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Showing posts from April, 2011

Torrefaction: "Wood is the new coal"

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Today I'll be talking about the benefits of torrefaction (brief video here ). Torrefaction of biomass as well as waste material such as old tyres and food waste tackles two major issues: waste management in both developing and developed nations, and carbon dioxide emission reduction. How? Good question. Ever since countries like Denmark, Sweden , and others rich in forestry residue successfully implemented co-firing (that is, the generation of heat and/or electricity for citizens by the combustion of coal and biomass), other nations such as the UK have well embraced this technology. A major problem however, is that biomass is not that good. Its energy density is considerably lower than that of coal, and it possesses a high moisture content, is difficult to transport, among other problems. So when the torrefaction idea came along, it seemed like a well nice intervention at the right time. Want to find out more? Head on here for a start, then! ...