Demonstration of Innovative Biomass-fueled Power Generator (BPG) for Rural Areas

50289-98-I Demonstration of Innovative Biomass-fueled Power Generator (BPG) for Rural Areas--Stirling Technology Company, 4208 West Clearwater Avenue, , Kennewick, WA 99336-2626; (509) 735-4700 Mr. Raymond M. Erbeznik, Principal Investigator Mr. Jeffery A. Lubeck, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82674 Amount: $75,000 There is a widespread need for power generation to serve critical distributed needs in emerging nations and in remote off-grid sites in the U.S. The environmental degradation caused by emissions and fuel leakage from existing technology is often severe. In many cases, indigenous biomass power sources such as agricultural residues, wood, or wood by-products are readily available. These offer major advantages in terms of environmental impact, fuel costs, fuel transportation, and sustainable fuel resources. This project will integrate a low emissions gasifier with a long-life, maintenance-free Stirling engine, an approach that solves many earlier problems encountered when biogas is used with Stirling engines. This engine design concept should provide 40,000 hours of maintenance-free, degradation-free operation. The gasifier will be designed, fabricated, tested and integrated with an existing Stirling engine in Phase I. This will enable an early demonstration of the integrated system using wood pellets as a fuel. Phase II will demonstrate the use of a wide range of biomass feedstocks and conduct field testing of two market applications. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Identified markets include off-grid applications reuinte in remote locations such as Alaska and rural electrification for emerging nations. Opportunities to provide clean, sustainable energy services to many more people should be enhanced. _