Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility

The Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility is the first demonstration of its kind in the world of a community-scale heat and power system fuelled by biomass.

The system, fueled by biomass, creates synthesis (syn) gas that is then burned, in raw form, to produce steam or it is conditioned to create ultra clean syn gas that is injected into an internal combustion engine used to generate electricity. The system provides heat and power to The University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus. It facilitates research to develop feedstock (fuel) and process innovations, set new global standards for performance and emissions and lowers the campus’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and fossil fuel consumption.

UBC is a community of some 50,000 students, staff, faculty and residence, with over 400 buildings, occupying a site of 400 hectares. Like many communities around the world, UBC is striving to meet its power needs while reducing its impact on the environment. The Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility responds to this challenge while demonstrating a small-scale power production that is relevant and replicable in other communities.

The University of British Columbia’s leadership in sustainability is evident through its Climate Action Plan. In 2007, UBC met its Kyoto Protocol targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on core academic buildings by six per cent below 1990 levels, this despite a floor space increase of 35 percent and student enrolment increase of 48 per cent between 1990 and 2007. The University further commits to reducing GHGs from 2007 levels:

• By 33 per cent by 2015
• By 67 per cent by 2020
• By 100 per cent by 2050

The Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility, is a partnership between UBC and two of the world’s leading developers of green technology – Vancouver-based Nexterra Systems Corporation and GE Energy. The facility is a “Campus as a Living Laboratory” project integrating UBC’s core academic mandate (research and teaching) with the University’s infrastructure and business operations. UBC is committed to taking advantage of its unique capacity for research and problem solving to embrace and deploy leading-edge technology and concepts using the campus infrastructure as a real-world demonstration and testing lab.

How It Works

The combined heat and power system has two main operating modes. The first, “thermal-only mode,” uses commercially proven gasification technology developed by Nexterra to turn biomass into a clean synthesis gas or syngas. The syngas replaces natural gas used to produce steam and hot water to meet campus heating needs.

In the second, “demonstration mode,” the syngas is conditioned to remove impurities and fed into a GE Jenbacher gas engine that drives the generator to produce electricity. In addition, heat from the engine is recovered and directed to the district heating system.

Fuel supply

The fuel supply for the Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility is biomass, a carbon neutral fuel alternative to fossil fuels. Biomass is a generic term to describe plant material that is used, in a variety of forms, as fuel to generate energy. Examples of wood-based biomass include wood grindings, shavings, bark, clean constsruction and demolition waste and chips. The purpose of using biomass is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing conventional fuels such as natural gas or coal with a “renewable” fuel.

Production sequence

1. Daily, two or three truckloads of biomass fuel are delivered to the facility
2. The biomass is screened for oversized and non-woody material, dried, if required, and then gasified to produce a synthesis gas (syngas)

When operating in Thermal Mode:

1. The syngas is burned in the oxidizer, downstream of the gasifier. The hot flue gas from the oxidizer is then directed through the boiler to produce steam
2. The steam is distributed through UBC’s district energy system to heat campus buildings

When operating in Demonstration Mode (combined heat and power):

1. A portion of the syngas is “conditioned to remove impurities that would normally “foul” the internal combustion engine
2. The conditioned syngas is cooled, filtered and injected into the internal combustion engine connected to the generator to produce electricity
3. The electricity is distributed throughout the campus via the UBC power grid
4. Recovered engine heat is used to create steam which is directed into UBC’s district energy system
5. Impurities removed during syngas conditioning are returned to the gasifier
6. Syngas, surplus to the needs of the engine, is utilized as per Thermal Mode

Benefits

 “This project demonstrates UBC’s leadership in sustainability and our concept of the campus as a living laboratory. This groundbreaking partnership is helping UBC achieve its sustainability goals through the convergence of research, operations and industry in the bioenergy sphere.” – Professor Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor, UBC

Energy produced and emissions reduced

In Thermal Mode (heat only), the facility generates up to 20,000 pounds per hour of steam, approximately 25 per cent of UBC’s base requirement. It eliminates 9,000 tonnes of UBC’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), the equivalent to taking 1,882 cars off the road each year.

In Demonstration Mode (combined power and heat), the system generates approximately two megawatts of electricity, enough to power the nearby 1,600-bed Marine Drive Student Residence. It also produces 9,600 pounds per hour of steam, approximately 12 per cent of UBC’s base requirement. It reduces UBC’s GHGs by 5,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to removing 1,000 cars from the road each year. 

Revenue

The electricity produced by the Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility will feed into UBC’s power grid, which will result in revenue to UBC through a “Displaced Load Agreement” with BC Hydro. UBC is the largest public sector, single site emitter of greenhouse gases in BC and BC Hydro’s second largest customer.

Local wood products

The building showcases BC wood-based construction cross-laminated timber (CLT), a low carbon and low environmental impact building system.

Education and research opportunities

The facility provides faculty and students with the real-world opportunity to study, test, teach and apply lessons learned at the facility. There are also opportunities for UBC operations staff and academics to collaborate and enhance teaching and research.