Demonstration of an Integrated Modular Bipower System and Commercial Burner for Drying Biomass and Agricultural Products Using Agricultural and Forest Residues

72089-Most conventional dryers for biomass are designed to use fossil fuels such as natural gas and propane. Unfortunately, natural gas and propane are costly, non-renewable, subject to price volatility, and increasingly being imported. The use of agricultural and forest residues could displace virtually all fossil fuels used for drying, provide another revenue source for the nation¿s farmers and foresters, reduce the potential for catastophic wildfires, reduce fertilizer consumption, and reduce drying costs. However, small modular, commercial biopower systems, in which agricultural and forest residues could be used with existing commercial burners and dryers, are not available in the U.S. This project will demonstrate that proven, small, modular biomass gas generators can be integrated with commercially-available, off-the-shelf gas burners that can be fueled with locally available residue fuels to provide economic alternatives to conventional fossil-fired drying. Phase I demonstrated the integration of a downdraft small modular biopower system with commercial gas burners from two different manufacturers using forest residues as the fuel source. The feasibility of converting two abundant residue fuels, corn stover and sawdust, to useful thermal energy in a fluid-bed biopower system was also demonstrated. Two demonstrations will be conducted in Phase II: (1) in inner-city Washington DC, urban wood waste that would otherwise be landfilled will be used to dry high-value timber; and (2) at a rural, Indian-owned, sawmill in New Mexico, forest thinnings will be used to dry locally available timber. In addition, a commercial burner will be integrated with a fluid-bed gasifier using three abundant low-bulk-density fuels: corn stover, switchgrass, and sawdust. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee: The energy from forest thinnings and harvested corn stover is more than sufficient to dry all of the lumber and corn respectively in the U.S. each year. The market for new, and retrofitted, biopower-based drying systems should exceed $300 million, and save farmers and foresters over $1 billion/year in fossil fuel costs of grain and lumber drying. In addition, jobs would be created in both rural and urban areas that currently have high unemployment. The same technology also could be used in other distributed generation thermal markets such as greenhouse heating; building cooling, heating, and power; absorption chillers; desiccant dehumidifiers; and ice making.