Report on the Third Biomass Conference of the Americas

25-28 August 1997, Montreal, Canada

Dr Stephen Schuck - Biomass Taskforce

Contents:

Background - Attendance - Program - Exhibition

Highlights - Welcoming and Plenary Sessions - Technical Papers

Tour to Burlington, Vermont McNeil Power Station

and the Batelle / FERCO Gasifier

Visit to Pyrovac, Sillery (Quebec City) - Conclusions - Appendix

List of Pamphlets and Miscellaneous Papers from Biomass Conference

Background

Biomass is a significant renewable energy resource in northern America, surpassed only by hydroelectricity. The total installed biomass electricity plant in the USA is approximately 9,000 MW. The USA also produces well in excess of a billion gallons (4 billion litres) of ethanol fuel per annum, mainly from corn. Brazil also has a huge ethanol industry based on sugar cane (16 billion litres/annum). Coupled to this there is much development activity to use biomass as a feedstock for energy and chemicals production using gasification and pyrolysis technologies.

This conference was the third biennial conference on biomass, with the previous conferences having been held in Portland, Oregon (1995), and Burlington, Vermont (1993). The intention is for every third conference to be held outside the USA. The Europeans have their major biomass conferences in the intervening, even years.

Attendance

The Biomass Taskforce Manager received financial support to attend the Third Biomass Conference of the Americas from the Biomass Taskforce (through the Energy Research and Development Corporation) and the Electricity Supply Association of Australia (ESAA). The conference was attended by over 400 delegates from 31 countries. The preliminary Attendee List spanned 41 pages (sample page in Appendix).

Program

The technical program consisted of an exhibition, technical tours, presentations and interactive poster sessions. The Conference was opened by the Quebec Minister for Natural Resources (in French with simultaneous translation to English). This was followed by two plenaries by the CEO of Hydro Quebec and the Vice President of Societe Generale de Financement (SGF), an agency that provides venture capital for biomass projects. Other plenaries were provided by senior members of NREL (the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory), the US Department of Energy, Sofinov (an investment company), and a leading academic from King's College, London.

The technical presentation sessions were held in five parallel sessions. The sessions topics were:

· Resource Base (three sessions plus interactive cluster papers (poster session)).

· Environmental Impact and Sustainability (one session plus interactive cluster papers).

· Heat and Power - Fundamentals

· Heat and Power - Gasification I

· Heat and Power - Combustion

· Heat and Power - Gasification II

· Heat and Power (Interactive Cluster Papers)

· Pyrolysis and Bio-Oils (session plus poster session)

· Chemicals and Materials (two sessions plus poster session)

· Biofuels (two sessions plus interactive cluster session)

· Anaerobic Digestion (session plus Interactive cluster session)

· Systems Integration (three sessions plus interactive cluster session)

· Economics and Business (two sessions plus interactive cluster session).

There was not sufficient early interest to run the one day course on the fundamentals of biomass (US$1200), nor a half day tutorial on the business side of biomass (US $800). These will be offered at the next conference in 1999.

S Schuck also participated on two technical tours, which were part of the conference. These were to (a) the Joseph C. McNeil 50 MW wood chip power plant (largest in the USA) and to the nearby 200 t/d Batelle/FERCO biomass gasifier (about to be commissioned) in Vermont; and to (b) Pyrovac and Forintek (Quebec City area) to inspect a vacuum pyrolysis plant and timber research institute.

The proceedings of the conference is in two bound volumes plus an addendum, consisting of approximately 2000 pages. The proceedings will be sold through Elsevier for US$400 per set. A copy of the conference final agenda as well as the contents of the main two volumes of the proceedings are appended. As part of the support arrangements with the ESAA, it was agreed to make the proceedings available to the ESAA. The Biomass Taskforce Manager will retain the proceedings to service future inquiries of the Taskforce membership.

Exhibition

There was a relatively small exhibition held with the conference. Exhibitors included the US Department of Energy, an aviation ethanol group from Baylor University in Texas, Hydro Quebec, Natural Resources of Canada, REAP (Resource Efficient Agricultural Production), Sunpower Inc (Stirling Engine with fee piston linear generator), Bioten (gasification technology) and Elsevier publishers.

Besides the exhibition, numerous pamphlets and brochures were laid out for dissemination. A list of collected material is appended.

Highlights from Attended Sessions

Welcoming and Plenary Sessions:

Mr Guy Chevrette, Quebec Minister for Natural Resources:

Seven percent of Canada's energy is sourced from biomass. The Quebec government has embraced the concept of sustainable development, and is including environmental issues in restructuring its energy markets. It recently set up its Energy Efficiency Agency. Hydro Quebec has three priority areas for new energy: hydrogen, wind and biomass.

Dr Alan Dolenko, Conference Chair:

Of the view that the community was demanding a green bottom line, and that this pressure would be passed on to industry. Canada had a number of biomass plants and industries. Examples were given as the Tembec alcohol plant at a pulp and paper mill, Kemestrie Inc, which is applying a chemical refinery approach to biomass, Rentech which is producing liquid fuels, and Orenda Aerospace which is firing an industrial gas turbine from a fast pyrolysis unit. Vancouver has a 720t/day municipal incinerator, which sells steam for $2.6 million per annum. He was of the view that by 2020 the renewable energy industry would be worth $800 to $2400 billion per annum.

Bernard Otis, Hydro Quebec:

Gave an overview of Hydro Quebec, the world's sixth largest electricity utility. Assets were $54 billion, and capacity 32 GW. Sees potential for biomass of several hundred megawatts. They are considering proposals for projects based on forest residues, wastes and biogas. Quebec currently has 240 MW of biomass plant, including 31 MW at Chapais (tree bark) and 25 MW at Gazmont (landfill gas). Other projects use black liquor from kraft paper mills and sewerage sludges. Energy crops were also being developed with an experimental Short Rotation Coppicing (SRC) facility at Estrie. This was being used to assess operational costs and environmental impacts. Energy crops could be grown on fallow land. The high cost of electricity in north east USA was seen as particularly attractive for biomass energy.

Ms Jacinthe Dauphin, SGF:

SGF provides venture capital and investment, including in bioenergy and biotechnology projects, and has $800 million investment in a diversified portfolio. SGF was interested in biomass as a feedstock for future chemical industries. Products were seen as; fuels and additives (MTBE); commodity products such as ethylene; intermediaries; polymers and byproducts; and speciality and fine chemicals (fragrances). Issues were seen as; economics; processing; market acceptance; and environment. Supply security of raw materials was also seen as very important. Hydro carbon processing was compared with biomass. Issues here relate to handling, the hydrogen:carbon ratio, and the complex ultrastructure of biomass. The preliminary action plan for biomass is to target fractionation technologies (separation and pyrolysis), improve feedstocks, and gain market acceptance. A short promotional video on SGF was shown.

Helena Chum, NREL:

General welcome and sources of technical papers by country were given. Address indicated that biomass was now the world's forth most prevalent energy source. She presented Shell's New Frontiers projections of energy supply and demand in the world. In these projections, biomass and other renewable energy sources becomes much more important in the next sixty years. Greenhouse gases and the upcoming meeting at Kyoto were also alluded to.

Dr Ray Costello, US Department of Energy:

Ray is on the Executive of the International Energy Agency's Bioenergy Implementing Agreement. In the USA funding for production, harvesting and conversion technology development for biomass is up, at $60 million with a further $38 million for carbon dioxide research. The USA has 350 biomass electricity plants, with 7 GW operational. New projects mentioned were an ethanol from rice straws plant near Sacramento, California, and a forestry thinnings to ethanol plant. Co-firing of biomass and coal was also mentioned. Current ethanol costs were given as US$1.22/gallon. This is projected to fall to 67c/gal by 2010 as new technologies are developed. The Ethanol market in the USA is seen as 12 billion gallons in 2010. Other future trends are seen as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and integrated gasification with fuel cells.

Dr Bernard Coupal (Sofinov):

His company is a technology transfer and risk capital concern, working in IT and biotechnology. Their investment criteria, from which they do not stray are: projects must be selected field; potential for development of added value; optimum return on investment; and an economic outcome for Quebec. He mentioned that their superannuation funds have a large portfolio in biotechnology. They set up about five companies per year. They look for good science, entrepreneurs, IP well protected and good market potential in their investments.

Prof David Hall, Kings College, London:

He is the editor of Biomass and Bioenergy, a new Elsevier journal. He also mentioned the Shell international study, which indicates that by 2020 biomass and solar photovoltaics will be important technologies. He mentioned a number of international targets for increasing renewable energy. An example is Denmark, which plans to increase its reliance on renewables from 8% to 35% by 2020. Biomass has a number of negative perceptions. These are that it is an inconvenient carrier, not modern; high land requirement; environmental disadvantages; expensive; energy balance is not positive (net user of energy); and resources are limited. The key to overcoming these negative perceptions were seen as public involvement and acceptance of biomass. He then addressed these issues in turn, and how problems were being overcome. He also addressed carbon dioxide reduction using biomass.

Technical Papers

The following relate to some of the attended papers from the five parallel sessions. Selected papers are summarised to encapsulate the theme and content of the conference.

Session 8A: Systems Integration

SRC-GAZEL - Full Scale Gasification Project

GAZEL (Belgium) is an acronym for gasification plus electricity. Electrabel, the large Belgian utility has a target of 27 MW from new renewables by 2005. This project is an integrated project of harvesting willow and poplar by coppicing and gasifying the wood to produce 150 kW of electricity. The wood comes from 10 ha of SRC. The gasifier is a fixed bed, downdraft gasifier, costing in the range $800-$1200/kW with a the producer gas having a lower heating value (lhv) of 5.3 MJ/m³. This plant starts form cold in six minutes. Overall thermal efficiency is 20 percent. Problems were gaining development approval, delays in construction, SRC chip handling, and the excessive pressure drop in the gasifier. Carbon dioxide reductions were given as 20t/ha/a over competing electricity.

Biomass and Black Liquor Gasifier/Gas Turbine Cogeneration at Pulp and Paper Mills - Dr Eric Larson (Princeton University)

The present technology uses steam boilers, with kraft paper mills being net users of electricity. This paper considers gasifying the black liquor and sludge from the process and using the producer gas for electricity production, to be a net producer of electricity. The conventional technology (Thomlinson boiler) is subject to explosion hazards if the smelt comes into contact with water when boiler tubes develop leaks. The paper considered various computer models of gasification systems to gauge system performance. The conclusion was that kraft paper mills could be significant producers of electricity, instead of net consumers.

California Biomass Industry Prepares Itself for a World of Competition - Greg Morris (Future Resources Associates, Inc)

This paper gave the history and overview of biomass energy production in California, which peaked in 1990 when 11 plants were commissioned in that year. Capacity has since declined, with some plants being left idle because of changes to government regulations allowing utilities to buy out biomass power purchase agreements. The price of competing natural gas electricity in California has declined to a low level. The production costs in California were given as:

Non-fuel O&M 2.2-2.8 c/kWh

Fuel 1.2-3.5 c/kWh

Capital 2.5-4.5 c/kWh

5.9-10.8 c/kWh.

Recently, bill AB1890 was mooted, but this does not explicitly provide for renewables and their benefits. It is now proposed to provide some cost shifting to stimulate biomass energy in California.

Evaluation of an Integrated Biomass Gasification/Fuel Cell Power Plant, Energy Research Corporation and Iowa State University

This study investigated the use of gasified switchgrass (a prairy grass) for fueling molten carbonate fuel cells in the size range 2-3 MW. A molten carbonate fuel cell has been operating for over 5,700 hours in California, and the producer gas from a fluidised bed gasifier is being investigated for use with such a fuel cell. This paper reports on findings thus far. The issue of tar and other contaminants removal from the gas still need further investigation.

Session 8B: System Integration

The Use of Biomass In Sweden and for the Future, R Bergstrom

This author's company produces 155 GWh/a electricity plus district heat and employs 145 staff. The taxation system is favourable for biomass in Sweden. Sweden has installed the world's largest wood dryer for power production. It has a diameter of 50 feet. This was required because the fuel at this plant was about 50% moisture. The fuel is now dried to 10 percent moisture. Sweden is providing a strong push with biomass gasification technologies, led by TPS. They are targeting the Brazilian market. Also Sweden is committed to closing down one nuclear power station in 1998 and another in 2001. This is seen as an incentive for biomass electricity. Fuel resources are seen as forestry wastes, black liquor, and domestic wastes.

The Brazilian Renewable Energy Program - Biomass National Plan, M. de Freitas

Brazil's focus is on ethanol from sugar cane and charcoal from wood. The plan calls for 12 Mt/a charcoal by 2005 and ethanol production of 18 billion litres/annum. Present ethanol production is 16 GL/a. The plan also calls for 20 ML/a combustible vegetable oils and reforestation of 3 million hectares. Brazil has about 700,000 jobs in ethanol production, with 4 percent of these cutting cane. Eight percent of vehicles will be fueled solely on ethanol, with 22% being blended with petrol.

Biomass Programme in India - an overview, N. Singh

India has generating capacity of 76 GW for its 900 million people. Fuel wood production is 38 Mt/a, while demand is 168 Mt/a. Biomass power accounts for 107 MWe, with biomass gasification providing 31 MW. India has set up four gasifier research centres, with the emphasis on plants in the range 3-500 kW. Other areas of interest relate to biomass briquetting, cookstoves and biogas from manures. The Indian government provides a number of incentives for renewable energy systems, ranging from soft finance, low import tariffs and favourable buyback rates for electricity.

European Energy Crops Overview - Utilisation for Power and heat Generation and for the Production of Transport Fuels, R Venedaal, BTG, the Netherlands

This paper catalogued energy crop resources and prospects in Europe. Crops include willow, poplar, reed canary grass, miscanthus, energy grain for energy, and rape seed oil, sugar beet, sweet sorghum and winter wheat for transport fuels. The paper concludes that further work needs to be done on tailoring energy crops for power by reducing chlorine (corrosion), lowering potassium (fouling, slagging and corrosion), lowering nitrogen (NOx) and lowering moisture levels (higher calorific value). Co-firing biomass fuels with more common fuels is seen as a good path to getting biomass accepted as a fuel. Taxis in Berlin run on biodiesel.

Session 9A: Economics and Business

Creating an Initial Market for Electricity from Biomass in the UK: Progress so Far, R Kettle, DTI

The third round of the NFFO resulted in three biomass gasification projects, with a combined capacity of 19 MW being contracted in 1994. Developers of these projects have five years to implement these projects. NFFO 4 attracted 89 expressions of interest in offering biomass projects with a total capacity of over 700 MW. The average offering for biomass electricity has dropped from 8.65 p/kWh to 5.52 p/kWh in the fourth round without a plant having been built. Projects contracted under NFFO include two 13 MW poultry litter plants, with a further five under NFFO 3. Also a 31 MW straw fired project and a 0.3 MW anaerobic digestor plant fueled by wet agricultural wastes have been contracted.

Session 8C: Interactive Cluster Session

Small-Scale Biomass Fuel Cell/Gas Turbine Power Systems for Rural Areas,

Presented by E Larson, Centre for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University

This paper illustrated the use of the ASPEN model (used by CSIRO and Pacific Power) for modeling the performance of this system. The high efficiency of 40-45% makes such a system attractive at 5c/kWh (US).

Session 3D: Gasification II

Demonstration of a 1 MWe Biomass Power Plant at USMC Base Camp Lejeune

This paper described a downdraft, moving bed gasifier supplying gas to two spark ignition engines. The main engine is an 800 kW Waukesha L 7042 GSI engine. The fuel is hogged waste wood from a Marine military camp. Special design features relate to the gasifier, wood drying, tar separation, and process control.

Cogeneration from Wood Chip Combustion Using a Stirling Power Conversion System and Gasifier, L Johansson, Stirling Thermal Motors

STM is one of the world's leading Stirling engine manufacturers, and is privately owned by 100 private shareholders. The project gasifier is from Chiptec, a Burlington Vermont based company. This gasifier/Stirling engine system produces 1 kWh electricity and 2 kWh thermal from every 1 kg of wood. The plant is trailer mounted for demonstration purposes. Output is 10-25 kWe. Applications are for RAPS, cogeneration, diesel replacement and supporting distributed power.

Commercial Development of the Battelle/FERCO Biomass Gasification Process - Initial Operation of the McNeil Gasifier, M Paisley.

This paper relates to the much publicised gasifier that was visited by attendees of the conference at Burlington, Vermont, in the USA. This gasifier has recently been completed, and awaits commissioning in October 1997. The gasifier is a commercial scale version of the gasifier that has been undergoing development at the Batelle laboratories in Ohio. The gasifier is designed to remove alkali metals as part of the process, as well as increase the calorific value of the gas as water is removed. This two stage gasifier produces gas of composition 50% carbon monoxide, 15.5% methane, and 17.5% hydrogen. The commercial scale cost was indicated as $1037/kW for an electricity cost of 4.7 c/kWh. Further details of this gasifier are contained in a journal article reproduced in the Appendix.

World State of Gasification, Tom Reid, Colorado School of Mines

Tom Reid has been around the world studying the status of biomass gasifiers. He is assembling an index of technologies, to be disseminated through the Biomass Energy Foundation. There are at least 120 different biomass gasifiers around the world. He discussed some aspects of gasification. In particular, the main problem with gasification is the production of tars. Engines can operate with tar levels as high as 30 ppm. It was of interest to see that Tom Reid's database includes a gasifier from New Zealand (contact Ian Kearney, BioSystems Energy, tel 64-3-544 5556).

Synthesis Session

Ralph Overend of NREL discussed issues relating to biomass as a fuel, including chlorine corrosion and ash deposition. Future development would be directed to IGFC/GT technology (integrated gasification, fuel cells with gas turbine integration) and genetic engineering to produce faster growing wood crops.

Lynn Wright of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussed the use of willow, poplar and switchgrass for the American context. Sustainability of fuel crops was seen as most important.

Pat Foody of Iogen (ethanol plant) spoke about bioenergy in transportation and energy. The best long term prospects for ethanol were seen as use of trees (10t/acre) as opposed to grasses (5t/acre). It was noted that grains are designed to break down easily (for ethanol production), whereas wood was designed by nature to resist breakdown. The cellulose and hemicellulose in wood is protected by lignin. At present 0.8% of the USA's fuel comes from ethanol. In the USA the petrol production price (excluding taxes) is 25.3 c/l. Ethanol prices have been falling as technology has been improving as follows:

1974 $2.5/l

1989 51c/l

1997 35c/l

2007 22c/l (est)

Ethanol from crops is generally not seen as sustainable. The best long term prospect for ethanol is from lignocellulosic sources.

The outlook for ethanol from biomass was seen as positive, with further incentives expected from Kyoto at the end of the year.

Professor David Hall noted the issues that had not been raised to any significant level at the conference. These were: water use, nutrients, landscape, multiple tree species, guidelines, subsidies and the role of the public. Genetic engineering of tree species was seen as having an important role in the future.

Open Discussion:

Co-firing of biomass in coal fired plant was seen as a way of using biomass energy without significant financial and technical risk. Coal was seen to have a bleak future with a tax level of $66/t mentioned. A number of demonstration projects have been conducted in the USA on co-firing biomass. Problems arising are how to introduce the biomass (sawdust can easily be used at the 1-2 percent level), infrastructure issues, changes to the flyash (particularly where this is sold) and NOx (biomass is not nitrogen free).

Merits of plantations of windrows were that peak temperatures were lower, while the average temperature was elevated. This improved crop yields.

Genetic breeding of willow was said to improve yields by up to 30 percent. Eucalypts were being cloned in Brazil (50-60 clones developed).

There were great expectations that the Kyoto conference on greenhouse gases at the end of the year would give impetus to biomass energy technology.

Future Perspectives

Robert Benson of Tembec, a large Canadian biomass plant gave his perspectives of the industry and its future. Tembec has been operating for 25 years. Sales are $2 billion per annum and it has 5000 employees. Business is mediocre at the moment, but the company is surviving. Tembec's hurdle return on capital is 12 percent. Tembec produces 18 ML of ethanol per year from wood. It also produces phenol formaldehyde at its plant. Company problems relate to raw materials, process design and markets.

Problems with the quality of biomass are contamination (rocks), seasonal variation, rot, insects, fires (in storage area), bark (dirty, hard to separate, contaminants), species mix (process difficulty) and geographical variation. Biomass in Canada is characterised by huge forests, access problems in the muddy season, and supply cannot be interrupted easily. He gave his views on the various industrial uses for biomass and yields. Acid hydrolysis for biomass chemical production had problems of acid contamination and air pollution from acid vapour.

Value added products were Xylose (a sugar that does not cause tooth decay), and phenol formaldehyde resins. Tembec produces ethanol for 52c/l, and phenol formaldehyde resin for $1200/t. The latter figure is below $1700/t (projected when the investment decision was made).

Tembec has learned to be part of the community, to use all of the trees profitably, to invest in modernisation, adopt backwards integration and to pay the least possible capital for expansion.

Stuart Smith of Philip Environmental gave the down side in the industry as; low world energy prices; global competition (need to reduce costs); deregulation of the energy markets and; environmental concerns (low issue in north America). The up side was the impending greenhouse gas meeting in Kyoto, tradeable permits, offsets (plantations), smog in the northern hemisphere (links to increased mortality), emergence of value added products, job creation (biomass plantations) and the joint use of biomass and fossil fuels.

Tour to Burlington, Vermont McNeil Power Station and the Batelle/FERCO Gasifier

A highlight of the conference was a visit to the McNeil power station in Vermont. This 50 MW wood chip fired power station has been in operation since mid 1984. The capital cost of this stoker grate power plant was $67 million. Most of the wood chips come from low quality trees and harvest residues. The remaining wood is sourced from local sawmills, and from processed urban wood wastes. The power station employs foresters who participate in the harvest of wood to ensure only low quality timber is used and clear felling is limited to 25 acres. The wood is chipped in the forest and transported by rail or trailer trucks to the power station. The fuel cost is in the range of US $12 to $20 per ton. The wood chip pile is well managed to ensure a first in- first out usage to prevent spontaneous combustion and decomposition.

In 1989 gas was added to the power station to increase its capacity. At full load the plant consumes 76 tons of chips per hour. The plant is equipped with an electrostatic precipitator and cyclones to limit particulates. The ash is mixed with limestone and is marketed as a soil conditioner and for road base.

Also on site adjacent to the power plant is the newly constructed Batelle/FERCO gasifier. This gasifier will use much of the infrastructure of the power station and initially pipe the producer gas into the power station's furnace. At a later stage a gas turbine will be provided. The 200 t/day gasifier cost $14 million to construct. Delegates were conducted on a tour of the gasifier. Appended with this report is an article from Power Engineering on this gasifier.

Visit to Pyrovac, Sillery (Quebec City)

Pyrovac has developed vacuum pyrolysis technology based on forestry and energy crop feedstocks. The process leads to the production of primary oils from which the company hopes to extract after purification fine chemicals such as phenolics, carboxylic acids, food fragrances and pharmaceutical compounds. These products have a high commercial value. The wood charcoal produced can be transformed into activated charcoal which is used for waste water and air treatment. Byproduct oil and charcoal from the process, as well as the gas can then be burned in cogeneration applications. The technology is at an advanced laboratory stage. A commercialisation company, Pyrovac International, Inc has been formed to market this technology internationally.

A tour of the plant showed the plant in operation as well as samples of product oils.

Conclusions

The Conference showed that biomass energy production using combustion technologies was mature and well established in the USA and Europe. In some cases biomass energy has been integrated into conventional coal fired plants by co-firing sawdust and pyrolysis oils .

Considerable development activity is now being directed towards biomass gasification technologies, to allow the use of gas engines and gas turbines in combined cycle and cogeneration applications. Gasification is also being applied to fuel cells for increased overall thermal efficiency improvement.

Pyrolysis technologies are also being developed for the production of fine chemicals and fuels from biomass.

Ethanol production from dedicated corn crops in the USA is generally not seen as sustainable, and much effort is now going into using lignocellulosic feedstocks (wood) for potentially cheaper and sustainable ethanol production. There is also interest in using municipal solid waste for ethanol production.

Many of the delegates were from government research institutes and government agencies. Small to medium size private enterprises were also well represented. There was very little representation from large electricity utilities.

The Biomass Taskforce Manager found the conference to be most informative and has established some useful international contacts for the Biomass Taskforce.

Appendix

1. Program

2. List of Pamphlets and Miscellaneous Papers

3. Proceedings Contents

4. Extract from Attendee List

5. Bioenergy email lists (free subscription details)

6. Ethanol plant statistics

7. US Department of Energy Publications

8. Power Engineering article on the Batelle/FERCO gasifier

9. Recent article on Biomass from Solar Today

List of Pamphlets and Miscellaneous Papers from Biomass Conference

· Pyrovac International - company information and scientific publications

- Process Description

· Hydro Quebec - Corporate profile

· REAP (Resource Efficient Agricultural Production) newspaper: Sustainable Farming

· Canadian Agricultural New Uses Council - Ontario: setting up directory

· Brightstar Synfuels Co - Business Report (link to EDL recently established)

· IVO Group - Bed mixing biomass dryer

· Biofuels UPDATE - US DOE. Biodiesel

· NREL - Research Brief on Biomass Ethanol

· Sowing Seed, Planting Trees, Producing Power - reprint from Solar Today, July/Aug 97.

· Silax Consortium - Niagara Mowhawk Power Corporation. Cofiring willow with coal.

· Willow Clones: 10.5t/acre (Cf 1.5t/acre for natural forest)

· Biofuels for Transportation. US DOE. Including Biofacts pamphlets.

· Biological and Chemical Technologies Research Program- Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, DOE.

· Switchgrass As A Fuel Stock For Electric Power Generation In Tennessee.

· Methane Recovery from Animal Manures. A Current opportunities casebook. DOE, Aug 1995.

· Biomass Power - An old resource for a new technology - DOE.

· Straw Fired District Heating Plants in Denmark - Facts and Figures. Centre of Biomass Technology, May 1996.

· Energy Production from Wastes and Biomass - NOVEM (Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment)

· The Future is Ethanol- Applied Agricultural Technologies, Inc.

· Southeastern Regional Biomass Energy Program Publications 1997. TVA et al.

· Agriculture-related R&D at the Dept of Energy - DOE. July 1997.

· SRC-GAZEL: A full-scale pilot project- Electrabel et al (Belgium).

· Biomass Gasification turns Landfill to Fuel - Ontario Hydro Technologies

· Proceedings of the Canadian Energy Plantation Workshop - Natural Resource Canada, Ontario, May 1995.

· Regional Biomass Energy Program - Strategic Plan: 1997-2003. DOE. July 1997.

· Gasification on the Internet - Biomass Energy Foundation Press (flyer).

· Progress in Thermochemical Biomass Conversion, Bavaria, Germany May 2000. Conference notification.

· PyNE, Pyrolysis network for Europe, Issue 3, March 1997. 24 pp.

· Brightstar Synfuels Co. - Pamphlet (link to EDL and David Neuwen)

· BSC - Technology Overview.

· Centre of Biomass Technology (Denmark)- Technical data on biomass.

· Pure Energy Corporation - company promotional.

· The Commercial Co-firing of RTP Bio-oil at the Manitowoc Public Utilities Power Generating Station - Manitowoc Public Utilities, Wisconsin, June 1997 (bio-oil 17.5 MJ/kg, 624,000 gallons per annum).

· Future Energy Resources Corporation - Burlington Vermont Gasification Facility: Sample DCS Control Screens, Aug 1997.

· Ethanol Fuel Cell Workshop 1997 - Energy Research Corporation - Workshop notice.

· Alternative Feedstocks Program - DOE Laboratory Consortium.

· Pamphlets: Clean Fractionation of Biomass

· Biologically Produced Succinic Acid: A new route to chemical intermediates

· Value-Added Products - Polyols Production

· Process Systems Analysis of Renewables-Based Chemicals Production

· Thermogenics Incorporated Gasification - Waste Management for the Next Millenium

· AgSTAR Digest. EPA. (Energy and pollution prevention from feedlots- see www.epa.gov/docs/GCDOAR/agstar.html).

· Biomass: Fuel and raw material - Netherlands Energy Research Foundation.

· The Vermont Biomass Gasification Project: An Innovative Step in Renewable Energy Production. Burlington Electric Department.

· Joseph C. McNeil - Wood Powered Electric Generating Facility. Woodchips to Energy. Burlington Electric Department.

· BioEnergy '98 - Madison Wisconsin. Conference Notification.

· Renewable Energy - Publications from James and James.

· 11th International Drying Symposium - Greece. Conference notification.

· Environmental Aspects of Energy Crop Production - Workshop Program, Italy, Oct 1997.

· Pinnacle Technology - Company profile.

· Applying Whole-tree Skidding Methods to Scandinavian Lumber Conditions - Poster flyer, VTT Energy, Finland.

· Development of Chain-flail Debarking Technology for Integrated Production of Wood Fuel and Pulpwood - technology transfer from USA to Finland. VTT Energy, poster flyer.

· Biogas from Municipal Solid Waste - Overview of Systems and Markets for Anaerobic Digestion of MSW. IEA Bioenergy 1996 (booklet 24pp).

· Willow Biomass (four one-page abstracts on pests, genetic improvement, biosolids for soil improvement)

· Ignition Delay Times of Poplar, fast pyrolysis oil mixtures - Poster flyer; Chem Eng University of Kansas.

· CO2 Emissions for Industrial and Municipal Sludges, Natural Resources Canada, CANMET.

· Bioenergy '96 - Conference proceedings order information, TVA, Alabama.

· Development of a Protocol for Assessing and Comparing the Quality of Aerobic Composts and Anaerobic Digestates - Final Report, IEA Bioenergy, Energy Recovery from MSW Task, Anaerobic Digestion Activity.

· Centre for Biomass Energy Systems, University of Florida, Gainesville. Pamphlet on activities.

· Florida Biomass - Newsletters. Topics include: Energy form Waste Wood and Scrap Tires (sic); Co Combustion of Biomass with other Domestic Fuels; RFP deadlines; Genetically Engineered Bacteria Convert Biomass Sugars to Fuel Ethanol; Biodiesel, Anaerobic Composting.

· Energy Today. Newsletter July 1997. Intelligence report (points to web sites).

· Bioten - Biomass Fueled Combustion Turbines for Power Production: Company information plus Exhibition pamphlets (agricultural wastes to energy).

· Sustaining Development, Societe Generale De Financement Du Quebec, Annual Report.

· The Solar Letter - International Newsletter on Renewable Energy, August 15, 1997. 16pp sample edition.

· Renewable Energy Technologies in Cold Climates '98. International Conference announcement, Canada.

· Biomass for Energy and Industry: 10th European Conference - Announcement.

· CANMET (Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology)- Overview of activities.

· CANMET - booklet on programs.

· Biomass Energy Foundation Press - Book order form.

· The Poplar Council of Canada - pamphlet

· Sunpower, Inc (Exhibition pamphlet and papers on free piston Stirling engine technologies).

· Biothermica - Exhibition company profile (biomass IGCC)

· Biopower - Biomass Power Program, Office of Utility Technologies, US DOE pamphlets:

Biomass Power

Biomass Power for Rural Development Initiative

The American Farm: Harnessing the Sun to Fuel the World.

DOE Biomass Power Program - Strategic Plan 1996- 2015. 13pp.

Biomass Lights America's Future (cf www.eren.doe.gov/biopower)

Sowing Seed, Planting Trees, Producing Power - reprint from Solar Today.

· US Department of Energy Biofuels Technology: NREL - Biofuels UPDATE: 2 newsletters.

· Kemestrie Inc. A Natural Commitment to Green Chemicals - pamphlet. Fine Chemicals and Commodities.

· CQVB - Company products. Start up and financing packages for biomass technology companies.

· CPM Pelleting System (Ingersoll Rand). Exhibition pamphlets.

· Aviation Ethanol and Clean Airports Programs. Approx 25 paper, pamphlets on work in the USA in establishing ethanol as a clean aviation fuel. Nucleus at Baylor University (link to Swinburne University of Technology).

· Caddet - Ethanol as an Aviation Fuel. Technical Brochure 51.

· Switch Grass: A potential biomass energy crop for ethanol production, R Samson, REAP.

· Short-Rotation Forestry and the Water Problem - REAP.

· Economic Assessment of Short-Rotation Forestry and Switchgrass Plantations for Energy Production in Central Canada.

· Cogeneration from Wood Chip Combustion Using a Stirling Power Conversion System and Gasifier, Ziph, Johansson and McKeough, STM, Michigan.

· Biomass Combustion Options for Steam Generation, Biggs et al. Foster Wheeler International.