Bioenergy

The Landcare Research space heating is currently derived from coal boilers that are located at the Crop and Food facility. The desire to pursue a carbon neutral fuel that is in line with their policy, along with improving the level of heating that is currently available from the
current system, are the key drivers for this feasibility study.

The rising cost of natural gas prompted Tatua Co-operative Dairy Factory near Hamilton to look at alternative energy sources to run its boilers.
Wood-fired boilers are common in sawmills and wood processing plants, but are yet to be used in a New Zealand dairy factory. Tatua's site engineer Jack van Lankveld says they were motivated by a desire to be more self-sufficient and environmentally friendly.
"If the [gas] supply went down we would have to stop operating. There's also the whole carbon issue to think about - this is something that is becoming increasingly important."

Blue Mountain Lumber is a sawmill located in Southland, New Zealand. The sawmill was expanded in 2000 to enable the processing of approximately 160,000 tonnes sawlogs annually. Prior to expansion the sawmill operated with several small wood residue fuelled boilers that were at the end of their economic life. The site was dumping significant quantities of woodwaste into a local landfill.  As part of the expansion an energy facility was built to provide improved steam quality and capacity for increased steam loads.

This investigation examines the application of two types of biogas heat and electricity cogeneration technologies considered for application at Landcorp Farming Ltd’s Wingpoint dairy unit.