Fueling The Fire

Alternative energy and energy independence as concepts have enjoyed growing support from the American public throughout the second half of this decade.

The forms of alternative energy that have been implemented, researched and proposed are numerous and draw upon sources ranging from the wind, the sun, agricultural products and waste and recyclables.

Low-value commodities handled by C&D recyclers are among the materials that are placed into the last category, often as part of the range of fuel sources known together as biomass fuels.

There are a range of scenarios that could unfold regarding how materials such as scrap wood and land-clearing debris might fit into the nation’s energy future, with some scenarios offering a stable market for mixed C&D recyclers.

Recyclers are not the only ones with an interest in seeing wood-fueled biomass plants claim a larger percentage of the national energy market.

Companies and individuals who own forest land are also asking to be heard regarding how resources from such lands can either be used (or protected, depending on the viewpoint) if this market grows.

The Pinchot Institute is a not-for-profit organization that says it is dedicated to "advancing sustainable forest management." In its Fall 2008 newsletter, Institute President V. Alaric Sample calls on the federal government to recognize the carbon sequestration value of managed forestry, particularly since "new technologies for producing electricity, process heat and advanced biofuels from wood hold significant promise for clean, efficient utilization of this renewable resource."

Sample also notes that while the recent Energy Independence and Security Act could provide a boost to cellulosic ethanol markets, "this policy emphasis on just one of several types of wood bioenergy has overshadowed others that may turn out to be better suited to circumstances in various forested regions of the U.S."

Advocating for wider uses, Sample writes, "If done with adequate foresight and planning, wood bioenergy can become an essential tool for reducing destructive, carbon-emitting wildfires." He adds, "Markets for wood bioenergy can become an important positive force for forest conservation and sustainable management on both private and public lands."

In a presentation at the "Energy from Biomass and Waste" event, held in Pittsburgh in October of 2008, Scott Miller of Price BIOstock offered one example of how such a biomass network might take shape.

In his presentation, entitled "The Price of Fuel: What Makes Biomass Sustainable?" Miller addressed the price points and volume factors that determine whether biomass energy makes economic sense, as well as describing a network or system of regional facilities.

The Price Cos. Inc., based in Monticello, Ark., provide wood and wood chips for sawmills and pulp and paper mills throughout the United States. The collection of companies has 21 mills, with 19 of those in the Southeastern United States, according to Miller.

The Southeast can be an ideal place for a network of small woody biomass plants, says Miller, because throughout much of the region the material is closer at hand than coal, and the region also contains many small and medium-sized towns that could satisfy a large percentage of their energy needs through biomass.

In terms of resource conservation, Miller noted that wood is a renewable resource thanks to managed forestry. And while the time cycle to grow trees is longer than to grow energy crops such as switchgrass, trees do not need to use fertilizers or irrigated water.

Emerging biomass-to-energy technologies such as gasification are being developed at commercial scale that are more efficient and environmentally cleaner at converting biomass waste streams into bio-power and bio-fuels. Miller listed construction and demolition materials, post-recycled materials, restaurant grease, hurricane forest knockdown, and flood debris as examples of landfilled waste that would not only be more "economically and environmentally sustainable" than using cultivated crops but would also clean up the environment and mitigate against greenhouse gas emissions from decay.

He recalled Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as just one example when the landfilling of large amounts of debris "broke [his] heart." Said Miller of storm debris, "We should make energy out of it," and he said that a network of biomass facilities would be a way to do that.

In Miller’s "biomass feedstock hierarchy," the base of a five-level pyramid is formed by waste—a combination of material that comes from forests, farms and urban generation sources.

He cited industrial residue and the clean-up of forests infested by beetles or other pests as other sources of feedstock that could be handled by a network of biomass facilities. Declared Miller, "The energy value chain could be cradle-to-cradle, just like recycling is."

As energy prices escalated and as public sentiment gravitated toward a favorable view of alternative energies, however, some entrepreneurs and larger companies have decided not to wait.

A report released in 2008 detailed the growth of wood pellet markets in the United States, covering the period from 1997 to 2006.

As of the end of 2006, North America had more than 80 wood pellet manufacturers producing 2.3 million tons of pellets, according to the report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

It remains to be seen to what extent that market will be boosted by volatile energy prices and any changes in U.S. energy policy.

According to the IEA report, The Energy Policy Act of 1992 provides incentives for "green" energy, with eligible facilities receiving payments of 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 10 years they produce energy.

Among the eligible facilities include those using wind, poultry waste and closed-loop biomass fuel sources. The Act was renewed in 2004 for another 10 years, and the list of eligible facility types expanded to include open-loop biomass, solar, municipal solid waste and geothermal energy plants.

One company that has been active in the wood fuel market is International Forest Products (IFP) of Foxborough, Mass. IFP, part of the Kraft Group of Companies, which bills itself as one of the largest traders of forest products commodities in the world. The company conducts business globally in 83 countries with offices in North America, Asia and Europe.

Recently, IFP was appointed as the sales agent for Geneva Wood Fuels, a company that is starting up its Strong, Maine, wood pellet facility in the first quarter of 2009. Geneva will be making wood pellets for the home-heating market.

The Geneva facility is being positioned by its operators as one that "will revitalize the timber community in and around Strong, Maine. The area has long been associated with forest products, and this plant, converting a renewable resource into alternative energy sources, is its natural evolution."

Recyclers of scrap wood can face limitations in this pellet market if other parts of the supply chain suspect painted wood and other contaminants are being mingled with clean wood.

Proper sourcing and processing of clean wood supplies, however, can help recyclers handling land-clearing debris, storm clean-up debris and other materials potentially tie in to this global market.

The IEA report describes wood pellet production this way:

"Wood pellets are usually made from dry, untreated, industrial wood waste such as sawdust, shavings or ground wood chips. This material under high pressure and temperature is compressed into small pellets, cylindrical in shape. As a source softwood (e.g. conifers, pines) and hardwood (e.g. oak) may be used. Wood pellets are manufactured at wood pellet mills (as called in North America) or wood pellet plants (as called in Europe). The manufacturing process is determined by the raw material but usually includes the following steps: reception of raw material, screening, grinding, drying, pelletizing, cooling, sifting and packaging."

In the United States, the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) established national standards for residential pellet fuel in 1995. The voluntary standard leaves fuel quality certification as the responsibility of the pellet manufacturer, according to the IEA report.

Two different fuel grades, premium and standard, were created. The primary difference between the two grades is in the inorganic ash content, with the presence of too much sodium (salt) being a key consideration. "Natural wood uncontaminated with salt will have less than 300 parts per million of water soluble sodium. Certain fuel made from plywood; particleboard, some agricultural residues, paper and other materials, and wood contaminated with salt may have elevated sodium levels," according to the IEA.

Thus, producers can use these materials but they should identify the sodium level and then label whether products made with such materials meet either the PFI standard or premium grade.

Additionally, pellet manufacturers "are asked to disclose various types of material (e.g. wood, paper, agricultural residues)" in their products.

It is often regulations rather than voluntary standards that provide the constraints for recyclers.

A 2008 study prepared by consulting firm DSM Environmental, Windsor, Vt., for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection expresses concerns about the future of commercial boiler fuel markets in New England.

With paper mills and saw mills facing an economic slump, demand is at least temporarily muted. Additionally, "According to Maine regulators, no new biomass boiler capacity is currently planned in Maine, due in part to political opposition to the existing combustion of waste wood from out-of-state sources," says the report.

It continues, "No waste wood combustion facilities will be developed in New Hampshire given the ban on combustion of waste wood in New Hampshire. DSM is not aware of any waste wood combustion facilities planned for Vermont, and the siting, permitting and construction of a facility in Vermont would take a minimum of three to five years given Vermont’s regulatory process."

Southern New England may prove more hospitable. "New biomass boilers have been proposed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to take advantage of increased REC credits in Massachusetts. However, it will take a favorable ruling from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources on the use of waste wood as a qualifying biomass fuel for these to go forward," says the DSM report.

Gasification technology, such as that being pursued by Boston-based Ze-gen, could provide an outlet. In January, Ze-gen received a $20 million capital boost to help fund it’s first commercial-scale facility to convert C&D scrap materials into what it calls "synthesis gas" using gasification technology.

For all the opportunities that biomass fuel markets offer, strong advocacy at the federal level may be needed to overcome some of the current lids on demand.

Much like predicting the weather one year in advance, calculating just how heated biomass markets will become involves making a forecast that could prove to be more speculation than science.