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Biomass was the leading renewable resource consumed in the United States during 2001. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA) Renewable Energy Annual 2001 reports biomass energy consumption as 2.9 quadrillion Btu (quads) in 2001, surpassing hydropower energy consumption of 2.4 quads. Major biomass resources include wood, waste, landfill gas, and agricultural byproducts/crops. These are used to produce biofuels, biopower, and biobased products.

This article focuses specifically on the role of biomass resources in producing biopower-electricity and useful thermal output. As shown in Figure 1, the majority of biomass energy is consumed as biopower -- useful thermal output comprises 68% of biomass energy consumption and electricity comprises 29%. The industrial sector dominates biopower consumption, using 65% of the biopower consumed in 2001 (Figure 2).¹

Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Renewable Energy Annual 2001

Data for 2000 are available to review biopower consumption in specific industrial sectors. The lumber, and paper and allied products sectors are the largest industrial consumers of biopower, accounting for 88% of total industrial biopower consumption. Combined, these industries consumed 1.6 quads of biobased electricity and thermal output. Other major industries consuming biopower are the food, chemical and allied products, and agriculture industries.

U.S. biopower generation capacity in 2000 was 6.7 gigawatts led by Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, and Virginia. Combined, these states have 4.98 gigawatts of biopower capacity. In the next 20 years, U.S. biopower capacity is expected to grow by almost 50%, with EIA projections of 10.4 gigawatts by 2020.²

Biopower Research and Development

The U.S. DOE, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of the Biomass Program (OBP) funds research to improve the cost, efficiency, and performance of biopower technologies. Currently, OBP is focusing its research and development (R&D) on gasification and small modular biopower.

Gasification R&D focuses on the feasibility of producing biomass-derived hydrogen through gasification, as well as developing a catalytic gasification technology that will allow recovery of energy from wet biomass, such as residuals left behind during ethanol production. Gasification projects include demonstration projects at two Kraft pulp mills in New Jersey and a Big Island, VA paper mill, as well as technology research at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.³

The Small Modular Biomass (SMB) Initiative is an effort to develop commercially competitive, small-scale power and integrated heat and power systems in the 1kW to 5MW range. These systems are fuel flexible, simple to operate, and environmentally sound. Research partners include Carbona Corporation, Community Power Corporation, External Power, LLC, and Flex Energies, Inc.⁴

DOE has a successful history of cofiring research. Over the past ten years DOE has worked with plant operators to conduct tests. Currently, six power plants in the U.S. are cofiring coal and wood residue products on a regular basis.⁵

In addition to R&D funded by DOE, several other agencies are supporting biopower. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) and the AgSTAR program run jointly by the EPA, DOE, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are encouraging the conversion of landfill and animal manure gas emissions into power. The LMOP is a voluntary program designed to encourage and facilitate the development of environmentally and economically sound landfill gas (LFG) projects. There are more than 340 operational LFG projects in the United States, and 200 more are currently under construction. Researchers for several of these projects are exploring development options and opportunities.⁶ The AgSTAR program encourages the use of methane recovery (biogas) technologies at confined feeding operations (CAFOs) that manage manure as liquids or slurries. Currently, 31 digester systems are in operation at commercial livestock farms. Recently, Wisconsin's We Energies began using an anaerobic digester to convert duck manure into energy.⁷

For more information on biopower in the United States, visit the following Web sites:

EIA's Renewable Energy Annual 2001 - http://tonto.eia.doe.gov

DOE's OBP and Biopower Web sites:

Through the Renewable Energy Resources Program, Illinois sponsors a grant program to encourage biomass use. The program will pay 50% of costs for projects that use crops grown exclusively for energy production and 50% of costs for projects that produce and/or use biogas as a source of fuel to produce electricity. The grant program has funded 23.6 MW of new renewable electricity systems. In Illinois, there are currently 35 operational landfill gas use projects with five more under construction.⁴ There is also an anaerobic digester at Apex Pork in Rio, IL, which turns pig manure into biogas, used to heat water.⁵ These biogas projects produce approximately 65% of the 0.9 MWh of net electricity generation Illinois produced from biomass resources in 2000.⁶

Illinois' commitment to bioenergy is also evidenced through its participation in several research projects:

• The state, in conjunction with the Chicago Transit Authority, is researching and testing an ethanol fuel-cell bus, which will be operated in Chicago.⁷
• The state is helping to fund a new 40 million gallon-per-year ethanol production facility in Lena, IL.⁸
• Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) is working with the University of Illinois on a membrane extraction system that will remove some of the oil from the corn kernel prior to ethanol production.⁹
• DCCA is testing, evaluating, and demonstrating the use of ethanol-blended diesel fuels (E diesel).¹⁰
• DCCA is working with Williams Bio-Energy, Purdue University, USDA, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a practical corn fiber-to-ethanol conversion technology.¹¹
• DCCA, along with Caterpillar, Nuvera Fuels Cells, Williams Bio-Energy, and the U.S. DOE, is working to develop and demonstrate an ethanol-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system, which will produce 13 kWe of electric power.¹²

UK Wood Chip Power Plant Wins Two Million Pound Award
Britain awarded a prototype biomass power station in southwest England two million pounds in a drive to boost green energy and reduce polluting greenhouse gas emissions. The 2.5 megawatt plant will use gasification technology, turning the wood chip into a combustible gas, which in turn fuels a generator. It will be developed by Bronzeoak Wellman Ltd and is expected to be in operation by 2004.
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