Biomass Fuel Blocks Production System

The Biomass Fuel Blocks (BFB) process transforms low value forest slash to dense logs that have high value as a renewable energy feedstock for power plants and biofuels plants located at some distance from the forest. The delivered cost can be lowered by 46.3% through BFB densification of forest residues. Given the economic advantage of this approach, the USDA Western Regional Research Center supports a CRADA that would further upgrade the BFB bioproduct for end use in the large and growing co-firing power plants.In this project, Altex will develop a portable BFB system that will produce dense logs inside the forest at a capacity of 2.5 tons/hour. To accomplish this objective, the densification equipment available at Altex will be modified to operate only on engine power that simulates operation in the forest. An engine driven hydraulic and electric power unit will be integrated with the densification equipment along with an engine exhaust gas heat recovery system to heat activate the inherent binder in the forest residues. Using this combined-heat-and-power system will enhance process efficiency and reduce fuel use and emissions. Dense logs will be produced from three different forest slash materials collected from the Blodgett Forest Station, UC Berkeley. The quality of logs produced will be will characterized and a detailed economic analysis will be completed to demonstrate the substantial economic benefits of the BFB process.