I never imagined that my stint as an art student at the University of Iowa would collide in any meaningful way with my career in biomass, but recently, it has.

Our staff has been closely following the ongoing story of the university’s efforts to dramatically increase inclusion of biomass fuel at its power plant for a couple of years. Currently, the university is cofiring oat hulls with coal, but together with Iowa State University, it has been working to establish energy crop production in the area. The bulk of our coverage has centered on those efforts, but for this month’s issue of Biomass Magazine, dedicated to emissions, permitting and regulatory compliance, I took a close look at the innovative permitting approach that the University of Iowa is using to give it the flexibility required to efficiently ramp up its biomass program. The university has been awarded the state of Iowa’s very first Plant-wide Applicability Limit permit (PAL), made possible by amendments to the New Source Review protocols in 2002.

During interviews for my page-14 story, “Innovation Breeds Innovation,” I learned that the university’s PAL allows the institution to manage the emissions from all of its sources against one limit for each of the seven regulated criteria pollutants. There are over 450 sources on campus, and for some context, I asked about sources on the other end of the spectrum from the power plant. It was at this point that my past and present collided. One of the smallest emissions sources at the University of Iowa is a student-built, wood-fired kiln operated just once or twice a semester, a kiln that, over 20 years ago, I helped fire. And there you have it.

In her page-26 department “Permission to Power,” Associate Editor Katie Fletcher outlines how projects that have been built to drive down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane, must still comply with existing air quality regulations, and finds that the two sometimes work at cross purposes. Fletcher’s story focuses almost exclusively on the Bowerman Power landfill gas-to-energy facility, highlighting the challenges states have in maintaining current regulations while working toward emerging GHG reduction and renewable energy goals.

Senior Editor Ron Kotrba’s page-30 feature, “The Future of Freight,” is a fitting bookend for the issue. In it, he establishes the vital global role that diesel fuel plays, and the efforts underway to continue to drive down the emissions associated with its use. Like the other stories in this issue, Kotrba’s showcases how the biomass industry is working to deliver air quality and environmental benefits while also complying with existing regulations.

 

Author: Tim Portz
Vice President of Content  & Executive Editor
tportz@bbiinternational.com