Research and reports

An opportunity has arisen for the New Zealand Defence Force to improve the economics surrounding the operation of the Waiouru site heating system.

This report evaluates the opportunity to convert or replace coal fired boilers to woody biomass and offers technical recommendations. Options are considered for plant replacement, plant conversion, or use of woody biomass as a duel fuel source.

Convertech, a New Zealand based group of engineers and scientists with an international advisory team, have developed a biomass technology which removes previous barriers and adds a new focus to converting plants to energy.

Transitionz Group Ltd (TGL) was commissioned by EECA to monitor and report on the installation. A questionnaire was drafted and a site visit arranged with AgR's Mark Cameron. The boiler and associated plant was inspected by TGL's Lloyd McGinty during a site visit on Friday 19th May 2009. This report collates the information from the questionnaire and site visit.

One of the energy forms that biomass can be converted into is electricity. In response to a call to the Bioenergy Hotline, bioenergy experts have completed a quick survey of the feasibility of a number of methods of converting biomass into electricity. The options for the generation of electricity were: 1) via a two-step process of first converting the biomass to ethanol and then to electricity via jet turbine; 2) via a steam turbine; 3) via a two step process of gasifing the biomass and then converting the gas to electricity via a gas turbine; 4) via an organic Rankine cycle.