Environment 

Sustainability

Pyrolysis is a sustainable, environmentally friendly technology that uses biomass to make renewable energy and chemicals.  It is quite different from “first generation” biofuels for several important reasons.

At present, ethanol and biodiesel production often relies on annual crops for feed.  Other biodiesel plants use waste animal fats (tallow) as feed.  Costs for tallow have risen sharply in recent times due to increased demand.  Costs for grains and other annuals have also risen because of Australia’s prolonged drought.   Biodiesel made from palm oil is receiving criticism when the oil palms are planted at the expense of tropical forests.

In contrast, pyrolysis uses biomass (woody material) that is derived from sustainably managed trees:

• Woody biomass is produced with far greater energy efficiency than annual crops (refer to recent paper on this topic here). 
• In Australia, plantations are planted on agricultural land and not at the expense of existing forests.
• This feed material is less subject to short-term price fluctuations. 

There are other environmental benefits possible via pyrolysis for a number of biomass feeds, including:

• Use of urban wood wastes that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
• Use of existing plantation residues that would otherwise be left to rot or burn in the field after harvest.
• Use of new tree crops, such as the mallee trees being planted in the Western Australian wheat belt for salinity control.

Mallee trees are a particularly exciting feed for the longer term. Commercial drivers for large-scale mallee tree planting on farms will help to make agriculture in the WA wheat belt more sustainable.  By reducing the current problems with salt-water runoff it will help to protect rivers and wetlands from salt encroachment.  It will provide a variety of jobs and other economic benefits to struggling country towns.

Emission reductions

As a renewable energy technology, pyrolysis can help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  When bio-oil or slurry is used to replace fossil fuels it allows the CO2 emissions of those fuels to be avoided.  The output of a 200 tonne per day pyrolysis plant can be expected to reduce emissions by at least 60,000 tonnes of CO2 per year if it is replacing liquid fossil fuels. The reductions are even greater if it is replacing coal.

Use of bio-oil in gas turbines has shown that also reduces NOx emissions when compared against fossil fuels.

“Good Neighbours”

A pyrolysis plant can operate safely and with little disruption in either an urban or rural environment.  Plants are designed and built in compliance with relevant environmental guidelines and all other relevant codes and standards.  The pyrolysis process is not noisy and the plant generates little waste because all of the wood feed is turned into useful products or heat energy on site.  Dynamotive’s first commercial pyrolysis plant has operated for some years in West Lorne, a small country town in Ontario province of Canada.  It is located in a wood flooring products factory, close to a number of houses in the town.