BioEnergy
What is bioenergy?
BioEnergy is any renewable energy or fuel derived from biological sources. Along with agricultural products and livestock waste there are several sources of woody materials for bioenergy in Alberta including:
- forestry waste;
- construction debris; and
- trees killed by disease or insect outbreaks such as the mountain pine beetle infestation.
Bioenergy is capable of becoming a major part of Alberta’s renewable energy mix. Alberta has the potential to produce 700 Million Litres of Biodiesel, 300 million Litres of ethanol, 150 Megawatts of power from syngas and 25 megawatts of power from biogas.
BioEnergy & Forestry - Seizing Opportunity
The Alberta forest industry is uniquely positioned to benefit from bioenergy opportunities through:
- access to a sustainable feedstock supply;
- reducing their use of fossil fuels and achieving energy self-sufficiency;
- diversifying products and revenue streams; and
- recycling of waste materials into useful and marketable products.
Biorefineries
A biorefinery is an integrated processing and conversion facility. Raw materials, including wood fibres, agrifibres and other waste materials, are separated into their individual components like carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. They are then converted into a variety of products such as fuels, power, bio-chemicals, fibres for textiles and more.
Biorefineries around the world provide for the optimum use of raw materials and production efficiency.
Developing the BioEconomy in Alberta
There are a number of bioenergy facilities in Alberta and more under construction. They make use of agricultural, livestock, wood, and waste materials to make electricity, ethanol, methanol and combined heat and power.
The Government of Alberta is committed to creating opportunities to further develop an Alberta Bio-Energy Industry through the Alberta’s Nine-Point BioEnergy Plan. There are currently three provincial programs, administered by Alberta Energy available to proponents who wish to develop a bio-energy project. Information and applications are available on the Alberta Energy website.
The Federal Government has also committed to renewable energy technology development through programs at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which support the commercialization of the Next Generation of Canadian biofuel technology.For more information on bioenergy development contact:
Dave Patterson (780)422-4565
Dave.Patterson@gov.ab.ca
Robert Hendren (780)415-2016
Robert.Hendren@gov.ab.ca
Erin Tessier (780)644-4416
Erin.Tessier@gov.ab.ca
BioEnergy Questions and Answers
- Why develop a bioeconomy when Alberta has an abundance of coal and oil to meet our energy needs?
- Is using our forests for the production of energy and fuels sustainable?
- How efficient is converting biomass into energy/fuels?
- Is it economical to produce alternative fuels from woody biomass?
- How is wood turned into fuels anyways?
- Syngas vs. Biogas – What’s the difference?
- What can be produced with syngas?
- Syndiesel vs. Biodiesel – What’s the difference?
Q1: Why develop a bioeconomy when Alberta has an abundance of coal and oil to meet our energy needs?
Global concerns about climate change and the escalating price of transportation fuels are driving the development of alternative energy sources. Biomass, the basis of the bioeconomy, is part of the global carbon cycle and therefore no net carbon emissions are produced.
Bioenergy can also help diversify our economy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Companies and communities can become self sufficient energy producers from the resources in their local region.
Bioenergy will never be developed to a scale which could replace our current fossil fuel use. However, bioenergy is part of the suite of renewable energies which will help to mitigate the effects of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) emissions. New demonstration plants have shown that renewable transportation fuels from wood can now be produced for less than fossil fuels or equivalent fuels made from agricultural biomass.
Q2: Is using our forests for the production of energy and fuels sustainable?
Canada has an abundance of biomass resources. Globally Canada ranks third, only behind Russia and Brazil, for total available biomass. All biomass harvesting will be regulated using sustainable forest management practices to ensure other forest values, such as biodiversity, watersheds, and habitat are maintained for the future.
There are also many sources of waste products available, such as construction waste, harvest residues, sawmill waste, by-products from the pulp process, and trees killed by insects and disease outbreaks, which do not require any additional harvesting from the forest. For many facilities, waste products alone will provide enough biomass to produce the desired output.
Q3: How efficient is converting biomass into energy/fuels?
Depending on the technology, gasification, which is the process of burning the biomass at extremely high temperatures in an enclosed container free of air, can range from 80% up to 96.6% and technologies are improving all the time. Lower temperature combustion (pyrolysis) is less efficient at 56% of the biomass being converted to bio-oil.
The “well to wheel” efficiency of wood based transportation fuels, using waste wood, demolition wood, or non-commercial timber, are considered to have an 80-85% net yield. Corn based ethanol is much lower, at 30%, due to the amount of energy required to grow and harvest agricultural biomass.
Q4: Is it economical to produce alternative fuels from woody biomass?
The economics of alternative fuels are influenced by a variety of factors including the value or price of the product (i.e. ethanol, energy, diesel, syngas, methanol, etc.), the cost of the feedstock (including the cost of transportation), the investment in the technology used, whether there are distribution systems (power lines, pipelines) in place, and whether alternative fuel production is in a stand-alone facility or integrated with an existing facility (i.e. pulp mill or saw mill).
Commercial plants in Europe, the United States and Canada have demonstrated alternative fuel production can be profitable. Sweden is economically producing 25% of all its energy (electrical and heat) needs from forest waste biomass and now are commencing production of bio-based alternatives for diesel and gasoline engines. Recent estimates for producing cellulosic ethanol in Canada provide for a 30% return on investment.
Other factors which are driving improvements in profitability of alternative fuels from woody biomass include the rising price of carbon due to tougher emissions reduction targets around the world, the continued rise in the price of oil and petroleum fuels causing consumers to look for alternatives, and the efficiency and costs savings improvements made as the bio-based industry matures.
Q5: How is wood turned into fuels anyways?
The basic building blocks of traditional fossil fuels, carbon and hydrogen, are the same as the basic building blocks in wood. Using extremely high temperatures and/or the use of special micro-organisms the building blocks are broken down into their component parts. The parts can then be pieced back together to make a variety of transportation fuels and chemicals. As an added bonus, during the process additional heat produced can be used to produce electricity, or additional gas (syngas) produced can be used instead of natural gas.
Q6: Syngas vs. Biogas – What’s the difference?
Biogas (methane) is produced from the anaerobic fermentation of agricultural based inputs such as livestock waste. Syngas is produced from a chemical/thermal conversion (high temperature combustion in an enclosed container) of wood or cellulosic biomass. Because the inputs and technology to produce biogas and syngas are different the resulting gas output is also different.
For example, using the latest technology transportation fuels can be obtained using wood syngas, but methane is a less concentrated fuel it is better suited for other purposes.
Q7: What can be produced with syngas?
Syngas is very versatile and can be used to produce a variety of fuels such as hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, butanol, naptha (jet fuel), premium gasoline, and syndiesel. Syngas can be used to produce electricity in gas turbines, eliminating the inefficient process of creating steam for the turbines.
Syngas can also be used to produce dimethly ether (DME) which is used by the chemical industry to produce over 300 chemicals!
Q8: Syndiesel vs. Biodiesel – What’s the difference?
Syndiesel is produced from wood or cellulosic biomass. The process involves gasification of wood and then uses catalysts to convert the syngas to diesel (Fisher-Tropsch process). Biodiesel is produced from oil seeds and fats, using a different process called transesterfication. The two processes are very different and therefore the properties of the diesel produced are also different.
For example, Syndiesel can be used at temperatures as low as -25C, whereas biodiesel works better in warmer temperatures above 0C (ASTM standard).
Page reviewed/updated May 5, 2008
