19092017 ‘Size Mates | Biomassmagazine.com Size Matters The losis invoives in developing a bromass-based power project can be daunting. Sourcing, transporting and storing biomass ae all sues that “eed to be addressed, but the size af the facility needs tobe determined Before tat can happen. Biomass Magazin talks te incustry experts who have efferent ideas about the perfect sae for biomate-fres power plant, By dona ast In recent months, announcements of new biomassto-power Drajects have Nooded renewable energy news. These ventures Fange trom the construction of lant Tod-megawat: (MW). ‘wood:-powered plant, ta buieing 25 smal 4 wood and agreltural-vaste-Fred plants. Presumably, diferent parts of {he world have ifferent needs and demands when it comes te electrily-but ts one size more economical than the ther In August, Denmark-bared Babcock ang Wilcox V@lune AS, a Subsidiary of Us. -based Babcock and Wax Power Generation ‘eoup Inc, announced that fe had reached an agreement with Tayrbased Advancea Renewable Erersy Ltd, to Supply Up to 25 smal biomass plants over the next 10 yeas, all of which ‘il be bustin aly In adaressng is plan to buid multiple plants, Ryan Corel, company spaxesmnan says the mals impetus was te meet tustomer needs, These are the yes of plants [our Customers] were looking for, 50 we ae licensing design that fits ther needs," he says. "There are several reasons why they wanted tego withthe smaller pints instead of larger, Centrally localized plants, some ofthat has to do with essentially the size ofthe region where trey ae buliing.” 1.25 plant wil be built n two regions in southern Iai Calabria and Sicily. "The towns are smal there, x0 you are looking at building a small lant to serve a town of 1,000 to 5,000 people. They dont need a gigantic plant to seve these fownshe electrical gist developed Inthe same way 1 Inthe United States, t's mall and imited,z0 we are tying {0 rovide electricity to these small regions separately rather than toa large region.” Comet says another reason for small-scale plant development {inthis particular area s thatthe Halen government encourages the development af small biomass plants to Support the loca! forestry industry. “They essentaly have large tacks of ftest lad there, ane they are trying to arovide a market forthe waste products that are generated,” he sys. Tess mare economical this Way. Instead of buléing one plat 100 mites away and then tucking the wood and biomass in the plant is But nearby and the biomass haste be hauled only 10 mies. ‘Comet says local, small-scale development reduces ransparation costs ané helps generate more Jobs forthe local people In summary, Comel say in this case, the marke: diferent than is nthe United States. “These are smaller towns with smaller power needs,” he says. "Considering the ic intastructure, it makes sense to Keep Ie small, rather than taxing the arg wth power output frm ane larg plant. ‘ther companies such as Québec, Canads-bated Sanimax and Ontarlo@based StormFlsher Blogs algo favor small, local facilities to utilize continuous waste streams. With plans to invest more thaa $160 milion, the Companies recently announced a joint venture to construct eit Bioges plants fn the Midwest over & period af time, which nas yet fo be determines Sanimax annually collects more tan * million tons of animal and food byproduct, vegetable of, ang hides ang ins and transforms them int Useable products for industries worhig, including feed companies, chemica. ‘mancfacturers, tameries, soap producers and et food manufacturers Stormfisher Biogas, a renewable energy company that builds, owns and operates biogas plants across North “America, works with the food processing and agricultural industries to process organic byprocucts into tlecricky and natura gas. In the net five year, the company plans to develop 18 plants across North Americ, ‘Tre fst three pants wil be builtin Ontario and are expected tobe online in 2009. tach of the plants wil process about 100,000 tons of organic byproducts annually and generate 2.6 MW of electricity, enough to power Spproximately 2,600 homes. Is Bigger Better? Good things don always come in small packages, according to Peter Fyn, pool chai in Management forthe Engineers Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Abert a Eémenten, Canada Flynn has spent nearly a decade studying the Burning of biomass-agricltural and wood waste-n standard powerplants instead ff coal He has aso been Involved In numerous research projects to determine the econamics 0” dfferent pant scales yan says building multiple small power plants ina region i an economic disaster. "The mantra that has come fut of my work's that capital efficiency trumps transportation he say. “Talking about ethanol and power {generation-everybody who has modeled power generation has come ep with a9 economy of sele UN 998, inven you double the size ofa plant you will havea 62 percent increase In capital cost, Flynn says. "Ts for 2100 percent increase of capac. He has also found that small powerplants are nat as thermally efficient a large plants. “A200 MW power plant wil tu 30 [percent] to 38 percent of the theral energy inthe biomass inte electricity,” Fn 53), htpstiomassmagazinecom/aricles2300Isize-mattersrgov0r7 ‘Size Mates | Biomassmagazine.com consigering a 200 MW plant to be large, “A25 MW plant will tum 20 percent inte electricity, or maybe 25 percent into electricity. ts losing more heat per unit of capacity, and this because the surface area per unt of biomass is biger. Fyn concucted a study with other researchers forthe British Columbia government to determine the pant economics of using sual trees killed by mountain pine beetles a afeeestock to generate electricity. "We found that ifaplant was built at 300 MWS, generated power could be sod for cents per Klowatt hour. Its bull at 700 MWs, power could Be sold for 12 cents per klawatt Mour-navng I Bigger made it cheaper per unit power output. ‘Altnough arger facts cost more to build, mare power and efficiency would be generated, which would ‘outweigh the higher construction costs, Fytn says. "Th's an economy of scale,” he says. "This why we Bulé big refineries and coalired plants, and al the same stuff is true for ethan) ‘A cammon misconception fn the biomass industry is that biomass cannot be economically transported great stances because its eneray content iat high enough, lyon says. "That is absoltely wrong” Ne says. V can tell you sx studies vom Europe, the U.S. and Canada-hghly detailed studies-havesalé this ent true Even the cos of fuel doesnt make that much difference, Flynn says. "When you look at the cost of trucking Something, the biggest cost of driving a carts the depreciating value of the ca,” he says. 50 when fuel Increases thas a small impact. When you took at trucking cos, a quarter or maybe a Lied of Una cos is (el So, if have 830 percent Incease In Tuel cost, i's Not aig dea Fyn says he conducteg a hightycetaled study in a mixed farming county in Alberta, Canada, to determine ‘ether ft would be more economical to instal anaerobi cgesterson individual farms orto build one lage entralized plant. The study looked at the cost of trckng the manure tothe centralized pant ane then transporting the leftover lgulé back to the farms where ft WoUIG De Spread onthe land as Fertlier ‘Unquestionably, ft wae more economical to have a centralized plant, much Hike the people m Denmark have, which a heavy dairy incustry country,” he ays ther Factors Should the size ofthe community affect the size of a plant? In some cases, but not usually, Flynn says.“ you have district heating where you capture waste heat from 8 power pant and use that then the economics of Aistibuted plants changes ait because you cant ship ov-quallty heat long estances, he says. In North ‘america, where district heats rarely used, t's relevant, Fyn says. Thee i reason why there are no smal {oal‘red powerplants fo each smal town in North Ameria, "ies expensive, and while may promote rural. living, the economics are not there,” he says, ‘Another issue to conser is the staffing needs fora arge numberof plants. “Staffing for #500 MW plant is nearly the same as It's fora 30 MW plant. Flypn says. You have to ave a person in the cantral rom no master what the size Having more plants means mare workers, raising costs considerably.” yom says companies that build multiple smaller powerplants and receive government subsicies are generaly leds prota and ave a waste of taxpayer dallas. The technology utilized ata biomass power plat also affects the economics of plant size, ‘Many technologies ae expensive and requ a large plat to be economical,” Fyan says. For example, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis very capital intensive process” ther studies have shown that nrg biomass powerplants may have less of @ negative affect on the tenvitonment. Research conducted by Patricia Thornley ofthe Tyndal Cestre for Climate Change Research a the University af Manchester, United kingcom, shawed that small facities general produce higher leves of emissions pe unt of electrical output than larger ones. Inadation, gasification processes facitate a reduction Snemissions for large plants ‘As the world continues to look for ways to create cleaner, ess expensive power, iis etca to consider logstics such asthe size of Biomass powerplants, Fly says “all this Gocant matter we are Celking about a hal of a percent of a countrys energy in, he say. "Sut when you star talking about 25 percent of a count'ys ery fom renewable energy-we beter get iis right, If we gett wrang, the consequences could be Anna Austin is Biomass Magazine stff writer. Reach her at ocustinebbiinternatonal com or (701) 738-4568 Related Articles Forcum moves forward with Lithuania waste-to BAD study: Biomass could alc enersy energy CHP pant challenges in Turse, Esyat ebec announces biogas uograding a1 2017: 50K of U.S South pellet plants usec Dreaithrough Fe il, forest waste Scientists hamess sola power to produce RIMM Australia pellet plant to reapen ysrogen From biomass htpstiomassmagazinecom/aricles2300Isize-matters 22