Manitoba is exploring five distinct pathways to convert raw biomass into useful energy for customer site needs, and to enhance their overall environmental performance. Deny St. George, Senior Biosystems Engineer at Manitoba Hydro, outlined the demonstration projects under the utility’s Bioenergy Optimization Program, all co-funded through the Government of Canada’s Clean Energy Fund.
Two pathways or components already undertaken are pyrolysis oil and waste heat recovery. Tolko Industries Ltd. deployed a pyrolysis oil component at its kraft paper mill in The Pas, Manitoba, manufactured from biomass to displace fossil fuels used in the mill’s power boiler. Spruce Products Limited launched the waste heat recovery component at its sawmill in Swan River, Manitoba. The company used a GE Energy Clean CycleTM 125-kW organic rankine cycle power generation system to generate 100 kilowatts of power from the excess low pressure steam from the sawmill’s solid fuel biomass combustion boilers.
A syngas component is being conducted in collaboration with Pineland Forest Nursery in Hadashville, Manitoba. It will convert biomass fuel into syngas by using a Community Power Corporation BioMax® 100 micro-gasification power generation system. The unit is currently being installed in conjunction with a heat recovery system and is anticipated to generate 100 kW of electricity and capture 100 kW of thermal energy for the tree nursery’s operations. “It’s a first in Canada,” notes St. George, adding that “with gasification, we move biomass up the value chain by producing electricity.”
A biogas component that is being hosted at the Sweetridge Farms near Winkler, Manitoba, will use a PlanET Biogas Solutions anaerobic digester to convert liquid cow manure into methane. A Caterpillar 3306 NA Reciprocating engine generator will generate up to 70 kW of electricity and recover 170 kW of heat at peak operation. The digested manure will have enhanced fertilizer properties and a solid-liquid separation system will recover undigested solids from the digester to use them as bedding in the barns. Overall, this type of system contributes to the farm’s bottom line and manure management.
A biocarbon component at the Hutterite Rock Lake Colony near Grosse Isle, Manitoba, will carbonize biomass and recover pyrolysis gases to fuel the Prosecco carbonizer and a boiler that supplies a district heating network. The biocarbon produced will be tested as a replacement for coal in a kiln at Graymont Limited’s lime plant near Faulkner, Manitoba, and in a district heating plant solid fuel boiler at Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba.
The syngas, biogas, and biocarbon components will be fully operational by this fall and, along with the waste heat recovery component, will be demonstrated until the end of 2013. Performance of the various technologies will be monitored and outcomes reported upon. Manitoba Hydro’s Power Smart Bioenergy Optimization Program supports biomass-to-energy conversion systems for its customers by providing incentives for feasibility studies for a maximum of $15,000 and implementation incentives for a maximum of $1 million and $250,000 for electrical and natural gas load cost reductions, respectively.
Original story by the Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) September 1. Republished with permission.