biomass magazine - may 2009

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INSIDE: UK TO DIVERT WASTE TO BIOGAS, SYNGAS PRODUCTION May 2009 www.BiomassMagazine.com Digesting It All Anaerobic Digestion is a Popular Option in Areas Where It’s More Economical and Efficient Than Disposing of Waste in Landfills

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May 2009 Biomass Magazine

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Page 1: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

INSIDE: UK TO DIVERT WASTE TO BIOGAS, SYNGAS PRODUCTION

May 2009

www.BiomassMagazine.com

Digesting It All Anaerobic Digestion is a Popular Option in Areas Where It’s More Economical and Effi cient Than Disposing of Waste in Landfi lls

Page 2: Biomass Magazine - May 2009
Page 3: Biomass Magazine - May 2009
Page 4: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

4 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

Page 5: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5

INSIDE MAY 2009 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 5

FEATURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28 UNITED KINGDOM Her Majesty’s Biogas As landfi ll space dwindles and natural gas production declines, offi cials in the U.K. have stepped up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions and to produce more energy from renewable sources, using anaerobic digestion and gasifi cation. By Ryan C. Christiansen

34 PROFILE Taking Anaerobic Digestion by Storm StormFisher Biogas is poised to help food processing companies avoid costly tipping fees by building up to 30 anaerobic digestion plants in North America to turn that waste into energy. By Anna Austin

42 TECHNOLOGY From Lines on Paper to a Model of Success Kevin Bolin and his grandfather, Norman Dickinson, have taken their ideas from paper to the laboratory to bench-, pilot- and demonstration-scale and fi nally to realizing the commissioning of the fi rst full-scale biosolids treatment plant using their SlurryCarb process. By Ron Kotrba

48 TRANSPORTATION The Value of WasteOrganic Resource Management Inc. was one of the pioneers in collecting, processing and managing liquid organic residuals. Today the company has turned from direct-land application to anaerobic digestion as a low-cost, long-term recycling solution for organic waste. By Khalila Hammond

CONTRIBUTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

54 PROCESS Streamlining Treatment of ChallengingFood Processing WastewatersKen’s Foods, a Massachusetts-based food manufacturer, explains the process it went through to more effi ciently treat wastewater with high fat, oil and grease content. By Jim McMahon

TECHNOLOGY | PAGE 42

DEPARTMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

07 Advertiser Index

08 Editor’s NoteChange is in the AirBy Rona Johnson

10 CITIES Corner

Avoiding the Knowledge BottleneckBy Tim Portz

11 Legal PerspectivesWhat Clients Want in a LawyerBy Todd Taylor

13 Industry Events

14 Business Briefs

16 Industry News

59 EERC UpdateThe Low-Down on Military Specs for Renewable Jet FuelBy Paul Pansegrau

60 Marketplace

Page 6: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

Answers for industry.

Get to market faster. Siemens is the only company with a complete automation product and solutions portfolio specifically designed to speed your time to market, control life-cycle costs and reduce risks. Our extensive biofuels expertise, from process automation, to power generation and distribution, to water handling, ensures you’ll have the answers you need to make your biofuels plant more productive and more profitable. For information about how Siemens technology is improving biofuels plants throughout the U.S., contact a sales representative or visit our Web site at www.sea.siemens.com/biofuels. Setting standards with Totally Integrated Automation.

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Page 7: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 7

advertiserINDEX

17th European Biomass 58 Conference & Exhibition

2009 Atlantic BioEnergy Conference 27

2009 International Fuel 41Ethanol Workshop & Expo

2009 International BIOMASS 62 & 63Conference & Expo

ADI Systems 26

Agra Industries 32

Bio-Mizer 23

BRUKS Rockwood 20

Christianson & Associates PLLP 30

Continental Biomass Industries 4

Detroit Stoker Company 18

Energy & Environmental Research Center 40

Eisenmann Corporation 19

Factory Sales and Engineering Inc. 36

Fluid Components International LLC 56

GEA Barr-Rosin Inc. 21

Geomembrane Technologies Inc. 52

Hunt, Guillot & Associates, L.L.C. 24

Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc. 39

Indeck Power Equipment Co. 17

Jeffrey Rader Corporation 25

Laidig Systems, Inc. 44

Larox Corp. 33

MAC Equipment 9

Mid-South Engineering Company 31

Novozymes 3

Percival Scientifi c, Inc. 47

Process Barron 22

Quality Recycling Equipment, Inc. 53

R.C. Costello & Assoc. Inc. 38

Robert-James Sales Inc. 64

Roskamp Champion/CPM (ME & V) 37

Rotochopper 2

Shuttle-Buffalo Hammer Mill 12

SD&G Community Future 46 Development Corporation

Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. 6

The Teaford Co. Inc. 48

W.S. Tyler 51

Weis Environmental 57

West Salem 50

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Rona Johnson [email protected]

ASSISTANT EDITORSusanne Retka Schill [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITORSBryan Sims [email protected] Austin [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann [email protected]

E-MEDIA COORDINATORMegan Skauge [email protected]

ART

ART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNERSElizabeth Slavens [email protected] Melquist [email protected] Sitter [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALES

PUBLISHER & CEO Mike Bryan [email protected]

PUBLISHER & PRESIDENT Kathy Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF MEDIA & EVENTS Joe Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT AND COMMUNICATIONSTom Bryan [email protected]

SALES DIRECTOR Matthew Spoor [email protected]

SALES MANAGER, MEDIA & EVENTSHoward Brockhouse [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGERSClay Moore [email protected] Hanson [email protected] Shereck [email protected] Steen [email protected] Brown [email protected]

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Marla DeFoe [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

SUBSCRIBER ACQUISITON MANAGER Jason Smith [email protected]

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, SALES Christie Anderson [email protected]

Subscriptions Subscriptions to Bio-mass Magazine are $24.95 per year in the U.S; $39.95 in Canada and Mexico; and $49.95 outside North America. Subscriptions can be com-pleted online at www.BiomassMaga-zine.com or subscribe over the phone at (701) 746-8385.

Back Issues & Reprints Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more informa-tion, contact us at (701) 746-8385 or [email protected].

Advertising Biomass Magazine pro-vides a specifi c topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To fi nd out more about Biomass Magazine advertising opportunities, please con-tact us at (701) 746-8385 or [email protected].

Letters to the Editor We welcome let-ters to the editor. Send to Biomass Magazine Letters to the Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your name, address and phone num-ber. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.

Cert no. SCS-COC-00648

Page 8: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

8 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

Change is in the Air

here has been a subtle change in my title that is not so subtle when it comes to my duties here at Bio-mass Magazine. My title has changed from features editor to editor, which means that from now on I will be assigning and editing the features, news and con-

tributions. This work was previously divvied up amongst three editors. While this may sound like a lot of extra work, it isn’t because before this title change I was the features editor for three magazines. Now I will be working with only one maga-zine. I think it’s a positive change because it will allow me to be even more involved in the biomass industry.

There has also been a change in the titles and duties of our staff writers. If you are an avid reader you are probably fa-miliar with Anna Austin, who is now an associate editor. Bryan Sims, who is also an associate editor, will continue to write for Biomass Magazine, but only for a short time. He is a member of the North Dakota Army National Guard and will soon be shipping off to Kosovo for a year. We wish him well. Susanne Retka Schill’s byline has appeared on many industry news stories and now, as assistant editor, she will be producing features as well, and helping me with some editing chores. As you may have noticed, we include the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of our staff at the end of each feature so that you can contact them if you have questions or concerns about their articles. Although they may not be able to answer all of your questions, they may be able to point you in the right direction.

These changes are also good because they will allow us to easily ramp up as the magazine and the industry grow. I know this economic situation has taken the wind out of a lot of sails but it can’t last forever. We need to be ready for the day when the world realizes that new biomass-based industries are among some of the answers to our economic and environmental woes. I’m not saying it will be be easy, but we do have political momentum, and our legislators seem perfectly happy to throw good money after bad. Now we just have to convince them to throw our tax money into viable industries. OK, that’s the last jab I will aim at the federal government, at least in this column.

In the meantime, the focus of this month’s magazine is anaerobic digestion and there are several features that you will want to read. This issue also includes a contributed article about Marlborough, Mass.-based Ken’s Foods, which uses an anaerobic treatment technology devel-oped by ADI Systems Inc. and Kubota Corp. to handle wastewater with high concentrations of organic matter.

As always, let me know if there is anything more we can do to meet the needs of the bio-mass industry.

T

Rona JohnsonEditor

[email protected]

editor’sNOTE

Page 9: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

Our medium-pressure dust fi lters are good for your plant and the planet. What’s more, because they run

on medium-pressure air, our fi lters take less horsepower and can save 50% or more in operating costs.

And with fewer moving parts and tough construction, they last longer, can handle temps of up to 500

degrees and are virtually immune to freeze-ups. To fi nd out more, call MAC at 1-800-821-2476 or email

us at [email protected].

Page 10: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

10 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

CITIESc o r n e r

anny Kluthe may be the most knowl-edgeable person alive when it comes to the day-to-day details of operating an anaerobic digester on a hog farm.

Kluthe is not a microbiologist, however, and he didn’t design the digester on his farm, nor did he design the internal combustion engine that turns his biogas into electricity. Still Kluthe’s digester works because of his knowledge. He understands how best to deploy this method of manure man-agement and clean energy generation into his farm operation. Kluthe learned how often he needs to feed his digester, how to troubleshoot low biogas production, and how to deliver a consistent ma-nure stream to his digester. All of this knowledge is crucial, specifi c and, for the most part, the domain of Kluthe alone.

Ultimately, if biogas production from animal waste is to become a widespread method of ma-nure management and clean energy production, Kluthe’s knowledge has to be shared with other people—many other people.

This reality confronts each and every develop-ing biomass industry. Before biomass gasifi cation, algal cultivation, fermentation of crop residues and every other biomass industry can be scaled up, a means for educating a skilled pool of labor must be imagined, created and deployed.

Fortunately, provisions for meeting this need are being included in the draft language of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. If this language is adopted, the U.S. secretaries of education and labor will be authorized to award

monies to community colleges and universities to develop training programs to benefi t these new industries. It is also incumbent on us in the biomass industry to be proactive and engage our educational institu-tions as we develop and scale these new industries.

I think one of the biggest challenges facing this industry and its educational partners will be synchronizing the pace of industry expan-sion with the growth of job training programs. A chicken and egg scenario begins to unfold as educational institutions are reluctant to create pro-gramming for industries which haven’t yet been commercialized and, at the same time, develop-ing industries will struggle if skilled workers aren’t available to fuel the expansion.

How then do we align ourselves as an industry with potential educational partners? Working rela-tionships with educational institutions need to be included in business plans, on steering committees and on boards of directors. Through strategic re-lationships, the knowledge so unique to the Danny Kluthes of the world stands the greatest chance of fi nding its way to a workforce that the biomass industry will ultimately need.

Tim Portz is a business developer with BBI In-ternational’s Community Initiative to Improve Energy Sustainability. Reach him at [email protected] or (651) 398-9154.

DAvoiding the Knowledge Bottleneck

Tim Portz,business developer, BBI International

Page 11: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 11

LEGALperspectives

What one word defines what you want in a law-yer?

A. Passion. Entrepre-neurs need to surround themselves with people who have a passion for the industry and their profession. Without that you are not bringing people to the party who share a common goal. As it relates to a lawyer, I believe that you need to align your company with someone who is not just there to bill, but truly cares about the profession, indus-try, and your company.

Q. How do you go about hiring a good lawyer?

A. I do not lead with the “How much do you bill?” question. If that is the most critical thing to you, you should look through the yellow pages for someone cheap to do basic legal work. Cheap rarely equals good work. Think of this from your own business stand-point. Do you want to be the cheapest with no regard for quality? I believe in fi rst having a good attorney with whom you share busi-ness principles, industry knowledge and pas-sion. Second, I believe that you hire an attor-ney to be an adviser and counselor, not just someone to draft contracts. If you fi nd the right attorney, you will save your company in the long run, and create opportunities that add value, more than any squabbling over a bill or a cheap lawyer will ever get you.

When interviewing multiple lawyers, which I strongly recommend, go in with a

list of questions about their practice, their views of and experience in the industry, and personal interests. I want to know about why they do what they do and how they got there.

Q. What do you expect an attorney to do for you?

A. Again, the reason I hire an attorney is not to just draft contracts, but rather to help guide my business through unfamiliar situ-ations. My favorite quote is from Malcolm Forbes, “Too many people overvalue what they are not, and undervalue what they are.” I believe that this is applicable to my attor-ney: Guide us where you have skill, provide insight on the industry, counsel us on avoid-ing mistakes, and I think that he/she should complement the organization and should be approachable on multiple issues regarding the law, the industry and strategy.

Q. Do you think an attorney should help you find financing?

A. I don’t expect it. With that said, they are there to be an adviser to the company and help in its success. Part of what I expect is to provide insight and access to a network of people and companies that can help my company. However, I hire an investment banking fi rm for fi nancing. The attorney helps guide me through the legal issues re-lated to fundraising and fi nancing and if they can make an introduction that turns into something, so be it.

Q. What is the No. 1 thing you don’t want in a lawyer?

A. One thing that I stay away from is a relative, friend, etc, of someone in the com-pany. When someone says, we should hire so-and-so to be our attorney because he is related, I run. I have seen this fail more times than not. Look for someone who will repre-sent the company not the personal interests of a shareholder, director or executive.

Q. I’d like to go back to your comment on how a lawyer should provide some added value.

A. I hire an attorney not just to draft contracts. Our chief executive offi cer, who has been in the industry a long time, said that there is nothing better than a good at-torney, one who takes the time to understand the business and how a lawyer can help the business succeed. Lawyers who only read the statute and tell you what you can’t do are vir-tually useless. To this day, our chief execu-tive offi cer talks about one of the attorneys that he had in the past who he respects and adores. Imagine a lawyer a chief executive offi cer respects and adores. You don’t often hear that about a lawyer, and that’s too bad and when you have a lawyer you can say that about, it’s a great thing.

Todd Taylor is a shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron’s corporate, renewable energy, securi-ties and emerging business groups. Reach him at [email protected] or (612) 492-7355.

Q.

What Clients Want in a Lawyer By Todd Taylor

The following is a conversation between Scott Hughes, the chief operating offi cer at Visiam LLC, a renewable energy company, and the author, about the most important things a renewable energy company needs in a lawyer.

Page 12: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

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Page 13: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

industry events

Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals

May 3-6, 2009InterContinental San Francisco HotelSan FranciscoThis year’s symposium provides a forum for experts from around the world to gather and discuss the latest research breakthroughs and results in this growing fi eld. The four-day program is designed to facilitate the exchange of new information and technical progress among attendees from industrial, academic and government sectors. The program includes a variety of ses-sion topics including biomass pretreatment and fractionation, translational genomics for bioenergy feedstocks, commercialization of algal-based bio-fuels and more. (703) 691-3357 www.simhq.org/meetings/sbfc2009/index.html

Latin American Congress on Biorefi neries

May 4-6, 2009Termas de ChillanConcepción, ChileThis event, which is in its second year, offers a forum for debate on scientifi c and engineering advances in the use of forest biomass. Topics will include fermentation of sugars, anaerobic digestion of biomass residues to obtain biogas, separation of forest biomass components through new technolo-gies, and the integration of biorefi neries into existing forest-industrial plants. A complete agenda will be available as the event nears.+56 41 2747438 www.bio-refi nerias.cl/

Biomass to Liquids

May 6-7, 2009Crowne Plaza HotelLondonThis two-day conference brings together experts from a wide range of dis-ciplines in the biomass industry. Topics such as technology developments, project updates, policy and regulation, and biomass feedstock will be ad-dressed. Attendees will gain an understanding of trends and developments in gasifi cation technologies and learn how to control the debate and public perceptions of biofuels. +44 (0) 20 7827 6000www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=5&ref=3077

World Renewable Energy Congress

May 19-22, 2009Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition CenterBangkok, ThailandThe World Renewable Energy Congress is a place for policymakers, re-searchers, manufactures, economists, fi nanciers and others to present their views and to discuss bioenergy topics. Sessions will cover biomass for heat and power, biofuels, biogas and wastes. Subtopics will focus on bioenergy resources, technologies, environmental issues and case studies. WREC of-fers a networking opportunity between nations, institutions, disciplines and individuals.+66 2 470 8309 10 www.thai-exhibition.com/wrec2009asia/

Biofuels Summit

May 25-27, 2009Marina Mandarin SingaporeThe summit will showcase policies and successful strategies used by orga-nizations to make profi table investment decisions. Discussion topics range from understanding worldwide key trends and developments in biofuels, understanding second-generation biofuels, fi nancing biofuels projects, po-tential of producing biofuels from biomass waste and more. Attendees will learn about biofuels from around the world and establish valuable business contacts.+65 6297 8545 www.biofuelssummit.com/

Biomass Boiler Workshop

June 11-12, 2009 Savannah, Ga.This workshop consists of presentations on technological developments and results to improve the operating performance, waste fuel burning ca-pacity, effi ciency, and fuel economy of biomass-fi red boilers. In addition, the program will include troubleshooting and problem-solving discussions that attendees bring to the workshop. Participants will learn about the current retrofi t technology for biomass boilers and associated equipments, and see how other mill operations can solve their biomass boiler area problems. They will also receive information and solutions to mill-specifi c problems.(425) 952-2843 www.jansenboiler.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

June 15-18, 2009Colorado Convention CenterDenverThis will mark the 25th anniversary of the world’s largest ethanol confer-ence, which was recently recognized by Trade Show Week magazine as one of the fastest-growing events in the United States for the second consecutive year. The event will address conventional ethanol and next-generation ethanol and biomass. More details will be available as the event approaches.(701) 746-8385 www.2009few.com

European Biomass Conference & Exhibition

June 29-July 3, 2009CCH-Congress CenterHamburg, GermanyThis event is expected to draw more than 1,500 participants from over 70 countries. Participants will learn about the latest breakthroughs in the bio-mass fi eld. The exhibition, taking place parallel to the conference, will fea-ture the foremost companies and state-of-the-art products in the industry. The conference will also be accompanied by workshops, tours and a social program. +39 055 5002174 www.conference-biomass.com/index.htm

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 13

Page 14: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

14 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

business BRIEFS

Senators propose bill to boost energy transmission grid

U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, introduced legislation recently to clear the way for a national “electric power transmission superhigh-way,” unlocking the op-portunity to dramatically increase the production of energy in rural states, such as North Dakota. The National Energy Security Act is aimed at boosting the nation’s energy and national security by reducing America’s reliance on foreign oil. North Dakota has a vast, diverse supply of energy resources, includ-ing coal, oil, wind and biomass, but expansion of the state’s energy industry has been hampered by a lack of transmission lines that could carry North Dakota-produced electricity where it’s needed. BIO

BIO’s Brent Erickson appointed to EBI advisory committee

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotech-nology Industry Organization’s Industrial and Environmental Section, was appointed to the advisory committee of the En-ergy Biosciences Institute. The EBI, a collaboration among the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois and BP, was established in 2007 with a 10-year, $500 million grant from BP. Its mission is to harness advanced knowledge in biology, the physical sciences, engineering, and environmental and social sciences to devise vi-able solutions to global energy challenges and reduce the impact of fossil fuels to global warming. BIO

Logos Technologies to make biomass-based jet fuel

Arlington, Va.-based Logos Technologies Inc. announced in April that it had been awarded a prime contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce fully compatible jet fuel from cellulose—the structural component of all plants and algae. With this process, Logos scientists esti-mate the cellulose waste streams from agriculture, industries and cities could supply a signifi cant amount of U.S. transportation fuel needs with a fossil-fuel substitute that does not introduce additional atmospheric carbon dioxide, does not adversely affect food prices and offers superior performance and engine com-patibility when compared with current biofuels. BIO

Ohio utility plans biomass conversionFirstEnergy has announced plans to repower units 4 and

5 at its RE Burger Plant in Shadyside, Ohio, to generate power using mostly biomass. According to the company, the capital cost for retrofi tting the Burger Plant to burn biomass is approxi-mately $200 million. Once the project is completed, units 4 and 5 of the Burger Plant would be capable of producing up to 312 megawatts (MWs) of electricity—its current capacity—which is enough to power approximately 190,000 homes. With the com-pletion of this project, FirstEnergy’s portfolio of renewable en-ergy could reach more than 1,100 MWs, including 451 MWs of pumped-storage hydro and 376 MWs of wind power. BIO

KL Energy starts out strong in 2009Cellulosic ethanol developer KL En-

ergy Corp. has named a new chief executive offi cer, received an investment of $4 million and partnered with a Canadian company to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in the fi rst few months of 2009. Steve Corcoran, pre-viously KL Energy vice president of op-erations, is now chief executive offi cer. He said the new funds will allow KL Energy to complete the fi nal steps in the implemen-tation of its technology, and inspires new

confi dence in the company. KL Energy will provide its technol-ogy to Prairie Green Renewable Energy Inc., which is building a 5 MMgy to 10 MMgy cellulosic ethanol plant near Hudson Bay in Northeastern Saskatchewan. BIO

Steve Corcoran,chief executive offi cer, KL Energy

George Voinovich,U.S. Senator, R-Ohio

Byron Dorgan,U.S. Senator, D-N.D.

Lignol awarded $3.4 million to produce cellulosic ethanol

British Columbia-based Lignol Energy Corp., a technol-ogy company in the cellulosic ethanol and biorefi ning sector, recently announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Lignol In-novations Ltd., was awarded $3.4 million to produce cellulosic ethanol and other biochemical products from under-utilized forest resources, including lodgepole pine killed by mountain pine beetle. Premier Gordon Campbell announced the award from the Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Eco-nomic Development at Lignol’s facilities in Burnaby, British Columbia, in April. Lignol will use the funding to support production runs at its industrial-scale biorefi nery pilot plant utilizing forestry residues indigenous to British Columbia. This will lead to the creation of an engineering design package for a commercial biorefi nery within the province. BIO

Page 15: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 15

business BRIEFS

Landfi ll gas powers Poet plant Poet Biorefi ning-Chancellor, S.D., and Sioux Falls, S.D.,

have completed a landfi ll gas pipeline that is now providing methane gas to help power daily operations of the 105 MMgy Poet LLC ethanol plant. The 10-mile, low-pressure pipeline from the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfi ll began supply-ing methane to the plant at the end of February. The plant will utilize the landfi ll gas in a wood waste-fuel boiler to generate process steam. Combined, the two alternative energy sources will initially offset up to 90 percent of the plant’s process steam needs, currently met using natural gas, and has the potential to replace 90 percent of the plant’s total energy needs (combined with waste wood) over time. BIO

AE Biofuels and Merrick & Co. sign strategic agreement

AE Biofuels Inc., a vertically integrated biofuels company, signed a strategic agreement with Merrick & Co. to commer-cially implement AE Biofuels’ patent-pending enzyme-based technology to convert nonfood biomass into ethanol and other materials through the design of new or the conversion of exist-ing biofuels facilities. Merrick is a provider of engineering and architectural design-build, procurement, construction manage-ment and geospatial services. Under the agreement, the compa-nies will work to deploy AE Biofuels’ next-generation biofuels technology to address the demand for cellulosic ethanol created by the revised renewable fuels standard (RFS). The Energy In-dependence & Security Act of 2007 increased the RFS to 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels, the majority of which must be advanced biofuels. BIO

Florida Syngas revamps Web site Florida Syngas recently announced that it has completed a

signifi cant overhaul of its Web site at www.FloridaSyngas.com. The site details the chronology of the organization and the tech-nology development. The founders and the management team have bios on the site describing their skill sets. Featured are lay-men’s descriptions of the technical jargon that is germane to the fi eld of plasma physics as well as an animated photograph of an actual toroidal plasma arc. A glossary is provided and the Web site creator hopes to use public inquiries for alternative energy defi nitions to add to the breadth of the page. BIO

New England Wood Pellet forms subsidiaryto market biomass heating systems

New England Wood Pellet LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of wood pellets in the Northeastern U.S., has an-nounced the formation of Propell Energy. This wholly owned subsidiary imports, sells and services state-of-the-art European pellet boiler systems for municipal and commercial applications. Not only are these heating systems environmentally friendly, but their lower operating costs can also yield a signifi cant return on investment. Considered carbon-neutral by the U.S. DOE and the U.S. EPA, the use of pellet fuel from sustainably har-vested wood releases only slightly more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the natural decay of the forest. Propell Energy heating systems can be used in municipal, county and state government buildings; schools; hotels; offi ce complexes; and health care and manufacturing facilities. BIO

Enerkem receives GoingGreen awardEnerkem Inc., an advanced biofuel technology and project

developer, received the GoingGreen East Top 50 Private Com-pany 2009 Award given by the AlwaysOn editorial team to 50 of the top private companies emerging in green technology. Winners were recognized at the GoingGreen East Conference in March in Boston. “The GoingGreen East 50 companies have demonstrated their tenacity even in the toughest econom-ic conditions the technology world has ever encountered,” said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. “We applaud their success in pushing the boundaries of innovation, creating market opportunities and transforming the industry even in the earlier stages of their businesses.” BIO

Recchia joins BTEC board of directorsThe Biomass Thermal Energy Coun-

cil recently announced that Christopher Recchia, executive director of the Biomass Energy Resource Center, has been elected to the board of directors. Recchia brings to the board deep experience in environmen-tal conservation and a broad understand-ing of the impact that biomass thermal energy can have on reducing carbon emis-sions and increasing energy security. He was named executive director of BERC in May 2007. He has more than 22 years of experience as an environmental leader,

developer of state and federal environmental policy, and imple-menter of programs that manage air, land and water resources. BIO

Christopher Recchia,executive director, Biomass Energy Resource Center

Page 16: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

16 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

industry NEWS100 percent biomass or bust gains ground

Power providers have taken a keen interest in biomass due to its current cost competitiveness with coal and its clean-burning properties. Despite the new-found popularity, not every biomass power project gets the green light. The determining factor for whether a project moves forward or falls between the cracks is the amount of biomass being used—100 percent versus cofi red. Lately, the sentiment seems to be all or nothing.

In mid-March, the Georgia Public Service Commission ap-proved Southern Co.’s largest utilities provider Georgia Power’s plan to convert its 164-megawatt coal-fi red power Plant Mitchell Unit 3, located near Albany, Ga., to a 96-megawatt, 100-percent wood-fi red biomass plant. Once completed, it will be the largest operating woody biomass-fi red power plant in the U.S.

“Georgia Power has indicated in its fi ling that conversion of the Plant Mitchell Unit 3 is consistent with the company’s renew-able expansion plans, adds to fuel diversity and maximizes the life and value of the unit,” the GPSC said in a statement. “As part of the 2007 Integrated Resources Plan, the commission found Geor-gia Power’s plan to develop cost-effective renewable resources to be effective.”

Under the Integrated Resource Plan statute, new power gen-eration cannot be added to the system nor can signifi cant changes be made to the capacity of an existing facility without a Certifi cate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the GPSC.

The next step in the conversion process is for Georgia Power to obtain an air permit from the state Environmental Protection Division, which could take 15 to 18 months. The company plans to begin the transition in 2011 and bring the plant on line prior to the summer of 2012.

Upon project completion, Georgia Power expects to create 50 to 75 new jobs related to waste wood recovery.

The approval of Plant Mitchell’s conversion comes on the heels of the cancellation of Alliant Energy Corp. subsidiary In-terstate Power and Light Co.’s proposed 649-megawatt Sutherland Generating Station Unit 4 in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Alliant Energy said it intended to cofi re the plant with bio-mass, such as switchgrass or corn stover. The company estimated it would burn 110,000 tons of biomass annually at the generating station.

A combination of factors led to the cancellation of Alliant Energy’s proposal, including the current economic and fi nancial climate, increasing environmental, legislative and regulatory uncer-tainty regarding regulation of future greenhouse gas emissions, and the terms placed on the proposed power plant by regulators, ac-cording to Alliant Energy.

In November, the company’s proposal for a similar cofi red plant in Cassville, Wis., was shot down by the Public Service Com-mission of Wisconsin, marking the fi rst time in state history that a coal plant proposal was rejected by state regulators.

Commenting on the cancellation of both Alliant Energy proj-ects, Peter Taglia, staff scientist at Clean Energy Wisconsin, said he thinks it is a great thing to move away from coal and biomass proposals that are not focused on biomass. “In the aftermath of Wisconsin’s rejection of the coal plant proposed in Cassville, Xcel Energy has brought forward an application to convert a coal plant in Ashland, Wis., to 100 percent biomass via gasifi cation,” he said.

The Bay Front Power Plant project, estimated at $58 million, will require additional biomass receiving and handling facilities at the plant, an external gasifi er, minor modifi cations to the plant’s remaining coal-fi red boiler and an enhanced air quality control sys-tem.

Xcel submitted its application to the PSCW at the end of February. Following all state regulatory approvals, engineering and design work is expected to begin in 2010, and the unit could be operational by late 2012.

—Anna AustinBiomass power conversions are becoming increasingly popular among power providers.

Page 17: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

industry NEWS

Covanta to build waste-to-energy plant in EnglandNew Jersey-based Covanta Energy Corp.

has purchased land in Northwest England and submitted an application for planning ap-proval to build a new waste-to-energy plant in Cheshire County, according to the North of England Inward Investment Agency.

The North of England Inward Invest-ment Agency is a British government-funded consultancy and UK-based inward investment agency, which advises and assists North American companies considering U.K./European expansion.

Covanta’s new facility will convert Cheshire County’s residential waste into enough electricity to power up to 50,000 local homes. The company plans to utilize a mix of commercial and industrial wastes from shops, offi ces and other businesses in the region.

In addition to employing about 300 workers during its construc-tion, the facility will create 50 permanent jobs upon completion.

Beyond providing residential electricity, Covanta will provide combined heat and power to British Salt, a major local employer.

The company said it is also participating in ongoing discussions with other local busi-nesses about using combined heat and power to see how they might benefi t from the new facility.

The Cheshire County project is the sec-ond U.K.-based plant Covanta has announced

in recent months. In February, the company unveiled plans to build a 70-megawatt waste-to-energy plant in Merthyr, Wales, that will produce enough electricity to power up to 180,000 homes.

The $575 million plant will be linked to rail-operated waste transfer stations across Wales, including municipal, commercial and industrial landfi ll sites. The facility is expected to process 875,000 tons of waste annually.

Covanta Energy currently operates 38 waste-to-energy facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.

—Anna Austin

Page 18: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

18 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

industry NEWS

A university and a plastic recycling company are taking the lead in developing novel, cost-effective methods to produce saleable biobased products.

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a synthetic wood substitute made from hemp fi bers fused with a biodegrad-able plastic resin called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which can be recycled to produce more of the same. PHB can also be used to replace the petrochemical plastics used to manufacture disposable water bottles, according to Sarah Billington, an associate professor of civil and environmental engi-neering at the university.

Last year, the California Environmen-tal Protection Agency awarded Billington and her colleagues a three-year $1.5 million grant to help the researchers develop bio-degradable plastic beverage bottles. In 2004, the group received a two-year Environmen-tal Venture Projects grant from Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Envi-ronment to develop durable and recyclable faux wood.

The hemp-PHB biocomposite material has several characteristics similar to wood from trees, according to Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental en-gineering, who collaborated on the proj-ect. “It’s quite attractive looking and very strong,” he said. “You can mold it, nail it, hammer it and drill it a lot like wood. But, bioplastic PHB can be produced faster than wood, and hemp can be grown faster than trees.”

The biocomposite material is also sta-ble enough to be used for furniture, fl oors and a variety of other products, Criddle added. The material is also degradable in anaerobic environments such as a landfi ll, where methane emissions can be captured and burned for energy recovery or reused to make more biocomposites.

The research has attracted the attention of private investors and, at press time, the group said it intends to form a new com-pany within a few months.

While Stanford researchers concentrate on biocomposites, Agri-Plas Inc. is focusing its efforts on producing synthetic oil.

Agri-Plas uses a patent-pending “ther-mal reclamation” technology developed by Longview, Wash.-based Plas2Fuel Corp. that converts unwanted and unrecyclable agri-cultural plastics into a high-quality synthetic crude oil at its recycling facility in Brooks, Ore. The company is selling this reclaimed crude oil product to U.S. Oil & Refi ning in Tacoma, Wash. In December 2008, Agri-Plas delivered its fi rst full shipment of 8,200 gallons of oil.

According to Mary Sue Gilliland, vice president of operations and business devel-opment for Agri-Plas, the company current-ly recovers approximately 750 pounds of oil, 90 pounds of char and 160 pounds of nondestructible gases. The gases are burned and the heat from the process is recycled.

Gilliland said the company is adding a four-vessel unit at its recycling center to increase throughput capacity. The com-pany aims to have 20 plastic-to-oil vessels installed, which will have the capability to process approximately 30 million pounds of waste plastic per month.

Agri-Plas will operate its oil recla-mation expansion under the name Agri-Plas2Crude.

—Bryan Sims

Novel processes developed to make faux wood, synthetic fuel

The biocomposite building materials shown in the foreground are made of thin fi lms of PHB and commercially made hemp fabric which, when layered and formed with heat and pressure, create a biodegradeable substitute for wood.

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Page 19: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 19

Two enzyme research efforts are get-ting closer to their goals of perfecting en-zymes for cellulosic ethanol production.

In March, Royal Dutch Shell PLC ex-panded its collaborative partnership with Redwood City, Calif.-based biocatalyst de-veloper Codexis Inc. to enhance the per-formance of enzymes and microbes used in cellulosic ethanol production.

Under the agreement, Codexis will work with Canadian cellulosic ethanol producer Iogen Corp. to improve the ef-fi ciency of biocatalysts used in Iogen’s ethanol production process at its demon-stration facility in Ottawa. Iogen’s plant, which opened in 2004, uses an enzymatic hydrolysis pathway to produce ethanol from wheat straw.

According to Codexis, the company uses DNA shuffl ing, a research technique that manipulates the DNA blueprint of an enzyme and recombines the DNA, to cre-ate new hybrid genes. The resulting gene li-brary is screened to fi nd enzymes that meet or exceed desired targeted performance characteristics. Codexis has been working with Shell since November 2006 to tailor its technology to the biofuels industry.

Iogen and Shell fi rst formed their partnership in 2002, when Shell acquired an equity stake in Iogen. As part of their collaborative agreement, Shell made a sig-nifi cant investment in Iogen by increasing its shares in Iogen Energy Corp., a subsid-iary that is focused on technology develop-ment, from 26.3 percent to 50 percent.

Meanwhile, researchers at the Califor-nia Institute of Technology (Caltech), and DNA2.0 Inc. are seeing the fruits of their labor as they develop a cost-effi cient pro-cess to extract sugars from cellulose.

Frances Arnold, the Dick and Barbara Dickinson professor of chemical engi-neering and biochemistry at Caltech, and researchers from gene-synthesis company DNA2.0 Inc. created 15 highly stable fun-gal enzyme catalysts that effi ciently break down cellulose into sugars at high tem-peratures using a method called structure-guided recombination. Prior to this fi nding,

fewer than 10 such fungal cellobiohydro-lase II enzymes were known to exist.

Arnold, along with Caltech postdoc-toral scholar Pete Heinzelman, used a com-puter program to design where specifi c genes recombine by mating the sequences of three known fungal cellulases that make more than 6,000 progeny sequences differ-ent from any of the parents while encod-ing proteins with the same structure and cellulose-degradation characteristics.

By analyzing the enzymes encoded by a small subset of the sequences, research-ers at Caltech and DNA2.0 were able to predict which of the 6,000 possible new enzymes would be the most stable, partic-ularly under high temperatures—a charac-teristic called thermostability.

According to Arnold, the next stage entails using the structure-guided recom-bination process to perfect each of the six cellulases that make up the mixture of en-zymes required for the industrial degrada-tion of cellulose.

“We’ve demonstrated the process on one of the components,” Arnold said. “Now, we have to create families of all of the other components, and then look for the ideal mixtures for each individual ap-plication.”

—Bryan Sims

Enzyme research speeds cellulosic ethanol development

industry NEWS

Pictured are portions of three natural fungal cellulase enzymes that have been recombined to create a synthetic, thermostable cellulase. The recombined cellulase enzyme modeled here function at higher temperatures than any of their three parents.

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Page 20: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

20 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

industry NEWS

Large emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) will have to fi le their fi rst annual GHG emissions reports with the U.S. EPA in 2011, if a new rule is adopted as pro-posed. EPA held about 100 meetings with more than 250 stakeholders, including trade associations, industries, environmen-tal groups, and state and regional govern-ments, during the development of the rule. Hearings were scheduled for April 6 and 7 in Washington, D.C., and April 16 in Sac-ramento, Calif. Written comments will be accepted for 60 days after the offi cial pub-lication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register. To read the text of the proposal and supporting information visit the Web site at www.epa.gov/climatechange/emis-sions/ghgrulemaking.

In general, the EPA proposed the new rule for suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial GHGs, manufacturers of vehicles and en-gines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. The GHGs covered by the pro-posed rule are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofl uorocarbons, perfl uo-rocarbons, sulfur hexafl uoride, and other fl uorinated gases including nitrogen trifl uo-ride and hydrofl uorinated ethers.

The EPA estimated approximately 13,000 facilities will be covered under the rule, accounting for 85 percent to 90 percent of U.S. GHG emissions. The threshold is roughly equivalent to the annual GHG emis-sions from 4,500 passenger vehicles, 58,000 barrels of oil consumed or 131 railcars fi lled with coal. The vast majority of small busi-nesses will fall well below the threshold and thus not be required to report. The EPA estimated that it will cost the private sector $160 million for the fi rst year and $127 mil-lion in each subsequent year to comply with the new reporting requirement.

In most cases, the required data will come from the facility level, with a few excep-tions where the reporting will be done at the corporate level. Among the exceptions are

vehicle and engine manufacturers, fossil fuel importers and exporters, and local gas distri-bution companies. Under the EPA proposal, the fi rst emissions report would be due on March 31, 2011, for emissions that occured during calendar year 2010. At that time, re-porters would need to present total annual GHG emissions as an aggregate as well as separate emissions data for each source and supply category identifi ed by the EPA. Fuel use and feedstock inputs used to generate emissions are to be reported, but not emissions from land-use changes or carbon storage.

EPA has published information sheets for each of the source categories covered in the proposed rule on its Web site under the resources link. In addition to manufac-turers of chemicals and gases, the source categories include energy-intensive indus-tries such as refi neries, coal mines, electrical generation, cement production, electronics manufacturing, food processing and more. Emissions sources associated with agricul-ture, other than from certain very large ma-nure management systems, are not covered by the rule.

The GHG reporting rule focuses on bottom-up data and individual GHG sources which will be used to inform deci-sion makers as new policies are developed for GHG reductions. While the rule pro-vides detailed data and will allow geographic analysis and industry analysis, it does not provide full coverage of total annual U.S. GHG emissions. The EPA will continue the annual Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, which uses national energy data and other national statistics, to provide a comprehensive top-down na-tional assessment of GHG emissions. The EPA has been tracking the national trend in emissions and sinks since 1990, submitting the report to the United Nations in accor-dance with the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

—Susanne Retka Schill

EPA proposes GHG reporting programBulk Materials

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Page 21: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 21

SynGest Inc. has secured a site in Menlo, Iowa, to build what it says is the world’s fi rst biomass-to-ammonia plant, to help supply the U.S.’s 18 million ton per year ammonia market. The San Francisco-based company has developed gasifi cation and syngas tech-nology to deploy in its fi rst plant. The tech-nology will be used to annually turn 150,000 tons of corncobs into 50,000 tons of anhy-drous ammonia, which is enough to fertilize 500,000 acres of land.

The process involves a pressurized oxygen-blown biomass gasifi er operating in an expanding bed fl uidized mode. The com-pany’s patent-pending HarvestGas system gasifi es biomass into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and is optimized to minimize the formation of methane. After the gas stream is cleaned, the carbon monox-ide portion is shifted to maximize hydrogen. The hydrogen is purifi ed and catalytically reacted with nitrogen to make ammonia. The plant includes an air separation system to provide oxygen for the gasifi er and pure nitrogen for ammonia synthesis.

The gasifi er is a variant of existing de-signs used for coal gasifi cation, explained Jack Oswald, SynGest chief executive of-fi cer. “We run at lower temperatures and pressures than comparable gasifi cation units, thus we have our own design that is cheaper to build,” he said. “Everything else is off-the-shelf technology to minimize technology risk.”

The plant will fi t on fi ve acres of the 75-acre site at Menlo, with the remainder available for biomass storage. “The size of the facility is driven by the logistics of biomass collection,” he said. The plant will require 10 percent of the available corncobs from a 30- to 40-mile radius.

Because 90 percent of the cost of an-hydrous ammonia is determined by the cost of natural gas, the company’s product may be more costly than conventional anhydrous ammonia when the price of natural gas is low, Oswald said. The higher cost will be offset, however, by the lower cost of trans-porting the product, which is predominantly produced in the Gulf, to the Corn Belt.

Financing for the $80 million facility is close to being fi nalized, according to Os-wald, and negotiations are underway with a large agribusiness fi rm to handle both feed-stock procurement and ammonia off-take. Depending on how the permitting process proceeds, groundbreaking will happen this fall or next spring. Construction is expected to take 18 months.

As project development proceeds, Syn-Gest is examining the provisions in USDA’s new Biomass Crop Assistance Program. BCAP pays farmers 75 percent of the cost to establish bioenergy crops and helps with collection, harvest, storage and transporta-tion of biomass to a production facility. Os-wald said the initial discussions they’ve had with USDA were well received.

—Susanne Retka Schill

Iowa to get fi rst biomass-to-ammonia plant

industry NEWS

SynGest uses a gasifi cation system to turn corncobs into anhydrous ammonia that farmers can use to produce more corncobs.SOURCE: SYNGEST

Biomass to Ammonia

BIOMASSFeeder

AIR SeparationPlant

HARVESTGASTM

Fluidized BedGasifier

SYNGAS Clean-up& Heat Recovery

Water Gas Shift& Pressure Swing

Adsorption

AmmoniaSynthesis

AmmoniaStorage

Oxygen

Nitrogen

Hydrogen

Page 22: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

Canadian cellulosic ethanol projects progressingIn March, Montreal, Quebec-based Enerkem Inc. announced

that it will enter the U.S. ethanol market when it chose Pontotoc, Miss., as the site for its proposed 75.7 MMly (20 MMgy) cellulosic ethanol plant.

The $250 million project will be co-located at the Three Rivers Landfi ll and will recycle and convert approximately 60 percent, or 189,000 tons, of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year into fuel-grade ethanol. Enerkem has secured a feedstock supply agreement with the Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority of Mis-sissippi to supply its MSW. In addition to MSW, the plant will use wood residue from regional forest and agricultural operations. The company uses a thermochemical gasifi cation and catalytic synthesis technology pathway, which has been refi ned and tested at the com-pany’s pilot-scale facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec, since 2003.

A groundbreaking date for the project hasn’t been determined, however, it’s likely to happen sometime in 2010, according to Marie-Hélène Labrie, vice president of government affairs and communi-cations for Enerkem. “We are still developing the project, and are negotiating the fi nal binding agreements with the Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority for the MSW feedstock,” she said.

Meanwhile, British Columbia-based Lignol Energy Corp. re-ceived a $1.82 million grant in March from Sustainable Develop-

ment Technology Canada (SDTC), a nonprofi t foundation estab-lished by the Canadian government in 2001, focused on fi nancing the development of renewable technologies. In addition to this funding, SDTC previously contributed $4.42 million to Lignol for a total of $6.24 million.

According to Ross MacLachlan, Lignol president and chief ex-ecutive offi cer, the additional funding from SDTC will allow the company to enhance the functionality of its industrial pilot plant in Burnaby, British Columbia, in addition to covering short-term operational costs this year.

“This funding has enabled us to extend this phase of opera-tions well into the fi rst half of 2009 with an expanded scope of our project, together with enhancements for enzyme utilization and process improvements,” he said.

Enerkem’s gasifi cation, sequential gas conditioning and catalysis technology converts sorted municipal solid waste and forest and ag-ricultural residues into second-generation fuels and green chemicals. The company’s pilot plant in Sherbrooke, Quebec, has been operat-ing since 2003. Its fi rst commercial-scale ethanol plant in Westbury, Quebec, is “entering start-up phase,” Enerkem said. Construction of a third plant in Edmonton, Alberta, has also been scheduled.

—Bryan Sims

industry NEWS

Page 23: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

industry NEWS

BIO urges Congress to invest in advanced biofuels It’s unlikely the infant cellulosic ethanol industry will meet the

100 million gallon renewable fuels standard in 2010, said Brent Er-ickson, executive vice president of Biotechnology Industry Orga-nization’s industrial and environmental section. “Given the current economic turndown, the progress for commercialization has slowed down,” he told a group of reporters in an early April press briefi ng. “A major federal investment in the entire value chain of advanced biofuels and biobased products commercialization is needed.”

Erickson and 10 BIO members representing second-generation technology development fi rms held the press briefi ng as the group prepared to visit Capitol Hill to present the following set of six pol-icy recommendations:

Implement a comprehensive systems approach to ad-vanced biofuels and biobased products deployment that recognizes the need for coordinated end-to-end infrastructure development.

Inject immediate capital into biorefi nery construction, feedstock development and fuel delivery infrastructure through the DOE Biorefi nery Loan Guarantee program, the USDA Biorefi nery Assistance Program and the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Pro-gram, and expand biofuel blending facilities, E85 pumps, rail capac-ity and fl exible-fuel vehicles.

Ensure a strong market for advanced biofuels by maintain-

ing the RFS, addressing the blend wall issue, extending the cellulosic producer tax credit beyond 2011 and funding the U.S. DOE Reverse Auction program.

Incentivize the full range of biobased products produced by biorefi neries by extending programs beyond support for liquid fuels.

Aggressively fund ongoing research and development to maximize economic competitiveness, sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) benefi ts of advanced biofuels and biobased products.

Explicitly incentivize GHG-reducing biotechnologies in climate change legislation such as energy saving biotechnologies, sequestration technologies and yield-enhancing biotech crops. Use allowances or revenues from auctions to aggressively fund existing DOE and USDA programs for advanced biofuels and biobased products.

The group also recommended any evaluation of emissions as-sociated with land-use change uniformly apply rigorously developed and consistent scientifi c methodology.

Despite the slowdown in commercialization efforts, Erickson was optimistic about the future of the biomass industry. “We’re still very bullish about our future,” he said.

—Susanne Retka Schill

Page 24: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

NREL: Use public lands to produce energyThe potential for renewable energy pro-

duction from public lands is signifi cant and should be developed, Dan Arvizu, director of the U.S. DOE National Renewable En-ergy Laboratory, told the U.S. Senate Energy Committee in a March hearing. According to Arvizu, if 10 percent of the wind, solar and biomass potential on public lands were developed along with 100 percent of the known geothermal potential, the total en-ergy contribution would be 640 gigawatts. “Given that total U.S. electrical generation capacity is 1,088 gigawatts, you can begin to see the signifi cance of renewable resources on public lands,” he said.

Arvizu also told Senate committee members that NREL has determined that enough cellulosic ethanol could be pro-duced to displace 8 percent of U.S. gasoline consumption by using leftover residue ma-terials from logging and milling operations as feedstock. He noted that the percentage doesn’t include the harvesting of trees for

energy. With the forest destruction caused by pine beetles, there is extensive additional feedstock in the Western U.S., he said.

The director also posed several potential barriers to the development of public lands for renewable energy use. “Unduly burden-some fees and regulations in a leasing pro-gram could stifl e development of the very clean energy resources that we as a nation are striving to encourage,” he said, adding

that the unique economics of these types of projects must be understood and refl ected in future leases. Arvizu also recommended government agencies work together to en-sure federal leases for renewable energy de-velopment are awarded to renewable energy developers, and to protect against those who would obtain leases only to drive up the cost or block development.

—Susanne Retka Schill

Tapping into renewable energy resources on public lands, including pine beetle-infested forests such as this one, could provide a signifi cant contribution to the nation’s energy needs.

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Page 25: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

industry NEWS

Paper industry seeks equality in pending RES billsThe American Forest & Paper Associa-

tion has recently voiced concerns to Con-gress that it is not eligible to receive the same credits that utility companies will un-der several pending bills to develop a federal renewable electricity standard (RES).

A federal RES would require all in-vestor-owned utilities to buy an increasing portion of their electricity from renewable resources such as biomass. Utilities that are unable to meet the new federal requirements can purchase credits from other entities who have obtained credits. Utilities can also bank credits for four years and borrow credits from up to three years in the future.

Several bills calling for an RES are pending, including one introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would create a 20 percent renewable energy minimum by 2021, and another introduced by Sens. Tom Udall, D-NM, and Mark Udall, D-Colo., re-quiring a 25 percent renewable energy mini-mum by 2025.

If either proposal is passed, the de-mand for biomass is expected to increase, which could cause prices to rise. Because

the paper industry uses biomass to make its products and generate electricity, it is likely to be negatively impacted by an RES under the proposed legislation, unless it is granted a renewable energy credit. The AF&PA said the proposal creates “winners and losers be-tween existing renewable energy industries, such as the forest products industry, and new power generators.”

Like other businesses, the forest in-dustry has been negatively affected by the economic downturn, losing 190,000 jobs, a 15 percent reduction in its workforce, since 2006. The AF&PA is asking the public to voice their concerns to key senators about the current RES proposals and the pro-posed modifi cations to improve it. The Sen-ate is likely to consider RES legislation this spring.

—Anna Austin

1.800.615.9296

Allow our 30 plus years experience in the Pulp and Paper Industry work for you.

Because the paper industry uses biomass to make its products and generate electricity, it is likely to be negatively impacted by an RES under the proposed legislation, unless it is granted a renewable energy credit.

Page 26: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

SDTC, North Carolina fund biomass projectsSeveral biomass projects in the U.S. and

Canada have received grants to help acceler-ate their biomass projects.

In the U.S., the Biofuels Center of North Carolina awarded $584,000 to three biomass-to-liquid fuel-related projects with-in the state. The impetus behind the fund-ing is help trigger the state’s renewable fu-els standard, which mandates that, by 2017, all liquid fuels sold in North Carolina must come from locally grown and produced biofuels. The Biofuels Center is tasked to implement this initiative.

Notable recipients of this funding in-clude:

Research Triangle Institute in Re-search Triangle Park, N.C., which is devel-oping technologies to remove tars and other impurities from biomass-derived synthesis gas.

Abell Foundation, which is work-ing collaboratively with energy crop research

and development company Ceres Inc. and gasifi cation technology company Ther-moChem Recovery International Inc. to identify which energy crops could be grown in the state for thermochemical conver-sion to gases and liquids. The crops will be tested for their conversion potential at Ther-moChem’s gasifi cation plant in Durham, N.C.

North Carolina State University in Raleigh plans to demonstrate the use of a viable torrefaction pretreatment process in conjunction with a gasifi cation process to produce liquid transportation fuels from woody biomass.

In Canada, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a nonprofi t that fi nances emerging clean technologies, awarded $53 million to 16 new clean energy projects, three of which involve biomass technologies.

Recipients of this funding include: Alterna Energy Inc., which aims to

develop a multimodule biocarbon produc-tion facility that will convert 121,000 tons of woody biomass into 27,500 tons of bio-carbon.

Performance Plants Inc. plans to demonstrate improved cellulosic ethanol conversion processes by advancing trait de-velopment technologies that break down cellulose effi ciently into biofuels and bio-chemicals.

Greenfi eld Ethanol Inc. intends to develop a biochemical technology process for lignocellulosic ethanol production using corncobs as feedstock. If successful, Green-fi eld Ethanol says it could produce approxi-mately 70 MMly (18 MMgy) of cellulosic ethanol from corncobs by 2015.

—Bryan Sims

industry NEWS

Page 27: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

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For more information about the2009 Atlantic Bioenergy Conference visit:www.atlanticbioenergy.caor call 1-888-501-0224(519) 576-4500

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Page 28: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

28 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

UNITED KINGDOM

HerMajesty’sBiogas

With natural gas production and landfi ll capacity declining, the U.K. is looking at converting waste to biogas and synthesis gas for heat, power, and fuels on a large scale

By Ryan C. Christiansen

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he natural gas fi elds in the North Sea, the body of water between the English Channel and the Norwegian Sea, are an important fossil fuel resource for the U.K. However, natural gas production there peaked in 2000 and has been

declining sharply since 2003, according to the U.K.’s Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform in an October 2007 report titled “U.K. Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Production and Reserves.”

Meanwhile, landfi ll capacity has also been declining. A com-mon sight in London is a Thames River barge laden with rubbish-fi lled containers destined for landfi lls elsewhere. Alongside minerals, waste is among the two major types of freight cargos delivered to the wharves in greater London, according to an April 2007 report by Ad-ams Hendry Consulting Ltd. titled “Assessment of Boatyard Facili-ties on the River Thames.” The report says one major waste disposal company employs 200 people and operates a fl eet of six purpose-built tugs and 47 container barges to transport more than 600,000 metric tons of waste by river each year. This is despite the fact that the Waste Strategy employed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has managed to decrease the total waste de-livered to landfi lls by one-fi fth from 80 million tons to 65 million tons between 2000 and 2006, according to DEFRA’s waste strategy progress report for 2007-’08. Londoners now recycle 20 percent of their waste and send the rest to landfi lls or incinerators at rates of 57 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

DEFRA’s efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle are in support of the U.K.’s Climate Change Act, which became law Nov. 26, 2008, and which sets targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.K. by 80 percent of the 1990 level by 2050 and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 26 percent by 2020. DEFRA’s efforts also support actions at the European Union level, including the EU Landfi ll Directive, which aims to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfi lls by 35 percent of the 1995 level by 2020.

“Local authorities in the U.K. all collect green waste for compost, but they have an obligation to divert as much biodegradable waste as possible from the landfi ll and so food waste is the next key element that needs to be captured and treated,” says Jeremy Jacobs, managing director of the Association for Organics Recycling, a trade organiza-tion for the biological waste management industry in the U.K. “Some will capture that with the green waste, but most of the work that is being done shows that collecting food waste separately gives you better capture rates and better participation by householders. [Also], you’ve got back-of-the-store wastes from the major supermarkets and you’ve got processors who are dealing with food waste all of the time who have the opportunity to provide signifi cant volumes of this material consistently.”

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DEFRA’s efforts also support the EU’s goal of sourcing 20 per-cent of its total energy from renewable sources by 2020. For the EU’s goal, the U.K. will need to increase its share of renewable energy from 1.5 percent in 2006 to 15 percent by 2020. The U.K. is expected to publish its renewable energy strategy this year.

Energy From WasteTo help the U.K. lessen its dependence on natural gas and to

reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfi lls, National Grid, an international utility that delivers gas and electricity to households in the territory of Great Britain and the northeastern U.S., commis-sioned Ernst & Young to look at the potential for using anaerobic digestion and gasifi cation in the U.K. to produce biogas and synthe-sis gas. The report found that up to half of the country’s domestic gas heating could be generated from manure, sewage, food waste and wood waste. The January 2009 report, titled “The Potential for Renewable Gas in the U.K,” has been delivered to the U.K.’s Depart-ment of Energy & Climate Change.

“After we published the report, the phones were red-hot with waste companies and local waste management authorities contacting us,” says Isobel Rowley, press offi cer for National Grid. “It certainly rang a bell.”

According to the report, a small quantity of biogas, approxi-mately 1.4 billion cubic meters, is currently being produced in the U.K. from landfi lls and sewage plants. For the most part, the biogas is being used to generate electricity at a 30 percent effi ciency rate.

Jacobs says since BERR announced in June 2008 the depart-ment’s intentions to change how many Renewables Obligation Cer-tifi cates it will award to renewable electricity producers based on the technologies they use, more companies are looking at using anaero-bic digestion or gasifi cation to earn double ROCs beginning in April 2009. “The appetite is greater now than it has been in the past be-cause of the fi nancial incentives,” Jacobs says, “and also because the

price of energy has been extremely volatile. [In the current fi nancial climate], proving the bankability of these projects is absolutely im-perative; I think that the double ROCs will provide that. People who have been skeptical in the past now say that this is something which makes sense and payback is fairly quick.”

However, instead of using these technologies to generate elec-tricity, National Grid says it would be more effi cient—as much as 90 percent effi cient—to scrub biogas and syngas to pipeline specifi ca-tions and to inject the gas into the gas network, a practice already being deployed in Germany, France and Austria, and also by National Grid in Staten Island, N.Y.

“Because we are basically running out of landfi ll, a lot of local authorities are looking at tying up long-term contracts for their waste disposal. Our concern is that it doesn’t all just go for incineration or for electricity generation, but that a good portion of it actually goes for biomethane, which we feel is a more effi cient use of it,” says Da-vid Pickering, development manager in National Grid’s Sustainable Gas Group.

The company says as much as 50 percent of the U.K.’s residential gas demand could be met with renewable energy if every person and business in the U.K. sorted and directed their waste to anaerobic di-gestion and gasifi cation plants throughout the country.

In London, a city that will host the Olympics in 2012, Dow Jones Architects LLP and the professional services fi rm Arup Group prepared a report for the Greater London Authority titled “Rubbish In—Resources Out: Design Ideas for Waste Facilities in London” that includes conceptual designs for anaerobic digestion and gasifi ca-tion facilities within the city. The report supports London’s municipal waste management strategy, fi rst published in 2003, that envisions that by 2020, 85 percent of the city’s waste will be managed within the city, up from 60 percent currently. The architects estimate that 328 hect-ares (811 acres) of land within the city will need to be utilized for 297 facilities, including 25 anaerobic digestion units and 11 gasifi cation

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plants and supporting infrastructure. The ar-chitects suggest the facilities should be “bold and visible,” like little Wren churches built for practicing the renewable energy religion.

Nationally, the cost to build the infra-structure to support using anaerobic digest-ers and gasifi cation plants to produce enough biogas and syngas to satisfy 50 percent of the demand in the U.K. is £10 billion ($14 billion), National Grid says, or about £100 ($140) per megawatt-hour, which the com-pany says is similar to the cost of generating electricity using off-shore wind towers.

Policies NeededThe key to building a biogas and syngas

industry in the U.K. is government policy and regulation, National Grid says. Produc-ers must be given a commercial incentive to inject gas into the grid rather than use it to generate electricity. National Grid proposes a “biomethane injection incentive” which would provide enhanced returns to produc-ers when biogas or syngas is injected into the grid rather than used to produce electricity.

“We’re working closely with DECC, which published a consultation paper back in February called the ‘Heat and Energy Saving Strategy’ for the U.K., which is about provid-ing the right incentives for a whole raft of energy conservation measures, in particular, heat. [The consultation] specifi cally men-tions biomethane as a contributor to the re-newable energy mix. We’ll be responding to that consultation positively,” Pickering says.

“Presently, the playing fi eld is somewhat tilted against renewable heat technologies and toward renewable electricity technologies,” Pickering continues. “One of the things that we’ve argued for is this thing called the renewable heat incentive, [which will be de-termined] by April 2011 at the latest. We’re hoping to get some kind of reasonably fi rm indication from the government on the lev-el of the incentive well before then so that projects can take it into account.”

The “Heat and Energy Saving Strategy,” published jointly by DECC and the Depart-ment for Communities and Local Govern-ment, lays out the U.K. government’s vision for actions that should be taken through 2020 for “de-carbonizing” the way Brits heat their homes and businesses. The strategy is

a request for input from the British people, which closed May 8.

“It is clear that without fi nancial sup-port, renewable heat will not be forthcoming on the scale we need,” the strategy says. “We already provide such support for renewable electricity and renewable transport fuels.”

The government says it plans to provide the incentive to all eligible renewable heat producers at all scales, from household- to industrial-scale generators. However, because renewable heat technologies vary widely in the amount of fi nancial support they require to make them attractive, the renewable heat incentive will be applied differently for vari-ous technologies. The incentive amounts will be shared for consultation later this year. The incentives will be funded through a levy on fossil fuels used for heating.

In addition, National Grid says poli-cies need to be in place to direct wet and dry wastes to appropriate facilities for conver-sion to energy. Finally, gas network owners who control the pipeline must be provided with incentives to connect the pipeline to biogas and syngas resources.

National Grid says the government must continue to support research and de-velopment to improve biogas and syngas production and upgrade technologies.

Government ActionMeanwhile, the U.K. government is

working on policies to support biogas pro-duction through anaerobic digestion. In February, DEFRA published shared goals for the anaerobic digestion industry in the U.K., which is supported by farmers, tech-nology providers, supermarkets, water and energy utilities, waste handlers, and the food products industry, as well as government of-fi cials and regulators. A DEFRA task group will develop an implementation plan for the shared goals, which are to make anaerobic digestion an established technology in the U.K. for converting food waste to biogas, including both post-consumer food waste and industrial food waste. This includes a pledge from the Food and Drink Federation, the voice of the food and beverage industry in the U.K., to send zero food and packag-ing waste to landfi lls by 2015. DEFRA’s Milk Roadmap includes establishing anaerobic di-

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gesters at 30 dairy farms by 2010. For the farming sector in general, anaerobic digestion will be used to process food waste, crop resi-dues and energy crops, in addition to manure. The ultimate vision is to have 1,000 farm-based anaerobic digesters in place by 2020. The implementation plan will include recommended regulations for en-couraging growth in the use of anaerobic digestion.

To kick-start anaerobic digestion in the U.K., DEFRA is work-ing with the Waste & Resources Action Program, a private nonprofi t organization backed by government funding from England, Scot-land, Wales and Northern Ireland, to construct three to six anaerobic digestion demonstration plants under the £10 million ($14 million) Anaerobic Digestion Demonstration Program, which is being jointly funded by DEFRA and BERR through the Environmental Trans-formation Fund.

WRAP has set aggressive targets for turning waste into energy. The program wants to divert 8 million metric tons of waste using anaerobic digestion and other approaches, with the goal of providing government, businesses and consumers with £1.1 billion ($2.2 bil-lion) of economic impact by 2011. WRAP’s business plan for 2008-2011 includes developing a market for the solid digestate produced from anaerobic digestion. To this end, WRAP and The Environ-ment Agency have developed a draft Quality Protocol, applicable for England and Wales, for the collection, storage, transport and use of digestate. The draft protocol was published in January and will be reviewed by the European Commission’s technical standards com-mittee this year.

“[The protocol] provides confi dence in the market,” Jacobs says. “If you’re going to be using digestate in the future, you need to be sure that it meets a standard. It also means that this material will be a product—and not a waste—and so when it is spread to land, waste regulations don’t apply. It makes use of the digestate or the liquor fraction much easier for the processors.”

Challenges AheadRenewables obligation certifi cates, the proposed renewable heat

incentive and the quality protocol for digestate will help to bring more anaerobic digester projects for converting food waste into biogas to fruition in the U.K. However, space and fi nancial considerations will continue to be stumbling blocks.

“We live in a small, crowded island in the U.K.,” Jacobs says, “and we have the issue around fi nding sustainable markets for diges-tate. I think planning is important in speeding up delivery of projects, because it seems to take an awfully long time to get anything built in this country.

“They say a green waste composting facility takes 12 to 18 months and an industrial composting facility maybe two years and above,” Jacobs continues. “I suspect an anaerobic digestion facility would not be dissimilar. It should be quicker than that, because we need signifi cantly more infrastructure to comply with our landfi ll di-rective obligations and our diversion targets.” BIO

Ryan C. Christiansen is a Biomass Magazine staff writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (701) 373-8042.

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PROFILE

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PROFILE

Ontario, Canada-based StormFisher Biogas is ready to cause a whirlwind of activity with its plans to develop up to 30 anaerobic digestion plants in North America within the next fi ve years.

By Anna Austin

Taking anaerobicDigestion by Storm

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PROFILE

n the world of renewable energy, an-aerobic digestion has swept across the globe like an epidemic. In today’s economy, alternatives to ever-volatile

energy costs are being aggressively pursued. Although the concept of transforming

what would normally be disposed of as waste into useable energy is not new, its applicabil-ity has expanded considerably. In addition to being a cheaper energy source, to some busi-nesses it is a way to alleviate costly tipping fees associated with waste disposal.

That‘s what StormFisher Biogas is counting on as it develops projects for up to 30 anaerobic digestion plants in North Amer-ica. Although the company is only a few years old, it has set its goals high—and has $350 million in capital to fuel its efforts.

Based in Ontario, Canada, StormFisher sees the value of being versatile. Leaning slightly away from the trend toward on-site farm animal manure digestion, the company is preparing to accept byproducts from beef, fruit and vegetable processing, brewing, wine-making and distilling, and ethanol, biodiesel, rendering and dairy operations that will be transported to strategically located digestion plants.

Ryan Little, vice president of Storm-Fisher business development, says the initial appeal for businesses to contract their waste with StormFisher is to gain access to a cheap-er alternative than landfi ll disposal. From a

consumer’s perspective, businesses would be seen in a more positive light, especially those involved in food manufacturing, if they are contributing to clean energy and sustainabili-ty, rather than adding to crowded landfi lls and emitting foul odors and pathogens.

Taking Off London, Ontario, will soon be home to

StormFisher’s fl agship project—the com-pany’s fi rst $15 million biogas plant. Con-

struction is slated to start in July, and Little says it has been long awaited. “Initially, we had planned to be operational this year, but since it’s the fi rst of its kind in Ontario the regulatory aspects are taking longer than we had anticipated,” he says. “There are lots of moving parts in this business—from feed-stock to energy off-take to [carbon dioxide], construction strategy and regulations—all of it is coming together pretty nicely, but it has been a long haul for sure.”

I

This biogas plant in Werlte, Germany, was designed by StormFisher’s engineering partner Krieg & Fischer Ingenieure GmbH. The layout is similar to the confi guration of StormFisher’s plants.

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PROFILE

The London plant, which should be operational in the spring of 2010, will utilize approximately 140,000 tons of food process-ing waste from local grocery stores, meat pro-cessing plants and industrial bakeries. With an output of about 2.8 megawatts (MWs), Little says the plant will be able to supply power to about 2,800 houses. “That number could vary depending on whether they leave the lights on or run the dishwasher a lot,” he jokes. “But I use the proxy of one house per kilowatt—which is about the equivalent of 2,800.”

StormFisher will construct, own and op-erate all of its plants, and sell the energy to the Ontario government for use in its power grid. Little says the company was formed partly in response to the province’s Standard Offer Program, a feed-in tariff that was put in place in Ontario at the beginning of 2007. Feed-in tariffs are incentives to encourage the adoption of renewable energy through government legislation. Regional or national electric utilities are obligated to buy renew-able electricity at above market rates, which are set by the government, to help overcome any cost disadvantages of using renewable energy sources. According to the program criteria, biogas projects under 10 megawatts are paid 11 cents per kilowatt hour.

Spain, the U.K. and Australia have all ad-opted feed-in tariffs. “My co-founders and I viewed the enactment of the tariff as a chance to level the playing fi eld and let entrepreneurs,

rather than utility companies that had been developing 120-megawatt wind projects be-fore, gain access to this market,” Little says. “So that’s what got us started—our goal was to start something that was environmentally friendly, one way or another.”

After extensive research and analysis of many different renewable energy technolo-gies, Little and StormFisher co-founders, Bas Van Berkel and Christopher Guillon, believe that from an entrepreneurial standpoint, there is a huge opportunity for biogas, not just

in Ontario but across North America. “It’s something that made sense—taking a waste product and being able to create something valuable, in terms of the energy and fertil-izer,” Little says. “The three of us started that way, and attracted interest from a Boston pri-vate equity company (Denham Capital Man-agement), which is supporting us for 30 proj-ects over a period of fi ve years. We’ve grown to a company of about 25 to 30 people, and now have our noses to the grindstone.”

StormFisher co-founders, from left to right, Ryan Little, Bas Van Berkel and Christopher Guillon

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PROFILE

Development Methodology When selecting a site for a biogas plant,

as with plants of any type, several logistical issues must be considered.

“Really, it’s a soup of things,” Little says. “The fi rst thing we look for is a lo-cation that is a willing host—a province or state that supports green energy and wants a plant. It makes things a lot easier if they are on our side rather than resistant; some places just aren’t keen on these types of things. We look at environmental regula-tions and whether they are supportive.”

Another key factor is power—and the potential to enter into a long-term, fi xed-rate contract. “Ontario’s been great that way,” Little says. “The government will buy all the power we create at a fi xed price for 20 years.” In the U.S., Wisconsin is consid-ering a similar program that could kick in toward the end of the year, and there are 10 to 20 other states looking at feed-in tariffs.

The next step is to analyze feedstock market dynamics. “It’s great if there is a huge food processing industry with tons of byproducts being generated,” Little says. “But if there are landfi lls nearby that take it for $10 per ton, it doesn’t work out as well. We look for places that need to responsibly manage these byproducts.” In many cases, tipping and transportation fees can be more than $100 per ton, he says.

Feedstock logistics could infl uence not only the location but also the size of the plant. “It depends on how much feed-stock is available in a certain area, because we don’t want to be trucking it in too far,” Little says. StormFisher’s 2.8 MW London plant will be one of the company’s small-est plants. The company also plans to build a second plant in DeForest, Wis., which will produce 5 MW and will likely be the maximum size of StormFisher’s plants. “If more feedstocks are available, we could go bigger,” he says. “We’d like to go bigger at some point, but fi ve looks to be the maxi-mum right now.”

Little says all materials will be trans-ported via truck, but the hiring for trucking services will be done on a case-by-case ba-sis. “A group using the same transport com-pany for 30 years might want to maintain that relationship,” he says.

In addition to the London and DeFor-est plants, StormFisher has developed a third project in Lethbridge, Alberta—a 3.2 MW plant that will power about 3,000 area homes. All necessary permits have been granted for this project, which is in its fi -nal stages of development and is slated to break ground in 2010.

StormFisher’s plants will utilize a con-tinuous digestion system, where organic matter is constantly added in stages to the

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StormFisher’s plants will utilize a continuous digestion system where organic matter is constantly added in stages to the reactor.

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PROFILE

reactor—rather than a batch system, where material is added to the reactor at the start of the process in a batch, and is sealed for the duration of the process.

StormFisher doesn’t own its own tech-nology and has no plans to develop one. The company prefers to work with technology suppliers on a plant-by-plant basis and hopes to emulate the successful biogas industry in countries such as Europe, where more than 5,000 biogas plants are in operation similar to the ones StormFisher is developing.

Although the range of possibilities for plant locations is broad, StormFisher will fo-cus on the most promising and welcoming ar-eas. “Ontario, Wisconsin and Alberta are our current areas of focus right now,” Little says. “With being able to move ahead now—and the election of President Obama—it’s really an exciting time.” BIO

Anna Austin is a Biomass Magazine associ-ate editor. Reach her at [email protected] or (701) 738-4968.

StormFisher has partnered with Quebec, Canada-based Sanimax to build eight of the plants in its port-folio. Sanimax, a collector of animal and food byproducts, vegetable oils, and hides and skins, operates a 20 MMgy biodiesel facility at DeForest, Wis., the future location for one of StormFisher’s biogas plants.

Ryan Little, vice president of StormFisher business development, says the relationship between the companies is complementary as both are interested in renewable energy and particularly in biogas. “Rather than go off on their own, they came to us, and partnering with them made a lot of sense, in that they are generat-ing the materials we need,” he says. StormFisher will also be able to take advantage of Sanimax’s extensive transportation system. “That allows us to focus on the biogas aspect of things, rather than having to build the logistics infrastructure,” Little says.

Little says that although Storm-Fisher’s initial plans are to own the 2.6 megawatt plants, Sanimax has the option of investing money in them for part ownership. The initial plan is to focus on Sanimax’s current terri-tory, which includes the Great Lakes and upper Midwest regions.

These specifi c biogas plants will process food byproducts from area facilities, such as schools and restaurants, to generate electric-ity and natural gas. Sanimax and StormFisher are currently pursuing major food processing companies to source additional raw materials for the proposed plants.

When all eight plants are opera-tional, the companies estimate they will be capable of powering approxi-mately 20,000 homes.

StormFisher, Sanimax

Form Partnership

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to a Model of Success

42 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

TECHNOLOGY

What started as a light bulb idea is now trademarked by EnerTech as the SlurryCarb Process and could become the future of biosolids management.

By Ron Kotrba

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TECHNOLOGY

EnerTech Environmental Inc.’s Rialto Regional Biosolids Processing Facility in Rialto, Calif., utilizes a slurry carbonization process, trademarked SlurryCarb, to turn sewer sludge from fi ve surrounding municipalities into E-Fuel, a renewable solid fuel substitute for coal.

PHOTO: ENERTECH ENVIRONMENTAL INC.

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hat started as an idea from an inventive, tinkering grandfa-ther and his grandson could have a tremendous impact in

biosolids management thinking. Kevin Bo-lin, president and chief executive offi cer of the biosolids processing company EnerTech Environmental Inc., tells Biomass Magazine about the humble beginnings of his com-pany and the technologies that his company has developed. Bolin and his grandfather Norman Dickinson, an inventor, would talk about the elder man’s inventions and the pos-sibility of making them commercial. In 1992, Bolin and his grandfather started EnerTech as a vehicle to realize his grandfather’s many ideas. Previously, the younger Bolin had no experience in biosolids treatment.

“At that time, all we had was my grand-father’s ideas—what we called ‘lines on pa-per,’” he says. Bolin’s career to that point was nonlinear, working as an accountant, then selling television time for a CBS affi liate. In 1992, he left his job selling air time and be-gan a new venture with his grandfather. The basis of the new company was “really just a light bulb,” Bolin says. “So what grandpa and I had to do was fi gure out how to take those ideas and fi rst go into the laboratory and start proving those things out. Then build-ing bench models, pilot- and demo-scale production, all the while trying to fi gure out

how to fund the company.” Friends, family and angel investors all helped with the lat-ter. Demonstrating the technology, however, was up to the two founders of EnerTech.

The technology that developed from those “lines on paper” is trademarked the SlurryCarb process, which is short for slurry carbonization. It’s a process that converts

sewage sludge and other high-moisture or-ganics into what EnerTech calls E-Fuel, which yields 6,500 to 8,000 British thermal units (Btus) per pound. Bolin says the fuel is comparable with lignite coal, but E-Fuel is renewable and carbon neutral.

In early spring, EnerTech is commis-sioning its fi rst full-scale biosolids treatment

TECHNOLOGY

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Construction of the aerobic platform is underway at EnerTech Environmental Inc.’s Rialto Regional Biosolids Processing Facility.

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plant utilizing the SlurryCarb process. The plant is in Rialto, Calif., and once fully operational later this year, the company will have the capacity to produce 160 tons of E-Fuel per day. EnerTech has made arrangements with fi ve surrounding municipalities—Orange County Sanitation District, Los Angeles County Sanitation District, the city of Riverside, the city of San Bernardino and the city of Ri-alto—to supply the new facility with biosolids. Mike Moore, OCSD environmental assessment division manager, says Orange County produces about 700 wet tons of sewer sludge a day, about a third of which the county has contracted with EnerTech for delivery. Moore says in addition to its contractual feedstock arrangement with EnerTech, OCSD takes on an advisory role with the company when needed. “We advise them on a number of issues—outreach and education, marketing—so we provide guidance when asked, and we require them to follow the tenets of our nationally certifi ed biosolid management system,” Moore tells Biomass Magazine. Not only does OCSD supply EnerTech’s Rialto facility with feedstock, Moore says OCSD is also the recipient of the plant’s liquid waste stream.

In addition to EnerTech commissioning its fi rst owned-and-operated plant in Rialto, the company licensed its technology to Mitsubishi Corp. in Japan. “Outside the U.S. we’re going to utilize a licensing model,” Bolin says. In Abu Dhabi, the fi rst-of-its-kind carbon- and waste-free city is being built and Bolin says EnerTech has been preliminarily selected to provide biosolids treatment.

The SlurryCarb process and E-Fuel“The process of carbonization—that’s been around since the

cavemen,” Bolin says. “It’s basically converting wood to charcoal.” But biosolids are delivered at approximately 80 percent moisture, an extremely wet product, which is where the “slurry” in SlurryCarb comes in. After the sewage sludge is run through the SlurryCarb

reactor, EnerTech employs centrifugation and drying to remove any excess moisture. The reactor is simply a plug-fl ow reactor, or a “wide spot in the line,” Bolin says, which is a section in the pro-cess where pressure and heat can be applied to the biosolids for a 10-minute residence time.

“We don’t like to evaporate water,” Bolin says. “When you evaporate water, because of the latent heat of evaporation, you lose at least 1,000 Btus per pound. That’s clearly a result of chang-ing phase—going from a liquid to a gas or going from water to steam. You lose that energy and it’s not recoverable.” He says all chemical engineers are familiar with the saturation curve of steam or the liquid-vapor equilibrium. “If you add pressure to a liquid, it actually takes higher temperatures to change phase,” he says. Un-der atmospheric pressure, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Add pressure, however, and the boiling temperature of water can increase—depending on how much pressure is added. “With an increase in pressure, you can actually raise the boiling temperature to 300, 400, 500 degrees F and still stay in the liquid phase, and not lose the latent heat of evaporation.”

To demonstrate this, imagine 100 tons of biosolids at roughly 80 percent water. “A typical dryer is going to use a lot of muscle and heat in order to evaporate those 80 tons of water,” Bolin says. Assuming a theoretical 1,000 Btus per pound necessary for evapo-ration, it would require 160 million Btus to dry the 80 tons of mois-ture resident in the 100 tons of biosolids. “That’s a lot of energy,” Bolin says. In the SlurryCarb process the biosolids are pressurized fi rst and then heated. “In order to get to our reaction temperatures, we add some energy—roughly 32 million Btus as opposed to the 160 million Btus needed to dry down the material,” he says. Once reacted, the material still has some moisture—it’s about a 50/50 mix of cake and water at this point—so conventional drying meth-ods are used, which takes another 32 million Btus. Added to the

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

previously needed 32 million Btus of en-ergy, the SlurryCarb process requires only 64 million Btus versus the 160 million that would have been necessary to evaporate the water from the sewer sludge.

The pressures and temperatures em-ployed in the SlurryCarb process change the basic molecules of the feedstock, ac-cording to EnerTech. “The end result of this reaction we’re driving with heat and pressure is that our reactive product, which once had an affi nity for water, no longer has an affi nity for water because it’s become hydrophobic,” Bolin says. No catalysts are used in reaction, and approxi-mately 85 percent of the water resident in the incoming biosolids can therefore be removed by mechanical rather than ther-mal energy. Once the post-reacted sewer sludge comes out of the reactor, it’s cooled down to 212 degrees F, then it’s depres-surized, and fi nally the remainder of the water is removed via centrifuging or with a fi lter press. Bolin says, “What’s leftover is a nicely isolated carbon product that’s conditioned for use as fuel.”

The coal-comparable E-Fuel has multiple applications—virtually anywhere a solid fuel is being used, E-Fuel can be substituted in. “In Rialto, we have two cement-kiln customers utilizing E-Fuel,” Bolin says. “And as a fuel for gasifi cation, we recently entered into an agreement with a company that is actually going to convert the fuel into liquid transportation fuels. We can also utilize the fuel ourselves in our Rialto facility.”

A Sound Model to FollowMoore says one of the key elements

other companies can learn from EnerTech is its ability to get the political backing and to conduct successful public outreach be-fore it began the process of project devel-opment. “Too often facilities have failed because they didn’t do things right,” he says. “Too often projects do the design, build and defend rather than getting the support they need before they even start. We talked with EnerTech early on about developing a relationship with the people in Rialto—and they did.”

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Company President Bolin says environmental permitting of the Rialto Regional Biosolids Processing Facility was completed in a quick nine months.

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TECHNOLOGY

Conversely, municipalities and mu-nicipal agencies like the OCSD should consider an overall approach to managing biosolids, Moore says. “We were one of the early adopters of the environmental man-agement system for biosolids and we were one of the fi rst agencies in the nation to be certifi ed by the National Biosolids Partner-ship,” he adds. “That caused us to rethink the way we manage, to stop thinking of this material as waste and rather think of it as a product you typically don’t dispose of, but can if you want to.”

There are some benefi ts to landfi ll-ing biosolids. It could help breakdown the landfi ll trash already being dumped; more so than straight municipal solid waste. In so doing, the methane produced as a result is cleaner, so if landfi ll gas capture and uti-lization is to occur, the gas would require less cleanup, and it is higher quality. Also, Moore says some of the landfi lls where biosolids are dumped have reported higher quality leachate.

Bolin says permitting for the Rialto facil-ity in Southern California—one of the most stringent permitting zones in the U.S.—was completed in a nine-month period. For air, EnerTech’s Rialto plant is a minor source for major pollutants—nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter.

OCSD worked with EnerTech on per-mits for air emissions, and the liquid effl u-ent, of which OCSD is the recipient. “Since we receive its liquid waste stream that goes through the Rialto treatment facility and then into the Santa Ana River Intercep-tor line, we talked to them about ammonia and salts that we allow to go into that line, which eventually comes to us,” Moore says. When dewatering occurs at the plant, there is a centrate that comes off the centrifuge, which Bolin says is a high-strength waste-water. “We have to pretreat that [before dis-charge into the Santa Ana River Interceptor line], and in our pretreatment step we ac-tually generate methane gas that goes back into our process,” he says.

The most diffi cult aspect of bringing a biosolids technology to market is not an is-sue with technology, according to Bolin, but

with commercialization—getting a fi rst-of-its-kind commercial plant up and running. “As a company we’re very well capitalized, and obviously the Rialto project has been fi nanced,” he says. Good technology and teamwork, and working closely with cus-tomers, the public and stakeholders to make sure they are all comfortable with the proj-ect is extremely important, he says.

Of the EnerTech SlurryCarb process and its approach to business, Moore says, “This will be the full-scale pilot, if you will, and it will be replicated all over the world. I’m sure of it.” BIO

Ron Kotrbaa is a Biomass Magazine senior writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (701) 738-4942.

Feedstock is delivered at the Rialto Regional Biosolids Processing Facility.

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TRANSPORTATION

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THE VALUE

OF WASTE

TRANSPORTATION

In 2007, only 2.6 percent of the nearly 29.2 million metrictons of organic waste generated in North America was recovered, due to ineffi cient collection processes. Organic Resource Management in Ontario, Canada, is on a mission to make sure that waste doesn’t go to waste.

By Khalila Hammond

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n 1981, Charles Buehler set out to solve the “organics diversion” dilemma to fi nd an alternative dis-posal system for liquid organic

residuals rather than disposing of it in a landfi ll. The alternative he sought would deliver cost-effective, environmentally sus-tainable solutions for managing organic re-siduals and provide effi cient customer ser-vice. Eight years later, Buehler established Organic Resource Management Inc. in Woodbridge, Ontario, which specialized in the infi eld composting process and direct-land application of processed waste, but he soon realized that the two processes were not enough to sustain the business. After attending a conference and tradeshow on biogas and touring an anaerobic digestion facility in Germany, Buehler decided to expand the company’s waste management services. Since then, ORMI has pioneered the collection, processing and manage-ment of liquid organic residuals, and has developed proprietary systems specifi cally for preparing and optimizing the energy value of organic residuals for reuse.

Redirecting Organic WasteWhile ORMI was one of the fi rst

companies to dispose of organic residuals using the process of direct-land applica-tion, the company found that the process

incurred regulatory issues with odor man-agement that made it diffi cult to sustain. ORMI soon turned to anaerobic digestion as a low-cost, long-term recycling solution for organic waste. The company has since grown and now specializes in the collec-tion of nonhazardous liquid organic resid-uals for delivery to recycling facilities and anaerobic digester locations for energy production and composting.

Industrial food and beverage proces-sors such as restaurants, cafeterias and gro-cery stores typically generate large quanti-ties of organic waste that must be removed from their wastewater prior to releasing it into the municipal sewer system. In most cases, grease interceptors and dissolved air fl otation systems are not effi cient enough, and other pretreatment technologies are required. ORMI provides its services to

TRANSPORTATION

I

In addition to typical produce wastes, the ORRS also accepts meat and dairy products, fl ower shop wastes, liquid beverages, waste fats and drippings from in-store food preparation.

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more than 8,000 food and beverage pro-cessing facilities in Ontario, Québec and Lower Mainland British Columbia that are challenged by managing wastewater effl u-ent quality to meet sewer use bylaw limits.

Using a fl eet of specialized vacuum trucks, ORMI collects and transports liq-uid residuals to recycling facilities on a 24-hours-per-day, seven-days-a-week ba-sis. The residuals are taken to the com-pany’s processing facilities to remove any excess water and are then transported to recycling and anaerobic digester locations.

In 2008, ORMI successfully demon-strated the process of converting organic residuals into valuable high-energy feed-stock for the production of biogas. Armed with its fi nancially viable technology for handling organic residuals, the company created the Organic Resource Recovery System. The process provides on-site management of solid organic food waste, grinding the material into slurry. The re-siduals are then stored on-site where they are hydrolyzed and acidifi ed in preparation for anaerobic digestion.

The system, which includes a mill, holding tank and vacuum truck, reduces total waste volume by an average of 5:1. Despite being developed and patented in 1995, the ORRS process is not yet fully commercialized. Buehler reports, howev-er, that the ORRS system has been work-ing well in terms of cleanliness and odor issues at its two generator locations at Lo-blaws grocery store and Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto. “ORMI has continued to grow its core business right up to and through our last quarter,” Buehler says. “We felt that with the anaerobic digestion world starting to move, it was the right time to completely focus on our core busi-

TRANSPORTATION

ORMI has a fl eet of specialized vacuum trucks that collect and transport liquid residuals to recycling facilities seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

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‘We have worked with ORMI for about two years now. Be-fore working with [ORMI] we were running on farm manure and producing about 700 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per day. Now we produce nearly 1,400.’Paul Klaesi, owner, Fepro Farms

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ness, [which] allowed us to strengthen our balance sheet going into these uncertain economic times.”

On-Farm ContractsORMI has secured an exclusive 20-

year organic residual supply agreement with four Ontario farm-based anaerobic di-gesters. The company supplies 5,000 met-ric tons per year of liquid organic waste to Clearydale Farms in Spencerville, Donnan-dale Farms Inc. in Stirling, and Ledgecroft Farms Inc. in Seeley’s Bay. The company

pays a “tip fee” that is adjusted based on the amount of gas generated. ORMI also supplies 4,500 metric tons of organic re-siduals to Fepro Farms in Cobden. Of the 19,000 metric tons of off-farm feed-stock supplied, more than 2,000 kilowatts of electricity are generated. “We have worked with ORMI for about two years now,” says Paul Klaesi of Fepro Farms who has owned and operated an on-farm anaerobic digester since the spring of 2003. “Before working with [ORMI] we were running on farm manure and pro-ducing about 700 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per day. Now we produce nearly 1,400.”

On-farm anaerobic digestion of ma-nure creates biogas, which is composed of methane and carbon dioxide and can be used to generate electricity and heat. The liquid organic residuals collected by ORMI have helped produce four to 10 times more biogas than manure alone, and is an ideal feedstock when used with manure for anaerobic digesters. “An im-portant concept to remember, and one that often gets overlooked or its im-portance underestimated, is that ORMI signifi cantly improves the value of an anaerobic digester and the organic re-siduals it collects,” Buehler says. “We are able to blend and control the type and quality of the feedstock, making the op-eration of the anaerobic digester much more effi cient than if it were run using raw, unprocessed organic waste.” Using anaerobic digesters to process liquid or-ganic residuals helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the reliance on land-fi lls. The process also helps reduce odor and pathogens and improves the nutrient availability in the digestate, which can be used as an organic fertilizer to spread on farm fi elds.

Remaining CompetitiveAccording to ORMI’s 2008 annual

report, the company says it believes that anaerobic digestion has not emerged pre-viously in North America primarily be-cause of an abundant supply of relatively low-cost energy. Anaerobic digestion has been successful in Europe due to its ap-propriately priced energy markets that

TRANSPORTATION

‘We believe that the convergence of organics recycling with renewable energy through anaerobic digestion will create an excellent opportunity [for the company as well as the biogas industry].’Charles Buehler, owner, Organic Resource Management Inc.

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support the purchase of electricity gener-ated by the system, positioning organic re-siduals as a low-cost recycling solution.

In Ontario, ORMI’s market, pricing regime and operational policies are slowly changing in favor of anaerobic digestion, but much progress is still needed. Current-ly, two government incentive programs ex-ist in Ontario to drive the development of anaerobic digestion. The Ontario Biogas Systems Financial Assistance Program encourages the production of clean en-ergy generating systems such as anaerobic digesters for biogas energy production within the province. The program assists farmers and rural businesses in formulat-ing feasibility studies for the installation of biogas systems in addition to covering a portion of the construction and imple-mentation costs. The Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program encourages the development of small renewable energy generators of clean, renewable electricity to contribute to the Ontario power grid. Generators can receive up to 11 cents per kWh.

Much of ORMI’s success depends on remaining competitive in the rapidly grow-ing anaerobic digestion market. Competi-tion in the nonhazardous liquid waste ser-vice industry has increased over the years from within the industry and other com-panies diversifying into the fi eld. The chal-lenge is for ORMI to overcome the capital cost of installing its ORRS equipment as compared with other collection alterna-tives. A lack of readily available, low-cost organic recycling alternatives in North America is another major constraint to the advancement of its system.

ORMI also continues to build its knowledge base on various types of re-cycling and disposal alternatives. The company is working with the University of Guelph through the Ontario Centre of Excellence to conduct a project titled, “The Economics and Feasibility of the Co-Substrates Anaerobic Digest for Farms in Ontario.” The study investigates the costs and benefi ts associated with on- and off-farm waste streams and centralized anaerobic digesters, and helps determine strategies to control low-cost recycling

and disposal alternatives within the organic waste market.

ORMI sees a tremendous opportunity in the diversion of organic residuals from North American landfi lls, which combines both the concept of recycling and renew-able energy through the process of anaero-bic digestion. “We continue to forge ahead developing systems and infrastructure to position ourselves to take advantage of what we believe will be an unprecedented growth opportunity as the biogas renew-able energy industry emerges in Canada

and the United States,” Buehler says. “We believe that the convergence of organics recycling with renewable energy through anaerobic digestion will create an excellent opportunity [for the company as well as the biogas industry].” BIO

Khalila Hammond is the managing editor of Bioenergy Canada. Reach her at [email protected] or (519) 576-4500. This feature appeared in the March issue of Bioenergy Canada.

TRANSPORTATION

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PROCESS

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Streamlining Treatment of ChallengingFood Processing WastewatersKen’s Foods’ upgraded wastewater treatment facility effi ciently reduces chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids in challenging food processing wastewaters, and supplies 200,000-plus cubic feet of biogas per day, providing 100 percent of the heat required for the treatment plant’s operation.

By Jim McMahon

The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily refl ect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).

Although all food processors have to deal with wastewater generated in their operations, the characteristics of the ef-

fl uent exiting their facilities can vary greatly, requiring different processing technolo-gies for the most effi cient handling of the wastewater. Ken’s Foods of Marlborough, Mass., a large-volume food manufacturer of salad dressings and marinades, recently upgraded one of its three wastewater treat-ment facilities to more effi ciently process its high-strength organic content wastewater, effl uents which contain a high content of fat, oil and grease (FOG) and present seri-ous challenges for waste treatment.

The upgrade incorporated a unique treatment process called anaerobic mem-brane bioreactor (ADI-AnMBR), a rela-tively new form of anaerobic treatment technology developed by ADI Systems Inc. in cooperation with Kubota Corp. of Japan, which utilizes submerged membranes for biomass retention and solids-liquid separa-tion. The system maximizes biogas produc-tion, increases solids digestion and provides a means to easily handle wastewaters with high concentrations of organic matter. The treatment plant is the largest of its kind in the world, producing effl uent that is virtu-ally free of suspended solids, with a level of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 99.4 percent, allowing its 100,000 gallons per day of wastewater to easily discharge into the municipal system. Considering the high-strength levels of organic content—COD, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and FOG—in the wastewater, this performance is exceptional by any industry standard.

The company’s existing low-rate an-

aerobic reactor, previously built by ADI Sys-tems (an ADI-BVF system), was converted to operate as the reactor portion of the new AnMBR. As a byproduct of the combined system, 200,000 to 300,000 cubic feet of biogas are being produced per day, which are being captured to provide not only 100 percent of the wastewater treatment plant’s heating requirements, but enough residual biogas capable of powering more than 50 percent of the company’s manufacturing facility.

Overloading the Original Wastewater System

The company’s wastewater originates from wash-down of cleaning mixers, fi lling machines and other process equipment. It is then screened and pumped into an equaliza-tion tank to begin the treatment process.

After equalization, the wastewater is sent to the low-rate anaerobic reactor, which is capable of treating waste streams of moderate to very high organic strength. Before the upgrade, this was followed by a sequencing batch aerobic reactor (SBR) that was needed to polish the anaerobic effl u-ent. These two stages of treatment achieved overall COD, FOG and total suspended solids (TSS) removals of 98 percent to 99 percent.

The plant was designed for a maxi-mum fl ow of 550,000 gallons weekly and 100,000 gallons per day. Due to production increases, daily and weekly fl ows exceeded these design values causing excessive solids loading from the BVF reactor to the SBR.

“We had too many solids coming from our anaerobic digester,” explains Dale Mills, treatment plant chief operator for Ken’s

Marlborough plant. “We were manually monitoring the SBR decant to the city and stopping it when the water quality was not good enough.”

The city of Marlborough allows the re-lease of 100,000 gallons of effl uent per day and limits the concentration of suspended solids effl uent to 600 milligrams per liter (mg/l). The manufacturing plant’s produc-tion had become inhibited by the overload in the treatment plant.

Ken’s brought in ADI Systems to en-gineer a solution to the problem. “The SBR aerobic system was never the bottleneck,” says Dwain Wilson, director of process operations for ADI Systems. “The solution was to increase the capacity of the anaero-bic reactor, and we suggested an anaerobic MBR application.”

Existing BVF Anaerobic Reactor

Ken’s BVF anaerobic system already in place has been removing more than 90 per-cent of the organic material from the waste-water. This system is capable of handling wastewaters that are high in FOG and varia-tions in wastewater fl ow and characteristics. The BVF’s organic loadings are low (typical-ly 0.3 to 3.0 kilograms COD) and hydraulic retention times are relatively long (typically more than seven days), providing an inher-ent stability and robustness often not found in higher-rate anaerobic processes, and al-lowing for signifi cant digestion of infl uent solids and waste activated sludge.

The large volume and inventory of bio-mass within the BVF reactor eliminates the need for extensive primary treatment of the waste stream (such as a primary clarifi er).

PROCESS

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PAGE TAG PROCESS

The BVF is equipped with a fl oat-ing, insulated geomembrane cover. Built by Geomembrane Technologies Inc., the cover collects biogas, minimizes heat loss and provides odor control.

New Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor

The existing ADI-BVF system was converted to an ADI-AnMBR to expand its treatment capabilities. One of the key components to any anaerobic treatment system is effective separation of treated water from the biogas generated by the anaerobic digestion process, while ensur-ing the biomass is retained within the re-actor. The ADI-AnMBR process, based on technology developed by Kubota, is a form of high-rate anaerobic contact process that uses a submerged membrane barrier to perform the gas/liquid/solids separation and biomass retention func-tions. This near-absolute barrier to solids ensures effi cient system operation, even under high organic loading and intense mixing scenarios. Membrane treatment technologies are often employed when higher quality effl uents are required, or when wastewater characteristics make conventional gravity settling technologies diffi cult or ineffective. The biogas gener-ated in anaerobic digestion is utilized to continually clean the membranes during operation via a gas scour system.

Ken’s ADI-AnMBR provides for higher organic loadings and mixing in-tensities compared with other anaerobic technologies, increasing organic remov-als, improving biogas production, and al-lowing for treatment of wastewaters with very high suspended solids and FOG. The system is most applicable to process-ing wastewaters with strong, concentrated wastes with poor settling characteristics.

The AnMBR system can operate at both thermophilic and mesophilic tempera-tures, yet it avoids common operating prob-lems at thermophilic temperatures, such as biomass loss and unstable operation.

“The anaerobic MBR increases the solids retention time within the system,” Wilson says. “The longer the solids re-

tention time, the lower the biomass yield, reducing the amount of biomass that will require disposal. It also allows the devel-opment of specialized bacteria that can acclimate to unusual organics and break them down.”

The AnMBR has four anaerobic basins, each equipped with seven sub-merged membrane units. A removable GTI geomembrane cover system on each AnMBR basin provides a gas-tight seal with biogas collection capabilities. These covers allow the biogas to be captured in the headspace above the cartridges and then returned to the gas scour system for reuse.

The TSS concentration coming out of the AnMBR averages less than 1 mg/l, BOD is typically less than 25 mg/l, and the COD removal in the AnMBR is great-er than 99.4 percent

The ADI-AnMBR system at Ken’s is the fi rst installation of this technology in North America and the largest in the world.

Repurposing the Aerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor

The SBR’s role is to polish the an-aerobic reactor effl uent to meet discharge standards, a function it was not able to do satisfactorily under the original system’s higher-than-design loading conditions.

The now very clean effl uent from the AnMBR goes into the SBR, which has been repurposed for use as a sulfi de oxida-tion and nitrifi cation tank. Ken’s purpose-ly adds and maintains biological solids in the tank as a suitable biomass population for the treatment process. Now that the solids loading to the SBR from the an-aerobic process have been eliminated, the SBR is used to easily oxidize sulfi de and ammonia.

Captured Biogas Powers Treatment Plant

The biogas generated by the BVF/AnMBR process is proving to be valu-able for the replacement of conven-tional energy sources such as natural gas and electricity.

1755 La Costa Meadows DriveSan Marcos, California 92078 USAPhone: 760-744-6950, 800-854-1993

Persephonestraat 3-015047 TT Tilburg, The NetherlandsPhone: 31-13-5159989

Page 57: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

“We capture the biogas produced in the anaerobic digester and we heat the processing building and the reactor with it,” Mills says. “So we do not have any fuel costs for heating the treatment building, or the reactor which is kept at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We also have a considerable amount of extra biogas that we fl are right now, between 200,000 and 300,000 cubic feet per day.”

ADI provided a complete recovery and utilization system which included gas collection, treatment, storage, compression and delivery systems.

“We are planning on using the fl ared biogas for a waste-to-energy project for cogeneration of electricity in our manufac-turing facility,” says Mike Kolakowski, en-gineering manager for Ken’s Foods. “It is a combined-heat-and-power project—the amount of biogas that is generated from the reactor will reduce our draw from the utility grid by well over 50 percent.”

Improved Effi cienciesIn addition to signifi cantly lowered

TSS, COD and BOD levels, and captured biogas as an energy resource, 36,000 gal-lons of fats, oils and grease are removed and rendered per year, as well as 500 tons of dewatered residual solids.

Also, the quality of the water in the SBR is consistently clean enough for au-tomated, timed release, allowing the maxi-mum 100,000 gallons per day to be de-canted. This has eliminated the problem of manufacturing interruption previously caused by the challenges to the wastewater treatment system.

“The system is extremely cost effec-tive,” Kolakowski says. “The overall cost of operating the AnMBR processing facili-ty represents at least a 50 percent reduction compared to other more traditional means of water treatment.” BIO

Jim McMahon of Zebra Communications writes about water and wastewater sys-tems. Reach him at zebracom.net.

PROCESS

CLEANING FUEL GAS PRODUCED BY BIOMASS COMBUSTION WITH ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORS

WEIS ENVIRONMENTAL is a company specialized in manufacturing of Dry andWet Electrostatic Precipitators designed for biomass power plants in the North American market. WEIS ENVIRONMENTAL represents Beth GmbH, a German company with more than 120 years of experience in pollution control technol-ogy. WEIS ENVIRONMENTAL offers tailor-made engineering solutions in design-ing, constructing, and implementing a wide range of dust removal systems.

www.Weis-Environmental.com

You are invited to our technical session at the International Biomass Conference.

Thursday 4/30 10:30 to 12:00 Track 3.

TAR ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORVolume Flow Rate from 300 acfm to 59.000 acfmTemperature up to 185 degree FahrenheitExplosion pressure shock resistant design, if requiredVertical gas flow direction

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DRY ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR (DESP)Volume flow rate of 530 acfm to 300,000 acfmTemperature up to 790 degree FahrenheitDifferent design typesHorizontal gas flow direction

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EERCUPDATE

Much as race cars are different than passen-ger vehicles intended for street and highway use, military aircraft are different from commercial air-planes because their airframes, engines and fuels are specifi cally designed for high-performance fl y-ing. Just as airframe and engine technology have progressed, so has fuel technology. The U.S. Air Force currently recognizes jet propellant-8 (JP-8) as the standard turbine engine fuel for its fl eet of turbine-powered aircraft.

There are currently three sources of JP-8 for military use: petroleum-derived (not including tar sands Fischer–Tropsch-derived, and renewable-de-rived. Petroleum-derived jet fuel is the traditional fuel. It is obtained by refi ning crude petroleum. About 9 percent of a barrel of crude oil is refi ned to jet fuel for commercial and military use. FT fu-els are those produced from either natural gas or coal. This technology was utilized by Nazi Germa-ny during World War II to create liquid fuels from coal. Renewable fuels are more modern than either petroleum- or FT-derived fuels in use and develop-ment. As the term renewable implies, jet fuel from this source is produced from something that is produced in a repeatable cycle, such as farming.

The current military specifi cation for jet fuel utilized by the USAF recognizes all three sources. While the major portion of fuel utilized by the USAF is petroleum-derived, efforts are underway to qualify fuels derived from both FT and renew-able sources. In the future, this will enable aircraft in the USAF fl eet to utilize JP-8 from any source, either as a blend with petroleum-derived JP-8 or, eventually, as a standalone fuel.

The technical criteria that JP-8 must meet to power a USAF aircraft are detailed in MIL-DTL-83133F, a 22-page document. It is important to realize that this document doesn’t say what the fuel must be, but only what the fuel must possess in terms of physical properties. It is like the differ-ence between saying you want a 75-pound animal that is yel-low in color, has a great dispo-sition and retrieves versus say-ing you want a Labrador.

In this manner, MIL-DTL-83133F states what the fuel must do, no matter its origin. This includes properties that both petroleum- and FT-derived JP-8 must also satisfy, including a freezing point of minus 52.6 degrees Fahrenheit, a net heat of com-bustion of 18,700 British thermal units per pound and a distillation curve identical to petroleum-de-rived JP-8.

Those interested in biofuels should be excited for the future, since airplanes, both military and commercial, will be fueled by jet fuel obtained from petroleum, FT technology, and renewable sources. In many ways, the military specifi cation for jet fuel is paving the way for the production of fuels from renewable biomass resources, which can only help to keep our skies blue. BIO

Paul Pansegrau is a research scientist at the EERC. He can be reached at [email protected] or (701) 777-5169.

The Low-Down on Military Specs for Renewable Jet Fuel

Paul Pansegrau, research scientist, EERC

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60 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5|2009

Select Environmental Services:Permitting & ComplianceAir Quality SpecialistsFeasibility AssessmentsSite AssessmentSite EvaluationsDue DiligenceCarbon Lifecycle Health & Safety

THE PERMITTING SPECIALISTSBiomass Energy and Waste-to-Energy

For more information, contact our Practice Leader:David Minott, CCM, [email protected]

ERM consulting services worldwide www.erm.com

Decades of experience in your industry. ERM offers service

consulting services. ERM is committed to delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world.

Wednesday 6 - Thursday 7 May 2009Crowne Plaza Hotel, London, UKWednesday 6 - Thursday 7 May 2009Crowne Plaza Hotel, London, UKWednesday 6 - Thursday 7 May 2009Crowne Plaza Hotel, London, UK

Biomassto Liquids

Organised and Produced by

www.smi-online.co.uk/09btl34.aspContact Andrew to secure your place

tel: +44 (0) 20 7827 6156or email: [email protected]

SPONSORED BY

www.Plattco.com

email: [email protected] international calls: 1.518.563.4640 USA / domestic calls: 1.800.352.1731 7 White Street Plattsburgh, NY USA 12901

Airlock® Valves & Slidegates When you need a valve that will:

Ensure a reliable, long lasting seal...even when the material is abrasive or corrosive, pressurized or subject to extreme temperatures,

Be easy and inexpensive to maintain for decades of “like new” operation,

Fit your specific applications, using Plattco’s 50 years of experience designing exceptionally performing valves.

MoreResults

Than Just

Biomass

Fuels

Pellet Quality

Laboratory

Analysis

Analysis

Powerhouse Technology1-800-724-2763

www.powerhousetech.comSolid Fuel Combustion

Components

CFB NozzlesGratesChainsRailsSeals

All Materials Available

Page 61: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

5|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 61

EVERGREEN ENGINEERING

Biomass Energy &Wood ProductsEngineering

Feasibility StudiesPreliminary EngineeringDetailed EngineeringEnvironmental/PermittingConstruction ManagementRecruiting & Project StaffingPlant Assessments

Complete Engineering Services

Eugene & Portland, Oregon: 541.484.4771

www.evergreenengineering.com

Albany, New York: 518.452.6874Atlanta, Georgia: 770.265.6347

MARKETPLACEBIOMASS MAGAZINE

Page 62: Biomass Magazine - May 2009
Page 63: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

THANK YOU!to all our sponsors and exhibitors for supporting this incredible event.

A3 Energy PartnersAction UnloadersADAGEADI Systems Inc.AGRA Industries, Inc.Alternative Feeds, LLC.ANDGAR CorporationAndritz-SproutApplikon BiotechnologyAscendant Partners Inc.Atlas Systems, LLCBabcock & Wilcox CompanyBandit Industries, Inc.BBI InternationalBio-MizerBioFuels BusinessBiomass Products & TechnologyBiomass Thermal Energy CouncilBorregaard / LignoTechBriquetting SystemsBRUKS RockwoodBuhler Inc.California Pellet Mill and Roskamp ChampionCECO EnvironmentalConcord BlueCONSOL Energy, Inc. Research & DevelopmentContinental Biomass Industries, Inc.Cousineau Forest Products, Inc.Davenport DryerDuratech Industries International, Inc.Earthsaver Equipment, Inc.EERC Energy & Environmental Research CenterElectrix, LLCElectronic Wood Systems, N.A.Emerging Fuels TechnologiesEvergreen EngineeringFECON, Inc.Fine Line InstrumentFMWForest Concepts, LLCFredrikson & Byron, P.A.Frontline BioEnergy, LLC

GE EnergyGenencor® A Danisco DivisionGOLDEN Specialty , Inc.Greenberry IndustrialHarder Mechanical ContractorsHarris Group Inc.Hengye USAHunt, Guillot & Associates, LLCHuntleigh McGeheeHurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc.Hydro-Thermal CorporationImperial Systems, IncIndeck Power Equipment CompanyIndustrial Accessories CompanyInnovative Magnetic Technologies Inc.Jackson Lumber Harvester Company, Inc.Jeffrey Rader CorporationJosef BINDER Maschinenbau- und Handelsges.m.b.H.KEITH Manufacturing CompanyKomax SystemsKomptech USA Inc.Konecranes America, Inc.Laidig Systems, Inc.L.D. Jellison, Inc.LECO CorporationLouisiana Chemical Equipment Co., L.L.C.Messersmith Manufacturing, Inc.Monitortech CorporationMoynoNatgun CorporationNexterra Energy CorpNorth American Clean EnergyNorthwest Environmental Business CouncilNorthwest Pump & EquipmentNovozymesPacific Ag SolutionsPacific Construction ManagementPacific Power ProductsPallmann America IncPaso Robles Tank, Inc.Pawert - SPM Ltd.

Plattco CorporationPonsse N.A. Inc. / Miller Timber ServicesPowerhouse TechnologyPrice BiostockPrice LogPro, LLC.Process BarronPumpaction CorporationRapat CorporationRawlings Waste Wood Recovery SystemsResonant BioSciences, LLC.Roeslein & Associates, IncRonning Engineering Co. Inc.Rotochopper, Inc.Rural Energy Marketing, LLCS S D Western, LLCSchutte-Buffalo Hammermill, LLCSGS North America Inc.Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.SOFTAC Systems Ltd.SolaGen IncorporatedSSI Shredding Systems, Inc.Stanley Consultants, Inc.Stoel Rives LLPThe Avogadro Group, LLCThe Teaford Company, IncTrace Environmental SystemsTSITwin Ports Testing IncUS Department of Energy Biomass ProgramUS Environmental Protection AgencyUSDA Forest Service - Woody Biomass Utilization GroupVecoplan, LLCVero Construction ManagementVogelsang USAWeaver Silos and Reclaimers, Inc.Weis EnvironmentalWellons, Inc.West Salem MachineryWestern Ag Enterprises, Inc.Worley ParsonsWunderlich-Malec Engineering / Systems

Exhibitors

See you in Minneapolis May 4-6, 2010

Page 64: Biomass Magazine - May 2009

page tag

www.rjsales.com

Buffalo, NY 800-666-0088Cleveland, OH 800-777-0820Cincinnati, OH 800-777-2260Chicago, IL 800-777-2008Cranbury, NJ 800-777-1858

Indianapolis, IN 800-777-0510Minneapolis, MN 800-777-1355Raleigh, NC 866-493-8834Tavernier, FL 305-852-1694

Robert-James Sales is your #1 source for stainless PIPE, FITTINGSand FLANGES up to 36" in Sch 5,10 and 40. We also carry 2205 duplex through 24".

Free Product CDContact the Robert-James Sales location nearest you and ask for a free copy of ourcomprehensive, up-to-date CD. It outlinesour stainless product line including referencecharts, graphs and tables to help you calculate what your processing plant needs.