First American Scientific Corp. (fka FASC)

[Net-Man]

beischens - I have taken a little more time to consider your post from yesterday regarding moisture content. Water removal from biomass is one of the major selling points of the KDS. Each successive 1% reduction in water produces a roughly equivalent increase in the energy released when it is burned.

Each biomass source will have its own water content and clearly be an issue as to how effective the KDS is in drying the material. However, once the material is refined by a KDS, the torrefaction process from Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne changes the characteristics of the bio-fuel such that it becomes moisture resistant. That should significantly change the operating conditions for transportation and storage of the resulting fuel. At a minimum, fuel could then be processed and stored for longer periods of time and presumably be less susceptible to mold and caking. Longer storage periods would also imply that larger stores of fuel could be stockpiled and perhaps even in the open versus covered areas/warehouses further reducing storage costs and more importantly reducing or eliminating fuel shortages.

Biomass fuel shortages were a problem for Minnesota Power and was driven in large part to weather - forest harvesting stopped when the weather was bad. Being able to provide a constant flow of fuel would be a game changer I would think.

fwiw,

Net-Man