NASHUA, NH--(Marketwire - April 16, 2009) - New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, and former Pennsylvania Congressman John E. Peterson are among those scheduled to speak at the upcoming "Heating the Northeast" conference on April 29-30 in Nashua, NH at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center.
The conference, which addresses an often-overlooked source of renewable thermal energy, will explore the advantages, challenges and necessity of using wood pellets, grasses, and other biomass fuels for heating homes and businesses.
"We're thrilled to have such distinguished speakers who are paying attention to the regional alternative energy options in our own backyards," said Charlie Niebling, General Manager of New England Wood Pellet in Jaffrey, NH, and a member of the conference's steering committee.
The scope of the conference ranges from international biomass fuel suppliers and manufacturers to local businesses, including Pelletsales.com, a Goffstown-based company that sells and distributes wood pellets throughout the country and Canada, as well as BioHEAT USA, a North American distributor for innovative high-efficiency wood and wood pellet boilers. Participants will explore how the Northeast could move to a significant adoption -- or even a complete transfer -- to biomass heating, bringing with it jobs, a reduced carbon footprint, and a decreased dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.
"This event appeals to the technology sector, home heating industry, environmental activists, legislators focused on creating jobs and tax revenue, and the average consumer concerned with saving money on monthly heating bills," said Jon Strimling, President and CEO of PelletSales.com and a member of the conference's steering committee.
Other scheduled speakers include: Charlie Niebling; Charlie Levesque, President, Innovative Resource Solutions; Lennart Ljungblom, Publisher and Editor of The Bioenergy International in Stockholm Sweden.
For more information or to register to attend, visit www.heatne.com
Conference sponsors include: Propell Energy, New England Wood Pellet, PelletSales.com, BioHEAT USA, Primary Packaging, Inc., Biomass Energy Resource Center, Biomass Commodities Corp., ACT BioENergy, Wellons FEI Corporation, Ernst Conservation Seeds, Inc., Viability Incentives, LLC, Schuld/Bushnell, International Wood Fuels, LLC, Biomass Combustion Systems
Showing posts with label Biomass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biomass. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Ohio Biomass Project Now Started
BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio, March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Bellefontaine Gas Producers LLC today started commercial operation of its landfill gas-to-energy project at the Republic Services-owned Cherokee Run Landfill here.
The renewable energy project is owned by Bellefontaine Gas Producers LLC, which is a joint venture between DTE Biomass Energy and Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc. The project, which utilizes three Caterpillar engines for a capacity of 4.8 megawatts, will sell energy produced at the facility under a long-term power sales agreement into the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization.
"The generating facility follows on a very successful leachate evaporation project operating at the site since 1999," said Mark Cousino, DTE Biomass Energy president. "The collaboration between the DTE Biomass Energy-Shaw partnership and Republic resulted in an environmentally beneficial energy project which will produce renewable energy for years to come."
The renewable electricity produced at this facility from landfill gas is enough to supply the yearly electric requirements of 4,800 households.
"Republic is very excited that an existing, mature use of the landfill gas at Cherokee Run through the evaporator has been supplemented with an electric generating project that will provide green power to the area," said Bill Held, senior director of renewable energy for Republic. "This demonstrates the ability of multiple partners to work together creatively and positively."
DTE Biomass Energy is a subsidiary of DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE), a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. DTE Energy's operating units include Detroit Edison, an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, MichCon, a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan and other non-utility, energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, coal and gas midstream, unconventional gas production and energy trading.
Information about DTE Biomass Energy is available at www.dtebiomassenergy.com.
Republic Services Inc. has been building on success since its inception in 1998, becoming an industry-leading provider of waste and environmental services. The company provides trash collection to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers in 40 states through its 427 collection companies. Republic Services owns or operates 252 transfer stations, 216 solid waste landfills and 85 recycling facilities. The company is headquartered in Phoenix and has more than 35,000 employees. For more information, visit the Republic Services web site at www.republicservices.com.
The renewable energy project is owned by Bellefontaine Gas Producers LLC, which is a joint venture between DTE Biomass Energy and Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc. The project, which utilizes three Caterpillar engines for a capacity of 4.8 megawatts, will sell energy produced at the facility under a long-term power sales agreement into the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization.
"The generating facility follows on a very successful leachate evaporation project operating at the site since 1999," said Mark Cousino, DTE Biomass Energy president. "The collaboration between the DTE Biomass Energy-Shaw partnership and Republic resulted in an environmentally beneficial energy project which will produce renewable energy for years to come."
The renewable electricity produced at this facility from landfill gas is enough to supply the yearly electric requirements of 4,800 households.
"Republic is very excited that an existing, mature use of the landfill gas at Cherokee Run through the evaporator has been supplemented with an electric generating project that will provide green power to the area," said Bill Held, senior director of renewable energy for Republic. "This demonstrates the ability of multiple partners to work together creatively and positively."
DTE Biomass Energy is a subsidiary of DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE), a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. DTE Energy's operating units include Detroit Edison, an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, MichCon, a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan and other non-utility, energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, coal and gas midstream, unconventional gas production and energy trading.
Information about DTE Biomass Energy is available at www.dtebiomassenergy.com.
Republic Services Inc. has been building on success since its inception in 1998, becoming an industry-leading provider of waste and environmental services. The company provides trash collection to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers in 40 states through its 427 collection companies. Republic Services owns or operates 252 transfer stations, 216 solid waste landfills and 85 recycling facilities. The company is headquartered in Phoenix and has more than 35,000 employees. For more information, visit the Republic Services web site at www.republicservices.com.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
More Biomass Could Mean More Fuel
ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2009) — Microbes may well be the answer to our global energy crisis. By fermenting biomass to produce biofuels, they offer a possible climate-friendly solution to the anticipated shortfall in fossil fuel supply. A review by Professor Arnold Demain from Drew University in New Jersey, USA, on how microbes could be used to salvage the energy crisis has just been published online Springer’s Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology.
According to Professor Demain, the petroleum-based economy in the US is getting close to the end of its lifecycle. Global oil reserves and new petroleum discoveries will not be enough to meet the annual demand worldwide. It is therefore essential to anticipate and avoid any shortfall in future supply and to provide access to new bioenergy alternatives for the marketplace.
In the context of a strong global political and economical debate on the gradual substitution of petroleum by renewable alternatives such as biofuels, Demain reviews how microbes can help solve the energy problem, and focuses on the organisms that ferment lignocellulosic biomass to produce bioethanol, biobutanol, biodiesel and biohydrocarbons in particular. His review also highlights how the use of these biofuels would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plants that produce the biomass remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of their growth and normal metabolism.
Demain also highlights a number of important commercial developments, including the establishment of biotechnology companies in the biofuel sector since 2006, either alone or with companies of the petroleum and chemical industries. In addition, there have been a number of U.S. Government initiatives pushing for and backing the development of biofuels.
Demain concludes that:
“What remains is a major effort and challenge to biochemical engineering at the many new plants being built for biofuel production. The new processes have to be scaled up and carried out in a cost-effective way. The future of biofuels looks very bright…the best is yet to come.”
According to Professor Demain, the petroleum-based economy in the US is getting close to the end of its lifecycle. Global oil reserves and new petroleum discoveries will not be enough to meet the annual demand worldwide. It is therefore essential to anticipate and avoid any shortfall in future supply and to provide access to new bioenergy alternatives for the marketplace.
In the context of a strong global political and economical debate on the gradual substitution of petroleum by renewable alternatives such as biofuels, Demain reviews how microbes can help solve the energy problem, and focuses on the organisms that ferment lignocellulosic biomass to produce bioethanol, biobutanol, biodiesel and biohydrocarbons in particular. His review also highlights how the use of these biofuels would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plants that produce the biomass remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of their growth and normal metabolism.
Demain also highlights a number of important commercial developments, including the establishment of biotechnology companies in the biofuel sector since 2006, either alone or with companies of the petroleum and chemical industries. In addition, there have been a number of U.S. Government initiatives pushing for and backing the development of biofuels.
Demain concludes that:
“What remains is a major effort and challenge to biochemical engineering at the many new plants being built for biofuel production. The new processes have to be scaled up and carried out in a cost-effective way. The future of biofuels looks very bright…the best is yet to come.”
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Coffee For Fuel?
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2008) — Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks.
In the new study, Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That's about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.
Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year. The used or "spent" grounds remaining from production of espresso, cappuccino, and plain old-fashioned cups of java, often wind up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply.
To verify it, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel.
The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel due to coffee's high antioxidant content, the researchers say. Solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost, the report notes. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.
Full Story
In the new study, Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That's about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.
Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year. The used or "spent" grounds remaining from production of espresso, cappuccino, and plain old-fashioned cups of java, often wind up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply.
To verify it, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel.
The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel due to coffee's high antioxidant content, the researchers say. Solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost, the report notes. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.
Full Story
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