Last week, several New Hampshire and Federal energy agencies sponsored a daylong conference in Concord on an alternative fuel, known as ?bio-oil?. Bio-oil is derived from wood, and can be produced from trees and limbs that grow in New Hampshire forests. The conference showed that bio-oil could one day heat homes or fuel certain engines, but is not yet ready for widespread use. NHPR?s David Darman has more.
Governor Jeanne Shaheen kicked off the ?Bio-oil Briefing? at the Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and told the 50 attendees that she had high hopes for bio-oil.
02 748 the discussion that you?re having today about alternative sources of fuel, about bio oil, is just so important. Changing our energy policy is not just essential, because of the climate change, its essential because of the health of our citizens. Its essential if we?re going to have the affordable, reliable energy that we need for the future of this country. 02 817
Bio oil comes from organic material, such as wood chips, through a process known as ?pyrolysis?. Rick Handley, director of the Northeast Regional Biomass program, explains how the process works.
32 20 pyrolysis is really changing the chemistry of the wood in the absence of oxygen. When we think about burning putting a log on the fireplace, we?re essentially heating that log up, and it gives off its volatile gasses, and it pops and cracks as the water comes off of it, and it gives a little bright flame because we see the various volatile gasses going up and it gives off heat. Well that?s because there?s a lot of oxygen in your fireplace and your throwing off a lot of oxygen at the fire and it burns. What we?re doing here is we?re heating it up and it burns with almost no oxygen. 32 56
And that changes the way wood burns. Instead of flames and smoke, pyrolysis produces bio oil, plus a small amount of gasses and water. Though it sounds simple, Prolysis can be achieved using several different processes, and there is no agreement on which one is best.
Since bio oil is a liquid fuel, it is easy to transport and simple to store. But bio oil does have a few drawbacks. First, scientists say it doesn?t smell very good. At the Bio oil Briefing, Stefan Czernik of the National Renewal Energy Lab said it had another, potentially more important drawback. Bio oil doesn?t readily mix with oil, natural gas, or gasoline.
16 108 it is completely different from petroleum fuels that you are more familiar with. Because its not hydrocarbons. This is a mixture of oxygenated organic components. And the oxygen is on the order of 40 45%, sometimes higher, depending on the water content. So, its completely different, as the chemistry than standard fuel oil. But it is combustible, it can be burned, it can be burned pretty efficiently. 16 144
A few companies in the U.S. and Canada are using bio oil to heat their buildings. In most cases, the companies using bio oil also produce it. Rick Handley of the Northeast Biomass Program says other uses could be found for bio oil, for instance in making chemicals, but that its not likely to replace the fuels in our automobiles.
31 13 right now, its probably more appropriate to use it as a heating fuel or source of electric generation. ?31 29 and bio-oil will work in a low speed diesel engine. More like a locomotive kind of thing, ..a lower rpm kind of diesel engine. Most of the diesels that you see in an automobile are higher rpm, 31 42
But in order for bio oil to used as a home heating fuel, most home systems would need to upgraded, since most furnaces can?t handle bio oil?s high water content. To overcome this problem, some research in Canada is experimenting with economically mixing bio oil with conventional fuels.
That research could result in more practical uses for bio oil. The state is clearly intrigued by bio oil?s potential. The Governors Department of Energy and Community services recently received a one hundred thousand dollar grant from the federal government to study making bio oil from low grade wood chips.
Right now a few power plants buy this low grade wood to generate electricity. But they are slowly closing down, because electricity generated this way is just too expensive.
Loggers want the plants to stay open, and continue buying low grade wood. They say this low grade market also promotes good forestry. Phillip Bryce is the Director of Forests and Lands in the Department of Resources and Economic Development.
39 01 we are very concerned about the future of the current plants that utilize low grade wood. And we need to continue to look for either additional or additional markets for wood, to either complement or offset those plants if they?re not operating in the future. We need to explore any opportunity to use those, and the purpose of looking at bio-oil is to see if indeed that is an opportunity for new Hampshire.
New Hampshire officials are exploring the possibility of locating a bio oil plant in the northern part of the state. The plant could obviously stabilize the low grade wood market. But until at least some of bio oil?s drawbacks are overcome, it may be a while before its as common as natural gas, or heating oil.
For NHPR news, I?m DD
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