Biomass Gasification Project Underway in Montgomery, New York
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey joined Jim Taylor for the Taylor Biomass Energy (TBE) facility groundbreaking ceremony in the town of Montgomery in Orange County.
The Montgomery Project uses the proprietary “Taylor Energy Solution” as the foundational technology for a three-part, integrated system design that converts the organic biomass portion of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to electric power, through gasification.
The event marks the start of Phase 1 construction on the new facility, which has received necessary town and state approvals to move forward.
According to the company, the project will generate a net 20 MW energy and produce enough electricity to power approximately 27,000 homes based 500 kwh/month usage per residence, with an estimated cost over 20 years of around 5 cents nper kW.
The facility will be located on 95 acres of interchange development property, at 350 Neelytown Road, Montgomery, in Orange County, New York. The site is the current location of Taylor Recycling Facility (TRF) and is “shovel ready” due to local site control and the extensive permitting work completed to date.
“It is rare to witness a revolution, but that’s what the project we are breaking ground on today represents,” said Schumer. “Generating energy while reducing trash and producing no pollution is an absolute game changer for this country, and it’s happening right here in the Hudson Valley, all the while creating jobs and badly needed economic activity.”
Over the past two years, Schumer and Hinchey worked with officials at Taylor Biomass urging the U.S. Department of Energy to award the project a $100 million loan guarantee to make possible this innovative green energy project.
In August, Taylor Biomass received notification that the project would receive the key loan guarantee pending a due diligence review, after both Schumer and Hinchey personally lobbied officials at the U.S. Department of Energy.
In addition to the loan guarantee, the Taylor Biomass Project will also benefit from a 30% federal grant for clean energy projects. Both the loan guarantee and grant program were made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which Schumer and Hinchey supported.
Hinchey said: “This is an historic and nationally-significant project that will spur much-needed economic development and job creation in our region, while accelerating the development of green energy technology in this country,”
“The Town of Montgomery will now be host this ‘first-of-a-kind’ biomass-to-energy technology – a technology that will dramatically improve the way that we deal with solid waste in this country and provide sustainably generated electricity to our communities.” Hinchey added.
TBE claims that the Montgomery Project will:
· Expand the Taylor Sorting and Separating Process to accept mixed solid waste (“MSW”), in addition to wood waste, and waste from construction and demolition debris (“C&D”) as inputs
· Produce a stable, cost-effective, biomass-processed fuel supply from suitable feedstock, reducing landfill waste in the process
· Use the biomass-processed fuel to feed its proprietary gasification process, producing a medium calorific value synthesis gas (syngas), capable of serving as a direct substitute for natural gas
· Connect to the power grid as a first-generation MSW product, providing clean, renewable energy
· Maximize financial investment by conducting the Montgomery Project with a view to cost efficiency, widespread commercial replication; flexible facility design that can meet local needs, and diverse potential for future development of product slate.
The Montgomery Project will expand from its current capacity of 307 tons per day (tpd) of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste and 100 tpd of wood waste, to accommodate a new inflow of 450 tpd of C&D waste, 100 tpd of wood waste, and 500 tpd of municipal solid waste.
Proposed site modifications include improvements to the existing C&D Processing Structure, and construction of a new Post Collection Separation Facility Structure, two Biomass Storage Silos, the Gasification Unit and a Power Generation Pad.
The Taylor Post Collection Separation Structure will prepare a portion of the biomass feedstock for the gasifier.
Additional wood and biomass for the project may be supplied as needed from the existing Construction and Demolition (“C&D”) Processing Structure. Biomass will be stored in two storage silos with a combined storage capacity of five days. The storage silos will be supplied by Ladig and Weaver, vendors with extensive experience in storage and handling of materials.
The company claims that the current silo design is based on performance specifications; the actual design of the equipment will be by the supplier. The current PBF feed design is subject to review and modification by Tom Miles of TR Miles Technical Consultants, a leader in the design of handling and feeding of biomass, including RDF materials.
The design of the Taylor Gasification Process uses three, fluidized-bed reactors: a gasification reactor, a gas conditioning reactor, and a combustion reactor. The gasification and combustion reactors are circulating fluidized beds , while the gas conditioning reactor is of the bubbling fluidized bed type.
TBE expects to use a Solar Titan gas turbine as the prime power generation component. A steam turbine based bottoming cycle will complete the power generation system.
Grading, concrete work and installation of utilities necessary for the gasification and power generation islands will be completed as part of the project scope. In the final step, all piping associated with the gasification and power generation structure will be completed.
Interconnection to the power grid will be completed by Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation. The Taylor site has a Central Hudson 13.2/69kv electric transmission line through the center of the 95 acres and a 69kv substation referred to as the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Maybrook substation its property border.
The company says that this will simplify the interconnection activities and allow for rapid completion of this task. All unit operations, including all heat recovery and gas compression steps, will be included as a part of the facility. All unit operations for these steps are expected to be fully commercial operations and not require development effort at the Montgomery site.
Jim Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor Biomass Energy, said:
“Our project addresses the growing issue of solid waste management and over-capacity landfills across America – and it creates renewable energy at the same time. We think it’s really a model for other urban areas to follow. With this technology, we actually have a viable alternative that will help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and so make our carbon footprint smaller. Not many projects today can deliver like that.”