In Grays Harbor County we are surrounded by biomass. Grays Harbor Paper uses it. Simpson Door Co. uses it. Sierra Pacific uses it. When the Cosmopolis pulp mill is operating it uses biomass, too. A working definition of biomass is, it is any material that contains organic matter including wood waste and/or agricultural waste that can be ground up and used to make renewable energy. Common uses are burning in a boiler to make heat, steam or electricity. This includes not only residue left in the forests after logging, and construction and demolition (C&D) wood debris, but also agricultural residue left in the field after harvest.
LeMay Enterprises separates and grinds up any wood waste, including C&D debris that is brought to the transfer station east of Aberdeen. The ground up wood waste (called hogfuel) is delivered to Grays Harbor Paper to make renewable energy. Grays Harbor Paper uses three generators to make 20 megawatts of renewable energy to run the mill.
Recycling wood waste as hogfuel is a very cost-effective means of making renewable energy and saves our local mills millions of dollars per year that would have to be spent on some other source of fuel.
A 2005 report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) lists the amount of available biomass resources by county for all 50 states. Agricultural biomass, excluding livestock manure, for Grays Harbor County was not determined. Manure and methane from livestock manure was measured. Methane is mentioned here because it is the second leading greenhouse gas. Its volume is less than carbon dioxide, but it is 23 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Methane generated from manure in the county is between 500 and 1000 tons per year. Livestock manure will be discussed in the next installment of this series.
The reports states forest residues were measured by county in every state in dry tons per year. Twenty-two states had more total forest residue for potential recycling than Washington, but Grays Harbor and Lewis Counties led our state with over 100,000 dry tons each per year.
Primary mill residues were also measured. These residues are composed of wood waste (both course and fine) and bark generated at manufacturing plants. The residues measured include mill residues recycled as byproducts and residues not-utilized and disposed of as waste. Grays Harbor and seven other counties in Washington produced over 100,000 dry tons each per year, all of which was recycled. Grays Harbor County did not have any un-utilized mill residue. Only 6,000 dry tons were wasted state-wide.
Secondary mill residues were also measured. Grays Harbor County produced between 1,000 and 2,000 tons per year. Urban wood residues including wood chips, pallets, yard waste, tree trimming, and C&D amounted to only 5-10,000 tons per year in Grays Harbor County. Grays Harbor County agricultural field waste was not measured by the NREL report.
Concurrently to the above report, the Washington Department of Ecology in cooperation with Washington State University issued a state biomass report in December, 2005. This report stated that Grays Harbor County had over 215,000 dry tons per year of forest thinnings and logging residues available for recycling. Mill residue totaled 728,232 dry tons per year. This report states there is over one million tons per year of biomass available for beneficial use, which is equivalent to over one billion kWh of energy (at 30% efficiency). Grays Harbor County agricultural field waste was not measured as part of this report.
What are some ideas that will result in new or existing companies marketing new products from biomass, C&D, and agricultural wastes? A nine-year old Florida company is grinding 4,000 tons/month of land clearing debris, C&D and yard waste and marketing five different colors of custom mulch and several grades of topsoil.
Five years ago, the state of Massachusetts considered banning C&D from landfills. The state set a target of 88% reduction by 2010. Several companies prepared to haul C&D out of state. Other companies prepared to recycle C&D in-state. One such company opened a 500 ton/day facility at a cost of $7.5 million. The 47,000 square foot facility is capable of processing wood, concrete, metals, bricks, masonry, road paving materials, cardboard, and plaster. Tipping fees are $65-75/ton for C&D, and $80-90 for MSW. You can do the math, but assuming the facility operates at full capacity, the original capital costs are recouped very quickly.
The Washington coast experienced a massive windstorm in December, 2007. There was much property damage. But it was downed trees that caused delays in restoring transportation and power to the area. With the help of television and newspapers it is not difficult for us to appreciate the devastation to mid-west and southern states caused by recurring hurricanes and tornadoes. It is not unusual for storms of this magnitude to generate over 500,000 cubic yards, which is equivalent to 20,000 tons of debris. That volume of storm debris has to be removed as quickly as possible at a cost exceeding $2.5 million. Fortunately, it is all recyclable. So is storm debris right here in Grays Harbor.
