[Gasification] Forbes.com: The New New Fuel

[Toby Seiler]

David, Benjamin and all;
   
  This is a subject that Paul Anderson has good information on.  A discussion that I had with him concerned a given area of land, the ultimate heat derived in btu terms and other benefits that could be gained from managing the forest and lands for energy production, equally with other human needs.  
   
  Best forest management practice could include an energy component.  In a mixed woodland, that growth could be modeled and implemented for energy production, timber stand improvement, carbon sequestration and shelter from extremes in climate or holding soils in place, that are equally important with other needs for human use.   This planning is unlike the annual harvest of switchgrass.  A rotation on five or ten year cycle would be part of a selective harvest, perhaps with some clear-cutting and fire break planning, but with accompanying planting of new growth. 
   
  Each area has differing growth rates and species of woody plants that can grow upon it.  We discussed that each woody plant or tree has certain growth in biomass and that, for example, oak, walnut, cherry, and Osage orange can be calculated to a yearly average for comparison.  Each biomass species has available btu per dry (or wet) ton.  Thus an acre of annual growth can be reduced to btu terms for each woody plant grown.  In my discussion with Paul, we concluded that turning anything (specifically corn) into alcohol, is a recovery of about 1/3 of the thermal energy available per acre.   
   
  My argument is that even a rather slow growth tree, like Osage, may have a high btu content and that the heat ultimately available by rotation management of forestland, could exceed that of annual plantings.  This is a planning approach that I believe will ultimately be necessary for large scale reliance on renewable fuel, probably first on government lands, or by economic incentives on private land, compensating the owner for the public benefits that are longer term.  Planning a healthy forest is not inconsistent with energy and wood product needs.  
   
  Sincerely,  Toby J. Seiler
   
   
   
   
     
   
   



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