Development of an outreach program to promote wood residue utilization for bioenergy in West Virginia

Development of an outreach program to promote wood residue utilization for bioenergy in West Virginia

Summary

West Virginia, located in the central Appalachian region, has abundant woody biomass resources. The state of West Virginia is the third most heavily forested state in the U.S. and has 12 million acres of forest land (Griffith and Widmann 2003). A recent survey stated that there are over 40,000 tons of wood residues produced by primary and secondary wood products industries on a weekly basis in the form of bark, chips, and sawdust in West Virginia (Wang et al. 2006). Also, during timber harvesting operations, over 10 tons per acre of wood residues are left on site. The efficient utilization of these residues and by-products seems to be a necessity. The proposed study will address the community education of wood residue utilization for bioenergy so as to promote the rural community economy in the region. The utilization of woody biomass in these rural areas of West Virginia for heating or energy needs would increase employment in these small communities. At the same time utilizing these resources would help to develop technologies that would benefit the entire state. During the course of this project five conference/workshops and two industry tours will be developed to provide information on wood residue resources and the potential to use these resources for bioenergy and/or heating of businesses in a small community. The information gained should lead to a biomass conversion plan that will be implemented for bioenergy and/or heating responsibilities for a small community or business.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• Development of outreach program for biomass and bioenergy education, multi-disciplinary conference on biomass and bioenergy.
  Design and planning of workshops (advertisement, survey, detailed topics, speakers, audience, schedules, and locations).
  Offering Level 1 workshops, feedbacks and refinement. One conference will target biomass/bioenergy research/development professionals.
  Offering Level 2 workshops, feedbacks and refinement. Two workshops will target state and federal agencies and industry people; topics will include wood residue utilizations, policies, and development opportunities.
  Offering Level 3 workshops, feedbacks and refinement. Two workshops will target rural communities especially in AFHA, including farmers and forest landowners; topics will cover woody biomass estimation and valuation, basic thermal properties of wood residues, heating devices, and appropriate community bioenergy utilization projects.

Accomplishments/Milestones

• The outreach program for biomass and bioenergy education, multi-disciplinary conference on biomass and bioenergy was developed.
  The details of workshops, including advertisement, survey, detailed topics, speakers, audience, schedules, and locations, were designed and planed.
  The first level meeting, conference of “Appalachian Woody Biomass to Ethanol Conference”, was held in National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), Shepherdstown, WV on Sept. 5 and 6 2007. 84 participants attended the conference. The overall conference rating is 4.49 (average rating on a scale of 1-5).
  For the third level meeting, we carried out three landowner/resident wood energy workshops in February and March 2008. We consider these to be pilot workshops and anticipate that we will carry out at least three more of these in fall 2008. Total attendance at these workshops was 57. An evaluation survey is under development and will be sent to these participants in summer 2008 to assess the major ideas that were conveyed during these workshops.

• Two information sheets on firewood and heating with wood energy to be mailed out in the next quarter.Final wood pellet factory tour will be held this year.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

According to the proposed objectives/performance targets, the outreach program for biomass and bioenergy education, multi-disciplinary conference on biomass and bioenergy was developed; the details of workshops, including advertisement, survey, detailed topics, speakers, audience, schedules, and locations, were designed and planned; we offered the Level 1 workshop, “Appalachian Woody Biomass to Ethanol Conference”, was held in the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), Shepherdstown, WV on Sept. 5 and 6 2007; and for the third level meeting, we carried out three landowner/resident wood energy workshops in February and March 2008.

Level 1 Conference:

Before the conference, about 800 Brochures were mailed with 17 returned undeliverable, 2,273 emails were sent out with brochure attached with 418 returned emails (bad addresses or no longer with company). A total of 84 participants attended the conference. This conference explored the opportunities and obstacles that the wood products industry in West Virginia and the Appalachian region must address relative to ethanol production. Conference topics included national and regional biomass availability, policies, conversion and harvest technologies, and bio-based materials opportunities in the Appalachian Region. The presentations during the conference can be accessed at http://www.wdsc.caf.wvu.edu/BioMatCtr/WVUEthanolConference/index.html.

The Appalachian Woody Biomass to Ethanol Conference featured nearly 20 speakers with a wide range of topics. The first session explored Cellulosic Ethanol Opportunities, which included four very knowledgeable speakers and promised to set the tone for the rest of the conference. The topics included nationwide and state level statistics, as well as insight from the West Virginia Forestry Association. An overview of new bio-based feedstocks and an informative presentation on biomass collection/processing were reported. The second section allowed participants to explore conversion technologies and biomass refinery details. A very informative session for industry participants discussed options for investment, infrastructure needs, butanol possibilities, and ethanol as a pulp by-product. The presenters from this session provided a great deal of information to our participants. The final session included topics to discuss options for coal and wood conversion to liquid fuels, an overview of ethanol economics, and finally Amy Miranda from the USDOE discussed Bioenergy Programs that were available. The conference concluded with projection information concerning new market possibilities followed by a general discussion. The participants enjoyed the conference because it had the overview from different perspectives, the setting of the conference and hope for future direction, the industry perspective on biomass and policy information, the short presentations and the wide range of expertise of presenters, open perspective of attendees, the facility was great and variety of speakers, excellent range of topics, excellent meeting facility and good mix of participants, discussion and networking social, nice place, and great talks, depth of knowledge of speakers and how well all the topics tied together, well managed, great facility with relaxed atmosphere, new material.

Level 2 Workshops:

On October 2, 2008, 16 people attended a tour of the Hamer Pellet Fuel Company in Elkins, WV. The intent of the tour was to familiarize the participants with this fuel type and discuss opportunities for its use in residential, institutional, and farm heating needs. The workshop was advertised and coordinated by the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, Inc. Rob Jones, Public Relations Director for the Jim C. Hamer Company led the tour and explained the product flow from sawdust to bagged pellets. The Hamer Pellet Fuel Company has two mills in West Virginia and currently manufactures about 95,000 tons of pellets per year. These are branded “premium pellets” because they are 100% wood and have less than 0.5% ash residual. Currently the cost per Btu is half of that of natural gas and demand for this fuel type is growing. Pellet fuel has a lot to offer over chips and “chunk wood” as it can be conveyed with relative ease through piping systems. In the future, it is anticipated that delivery trucks will be able to drive up to residences, institutions, and farms and deliver pellets in bulk to large hoppers.

Richard Satterfield of the USDA Rural Development program, also attended the meeting and shared that a pilot pellet heating project was being established with a poultry production facility in the WV eastern panhandle. Other than this, there are few wood heat using institutions and farms in West Virginia.

Another tour of the Hamer Pellet Fuel Mill in Mt. Hope is scheduled to take place in late winter 2009.

Level 3 Workshops:

As originally stated in the SARE/ARC proposal, we carried out three landowner/resident wood energy workshops in February and March 2008. We consider these to be pilot workshops and anticipate that we will carry out at least three more of these in fall 2008. The format for these 2 hour evening workshops was designed to provide participants information about the various types, quality, and logistic consideration of using wood for heating purposes. A one hour lecture was presented by Dr. Dave McGill and covered:

• Basic energy principles
• Definitions of energy
• Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources
• Wood and wood energy content
• Logistics of using wood for energy
• Firewood quality
• Types of wood burning stoves
• EPA standards for wood burning stoves

Wood stoves dealer Bill Biller presented a video of his firm’s stoves including the history of the company and how these stoves were developed. The one-hour lecture included descriptions of the stoves operation, parts and accessories, and a discussion of different types of heat exchangers available for homes and small barns.

Total attendance at these workshops was 57. These were mostly private citizens who had received postcard mailings or had seen a press release. About 900 postcards were sent to individuals owning property in West Virginia and those on WVU Extension Service Ag producers contact lists. Examples of both of these advertising tools are included in this report. An evaluation survey is under development and will be sent to these participants in summer 2008 to assess the major ideas that were conveyed during these workshops. Attendance list is included in this report.

A wood use survey is also being developed to guide the improvement of these Level 3 workshops. A questionnaire will be mailed out in August 2008. Findings will be used to focus topics in the future level 3 workshops.

Griffith, D.M. and R.H. Widmann. 2003. Forest Statistics for West Virginia: 1989 and 2000. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, Forest Inventory & Analysis Unit, Resource Bulletin NE-157, 2003. http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/7960

Wang, J., S. Grushecky, and J. McNeel. 2006. Biomass Resources, Uses, and Opportunities in West Virginia. Biomaterials Center, Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. 110 pp.

Collaborators: