Jun 22 2009
What if the future of greener, more sustainable energy solutions isn’t to be found in wind, solar, hydroelectric, and/or ethanol-based power, but instead lies in the efficient combustion of cellulosic biomass (e.g., wood chips, sawdust, switch grass, corn husks, pine needles, paper pulp, etc.) that can be used to create green electricity?
“Unlike oil and coal, power generated from biomass is clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly,” says Tyson Rohde, Chief Executive Officer of Biotricity; a Houston-based company that is manufacturing a commercial scale power generation technology to produce green electricity from biomass with low emissions. “To give a sense of the potential of biomass: It was estimated Hurricane Ike left over 5.6 million cubic yards of woody biomass that contained enough energy to power over one hundred thousand households for one year. This is real energy that’s mostly wasted.”
Biotricity’s process has the potential to make use of unwanted, low-cost biomass, such as forest and agricultural byproducts as feedstocks to create electricity with minimal emissions. Biotricity will use discarded wood products that would normally end up in landfills. In the U.S. alone, there are over one billion tons of annual biomass that can be directed toward biopower.
“The benefits of an alternative energy model based on biomass are myriad,” says Mr. Rohde. “Biomass energy has low emissions, utilizes low-cost multiple feedstocks, boasts relatively high thermal efficiencies, is a carbon neutral process, and is easily scalable. This is a pragmatic solution to sustainable power generation that is as profitable as it is socially responsible.”
The “secret sauce” behind Biotricity’s seemingly simple energy solution: the company’s power station technology. The design uses a proprietary vortex combustion chamber to efficiently convert the energy in biomass into green electricity to be sold to the power grid. Unlike wind and solar facilities, biopower stations can run continuously and be installed for half to one-fourth the cost per megawatt as compared to wind and solar.
“Biomass power generation also promises to avoid the problems that have plagued other alternative energy options,” explains Mr. Rohde. “These include the high capital costs of wind and solar, permitting challenges involved with hydroelectric dams, and the negative effect on food costs from ethanol and biodiesel.”