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INEOS Bio BioEnergy Center Makes Fuel From Wood Waste
Posted: 07/31/2013 Vero Beach, Fla. – INEOS Bio today announced that its Indian River BioEnergy Center (Center) is now producing cellulosic ethanol at commercial scale. First ethanol shipments will be released in August. This is the first commercial-scale production in the world using INEOS Bio’s breakthrough gasification and fermentation technology for conversion of biomass waste into bioethanol and renewable power. “We are delighted with the progress made by our team at Vero Beach”, said Peter Williams, CEO of INEOS Bio and Chairman of INEOS New Planet BioEnergy. “They have successfully addressed the challenges of moving a new technology to large production scale for the very first time. Consequently, we are now pleased to announce that we are producing commercial quantities of bioethanol from vegetative and wood waste, and at the same time exporting power to the local community – a world first. We expect to spend the remainder of 2013 putting the plant through its paces, and demonstrating full nameplate capacity.” Dr. Williams added, “All that we have seen so far validates the technical and economic viability of the technology. We remain convinced that the ability to divert waste materials from communities by converting them into competitively priced renewable fuel and power offers an excellent value proposition. It helps solve waste disposal issues, contributes to the supply of affordable and renewable fuel and energy, creates attractive jobs, and provides a sustainable source of value for the community. We look forward to taking the next steps in building a global business based on the broad deployment of this advanced technology.” The BioEnergy Center is a joint venture project between INEOS Bio and New Planet Energy. The facility has already converted several types of waste biomass material into bioethanol, including vegetative and yard waste, and citrus, oak, pine, and pallet wood waste. It will have an annual output of eight million gallons (24kta) of cellulosic ethanol and six megawatts (gross) of renewable power. The Center is also permitted to utilize municipal solid waste (MSW), quantities of which will be used for bioethanol production at the Center during 2014. The biofuels produced in Florida will anchor the new production of cellulosic ethanol under the U.S. Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). INEOS Bio is working with other companies and cities globally to use this technology as a new direction for waste disposal and the production of advanced biofuels and renewable power. The Center cost more than $130 million and created more than 400 direct construction, engineering and manufacturing jobs during its development. The project sourced more than 90% of the equipment from U.S. manufacturers, creating or retaining jobs in more than 10 states. The Center has 65 full-time employees and provides $4 million annually in payroll to the local community. The Center will serve as a reference plant for future INEOS Bio facilities and for companies and cities interested in licensing the technology for similar facilities. As a major licensor of chemical process technology in the world, INEOS will leverage its extensive expertise to bring this technology forward as an exciting new alternative for sustainable waste disposal. For more information on licensing the INEOS Bio technology, contact Mark Dietzen or Markus Hesse at bioinfo@ineos.com also at http://www.ineosbio.com . – See more at: http://www.woodworki…h.0vL5Uy7N.dpuf Continue reading
GIB Invests £20 Million In Biomass
30 July 2013 by Emma Leedham See an enlarged version of this infographic The construction of a wood-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was given the go ahead yesterday (29 July), after the Foresight Group and the UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) invested £20 million into the £81 million project. The investment has enabled the Evermore Renewable Energy CHP to be built on a ten-acre site at the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners land at Lisahally. The project is forecast to be the largest renewable energy project in Northern Ireland, and is expected to operate from 2015 to 2035. According to the GIB, the 15.8 megawatt project – its first investment in Northern Ireland – will increase renewable electricity generation in the country by around 10 per cent, and deliver a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of around 3.7 million tonnes. Partner funders include GCP Infrastructure Fund Ltd, Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S (BWSC), Investec Bank, and Eksport Kredit Fonden. Project details The CHP project, led by Evermore Renewable Energy (a subsidiary of the Evermore Group, founded in 2009) aims to supply enough renewable electricity to power more than 25,000 homes each year, create 200 construction jobs and over 20 full time jobs once in operation. Speaking of the project, Ciaran and Stephen Devine, co-founders of the Evermore Group commented: “We are making a serious commitment to the Northern Ireland energy market. Working with the best partners in technology, fuel supply and financing, we hope to show that Northern Ireland is a great place to do business so that further inward investment will follow. “This is the culmination of many years of hard work to develop and finance the largest green energy power station in Northern Ireland. Our ability to attract this level of investment into Northern Ireland is testament to our team’s commitment and skill in both project development and project financing. This now marks the start of the construction phase and with that the creation of over 200 much needed construction jobs in the North West.” They added that work should begin on the project in the ‘next six to eight weeks’. ‘Landmark moment’ for GIB Speaking of the investment, Shaun Kingsbury, Chief Executive of the UK Green Investment Bank, said: “[This] announcement will substantially increase Northern Ireland’s renewable energy capacity. Not only will the project save the same amount of carbon as taking around 77,000 cars off the road, it will also make use of over two million tonnes of wood, a valuable energy resource that would otherwise have gone to landfill.” The recycled wood (largely recovered from the construction and demolition industry) will be supplied under a fuel contract with Stobart Biomass Products Limited. Provision is being made to use up to 30 per cent of local wood biomass. Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The first deal done in Northern Ireland is a landmark moment for the UK Green Investment Bank and I’m confident that there will be more to come.” Northern Ireland’s Energy Minister Arlene Foster added: “The Evermore plant will make an important contribution towards Northern Ireland’s 2020 renewable energy targets. “It is a wonderful example of local, national and international co-operation and I am particularly pleased to note that this is the first Northern Ireland project to secure funding from the Green Investment Bank.” The investment comes from the UK Waste Resources & Energy Fund (UKWREI), managed by investment management company Foresight, in which the GIB is the cornerstone investor. L aunched in November 2012 , the Green Investment Bank was given £3.8 billion of funding from the UK Government to support environmentally-friendly projects that cannot obtain sufficient funding from the markets. The GIB provides investment for renewable and low-carbon technologies such as offshore wind, energy from waste, non-domestic energy efficiency as well as biofuels for transport, biomass power, carbon capture and storage, marine energy and renewable heat projects. ‘Temporary solution’ Despite the GIB investment, Secretary of State for Energy Security Edward Davey has previously told the BBC that biomass was a temporary solution to meet climate targets while renewable energy systems were being developed. Indeed, government recently announced that grants for existing biomass plants are being capped at 400 megawatts (MW), and that there will be no renewable heat incentive (RHI) tariffs for new biomass plants. “Making electricity from biomass based on imported wood is not a long-term answer to our energy needs – I am quite clear about that”, he said. Biomass ‘dirtier than coal’ Biomass has been a controversial choice of renewable energy, with a joint report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, titled ‘ Dirtier than Coal ‘ , suggesting that biomass derived from virgin wood may be more polluting than coal. Indeed, the government’s own statistics suggest that burning whole trees can result in 49 per cent more emissions than burning coal. Harry Huyton, RSPB Head of Climate Policy, explained: “When trees are burnt in power stations, CO2 [carbon dioxide] comes out of the chimney, just like it does when you burn coal. The difference is that the wood is less energy dense and is wetter than coal, so it takes a lot more energy to harvest, transport, process, and finally burn it. “Government has justified burning trees in power stations by claiming the chimney emissions are offset by the carbon that the forest takes in when it regrows after being harvested, but this is misleading. It can take decades, if not centuries, for the trees to recapture that carbon, leaving us with more emissions in the atmosphere now – when we least need it.” Continue reading
Ed Davey Dismisses Fracking With Pledge To ‘Expand Renewables’
Last updated on 2 August 2013, 9:28 am UK energy and climate chief says government committed to clean energy, promising more support in energy bill By Nilima Choudhury UK government plans to invest in renewable energy will not be pushed off course by supporters of shale gas exploration, also known as fracking, Ed Davey has told RTCC. Britain’s energy and climate chief was talking after announcing a £66 million package to boost offshore wind in the UK, which the government says could “unlock £7 billion in the economy by 2020”. In the past 10 days the Sun Newspaper, former BP chief Tony Hayward and influential conservative columnist Tim Montgomerie have all called for Davey to scrap support for renewables in favour of shale gas, but he told RTCC the opposite was likely to happen. “We’re not changing our strategy except to even augment it so there’ll be more pro renewables. We have got the most ambitious renewable and low carbon energy strategy the country’s ever had,” he said. “And coupled with the energy bill to create the world’s first ever low carbon electricity market we couldn’t be clearer about our determination to expand renewables and low carbon.” Last month Prime Minister David Cameron opened the world’s largest offshore power generation project off the Kent coast, but generation remains small compared to the UK’s overall capacity of 80GW . Yesterday’s opening of the Lincs Offshore Wind farm saw UK onshore and offshore wind capacity pass the 10GW mark, according to trade body RenewableUK . The UK currently has an installed offshore wind capacity of over 3.3GW, with a further 1.3GW under construction. Costs Davey reiterated his ambition for the UK to be a “world leader” in the development of offshore wind, but acknowledges that the costs of offshore – currently higher than onshore or nuclear – have to be addressed. “We’ve been working with the industry to map out the potential for cost reductions and when we published the stuff on the strike prices [subsidies] recently we showed that if we get the cost reductions that we believe we can we could see 16GW of offshore wind by the end of this decade,” said Davey. “The potential for our industry is huge and actually being the leader gives a potential for exports and potential to learn how to innovate and how to get the cost benefits from large scale deployment. “I think it’s right that we are leading – the problems we’ve seen in the past has been that Britain has been a follower and as a result we’ve had to actually end up paying more because we’re depending on other suppliers and we’ve not had the industrial base development with the jobs that come to that.” “I think it’s great that under the coalition government we are making sure that we are not just a leader but remain a leader in the years ahead.” – See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/…h.LpDc9xun.dpuf Continue reading
