Dave CarterAs reported previously, SERC is leading the biomass conversion technology demonstration portion of the Waste to Wisdom project. Waste to Wisdom is examining the entire biomass supply chain, from collection, transportation, and pre-treatment of the material in the woods, to the conversion of the material into energy and other marketable products. Our role is to oversee the testing and evaluation of three biomass conversion technologies: a biochar unit, a briquetter, and a torrefier.
We are pleased to announce that the Norris Thermal Technologies (NTT) of Tippecanoe, Indiana is joining the project as the torrefaction research and development partner. SERC conducted a competitive selection process involving 10 firms currently operating in the biomass torrefaction space. NTT’s proposal stood out due to the readiness of their team’s technology and their ability to field mobile torrefaction systems at two different scales within the project’s budget and schedule constraints.
NTT will provide a pilot-scale torrefaction unit (see photo at right) for field-testing during the summer of 2015. This unit, which was recently operated alongside two other biomass conversion units in a demonstration sponsored by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, is trailer mounted and will be modified and then delivered to a forest operations site of our choosing near Arcata, CA.
After completion of pilot testing, NTT’s team will build a larger torrefaction reactor of the same design and retrofit it into a shipping container. NTT will then ship this containerized unit to Arcata for testing at a forest operations site and provide an operator for testing. Testing of the larger unit is currently scheduled for the summer of 2016. We are looking forward to continuing our biomass conversion research efforts with such a strong industry partner and we are confident that the torrefaction research objectives of the Waste to Wisdom project will be met through collaboration with NTT.
