B.C. firm taking biomass gasification to new level
Biomass gasification as a way to produce clean-burning “syngas” offers a carbon-neutral approach to reducing our dependence on natural gas and fuel oil, whether to generate electricity or heat. It also makes it easier to isolate and capture the CO2 produced from the process, so if it eventually makes economic sense to capture and store the greenhouse gas the technology offers a carbon-negative approach to power and heat generation.
A Vancouver-based company called Nexterra Energy Corp. is making impressive inroads in the market, bolstered last week after it announced an alliance with Johnson Controls Inc. that will see the two companies aggressively pursue commercial projects for Nexterra’s patented biomass gasification system. Already, Nexterra and Johnson Controls have delivered a $20-million system to the University of South Carolina that’s expected to be operational sometime this fall. They hope to deploy similar systems to customers in education, healthcare, government, industrial (particularly forestry companies) and power generation markets.
In the area of power generation, Nexterra’s technology can be combined with conventional steam turbine equipment to produce up to 10 megawatts of electricity. “These modular power plants represent a new standard in biomass power production as the systems are simpler in design, lower cost and cleaner than conventional wood biomass combustion power plants,” the company states on its Web site. “This small scale gasification system allows for reliable and efficient electricity production while decreasing wood transportation costs and start-up time (12 to 14 months).”
This is ideal for markets like Ontario, where a standard offer program (offering a feed-in tariff of 11 cents per kilowatt hour on 10-MW or smaller wind, solar or biomass projects) makes such technology economically attractive. On that note, Nexterra Energy has partnered with a Calgary-based company called Pristine Power to help establish a network of modular gasification power plants throughout British Columbia. “The network will help B.C. forest companies and communities create more value from pine-beetle ravaged forest resources by generating up to 200 megawatts of clean, renewable energy using wood ‘waste’ as fuel.”
Sources tell me that General Electric — specifically, GE Jenbacher, the maker of low-cost, high-efficiency gas engines — is in serious talks with Nexterra about using Jenbacher engines to further improve its gasification system. Currently the system to generate electricity works with steam turbines, but the hope in the next two or three years is to get it running reciprocating engines. This would reduce labour costs, partly because you don’t need steam engineers on site. “It would be a breakthrough. There are a lot of people working on the issue. GE has an army of people working on it,” said one consultant doing work for Nexterra. “The fact that GE right now has discovered them means the genie is out of the bottle. You’re going to see them really grow.”
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
October 14th, 2007 at 8:41 am
“Clean-burning” Syngas; “carbon-neutral” approach; any factual basis for such language?
October 14th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Well, I know it’s perhaps a generalization, but using biomass for energy production is generally considered carbon-neutral, based on the assumption that biomass is replaced with new growth. As for clean-burning, I suppose it’s a question of relatively — compared to coal, or direct incineration of biomass.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I posted the anonymous comment and appreciate the reply.
Black Box theory first. Yes, theoretically, biomass to energy is “carbon-neutral”. If you ignore the energy/emissions associated with any cultivation / harvesting.
The bigger denial, and this is a generalization, is that coal is fed to the gasifier along with biomass. In some models, the biomass content is between 10-15%.
No biomass is necessary for gasification; and, coal gasification is very much other than carbon-neutral.
Now to relativity and beyond. A very good, investigative reporter type of question is whether incineration of biomass is better than gasification.
The first qualifier is what sort of biomass are we discussing: waste, i.e., agricultural, forestry, and /or municipal solid waste, or lignocellulosic crops.
Then there is the quality question, how good is the hot gas conditioning, since all methods and all feedstock produce emissions.
Then the why bother question, which is, if Syngas is swell and we are in a heck of a energy mess, then gosh, we just are going to have to use these handy gasifiers already in operation to burn coal, coal, coal.
Sorry for the unsightly spittle — rant mode off.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
In Nexterra’s systems, run on 100% biomass. No coal. So the Carbon Neutral rating stands.
Also Nexterra’s uses clean wood residuals. No glue, no chemicals. So not only does the system have low pm emissions but there are no hazardous contaminants released from the stack.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Thanks for the edification. Nexterra looks to be the exception and worthy of acclaim.
The NYT just picked up the story about 4 million in metro Atlanta with about 90 days of water left. One of the overlooked consequences to drought is the impact upon power generation. Coal, nuclear, and, yes, biomass gasification require water. Columbia, SC is in the drought region, though in less critical condition than Hot Lanta.
So, waterless energy production, read photo voltaic, still need more attention in a region of no renewable portfolio standards, either for Southern states or for the United States.