Commercial potential of wood gasification and its application in New York State. Final report

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983

OSTI ID:5354559

Wood gas, produced by high-temperature incomplete combustion with air, was assessed for commercial potential as a substitute for oil and natural gas in New York State. The technology was found to be economically viable where supplies of wood chips are inexpensive and boiler load factors are high. Equipment vendors were surveyed, and the market was characterized as being in an early stage of commercialization. Wood supply was found to be ample for most of the state. Methods for estimating annual regional supply are shown. Economic analysis of the scenarios showed wood gasification boiler retrofits to be feasible under present conditions for many boiler operators. In the base case, a 20 million Btu per hour (20 MMBtu/hour) system was shown to produce an internal rate of return of 77%. If 50 systems of 25 MMBtu/hour were converted, New York State could save 850,000 barrels of oil a year and create more than 2500 new jobs directly. Research on environmental effects of wood gasifiers showed impacts to be minimal. Control of air emissions is simple, and solid waste can be landfilled with little or no difficulty.

• Research Organization: Hart (Fred C.) Associates, Inc., Washington, DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5354559
• Report Number(s): NYSERDA-83-24; ON: DE84900737
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320100 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Buildings
COMMERCIALIZATION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FEDERAL REGION II
GASIFICATION
MARKET
NEW YORK
NORTH AMERICA
SOLID WASTES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
WASTES
WOOD
WOOD WASTES