COMBUSTION OF POULTRY FAT FOR PLANT HEAT AND STEAM This study examines the possibility of creating an in-house application for by-products of the Georgia poultry processing industry while reducing the need to purchase high-cost, outside energy by providing an alternative fuel produced on-site. The predicted result was a reduction in overall costs associated with poultry production and reduced dependence on external energy sources. PI: Thomas Adams Researchers: Daniel Geller, John Goodrum, Bryan Graffagnini Download PDF >> A DEMONSTRATION OF FAT AND GREASE AS AN INDUSTRIAL BOILER FUEL UGA Engineering Outreach Service used fats and grease as industrial boiler fuels at the UGA steam plant during January and February 2002. The objectives of the project were to publicly demonstrate the use of biofuel for industrial steam production and to examine the procedures necessary for its use. PI: Thomas Adams Coinvestigators: Jim Walsh, Mike Brown, John Goodrum, Jackie Sellers, Keshav Das Download PDF >>

SOUTHERN PINE FOREST BIOMASS STUDY RESULTS

From Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources website
1 August 2006

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative to develop thirty percent of the nations energy supply from domestic biomass resources over the next thirty years has received a substantial boost from University of Georgia researchers. A study by scientists at the University's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources has confirmed that new methods can successfully harvest significant amounts of forest biomass for energy production from southern pine forests without adversely impacting roundwood (pulpwood and sawtimber) production.

Slash, tree tops and limbs that are removed from harvested trees, and forest understory growth are prime examples of forest biomass that have traditionally held zero value. Today, however, members of the forest products industry are beginning to power entire manufacturing plants with this raw material. They can even generate excess electricity that they sell to utilities such as Georgia Power.

Simply by adding a 250-horsepower chipper to the usual allotment of harvesting equipment, a logging contractor can produce 10 or more tons of biomass chips per acre of trees harvested from a coastal plain, slash pine plantation. According to Dale Greene, the principal investigator for the study and Professor of Forest Operations at the Warnell School, "the chips produced from these biomass sources worked well in the electricity co-generation plant where they were burned and our lab analyses suggest that the chips also have very competitive heating values."

A review of the study's data also revealed that the energy gain to energy required ratio for these biomass chips is close to 50 to 1 for a forty mile haul. That means for every Btu (British thermal unit) expended to acquire forest biomass fuel chips and transport them to the manufacturer's generator; 50 Btu's of energy can be generated to operate the plant, as long as the plant is within forty miles of the harvest site.

"This is a remarkably efficient process," Dr. Greene argues. "These kinds of efficiency ratios make use of biomass very competitive with use of fossil fuels."

The ability to substitute biomass chips for fossil fuels as the raw material used to generate electricity in large manufacturing plants would have a significant influence on the amount of greenhouse gas producing coal and natural gas needed for domestic energy production if the practice was universally adopted by American manufacturers. And while creation of bioenergy chips from timber harvesting has exciting potential for forestland owners and the forest product manufacturing industry, some industry leaders have been concerned that a developing bioenergy industry might interfere with their traditional supply source for roundwood.

Dr. Greene now believes this concern is unwarranted. "While this approach required some additional work from the felling and skidding operation, roundwood production did not suffer significantly and costs appear favorable for this treatment," Dr. Greene concluded.

This study was conducted with the assistance and cooperation of Langdale Industries, Inc. and Lott Logging, Inc. The study was funded by Georgia's Traditional Industries Program (TIP3).