Borealis Wood Power Corporation is a Canadian company established in 2012, dedicated to marketing the Borealis CHP wood-plant system in North America. Its focus is on both the market development and technical support for this system developed by Spanner Re2 GmbH of Germany and licensed to Borealis Wood Power Corporation. The system is marketed under the Borealis name and customized to the needs of the respective marketplace. Borealis is owned by a consortium of investors primarily from the automotive industry. The primary investors own Summo Corp. of Burlington Ontario.

Combined heat and power (CHP) also known as cogeneration, is an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source. By installing a CHP system designed to meet the thermal and electrical base loads of a facility, CHP can greatly increase the facility's operational efficiency and decrease energy costs. At the same time, CHP reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global climate change.

The Borealis wood power plant is a biomass system that utilizes wood chips as its energy source. We have included this section about CHP generally to give you a better understanding of the increasing interest and technology evolving around this alternate energy option.

The following articles will assist you in understanding the concepts and benefits of CHP generation (combined heat and power). Some are about specific Borealis system market applications whereas other articles address the general CHP concept and may not use wood chips as the energy source but will still be informative regarding the benefits of a cogeneration system.

Combined heat and power (CHP), also known as cogeneration, is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from a single fuel source, such as: natural gas, biomass, biogas, coal, waste heat, or oil. CHP is not a single technology, but an integrated energy system that can be modified depending upon the needs of the energy end user.

The Borealis wood-power plant operates on the principle of wood gasification with the input of dry wood chips and the output of wood gas. The wood gas feeds the CHP unit (Combined Heat and Power) producing electric and thermal power.

The reactor is at the heart of the system, changing the wood chip fuel into wood gas. At the pyrolysis zone, the wood decomposes and begins reducing from its visible wood state. The fuel is then converted to a coal-like hydrocarbon and transported to the oxidation zone where part of the carbon is burned with injected air at approximately 800°C. As the gases move over the hot ember bed (oxidation zone) the tar and hydrocarbons are separated from the gas, resulting in a gas with very low tar.

Gasification Unit

The plant consists of a gasification unit that processes wood chips to produce a wood gas and a CHP unit that generates electric and thermal power. Wood chip storage and handling facilities are required. The emissions are coal powder and exhaust gas that measure within acceptable emissions range of European laws. The plant operates on a carbon neutral basis. The residual ash is carbon and nitrogen that is used as fertilizer in Germany.