the Powertainer under a new California Energy Commission’s (Energy Commission) project. The improved technology will be called the Powertainer plus.
The project team expected to complete a beta prototype of the Powertainer and demonstrate its ability to use forestry biomass waste to produce clean renewable power, and tie that electricity into the electrical grid. However, due to regulatory challenges, the team was not able to demonstrate the technology while connected to the grid. Therefore, the Powertainer demonstrated its operational status and capabilities in a standalone, off-grid demonstration.
The Powertainer is important for California because of the broad range of benefits it offers, especially when addressing the tree mortality crisis by using forestry biomass waste as fuel. The forestry waste can be converted to on-demand, clean, renewable energy, as well as a very high quality biochar byproduct. When biochar (which looks like a fine-grained charcoal) is made, the organic material is converted into a stable form of carbon that can’t easily escape the atmosphere. Thus, the forest waste becomes largely carbon neutral. Using biochar as a soil amendment improves the soil’s ability to attract and hold moisture and nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorous).
This technology enables an integrated forestry management strategy that promotes thinning of the forest, which aids in reducing the risk of catastrophic forest fires, and contributes to increased water security with the reduction of water used to fight wildfires as well as increased soil water retention due to the use of biochar. In addition, the Powertainer reduces greenhouse gas emissions and some criteria pollutants such as carbon monoxide and small particulate matter. The reduction of air pollutants is substantial, especially when compared to forest fires or open burning of the dead trees. This solution monetizes the fire remediation harvests, highlighting their potential to help finance fire management programs.
The project results are two-fold. All Power Labs will use the results to continue maturing the Powertainer platform and marketing material to support the launch of future Powertainer projects — either as an equipment sale, or a waste-to-energy project. Secondly, it is also important that the regulatory challenges experienced in the project become visible to appropriate policy makers. In that way, regulatory barriers can be removed or reduced for projects using bioenergy solutions — such as the Powertainer — to address the tree mortality crisis.
Project Approach
To successfully design and build a 150-killowatt portable biomass generator, all system components had to fit inside a standard 20-foot-long (6 meters) shipping container. The primary integrated components include the hopper feed system, biomass gasifier and filter, flare, engine genset (self-contained and dedicated electrical generation system) and emissions control, and automation system. Once built, the project team performed a combination of on and off-site remote testing of the Powertainer. The team developed and used engineering and design validation testing procedures to qualify individual components — as well as the fully integrated system — and enable a feedback loop for system improvements. For example, the gasification system uses instrumentation and data logs to understand system performance and dynamics. The team performed in-field testing to gain a deeper understanding of real-world operations and associated challenges. Final performance and emissions testing included 40 hours of full system operations.
