DIAMOND LAKE, Ore. (KMTR) -- There's a certain excitement boiling over the
Umpqua National Forest over what could bring better forest health, renewable energies and new jobs.
Set up at ODOT’s Lemolo Sand Shed off Highway 138 near Diamond Lake, Umpqua National Forest officials are once again testing and demonstrating a “fast pyrolysis” machine.
The machine burns waste wood product in a highly contained environment, converting it into several different products. Halfway, Oregon company “biochar Products” owns the machine, which can burn about one-ton of wood product in a 24 hour period. When running at full capacity, eventually, the machine will only require biomass product to run, makinh a gas, oil and a carbon char.
The gas product, called “Syngas,” can be used to power the machine, generating the heat necessary to burn the biomass.
On the oil side, the machine produces about 100 gallons of oil per 1 ton of biomass. That oil can be refined into gasoline or diesel fuel for use in most vehicles.
A third and final product of the machine, a super concentrated carbon powder, called “bio-char.” Soil Scientists say carbon bio-char can be mixed in with nutrient depleted soil to help reinvigorate activity within the soil. The machine produces about 400 pounds of char per 1 ton of burnt biomass
A soil scientist for the Umpqua National Forest, Jim Archuleta helped bring the machine to the Umpqua National Forest for a demonstration.
“I see great potential with it,” says Archuletta. “I hope it works and that we’re actually doing this on a consistent basis within the next 5 to 10 years.”
Archuletta says the environmental impact could be immense in Douglas County. A biomass processing facility would help clear overgrown and excess piles from forest land, which helps fuel wildfire each summer.
The machine would also help cut down on air emissions generated by loggers, when they’re forced to burn left over slash and waste wood that comes from bigger timber cut in the forests. Biomass burned in a controlled machine emits only 10% of the greenhouses gasses emitted by an open burn.
“One of the investigators on this project had a presentation, where she was asserting at that maybe this process, and biomass processes like this could set off approximately 30% of the petroleum that we currently use in this country,” says Archuletta.
Also present, the possibilities of an economic impact in rural Douglas County. David Hackleman is a retired Chemical Engineer with Oregon State University. Hackleman visited the machine today, saying biomass is a huge untapped renewable energy and job resource in Oregon.
“In Douglas County, these areas, people really understand the woods and with that background, they can contribute to this kind of work and then they can become a place that provides fuel for vehicles, electricity, heat for houses.. right in there own backyard,” says Hackleman.
“They'll actually get to the point, with some development, that they'll be able to export fuel,” says Hackleman.
Umpqua National Forest currently contracts the “fast pyrolysis” machine with biochar Products. It hopes to increase the frequency of these projects in the next 5 to 10 years. Ideally, Archuletta says the mobile bio-mass machines could be used at timber salvage sites, or be built permanent in small rural communities.
biochar Product’s fast pyrolysis machine will be operating through June 25th, 2010, and is open to the public. To schedule a viewing, contact Jim Archuletta via email at jgarchuleta@fs.fed.us.
For more information on biochar Products, visit the company’s website as www.biocharproducts.com
