Report: Purpose Grown Energy Forests Could Meet All of New Zealand’s Transportation Fuel and Heat Energy Needs
18 March 2008
Purpose-grown energy forests, if planted today, could meet all of New Zealand’s future transport fuel and heat energy needs without threatening the country’s agricultural industry, according to a study completed by New Zealand’s Crown Research Institute, Scion.
This conclusion is outlined in the report, Bioenergy Options for New Zealand, completed by Scion as part of the EnergyScape program. The report is the result of a collaboration between Crown Research Institutes Scion and NIWA, and CRL Energy, with input from Landcare Research, Crop and Food Research, Waste Solutions and Process Developments.
The report also states that even the most conservative estimates show New Zealand has at least 830,000 hectares of steep, erodable, low producing grass and shrub lands that could be cost effectively used for forestry.
The results come in the same month as another feasibility study, conducted by the New Zealand Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Initiative, showed that bioethanol produced from wood and wood residues is a feasible option for transport biofuels despite previous concerns that it was too expensive and too difficult to utilize this resource.
The Government seeks carbon neutrality in the electricity sector by 2025, in the stationary energy sector by 2030, and in the transport sector by 2040.
Biomass can make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s future energy supply without compromising arable or high quality pastoral land. Rather, the key is to utilise marginal lands, which are often erodable hill country, making best use of available resources.
What both studies reveal is that it is possible for New Zealand to be self-sufficient in terms of liquid fuels by using sustainable managed forests, while having low impact on domestic and export food production. Along with the energy will come ancillary benefits of forests including flood mitigation, improved water quality, erosion control and carbon sequestration.
—Dr. Tom Richardson
Purpose-grown energy forests of short-, medium- and long-rotation could be established using only 37% of the potentially available 8.7 million hectares of medium- and low-quality grazing land available in New Zealand. Establishing the required forest resource will take around 25 years, at an estimated cost of around $2-3 billion a year.
New Zealand Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Initiative study. The feasibility study produced by the New Zealand Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Initiative resulted from an international collaboration between New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes Scion and AgResearch; New Zealand’s largest pulp and paper producer Carter Holt Harvey; and US-based cellulosic ethanol and specialty enzyme development company Verenium Corporation.
The recently completed study into the development of biofuels for New Zealand evaluated the infrastructure, technology and economics of a transportation biofuel facility using New Zealand softwood plantation forests as feedstocks. It also considered opportunities to utilise existing infrastructure from the pulp and paper industry and Verenium’s proprietary enzymes to convert wood and wood residues into sugars which are then be fermented and refined into ethanol.
The study found there is both sufficient wood and wood residues available in New Zealand to supply a commercial-scale ethanol refinery, and a domestic market large enough to support it.
The New Zealand Government has established a Biofuels Sales Obligation (BSO) of 3.4% transport biofuels by 2012 and set a target to stabilize this country’s net greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 equivalent levels by 2030.
"Plant the trees, don't just cut them down."
It sounds like a great idea for a sustainable forestry industry, and gaining usable energy from this as a secondary product is a big step in the sustainable direction. I hope they also
One caution, the "steep, erodable, low producing grass and shrub lands" are an eco-system now in use, and diverting 37% of them will impact many species. A more in-depth and ongoing study should track what changes occur, and how the species using these habitats cope with a changed vegetation land cover.
Posted by: John Taylor | 18 March 2008 at 11:34 AM
Methanex has two methanol plants in New Zealand, one of which also has an MTG plant. Both have been operating only sporadically because of a shortage of sufficiently cheap natural gas feedstock. New offshore gas fields have since been discovered but they are not yet in production.
http://www.nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/energy/7D.pdf
Trees grown for energy and forestry wastes could be used to produce pipeline-grade SNG using allothermal heating based on air rather than expensive pure oxygen.
http://www.biosng.com/fileadmin/biosng/user/documents/reports/rx05183.pdf
This renewable product can then be shipped to customers (incl. the methanol/MTG plants) via the country's existing NG grid.
http://www.gastransportation.co.nz/general/pipelinemap.pdf
The waste heat can be used for electricity generation and for heating greenhouses used to grow food or oil algae. The clean waste CO2 can be used to enrich the atmosphere in those greenhouses, something the Dutch already do today.
To the extent possible, synthetic natural gas should be used as-is, even for transportation. Methanol can be used in DMFCs, which may become increasingly important for niche applications, for producing biodiesel and other applications. The rest can be delivered to market as gasoline. At present energy prices, reviving the Methanex plants might make sense. New Zealand could even become a net exporter of finished gasoline made from renewable biomass.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 18 March 2008 at 11:41 AM
Let's not forget geothermal, hydro, wave and wind before we put all of our eggs in the biofuel basket.
Posted by: Neil | 18 March 2008 at 01:38 PM
Once we do away with most (if not all) ICE vehicles and oil furnaces, how much liquid fuel will be required to meet the remaining special applications?
Biofuels may be able to meet a significant percentage of the highly reduced demands.
What is the advantage of grow trees over elephant grass for liquid fuel production? more by-products? more even feedstock supplies?
Posted by: Harvey D | 18 March 2008 at 02:18 PM
@ Neil -
New Zealand produces plenty of renewable electricity to support stationary applications. The problem is that the country is large and very sparsely populated, so limited range would be a huge issue for EVs there.
The country does have ~4000 km of narrow gauge rail network, but only 500 of those are electrified.
If they want their transportation sector to become independent of oil imports, they need to switch to either CNG/LNG/LPG from fossil gas or, to biofuels. Only the latter have the potential to be renewable in the long run.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 18 March 2008 at 03:34 PM
"...how much liquid fuel will be required..."
If fuel cells ever get going for transportation, that ethanol, methanol route seems promising. Liquid density and storage still is a very attractive option.
Posted by: sjc | 18 March 2008 at 08:08 PM
4 millions hectares (20% of the country surface) for providing the energy for heating and transportation of 4.5 millions peoples, it is about 1 hectare / person. That sounds about right (~2 TEP/hectares). and shows how populated the world should be to leave a developped type of life style and counting on renewable energy only : 19 people/Km2 in a tempered climate country and of course much less in a dry land type of country. at a worldwilde level that bring us to about 1 billions people at the very best...
Posted by: Treehugger | 18 March 2008 at 09:44 PM
Carrying capacity and saving fossil fuels for later was always a good strategy. We just got carried away with cheap energy and rapid growth. We may have to recalibrate our futures.
Posted by: sjc | 18 March 2008 at 10:37 PM
A few months ago the Kiwis were supposed to be making biodiesel from algae grown in municipal sewage ponds. That seems to have gone quiet. I'm inclined to think if cheap reliable methanol fuel cells can be made to suit vehicles that route should be taken rather than ethanol for internal combustion engines. This is in terms of 'bio-well' to wheels efficiency.
Posted by: Aussie | 19 March 2008 at 04:12 AM
Best way to use biomass is to use it for cogen of heat and power. Power you use for EVs.
In a pure EV scenario, New Zealand would have enough excess biomass capacity to sell it to China. You just pyrolyse the stuff, put it in big oil tankers, and sell.
In China, they can use the bio-oil in power plants that capture and sequester the CO2. This carbon-negative electricity would then be used for China's EVs.
Seems to be far more efficient than an ICE/liquid biofuel future.
Posted by: Jonas | 19 March 2008 at 07:32 AM
A 10 gallon tank of liquid fuel can take you 400 miles. Most EVs have a range of only 150 miles and same for CNG. Liquid fuels give you range and as long as the buying public perceives a need for range that is what they will want. You can tell them that they really do not need it, but until the see that for themselves they will not believe it.
Posted by: sjc | 19 March 2008 at 02:12 PM
@ Treehugger
Any idea if it is possible to inculcate a rainforest where one did not previously exist? I'm thinking of Senegal or Mauritania, and starting with very lush coastal plantations, which when they reach a critical mass would respire enough moisture to make new clouds that would continue to blow inland. Then plant more plantations, and hope it repeats. Ideally sustainable tropical forest mixed crops would be used to maximize water retention and the carbon sink.
I imagine this would be applied climatology on a massive scale, but the same latitudes in South America support rainforests. Is this crazy...or crazy enough that it just might work?
Posted by: Healthy Breaze | 20 March 2008 at 12:19 AM
Treehugger:
Forest areas are about 3000 times larger than the world farms. That being said, to make biofuel with forest waste and selected replaceable forest feed stock may be more sustainable than corn-grain ethanol. Farms are required to produce food.
Forests can be replanted over and over again. New (young) growing forests remove more CO2 than older mature forests.
Posted by: Harvey D | 21 March 2008 at 06:02 PM
New Zealand has a tiny population and its primary export industry is agriculture.
It's like getting excited because Iceland can run their economy on geothermal energy (something, incidentally, the New Zealanders also do...). It's great for them, but it's virtually irrelevant for the rest of the world.
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