A new iron plant has been given the go ahead, using green technology the facility is expected to produce 100,000 metric tons of iron nuggets per year. Located in Jamestown, North Dakota, Carbontec Energy Corporation has developed a process that uses the waste from sugar beets, wood chips and other biomass to make pig iron [...]
New Portable Biomass Power Plant Draws Visitors To Virginia Tech Campus
Thirty visitors from as far away as New York and Guatemala recently journeyed to the Thomas M. Brooks Forest Products Center in February to see demonstrations of the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials’ new portable biomass power plant. About the size of a Mini Cooper turned upright, the biomass power system generates electricity by burning wood [...]
Savannah River Site Marks One Year Anniversary Of Biomass Cogeneration Facility
Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Ameresco, Inc., a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, came together to mark the first year of successful operation of its new renewable energy fueled cogeneration facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Under the Department’s single largest renewable Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC), the [...]
Drax Confident Of Making Biomass Power Transition Objectives
British power generator, Drax Group, is confident that it will meet its objective of generating half of its power plant from biomass, despite new coal levies threatening short-term profits. The Yorkshire, England-based plant is on track to see half of its generating capacity coming from wood pellets, replacing its previous coal-based power. In April Drax [...]
New Mexico Renewable Energy Bill Includes Biomass Advances
State legislation that could make it more attractive to produce electricity from biomass, such as forest slash from tree thinning projects, cleared its first committee last week. Senate Bill 204 would amend New Mexico’s Renewable Energy Act by allowing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to be issued for electricity produced from thermal energy derived from biomass [...]
Kedco Jumps On New Ulster Biomass Plant Deal
Biomass group Kedco has signed heads of agreement for a new 25 megawatt biomass plant in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The agreement with the Londonderry Port & Harbour Commissioners gives Kedco an option to lease a 10-acre site within Londonderry Dock for a biomass electricity and heat generating plant. The port already hosts the 400MW ESB [...]
University Of Iowa Uses Biomass Program To Solve Two Problems
The University of Iowa is trying to meet its alternative energy goals with the help of 24 acres of dead and dying pine trees in Johnson County. The university’s sustainability office has hired a contractor to cut and grind the invasive species-infested trees found mostly at F.W. Kent Park near Tiffin, so it can be [...]
Ace, Sweetwater Plan To Produce Cellulosic Ethanol From Woody Biomass
Ace Ethanol will team up with Sweetwater Energy Inc. to produce next-generation ethanol at its plant in Stanley. The Stanley plant opened in 2002 as Wisconsin’s first large-scale corn ethanol production facility. It has 48 employees and can produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. Ace and Rochester, N.Y.-based Sweetwater will team up [...]
Oregon Hospital Heats Up With A Wood Pellet Boiler
With help from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program, an Oregon hospital is saving approximately $100,000 a year after replacing its old, 1950’s-era boilers with a new, energy-efficient biomass system. Blue Mountain District Hospital, in John Day, Oregon, was using two crude oil-fired boilers and one heating oil boiler to provide heat and hot water [...]
Penn State University Awarded $10 Million To Develop Next-Generation Biofuels
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently awarded Pennsylvania State University a five-year research grant valued at roughly $10 million to develop biomass supply chains for the production of liquid transportation and aviation biofuels in the Northeast. This is the sixth such award made through USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), aimed at developing regional, renewable [...]