Darren D. Schmidt, P.E.
The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) and commercial partners are providing distributed energy production from biomass through a commercial gasification technology. A project is under way in Grand Forks, North Dakota, to demonstrate power production from wood waste produced by a building products manufacturer. This paper describes the project, the economics, and the robustness of the technology. Microgasification is a technology that can be applied more economically than steam-based biomass combustion and offers the advantages of automation and low capital requirements. Microgasification includes a piston engine generator set driven by low-Btu gas produced from gasification of wood. The technology includes fuel preparation, a downdraft gasifier, gas cleaning, automated ash removal, and stoichiometric engine control. Proprietary developments have enabled the commercialization of the technology into a package that meets the demands of clients located in North America, where environmental permitting requirements can be strict and low maintenance is desired. The
EERC has developed the microgasification product and is working in partnership to demonstrate the technology.