Horizon Power :: Bioenergy

What is Bioenergy?

Bioenergy comes from biomass, which is a general term for the material remains of once living organisms. For bioenergy to be regarded as sustainable, it must be harvested and not mined - ie. the cycle needs to be biological and not geological in scale.

Bioenergy is the conversion of the chemical energy stored in the biomass to an industrially useful form - ie. heat or electricity.

Bioenergy Technologies

Biochemical

Fermentation - alcohol
Traditionally this has been centred on the production of ethanol from sugars and starches using yeast. Current research is also extending to fermentation of lignocellulose by bacteria. Wood and agricultural wastes represent a potentially inexpensive raw material.
Digestion - methane
This is most common and most economical via landfill gas reclamation, but also extracted and used in anaerobic sewage treatment plants. Methane is 21 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (weight for weight), so conversion with electricity production is environmentally sound.

Oil crops

Oil seed crops such as Canola, Soy and Sunflower Esterification - Biodiesel.

Thermal

Combustion
Gasification
Steam cycles
Gas engines
Flash Pyrolysis.

Narrogin Bioenergy Plant Demonstration of integrated wood processing

Western Australia's wheatbelt town of Narrogin is home to an innovative project by Verve Energy - THE INTEGRATED WOOD PROCESSING (IWP) DEMONSTRATION PLANT - that addresses global warming and farmland salinity; two of Australia's most pressing environmental concerns.

The demonstration plant will trial the co-production of renewable electricity activated carbon and eucalyptus oil from locally planted mallees. The production of three products at the one plant is designed to facilitate commercially competitive operation of future commercial plant. The demonstration plant will be commissioned from first quarter of 2005 and operate for a three-month "proof-of-concept" phase.