She will accomplish this by feeding organic waste to the larvae of black soldier flies — an insect known for its ability to process twice its body weight per day. The larvae multiply and then get processed into a number of valuable products such as oil (insect biomass), which can be used for biofuel and/or a high-quality protein meal for farmed fish.

What follows is an exclusive interview with Olive about her unique method for producing fuel from food waste and flies:

How do you create biofuel from bugs?

I am not going to produce the biofuel. I will be selling the oil to a biofuel manufacturer. The oil from the larvae (they are 32% oil by weight) can be used to create mixed fuels. Larvae oil can be mixed with petroleum-based heating oils or used to create biodiesel by mixing it with methane.

Do you see this technology having much of an impact on the biofuel industry?

As more wastes are processed and the volume gets larger, the process would provide more feedstock oil to biofuel manufacturers that would be locally (USA) produced and would not compete with our food supply, like ethanol from corn.

Is the black soldier fly the best food processor in nature? What makes it special?

There may be other insects out there that can do what black soldier flies do, but their biology makes them a perfect fit. The adult fly is not a pest. It does not have a mouth, does not eat — so it doesn’t bother humans or animals or spread disease like the housefly. Because of this, the larvae have a much larger percentage of oil in their bodies (housefly larvae have 9% oil). Fly larvae by nature pretty much eat anything — they aren’t picky.

Worms are often used to compost organic matter. Do the flies work differently?

Worms actually eat the food waste after it’s decomposed. So, the food waste has to decompose (which takes time) before the worms can consume it. The fly larvae eat the food waste itself. So you feed them the waste, and they eat it that day. No waiting, no decomposition time.

What are you going to use the fly larvae for?

The fly larvae can produce several products: Chitin is a compound in their shells used in medical and other applications which is very valuable; the oil can be used for biofuel; and protein meal is a worm meal that can replace fish meal.

Is there any environmental benefit to the protein meal that comes from the larvae as food?

The aquaculture industry (farmed fish) uses fish meal — food that comes from fishing the ocean — as a major component in its fish food.  The demand for farmed fish for human consumption is increasing worldwide. As that demand rises, the demand for fish meal to feed the farmed fish also rises. The worm meal can replace the fish meal as protein, and at a cheaper cost.

What stage in your company’s development process are you at?

We have a location that we are fitting out to begin processing. In the next month, we will be applying for a Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) recycling certificate with the county and state for approval to accept food waste. Recycling is licensed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the county has to include recycling in their master waste management plan.

Our goal for the next six months is to breed soldier flies, test our prototype equipment, and ramp up the population. By spring 2012, we hope to be able to accept food waste from commercial haulers on a small scale to start (1 ton/day). By the end of the year, we hope to be processing 5-10 tons a day.

What have been the biggest obstacles to developing your technology?

It took five months and a few rejections before finding a location. Landlords don’t like recycling. It gets a bad “rap” because of recycling businesses failing and leaving a mess or being dirty. This is also a leading-edge technology. It’s new, so I understand people don’t get it. There is nothing to compare it to, it’s unknown, and that can make people nervous.

From banking to biomass, what prompted you to start up Green Waste Technologies?

I have a background in farming. My mother and I owned a horse farm for 15 years. I was researching organic dairy farming, recycling, and worms when I came across a scientific paper about the soldier flies used in processing pig manure. I started researching, realized the potential, and over the last two years I have developed designs, a business plan, and a business model.

With waste and flies as your main inputs, does this technology have low barriers to entry for someone wanting to start up this type of business?

There are home units out on the market where people can put their kitchen scraps into the unit, attract wild soldier flies, and process their kitchen waste. You could do something like this in your backyard or basement, but that wouldn’t make it a commercial venture.

Doing this business on a commercial scale requires a significant financial investment — you need the equipment, the location, the local zoning approvals, county and state approvals. It’s not cheap. Just the application fee for the RD&D license is $9,500 US.

Also, keep in mind that I’m in an R&D stage. I’ll be testing everything for the next nine months, which means I accept that there is no income being produced. This is a new feed type, there is no existing equipment you can buy — I’m doing everything from scratch.

I do envision that when I get the technology proven — that it works and makes money — at that point I could franchise or license to others wanting to get into this business. By that time, I would be able to work with people, mentor them, tell them how much they would need to start in this business, what steps are required, etc.

Where is green waste technology (GWT) headed in the future? Do you see any interesting applications for it?

In the beginning, GWT is primarily going to focus on large producers of waste. Just getting restaurants and other large waste producers to recycle would be a huge win, both economically and environmentally.

The same could be said for factory farm manure. If farmers could use larvae to consume their manure, instead of it leaching into our water supply, they would realize more income from their waste. I see that as a huge win.

As we get further along in our evolution and development as a company, we will continue R&D to determine other potential applications.

Resources:

• OVRSol: Organic Value Recovery Solutions
• Black Soldier Fly Blog
• BioPod Food Waste Composter and Grub Grower

Military units can only accomplish what their equipment allows. Of critical importance to all modern armed forces is the fuel that powers engines, particularly given the high-performance demands of jet airplanes. In its quest to achieve a competitive advantage over future adversaries and secure its logistical base, the US Armed Forces is moving to adopt biofuels for its air fleets, both fixed-wing and helicopter.

The United States Navy has set a goal of obtaining, by the end of this decade, half its fuels from renewable sources. This is not just a talking point on a press release: last year, on Earth Day, the “Green Hornet,” a Navy F/A-18 warplane, broke the sound barrier using a camelina biofuel from Honeywell’s UPO subsidiary.

A US Navy Seahawk Helicopter recently flew on a 50/50 blend of Solajet HRJ-5 and petroleum-derived jet fuel. Solazyme provided the Solajet HRJ-5 algal biofuel. Solazyme’s algal biofuel can serve as a drop-in replacement for traditional jet fuel for military aircraft, with the ultimate goal of freeing the United States Armed Forces from its reliance on imported oil.

At the Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base on Memorial Day 2011, two of the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds, the elite aerial stunt team, were powered by a biofuel blend from camelina flowers. By 2013, the US Air Force seeks to have all of its planes certified for biofuel use.

It is hardly surprising that the military would be at the vanguard of biofuel usage: it is the nature of armed forces to be innovative. The US Armed Forces, as an example, integrated long before the country did. President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 integrated the military in 1948 — American schools were not integrated until the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board in 1954. Furthermore, the Supreme Court was not integrated until 1967, when President Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, who argued Brown vs. Board of Education before the highest court in the land over a decade before.

Technology also develops more quickly in the military. Many high-tech items that eventually become quotidian civilian products (planes, helicopters, computers, etc.) are initially perfected by the armed forces. The first digital computer, the ENIAC, was used to calculate the trajectory for artillery shells. For biofuels, it is no different.

This is partly due to the military having different goals and objectives than the civilian sector. Armed forces do not have to worry about making a profit; all that matters is accomplishing the goal with acceptable risks and costs. In addition, the safety and comfort requirements are much more relaxed for military missions. It has been difficult to deploy biofuels on commercial flights at present, as airlines must use standard fuels with very precise properties detailed by jet fuel specifications, such as in ASTM D1655.

The first transatlantic biofuel flight took place in June of 2011, with a Gulfstream G450, owned by Honeywell and powered 50/50 by its Green Jet Fuel and petroleum-based jet fuel, flying from New Jersey, USA, to Paris, France. The results of the test flight by the experimental business jet follow:

• Approximately 5.5 metric tons less of net carbon dioxide was unleashed into the atmosphere;
• 20 gallons less fuel was burned; and
• There was no reported difference in performance.

In the military, performance trumps safety. A high-octane gas from Texas oilfields allowed allied warplanes to emerge victorious in World War II. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin once remarked that World War II was a “victory of octanes and engines.” British and American warplanes, due to their superior fuel, could fly faster, climb higher, turn tighter and fight longer than those of the Axis powers, eventually dominating the skies over Europe, Africa and Asia.

In terms of logistics, military commanders must have secure supply lines. With the United States importing well over half its oil at present, biofuels allow for a domestic source of propellant for warplanes, from jet fighters to helicopters. With diversity in fuel type and in some cases lower costs, more funds then become available for other needs (equipment, training, personnel costs, etc.). Polluting less with biofuels, the military will also develop more support from the civilian sector. Using biofuels in high-profile demonstrations, such as the Thunderbirds and “Green Hornet”, assists in recruiting and retention. Biofuels are the latest new technology to be embraced by the US Armed Forces, for all the right reasons.

The Biochar Group is a volunteer collaboration involving Hertz Fellows from MIT, Caltech, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. It is one of eight winning teams from 22 universities who took on the Gates Foundation challenge: To develop a 21st century toilet without links to water, energy, or sewer lines and will cost users under $0.05 a day.

The award money will support the production of crucial biochar to help reverse carbon depletion in soils; more specifically, it will go towards transforming the disposal and sterilization of sewage in a million-person slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in conjunction with Sanergy, an MIT startup working in Africa on sanitation and renewable energy.

“We are honored to see our Fellows participate in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation effort, which aims to improve the lives of 2.6 billion people without adequate sanitation on our planet,” said Dr. Jay Davis, Hertz Foundation President. “The Hertz Fellows have built a vibrant community to support and inspire one another. Good things come from that collaboration and the Biochar Group has been one of the most exciting. We’re doubly grateful to have our work recognized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”

Biochar is a high grade of charcoal formed in a low-oxygen environment. Instead of burning or combustion, pyrolysis converts biomass into biochar in the range of 450- 600º C. This principle could ultimately be applied to the transformation of all sewage in third world countries.

The Hertz Foundation Biochar Group has worked for two years to build four generations of machines that create biochar to sequester carbon in the soil. “Each year 60 gigatons of agriculturally-fixed carbon rots and turns back into carbon dioxide,” said Dr. Brian Von Herzen, Executive Director of the Climate Foundation, Hertz Fellow (1980) and Director of the Biochar Group. “By converting just ten percent of the fixed carbon into biochar, we could actually capture and sequester most of man’s atmospheric carbon dioxide emitted each year.”

The Biochar Group’s efforts will be directed by Dr. Von Herzen and Professor Reginald Mitchell at Stanford University, the home university for the 2011 project. “To address the needs of the 2.6 billion people who don’t have access to safe sanitation, we not only must reinvent the toilet, we also must find safe, affordable and sustainable ways to capture, treat, and recycle human waste,” said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Most importantly, we must work closely with local communities to develop lasting sanitation solutions that will improve their lives.”

The Biochar Group was formed in 2009 when Dr. Von Herzen spoke at a community-building retreat for Hertz Fellows, supported by Hertz Fellow Ray Sidney. The Biochar Group won Berkeley’s 2010 Venture Lab competition at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, with the help of Berkeley graduate students Andrew North and Matt Beres. The Group participants include John Frank, Tony Miller, Matt Lucas and Shannon Yee, with the support of Ray Sidney, Louis Lerman and The Climate Foundation.

About the Climate Foundation
The Climate Foundation has the long-term objective to reduce global warming through recycling of carbon on land and in the sea. It is also working to preserve coral reef ecosystems by lowering temperature and ocean acidification, and by supporting terrestrial and marine carbon recycling research, including renewable energy work. In addition, the Climate Foundation works to develop sound policies and protocols for carbon sequestration in our country and other nations. More information about the Climate Foundation can be found at http://www.climatefoundation.org.

About the Hertz Foundation
For nearly half a century, the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation has focused on empowering young applied scientists and engineers with the freedom to innovate in their doctoral research. The Hertz Foundation has provided the nation’s most generous PhD fellowships to nearly 1,100 gifted young men and women. The highly competitive selection process includes a comprehensive written application, four references, and two rounds of technical interviews by recognized leaders in applied science and engineering. In addition to supporting the Fellows in their graduate education, the Foundation provides unique seminars, workshops and symposia that take place away from their campus environments. These gatherings expose the in-school Fellow to national leaders and researchers, many of whom are alumni Fellows of the Foundation. More information about the Hertz Foundation can be found at http://www.hertzfoundation.org.

With Germany’s recent announcement to be completely free of nuclear energy by 2022, and the continuing coverage of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster in the wake of the tsunami that hit Japan, we may soon see more biomass-to-fuel products on the market, and it appears that Thermya is in a strong leadership position.

The construction of biocoal production plants using Thermya’s TORSPYD technology is going according to schedule in Spain and in the North of France, with full-scale production already in progress.

The official press release stated the following:

Villenave d’Ornon, 30th May 2011 – Thermya, a French engineering company leader in biomass-to-energy conversion technologies, announces construction of three industrial biocoal production units using TORSPYD, the innovative biomass torrefaction process developed by the company.

A first unit is currently in construction on the site of Urnieta, in the Spanish Basque Country, under the supervision of Grupo Lantec, promoter and developer of the project. Thermya, who granted a TORSPYD license to Lantec’s subsidiary Idema, has been supporting Lantec with the process engineering aspects of the project and will continue to provide support and assistance until successful commissioning of the plant in a few months.

“The commissioning of the plant is planned for the summer 2011″, said Román Monasterio, Managing Director of Grupo Lantec.

The plant, which will operate on a continuous basis, 24/7, will produce 20,000 tonnes of biocoal per year (2.5 tonnes per hour) from previously unused local forestry residues. The biocoal production will supply neighbouring coal power plants, which will allow them to reduce their consumption of fossil fuel and thereby their CO2 footprint, thanks to the co-firing of biocoal with coal.

Thermya is also currently constructing two biocoal production units in Mazingarbe, in the North of France, for French company LMK Energy. LMK Energy awarded a contract to Thermya in January 2011 for the turn-key supply of two biomass torrefaction units with a total production capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year of biocoal. The biocoal produced by the Mazingarbe torrefaction plant will be densified, in the form of pellets or briquettes, for supply to European power stations.

“The construction phase started in March and we are progressing according to schedule with the operation of the first unit planned for the end of Q3″, declared Franck Lavarde, President and Managing Director of LMK Energy.

With these three TORSPYD biomass torrefaction units now well into the construction phase, Thermya confirms its technological and commercial leadership in the field of torrefaction. Hervé Chauvin, Thermya’s Managing Director, comments:

“These contracts reinforce the relevance of our technology and, beyond that, mark the break-through of biocoal as a green fuel alternative to fossil coal.”

Additional Information: Thermya is an engineering company created in 2002 and specialised in the design and development of conversion technologies for the valorisation of non-food biomass. Thermya has developed TORSPYD, a unique and innovative proprietary technology for the torrefaction of biomass. The company is also involved in the recycling of wood waste and solid organics. Thermya is headquartered in Villenave d’Ornon, near Bordeaux, France and employs 17 highly qualified staff, technicians, engineers and scientists. TORSPYD biocoal is a high-performance solid fuel and an ideal substitute for fossil coal; it gives coal consumers the opportunity to reduce their emissions of CO2, nitrogen and sulphur oxides. In addition, as opposed to raw biomass, torrefied biomass can be co-fired without any limitation to the mix rate with coal, and it does not require any prior investment or technical modification of the facilities. The energy output of the power station is maintained while the consumption of fuel is reduced. Idema is a Spanish environmental engineering company subsidiary of Grupo LANTEC. It is specialized in the integration of innovative systems in the construction industrial units for the production of renewable energy. LMK Energy was created in 2010 to produce torrefied wood pellets, also known as “2nd generation pellets”. The two TORSPYD units located in Mazingarbe will allow LMK Energy to supply 40,000 tons of biocoal per year. For information about the sale of biocoal from these units, you can contact: sales@biocoaltrading.co.uk

In addition to funding, Google will bring recruiting expertise and possibly help test the product with it’s employee bus system that operates all around the Bay Area. CoolPlanet is based in Camarillo California, South of Google near LA, and has already received funding from North Bridge Venture Partners and Energy Technology Ventures, a collaboration between GE (GE), NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) and ConocoPhillips (COP).

For more on CoolPlanet visit their site at http://www.coolplanetbiofuels.com.

Biomass products generate heat energy through combustion just like fossil fuels but remain carbon neutral. This is achieved because the fuel source (plants) are grown before they are burned instead of dug up from sequestered reservoirs under layers of Earth. When new plants are grown they take in CO2 and when they die or are burned the CO2 is released. By contrast, fossil fuels consist of fossilized plants that were buried, along with their CO2, and are no longer a part of our atmospheric content. When these rotted plants and their associated carbon dioxide are released it upsets the balance of our existing atmosphere and harms the ecosystem.

To successfully adopt biomass into our modern day energy structure, fuel sources need to be prepared for steady burning. While logs in a fireplace burn inconsistently and need to be replaced manually, biomass pellets can be fed through a hopper and maintain a steady flow of energy. Biomass is a tricky energy to master while truly remaining carbon neutral because the production of biofuel plants usually demands energy in the form of tractors plowing fields and trucks shipping fuel across the country. In many cases (such as burning ethanol in car engines) the energy output of the “clean” fuel is much lower than that of dirty fossil fuels. In cases like this the energy used to go green actually balances out the benefits. When subsidies are introduced the situation can get even more questionable.

All things considered the renewed interest in biomass as a clean fuel source is a positive step towards more clean options. There are many situations where biomass can be a wonderful and sustainable fuel source and eventually we may even see locally algae or switch grass running cars or home heaters.

Designed by Thermya, TORSPYD is the most advanced torrefaction technology currently available. To date, it is the only industrially-proven process in Europe which enables continuous torrefaction of any agricultural and forestry nonfood biomass.

TORSPYD’s technology and innovative process are based on the “solid organics distillation principle.” This patented method allows users to fully dehydrate and then depolymerize biomass, in order to produce an absolutely hydrophobic and homogeneous solid fuel.  In fact, TORSPYD is characterized by the highest energy-yields performance of all technologies known to date.

TORSPYD torrefaction allows for the conversion of all kinds of biomass into BioCoal, which contains less than 1% moisture, and retains both 95% of the initial biomass energy and more than 90% of its initial dry mass. The BioCoal’s net calorific value is around 20500 kJ/kg; far greater than that of non-torrefied biomass. BioCoal can be mixed with fossil coal and co-fired in thermal power stations without any modification of the facilities. Co-firing BioCoal (as a substitute for coal) eliminates mix-rate limitations and reduces CO2, SO4 and NOx emissions. On top of that, thanks to lower NOx emissions, co-firing BioCoal allows for equivalent-energy efficiency with reduced fuel consumption.

As a result of its hydrophobic properties, BioCoal does not incur any biological degradations; it can therefore be stored and shipped safely without any known risk to climate conditions. The TORSPYD torrefaction column is energy self-sufficient, meaning that the re-injection of 4% of the BioCoal production into the torrefaction system complements the process’s operational energy requirements.

“Today, Thermya is the only company in Europe to offer an industrially-proven, fully operational biomass torrefaction continuous process,” explains Jean-Sebastian Hery, Technical Vice-President and co-founder of Thermya. Thermya signed a first-license agreement in 2009 with the Spanish company IDEMA, Group Lantec. Through this agreement, IDEMA will build torrefaction units based on the TORSPYD process.

“In summary, the main benefits of our TORSPYD technology are unrivaled performance levels and extremely low operating costs. TORSPYD is the relevant response to the environmental and economical issues electricity producers, operating coal-fired power stations, are currently facing. It also opens up opportunities for manufacturers of classical wood pellets or forest operators, whose production could gain considerable value from torrefaction. Classical pellets are indeed commonly produced from sawdust or from co-products of the primary wood processing industry, whereas our technology is designed to produce premium quality biomass fuel (totally dry and hydrophobic) directly from forestry residues – hardly used at present. Besides all that, producing premium quality pellets from torrefied wood is less energy-consuming than producing classical wood pellets,” comments Hervé Chauvin, Managing Director and co-founder of Thermya.

Thermya attended the Globe 2010 exhibition in Vancouver (March 2010) to introduce its technology and to initiate commercial and industrial long-term partnerships in the North American market.

About Thermya:

Thermya is a French engineering company founded in 2002, which specializes in the design of technological solutions to convert non-food biomass into carbon or energy. Thermya has developed a unique and innovative proprietary torrefaction technology called TORSPYD®, which allows the concentration of almost all energy contained in any ligno-cellulosic material. Thermya is also involved in the recycling of wood waste and organic solids. The company is headquartered in Villenave d’Ornon, close to Bordeaux, France, and has a staff of 15 people including five engineers and four scientists. For additional information please visit: http://thermya.com/

According to Thermya, raw biomass has a high water content, which varies according to its nature. Wood, for example, can contain 45 to 60% water. The presence of water generates many constraints in the biomass valorization chain and affects how well it can be used by motors and ovens. The physical volume and very low density of raw biomass restricts the productivity of its collection. Due to its physico-chemical nature, raw biomass requires high-pressure compacting operations to be transformed into pellets. From an energy use point of view, raw biomass performs poorly: its combustion in thermal power station boilers demands costly fittings and on-going maintenance.

Torrefaction of biomass brings solutions to the above-mentioned drawbacks; it drastically reduces the cost of biomass transformation and utilization while considerably improving its energy efficiency. In short, turning raw biomass products into usable fuel. The TORSPYD torrefaction process developed by Thermya consists of heating raw materials using a soft thermal treatment. This eliminates water content and breaks down fibers. The torrefaction process dries up the biomass, makes it irreversibly hydrophobic (water repellent) and concentrates its energy potential into an easily transportable solid fuel. To learn more, visit the official Thermya website at www.thermya.com.

At the end of the TORSPYD torrefaction process, biomass has been converted into BioCoal, a high-quality green fuel. From a logistical point of view, the TORSPYD BioCoal delivers many advantages:

• It retains 90% of the initial biomass mass.
• Its moisture content is below 1%.
• It has become irreversibly hydrophobic.
• It can be stored and transported outside without any degradation risk linked to climate conditions.
• It is immune to all biological attacks (rotting, fermentation, etc.).
• It is extremely friable and can therefore be easily crushed or compacted pelletization).

From an energetical point of view, the TORSPYD BioCoal has many assets:

• BioCoal torrefied by TORSPYD still contains 95% of the initial biomass energy potential.
• Mixed with coal, BioCoal can be co-fired in thermal power stations or industrial boilers without any modification of the combustion system itself.
• BioCoal ignites instantaneously, therefore it boosts coal’s combustion, reduces ash content and improves the boiler’s global energy performance.

The TORSPYD torrefaction process is aimed at:

• Electricity producers operating coal-fired power stations – TORSPYD BioCoal is a very efficient alternative to coal in co-firing or gasification applications. It can be co-fired or substituted for coal in traditional industrial kilns fitted with powder burners, without any modification of the installations.
• Forestry operators – The TORSPYD torrefaction process provides additional value to all forestry residues, including forest resources affected by xylophagous insects or storms.
• Pellet producers – The TORSPYD torrefaction process considerably increases the value of traditional wood pellets as it drastically reduces production and raw material costs. Torrefaction opens up new supply sources for raw material and eliminates the usual biomass preparation constraints (sawdust is not required).
• Businesses and entities involved in Research and Development of gasification processes – Torrefaction is an optimal and relevant biomass preparation method in view of its gasification.

Illustrated above, the TORSPYD process is a continuous thermal treatment where 2 flows move vertically in opposite directions: the gas flow, which moves from bottom to top, and the biomass flow, which moves from top to bottom. A temperature gradient is constantly maintained in the column filled with crushed biomass. When a given biomass particle moves progressively from the top to the bottom of the TORSPYD column, it first loses its water. Once dried, the biomass particulate continues downward, crossing gradually warmer zones which provoke the devolatilisation (untangling) of a small quantity of organic substances in the gas flow. Ultimately it reaches the lower zone where the hemicellulose polymers are broken. This phenomenon then continues up to the point where the biomass particle reaches the lower grid. In the meantime, once it has reached the top of the column, lost its heat and is loaded with organic volatiles, the gas flow is reclaimed, heated and reinjected at the bottom of the column, where it starts a new cycle. The torrefied product obtained at the bottom of the column is called BioCoal.

As of today, THERMYA is the only provider of a fully operational industrial scale process developed and dedicated to biomass torrefaction. TORSPYD’s technical performance lies with the achievement of its initial objectives: optimizing both energy and mass yields, ensuring homogeneous production (in a continuous process) and the quality of the torrefied material, achieving the lowest operating and maintenance costs. More specifically, the TORSPYD process manages to avoid the formation of tars or pyrolitic juices and integrates, in the torrefaction process, the management of light organic gases coming out of the torrefaction column. As the torrefaction process is directly driven by continuous measurements right inside the biomass, controlling the biomass residence time has become a consequence of the process as opposed to an essential key to its functioning.

Question: Hello I have noticed an explosion in Stirling engine and rankin cycle generators recently, all of which are either powered by gas, diesel, oil or the sun. Despite weeks of web searching I have been unable to locate any manufacturers of a Stirling generator which can be powered by the heat from a log burning wood stove. I’m told by some manufacturers that’s because the temperatures of a log stove are too low? 500c doesnt sound low to me! Plus the hot side of the Infinia solar dish system isn’t much hotter than boiling water and it works.

I’ve seen YouTube videos of people running a Stirling engine from a cup of tea… So why isn’t there a wood log burning stove for generating power, I just don’t get it? My personal stove develops 4.5Kw of hot water every hour in addition to another 3Kw of convection heat. There has to be some way of tapping that and turning it into electricity surely. Anyone have any answers? P.S. I don’t have the facilities to build my own set up but I could modify an existing one if they will sell just the Stirling engine and generator.

Response: I have been hearing about Stirling engines my entire life, and yet I’ve never seen one producing energy that I can recall. I know there are a few examples out there, some of which are connected to solar concentrators.

However, if a Stirling engine could compete with the internal combustion engine, it would have replaced it a long time ago. It is not being suppressed by our government, and the patents on it, if there ever were any, would have expired before the Civil War since Mr. Stirling first described it in the early 1800′s. I think it’s just one of those ideas that sounds attractive on paper until you try to implement it and then realize it’s not competitive with the alternatives.

There’s a lot of information already on Wikipedia regarding Stirling engines, and so I wouldn’t be able to add much in the way of insights as to why they haven’t caught on. It seems that their disadvantages significantly outweigh the fact that they can, in theory, run on any heat source. But the cost of the fuel is only one factor in the equation. The other is the cost of capital and for a Stirling engine, that seems to be its downfall. It takes an enormous engine to produce a small amount of output and all of those materials are costly and must be amortized over the life expectancy of the engine. So until fuel becomes a bigger part of the equation, I don’t expect we’ll see many examples of Stirling engine generators. But if fuel prices increase several fold over what they are now, then maybe they’ll make sense.

Below is an illustration sourced from Wikipedia of Robert Stirling’s 1816 patent application of the air engine design which later came to be known as the Stirling Engine.

Ecovative’s solutions use a combination of mushroom roots “mycelium” (which has a number of environmental benefits) and local feedstock. This means it can be made on site anywhere in the world, further reducing the impact of transportation in use. This might include cotton gin trash, buckwheat hulls or hazelnut husks. The end result is a direct replacement for styrofoam that can be created without using any petroleum, electricity or heat but offers the same thermal and physical properties as styrofoam.

One unit of this biocomposit releases ten times less CO2 and uses eight times less energy than the same volume of styrofoam. In the world of products helping to make a material difference for our planet, this is an outstanding step forward and worth considering for any business that ships products or home owner considering insulation options.