Biomass Feasibility Project Final Report - Xcel Energy

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City (plant name) Table VI-6: Ethanol Plants & Capacities Capacity Million Gallons/year Million Bushels Corn/year Start-up year New Generation (Co-op Members) Marshall (ADM) 40 14.8 1988 (Public Corp) Morris (DENCO) 25 9.0 1991 Corporation Winnebago (Corn Plus) 47 17.4 1994 750 Winthrop (Heartland) 100 37 1995 692 Benson (CVEC) 46 17 1996 850 Claremont (Al-Corn) 38 12.6 1996 354 Bingham Lake (Ethanol2000) 35 13 1997 241 Buffalo Lake (MN Energy) 19 7.0 1997 325 Melrose (Dairy Proteins) 3.0 Cheese whey 1986 (Regional Coop) Preston (Pro-Corn) 42 16 1998 159 Luverne (Corn-er Stone) 22 8 1998 197 Little Falls (CMEC) 22 8.1 1999 820 Albert Lea (Exol/Agri Resources) 41 15.2 1999 496 Lake Crystal 54 20 2005 Private LLC (Granite Falls Energy) 48 18 2005 LLC Atwater (Bushmills Ethanol) 48 18 2005 LLC TOTAL 619 230 4,880 members (DOA, 2007, updated May 2007) Figure VI-1: Map of Minnesota's Ethanol and Bio-Diesel Plants Identifying Effective Biomass Strategies: Page 81 Quantifying Minnesota’s Resources and Evaluating Future Opportunities
Ethanol has been hailed as a move toward energy independence, which is an important geopolitical goal. But from an environmental standpoint, ethanol is a paradox: a renewable biomass fuel that replaces one fossil fuel, petroleum, by using two other fossil fuels, natural gas and coal in the form of electricity. These are American fossil fuels rather than Middle Eastern fossil fuels, but they are fossil fuels nonetheless. Some critics argue that making ethanol takes as much energy as the finished product contains. Industry spokespersons counter that the ratio really is more like one unit of input energy to 1.3 units of ethanol energy. However, it is clear that the most ethanol plants draw on fossil fuels from distant regions and neglect renewable biomass fuels that lie around the plants. Ethanol expansion will run into natural limitations at some point because even renewable resources are finite. Ethanol plants consume lots of water – four to six gallons of it per gallon of fuel produced. Lack of adequate groundwater already is limiting the development of ethanol plants in some areas of southwestern Minnesota. Another problem is the very select feedstock used to make ethanol. It is becoming difficult to site a new plant without overlapping another plant’s corn procurement area. Recent coverage of the industry suggests that if all of the ethanol plants seeking permits in Minnesota are built, they will consume more than 40% of the state’s corn crop (Webb, 2006). The food and feed industries are concerned that they are being priced out of their traditional markets by fuel producers. The ethanol industry will continue to expand, however, as it learns to conserve water, expand its raw material base with wastes like stover and straw by adopting cellulosic processes, and generate its own gas and electricity through gasification of agricultural biomass. Like paper mills, ethanol plants may even become power plants of the future, generating electricity not just for themselves but also for surrounding communities. Biomass Energy in Ethanol Plants The ethanol industry already is moving toward greater energy efficiency. Three Minnesota ethanol producers are working toward becoming self-sufficient in energy by installing new technologies. One is using a fluidized-bed boiler, one is using a gasifier, and another is planning to install one. The immediate goals for projects are reducing costs and meeting tougher environmental regulations. But there is a longer-term justification as well. If subsidies for ethanol production eventually decline or even disappear, these plants will be better prepared to compete head-on against other fuels. There is another potential benefit from investments that capture more energy through advanced technologies like gasification and biorefining. Once a plant becomes self-sufficient in electric power, exporting power is just one step further along the same path. At the moment, only one Minnesota ethanol plant is exporting power – Central Minnesota Ethanol Cooperative (CMEC), which sells all of one megawatt to Xcel Energy. Like most other ethanol plants considering gasification, CMEC’s primary interest is in substituting syngas for ever more expensive natural gas. That is an easy substitution because once it is cleaned, syngas burns well in an existing, unmodified natural gas boiler. In the future, a gasifier might fuel a turbine generator producing enough electricity to power the plant and sell to the grid besides. To get to that export stage, however, a plant will have to find additional sources of biomass fuel. Corn Plus Ethanol in Winnebago Corn Plus General Manager Keith Kor has taken several steps to make Corn Plus’ 44-milliongallon plant more energy-efficient, beginning with the installation of internal heat transfers that Page 82 Identifying Effective Biomass Strategies: Quantifying Minnesota’s Resources and Evaluating Future Opportunities
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FINAL REPORT Identifying Effective
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OVERVIEW The profile of bio-power (
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This net-net amount usable for fuel
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Chapter VII: Government Policies, I
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Chapter XI: Project Development Han
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Fuel Selection Considerations......
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Carbon Emissions Policy ...........
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APPENDIX D : DATA SOURCES .........
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Figure VII-1: A Timeline of Minneso
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CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION Bio-power
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into renewable technologies that su
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BioPET Figure I-2: BioPET Main Scre
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CHAPTER II : BIOMASS FUELS BIOMASS
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when evaluating individual projects
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450,000 Corn Grain Corn Grain 51% 4
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For purposes of this analysis, all
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Billion Btu 70,000 60,000 50,000 40
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Billion Btu 300,000 250,000 200,000
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30,000 Dairy Manure Hog Manure 19%
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Identifying Effective Biomass Strat
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Dedicated Energy Crops Crops raised
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primary purpose, like food, animal
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Manures Variability. Depending on t
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equipment, logistics, soil health,
Page 52 and 53: Even a limited contribution to Minn
Page 54 and 55: Since NASS doesn’t provide a simi
Page 56 and 57: Billion Btu 160,000 140,000 120,000
Page 58 and 59: Capacity Factor = The amount of tim
Page 60 and 61: $9.00 $0.06 $8.00 $7.00 $3.16 $ per
Page 62 and 63: PHYSICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BIOMASS
Page 64 and 65: Thermal treatment of SSO also invol
Page 66 and 67: Wood Chipping Trees and logging res
Page 68 and 69: Baled Agricultural Biomass Preparin
Page 70 and 71: fuels exceeding the moisture conten
Page 72 and 73: • Rail. For most biomass plants,
Page 74 and 75: CHAPTER V : BIO-POWER CONVERSION TE
Page 76 and 77: Pile Burners Pile burners are a ver
Page 78 and 79: suspends them as they burn. Spreade
Page 80 and 81: Technology Type Table V-1: Emission
Page 82 and 83: Fuel (Gas) COMBUSTOR COMPRESSOR TUR
Page 84 and 85: • increased thermal to electrical
Page 86 and 87: Biodiesel has somewhat different ma
Page 88 and 89: Table V-4: Bio-Power Generation Res
Page 90 and 91: fuel plant to co-fire biomass than
Page 92 and 93: Co-Firing Gasified or Liquefied Bio
Page 94 and 95: esidues leave energy on the table b
Page 96 and 97: The industry’s most strenuous cha
Page 98 and 99: pulp from logs. Minnesota’s two c
Page 100 and 101: The result has been satisfactory, i
Page 104 and 105: cut energy consumption 10%. But his
Page 106 and 107: Laurentian Energy in Hibbing and Vi
Page 108 and 109: achieve a 50 reduction in overall e
Page 110 and 111: (Nelson and Lamb, 2002) Figure VI-4
Page 112 and 113: e a 75 MW plant using alfalfa stems
Page 114 and 115: District Energy’s intervention re
Page 116 and 117: Fibrominn Concerns about the enviro
Page 118 and 119: 1994 Legislature - As part of the P
Page 120 and 121: Minnesota Jobs Opportunities Buildi
Page 122 and 123: Real Estate Tax Exemptions Since re
Page 124 and 125: For more information, contact Paul
Page 126 and 127: Fort Snelling, MN 55111-4007 612-71
Page 128 and 129: USDA Rural Development Because biom
Page 130 and 131: egion encompassing approximately 13
Page 132 and 133: the boundaries of the Taconite Assi
Page 134 and 135: certain communities located in inel
Page 136 and 137: Suitable borrowers. For-profit SBCs
Page 138 and 139: http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/js
Page 140 and 141: NEW POLICY INITIATIVES Community-Ba
Page 142 and 143: The Energy Act also established the
Page 144 and 145: Overall Structure Fuel Delivery Pat
Page 146 and 147: expenses, rate of return, inflation
Page 148 and 149: $0.350 295 kW CHP $0.300 $0.250 $0.
Page 150 and 151: plant characteristics and plant exp
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Table VIII-4: Power Plant Financial
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Table VIII-7: Scenario Definitions
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Disregarding the manure digester, t
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CHAPTER IX : OVERCOMING BARRIERS Mi
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Biomass also tends to have a low en
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Learning more about the energy pote
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Recent projects in Minnesota and ne
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e calculated. Plants above 10 MW do
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To realize its goal, a mandate must
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alone. A decade or two from now, ev
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project in South Dakota because it
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surrounding air permits for biomass
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CHAPTER X : SEEKING OPPORTUNITIES W
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OPPORTUNITY 4: RETROFITTING EXISTIN
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for a full-time permit is more comp
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While this study did not focus spec
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Waste Landfill: a contract with a l
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pipelines, city water and sewer con
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ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS A bio-power p
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AIR PERMITS The Minnesota Pollution
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Rate Agreements Facilities of 10 M
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES The foll
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Cinergy Business Solutions - Combin
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Energy Efficiency and Renewable Ene
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Gordon, G. (2005, December 26). Wat
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McNeil Technologies, Inc. (2003). B
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Pollution Control Agency, ed. [PCA]
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Stephens, W.R. (2006, March). A Bio
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Xenergy and Energetic Management As
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OVERALL STRUCTURE The evaluation to
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Field Characteristics Energy Conten
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Feedstock Site Processing Yard (opt
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Storage Facility Figure A-6: Feedst
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“Logs” in the Navigation Menu.
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2001 legislation ordered Minnesota
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Figure A-10: Financial Assumption S
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Navigation Menu. Note that every ti
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Project Comparisons $0.140 $0.135 $
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APPENDIX B : INDUSTRY CONTACT LIST
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Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs)
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Home Farms Technologies Brandon, Ma
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RCM Digesters Berkeley, CA 94704 (5
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Table B-2: Categorized List CATEGOR
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CONSULTING RW Beck St. Paul, MN 551
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NON- PROFIT/ADVOCACY The Minnesota
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TECHNOLOGY VENDOR Recovered Energy
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INTRODUCTION APPENDIX D : DATA SOUR
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Sweet Corn Stalks • Inventory/Ava
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Sugar Beets • Material Characteri
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Aspen 8 • Material Characteristic
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FOSSIL FUELS Minnesota Average Coal
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