oils to Produce Gasoline, Diesel and Jet Fuels – up to $3.3 million. This project will evaluate a specialized catalytic reactor designed to resist corrosion and extend catalyst life.

· Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (WA) – Catalytic Deoxygenation of Pyrolysis Oils – up to $3.1 million. This project will collaborate with Albemarle Corporation and UOP, a Honeywell Company in a three-year project to develop better processes to upgrade pyrolysis oil to hydrocarbon fuels.

· Gas Technology Institute (IL) – Long-Term Processing in the Production of Gasoline and Diesel from Biomass – up to $2.4 million. This project will demonstrate long-term processing and catalyst stability in an automated, integrated pilot plant that converts biomass directly to gasoline and diesel fuel.

· Battelle Memorial Institute (OH) – Upgrading of Biomass Fast Pyrolysis Oil – up to $3.2 million. This project will develop catalysts and an integrated process tailored to upgrade pyrolysis bio-oil, demonstrate system operation for more than 1,000 hours using a single catalyst charge, and produce a final product that can be blended to 30 percent by weight with petroleum fuels or that is compatible with existing petroleum refining operations.

• North Carolina State University – North Carolina State University... and partners will investigate biomass production options compatible with forest management with a focus on pine and switchgrass intercropping. The total cost-shared project value is $4,807,390.

• Purdue University – Purdue University will receive up to $1,592,385 for its project that will conduct a sustainability assessment of multiple species of energy crops including miscanthus, switchgrass, and hybrid poplar, and examine the impacts of removing of crop residues within two watersheds representative of conditions in the Upper Midwest.

• University of Minnesota – The University of Minnesota will receive up to $790,943 for its project that will analyze the Mississippi River watershed using a set of models to help stakeholders make informed decisions about what bioenergy feedstocks to use, where to produce or collect them, and what environmental impacts they will have... _BiofuelsDigest

SCORE: Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration, and Electricity

BrianWangInformation about an interesting approach to small scale heat and electricity co-generation comes from a NextBigFuture posting. This thermo-acoustic device can burn any carbonaceous fuel -- even dried cow dung -- to produce the heat, which is converted to electricity via a linear generator.

BrianWang

* Target of 100-150 Watts electrical thermo-acoustic generator (stove, fridge, electricity) for £20 in 1 million quantities with half the wood and no smoke
* weight: 10-20kg
* 1.6 kWth for cooking and 0.75 kWth for simmering.
- Fuel: consumption 1 kg/hour, wood, dung and other bio-mass.
* fuel is placed inside the stove and burned. The fire heats compressed air that has been pumped into specially shaped pipes located inside the stove's chimney and behind the stove. The heated air begins to vibrate and produce sound waves. Inside the pipes, the noise is 100 times louder than a jet taking off. But because the pipes are stiff and do no vibrate, the sound waves have nowhere to go. So outside the pipe, people hear only a faint hum.

* The sound waves vibrate a diaphragm located at the end of the pipe. The diaphragm is attached to a coil of metal wires that sit inside a magnet. As the wire coil vibrates — about 50 times per second — it generates an electrical current, which is captured by wires and converted to the proper voltage.
* The stove has electrical sockets, where the homeowner can plug in, for example, a mobile phone for charging. Or she can sell the electricity as a phone-charging service.
* For refrigeration, the heated, compressed air is sent through a different part of the pipe, where sound waves cause the air to expand. As it expands, it cools to a temperature that can produce ice. It takes about two hours of stove use to produce enough ice that will keep the fridge cold for 24 hours. But homeowners have the option of producing more ice to sell for income. _NextBigFuture

Research innovation:
- Research into the combination of the thermo-acoustic engine, linear alternator and cool
box in a single device, powered by a biomass stove.
- Design of a rugged and inexpensive linear alternator that could be easily mass-produced.
- Overall system design from the view point of low cost, application of indigenous materials,
use of local manufacturing skills and simplicity of assembly, which are major research issues
compared to the current high-cost and thermo-acoustic systems.
Standing wave thermo-acoustic engine:
- Fractional wave length design.
- Combustor: wood burning, high efficiency, low emissions and used for cooking.
- Hot heat exchanger (1): 500 C gas temperature.
- Stack: heats and cools gas packets.
- Ambient Heat Exchanger (2): water cooled, also used for cooking. _SCORE.UK_PDF

This is one of many attempts to provide efficient cooking, heating, refrigeration, and small-scale power to the third world. Besides the need for clean water, inexpensive shelter, and abundant, nutritious food, the third world most needs practical sources of cooking fuel, refrigeration, and small power. Inexpensive, practical level medical and dental care would also score high on the list.

The challenge for the advanced world is to not allow itself to turn into the impoverished third world before it is able to solve the most pressing problems of the third world.

Wood Recycling and Waste Respresents an Enormous Resource of Untapped Energy

The economic downturn has been particularly hard on companies dealing with forestry and wood products. Already hammered by a long-term economic depression, these companies have been scrapping for every bit of business they could find. Some of them are discovering the huge untapped resource of bioenergy.

As general manager of Vancouver’s H&H Wood Recyclers, Broberg oversaw the sale of about 40 truckloads a day of hog fuel – wood chips from forest debris – to firms such as Georgia Pacific and Longview Fiber. Then the paper industry took a downturn and the companies no longer needed his wood products.

“I’m sitting there with 40 loads a day wondering what I’m going to do now,” says Broberg, who grew up in Scappoose.

But he and H&H owner Larry Olson had an idea.

Backed by Olson, Broberg started a new business, St. Helens-based Biogreen Sustainable Energy Co. He plans to open a new biomass facility in La Pine, near Bend, where the wood chips from those 40 truckloads will be burned and converted into energy.

Although biomass plants have been operating for decades, they’ve re-emerged in recent years as a sustainable way to maintain forests and provide renewable energy.

Most of Oregon’s biomass plants were built before the 1980s, and none were added from 1985 to 2005, says Mark Kendall, senior policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Energy.

However, in the past two years, four have sprung up in Oregon, Kendall says. Now Oregon hosts 64 biomass sites, 18 of them generating electricity.

“It is a low-cost, competitive energy supply,” Kendall says. “It has recently gained a claim as a renewable resource that has good ecological and good economical favor.” _Bioenergy

Cellulosic biomass from wood and wood products overflows landfills and waste dumps around the world. Much better to use this energy and eliminate waste at the same time.

Smart Entrepreneurs Adapt to the Times

Northwest Renewable’s original plan was to begin producing corn-based ethanol at the Mint Farm in June 2008. But the company’s 31-acre property has sat idle since the company broke ground on the $100 million project in December 2006. In the years since, U.S. Ethanol’s parent company, Makad Corp., has been redesigning the plant to incorporate the newest technology and comply with air emission laws, Makad Corp. told The Daily News last November.

As bankruptcies and shutdown wracked the ethanol industry over the last year, Longview city officials say they’ve been working for several months with Northwest Renewable to develop the biomass power plant project.

Northwest Renewable LLC has planned construction on a bio-ethanol production plant for Longview, Washington, since 2006. But the economic downturn and shakeups in the ethanol industry caused them to change their plans: they are now planning a cellulosic electricity power generation plant.

Northwest Renewable, LLC, a Vancouver-based company owned by U.S. Ethanol, estimates the $72.5 million “biomass” power project will create up to 400 construction jobs and up to 70 permanent jobs through logging and processing of the wood products.

In addition to jobs, the 24-megawatt “biomass direct combustion electric power plant” also would significantly add to the city’s tax base when it is complete at 1100 Weber Ave.

Various wood-waste sources — including wood chips and hog fuel — would be burned to generate steam. The high pressure steam would drive a turbine to churn out power. _DailyNews_via_BiofuelsDigest

A lot of maize ethanol projects have shut down, or been abandoned in planning stages. But when a company has already invested millions in an ethanol project, it makes sense to convert the project to something more profitable, if they can.

Cellulosic electricity from biomass waste and from planned biomass growth, is a coming industry. As long as governments subsidize unreliable wind and solar plants, the need for reliable baseload backup power will grow. Nuclear may be the best baseload power, but cellulosic electricity from biomass is quite good as well. Wind and solar power plants combined with biomass power plants may eventually provide nuclear-shy California with the bulk of its home-grown electricity.

Liquid Biofuels vs. Cellulosic Electricity

Brian Westenhaus takes a good look at the "bioelectricity vs. biofuels" debate and has some insightful comments well worth reading.

I discussed the issue most recently here, but reading Brian's article reminded me that the May 7 Science study that everyone is talking about based much of its findings on the differences in efficiency between internal combustion engines and electric motors.

Such a comparison, while valid, is extremely simplistic and not at all useful in determining "government policy." Field, Campbell, and Lobell want to save the world from carbon catastrophe, and they wish to work through an all-powerful government to do so. "If only the government were enlightened enough to listen to us, we could save the world," they are saying in so many words.

But the real world doesn't work like that, in a neat top-down manner. The real world is messy and dirty, and involves trillions of small, medium, and large details that often get in the way of the majestic, grand plans of activist academicians.

The high minded trio of academics wants to replace trillions of dollars of transportation infrastructure by government fiat. They moan about the evil internal combustion engine, brag about the efficiencies of electric motors. But they don't explain how long it will take to provide electric batteries that can affordably provide the vehicular range that is so important to American drivers. They don't provide a good enough discussion of liquid fuel powered fuel cells whose efficiencies are so much better than an internal combustion engine's. They focus on maize ethanol without looking at the potential of algal biofuels, thermochemical biofuels, microbial fuels, etc. They ignore the importance of regional and local development of biomass biofuels and how that would impact the overall equation.

In short, by narrow-mindedly focusing on carbon catastrophe and the glories of the all-electric vehicle, they ignore over 90% of the critical issues that impact the problem they purport to be trying to solve, in their own academically grandiose manner.

These academics want government to mandate the future, to overturn the established order and create a carbon utopia. More research and more grant applications to follow, to follow, to follow ..... Meanwhile in the real world, geopolitical excrement is flying toward the fan. That will rather force the issue, what?

Biomass for Fuel, Power, Heat, and Chemicals

Academics and policy wonks may argue about whether biomass energy works better via fuels or via electricity, but that is just another "angels on the head of a pin" argument. Academics and policy wankers get paid for wrangling, regardless of the outcome. For them, the argument itself is the point -- the bread and butter.

For those of us who live in the real world, who must get results for our work, the question is not an either-or issue. Biomass works quite well for fuels (liquid and gaseous) and for electricity. Biomass will also work for high-value chemicals, for plastics, for heating, and other uses.

Bioelectricity will find increasing use as better methods of farming and cultivating land, ocean, and microbial biomass take root. Torrefied biomass can be co-fired with coal for integrated gasification combined cycle CHP applications, pyrolysis oil can be fired in oil-burners for heat, power, and CHP, and synthesis gas can be fired in place of natural gas for industrial and utility purposes.

What all of the highly paid policy wanks, consultants, and academicians appear to be missing is that for the foreseeable future, biomass will be a solution to local and regional problems -- not a global solution. These academically lobotomised psychological neotenates are well programmed to think in terms of the "magic bullet" compleat solution.

That is not what the world needs at all. The world is a hodge-podge of needs and requirements, badly in need of local and regional economic, industrial, energy, and social solutions. Biomass -- whether grown on land, in the sea, or in tanks -- can be made to fit the needs of a particular climate and terrain. Transport expenses should be minimal because only the absolute excess not needed locally will be transported.

Growing, harvesting, pre-processing, processing, and refining of biomass to fuels, electricity, chemicals, materials, heat, etc. will be scaled up or down according to available growing area and regional needs.

Thinking on the appropriate scale answers most of the questions being thrown about by self-important analysts and policy-makers.

More on Explosive Biomass Energy Report

Brian Westenhaus first pointed to this story last week. Now Green Car Congress is taking a look at this important review of 14 biomass energy technologies (PDF).

The RBAEF involves experts from 12 institutions, and is jointly led by Dartmouth College and the Natural Resources Defense Council and sponsored by the US Department of Energy, the Energy Foundation and the National Commission on Energy Policy.

Professor Lynd, from Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering, and a co-founder of Mascoma Corp., a company commercializing a cellulosic ethanol production process, is co-author of five of the eight papers in the special issue. Three of these papers are open access, including a paper in which Mark Laser and his colleagues carry out the comparative analysis.

...The researchers also found that the mature cellulosic biofuel technologies analysed:

*

Have the potential to realize efficiencies on par with petroleum-based fuels.
*

Require modest volumes of process water.
*

Achieve production costs consistent with gasoline when oil prices are at about $30 a barrel. _GCC

More excerpts and links at the GCC link above.

Remember, the free download of the report will be available only until 31May09.

This report (PDF) is must reading for anyone who wonders where the liquid fuels of the future are going to come from.

Wood Pellet Fuel in Hot Demand in Europe

In Europe, wood pellet fuel is used for residential, commercial, and industrial heating needs. In fact, demand for wood pellets in Europe is exploding.

Wood pellets are used in furnaces as a substitute for heating oil and natural gas. In Austria, for example, it is estimated that two-thirds of all new residential heating furnaces are pellet burners.

State-of-the-art cogeneration technology at the CompacTec facility converts renewable biomass into thermal and electrical energy. The thermal energy is used during manufacturing to dry the pellets while the electricity is sold to the local grid under the German green power program. _Energy-Daily

North America is on a similar trajectory, although several years behind Europe's appetite for wood pellets.

Demand for wood pellets continues to grow in Europe but Keppler admits that the United States has not had the same experience. He attributes the difference to a much larger industrial demand in Europe combined with greater usage of wood pellet-fired furnaces by residential and commercial customers. “In the United States you have a nascent wood pellet industry but given that so much of the United States is served by natural gas and natural gas heating to the home, we have not seen the same adoption here,” Keppler said. Most of the wood pellets produced in the United States are exported overseas. _Biomass

Woody biomass offers a huge new area of energy development, where only minimal technological advancement is required. Bioenergy projects using biomass for CHP are expanding in Europe and North America.

The big advantage for growing bioenergy crops and woody biomass goes to more tropical climates, however, where warmer climates and more constant sunshine can cause biomass to grow several times faster than at higher latitudes. This tropical advantage could serve to bootstrap several third world nations out of perpetual poverty--if only they had leadership enlightened enough to forego corruption and oppressive taxation and regulations. Unfortunately, corruption in the third world is almost universal. We can only hope that such corruption does not overtake the developed world as its populations are overtaken by third world immigrants and third world patterns of populist demagoguery.

Biomass to Electricity Backed by Energy Giants

Besides the biomass to electricity projects being backed by America's largest energy cooperative previously discussed at AFE, an even bigger North American cellulosic electricity play is being made by a cooperative venture between US and French energy giants.

Two of the world's largest energy conglomerates, France's AREVA and Duke Energy, yesterday announced at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, that they will jointly develop biomass power plants in the United States. The joint venture will be called ADAGE Biopower, which will facilitate the development of biopower plants that will use wood waste and other biomass to produce electricity. The project comes at a time when Americans face soaring energy costs, when climate change is becoming a tangible problem, and when other renewables find it difficult to deliver power in a reliable manner.

The AREVA/Duke agreement is one of the first biomass-to-electricity partnerships in the United States between major energy companies. Biomass is already the largest renewables sector in the EU, but now it seems the green baseload power solution is crossing the pond in earnest (less than a week ago, America's largest cooperative power supplier announced a $1.5 billion investment in biomass).

According to the agreement, AREVA will design and build biomass power plants. Duke Energy Generation Services (DEGS), a commercial power business unit of Duke Energy that owns and develops renewable energy, will manage operations. For each project, ADAGE will negotiate power purchase agreements and fuel contracts, and secure suitable sites. Hence, ADAGE will provide customers a fully integrated solution.

This project comes at exactly the right time as Americans face soaring energy prices and look to meet rising electricity demand with green energy sources. The ADAGE biopower facilities will respond to our nation's need for new baseload energy alternatives. - Jim Rogers, Duke Energy CEO

AREVA is developing a 50 megawatt (MW) design for ADAGE, with the intent of maximizing standardization wherever possible and take advantage of a fleet approach. A 50 MW ADAGE biomass plant would provide electricity for approximately 40,000 households and would avoid 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year compared to coal.

AREVA has extensive experience in the biomass sector, having designed and built more than 100 biopower facilities in Europe, Asia and South America with capacity of more than 2,500 megawatts. We are delighted to partner with Duke Energy, which has a growing portfolio of renewable assets throughout the U.S. market, and tremendous experience in operating power plants. - Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of AREVA _Biopact

These plants will be in the 50 MW to 150 MW range, and will provide reliable baseload power--unlike wind and solar which are inherently unreliable in the absence of meaningful utility-scale electrical storage.

150 MW Biomass Generator Planned for Bristol

The greatest disadvantage to the use of biomass power generation on a large scale, is the sheer bulk and mass of the feedstock necessary to produce industrial scale power. There are several ways to solve the problem, but the use of cheap shipping by boat is one viable approach.

At 150MW, the proposed Portbury Dock Renewable Energy Plant would generate enough power for more than 200,000 homes by burning wood that would largely be brought to the plant by boat. Transporing biomass fuels in bulk by boat is highly energy efficient.

...Portbury Dock is the third of E.ON's biomass developments in the UK. The company already operates Scotland's largest dedicated biomass power station at Steven's Croft near Lockerbie and, earlier this year, received permission for a 25MW biomass station in Sheffield _Biopact

As the prices of oil, gas, and coal rise, biomass will become a more attractive alternative for electric power production and combined heat and power (CHP). Using cheap marine freight is one way around the bulkiness of the feedstock. For the majority of locations lacking a seaport, however, local and regional pre-processing and refinement of the feedstock to a more manageable and transportable form will be necessary. Biomass can now be converted to denser "bio-coal" (torrefaction), bio-gas (treated syngas), and liquid fuel (BTL), for local use or for transport. Biomass can also be baled, cubed, pelletised, and otherwise pre-processed for more convenient shipping and use.

The key to a broader use of biomass is diversification of approaches to best suit the available feedstock, installed infrastructure, and manpower expertise.

Paper and Pulp Mills Poised to Produce Biofuels

No other industry is so well suited to produce fuels from waste wood cellulose than the paper/pulp industry. By converting pulp by-products from waste to precious fuel, pulp mills can do a big favour to themselves, the environment, and the energy consuming public.

The pulp and paper industry has the scale to produce more than 9 billion gallons per year of biofuels, or as much as 20,000 MW of biomass power - as much as 16 Quads of cumulative fossil energy savings – realize net CO2 emissions reductions of more than 100 million tons annually, in the process generating financial returns, relative to continued investment in existing technology, with internal rates of return between 15-40% depending of fuel prices and incentives, according to a presentation given by Navigant Consulting’s Ryan Katofsky at the “Florida Farm to Fuel Summit,” which took place in St. Petersburg July last year.

...Gasifying rather than incinerating black liquor in soda furnaces – as is common practice - results in the production of a number of by-products, including synthesis gas. The bio-syngas can then be turned into a range of liquid fuels, such as methanol, dimethyl ester (DME), Fischer-Tropsch synthetic diesel and hydrogen gas. _Source

Pulp mills could easily become energy self-sufficient by using the waste process heat of paper manufacture, and eventually supply energy to the outside in the form of electricity or fuels.

The more productive uses that can be found for solid waste, waste sludge, waste exhaust gases, waste heat, and waste water, the cleaner the environment will become--land, air, and water.

Biomass Energy: Incremental Improvements Lead to Sustainable Fossil Replacement

Cellulosic electricity is accomplished in three stages:
1. Pre process the biomass for size and moisture content
2. Gasify the biomass in an oxygen-free atmosphere
3. Use the clean syn-gas to drive a heat engine, generating electricity.

This case history comes from Stoke-on-Trent, UK. A new 4.5 MWe cellulosic electricity plant is scheduled to come on line sometime this summer. But the engineers were having trouble with ash removal, an important adjunct to the gasification step. They were unable to devise a way of removing the ash, while maintaining an oxygen-free gasification environment.

Maintaining an oxygen-free gasifier is essential.

BioMass Engineering had tried using traditional screw feeders and airlock hoppers to remove and store the ash, however, these allowed ingress of oxygen into the process.

The company contacted Ajax Equipment to assist in overcoming the problem.

Ajax devised a plug screw feeder solution to remove the ash from the gasifier and filter.

The screw densifies the ash as it leaves the screw to create an impenetrable barrier.

"Adopting a plug screw feeder allows BioMass to run the process continuously, the ash being removed without oxygen entering the system," said Eddie McGee, technical director, Ajax Equipment.

Jim Campion, managing director, BioMass Engineering, commented, "The way Ajax Equipment approached the problem, and worked with us to find the right solution for removing the ash, has allowed us to improve the overall process reliability".

This Stoke-on-Trent renewable energy plant is set to come into operation mid 2008. __Source

For most "gee-whiz future-addicts" such a mundane industrial story only makes them yawn. But it is such incremental innovations that lead to long-term profitability and adaptation of new methods of energy production and manufacture.

Bio-Energy Future Promising On Several Fronts

It will take time for a world energy infrastructure based on fossil fuels to convert to renewable fuels. We must develop a medley of renewable approaches, including bio-energy, solar thermal/PV, wind, ocean, geothermal, hydro, etc. Bio-energy is one of the most widely applicable baseload renewables.

A Washington, D.C.-based company is in the preliminary stages of developing a $250 million plant in California to make jet fuel out of garbage, manure and tree bark. Solena Group hopes to build the plant in Gilroy, Calif., and will use raw material from municipal, agricultural and forestry waste supplied by Norcal Waste Systems, one of California’s largest municipal waste and biomass collectors.

Solena's process uses 6-8 plasma torches at 5000 degrees C in a large reactor that they call the "gasification island". The company also says it can then use the syngas to power a combined-cycle gas turbine to produce electricity or feed it into a Fischer Tropsch reactor to produce aviation-grade liquid diesel fuel. Solena claims that this process converts biomass to gas at up to 90% efficiency. __NextEnergy

Solena's process is interesting, and may be feasible in California by wrapping itself up in green laurel. On a more immediate front, Range Fuels expanded its funding from $100 million to $166 million for a plant in Georgia converting cellulosic waste to ethanol via gasification.

The money will be used to build the first phase of its ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga., which will use forestry waste as a feedstock. The plan is to complete a 20 million gallon-per-year plant next year that uses a gasification process. __Cnet

My preferred bioenergy approaches include gasification of bio-waste, and cellulosic electricity--burning processed biowaste in place of coal. European companies Sud-Chemie and Linde are collaborating to create 2nd and 3rd generation bio-energy plants using waste and cellulosic feedstock in place of food. No doubt the collaboration will be incorporating gasification along with advanced catalytics.

This newsrelease looks at efforts in British Columbia to improve algal biodiesel yields along with creating more economic production methods. While algal biodiesel is capable of producing oil yields far above other oil crops, the production costs are still far too high to support a commercial market for algal biodiesel.

Merrill Lynch together with the Renewable Fuels Association have stated that a US EPA waiver of the Renewable fuel standard would lead to immediate US gasoline price hikes of between $0.45 and $1.10.

While the clueless Senators in this article may believe they are helping reduce food prices by their frantic hysteria, they would actually be causing higher gasoline prices--and thus higher food prices--if their grandstanding were to actually have any effect.

The bottom line dictates the action. And the basic truth is that politicians are by nature corrupt. And you know what we at Al Fin Energy propose (only half-jokingly) to do with corrupt politicians? Pyrolysis.

Watch your step, politicians. We have our eyes on you.