Using home-grown biomass, Terra Green sees a role in coal

Tom Causer has developed a technology to replace coal with biomass, and says natural materials found throughout Pennsylvania’s northern tier could significantly reduce the air pollution generated by the one million tons of coal burned at power plants each year.

The technology developed by his Smethport, McKean County firm, Terra Green Energy LLC, received a vote of confidence from the Central and Northern Pennsylvania Ben Franklin Partners, which loaned Causer $130,000 for the next phase of its development.

Causer’s biomass pretreatment method, called torrefaction, burns materials like wood and grasses at a middling 250-300 degrees Celsius, lower than other similar methods. “There are two big benefits,” explains. “Pyrolysis gases are given off and used in the process. We need very little supplemental fuel to drive the process.”

Causer, who holds a provisional patent on the technology, says that torrefaction on local materials could generate enough energy to replace up to 10 percent of the coal consumed in power plants each year. “We could produce 90,000 tons per year,” he estimates. In the first phase of production, the process would use forest residue (small fallen tree limbs), while the second phase could use agricultural products. “Switchgrass torrefies very well,” he notes. “This could result in many jobs in rural Pennsylvania.”

Causer’s research has received help from the Energy Institute at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford and has been tested in New Jersey. With additional state funds and the Ben Franklin investment, he plans to open a facility in McKean County by mid-2010.

Source: Tom Causen, Terra Green Energy LLC
Writer: Chris O’Toole