Biomass Fuel Issues

Today's markets for biomass energy are largely at the industrial and power plant scales and involve continual, year-round generation of energy. But new markets are gradually emerging that are more seasonal, primarily for biomass heat in states that have substantial forest resources.

Serving seasonal markets demands new approaches to biomass fuel and supply, and BERC is working to help develop those. For example, we are exploring the creation of fuel processing and aggregation yards, where loggers can bring low-quality logs and forest cull material, to be stored and processed for biomass energy and heating use during times of seasonal demand.

Another new approach with developing interest, especially in the Western states, is the use of roll-off containers. Containers can be used to collect and store biomass fuel at logging sites, and then be stored - at sites close to either the forest resource or the locations for use - until the supply is needed.

These are just two examples of emerging new approaches to the transportation, storage, and timely delivery of biomass fuel. Another developing concept is specialized chipping. Particular biomass systems - among them school heating systems and gasifiers - have fairly particular fuel requirements, such as chip size, shape, and moisture content. Specialized chippers and dryers can meet these needs, and can be paired with new fuel processing and aggregation yards, where custom-processed chips can be both produced and stored until needed for use.

New aggregation yards also create a setting for the sorting of incoming logs by type of source and harvesting operation. This facilitates the marketing of biomass fuel from "green" forestry and processing systems, which can be documented so that users are sure the biomass fuel they receive has been sustainably produced and harvested.