FERCO: Kindling biopower's potential
Future Energy Resources Corporation's SilvaGas process converts biomass into a gas that can be substituted for natural gas.
Contents
Background on biomass
How FERCO's biomass gasifier works
FERCO's future
Aug. 11 marked an important day in the future of Atlanta-based Future Energy Resources Corporation (FERCO) and the bio-energy industry. On that day, FERCO achieved a major milestone in commercializing the SilvaGas process, its biomass gasification technology, by successfully operating its commercial-scale demonstration plant in Burlington, VT.
FERCO designed and built the gasifier, the largest U.S. biomass gasification facility, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which provided technical assistance and funding for facility construction and testing, and the Burlington Electric Department.
The facility attained full operation Aug. 11, and converted more than 285 tons of wood chips into SilvaGas, a medium Btu gas that can be substituted for natural gas. The SilvaGas piped directly to Burlington Electric Department's McNeil Generating Plant, where it produced more than 140 MWh of electric power, enough to power 6,000 homes.
"This breakthrough is a significant step in establishing a thriving bio-based products and bio-energy industry," said U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "Furthermore, electricity generated from biomass will create additional markets for agricultural and forestry products and waste without harming the environment."
The biomass gasification process was developed at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH. Battelle is one of the largest research institutions in the world, and the largest DOE contractor in the U.S. FERCO acquired the commercial rights for Battelle's process, called High Throughput Biomass Gasification, in 1992. Battelle maintained and operated a 10-ton per day Process Research Unit to test the process.
To date, it's completed more than 22,000 hours of operating tests successfully using a variety of biomass feed stocks. The pilot plant made history in 1994 with the first integrated operation of a gas-combustion turbine on 100% biomass-derived gas.
The SilvaGas process converts forest residue, municipal solid waste, agriculture waste and energy crops—collectively called biomass—into SilvaGas. It is the first gasification process to accept a wide range of feed stocks. Economic evaluations of the SilvaGas process show that power can be generated at about 5 cents per kWh, which is at or below the costs of other renewable energy sources including solar, wind and new hydro.
Background on biomass
Biomass is the leading non-hydro resource of renewable energy in the U.S. More than 500 electric power plants operate on biomass in the U.S., with a combined rated capacity of 7,000 MW.
Historically, biomass has been converted into energy using combustion and incineration processes. However, these conventional technologies do not take advantage of the high chemical reactivity of biomass. Coupled with a conventional gas turbine, the FERCO SilvaGas process can convert biomass into electric power at twice the efficiency of conventional biomass systems.
Also, the SilvaGas process significantly reduces environmental impact compared to fossil-fuel-based power plants, including the elimination of net carbon dioxide additions to the environment. The process consumes abundant, unused resources that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills or consumed in less efficient ways. The SilvaGas process also produces energy from crops that can be cultivated on marginal quality land. (Back to top)
How FERCO's biomass gasifier works
The McNeil Generating Station now generates 50 MW of electric power for the city's residents using wood from nearby forestry operations—forest thinnings and discarded wood pallets. The gasifier can convert 200 tons of wood chips per day into a gaseous fuel that is currently fed directly into the McNeil Station boiler, enough to generate 8 MW.
The gasifier heats the wood in a chamber filled with hot sand until the wood breaks into basic chemical components. The solids—sand and char—are separated from the gases, which then flow through a scrubber. The final result is a clean-burning gas fuel suitable for direct use in modern power systems such as combined-cycle turbines and fuel cells.
Because the gas is cleaned before combustion, and because wood has a low nitrogen and sulfur content, the controlled emissions remain low. Furthermore, emissions of greenhouse gases are greatly reduced. Roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide that is released during combustion is absorbed by trees and crops when they grow again.
FERCO's successful development of the technology has garnered national attention. In 1998, the company received R&D Magazine's R&D 100 Award, along with partners Battelle Memorial Institute; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, CO, for supporting gasifier design and operation; and the Burlington Electric Department, for hosting the demonstration and integrating the gasifier into the McNeil Generating Station. (Back to top)
FERCO's future
FERCO expects to have its first two commercial development projects signed by the end of 2000, according to Inge Frethein, FERCO president and CEO (see sidebar, FERCO: From SilvaGas and beyond). The company signed a marketing and representation agreement Nov. 20 with consulting and project-development firm Morgan Meguire. The two companies plan to develop animal waste-to-energy projects in the Mid-Atlantic and Texas—regions with high concentrations of poultry, cattle and swine feeding operations.
According to DOE predictions, several scenarios point to the potential market for gasifier power systems at about 10,000 MW by 2010.
For more information, contact Mark Paisley, FERCO's director of technology development, at (770) 662-7800, or ferco@future-energy.com. (Back to top)
About the author: Swirbul serves as a technical writer for a variety of industries. She also writes content for business-to business and business-to-consumer websites. She can be reached at cswirbul@unicom.net. (Back)
FERCO: From SilvaGas and beyond
By Cathy Swirbul
The management team at Atlanta-based Future Energy Resources Corporation (FERCO) doesn't see the company as merely owning the rights to a biomass gasification process. They describe FERCO as an alternative energy company developing environmentally friendly tools to solve waste disposal and energy generation challenges.
Inge Fretheim, FERCO's president and CEO, shared his insights on the company and his role in its development. Fretheim joined FERCO in January after leading the start up of Amoco Power Resources Corporation (APRC), a global competitor in the electric power market.
Q. How was FERCO launched?
A. During his tenure as Fulton County (Georgia) Commissioner, FERCO Chairman Milton Farris recognized the vast challenges waste management would pose in the future. Farris also recognized the potential for biomass gasification. FERCO was founded in 1992 when negotiations were concluded successfully with Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, OH, to acquire the rights to the gasification technology developed by Battelle with financial support from the DOE. The new company procured funding from private investors in Atlanta to develop this technology for commercial applications.
Q. What were early roadblocks to FERCO's success and how did the company respond?
A. FERCO needed to develop the technology as a viable commercial product, building upon the successful results in Battelle's research facility. Until it could be demonstrated in full-scale operation, it was unlikely that industry would agree to invest in this technology for commercial use. To that end, FERCO was able to negotiate significant funding from the DOE to build a full-scale demonstration facility, and an agreement with the McNeil Generating Station in Burlington, VT to host this project. The company had a couple of employees at the time. It hired a team of consultants, engineers and contractors to implement the project.
Q. When did you join FERCO, and how did you respond personally to the challenges of developing the company?
A. I joined the company when the SilvaGas demonstration facility in Burlington, VT was completed, but wasn't fully operational. The main objectives for me were to make Burlington's operations successful and change company culture from that of a company working hard to make Burlington successful to a company seeing Burlington as a tool in developing opportunities to apply the SilvaGas technology toward commercial success. Also, my objective was to develop an image for FERCO that could catch our imagination, such as "FERCO Inside" being placed as a trademark on biomass plants as a mark of quality and environmental leadership, similar to Intel's role in the computer industry. We are making good progress, but much more needs to be done.
Q. How would you describe your leadership style?
A. My style is consultative, with more emphasis on vision and direction than day-to-day management. I value different perspectives and try to harness them into good decisions for the company.
Q. What has been your greatest personal accomplishment at FERCO?
A. My greatest accomplishment was an early change of the organization and contractors at the Burlington plant. However, FERCO is a small and cohesive team, and I believe the main ingredient to that success was for the company to have some new ideas walk in the door, and for the group to go through the decision making process with some new perspectives. Another accomplishment was that I recognized the strengths already built into the company before I joined.
Q. What attracted you to the position of CEO at FERCO? What did you find most intriguing about the company?
A. After many years in major oil and gas companies, having the chance to help build a company that could make a long-term positive impact on the environment and energy efficiency was very attractive. Having that company be in its formative stages added to the challenge and excitement. The fact that the company had a technology that could be a differentiator in the marketplace drew on my competitive spirit, as well as my business vision. What an opportunity!
Q. How did your work with Amoco Power Resources Corporation prepare you to lead FERCO? How are these two companies, in their startup stages, similar?
A. My experience at Amoco was building a company under the umbrella of a large corporation—with access to significant capabilities, resources and reputation, but also faced with the constraints and preconceptions that come with being part of a large, established company. At FERCO, the situation is opposite—a lack of easy access to capabilities, resources and reputation, but with few constraints on how to best run the business. As in life, you are not often dealt four aces in the start of a game, but you can make a success starting out with many other combinations. At FERCO, I think we have a very exciting hand on the first deal.
Q. What is FERCO's development strategy and how does it differ from what other companies are doing?
A. Early in the company's existence, it realized its early success would come from a combination of business savvy, access to government support and private funding, and an entrepreneurial approach. The company aligned itself with the necessary expertise and relationships as the first order of business. The approach taken was broader and more substantial than most companies in a similar stage of development, thus contributing significantly to its early achievement of building a full-scale facility.
Q. With what types of companies is FERCO interested in partnering, and what are the challenges to establishing those partnerships?
A. FERCO will pursue partnerships primarily with energy companies that are developers, owners and operators of projects. They need to be well known, have a recognized presence in the market (preferably both in the U.S. and abroad), and be seen as successful companies in application of new technology. This will enhance FERCO's credibility and market reach by their participation in our SilvaGas technology. The companies must have a motivation and a strategy that makes partnership with FERCO important to them, and a culture that allows the combination of the two companies' efforts to add value to both.
They must have the ability and desire to invest in the early FERCO SilvaGas projects. The main hurdles are balancing the need for an early partnership agreement with finding the right partner. FERCO must make sure we only have a few major strategic partners at this stage, either by geography and/or market segment. We do not have the ability to manage well a large number of partners at this time in our development. Getting set up with a partner that is not aligned with FERCO's strategy, aspiration or culture could prove a significant distraction.
Q. How would you describe where FERCO is headed?
A. FERCO will apply a family of proprietary technologies to become a solutions company that provides clean and renewable energy from the world's extensive biomass resources. The company will be a licensor of technology and a developer and investor in projects worldwide that use its technologies. In this role, the company sees itself as an alternative energy company with long-term solutions to energy, waste and environmental challenges. (Back to main story)