Mr.
Arcate “rediscovered" Torrefied
Wood (TW) in 1999 when he read the FAO paper “Developments in Torrefied
Wood, an Alternative to Charcoal for Reducing Deforestation”.
Working
with Thomas Stubbing (Heat-Win Ltd in the UK ) and Peter Davies in Australia;
Transnational Technology LLC submitted a proposal for Torrefied Wood to the
New York State Energy Research & Development Authority. Unfortunately,
Mr. Arcate and his associates did not get an award.
Thomas
Stubbing’s Airless Drying equipment progressed from a crude batch unit to a
prototype and a small commercial rotary unit that was used to manufacture Torrefied
Wood for a government funded program in Holland. The rotary
equipment was supplied by Airless Systems LLP, a subsidiary of CDS.
A
key development occurred in 1999, when Andries Weststeijn with
Essent
Energie BV
in Holland told Mr. Arcate they had cofired charcoal with coal.
Mr. Arcate proposed similar in a TurboExpo 98 paper "Biomass
Charcoal Cofiring with Coal".
Mr.
Weststeijn
was instrumental in obtaining Dutch government funding for a TW development
program that in 2003 produced approximately 20 tonnes of Torrefied
Wood cofired with coal
at Essent Energie’s power plant in Holland. See First
Torrefied Wood Successfully Cofired with Coal
by
Andries Weststeijn,
