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| ZeroPoint Clean Tech's biomass gasification system in Newry, Northern Ireland. |
A New York-based biomass renewable energy company that produces
carbon-negative heat and power through high-temperature gasification announced
its second commercial plant has gone live in Europe.
The 2MW gasification facility is located in Newry, Northern
Ireland through the partnership of Kedco plc, a United Kingdom project
developer. The plant is producing carbon-negative heat and power from
agricultural and forestry waste. ZeroPoint Clean Tech’s gasification system
creates biochar as a by-product, which is likely how the facility is able to
achieve carbon-negative status. Putting biochar back into the ground sequesters
the carbon and greatly improves plant growth, thereby making the entire process
carbon negative.
Jonah Levine of Biochar Solutions explains that using the
gas created by the gasifier to dry the feedstock before putting it through the
gasification process can also help the facility receive a carbon negative
status. We do not know if ZeroPoint Clean Tech uses this method or not.
Biochar is still highly underdeveloped in the industry as companies
continue to explore the best uses for the fixed carbon form of highly porous
charcoal that results from the thermal combustion process. One study estimates
that biochar could offset as much as 12 percent of global greenhouse gas
production. Reducing greenhouse gases is essential to slowing global warming
and keeping low-lying islands like the Maldives from disappearing altogether.
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| ZeroPoint Clean Tech's gasification process. Courtesy: ZeroPoint Clean Tech |
The Newry, Northern Ireland facility is ZeroPoint’s second
biomass gasification plant in Europe. Construction on ZeroPoint’s first
commercial unit was installed in Schwarze-Pumpe, Germany using Jenbacher gas
engines. The American company partnered with Blue Planet Sustainable Energy,
N.V. to develop the project, which passed the rigorous TUV process in
Germany. The facility began
supplying electricity to the local utility in December 2011. Both units use the
syngas in a combusted gas engine to produce power for the local utility grid.
“We are very excited to be working on a second successful
deployment of an advanced biomass-to-energy solution, CEO John Gaus said. “We
believe that we are currently producing the most stable, steady state and clean
gas chemistry from biomass gasification in the world. We fully expect this
second project to achieve operational robustness, reliability and commercial
profitability.”
Better BTU Take: This
company has flown under the radar since its inception in 2006. We think that’s
a smart move because it allows the technology to speak for itself. Although
we’ll need a little more time to ensure that these plants can operate
continuously without mechanical or emissions problems, two commercial
facilities is a great start. We are disappointed that the company hasn’t
disclosed many details – we couldn’t even find the exact size of the plant in
Germany – because it seems to like if you are certain you have the best gas chemistry
in the world you’d want to at least share general BTU ranges, etc. The company
has announced that it is actively seeking joint venture partners in the
Americas and we’ll be interested to see if ZeroPoint Clean Tech can land a
stateside project.
For Further Reading:
ZeroPoint Clean Tech Announces Second Live
Biomass Gasification Power Plant –
By ZeroPoint Clean Tech, Inc., PR Newswire (Aug. 6, 2012)
Biochars
Promise to Provide Carbon Negative Fuel and Better Soil – By Andrew
Michler, Inhabitat (May 5, 2012)
Biochar Could Offset Up to 12% of Greenhouse
Gases, Says Study – By Jasmin Malik Chua, Inhabitat (Aug. 13, 2010)
News -
ZeroPoint Clean Tech (company website)
