Trash into treasure: North Dakota is fueling the development of biomass.(SECTIONS: Renewables)

The adage that one man's trash can be another's treasure is gaining new meaning in Grand Forks, N.D., where researchers and private industry are working to turn industrial trash into treasured heat and electricity.

In January, the Grand Forks Truss Plant partnered with the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota to launch a pilot biomass gasification power generation system that turns the plant's sawdust and wood waste into combustible gas used to produce needed heat and electricity. The project, which is funded in part by the Department of Energy along with private investment, is the result of more than three years of direct research for the biomass gasifier and more than 60 years of gasification technology development at the EERC.

The Grand Forks Truss Plant, a building products manufacturer specializing in roof trusses, was the logical partner for the biomass gasification test project, according to Darren Schmidt, research manager at the EERC. "We approached the Truss Plant as a demonstration site because they represent the model of what we're trying to do," Schmidt said. "[The Truss Plant] creates waste products on site and the new process eliminates having to transport it anywhere by turning it into a more valuable product and using it right at the site."

Each day, Grand Forks Truss Plant produces between four and six cubic yards of wood waste through its manufacturing process. Previously, disposing of the waste cost the plant money, while all of its power was taken directly from the local grid. The new biomass gasification project allows the plant to eliminate costs in both activities, while also providing an environmentally friendly disposal method.

The new biomass gasifier could mark strong progress toward a more efficient industrial process, according to Schmidt. "Over the years industrial plants have been faced with the challenge of how to best utilize waste products," he said. "One of the best ways they can use them is to generate heat and power. And how do you do that on a small scale? By best utilizing a fuel resource," in this case an abundant one, plant waste!

Carsten Heide, associate director for intellectual property management and technology commercialization at the EERC, sees the biomass technology being tested at the Grand Forks Truss Plant as potentially having a wide-ranging impact on energy producers. "Peak load demands require looking for solutions of how you can locally offset some of those peak loads. A system like this one that is small and nimble and can be put up quickly," is one solution that can have ongoing value to producers dealing with peak load demands, said Heide.

In addition, the gasification technology being tested by the EERC could be helpful in emergency power generation systems around the country. Heide said, "Take Hurricane Katrina, where some people were without power for weeks. There was a lot of wood waste. You could chop it up and put it into the gasification system in the interim." He also believes that the implementation of small scale gasifiers on major power grids has an added security benefit. "Distributed power has the advantage of being too numerous and too spread out to be attacked by terrorist groups."