I know nothing about the following technology or its implication but I thought
I would pass the article along FYI and discussion:
from the Bradford (PA) Era
American Refining and Biochemical Inc., look to build new biomass facility
By MARCIE SCHELLHAMMER
Era Reporter
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The future of the region may be in that which is currently thrown away.
On Monday, the state Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania
Energy Development Authority announced a $1 million grant for American Refining
and Biochemical Inc., to construct a new biomass facility.
“They are going to take all types of biomass and almost turn them into charcoal
and this makes a dense charcoal-like product,” explained Charlie Young,
spokesman for the DEP. “It will be one of the first operating commercially in
the country.”
Harvey Golubock, president and chief operating officer of American Refining
Group, explained American Refining and Biochemical is an affiliated company of
ARG. “It’s 100-percent owned by Harry Halloran,” he said, referring to the
chairman and chief executive officer of ARG.
“ARB has been funding a project to study torrefaction,” Golubock explained,
“which is a technology for converting biomass to a usable energy form that
could be used in conjunction with coal or could be used to replace wood
pellets. It’s a technology that’s not been commercialized almost anywhere.
There are a number of companies working on it here and abroad.”
He explained the company has engaged a consulting firm, Bioenergy Consulting.
The principals of the firm are former county commissioner Tom Causer and his
wife, former county administrator Michele Alfieri-Causer, who are investigating
the torrefaction process and technology.
“Some time ago they submitted a grant application for the construction of a
facility in McKean County,” Golubock explained. “There’s still a lot of work
that needs to be done before a commercial plant is built.”
He didn’t have a timeline for the project at this point, saying it is still in
the early stages. So what is the next step?
“We’re meeting later this week to assess that,” he said. “One of the issues
will be raising the additional capital necessary. The plant costs ten-to-twelve
million dollars. This is not a particularly favorable market for raising
capital.
“We’re still developing the timeline. Without the grant there wasn’t a whole
lot we could do,” he said. “Now we’ll see what we can do with the grant and see
how far we can get with the project. It’s exciting and we’re very pleased.”
Golubock explained that Halloran has been supporting research in alternative
energies, such as biomass and wind technology. And this region is conducive to
development of such a facility, he added.
“Biomass can be obtained from forest waste. This could lead to developing crops
that are a renewable source for biomass,” he said.
“We would like to use the facilities at the Energy Institute at the University
of Pittsburgh at Bradford for testing and some other application projects. This
could very well be a major project for the Energy Institute.
“Torrefaction by its nature ... the idea is to build plants relatively near the
source of the supply, so you are not transporting long distances,” Golubock
said.
Further out in the future, there is a possibility of multiple biomass plants in
the area, he added.
“Each plant doesn’t employ a large number of people,” he said, estimating there
would be about 25 to 30 employees in the original plant.
The facilities can have some benefits to the environment as well, including a
decrease in air pollution from the burning of the biomasses instead of other
fuels.
“We use resources otherwise laying fallow,” Golubock said. “We use farmland
lying fallow for viable land. (The biomass) can be grown on soils not
necessarily good for growing food crops.
“This has a lot of pluses,” he said. “Biomasses are far better than burning
wood.”
Golubock said there are several locations around the county being considered
for placement of the facility.
The plant would process up to 180,000 tons of biomass per year into more than
60,000 tons of a coal-like product. According to the DEP, production of 65,000
tons of product would have a fuel value of 1.3 million Btu. Use of the product
would avoid air pollution from traditional power plants, including 241,000 tons
of carbon dioxide, 337 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1,600 tons of sulfur oxide.
_______________________________________________
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