Kisatchie biomass-to-energy project is working By James Ronald Skains In October of 2008, the Piney Woods Journal first ran an article titled: "Wood Chips Successfully Converted to Electricity." This PWJ article was about the US Forest Service Kisatchie Research and Development Biomass-to-Energy Unit located at the Winn Ranger District office on U.S. Highway 84 west of Winnfield. "We have run our biomass to energy unit for hundreds of hours since October of 2008," Dr. Les Groom, project leader told the Piney Woods Journal on January 20, 2010. "We have gathered a lot of data which establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that electricity can be made from wood chips," Dr. Groom explained. "The process that we use is called gasification which is a thermal-chemical reaction whereby the wood chips are placed under high temperature and pressure," Dr. Groom elaborated. "The wood chips are burned in a high temperature oxygen-starved fire," Dr. Groom pointed out. "Once the carbon is extracted from the wood chips and converted into a gas form, that carbon rich syngas can be used to run an internal combustion engine on a generator. It takes less than two pounds of wood to produce a kilowatt of electricity," Dr. Groom noted. "The next phase of our biomass to energy R&D program will be to do an economic analysis of the process." "That's not something that Tom and I will be doing ourselves but some economist in the USDA Research station," Dr. Groom noted. "Our job will be to continue to run the unit as often as possible to collect data for the economic analysis." Tom Elder, a member of the R&D team with Dr. Groom holds a Ph.D and was on the faculty of Auburn University for many years prior to joining the US Forest Service. "The US Forest Service is so short handed due to budget restraints that we have not been able to hire other personnel to help us in our research project," Dr. Groom explained. "We do have a technician coming on board soon that will make our job easier and expand our research. So far it has only been Tom and I and an occasional Forest Service person," Dr. Groom said with a laugh. "If you are out here when we are running the unit, you will see two Ph.D's doing things that you normally don't see done such as shoveling wood chips with a big scoop." "We want to run our gasification unit on a 24 hour basis and look at the results," Dr. Groom told the Journal. "That will give us not only data on the performance of the unit but also good data for the economic analysis." The R&D Biomass to Energy Unit that Dr. Groom and his team are working with is a Biomax 25 gas production unit manufactured by Community Power Company in Colorado. Community Power is located near the National Energy Research Laboratory. The research and development of the Biomax 25 gasification unit was a longtime project by Community Power that involved federal grants and financial support from the US Forest Service. Community Power Company received it first federal funding in the form of a Department of Energy Phase One contract. In late 1999, it received a second round of federal funding to continue its research and development of the Biomax brand of gasification units. "One of our first milestones was to be able to convert the wood chips to electricity and power the Ranger office," Dr. Groom pointed out. "We now have successfully powered the Ranger office for many hundreds of hours." At its peak performance, the Biomax 25 unit can produce about 18 kilowatts of electricity per hour according to company information which was verified by Dr. Groom. "It takes about 1.7 pounds of wood to produce one kilowatt of electricity," Dr. Groom explained. "So when we are powering the Ranger office, we are using about 30 pounds of wood an hour. Our economist will soon go to work with that and other data to determine economic feasibility," Dr. Groom noted. "As we move forward in our testing, we will be using non-commercial grades of biomass," Dr. Elder explained to the Journal. "Right now we are using paper mill quality chips because they are easier to get. Ideally, one day we will be powering the Ranger station 24/7 from non-commercial trees from here on the Kisatchie," Dr. Elder elaborated. "This system has the potential to use a lot of biomass from first thinning operations." The US Forest Service R&D biomass to energy project has received a lot of interest locally, nationally, and internationally. The day the Journal was onsite, there were people from China, Texas, Arkansas, Baton Rouge and Monroe taking a look at the operation of the Biomax 25 biomass to energy conversion system.\par }{\plain The biomass to energy conversion unit is computer control with sensors measuring the temperature, the pressure, gas flow rates and the amount of wood chips being consumed on a hourly basis. "One thing that we didn't anticipate going into the project was that although it is computer controlled we could not control it through the US Forest Service network," Dr. Groom acknowledged. "We were anticipating being able to monitor and control the unit from our offices in Pineville through our Forest Service internet connections." "However, the US Forest Service has so many firewalls built into the system to protect hacking, and etc. that its not compatible with the Community Power control system," Dr. Groom elaborated. "We think that we about have that problem solved so when we get a technician on site, Tom and I can run the unit from Pineville." \par }{\plain The US Forest Service biomass to energy project took several years to become a reality. The Biomax 25 system was originally scheduled to arrive on the Kisatchie in the summer of 2007. However, due to manufacturing and testing delays on the Community Power side, and the red tape in federal government programs, the Biomax 25 did not arrive until August of 2008. The Biomax 25 was officially unveiled in a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 6 2008 than was attended by Congressman Rodney Alexander, a strong proponent of renewable energy especially using biomass as a feedstock. The Winn Ranger District biomass conversion project exceeded $400,000 in cost. That included a 30 x 30 metal building to house the unit. It is located to the rear of the district Ranger office but is wired to receive electricity from the Biomax 25 unit. "We won't be real happy until we can produce a continuous 24/7 flow of electricity to the Ranger office," Dr. Groom acknowledged. That will be a real milestone for us but that is getting closer to a reality every day." Even after two years on the project with its share of ups and downs, Dr. Groom and Dr. Elder still exhibit the characteristic that is so valuable to any R&D project, enthusiasm. Their research and development on biomass to energy could certainly lead to a new market for biomass and a new source for renewable electricity. |