Power from the Prairie-Demonstration and Evaluation of Burning Agricultural Waste Streams in a Small-Scale Gasifier

The purpose of this award is for the grantee to reduce the reliance of coal generated electricity and replace it with a renewable Energy source from biomass gasification.Project will evaluate biomass produced on two demonstration farms and burned in a low water use gasification system for the production of syngas to generate electricity. This power will be used at the Northern Excellence seed processing facility in Williams, Minnesota. Northern Excellence Seed, LLC is a producer-owned cooperative made up of 30 members. All of these producers are eligible for EQIP. Installation of a 100-kilowatt gasifier at the Northern Excellence Seed, LLC will produce an estimated 744,600-kilwatts per year. Biomass sources include 2 million pounds of seed screenings per year from Northern Excellence Seed, LLC and producers growing perennial Energy crops within a reasonable distance from the seed plant. Gasification of biomass for electricity is a proven technology. Long-term use and available demonstration sites are not readily available however. This project will resolve these issues and provide vital information to producers considering the value of perennial Energy crops. The Energy produced will improve atmospheric air quality in multiple ways. Perennial grass crops have been shown to capture and store carbon dioxide. These carbon sequestrations along with the replacement of coal generated electricity to a renewable Energy source are the primary purposes of this project.