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Biomass developments in Western Australia:
In recent years, Verve Energy has initiated significant biomass projects to help our environment. When converted into electricity, biomass produces far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal. In 2005, Verve Energy commissioned an Integrated Wood Processing (IWP) Demonstration Plant. This plant, located in Narrogin, generated electricity from local eucalypt mallee trees.
The Narrogin demonstration plant used these local mallee trees to produce electricity, eucalyptus oil, charcoal and activated carbon. Mallee trees were selected as the biomass source (the “energy crop”) for the power plant because of their ability to “re-sprout” every two years, without the need of re-planting. Narrogin farmers originally planted the mallee trees because their deep roots help combat rising water tables and soil salinity that threatens 30 per cent of Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region.
The Narrogin demonstration plant developed modern technology first mooted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Inside the power plant, the mallee wood was converted to charcoal and then into activated carbon. The activated carbon could be used by industry for air and liquid purification.
The mallee leaf material was distilled to extract eucalyptus oil and the leaf residue from this process was “gasified” to produce a synthetic fuel gas to be burnt to heat a boiler to raise steam. Then steam from both processes was used to generate electricity.
The local eucalyptus oil could be used in the pharmaceutical market as well as becoming a safe, environmentally friendly industrial solvent.
The electricity produced from the Narrogin plant was carbon dioxide neutral (because the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from the process is effectively re-absorbed through photosynthesis to regrow the mallee trees). Therefore, the demonstration plant addressed two major environmental problems – global warming and salinity.
In addition to the notable milestone of producing multiple products from a single energy crop source (the mallee trees), the IWP project scored significant Australian achievements including:
- The first biomass gasifier to generate electricity into an electrical grid.
- The first bioenergy generator to use a farm grown energy tree crop.
- The first production of activated carbon from an energy tree crop.
- The first eucalyptus oil still to operate off process waste heat; and
- The first charcoaling plant to use a super clean fluidised bed.
Trials were proven successful at the integrated wood processing demonstration plant in Narrogin. After the demonstration plant completed all objectives, Verve Energy shut down the facility in June 2006 while continuing a care and maintenance program on the technology.
Verve Energy has also developed a biomass project at Muja Power Station. As part of the biomass project, Verve Energy has entered into a partnership with the Western Australian pallet manufacturer Pinetec Ltd.
In the two-way partnership, Verve Energy has made seven hectares of land available to Pinetec, which will build a sawmill and pallet making facility next to Muja Power Station. Verve Energy will sell 2.5MW of electricity to Pinetec to power the new facility.
In return, Verve Energy has agreed to buy 78,000 tonnes of sawmill residue a year from Pintec. The sawmill residue will be mixed with coal to fire Muja Power Station.
Through the new biomass project, the sawmill residue will displace some 45,000 tonnes of coal used at Muja Power Station each year. The operation will save about 90,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
For more information about this project, go to:
 http://www.verveenergy.com.au
 Next Section >> 'Earth Friendly' electricity in Western Australia.
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