Sometimes Small Is Better re Bio Mass

Could Small-Scale Forestry Biomass Serve as an Economic Driver for the Region?

By Genevieve Fraser



While the debate rages over large-scale utility use of forestry biomass in Massachusetts, scant attention has been paid to the economic benefits of small scale biomass use as an economic driver. A centerpiece for this effort could be the creation of a no-waste, integrated wood products industrial park once envisioned by the now defunct Forest and Wood Products Institute based at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA.



The “model” industrial park could contain a sawmill processing underutilized species and small logs. The waste would serve to power cogeneration turning biomass into electricity and thermal (heat) use. The centre could also include value-added functions such as flooring, furniture, cabinetry, boxes, pallets and an “incubator” such as a wood pellet manufacturer. However, with or without the sawmill component, any industrial park would be well served by the installation of a small scale cogeneration biomass plant.

Though the “model” industrial park has yet to materialize, the college did convert their heating system to biomass and have saved approximately $300,000 per year. The Athol-Royalston Regional High School also converted to a wood chip biomass system and saves about $20,000 annually. Hospitals are considered ideal candidates for biomass cogeneration due to their thermal (heating, cooling, cooking, sterilization) and electrical loads which operate 24/7 throughout the year. After reviewing the advantages, Cooley Dickinson Hospital installed a 230 kW Advanced Biomass Combined Heat and Power generation system at its Northampton Hospital site.

The US Environmental Protection Agency claims that biomass does not contribute to greenhouse gases because it recycles carbon already in the natural carbon cycle. No new CO2 is added to the atmosphere as long as the forests from which the wood came are sustainably managed. In addition, forest biomass contains only trace amounts of sulfur oxides as opposed to significant amounts contained in fuel oil and acid rain producing coal.

Currently, three electricity generation plants totaling 165 MW have been proposed for the state based on an abundant stock of low-quality wood in Massachusetts forests. Aside from traffic, air quality and water use issues, concerns have been raised that large scale or industrial forestry would tip the balance away from sustainability. But small scale biomass facilities could revitalize the region and serve as a powerful incentive for business and industry to locate in an area that can provide inexpensive, sustainable fuel.

At the June 2009 joint meeting of the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) and the Advisory Group of Stakeholders (AGS) for the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Forest Futures Visioning Process, the point was made that “the concept of ‘buy local’ has worked to strengthen the farming sector in the Commonwealth and could work for the forestry sector as well.”



“The Commonwealth still has several dozen mills that can process wood locally. DCR hopes that the Technical Steering Committee will consider in developing its recommendations strategies that could help re-vitalize local mills, help the climate (by reducing transportation carbon inputs) and replace plastic, concrete, steel, etc in buildings, bridges etc., thereby reducing the Commonwealth’s collective carbon emissions.”



NOTE:

Genevieve Fraser is an Independent candidate for state representative for the 2nd Franklin District. She is the recipient of a Massachusetts Environmental Commendation for her work as the organizer of the Acid Rain Awareness Weeks in 1984-85 and has worked as an Environmental Technical Writer.

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Quality Info on CO2 Emisssions

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Biomass concerns aren't just happening in our neck of the woods. Here is a letter from Lisa Arkin concerning a proposed biomass plant in Eugene Oregon. Thanks to Susan Laing for passing this on.



Dear Administrator Jackson,

Oregon Toxics Alliance, Central Latino Americano and the Oregon Chapter of the American Lung Association filed a request for Alternative Dispute Resolution to the Environmental Justice Division of EPA Region 10. We remain extremely concerned about the public health impacts from the pollution and greenhouse gases that will be emitted from the proposed Seneca biomass plant to be located in Eugene, Oregon.

We understand that the US EPA is currently not accounting for CO2 and CO2 pre-cursor emissions from biomass burning in the regulatory process. This is a significant oversight. Greenhouse gases are determined to be air pollutants and also have a negative impact on the public health of communities in the near vicinity of biomass power plants.

We wish to submit these comments which describe the negative impacts of air pollutants and greenhouse gases on residents of West Eugene, Oregon if a proposed 18.8 MW co-generation biomass plant (Seneca Sawmill permit application submitted January 29, 2009) is approved as submitted. The community is demanding that maximum emissions control technology is required for construction, in this case, RSCR or Regenerative Selective Catalytic Reduction. If the permitting agency doesn’t require RSCR, the biomass plant will be a major source of CO2 (according to their own consultants, 212,000 tons/year).

Biomass incineration, the process of burning wood for fuel, converts large amounts of carbon from a solid state to a gaseous state. Although biomass is viewed as being ‘carbon neutral’ by virtue of using biogenic carbon, biomass energy production can adversely affect atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations in important ways. The form in which carbon is transferred from the biomass stock to the atmospheric stock is critically important from the standpoint of greenhouse forcing impacts.

Burning woody biomass releases reduced carbon (methane or CH₄), which is twenty-five times more potent as a green house gas than oxidized carbon (CO₂) on an instantaneous, per-carbon basis. Maximum control technology (RSCR) will better control methane (CH₄) emissions and reduce greenhouse gas effects.

In the process of converting carbon from a solid state to a gaseous state, biomass incineration directly affects the climate of surrounding neighborhoods, in that most of the gases produced are greenhouse gases or its pre-cursors. These gases trap pollution and infrared radiation.

Thus, biomass incineration will saturate the local climate of Eugene with greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄,), many other pollutants and particulate matter, with the most intense impacts to West Eugene neighborhoods. West Eugene has high concentration of low income, disabled and minority residents. This has the effect of creating a local micro-climate that leads to phenomena such as thermal inversions and acidic rain.

These phenomena will occur because, once continuous point-sources of greenhouse gasses are installed, their release rate may exceed the dispersion rate, creating a permanent accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere. This effect is compounded by the number and volume of point source polluters. The fact that Eugene sits at the bottom of the Willamette Valley and is surrounded by mountains disrupts the dispersion of gases and aggravates this micro-climate effect.

So, even if one accepts that the process is carbon neutral, a biomass plant has a significant potential for changing the quality of life for the communities nearby if maximum air emission equipment is not used. Oregon Toxics Alliance asserts that biomass energy plant poses a severe air pollution and public health hazard for nearby communities.

Thus, in order to maintain the quality of our local atmospheric conditions, it’s necessary to reduce gaseous pollutant sources and control industrial gaseous outputs with maximum control technology. EPA's regulations must account for emissions from power plants that use biomass burning to generate electricity.

Sincerely,

Lisa Arkin

Executive Director, Oregon Toxics Alliance

Email: larkin@oregontoxics.org

Website: www.oregontoxics.org

Office Phone: 541-465-8860

Street Address: 1192 Lawrence Street

Eugene, OR 97401