Categories: General
Date: Apr 7, 2009
Title: Taking its lumps: Alterna Energy extols virtues of biocarbon.
Green energy columnist Joe Castaldo of Canadian Business Magazine visited Alterna Energy to find out more about the developing story of biocarbon. Read more about how Alterna is poised to fill a void in the production of clean heat and power generation.
Inside the boardroom of Alterna Energy’s office in Prince George, B.C., a row of what appear to be coal briquettes rest on a ledge. Company president and co-founder Leonard Legault picks one of them up, rests the plum-sized object in his hand and explains, “This is a carbonized apple.” The once lush fruit has essentially been reduced to its carbon base and is now a desiccated black lump.
But that lump has energy potential. Alterna Energy doesn’t want to carbonize apples, of course, but instead convert wood waste, such as trees killed by the mountain pine beetle, into what Legault calls “biocarbon,” which can then be used for clean heat and power generation. The idea is similar to using wood pellets for energy production, but Alterna’s carbonization process strips organic material down to its pure combustible elements, which results in an energy density 70% higher than wood pellets. The company calls them “next generation” energy pellets, and claims the process requires almost no external energy inputs and that its pellets can be used in existing coal plants without too many modifications. The process can be carbon-neutral since the CO2 released during combustion will ultimately be reabsorbed by the plant life that grows to replace the original organic material.