Projects

TSS has been working for the City of Gridley (California) on a multi-year, multi-million dollar project funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program.  This project is multi-faceted, with a systematic evaluation of emerging technologies to produce ethanol using biomass feedstock.  Both biochemical (hydrolysis of biomass and fermentation of resultant sugars) and thermochemical (biomass gasification and syngas reformation to ethanol) conversion technologies have been evaluated in detail.  Working with the City, NREL, DOE, and technology developers, TSS  has been asked to assess the opportunity to  develop a combined heat and power project (CHP) utilizing locally available biomass in a gasification system to supply electricity and process heat energy to a large year-round food-processing facility in the city.  Excess electricity will be sold to the city’s utility district and potential sale of renewable energy credits will be assessed.  A portion of the syngas produced from the gasification of biomass will ultimately be converted to ethanol via the Fischer-Tropsch process.  Current project size will utilize up to 500 bone dry tons of biomass per day and produce at least 12.5 MW of electric power, along with several million gallons of ethanol per year.  TSS has managed all aspects of this project, from resource assessment, initial feasibility study, early discernment of permitting needs, community outreach, technology evaluation (and selection), financial analysis to working with the City of Gridley to acquire additional public sector funds for project development.  TSS is also assisting the client with power purchase agreements for electricity generated, marketing of ethanol produced by the facility, as well as potential renewable energy credits.

Back