Recently in Biomass Category

The Alabama Forestry Commission has released a guide to help residential, commercial, and industrial consumers evaluate the opportunity to use woody biomass to fuel their energy needs. The guide illustrates the available woody biomass in Alabama and states that between 2001 and 2008 "Alabama's tree inventory increased by a net amount of 13.9 million tons annually or a 1.3% increase." The guide also lists helpful tools in evaluating woody biomass opportunities including the USDA Forest Service's fuel value calculator. The guide can be accessed here. 

From Biofuels Digest:

In Canada, scientists at the Indian Head Research Farm in Saskatchewan, studying the impact of corn straw removal on soil nitrogen and soil organic carbon, found that "The results would support the recommendation that some straw could be removed from fields providing that the frequency of removal was less than 66% and that no more than 40% of the aboveground residues other than grain are removed. From a crop management perspective, proper nitrogen fertility combined with no-till would further reduce the possibility of net losses in SOC and SON."

The researchers studied the impact of soil removal over a 50 year period.

A recent study conducted by Iowa State University found that "removing corn cobs from fields for use in cellulosic ethanol production appears to have no substantial impact on soil nutrient content."

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently analyzed the potential impacts of three federal renewable electricity standards. The report found that the "differences between average national electricity prices in the RES cases and the base case are less than 1%... and no state sees an increase of more than 5% compared to the base case in 2022, th eyear of peak impact on prices."

The report states that Southeast states would generally rely on biomass co-firing and the purchase of renewable energy credits to reach the mandate. John Wilson of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy disputes this finding. "The technical report's regional perspective is at odds with similar studies by others, and with our own investigation into the potential for renewable energy in the Southeast," Wilson wrote on his blog. "The three major problems with this report are: biopower is poorly analyzed, or at least poorly documented; transmission is assumed to be built quickly; and distributed generation is not adequately considered." To read more of Wilson's comments visit the SACE energy blog.

From TimberBuySell.com:

Peregrine Energy Corporation, a leader in developing independent power and other industrial energy efficiency-related projects, announced today that it plans to develop a new woody biomass-fueled cogeneration plant at Sonoco's Hartsville Manufacturing Complex, according to Ralph H. Walker, Jr., president of Peregrine Energy. The $135 million investment by Peregrine represents one of the largest single capital development projects in Darlington County's history.

Plans are for Peregrine to construct and own a new 50-megawatt capacity facility that will be capable of generating enough electricity to power approximately 14,000 homes. The new biomass-fueled cogeneration facility will replace Sonoco's existing coal-fired boilers. Once the facility is operating, Peregrine intends to sell the entire electrical output and all renewable energy certificates associated with the plant to Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc., and low pressure steam from the plant to Sonoco for use in the manufacture of recycled paperboard and other converted products at its Hartsville complex.

From Ceres:

Energy crop company Ceres, Inc., announced today that it will work with University of Georgia researchers to develop new high-yielding switchgrass seed varieties and improved crop management techniques for the southeastern United States. Switchgrass, which can reach yields of 6 to10 dry tons or more in the Southeast, is widely considered an ideal raw material for next-generation biofuels and biopower.

The multi-year project will bring together plant breeders, agronomists and support scientists at Ceres and the University of Georgia to develop improved seed varieties. Field researchers will also evaluate cropping practices in the Southeast, adapting developments made by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, an Oklahoma-based agricultural research institution with which Ceres has a long-term product development collaboration.

Read the full press release here.

In response to the restrictive definition of "biomass" that was used in the federal renewable fuels standard (RFS), Southern state legislatures are passing resolutions asking Congress to expand the definition of biomass to include additional forest biomass resources from private and federal lands. The states are asking Congress to change the definition in the RFS as well as to use an expanded definition in future energy legislation, such as a renewable electricity standard (RES).

Both the House and Senate of the Georgia state legislature passed resolutions asking that the definition of "renewable biomass" include "any organic matter available on a renewable or recurring basis." The current biomass definition disqualifies 15 million acres of private forestland in Georgia for being used in biomass energy production. The Alabama House and the South Carolina House and Senate have passed similar resolutions.

For more information on the biomass definition visit: http://www.eesi.org/renewable_biomass_def.

From the U.S. Department of Energy

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a request from Georgia Power Company to convert its Plant Mitchell Unit 3 from a coal-fired power plant to a biomass power plant. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will be able to produce 96 megawatts of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States. It will draw on surplus wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the power plant. Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, requested the conversion last summer and plans to begin the conversion by spring of 2011. The Georgia PSC approved Georgia Power's request on March 17, while also approving the utility's construction of two new nuclear power units at its Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Georgia. See the Southern Company press release on the initial request and the press release on the approval from the Georgia PSC

From Enerkem press release:

Enerkem Inc., an advanced biofuels and green chemicals technology company, recently announced its plans to build and operate a second-generation biofuels production facility located in Pontotoc, Mississippi. In addition, the company announced the signature of a Memorandum of Intent with the Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority of Mississippi (TRSWMA) for the supply of approximately 189,000 tons of unsorted municipal solid waste (MSW) per year for use as feedstock at the Pontotoc facility.

Plans call for the plant to be built, owned and operated by Enerkem Mississippi Biofuels, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enerkem. It is expected to produce 20 million gallons per year of next-generation ethanol using a mix of feedstock comprised of wood residues from regional forest and agricultural operations, as well as urban biomass such as municipal solid waste, construction and demolition debris, and treated wood. In addition to the biofuels production facility, the investment includes an upstream municipal solid waste recycling and pre-treatment center.

The total project represents a US$250 million investment. The Enerkem process will recycle and convert approximately 60% of the MSW that crosses the gate at the Three Rivers landfill. The majority of the MSW will be converted into biofuels and the remainder will be distributed to recycling processors. The overall project is expected to create 150 long-term direct and indirect jobs, and to generate an additional 300 jobs during the construction and start-up phases.

From Andalusia Star-News:

PowerSouth joins 36 other cooperatives and municipal electric companies in Georgia, Alabama and Florida in agreeing to purchase power from a planned 100-megawatt biomass-fired power plant near Fort Gaines, Ga. The contracts are for an initial term of 30 years, with options to extend the term to 40 years. All the plant's output is committed, as are all of the renewable energy credits.

Yellow Pine plans to sell electricity generated from environmentally friendly wood waste. The material will come from timber harvesting residuals and the collection of non-commercial tree species' tree-thinnings, lumber scraps and wood waste reclaimed from landfills, according to published reports. Construction on the facility is slated to begin this summer.

A group of nine biomass companies has formed the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC), a non-profit association dedicated to advancing the use of biomass for heat and other thermal energy applications. The founding members of BTEC include biomass fuel producers, appliance manufacturers and distributors, and supply chain companies that represent the breadth of interests in the fast growing biomass thermal energy industry. The initial founding members of the Biomass Thermal Energy Council are: Bear Mountain Forest Products, BioHeatUSA, Energex Corporation, Forest Energy Corporation, International WoodFuels, Marth, New England Wood Pellet, PelletSales.com, and Woodstone. Learn more here.