TABLE
II
T
OTAL ANNUAL POTENTIAL HARVEST OF FOREST BIOMASS
(M
T
GT)
Procurement area
Total
SW
HW
SW + HW
Dalhousie
275,329
288,671
564,001
Bathurst
598,952
345,722
944,674
Tracadie-Sheila
151,155
88,950
240,106
Miramichi
881,457
377,282
1,258,739
Richibucto
292,470
194,368
486,837
Doaktown
650,735
363,097
1,013,832
Moncton
643,531
445,825
1,089,356
Chipman
497,223
263,947
761,170
Sussex
510,271
373,371
883,642
Saint John
365,090
213,601
578,690
St. Stephen
415,675
297,030
712,705
Fredericton
516,639
407,821
924,460
Nackawic
448,660
418,619
867,279
Juniper
499,892
403,810
903,702
Plaster Rock
894,555
752,018
1,646,573
Edmundston
586,323
571,569
1,157,892
Kedgwick
727,333
757,837
1,485,170
Provincial
8,955,290
6,563,538
15,518,829
Percentage of total
58%
42%
100%
TABLE
III
T
OTAL ANNUAL POTENTIAL ELECTRIC AND THERMAL ENERGY
Procurement area
Total SW + HW
Energy
Power
Heat
(PJ)
(MW)
(MW)
Dalhousie
5.76
45.6
109.5
Bathurst
9.53
75.6
181.4
Tracadie-Sheila
2.23
17.7
42.5
Miramichi
12.8
101.4
243.5
Richibucto
4.97
39.4
94.5
Doaktown
10.3
82.0
196.8
Moncton
10.9
86.7
208.2
Chipman
7.81
61.9
148.6
Sussex
8.91
70.7
169.6
Saint John
5.78
45.8
110.0
St. Stephen
7.19
57.0
136.8
Fredericton
9.41
74.6
179.1
Nackawic
8.70
68.9
165.4
Juniper
9.11
72.2
173.3
Plaster Rock
16.8
133.1
319.6
Edmundston
11.8
93.7
225.0
Kedgwick
15.1
119.3
286.3
Provincial
157
1,246
2,990
From Table III, it can be seen that the total provincial
annual energy potential from forest biomass is
approximately 157 Petajoules (PJ) for both softwood and
hardwood species combined.
In terms of electric and thermal power potential, the
findings indicate that if all the forest biomass harvested
annually in the study area was to be used as fuel input in
dedicated CHP plants, a total of 1.2 GW
e
of electricity
and 3.0 GW
th
of thermal heat could be produced.
C
ASE
S
TUDIES
In this section, two case studies are presented for
potential commercial and industrial applications of
biomass for energy generation (heat and/or power). In
the first instance, a case study is presented for a 5.25 MW
forestry biomass-fired cogeneration unit installed in a
hospital, while in the second instance, a case study of a
14 MW
e
municipal waste biomass-fired waste-to-energy
plant is presented.
F. Small Biomass-Fired Cogeneration Unit: Hospital
Besides the traditional approach as an energy source in
industrial
settings,
commercial
biomass-fired
cogeneration units can be installed in hospitals, schools,
universities, or other buildings and institutions to supply
the majority of their energy needs (including electricity,
heating and cooling). While a cogeneration unit produces
both electricity and heat, the primary objective of a
biomass-fired cogeneration unit in this type of setting is
to produce heat to satisfy a large space heating and
cooling demands. Typically, in such applications, a
secondary boiler, usually oil, gas or propane fired, can be
used as a backup during a shutdown for maintenance
operations.
Similarly a biomass-fired cogeneration unit could be
used to supply process heat for use in industrial
processes.
The heat to power ratio of such biomass-fired
cogeneration units are usually set lower (i.e., 0.05) than
other biomass-fired cogeneration units having the
generation of electrical power as their primary objective
(i.e., 0.4).
In this paper, a case study is presented for a
commercial size forestry biomass-fired cogeneration unit
of 5.25 MW installed in a hospital located in the province
of New Brunswick, Canada [24]. The hospital has a total
floor space of 75,000 m
2
. For its part, because of the
large heating load due to the cold Canadian climate, the
cogeneration unit has a power to heat ratio of 0.05, such
that it is capable of producing 250 kW
e
of electricity and
5 MW
th
of space and process heat when operating at full
capacity.
The total investment cost of the 5.25 MW biomass-
fired cogeneration unit was approximately CAN$6
million; the construction phase of the cogeneration unit
lasted approximately 18 months.
In regards to its operation and maintenance (O&M)
phase, the 5.25 MW forestry biomass-fired cogeneration
unit requires approximately 20,000 to 30,000 tons green
weight at harvest of forest biomass annually to satisfy the
2013 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
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