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THE Biofuel Thread pt 6

Discussions of conventional and alternative energy production technologies.

Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 26 Mar 2014, 18:40:07

China’s big plans for biomass

China, the largest producer and consumer of electricity in the world, is also a significant contributor to global pollution. The Asian giant has been frequently making headlines due to its toxic air. Fossil fuels, particularly coal, comprise almost 90 per cent of the country’s current energy consumption.

On the other hand, China only obtains about eight per cent of its total primary energy from non-fossil fuel sources. Official targets released recently aim to increase this share to at least 11.4 per cent in 2015 and 15 per cent in 2020. These latest official targets are building on the Renewable Energy Law passed by the Chinese government in 2006. This law set the scene for the remarkable recent growth of renewables in China, through the systematic implementation of feed-in tariffs, subsidies and other incentives.

Dr Jackson Ewing, research fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, says: “This can be seen as part of China’s efforts to reduce the dominance of coal in electricity generation because of supply and pollution-related reasons.”

Biomass, in particular, is a readily available source of fuel in China. However, currently only about five per cent of the total potential is being collected on a systematic basis. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Engineering have estimated that if all the available biomass feedstock in China were utilised, it would create the energy equivalent of 1.2 billion tons of coal, more than the entire country’s total annual energy consumption.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 27 Mar 2014, 17:58:08

xtracting carbon from nature can aid climate but will be costly-UN

A little-known technology that may be able to take the equivalent of China's greenhouse gas emissions out of the carbon cycle could be the radical policy shift needed to slow climate change this century, a draft U.N. report shows.

Using the technology, power plants would burn biomass - wood, wood pellets, or plant waste like from sugar cane - to generate electricity while the carbon dioxide in the biomass is extracted, piped away and buried deep underground.

Among techniques, a chemical process can strip carbon dioxide from the flue gases from combustion.

The process - called bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) - would make the power plants not only carbon-neutral but actively a part of extracting carbon dioxide from a natural cycle of plant growth and decay.

The technology could be twinned in coming decades with planting forests that absorb carbon as they grow, according to the study obtained by Reuters.

It would be a big shift from efforts to fight global warming mainly by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases from mankind's use of fossil fuels in factories, power plants and cars, but may be necessary given the failure so far to cut rising emissions.

"BECCS forms an essential component of the response strategy for climate change in the majority of scenarios in the literature" to keep temperatures low, according to a report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC, grouping leading scientists, is the main guide for almost 200 governments that have promised to work out a deal by the end of 2015 to slow warming to avert more floods, heatwaves, more powerful storms, droughts and rising seas.

The leaked report is Chapter 6 in a mammoth study due in mid-April in Berlin about solving climate change. It has details of BECCS not included in a draft summary.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Sat 05 Apr 2014, 18:43:38

Associations release renewable energy outlook paper

Multiple renewable energy trade association have teamed up to produce a single report that contains current market reviews, outlooks and policy recommendations for each respective sector, including biomass power, biomass thermal, waste-to-energy, ethanol, biodiesel and advanced biofuels.

According to contributor Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, the industry added up to more than 750 MW in 2013, a large portion of which is being generated from large-scale projects. All regions of the country have experienced some biomass growth, but the Southeast has experienced the most.

While opportunities for further development are difficult to predict, they are significant, from Cleaves’ perspective. State and federal programs are helping deploy biomass, but more must be done the federal level to ensure that existing biomass facilities remain financially secure, and that more facilities can be built where feasible.

Recommended federal policy changes include energy tax reform to promote all renewable technologies equally; recognition of the carbon benefits of bioenergy: and more recognition of biomass as a valuable renewable resource in federal and state energy policy and renewable targets.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Tue 08 Apr 2014, 18:29:37

Biomass: Not Carbon Neutral and Often Not Clean

Power companies, facing pressure to find alternatives to fossil fuels like coal, often consider turning to biomass – an umbrella term for fuel that is newly derived from plant matter. Until recently, most people including policy makers assumed all biomass was clean and renewable. But not all biomass is created equal, and our energy policies must distinguish among the good, the bad and the ugly.

For example, as my colleagues and I have written about before (see here and here for starters), burning whole trees to produce electricity increases carbon pollution compared with fossil fuels for decades into the future. On the other hand, some forms of biomass can reduce carbon pollution and other emissions compared to fossil fuels.

Regardless of the source of the fuel – low carbon or high carbon - burning stuff is just inherently a dirty process. The combustion of biomass in power plants releases harmful air pollutants such as particulates, NOx, and SOx. So combustion must occur in plants with high efficiencies and state-of-the art emission controls. This fact was underscored last week in a new report Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Bioenergy Has Become the New Coal released by the Partnership for Policy Integrity.

The study represents a significant new contribution to our understanding of the pollution impacts of biopower. Using data from biomass power plant permits, it documents the air pollution emitted by the biomass energy industry, and is an important reminder that poorly regulated biomass-fired power plants are an increasingly significant source of air and climate pollution and a threat to public health. The Partnership’s analyses are critical to our efforts to protect air quality, forest ecosystems, and the Earth’s climate.

I hope the report serves as a fresh reminder to legislators and regulators that bioenergy isn't inherently clean, renewable or good. Our policies matter and unless we set out standards high, we'll get a mess--biomess.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Mon 14 Apr 2014, 19:38:58

Biomass Emissions Question Arises Again

The basic arguments about using biomass as a source of energy have been around for some years, since bioenergy began to gain a following as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels and nuclear plants. Flags went up in 2010, for example, when a six-month study by Massachusetts environmental officials found that biomass-fired electricity might cause a 3% greater increase in carbon emissions than equivalent power from coal by 2050. (The issue does not apply to methane or algae energy generation, also biomass-based.)


The Biomass Power Association of the US naturally disputes Booth’s report, saying “Biomass is a clean, renewable energy source that our nation relies upon to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.” The industry regards “Trees, Trash, and Toxics” as “an 81-page editorial.”


The EPA needs to work hard on the bioenergy conundrum. Having recently implemented the Burn Wise program to emphasize the importance of consumers burning the right wood, the right way, in the right wood-burning appliance—and having proposed tough rules for the nation’s nine million inefficient wood stoves and boilers—the time has come for the EPA to apply similarly sensible standards to commercial and industrial biomass burning. Ultimately, the EPA’s regulatory decisionmaking may determine the future of a significant transitional power/heating source and a nascent, fast-growing export commodity.


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What is the Greenest Source of Electricity?

Reading this story made me wonder how well people understand the carbon intensity of electricity generation. So here is a quick primer, based on an excellent IPCC meta-study of the issue, looking at full lifecycle emissions of electricity production.


Image

If you are looking just at carbon then hydro is a decent bet, closely followed by ocean power, wind and nuclear. If we could actually make it work biomass with carbon capture and storage (CCS) would be quite something, preferably using the waste from some fast rotation food staple. In the IPCC meta-study biomass with CCS has estimates from -1,368 to -598 g CO2eq/kWh. Sadly this option looks like it is a very long way from being commercially scalable.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 23 Apr 2014, 18:40:25

Biomass: The World's Biggest Provider Of Renewable Energy

If I asked you to think of renewable energy what comes to mind? I imagine it is skyscraper-sized wind turbines, solar panels on suburban roofs or massive hydro-electric dams. You probably do not think of burning wood or converting crops to liquid fuel to be used in cars. Yet throughout the world bio-energy remains the biggest source of renewable energy. In fact its growth in the last decade has been greater than or similar to that from wind and solar in most places, and those places include the European Union and the United States of America.

The inclusion of hydro-electricity in the graph above is merely an obligation. Most EU countries have stopped building any hydro-electric capacity, so its growth over this period was essetnially zero. The same holds for geothermal energy. Growth of renewable energy since 2000 therefore only really came from three energy sources: wind, solar and biomass.

In percentage terms the two energy sources that saw the most rapid growth were wind and solar. This is unsurprising, given their low starting point. However in absolute terms biomass is the clear winner. Between 2000 and 2011 biomass grew by 49 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Wind and solar only grew by 13 and 6 million toe respectively. In other words the absolute growth of biomass was 1.5 times greater than in wind and solar, and so far the majority of new renewable energy since 2000 has come from biomass, not wind and solar.

The increase in bio-energy in Germany has taken many forms. For example wood-chip heating systems have grown massively since 2000. In a decade Germany went from burning almost no wood-chips for heating to burning 1.2 million tonnes each year.

Germany also now gets a significant portion of electricity from bio-energy. In 2013 bio-energy was used for almost 7% of its electricity production, higher than that from solar PV and just short of that from wind power. Electricity generation from bio-energy receives approximately 4.5 billion Euros in subsidies each year, 30% more than is received by onshore wind in Germany.

The production of bio-energy is also now a significant form of land-use in Germany. According to official statistics a total of 2 million hectares is devoted to crop-based biofuels. This is 17% of arable land and approximately 6% of total land in Germany. Yet it only produces around 2% of Germany's total energy consumption, a remarkably inefficient use of land.

However wood, not crop-based biofuels, is the biggest source of bio-energy in Germany. A total of 53 million cubic metres of wood is used each year for energy generation, which is 41% of the total annual German wood harvest. This corresponds to approximately 4% of Germany's total energy consumption, a figure that has more than doubled in the last decade.

This then is a rather different picture of the renewables revolution happening in Germany.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 24 Apr 2014, 21:29:28

Letter: Report misses positives of biomass electricity

The Partnership for Policy Integrity's short-sighted report claims biomass electricity is inefficient, avoids regulation and threatens air quality.

The author stigmatizes this beneficial fuel source by failing to report that thermal energy is one-third of U.S. energy demand and when used in combined heat and power (CHP) systems, biomass can be up to 90 percent efficient. She cites one power plant in Oregon but does not review 19 EPA-approved biomass boilers heating schools and hospitals with forest restoration by-products instead of oil, at a savings of $100,000 annually.

Wildfires are increasingly devastating national forests and emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases and particulates. Forest restoration can help, but without local markets, the resulting biomass is either burned on site with zero pollution controls, left to decompose slowly releasing greenhouse gases (if not caught in a wildfire) or it's burned in CHP facilities to power wood-product operations.

Regardless, emissions from biomass will occur. We must therefore choose job creation, energy savings and a net reduction in greenhouse gases – carbon emitted and sequestered by trees is inherently different than fossil fuels, which only sequester if left unextracted.

This report is literally and figuratively missing the forest for the trees.

John J. Audley, president of

Sustainable Northwest

Portland


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby PrestonSturges » Thu 24 Apr 2014, 21:35:37

Few areas have water to spare.
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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 24 Apr 2014, 21:47:42

Any ideas on how we can resolve this?
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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Fri 02 May 2014, 21:46:34

EIA: US biomass-based diesel imports increased to record levels in 2013; from net exporter to net importer

Total US imports of biomass-based diesel fuel—biodiesel and renewable diesel—reached 525 million gallons in 2013, compared to 61 million gallons in 2012, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As a result, the United States switched from being a net exporter of biomass-based diesel in 2012 to a net importer in 2013 by a wide margin.

Two principal factors drove the increase in US biodiesel imports, EIA said: growth in domestic biodiesel demand to satisfy renewable fuels targets, and increased access to biodiesel from other countries.

The strongest driver of the resurgence in US biomass-based diesel demand was the increasing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) target. Both biodiesel and renewable diesel qualify for the biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel targets, as well as the overall RFS target.

The total RFS target increased from 15.20 billion gallons in 2012 to 16.55 billion gallons in 2013. The biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels targets increased from 1.00 billion gallons to 1.28 billion gallons, and from 2.00 billion gallons to 2.75 billion gallons, respectively.

Biomass-based diesel fuels have higher energy content compared with ethanol, and thus generate more Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits per gallon of fuel produced. In addition, renewable diesel meets the same American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards as petroleum diesel, and is thus not subject to the blending limits imposed on biodiesel.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Wed 07 May 2014, 19:33:03

Biomass touted as alternative to propane, other costly heating sources

Biomass energy producers believe they are the answer to more expensive, less available heating options, such as propane.

About 3 percent of heat in the Midwest is from biomass sources, said Brian Brashaw, director of the wood materials and manufacturing program at the University of Minnesota. Growth to even 10 percent would create thousands of jobs, and the room for growth exists, he said.

“About one-third of the Midwest doesn’t have access to natural gas (heat),” he said. “Those are our rural, forested areas.”


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Subjectivist » Thu 08 May 2014, 09:27:26

pstarr wrote:Biomass. That would be the combustion of woody material for heat. In this case American agriculture. I'd rather see the corn feed the world, rather than heating oversized American McMansions. And you?


Corn is actually one of the horrible grains, it has to be carefully introduced to animals or they get 'corn poisoning'. If you switch most livestock from wheat or oat or soybeans too quickly they get sick and many of them die from digestive tract damage. If you want to take green corn and make silage out of it you avoid the issue, but it doesn't store all that well so most industrial users go straight for the grain instead.

On the other hand if you made silage and then put it through one of those pellet makers on the last page I bet you could get hundreds of tons of biofuel pellets, way more than you would get from almost any other woody mass cellulose crop.
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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Tanada » Thu 08 May 2014, 11:30:54

pstarr wrote:Sub, I don't think 100 million Mexicans would agree that corn is a 'horrible grain'. But regardless, you don't burn it for heat. That's insane.


Hey Pete you really need to get away from the coast once in a while LOL. They developed stoves for use here in the midwest about 30 years ago specifically to use shelled corn as a fuel source. I first saw one of these at a farm trade show in Michigan around 1983 and could hardly believe my eyes. The sales pitch was simple, whenever corn prices were down you were better off using it as furnace fuel for your house and barn than you were using fossil fuels.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... el-heaters

Check them out, they remain quite popular in states that grow a lot of corn. They are also popular in cherry/peach/prune country in northern Michigan because with a simple change they will burn pits for fuel instead of shelled corn, and if there is one thing a cherry cannery has plenty of it is pits. You could even buy excess pits in 40 pound bags to burn in your own wood pellet stove, but its not a great deal if you have to buy them because they only have half the energy of a compressed wood pellet by volume.
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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 08 May 2014, 19:42:13

UI launches grass project to produce biomass fuel

The University of Iowa is experimenting with the growing of miscanthus, a grass native to Asia that has a variety of uses, including animal bedding, liquid biofuels and combustion for electricity.

The school on Wednesday planted 15 acres on a pilot field on a farm south of Iowa City. The grass will be ready to harvest after the first frost and the plant has dried down.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports (http://icp-c.com/1uFoEVX ) the school plans to follow the progress of the perennial grass, and potentially plant an additional 2,500 acres by 2016.

The grass will be part of the school's biomass fuel project, which aims to achieve 40 percent renewable energy by 2020. UI expects to eventually produce up to 25,000 tons per year of biomass fuel through the grass.


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Re: Biomass Thread

Unread postby Graeme » Fri 09 May 2014, 21:22:49

Study finds that optimized integrated catalytic processing of biomass could produce renewable jet fuel with selling price as low as $2.88/gallon

A team from seven US universities and the Korea Institue of Science and Technology, led by George Huber, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has developed an integrated catalytic process for the conversion of whole biomass into drop-in aviation fuels with maximal carbon yields.

The researchers expect that in its current state, the proposed technology could deliver jet fuel-range liquid hydrocarbons for a minimum selling price of $4.75 per gallon—assuming nth commercial plant that produces 38 million gallons liquid fuels per year with a net present value of the 20 year biorefinery set to zero. Future improvements in this technology, including replacing precious metal catalysts by base metal catalysts and improving the recyclability of water streams, could reduce this cost to $2.88 per gallon.

A paper on the experimental studies and techno-economic analysis of the process is published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science.


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