[Gasification] Britain to build world's biggest biomass plant

[Roger Samson]

It doesn't make sense to burn wood chips at 30% conversion efficiency to
create power for further distribution when you can use it for direct thermal
applications or for decentralized CHP plants. Unfortunately there is no
parity in incentives for green heat compared to green power or liquid
transport fuels for CO2 mitigation and energy security. 

Undoubtedly they will import the vast majority of the biomass as Britains
biomass is limited and dispersed. There are no significant low cost surplus
biomass resources in Canada or the US. Here in Canada the wood residues are
being gobbled up by the rapidly growing pellet industry. As there are no
real certification programs established for sustainable  biomass imports,
Britain will inevitably reduce its GHG emissions at the expense of tropical
deforestation. 

This seems as bright an idea as the European power and transport projects
running on palm oil biodiesel that led to massive deforestation in SE Asia
and made Indonesia #3 in the world for GHG emissions. There is no
sustainability in this, the worlds largest biomass power project, until they
clearly indicate a sustainable biomass resource as the energy source for the
project. Mega projects need a mega supply and this is the biggest ever.
Overall biomass is much better used sustainably in decentralized
applications. This project will either be a white elephant or be
environmentally destructive on tropical forests which are already being
depleted rapidly. 

Alternatively they could import canadian grass pellets and put in
decentralized heat and CHP systems. That would genuinely reduce GHG's and be
less harmful to both the British taxpayer and the global environment and be
much less risky. We would be pleased to work with Europeans on developing
sustainable biomass imports from sustainably grown grass pellet fuels from
eastern Canada. We can produce 20 million tonnes of grass pellets in the
provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba largely using marginal farmland.
It’s an energy production system that is of benign design and management
that can work well in most any combustion appliance suitable for burning
coal. We have developed production systems for these grasses that produce
potassium and chlorine levels that are not appreciably different than #1
quality wood pellets. Our grass pellets  cause no clinker or corrosion
problems. We have resolved the historical problems that have plagued the use
of herbaceous biomass feedstocks as a combustion material. Our GHG balances
and net energy gains per ha of warm season grasses into pellets for thermal
energy applications are the best in the temperate world. 


Roger Samson

Executive Director

Resource Efficient Agricultural Production (REAP)-Canada

Box 125 Centennial Centre CCB13

Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9

T: (514) 398-7743

T: (514) 398-7972

E: rsamson at reap-canada.com

W: www.reap-canada.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of kenn johnsen
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 8:20 AM
To: gasification at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [Gasification] Britain to build world's biggest biomass plant



> Where is the sense, to transport wood chip across the pond from US
> - Canada. How about building this plant in US. Keep government 
> planning out, those people there plan with others money do more harm than
good.
>
> http://www.physorg.com/news114925938.html
>
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