The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility is one of six Canadian projects picked as some of the 100 most innovative and inspiring urban infrastructure projects in the world in KPMG’s Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition. Source: The Journal of Commerce
The UBC clean energy project is North America’s first commercial-scale biomass-fueled, cogeneration (heat and power) system that, it is hoped, can operate successfully on a small scale that is suitable for communities the size of UBC.
Most cogeneration facilities are located at large, heat and electricity-hungry industrial installations.
The facility has two operating modes. The commercial mode will use Nexterra gasification technology to convert waste wood into a clean synthesis gas (syngas) that can be used for campus heating.
The second, a demonstration heat-and-power mode will use Nexterra syngas conditioning technology and a GE Jenbacher gas engine to convert syngas into electrical power.
The current method for converting biomass to power combines a biomass combustion system, a steam boiler and a steam turbine. Although this method is commercially proven, it is typically economically viable only at a scale of more than 30 megawatts.
“It’s ideal for communities that want to get off the main power grid,” said Brent Sauder, UBC’s director of the strategic partnerships office.
Until now heating requirements of the UBC campus have been filled by burning natural gas. In thermal mode, the demonstration project will supply 25 % of UBC’s average heating requirement.
In cogeneration mode, it will provide 12% of the campus’s average heat and up to 4.5% of peak power demand.
The $29 million project had two general contractors: Ledcor Construction Limited, for the base building, and Nexterra for the gasification technology.
In addition to the heat and power system, the building contains a control room, lab space and two fuel delivery bays. Apart from the unique gasification technology which it contains, the facility is noteworthy for its use of wood.
Leung Chow, project architect with McFarland Marceau Architects, said the building was conceived by FPInnovations as a pilot demonstration project to showcase cross laminated timber panel (CLT) as an alternative to more traditional construction methods.
CLT panels were used for all load bearing walls and most non-load bearing partitions, suspended floor and roof decks.
Glulam columns connected to glulam beams with steel box connectors formed frames with clear spans of 24.5 metres, which were necessary to make room for the installation of the Nexterra equipment.
A total of 410 cubic metres of CLT and 160 cubic metres of glulam columns and beams were used.
