Imagine turning all that wood waste you produce at your mill into electricity to run your equipment. That is the idea behind biomass fueling. Releasing the stored energy in sawdust, bark, wood chips and scrap wood and using it for heat and electricity.
Let's pretend you and I are sitting around a campfire. We have spent a couple hours having a deep conversation about the lumber business. The fire has died down to coals so you get up and grab a piece of firewood and toss it on the fire. Congratulations! You have just converted biomass (the chunk of firewood) into energy (the heat from the fire). That is biomass fueling in its most primitive form.
You already know how to turn wood into heat. What would be really great is to be able to convert the wood by products you produce in manufacturing lumber, into alternative energy. Saving you money on your power bill and helping the environment at the same time.
Scientists, over the past several years have been working on making biomass fueling more efficient. It has been their goal to produce energy from waste wood and renewable resources. They have come up with some new green technology to accomplish their goals.
Direct Combustion
This is old tech biomass fueling. In essence it is much the same as throwing that piece of firewood on the fire. Only now instead of just producing heat for warmth you are also producing heat in steam boilers to run a turbine that generates electricity.
Think of the steam locomotives that once chugged their way across the country. They were converting biomass (firewood) into steam energy to propel the train to its destination.
Direct combustion is not very energy efficient and it can produce to much air pollution to be a viable energy source. Unless you are using wood that would normally be discarded. Using up waste wood offsets the pollution created by burning it.
Pelletized Biomass
Sawdust and shavings along with other fine wood waste are pressed through a die and bound together into wood pellets. These pellets can then be burned in homes for heat. Like with direct combustion, wood pellets can also be used at a power plant to produce electricity. There are wood pellet presses available from $2,000 to as high as $100,000 plus. Depending on how many tons of sawdust you need to make into wood pellets.
Gasification of Biomass
Biomass is heated up in a chamber, pressurized, and oxygen is restricted converting wood waste into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases. The biogas can them be burned, producing heat and steam. The steam boilers run a turbine and produces electricity. Gasification is much more energy efficient than direct consumption. Gasification systems range from the size of a semi trailer to as big as an entire factory sized refinery system.
As you can see producing energy from biomass can range from extremely simple to rather complex. Explore the different ways of converting your wood waste into energy and decide which one works for you. It can be as simple as burning scrap wood in a stove in your shop. Or, maybe you would like to make wood pellets from your sawdust and wood shavings. Then again a gasification system may be more your cup of tea. In any case you will be saving money while improving the health of our planet.