Belgian-Dutch partnership to develop 5MW biocoal project
Belgium's Thenergo, a leading European combined heat-and-power (CHP) clean energy company, announces [*.pdf] that it is developing a 5MW electricity and biocoal plant, or 'E-park', in northern Holland. In partnership with Eclair-E, a Dutch CHP sustainable energy supplier and Venture Kapitaalfonds III BV a 100% subsidiary of NV NOM, the investment and development agency for the Northern Netherlands, the E-park will generate annually up to 42,800MWh of power and 75,000 tons of biocoal pellets.
Biocoal pellets are made from thermally processed biomass either from dedicated energy crops or from wood debris, forest residue and chippings. In pellet form it is a multipurpose clean burning fuel, easy to store and handle. This green 'designer coal' can be obtained by carbonizing biomass, with new techniques under development (previous post). Compared to wood, coal and biomass pellets, biocoal contains a far lower amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), no water, and is fully carbon neutral (graph, click to enlarge).
Since biocoal pellets are water resistant they can be stored for many years without decay. The higher energy density allows for up to 25% savings on transport and storage compared to ordinary biomass pellets. Biocoal pellets enable large scale co-firing of biomass in existing coal-fired power stations, with virtually no additional investment or handling.
Located on the Dutch-German border near Coevorden, the project will begin construction in April 2008 and is expected to be fully operational within 18 months. The development and building costs will require an investment of €30 million (US$41 million). Thenergo will have a majority interest in the project.
In this first truly cross-border bioenergy project, electricity will be sold to German grid operators, while biocoal pellets will supply Dutch and German coal fired power stations. The E-park will generate average annual sales of up to €13 million (US$17.7 million). The E-park’s primary fuel will come from regionally sourced forest debris and pruned wood from public land (225,000 tons per year):
energy :: sustainability :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: biomass :: wood :: residues :: biocoal :: co-firing :: Netherands :: Belgium ::
The announcement of Thenergo’s first E-park comes shortly after Thenergo revealed that it has begun work on a 3.2 MW CHP agri-waste to electricity facility, or E-farm, in West Flanders (Belgium) (earlier post).
Founded in 2002 and based in Antwerp, Belgium, Thenergo is one of Europe’s leading independent developers and operators of sustainable energy projects using biomass, biogas and natural gas. Thenergo designs, builds, finances, operates and sells energy from Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects for its own account and on behalf of its clients. It has proven expertise in European energy trading markets as well as in green power and CHP certificates. To date, Thenergo has a gross installed capacity of 33MW for an annual electricity production capacity of 135 GWh. Since 14 June 2007, Thenergo has been listed on Alternext, Paris.
Eclair-E Energie NV is a Dutch independent power producer and supplier, dedicated to production of 100% sustainable power and heat. This differentiates Eclair-E from other power companies in The Netherlands. Eclair-E develops sustainable power and heat from decentralised biomass CHP units, fired with forest residues, herbaceous biofuels and energy crops.
The Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands, N.V. NOM, is the active promoter of economic development in the Northern Netherlands. NOM has a wide range of activities and objectives: it participates in companies in the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe, it provides backing in investments, locations, and initiates projects that enhance the competitive edge of regional trade and industry.
Graph: basic comparison of water, volatile organic compounds and carbon content of coal, wood, wood pellets and biocoal. Credit: Biocoal.net.
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Biocoal pellets are made from thermally processed biomass either from dedicated energy crops or from wood debris, forest residue and chippings. In pellet form it is a multipurpose clean burning fuel, easy to store and handle. This green 'designer coal' can be obtained by carbonizing biomass, with new techniques under development (previous post). Compared to wood, coal and biomass pellets, biocoal contains a far lower amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), no water, and is fully carbon neutral (graph, click to enlarge).
Since biocoal pellets are water resistant they can be stored for many years without decay. The higher energy density allows for up to 25% savings on transport and storage compared to ordinary biomass pellets. Biocoal pellets enable large scale co-firing of biomass in existing coal-fired power stations, with virtually no additional investment or handling.
Located on the Dutch-German border near Coevorden, the project will begin construction in April 2008 and is expected to be fully operational within 18 months. The development and building costs will require an investment of €30 million (US$41 million). Thenergo will have a majority interest in the project.
In this first truly cross-border bioenergy project, electricity will be sold to German grid operators, while biocoal pellets will supply Dutch and German coal fired power stations. The E-park will generate average annual sales of up to €13 million (US$17.7 million). The E-park’s primary fuel will come from regionally sourced forest debris and pruned wood from public land (225,000 tons per year):
energy :: sustainability :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: biomass :: wood :: residues :: biocoal :: co-firing :: Netherands :: Belgium ::
The announcement of Thenergo’s first E-park comes shortly after Thenergo revealed that it has begun work on a 3.2 MW CHP agri-waste to electricity facility, or E-farm, in West Flanders (Belgium) (earlier post).
Founded in 2002 and based in Antwerp, Belgium, Thenergo is one of Europe’s leading independent developers and operators of sustainable energy projects using biomass, biogas and natural gas. Thenergo designs, builds, finances, operates and sells energy from Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects for its own account and on behalf of its clients. It has proven expertise in European energy trading markets as well as in green power and CHP certificates. To date, Thenergo has a gross installed capacity of 33MW for an annual electricity production capacity of 135 GWh. Since 14 June 2007, Thenergo has been listed on Alternext, Paris.
Eclair-E Energie NV is a Dutch independent power producer and supplier, dedicated to production of 100% sustainable power and heat. This differentiates Eclair-E from other power companies in The Netherlands. Eclair-E develops sustainable power and heat from decentralised biomass CHP units, fired with forest residues, herbaceous biofuels and energy crops.
The Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands, N.V. NOM, is the active promoter of economic development in the Northern Netherlands. NOM has a wide range of activities and objectives: it participates in companies in the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe, it provides backing in investments, locations, and initiates projects that enhance the competitive edge of regional trade and industry.
Graph: basic comparison of water, volatile organic compounds and carbon content of coal, wood, wood pellets and biocoal. Credit: Biocoal.net.
Article continues
Friday, August 10, 2007
Climate change and permafrost thaw alter greenhouse gas emissions in northern wetlands
But rising atmospheric temperatures are accelerating rates of permafrost thaw in northern regions, according to research by Michigan State University's Merritt Turetsky. This great thaw has some surprising consequences, such as a boost to biomass productivity of new types of vegetation, which store carbon dioxide. On the other hand, new methane emissions may negate this apparent 'benefit'.
In their article 'The Disappearance of Relict Permafrost in Boreal North America: Effects on Peatland Carbon Storage and Fluxes' in this week’s early online edition of Global Change Biology, Turetsky and others explore whether melting permafrost can lead to a vicious feedback of carbon exchange that actually fuels future climate change.
The loss of permafrost usually means the loss of terra firma in an otherwise often boggy landscape. Roads, buildings and whole communities will have to cope with this aspect of climate change. What this means for ecosystems and humans residing in the North remains of the most pressing issues in the climate change arena.
Working closely with researchers from Southern Illinois University, Villanova University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Turetsky, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences and fisheries and wildlife, found that permafrost degradation has complex impacts on greenhouse gas fluxes from northern wetlands.
Their study focused on peatlands, a common type of wetland in boreal regions that slowly accumulates peat, which is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation. Today, peatlands represent a massive reservoir of stockpiled carbon that accumulated from the atmosphere over many thousands of years. Peat blankets the permafrost and protects it like a thick layer of insulation:
energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: greenhouse gas emissions :: biomass :: carbon cycle :: carbon dioxide :: methane :: permafrost ::
“We find permafrost in peatlands further south than in other boreal ecosystems due to the insulating qualities of peat. So we have argued that these ecosystems serve as a very sensitive indicator of climate change,” Turetsky says. “What will happen to peatlands when climate change disrupts these frozen layers, or perhaps more importantly what will happen to all of that stored carbon in peat, have remained big questions for us.”
New vegetation
Their results were surprising. Turetsky and her colleagues studied areas affected by permafrost degradation across a large region of Canada. They initially expected to find that the melting ice would trigger a release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, as previously frozen plant and animal remains became susceptible to decay. “This could serve as a positive feedback to climate change, where typically warming causes changes that release more greenhouse gases, which in turn causes more warming, and more emissions, and so on,” she says.
But what the researchers actually found is not such a clear-cut climate story.
Permafrost collapse in peatlands tends to result in the slumping of the soil surface and flooding, followed by a complete change in vegetation, soil structure, and many other important aspects of these ecosystems, Turetsky said. The study showed that vegetation responds to the flooding with a boost in productivity. More vegetation sequesters more carbon away from the atmosphere in plant biomass. “This is actually good news from a greenhouse gas perspective,” Turetsky says.
Methane time-bomb?
However, the report also cautions that this flooding associated with collapsing permafrost also increases methane emissions. Methane is an important greenhouse gas, which is more powerful than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere.
Turetsky said it seems the permafrost degradation initially causes increased soil carbon sequestration, rather than the large releases of carbon to the atmosphere originally predicted. But over time high methane emissions will balance – or outweigh – the reduction of carbon in the atmosphere.
“Not all ecosystems underlain by permafrost will respond the same way,” Turetsky cautioned. “It will depend on the history of the permafrost and the nature of both vegetation and soils.” What is clear, she said, is that not even northern ecosystems can escape the wide reach of climate change.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Canadian NSERC, and the Society of Wetland Scientists. Turetsky’s work also is supported by the MSU Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
Picture: Thawing permafrost in the peatlands of boreal forests in North America. Credit: Merritt Turetsky.
References:
M. R. Turetsky, R. K. Wieder, D. H. Vitt, R. J. Evans, K. D. Scott, "The disappearance of relict permafrost in boreal north America: Effects on peatland carbon storage and fluxes", Global Change Biology (OnlineEarly Articles), doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01381.x
Michigan State University: Climate change and permafrost thaw alter greenhouse gas emissions in northern wetlands - August 8, 2007.
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posted by Biopact team at 3:04 PM 0 comments links to this post