There are many different ways to use biomass energy. Today, we are going to look at four different categories: biofuels, biopower, bioproducts, and space heating and cooling.
Biofuels
The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. The most familiarly used form of ethanol ismade from the starch in corn grain, and it is added into petroleum-based fuels to reduce toxic air emissions and increase octane. It is also available as an alternative fuel known as E-85. This type of fuel contains 83% ethanol during the summer and 70% in the winter.
Biodiesel, on the other hand, is made from soybean oil. Though not as popular as its ethanol counterpart, it has significant benefits to air quality. Biodiesel is usually mixed at 20% with petroleum diesel, and it is called B-20.
The same process that is used to create biofuels can also be used to create antifreeze, plastics, glues, artificial sweeteners and toothpaste gels.
Biopower/Biopower
The only renewable electrical generation that is used more than biopower is hydropower. Biomass is created using direct combustion using conventional boilers that burn waste wood products. Steam is produced by this combustion, which, in turn, spins a turbine, activating a generator that creates electricity.
When biomass is turned to gas prior to this combustion, toxic materials are removed from the process. These systems are useful for powering isolated communities with electricity. There are significant amounts of biomass resources in the eastern half of the United States.
Bioproducts
Bioproducts are products that can be made from fossil fuels. These products general require a reduced amount of energy to create than petroleum-based products. If oxygen is present when heating biomass, more of the two gases produced. This process is called biosynthesis, and it can be utilized to create plastics and acids. These, in turn, can be used to create photographic films, textiles, and synthetic fabrics.
On the other hand, when biomass is heated without oxygen, pyrolysis oil is formed and phenol can be extracted from this formation. Wood adhesives, molded plastics, and foam insulation can then be created from phenol.
Space Heating and Cooling
"Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use in a typical US home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes." Because there are many options available in regards to heating and cooling, it is important to research the most efficient ways to utilize renewable energy. Whether you are installing the systems into a new home, or replacing the systems in an existing home, numerous choices are at your disposal.
Ways to Use Biomass Energy - Green Energy Online
Showing posts with label Biomass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biomass. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Cyclone Power Technologies to Present All-Fuel Engine at National Algae Conference
ompano Beach, FL, Sept. 1, 2009. Cyclone Power Technologies will present its award winning, all-fuel external combustion engine technology at the National Algae Association Conference, to be held September 17-18 in Houston, TX.
The Cyclone Engine is a modern steam engine capable of running on virtually any fuel, including today’s most promising biofuels made from algae. In tests performed by the company earlier this year, the Cyclone Engine’s fuel atomizers and combustion chamber successfully burned several different varieties of fuel derived from algae without engine modification and, equally important, without expensive processing of the fuels.
“Algae is a wonderful fuel source,” stated Harry Schoell, CEO of Cyclone. “It has a high BTU content relative to other biofuels, and burns cleanly and efficiently in our engine.”
The economic and environmental promise is enormous for this high yielding, carbon neutral fuel, which can be grown almost anywhere without competing with worldwide food supplies. Recently, major corporations such as Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil have made major investments in algae fuel production.
The National Algae Association (NAA) is the leading trade organization for algae researchers, producers and financiers. The NAA’s conference, entitled Algae: The New Oil, will feature presentations covering a full range of subjects focusing on the commercialization of algae. It will be held September 17-18 at the Sheraton North Houston.
Cyclone Power Technologies to Present All-Fuel Engine at National Algae Conference
Korea Approves Patent on Cyclone Power Technologies’ Green Engine
POMPANO BEACH, FL, Sept. 29, 2009. Cyclone Power Technologies (Pink Sheets: CYPW) announced today that the Korean Intellectual Property Office has issued a notice of decision to grant the company a patent on its award-winning, heat regenerative external combustion engine.
Cyclone’s invention is a high-efficiency modern steam engine, capable of running on virtually any liquid or gaseous fuel, and creating far fewer toxic emissions than comparable internal combustion engines. The company is currently developing prototypes for use in automobiles, power generators, solar thermal installations and waste heat recovery (cogeneration) applications.
“As well as demonstrating the uniqueness of our technology throughout the world, issuance of a patent in Korea is very important to the company from a business standpoint,” stated Cyclone’s COO and Director, Frankie Fruge. “We have received substantial interest for our technology in Asia, and we are making every effort to protect our intellectual property and the valuable assets of our company before entering into revenue generating licensing agreements in these territories.”
The patent in Korea marks the fifth international patent for Cyclone’s engine. The company received patent protection for the engine in China, Russia, South Africa and Australia earlier in 2009, in the United States in 2006, and then on the engine’s proprietary combustion chamber in the U.S. in 2008. The company has applications pending for other components of its engine in the U.S., and for the engine in virtually every industrialized nation.
CORPORATE PROFILE
Cyclone Power Technologies is the developer of the award-winning Cyclone Engine – an eco-friendly external combustion engine with the power and versatility to run everything from portable electric generators and garden equipment to cars, trucks and locomotives. Invented by company founder and CEO Harry Schoell, the patented Cyclone Engine is a modern day steam engine, ingeniously designed to achieve high thermal efficiencies through a compact heat-regenerative process, and to run on virtually any fuel – including bio-diesels, syngas or solar – while emitting fewer greenhouse gases and irritating pollutants into the air. Currently in its late stages of development, the Cyclone Engine was recognized by Popular Science Magazine as the Invention of the Year for 2008, and was presented with the Society of Automotive Engineers’ AEI Tech Award in 2006 and 2008. Additionally, Cyclone was recently named Environmental Business of the Year by the Broward County Environmental Protection Department. For more information, visit www.cyclonepower.com.
Korea Approves Patent on Cyclone Power Technologies’ Green Engine
Cyclone’s invention is a high-efficiency modern steam engine, capable of running on virtually any liquid or gaseous fuel, and creating far fewer toxic emissions than comparable internal combustion engines. The company is currently developing prototypes for use in automobiles, power generators, solar thermal installations and waste heat recovery (cogeneration) applications.
“As well as demonstrating the uniqueness of our technology throughout the world, issuance of a patent in Korea is very important to the company from a business standpoint,” stated Cyclone’s COO and Director, Frankie Fruge. “We have received substantial interest for our technology in Asia, and we are making every effort to protect our intellectual property and the valuable assets of our company before entering into revenue generating licensing agreements in these territories.”
The patent in Korea marks the fifth international patent for Cyclone’s engine. The company received patent protection for the engine in China, Russia, South Africa and Australia earlier in 2009, in the United States in 2006, and then on the engine’s proprietary combustion chamber in the U.S. in 2008. The company has applications pending for other components of its engine in the U.S., and for the engine in virtually every industrialized nation.
CORPORATE PROFILE
Cyclone Power Technologies is the developer of the award-winning Cyclone Engine – an eco-friendly external combustion engine with the power and versatility to run everything from portable electric generators and garden equipment to cars, trucks and locomotives. Invented by company founder and CEO Harry Schoell, the patented Cyclone Engine is a modern day steam engine, ingeniously designed to achieve high thermal efficiencies through a compact heat-regenerative process, and to run on virtually any fuel – including bio-diesels, syngas or solar – while emitting fewer greenhouse gases and irritating pollutants into the air. Currently in its late stages of development, the Cyclone Engine was recognized by Popular Science Magazine as the Invention of the Year for 2008, and was presented with the Society of Automotive Engineers’ AEI Tech Award in 2006 and 2008. Additionally, Cyclone was recently named Environmental Business of the Year by the Broward County Environmental Protection Department. For more information, visit www.cyclonepower.com.
Korea Approves Patent on Cyclone Power Technologies’ Green Engine
World’s First ‘Food and Fuel’ Enabling Technology
Two leading technology companies are joining forces to combat the ‘food versus fuel’ dilemma historically associated with biofuels production. PureVision, an American renewable technology developer, and Microbiogen, an Australian microbiology company, have signed a formal non-exclusive collaboration agreement that will take advantage of PureVision’s unique cellulosic fractionation technology and Microbiogen’s non-genetically modified (non-GM) yeast organism to produce both biofuels and protein products (food and feed) from diverse cellulosic biomass.
By enabling the production of biofuels, food and feed from non-food crops, this revolutionary approach addresses common concerns about the redirection of food crops for the sole production of biofuels. With this new approach, food crops such as corn and wheat can all be utilized for food and feed while the cellulosic portions of the plants can be converted into fuel, food and feed.
“It’s a great fit,” says Ed Lehrburger, founder and President of PureVision Technology, Inc., a Colorado-based biorefining technology development company. “PureVision’s approach has always been to use non-food feedstocks, such as corn stover, bagasse, wood and non-food energy crops, such as switch grass, to produce more sustainable bio-based products. When Microbiogen contacted us to see if we had the capability to grow non-GM yeasts on our liquid fraction to make protein, we were intrigued about the possibilities.”
According to Geoff Bell, Chief Executive Officer of Microbiogen, its non-GM yeasts have performed well in the laboratory using sugars generated from PureVision’s liquid fraction and are now ready to be used in commercial environments. “For over eight years, our company has been developing natural yeast strains that can be used to produce both ethanol and high-quality protein, and we are now in the process of identifying and partnering with a number of companies with complementary technologies to enable us to demonstrate its potential on an industrial scale,” said Mr. Bell. “PureVision’s bio-refinery capability and focus on sustainable fuel production make this collaboration extremely promising. We look forward to working together to advance and perfect our technologies.”
One of the most exciting aspects of the Microbiogen technology is that, for the first time in the field of biofuels, the organism that ferments the sugars to ethanol also has the ability to clean the waste stream generated by the process and, once fermentation is complete, can then be sold as a valuable high protein food by-product. “Essentially, this means that ethanol producers will be able to have their cake and eat it too,” said Mr. Bell. “This is a ‘win win’ for everyone – production of cost-effective biofuels without the loss of food production.”
According to Mr. Lehrburger, preliminary economics look promising for making both biofuels and protein from non-food biomass in commercial biorefineries. “During the last year, our two companies have been intimately working together, and due to promising results, we have completed our collaboration agreement. In 2010, we plan to generate substantial data at the ½-ton/day scale that will give both companies the thrust to advance the combined technologies toward commercial scale,” he said.
World’s First ‘Food and Fuel’ Enabling Technology
By enabling the production of biofuels, food and feed from non-food crops, this revolutionary approach addresses common concerns about the redirection of food crops for the sole production of biofuels. With this new approach, food crops such as corn and wheat can all be utilized for food and feed while the cellulosic portions of the plants can be converted into fuel, food and feed.
“It’s a great fit,” says Ed Lehrburger, founder and President of PureVision Technology, Inc., a Colorado-based biorefining technology development company. “PureVision’s approach has always been to use non-food feedstocks, such as corn stover, bagasse, wood and non-food energy crops, such as switch grass, to produce more sustainable bio-based products. When Microbiogen contacted us to see if we had the capability to grow non-GM yeasts on our liquid fraction to make protein, we were intrigued about the possibilities.”
According to Geoff Bell, Chief Executive Officer of Microbiogen, its non-GM yeasts have performed well in the laboratory using sugars generated from PureVision’s liquid fraction and are now ready to be used in commercial environments. “For over eight years, our company has been developing natural yeast strains that can be used to produce both ethanol and high-quality protein, and we are now in the process of identifying and partnering with a number of companies with complementary technologies to enable us to demonstrate its potential on an industrial scale,” said Mr. Bell. “PureVision’s bio-refinery capability and focus on sustainable fuel production make this collaboration extremely promising. We look forward to working together to advance and perfect our technologies.”
One of the most exciting aspects of the Microbiogen technology is that, for the first time in the field of biofuels, the organism that ferments the sugars to ethanol also has the ability to clean the waste stream generated by the process and, once fermentation is complete, can then be sold as a valuable high protein food by-product. “Essentially, this means that ethanol producers will be able to have their cake and eat it too,” said Mr. Bell. “This is a ‘win win’ for everyone – production of cost-effective biofuels without the loss of food production.”
According to Mr. Lehrburger, preliminary economics look promising for making both biofuels and protein from non-food biomass in commercial biorefineries. “During the last year, our two companies have been intimately working together, and due to promising results, we have completed our collaboration agreement. In 2010, we plan to generate substantial data at the ½-ton/day scale that will give both companies the thrust to advance the combined technologies toward commercial scale,” he said.
World’s First ‘Food and Fuel’ Enabling Technology
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
REF Biomass page11
World`s largest biomass plant running on chicken manure online in the Netherlands
Yesterday, Gerda Verburg, Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Food Quality, opened the world`s largest biomass power plant running exclusively on chicken manure. The €150 million project is owned and operated by multi-utility company Delta, cooperative DET, ZLTO and Austrian Energy & Environment A.G. (a consortium including Siemens Nederland N.V.) The facility will deliver renewable electricity to 90,000 households. The biomass power plant solves a key environmental problem in the Netherlands: managing the vast excess stream of chicken manure, which, until today, had to be processed at a high cost. The biomass power plant will utilize approximately 440,000 tons of chicken manure, roughly one third of the total amount produced each year in the Netherlands. Many European countries, including the Netherlands, suffer under an excess of different types of animal manure that pollute the environment. Costly methods are used to avoid it being spread out over land, to process it or to avoid creating the excess in the first place. Using the manure as a carbon-neutral energy source has become the most efficient, environmentally-friendly, and cost-effective of all management options.
WORLD’S LARGEST IN SALES AND MARKETING
Areva Acquires Leading Biomass Company in Brazil
AREVA (Paris:CEI) announces today the acquisition of a 70% stake in Koblitz, a Brazilian provider of integrated solutions for power generation and co-generation (heat-generated power) from renewable sources. Its founder Luiz Otavio Koblitz and the main managers of the company will maintain a 30% stake in Koblitz.
Founded in 1975 in Recife, Koblitz has a total workforce of more than 500 people with branches in Sao Paulo and Sao José do Rio Preto, the largest sugarcane growing areas of the country. The company's core business is the supply of turnkey services for the construction of biomass and small hydro-electric power plants. Since 1996, Koblitz has participated in 76 biomass projects, including 58 using sugarcane bagasse*, totalling more than 2.000 MW of references.
This acquisition is in line with AREVA's business development strategy on the CO2-free energy market. It strengthens the group's position in Brazil, where renewable energies already provide 90% of electricity and where the use of sugarcane bagasse should increase by 50% in the next five years. Brazil's renewable energy market offers a large potential with a required capacity growing by at least 5% (5.000 MW) per year to avoid electricity shortages.
ADDTIONAL INFORMATION
Snowflake Biomass Plant to the Grid
Renegy Achieves Significant Milestone With Synchronization of Its Snowflake Biomass Plant to the Grid
Renegy, based in Tempe, Arizona, is a renewable energy company focused on acquiring, developing and operating a growing portfolio of biomass power generation facilities. Renegy seeks to rapidly grow its renewable energy assets with the goal of becoming the leading independent power producer (IPP) of biomass electricity in North America utilizing wood waste as a primary fuel source. Renegy's current biomass power generating assets include a 24 MW facility near Snowflake, Arizona, that is scheduled to begin commercial operations this quarter, and an idle 13 MW biomass plant in Susanville, California, that has the potential to be restarted by the end of 2008. Renegy also recently signed Letters of Intent for the acquisition of two additional biomass facilities -- an operating 20 MW facility in Loyalton, California, and an idle 18 MW facility in Ione, California. Renegy's other business activities include an established fuel aggregation and wood products division, which collects and transports forest thinnings and woody waste biomass fuel to its power plants, and which sells logs, lumber, shaved wood products and other high value wood by-products to reduce the cost of fuel for its primary business operations. Find Renegy on the Worldwide Web at http://www.renegy.com.
Geographical distribution of biomass and potential sites of rubber wood fired power plants in Southern Thailand
Biomass residues from rubber trees in rubber producing countries have immense potential for power production. This paper presents the case of the south peninsular of Thailand, where the rubber industry is intense. Mathematical models were developed to determine the maximum affordable fuel cost and optimum capacity of the power plant for a given location of known area-based fuel availability density. GIS data of rubber growing was used to locate the appropriate sites and sizes of the power plants. Along 700 km of the highway network in the region, it was found that 8 power plants are financially feasible. The total capacity is 186.5 MWe. The fuel procurement area is in the range of less than 35 km.
Megafauna biomass tradeoff as a driver of Quaternary and future extinctions
Earth's most recent major extinction episode, the Quaternary Megafauna Extinction, claimed two-thirds of mammal genera and one-half of species that weighed >44 kg between ≈50,000 and 3,000 years ago. Estimates of megafauna biomass (including humans as a megafauna species) for before, during, and after the extinction episode suggest that growth of human biomass largely matched the loss of non-human megafauna biomass until ≈12,000 years ago. Then, total megafauna biomass crashed, because many non-human megafauna species suddenly disappeared, whereas human biomass continued to rise. After the crash, the global ecosystem gradually recovered into a new state where megafauna biomass was concentrated around one species, humans, instead of being distributed across many species. Precrash biomass levels were finally reached just before the Industrial Revolution began, then skyrocketed above the precrash baseline as humans augmented the energy available to the global ecosystem by mining fossil fuels. Implications include (i) an increase in human biomass (with attendant hunting and other impacts) intersected with climate change to cause the Quaternary Megafauna Extinction and an ecological threshold event, after which humans became dominant in the global ecosystem; (ii) with continued growth of human biomass and today's unprecedented global warming, only extraordinary and stepped-up conservation efforts will prevent a new round of extinctions in most body-size and taxonomic spectra; and (iii) a near-future biomass crash that will unfavorably impact humans and their domesticates and other species is unavoidable unless alternative energy sources are developed to replace dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
REF Biomass page11
Yesterday, Gerda Verburg, Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Food Quality, opened the world`s largest biomass power plant running exclusively on chicken manure. The €150 million project is owned and operated by multi-utility company Delta, cooperative DET, ZLTO and Austrian Energy & Environment A.G. (a consortium including Siemens Nederland N.V.) The facility will deliver renewable electricity to 90,000 households. The biomass power plant solves a key environmental problem in the Netherlands: managing the vast excess stream of chicken manure, which, until today, had to be processed at a high cost. The biomass power plant will utilize approximately 440,000 tons of chicken manure, roughly one third of the total amount produced each year in the Netherlands. Many European countries, including the Netherlands, suffer under an excess of different types of animal manure that pollute the environment. Costly methods are used to avoid it being spread out over land, to process it or to avoid creating the excess in the first place. Using the manure as a carbon-neutral energy source has become the most efficient, environmentally-friendly, and cost-effective of all management options.
WORLD’S LARGEST IN SALES AND MARKETING
Areva Acquires Leading Biomass Company in Brazil
AREVA (Paris:CEI) announces today the acquisition of a 70% stake in Koblitz, a Brazilian provider of integrated solutions for power generation and co-generation (heat-generated power) from renewable sources. Its founder Luiz Otavio Koblitz and the main managers of the company will maintain a 30% stake in Koblitz.
Founded in 1975 in Recife, Koblitz has a total workforce of more than 500 people with branches in Sao Paulo and Sao José do Rio Preto, the largest sugarcane growing areas of the country. The company's core business is the supply of turnkey services for the construction of biomass and small hydro-electric power plants. Since 1996, Koblitz has participated in 76 biomass projects, including 58 using sugarcane bagasse*, totalling more than 2.000 MW of references.
This acquisition is in line with AREVA's business development strategy on the CO2-free energy market. It strengthens the group's position in Brazil, where renewable energies already provide 90% of electricity and where the use of sugarcane bagasse should increase by 50% in the next five years. Brazil's renewable energy market offers a large potential with a required capacity growing by at least 5% (5.000 MW) per year to avoid electricity shortages.
ADDTIONAL INFORMATION
Snowflake Biomass Plant to the Grid
Renegy Achieves Significant Milestone With Synchronization of Its Snowflake Biomass Plant to the Grid
Renegy, based in Tempe, Arizona, is a renewable energy company focused on acquiring, developing and operating a growing portfolio of biomass power generation facilities. Renegy seeks to rapidly grow its renewable energy assets with the goal of becoming the leading independent power producer (IPP) of biomass electricity in North America utilizing wood waste as a primary fuel source. Renegy's current biomass power generating assets include a 24 MW facility near Snowflake, Arizona, that is scheduled to begin commercial operations this quarter, and an idle 13 MW biomass plant in Susanville, California, that has the potential to be restarted by the end of 2008. Renegy also recently signed Letters of Intent for the acquisition of two additional biomass facilities -- an operating 20 MW facility in Loyalton, California, and an idle 18 MW facility in Ione, California. Renegy's other business activities include an established fuel aggregation and wood products division, which collects and transports forest thinnings and woody waste biomass fuel to its power plants, and which sells logs, lumber, shaved wood products and other high value wood by-products to reduce the cost of fuel for its primary business operations. Find Renegy on the Worldwide Web at http://www.renegy.com.
Geographical distribution of biomass and potential sites of rubber wood fired power plants in Southern Thailand
Biomass residues from rubber trees in rubber producing countries have immense potential for power production. This paper presents the case of the south peninsular of Thailand, where the rubber industry is intense. Mathematical models were developed to determine the maximum affordable fuel cost and optimum capacity of the power plant for a given location of known area-based fuel availability density. GIS data of rubber growing was used to locate the appropriate sites and sizes of the power plants. Along 700 km of the highway network in the region, it was found that 8 power plants are financially feasible. The total capacity is 186.5 MWe. The fuel procurement area is in the range of less than 35 km.
Megafauna biomass tradeoff as a driver of Quaternary and future extinctions
Earth's most recent major extinction episode, the Quaternary Megafauna Extinction, claimed two-thirds of mammal genera and one-half of species that weighed >44 kg between ≈50,000 and 3,000 years ago. Estimates of megafauna biomass (including humans as a megafauna species) for before, during, and after the extinction episode suggest that growth of human biomass largely matched the loss of non-human megafauna biomass until ≈12,000 years ago. Then, total megafauna biomass crashed, because many non-human megafauna species suddenly disappeared, whereas human biomass continued to rise. After the crash, the global ecosystem gradually recovered into a new state where megafauna biomass was concentrated around one species, humans, instead of being distributed across many species. Precrash biomass levels were finally reached just before the Industrial Revolution began, then skyrocketed above the precrash baseline as humans augmented the energy available to the global ecosystem by mining fossil fuels. Implications include (i) an increase in human biomass (with attendant hunting and other impacts) intersected with climate change to cause the Quaternary Megafauna Extinction and an ecological threshold event, after which humans became dominant in the global ecosystem; (ii) with continued growth of human biomass and today's unprecedented global warming, only extraordinary and stepped-up conservation efforts will prevent a new round of extinctions in most body-size and taxonomic spectra; and (iii) a near-future biomass crash that will unfavorably impact humans and their domesticates and other species is unavoidable unless alternative energy sources are developed to replace dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
REF Biomass page11
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