Manitoba Hydro has introduced five new bioenergy demonstration projects that will be conducted at various locations throughout Manitoba in 2010, as part of its Power Smart Bioenergy Optimization Program.
Manitoba Hydro has collaborated with five of its commercial customers on this program, which also recently qualified for funding through the Government of Canada’s Clean Energy Fund.
The first project will demonstrate the use of bio-oil as a replacement for heavy fuel oil in industrial application and will enlist the services of two outside companies.
Ensyn Technologies, headquartered in Ottawa, will showcase the potential of using woody biomass liquid fuel known as pyrolysis oil in place of standard fuel oil in one of the steam boilers at Tolko Industries’ kraft paper mill in The Pas. The first component of the testing process is scheduled for late April.
The second demonstration will be hosted by Pineland Forest Nursery in Hadashville and involves the conversion of biomass to syngas. At the nursery, waste wood from nearby sources will be converted into a combustible gas and then used to power an engine-driven generator on site. This project is scheduled to get underway in the summer of 2010.
A third project-also making use of waste wood-will be demonstrated at Spruce Products in Swan River. Using an organic Rankine cycle, waste wood is burned and then used to heat a refrigerant to run a small turbine-generator, the company said.
The device operates in a manner similar to a refrigeration cycle, except in reverse. This project is also scheduled for summer 2010.
The anaerobic digestion of ‘wet biomass’ is the fourth demonstration project in the wings. Through the use of specialized equipment, livestock manure is digested and converted into a treated effluent and biogas.
Primarily intended for dairy operations, the digested manure can be used in the traditional way as an enhanced fertilizer and the biogas for heat and power. The host site proposed for the project is Sweetridge Farms near Winkler. The project should be underway by the summer of 2010.
The fifth and last demonstration project will be sited at Elie and will use a process known as torrefaction, or carbonization, to convert wood chips and crop residues into an alternative to coal for space and process heating.
The coal alternative, or biocarbon, will be tested at sites that currently rely on burning lignite coal. Heat recovered from the conversion process will also be used for community heating. This project is also scheduled to get underway in the fall of 2010.