BLACK MOUNTAIN WOODFUELS, RED PIG FARM, BETHLEHEM, LLANDEILO, SA19 9DR, WALES, UK.

Job creation via

new markets for

species associated

with neglected

woodland

Improved

wood

processing

technology

Decrease in Carbon

dioxide emissions,

reduction of

Carbon waste, and

increases in Carbon

sequestration

Increased use

of renewable

fuel at local

level

There are more than 250,000 hectares of under-managed broadleaved woodland in the UK, and a further 450,000 kilometres of neglected hedgerow, which make no contribution toward the collective effort to generate energy from renewable resources.

This resource is not being managed effectively because the species which dominate (willow, birch, hazel, etc.) have no commercial-scale markets and have not been favoured for woodfuel because of issues with degradation and high moisture levels.

For the past 5 years, Black Mountain Woodfuels has been working with others to develop a process known as TORREFACTION - a very efficient process of slow-roasting biomass, in an atmosphere with low oxygen concentrations, to remove all moisture and low energy volatiles to create a combustible product with an increased energy density. The company believes that this technology will make the effective management of this resource possible.

This document details the economic potential of utilising this neglected resource.

IMPROVED WOOD PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY.

Improved

wood

processing

technology

MOBILE TORREFACTION REACTORS (MICRO) COMBINED HEAT & POWER

BIOMASS GASIFICATION IMPROVED SPACE-HEATING

IMPROVED WOODSTOVES

TORREFACTION:

Put simply, torrefaction is a very efficient process of slow-roasting biomass, in an atmosphere with low oxygen concentrations, to remove all moisture and low energy volatiles to create a combustible product with an increased energy density. The energy contained in the released volatiles is equal to the heating requirements of the process so that a thermal efficiency exceeding approx. 95% is achieved.

ENERGY VALUES: Wood chips - 30% MC = 12 MJ/Kg Log wood - 25% MC = 13 MJ/Kg Wood pellets - 10% MC = 17 MJ/Kg Wood - oven dry = 19 MJ/Kg

TORREFIED WOOD = 23 MJ/Kg

MICRO CHP. This small turbine can produce up to 15kW of electricity an hour. It is powered by super-heated steam which is produced from a system which runs on torrefied woodfuel. The turbine runs from residual heat produced when water is heated for space heating/washing. Micro-CHP is over 90% efficient, because electricity generated in the home displaces electricity normally brought in from the grid system. On average only 35% of the energy produced in a power station can be used in the home, while 65% is lost during the generation and transportation process.

BIOMASS (MICRO) GASIFICATION. Biomass Gasification is the conversion of solid fuels (biomass) such as wood, wood-waste and agricultural residues, into a combustible gas mixture referred to as Producer Gas (CO+H2+CH4) or Syngas. This gas is then delivered to an engine/genset to produce mechanical power.

Gasifier Example: WBG 40.

Electrical output = 22kilowatts per hour.

Hourly feedstock = 33kg.

Rated thermal output: 99,000 kcal/hr. (115kWh - 392,396 BTU). 1 tonne of woodchip at 12% moisture content will produce - 3484kWh and 667kWe.

IMPROVED SPACE

HEATING

The Stick Stove is, we believe, one of the first commercial stove designs in the world to be built to match a system of woodland management, which increases the capacity of the resource to capture carbon dioxide, without replanting trees. . The Stick Stove seeks to redress the way that firewood is grown, harvested and burned in the UK.

MICRO-ECONOMY When wood, regardless of species, lacks moisture it becomes a tradable commodity, much in demand from individuals and companies that use it to generate energy for their homes and businesses. The technology that enables us to remove moisture from wood (and other forms of biomass) is known as TORREFACTION. In a partnership with TSI Inc. (Seattle, USA), Black Mountain Woodfuels can deliver mobile torrefaction technology to the market with the intention of encouraging the creation of at least 1000 new micro- business opportunities in the UK.

If effort is given to bringing the outlined resource back into productive management then 250,000 hectares of underutilised woodland and 450,000 kilometres of hedgerow could, within the next 15 years, be producing more than 950,000 tonnes of wood annually*. If the whole resource was cut over a 15yr cycle between now and 2028, then that volume of wood could be supplied in-perpetuity thereafter.

If the total resource is divided amongst 1000 individuals then, theoretically, each would have access to 16hectares of woodland and (in regions where hedgerows exist) 30 kilometres of hedgerow annually. This area of land would provide each operative with an annual wood supply of 950 tonnes, which, when freshly felled, would have an energy value of about 12Gigajoules a tonne: post-torrefaction that wood will have an energy value of 23Gigajoules a tonne.

At 12Gigajoules per tonne that wood is worth 100 per tonne. At 23 Gigajoules per tonne that wood is worth 200 per tonne.

Each business operative could potentially generate gross annual business revenue of around 190,000. A business with a turnover at this level would expect to have 2 employees.

This resource could be managed as either pure coppice or coppice-with-standards, to create species diverse habitats, which, in ecological terms, Dr George Peterken OBE refers to as squeezing a quart in to a pint pot.

The 1000 new businesses could each be contributing more than 640,000 kilowatts of electrical energy (via gasification and/or micro CHP units detailed previously) and about 2.7million kW of thermal energy (water/space heating) annually. This is enough electrical energy to power 100 houses for 365 days. Collectively, the 1000 businesses could, quite realistically, produce enough electrical energy between them to power 100,000 houses throughout the UK it would take 35 x 3MW wind turbines, in optimal wind, to produce the same amount of electrical energy. These wind turbines would cost in excess of 70million and create fewer than 15 full-time jobs. These 1000 new businesses could be established at a cost of 50million! *2 tonne of wood per woodland hectare & 30 tonne of wood per hedgerow kilometre when under productive management.

INCREASED USE OF RENEWABLE FUEL AT LOCAL LEVEL.

In 2009, the Small Woods Association produced a document for Forest Research* called Community Woodlands in England. The authors identified at least 200 woodland-based community projects throughout England and carried out interviews with 22 of these groups to determine the various issues associated with this type of project. Among the common themes noted were:

1. Most groups rely on a small core of committed individuals, of whom many are getting on in years. This makes the groups vulnerable to the loss of key people the drivers of the group. And;

2. This study has shown that most groups focus on management for biodiversity and conservation. A greater understanding of woodland management might assist groups to look at a more multipurpose management approach.

Within the Recommendations for Further Research the authors noted that: Few groups in this sample list woodland produce amongst their objectives, most are neglecting timber, woodfuel and coppice product sales as a contributor to their income and in many cases are actively dismissing economic woodland management as harmful to their main aims of conservation and biodiversity enhancement. These woodlands have a valuable part to play in providing local carbon neutral energy and in product substitution. We would recommend further research looking at the barriers to bringing community woodlands into economic management and the potential of an education and training programme aimed at community woodland groups and their partners in local authorities and conservation bodies, coupled with a targeted grant programme to support the purchase of equipment and access improvements.

Black Mountain Woodfuels understands these issues and has been working to provide solutions to them for more than 25 years. This experience has convinced us that the only way for woodlands to survive and thrive into the future is for them to become as important to local communities now as they were 75 years ago. This is best accomplished, we believe, by creating jobs for young people in both rural and urban areas of the UK who can develop links between communities and woodlands by providing those communities with accountable benefits: most obviously by helping to reduce heating and energy bills.

Historically, almost all woods were managed as an essential part of the rural economy, providing wood for everything from shipbuilding to clothes pegs. Large estates and small communities relied on the produce from their woodlands to support their vegetable patch, fence their land, cook their food, heat their homes and provide a place for recreation. Industrialisation, the change in skills and migration to find jobs and opportunities in towns left the woodlands to slip into neglect. Communities forgot what the woodland could provide and many disappeared or became fragmented. Today when the emphasis is on somewhere to walk and exercise the dog, the sound of a chainsaw preparing to pollard or coppice a tree can send panic through the neighbourhood. * Community Woodlands in England Baseline Report, Small Woods Association 2009.)

Carbon-efficient systems to manage broadleaved woodland

Increase in human endeavour - decrease in mechanical endeavour.

Communal guardianship of

communal asset

CARBON MANAGEMENT.

As trees grow, they extract CO2 from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. Young trees dont capture much as their absolute growth is slow. Old trees have largely ceased to grow and also dont extract much carbon dioxide. The UKs newer woods, mostly planted thirty to fifty years ago, are now just past their peak at sequestering carbon. The 2005 figure was about 16m tonnes CO2. In 2010, the figure will fall to about 10m tonnes, and by 2020 the figure could be as low as 5m tonnes (less than 1% of national emissions). Actively managed coppice land can continually absorb large volumes of CO2 per hectare. The Forestry Commission suggest 15 tonnes per hectare per year. This storage arises because the wood is chopped down every four years and regrows. (Chris Goodall, Partner at Oxford Climate Associates).

In 2012, Domestic consumers in the United Kingdom were responsible for burning 550,000 tonnes of woodfuel in various forms (log, chip, pellets, etc.). If that fuel had been dried to an optimistic 25% moisture content then about 137,500 tonnes of that woodfuel was sold in the form of water/moisture. That water represents nearly 14million of wasted expenditure. In 2012 this volume of wood had an energy value of 12Gigajoules a tonne: post-torrefaction that wood will have an energy value of 23Gigajoules a tonne. Furthermore, if this woodland resource is coppiced on short-rotations, a silvicultural system that favours ecology above any other, then it has the potential to become a natural carbon-store for more than 3.75million tonnes of CO2 a year.

Black Mountain Woodfuels has the technology in place to enable the productive and profitable management of the resource detailed previously. Added to this, is the opportunity to utilise a further 4 million tonnes of wood from plantations and woodlands that have been decimated by pathogenic fungus, where biosecurity issues restrict the movement of the wood without treatment. We have been conservative in our suggestion that this technology could support the creation of 1000 new micro-business throughout all regions of the UK. Black Mountain Woodfuels is not driven solely by the need to profit, which means that we are not under any pressure to simply dump this technology on to the market where a limited number of people can gain access to it. We have a further responsibility to make sure that the opportunity to create a small business around this technology is shared equally between all in society: from kids living in the inner-cities, low-income families (where the prospect of running a business of this nature is non-existent), and then on to graduates, the long-term unemployed, ex-services personnel and young offenders, and, of course, to people with family who can support them without the need for external funding. Our effort has to make a real change to the way that rural resources are utilised in the UK.

In 2009, high-street banks in the UK all but shut-down lending to small business, and had it not been for recent pressure by Govt (backed by The Bank of England offering cheap-money) the creation of new businesses in the UK would have stopped altogether! It is well-documented that 35% of new business start-ups in the UK will fail within the first three years of trading and that a further 50% of the original figure will fail within 5 years. For every 100 new businesses that were set up in 2000, fewer than 20 will still be trading today! The business opportunities presented here have been developed to boost the desired creation of a Low Carbon Economy. The opportunities that have been created here are based upon a resource which renews itself naturally and, providing that care is given through good management, can be managed and utilised in perpetuity. Black Mountain Woodfuels will invest more than 1,500,000 into the provision of training for every one of the 1000 people who take up this opportunity and will develop a programme of free on-site support to ensure that the technology remains in good working order throughout its lifetime. Added to this, with the support of politicians, the energy industry and others, we will seek to raise 50million in order to support these businesses with a 50,000 donation to each business. This effort is underway. RICHARD EDWARDS Founder and Business Development Director.