Biomass pellets help lower mercury emissions

bioenergy-news.com


14 January 2014


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Biomass Pretreatment Less Costly Than Expected

Hay & Forage Grower
May 5, 2011 11:49 AM

Pretreating bulky biomass feedstocks to make them into a denser, more compact form as a first step toward making them into biofuels may require less energy than scientists had thought.

That’s the good news thus far from a $1.1 million study funded largely by the North Central Sun Grant Center at South Dakota State University (SDSU).

Scientists already know the biofuels of the future will likely require regional biomass processing centers to pretreat and densify materials such as switchgrass and cornstalks. Pretreating and densifying feedstocks will make it easier to ship biomass to processing facilities as much as 50-100 miles away. The new study explores some of the actual methods and technologies that could be used.

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Researchers in three states work on densification

Ethanol Producer Magazine

By Kris Bevill April 28, 2011

In order for ag residues and energy crops to be profitably converted to biofuels, it is expected that biorefineries will need to acquire all of their feedstocks from within close proximities to the plants. Another method of acquisition could be via regional biomass processing centers that would pre-treat and densify the feedstocks to make it easier to transport the material to production facilities. An ongoing collaborative research project being conducted in South Dakota, Michigan and North Dakota is focusing on how these regional centers could achieve this goal.

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Colorado funds renewable energy project development research

Biomass Power & Thermal
By Lisa Gibson January 20, 2011

A wide gap in Btu value exists between a biomass feedstock of say 30 percent moisture and one of 50 percent moisture. With that in mind, Golden, Colo.-based GeoSynFuels Inc. will conduct research into a biomass press to simultaneously densify and dewater biomass.

The company, an advanced biofuel technology developer, is one of 15 grant recipients of the Advancing Colorado’s Renewable Energy program. A total of $600,000 was awarded in the areas of feasibility studies, project participation and research. Projects awarded grants must in some way benefit or be tied to agricultural production or utilization of agricultural land or water, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture. GeoSynFuels received a grant equal to the cap in the research category: $50,000.

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Densification conference panel has torrefaction emphasis

Biomass Magazine
September 2010
By Lisa Gibson
Posted September 24, 2010, at 11:21 a.m. CST

Torrefaction is the hot topic and reoccurring theme for the biomass densification panel at the Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show Nov. 2-4 in Atlanta, with three of four speakers focusing on it in their presentations.

Densification Strategies to Increase the Viability of Biomass as a Power Feedstock will explore densification, transportation and pretreatments among other pertinent topics to the biomass arena in the Southeast U.S. As most biomass harvesters and developers know, densification can alleviate issues related to high transportation costs and low energy density.

In his presentation titled Torrefaction: Producing a Coal Replacement for Electric Generation and Industrial Heat and Power, Joseph James, president of South Carolina-based Agri-Tech Producers LLC, will discuss how the torrefaction of wood and plant biomass creates a renewable solid fuel with increased energy and physical density. Untreated wood has a Btu value of about 4,500, James cited, while torrefied wood can range from 10,000 to 12,000 Btu.

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MU research farm, local business testing biomass compressor

Missourian
Monday, July 5, 2010 7:30 p.m. CDT; updated 9:32 p.m. CDT, Monday, July 5, 2010

COLUMBIA — MU's Bradford Research and Extension Center farm and a local business have built a machine that can compact corncobs, switchgrass and other biomass so four times as much material can fit in the same amount of space.

Instead of needing an 18-wheeler truck to move biomass to burn as fuel for electricity and ethanol, the same amount could be transported in a dump truck.

"We're able to repackage it into a size that's usable rather than bulk material," said Jesse VanEngelenhoven, research director of the Columbia firm Ecologic Tech.

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Biobaler connects land management, biomass supply

Biomass Magazine
May 2010
By Lisa Gibson

Brush lands in the upper Midwest are a great biomass resource, but can be hard to harvest because the vegetation is thicker than most agricultural machinery allow, but not thick enough to warrant forestry equipment. Stempower Resources’ Biobaler is designed to aggregate vegetation 1 to 8 inches in diameter and can link land management with the biomass supply chain.

The cutting and baling equipment simultaneously harvests and bales brush with minimal soil disturbance. It’s been on the market for about four months and Stempower, based in St. Joseph, Minn., has focused on linking its capabilities with the land management industry, according to Peter Gillitzer, Stempower president and co-founder. The coupling can offer lower management costs, and therefore a savings to wildlife management agencies that clear land to create habitats. The Biobaler can also bring in extra revenue if buyers for the bales can be secured, which Gillitzer said has been the biggest challenge.

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New Energy Economics: Challenges To Biomass Processing

Cattlenetwork.com
04/08/2010 03:57PM

The demand continues to grow for cellulosic biofuel production, as well as blending biofuel with coal in electrical power and heating plants. New biomass harvesting projects being conducted by University of Wisconsin agricultural and biosystems engineers Kevin Shinners and Tom Hoffman and a Mississippi State University team lead by Jeremiah Davis highlight some of the challenges that farmers are going to face in processing and delivering biomass materials that will replace coal.

The goal of the Wisconsin project is to develop a one-pass biomass field machine that will both harvest a crop and produce a biomass cube. At the moment, most biomass is harvested by farmers and then transported to regional centers for further processing and densification. These centers may pellet or cube the material. The advantage of a one-pass, in-field machine is that biomass doesn't have to baled, which saves both energy and time. Also, a regional processing center won't have to de-twine the bales before processing.

The machine that both the Wisconsin and Mississippi research teams are using is a 1970s-era John Deere 425 hay cuber. These machines originally were produced for commercial alfalfa growers. John Deere only built 400 of these specialized machines and less than 100 are known to exist today.

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