By Charles Loos, P.E., Lee Enterprises Consulting From an operations standpoint, a wood-fired power plant can be described as a fuel handling system first, and a power plant second. The biggest challenges stem from the fuel…
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Scaling Biofuels Technology
The recommended approach for scaling bioenergy and biofuels technology follows a similar stage-gate process to that used in traditional Chemical Process Industry (CPI) processes. But the processing of solids in bioenergy applications leads to some…
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Carbon Negative Impacts from Biomass Conversion
Many countries have carbon credit programs for biomass conversion, designed to achieve GHG reduction goals. Several forms of biomass diversion from landfills, farms, and other biomass–dependent GHG sources are already in operation to support significant…
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Make Lenders Love Your Construction Contracts
Financing a biomass project? By the time a developer seeks non-recourse financing for a biomass project, the contracts for construction and major equipment procurement have usually been pre-negotiated and are on hold awaiting notice to…
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Impeller Selection for Lignocellulosic Hydrolysis Reactors
How should a company select impellers for lignocellulosic hydrolysis reactors? Lignocellulosic slurries at high solids concentrations (10-30%) can be quite viscous. The author has seen somewhere the viscosity at a shear rate of 1/s is…
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Applying for Commercial-Scale Bioeconomy Federal Funding
Applying for Commercial-Scale Bioeconomy Federal Funding? By Bill Hagy, EVP Federal Funding, Lee Enterprises Consulting In considering applying for federal funding for a commercial scale bioeconomy project, one should know that there are many types of…
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Bioplastics Era Has Arrived
Dr. Bogdan Comanita, Lee Enterprises Consulting. We believe that the bioplastics era is upon us and this time around it is not driven only by what the more practical types would call the lofty goals…
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Ocean Going Vessels Going Green
Ocean-Going Vessels Going Green? Currently, over 866 million tons per year of CO2, or 2.4% of the world’s total, come from maritime sources. A report to the European Parliament predicts that maritime emission will account…
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Waste Accumulation Problems and Opportunities
Waste Accumulation Problems and Opportunities? An incredible amount of waste is produced in Canada and around the world. We are killing our planet by dumping 2.12 billion tons of garbage every year and polluting the…
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Torrefied Biomass
Torrefied biomass is available, efficient, CO2 neutral and economic, and likely the best solid biomass on the market. Torrefaction is a thermal pre-treatment technology used to upgrade lignocellulosic biomass to higher quality and more attractive…
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