Integrated Environmental Biotechnology 267Continued from page 266proprietary design, the biomass combustion units are typically installed with
monitoring equipment to ensure compliance with the limit set for particulates,
carbon monoxide, temperature or other emission parameters, dependent on local
requirements.
The company now has over 3500 working installations in 20 countries of the
world and recently set up business in Vernon, Canada, to service growing demand
throughout North America. Although the emissions standards demanded are amongst
the toughest in the world, it has proved possible to meet them without compromising
operational efficiency. The system provided for Spinks Lumber of New York State
is a good illustration. Despite stringent environmental legislation, the company’s
wood waste, which has a typical moisture content around 60%, provides process
hot water for kiln drying and heating, even though temperatures can drop to− 40 ◦C
at certain times of the year.
The principal market for biomass fired heating systems currently lies within the
wood working industry, where the dual benefits of cost-effective waste disposal and
‘free heating’ have been long recognised. The future may not be so restricted as
developments in emissions control increase the number of materials which can be
safely burnt. Thus, certain kinds of treated timbers, cardboard, paper and even some
types of plastics are now just as suitable as virgin wood, which may have some
interesting implications for approaches to waste management in the coming years.
In the light of the system at Princeton Canada to heat commercial greenhouses,
the possibility also beckons of near-total carbon recycling. Initially driven by the
spiralling cost of meeting their huge energy needs with gas, the installation produces
hot water from palletised wood. Suitable quality CO 2 is subsequently produced
from the flue gases generated, and returned to enrich the local atmosphere inside
the greenhouses, to benefit plant growth. While this is not a closed system, nor
entirely carbon neutral in the local sense, it does begin to illustrate some of the
future potential of this approach to energy.