This month&rsquo;s theme, woody biomass, has caused quite a stir as more projects that intend to utilize the resource to produce power and heat emerge.
 One of the main concerns people have about using woody biomass as a power source is that it will decimate our nation&rsquo;s forests. I understand why this is a concern, but I maintain that the use of woody biomass can be sustained by concentrating on the planting of fast-growing tree species on marginal land, replanting tree stands as they are harvested, which is already being done, and focusing on wood residue that isn&rsquo;t used by the wood products industry, such as insect and disease-damaged trees and forest residue that&rsquo;s removed to prevent fires.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 I recently read about a great example of how a group of forest managers, the forest products industry, environmentalists, economic developers and other interested parties in Arizona have worked together to sustainably use woody biomass from national forestlands. The White Mountain Stewardship Project, which involves the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests in East-Central Arizona, was created to provide a long-term, reliable supply of woody biomass for the wood products industry, reduce the risk of wildfires and stimulate the local economy, according to the article. The project, now in its fifth year, has succeeded in maintaining and improving forest health, creating jobs, supporting the local timber industry and the economy, and producing energy. The article &ldquo;Contract Brings Jobs, Energy, and Healthier Forests&rdquo; by Steve Wilent was published in the December issue of The Forestry Source.
 The article talks about the project, its benefits and the effort it took to make it successful. As you may have guessed, a lot of hard work and compromise went into this project. As with any large-scale project involving several different people and entities&mdash;all with their own agendas and goals&mdash;there are challenges and disagreements, but the fact that they could all come to some sort of agreement is something that should be celebrated. And, as one of the sources in the articles pointed out, it didn&rsquo;t happen overnight. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the bigger lessons that we try to impart to other national forests who come out here and ask how they can make this happen on their forests,&rdquo; says Sue Sitko, The Nature Conservancy&rsquo;s White Mountain program manager. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t simply decide you&rsquo;re going to implement a stewardship project and expect everything to fall in line. There has to be a lot of work up front before that happens.&rdquo;
 To read more about this project, visit www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/saf/forestrysource_ 201012/#/0.

2011/01/1294179423756.jpg

Woody Biomass Use  Doesn't Have to be Controversial 

Happy New Year and happy new Congress.
 The 112th Congress begins its first session later this month. As all are aware, the Republicans have wrested control of the House away from the Democrats.
 How will these changes in Washington affect the biomass industry?
 The short answer is that things will probably change to some extent, but probably not a whole lot. Below are a few areas where we can expect to see differences from the Democratic reign. But, rest assured, the Biomass Power Association will be working closely with our team in Washington to continue to keep the biomass industry and our legislative issues front-and-center for new and old members alike.
 Renewable energy standard: During the 111th Congress, many in the renewable energy sector had high hopes for the passage of a renewable energy standard, which would likely have resulted in extra incentives for renewable energy forms over more traditional forms of energy production. The Republican majority in the House may not have the same appetite for aggressive federal stimulus for the renewable sector. That said, clean energy is a bipartisan issue, so stay tuned.&nbsp;
 Taxes: Since Republicans tend to vote heavily in favor of business interests&mdash;especially small business&mdash;we are&nbsp; hopeful that the 1603 tax extenders will be enacted at the beginning of the new Congress (if they were not enacted during the December lame duck session). Tax extenders would give many new and existing facilities some room in the budgets for updating equipment, hiring extra help and many other expenses that are essential to effectively running a biomass facility. Many other renewable energy associations are similarly hopeful for a near-term 1603 passage. As this column is going to press, the fate of the production tax credit for existing facilities is very much uncertain. Jobs: Jobs and the economy will likely take a place of prominence during the start of the new Congress. If your district elected a new member of Congress, we urge you to write a letter of introduction to your new representative. Ideally, the purpose of your letter would be threefold: explaining what biomass energy is, listing the number of jobs that your biomass facility provides to the district&rsquo;s economy and describing the many economic and environmental benefits of biomass energy.
 As we all know, many states are taking a growing interest in our industry. The state level traditionally has been where the biomass industry fights some of its most challenging battles, and we do not expect this to change. Some states, like California, have been highly supportive of biomass throughout the industry&rsquo;s short existence. Others, like Massachusetts, have proven to be more difficult to win over.
 As more biomass facilities are built across the country, we will continue to work closely with state and local officials to ensure they have a good understanding of the many potential benefits offered by biomass.
 Meanwhile, the U.S. EPA has announced a few policy changes that will positively affect the industry, either immediately or sometime in the future. It appears increasingly likely that the agency will correctly classify biomass as environmentally friendly or carbon neutral in the new year. BCAP: Finally, there is BCAP, which remains a significant program for the biomass industry. All of us will have to work hard in the coming year to make sure Congress funds BCAP at acceptable levels. While our job will be made extra challenging in this era of fiscal restraint, biomass deserves the same level of support provided to other forms of agriculture. It&rsquo;s up to us to make sure that happens. We wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year, and we look forward to working with you to continue to educate Americans and our elected officials about our industry. Author: Bob Cleaves President and CEO, Biomass Power Association <a href="http://www.USABiomass.org">www.USABiomass.org</a>

2011/01/12941796707584.BM

How Will Republican Leadership Affect  Biomass and Other Renewables?

Technologies for biobased heat and power, and the resulting economic and environmental benefits, may vary because of the regional availability of resources and needs. In Maine, for instance, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences has published a report that finds burning of whole trees for electricity production may not be as carbon neutral as once thought and that it will take 40 years for the carbon balance to catch up.&nbsp;
 This study does, however, conclude that trees used for combined heat and power (CHP) have a much more positive effect on efficiency and carbon balance. The Manomet study makes assumptions about the use of forest assets that can tend to make the projections less favorable for trees used for heat and power. This study is also an example of the regional differences in application of biomass for heat and power and the assumptions that must be made to project the efficacy of individual biomass technologies.
 In contrast to Maine, the type of biomass applications you would find in the Central Plains states of the United States are quite different. In the Plains states, agriculture residues and energy crops would be the primary source of biomass for use in heat and power generation.&nbsp;
 Biomass feed systems, burner retrofits and emissions control will be different for agricultural residues or energy crops compared to the use of trees.&nbsp;
 Recent studies at the Energy &amp; Environmental Research Center have shown that cocombusting woody biomass with coal has the potential to remediate some of the fouling issues in the furnace, thereby enhancing the overall plant efficiency, but this will depend on the type of woody biomass and the combustion conditions.&nbsp;
 Cofiring sawdust can reduce the amount of inorganic material or ash that will be available in the furnace to impact heat-transfer surfaces and reduce the cause of fouling and slagging issues, while cofiring bark or hog fuel with inherent higher inorganic ash content may not reduce fouling and slagging issues.
 For agricultural residues such as wheat straw, cofiring can also be problematic because of very small silica phytoliths that are contained in the plant material to give rigidity. These phytoliths are an amouphous form of silica, can have low melting temperatures, and will mix with other inorganic elements in the ash to produce sticky ash material that will adhere to heat-transfer surfaces reducing thermal efficiency of the furnace. This can be overcome by adjusting the design of the furnace and the way the straw is combusted.
 EERC pilot testing shows that it is imperative to match technology applications with resources to properly utilize the vast biomass resources available in the United States to offset our fossil fuel use and reduce overall carbon emissions.
 In the end, smart planning, matching biomass technologies with biomass resources, and learning from the experience of others will ensure the continued growth of biomass and U.S. energy security while reducing carbon emissions. Author: Bruce Folkedahl Senior Research Manager, Energy &amp; Environmental Research Center (701) 777-5243 <a href="mailto:bfolkedahl@undeerc.org">bfolkedahl@undeerc.org</a>

2011/01/12941798279258.jpg

Biopower Technologies  May Vary by Region 

Biomass is one of the oldest energy sources, and there are compelling arguments for its use to generate electricity. First, unlike fossil fuels, the regenerative capacity of biomass provides for a renewable fuel source. Second, a significant amount of viable feedstock is considered waste, the use of which serves the dual purposes of energy production and waste management. Third, the use of sustainable biomass displaces the use of fossil fuels. Though both fuel sources emit CO2, the CO2 emitted by biomass would occur anyway through the process of decomposition, so there is a net reduction in CO2 emissions. Finally, the combustion of biomass also reduces methane emissions associated with the naturally occurring process of decomposition.
 Despite the significance and potential of biomass as an energy source, development of a reliable feedstock supply chain has not occurred. Developers understand that a stable, long-term feedstock agreement is essential to procuring financing for any biomass project. Demonstrating to a landowner or farmer that the economic and other benefits of producing biomass (the production of which is often a multi-year commitment) outweigh the current land use can be a challenge without an established demand for the feedstock. Current land use, such as row crops, hunting habitat or Conservation Reserve Program acres, competes with biomass crops. Creating demand for feedstock also requires construction of conversion facilities, which require financing in addition to the financing of the generation facilities. And, in the true spirit of the chicken and the egg conundrum, lenders and investors require a reliable, long-term feedstock source before financing a project.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 Prohibitively high costs are often cited as a major driver behind decisions to abandon biomass projects. Research into cost saving processes is currently underway. For example, it has been shown that denser fuel pellets offer cost savings but the drawback is that often the pelletization process results in significant feedstock loss. At the same time, the storage and transportation costs of denser pellets are significantly lower than other densification options, such as baling. Efforts to integrate biomass with traditional agriculture, for example through the use of crop rotation and agricultural intensification may lead to yield increases and price reductions. Sustainable harvesting techniques, such as one-pass harvesting, can reduce harvest site fuel consumption significantly. Further, developing synergies between harvest and transport, for example by using self-compacting wagons for both harvesting and transportation, may also provide cost savings.&nbsp;
 Satellite processing may save costs by allowing certain preprocessing of the biomass to occur before transportation to the conversion facility. Drying and densification of the feedstock with mobile equipment that can be located close to the feedstock can reduce transportation costs. The establishment of regional processing centers that aggregate, process, store and supply biomass to the region could also provide significant cost reductions. In addition to drying and densification, regional centers could perform other preprocessing procedures to homogenize feedstock from several sources. Developers could decrease expenses associated with having multiple feedstock contracts. The aggregator, given its size, should be able to provide a more reliable supply, as a result of the large quantities it can handle.
 According to the chief executive officers of several major biofuel companies, advanced biofuel commercialization is only a few years away, even though many argue that this is overly optimistic. Biomass projects will need to find the right combination of the type and location of feedstock, cost effective harvest and transportation methods and demand for output.
 With an increasing number of states adopting or expanding their renewable portfolio standards, utilities can help drive demand for biomass projects. Often utilities assign more value to biomass projects because unlike wind or solar, it is base-load power. As technology evolves, we will see maturation of the supply chain through the introduction of satellite and regional processing facilities. These advances, in conjunction with more effective harvest techniques, the development of high-yield energy crops and advancements in processing and conversion technology can all work to move the industry forward. Author:Kate L. Bechen Member, Michael Best &amp; Friedrich LLP&rsquo;s Renewable Energy, Health Care and Business Practice Groups <a href="mailto:klbechen@michaelbest.com">klbechen@michaelbest.com</a> (414) 225-4956

2011/01/1294179979726.jpg

Addressing Obstacles in the  Biomass Feedstock Supply Chain

Cogent provides information management for Pinnacle Pinnacle Pellet has selected Cogent Industrial Technologies Ltd. to provide integrated automation, controls and information management system services for its 400,000-metric-ton per year greenfield pellet facility in Burns Lake, British Columbia. The plant will utilize residue from local sources and wood feedstock from the Hampton Affiliates Babine Forest Product mill located about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) away. Construction began in mid-July and was expected to be finished at the end of November. Cogent has worked closely with Pinnacle in the past to define and design process control, information technology and automation systems for the company&rsquo;s five existing pellet production plants in British Columbia. ADF Engineering hires O&rsquo;Toole ADF Engineering Inc. with corporate headquarters in Miamisburg, Ohio, has announced the addition of Brian O&rsquo;Toole as a process engineer. O&rsquo;Toole is a recent graduate of the University of Dayton with a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in chemical engineering.&nbsp; With experience in research and process design, he will be focusing on energy conservation and process safety in the bioscience industry. Covanta Delano recognized for exemplary health, safety Covanta Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Covanta Holding Corp., announced its Covanta Delano biomass facility has earned star status in California&rsquo;s Voluntary Protection Program administered by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. VPP star status is the highest honor given to work sites with comprehensive, successful safety and health management systems. Sites such as Covanta Delano are committed to effective employee protection beyond the requirements of state or federal standards and participants develop and implement systems to effectively identify, evaluate, prevent and control occupational hazards to prevent injuries and illnesses. Acrowood sells equipment to China Acrowood has sold a complete chip thickness screening system and a slant disc chipper to a new bleached kraft pulp mill in China. Guangxi Jingdaxing purchased the Acrowood equipment in August for delivery in April. Acrowood&rsquo;s successful installation in 2006 at Sun Paper in Yanzhou, Shandong, China, of its advanced technology and proven components helped the mill management make its decision. A mill in Nanning, Guangxi, China, also purchased a year&rsquo;s supply of spare parts. The company has also sold an Acrowood model 8425 Slant Disc Chipper and a three-deck, Dual Drive Suspended Rotary Screen to Yunnan Yunjing Forestry &amp; Paper Co. Ltd. in Jinggu County of Pu&rsquo;er City in Yunnan Province.&nbsp; Ceres publishes energy crop production guides Energy crop company Ceres Inc. has published two new crop management guides that include the most current recommendations on the establishment, management and harvest of switchgrass and high-biomass sorghum. Frank Hardimon, Ceres sales director, says the recommendations in the guides are based on results from the company's extensive trialing network as well as its involvement in bioenergy projects. Published under the company's Blade trade name, the free guides titled &ldquo;Planting and Managing Switchgrass as a Dedicated Energy Crop, 2nd Edition&rdquo; and &ldquo;Managing High-Biomass Sorghum as a Dedicated Energy Crop&rdquo; can be downloaded at www.BladeEnergy.com. Print copies can be requested by emailing info@BladeEnergy.com.&nbsp; BinMaster introduces MV multi-scanner system BinMaster Level Controls has introduced the MVL multiple scanner system that integrates multiple point measurement data from two 3DLevelScanners to cover a wide surface area and provide better inventory accuracy for large vessels. Designed specifically for the challenges of large bins, the BinMaster MVL system displays a visual representation of the material surface that shows high and low points in the bin such as cone up, cone down, sidewall buildup or bridging. Reports generated by the 3D software provide data such as volume as a percentage, in bushels, or cubic feet or meters; maximum, minimum and average levels or distances to product; weight in U.S. tons, pounds or metric tons; and historical logs of bin measurements. AgriLab installs second heat recovery system AgriLab Technologies LLP has completed installation of its second major project in North America. As the world&rsquo;s agricultural and waste management industries seek cleaner and greener tools for curbing global warming and saving valuable organic resources, this company has perfected heat capture from organic waste through, static, aerobic composting. The newest installation is on a dairy heifer calf raising facility near Albany, N.Y. The facility maintains 2,000 head when full. The composting and heat recovery system will virtually eliminate the farm's dependence on propane, while dramatically reducing diesel, electric and grid-based energy dependence. Forty percent volume reduction will save on equipment, fuel and man-hours to field apply compost. Martin Engineering offers new conveyor cleaning blade A new cleaning blade for use on vulcanized conveyor belts features a special polyurethane blend and tungsten carbide tip to deliver service life two to three times longer than conventional urethane blades. Designed to provide excellent cleaning performance immediately, avoiding any break-in period, the QCM #1 MT Pre-Cleaner from Martin Engineering maintains consistent tension without frequent adjustment, requiring retensioning just twice a year in most applications. The blade can be used at belt speeds up to 900 feet per minute (4.6 meters per second) and there is no limitation to the type of material on which it can be used.&nbsp;&nbsp; HEI unveils new AD technology Hoffland Environmental Inc. has introduced a unique piece of heat recovery equipment that optimizes the output of biogas from anaerobic digesters. Called the &ldquo;hougulay,&rdquo; it is a piece of proprietary process equipment that is used to facilitate high production of biogas. The hougulay was first developed and used at HEI&rsquo;s hog-manure-to-biogas-to-electricity plant located on the island of Cyprus where agricultural waste is used to generate 1 megawatt of power. The size of a hougulay, its internal design and components, its flow rates&mdash;both the heat and material balances across the unit&mdash;are optimized features that are esoteric to any kind of feedstock entering the plant. Critical to the design and engineering of the hougulay is an understanding of basic heat transfer equations including thermal transient analysis. Also, hougulay optimization depends upon knowledge (and on-line measurement) of the specific heat and/or heat capacities of the feedstock components. Natural Power enters biomass industry&nbsp; International renewable energy consultancy Natural Power recently announced the company&rsquo;s move to the biomass sector, further adding to its products and services provided in the wind, wave and tidal markets. A team of professionals across the biomass and associated industries have joined Natural Power&rsquo;s renewable energy experts at its global headquarters in Scotland. The biomass team led by Dan Gates, who has a forestry background with engineering and project management experience, joined Natural Power earlier this year and work has already been secured including due diligence services on a 15-megawatt biomass plant in England. Other projects range from private estates and large public sector clients to established developers who require development support across the biomass project life cycle. Bandit-sponsored race car finishes strong in Kansas NASCAR nationwide sensation Parker Kligerman delivered a valiant effort at the Kansas Lottery 300, taking the Bandit Industries/GetMoreVacations.com Team 42 Dodge Charger to 24th position despite a spinout on the final lap of the race. The number 66 car of Steve Wallace was the guilty party, tapping Kligerman on the final lap and sending him backward into the wall. Kligerman had been running in 11th spot after fighting back from being a lap down. He qualified seventh but fell back early on. Kligerman remained consistent through the run, holding near the end of the lead lap for most of the event. With the ongoing adjustments by the Team 42 crew, he was able to mount a strong comeback in the later laps, climbing as high as second before sliding just outside the top 10. Despite the crash, Kligerman was able to complete all 200 laps.

Brian O\&#39;Toole will be concentrating on energy conservation and process safety in his new position at ADF Engineering.

2011/01/12941803988991.jpg

BIN BUSTER: BinMaster\&#39;s 3DLevelScanners leave nothing to the imagination when it comes to bin contents.

2011/01/12941804719958.jpg

CLEAN SWEEP: Martin Engineering\&#39;s new blade has a long life and works with any material.

2011/01/12941805203399.jpg

NEED FOR SPEED: The Bandit Industries\&#39; sponsored NASCAR suffered a a spinout and still managed to take 24th at the Kansas Lottery 300.


2011/01/12941805626645.jpg

Business Briefs

Energy crops have yet to reach their full potential in the U.S., but a new dedicated woody crop supply service could help them gain popularity. It offers a closed-loop solution to a continuous supply of cottonwood feedstock, managed from start to finish by one company.
 Virginia-based C2Invest LLC (C2I) is a project development and management company that added the supply service to its portfolio a year ago. &ldquo;What we do is purely afforestation and high-density plantations,&rdquo; says Page Gravely, senior director for C2I. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve got a utility looking for a dedicated, sure supply of feedstock, we go out and secure the acres and oversee the specific planting of those trees for a specific volume over a preferred long-term agreement.&rdquo;
 Many feedstock supply companies hand off the seed to a grower, who takes the responsibility of growing and often delivering the biomass to the end user. C2I, however, is involved in the entire life cycle until it gets to the end-user's door. &ldquo;Our design is to be more turnkey and full service,&rdquo; says Carey Crane, a C2I founder. The company secures the land for planting, has a hand in the cutting supply, designs spacing for the plantations, and oversees quality control of planting, growth, harvesting and delivery. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not only the supplier, but the project manager, if you will, for that entire supply chain,&rdquo; Crane says, adding that C2I works with landowners to secure acreage.
 The crops planted currently are in Louisiana, but prime cottonwood growing soil is predominantly in the Mississippi Delta, beginning where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers split in Illinois and extending to the Gulf of Mexico. The regions include eastern Louisiana, eastern Arkansas, western Mississippi and western Kentucky. In those areas, cottonwood can grow 12 to 15 feet per year, allowing for a biennial harvest, Gravely says. &ldquo;One of the natural benefits of cottonwood is that they coppice,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It is truly and literally a renewable tree that regrows when it&rsquo;s harvested.&rdquo;
 Growing biomass coppice is an old practice and in Europe incentives for dedicated energy crops often surpass that of forest materials. So pellets or briquettes manufactured using such crops will bring in a higher price. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge benefit,&rdquo; says Karl-Heinz Schulz, vice president of technology and engineering for BiEnergy Group LLC, an engineering and consulting company. &ldquo;The utilities can pay more for the pellets than if the feedstock was from [forest-based] woody biomass.&rdquo;
 BiEnergy Group works with energy-from-biomass projects such as district heating and combined heat and power, but also does feasibility, construction, engineering, project development and equipment acquisition for biomass pellet and briquette operations. About 90 percent of pellet manufacturers in the U.S. ship their product to Europe, where the market is better established and incentivized, Schulz says.
 C2I has no contracts in place for the supply service currently, but is in negotiations with several entities. It&rsquo;s no secret that securing a feedstock supply can be one of the toughest aspects of a project, especially in markets experiencing a rise in competition for material. &ldquo;One of the rubs has been how do you have a security of supply?&rdquo; Gravely says. &ldquo;How do you have a consistent supply? That&rsquo;s where closed-loop really checks a lot of those boxes.&rdquo;

COTTONWOOD CROP: The Mississippi Delta, where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers split in Illinois, and the area extending to the Gulf of Mexico offer prime soil for growing cottonwood trees. 


2011/01/12941808016447.jpg

Biomass supply service offers a closed-loop approach to cottonwood feedstock.

Closing the Cottonwood Loop

Invented by David Mooney of Roswell, Ga.-based REM Engineering Inc., Enginuity Energy&rsquo;s Ecoremedy biomass gasification system is slated for commercial deployment in the spring. This milestone will be reached at an energy nutrient recovery facility in Pennsylvania, following several years of development and testing.&nbsp;
 Ecoremedy was awarded a patent in 2005, two years after initial alpha testing. Beta testing continued through 2007, with advanced pilot plant operations taking place at Tyson Foods Bolivar Feed Mill in Fairmount, Ga., through 2008. Since deployment at Tyson, the technology has been successfully operated at Illinois State University and other confidential private corporations, according to Rich Madeira of Enginuity Energy.
 Madeira says Ecoremedy is advanced but simple to operate and doesn&rsquo;t require higher skill sets than those required to operate and maintain conventional boiler technology. Once the biomass is transferred from storage, it enters a gasifier chamber and is heated on advanced conveyor technology. Gases from the heated biomass are forced upward, and hot air ignites the gas to create a fireball that heats the boiler and creates steam. The steam is used to generate thermal energy and/or electric power generation, and the exhaust gases pass through an air heater. Ambient air is heated before being sent to the gasifier to continuously fuel the fireball, and before being circulated under the conveyor belt to heat the biomass. Exhaust goes through filters to separate fine particulates that are captured and processed as part of the recovered nutrient, which is processed and then can be used as a fertilizer, feed supplement or biochar.
 Madeira emphasizes the value of the additional component of the technology besides heat and power generation&mdash;recovery of the nutrients within agricultural byproducts such as poultry litter, manures, spent mushroom substrate and more. &ldquo;The materials the system focuses on using as feedstocks are readily and overly abundant and possess high levels of nutrient content,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This combination offers the opportunity for no- or low-cost procurement of the feedstocks with a significant resale value once the nutrients have been recovered via the gasification process.&rdquo;
 In addition, the system isn&rsquo;t hindered by the need for uniform size, shape or moisture content of the fuel, as it allows up to 65 percent moisture content, 80 percent ash, and varied moisture and size. The energy output varies with the material used, Madeira explains.
 The smallest Ecoremedy unit can be mounted on a 53-foot flatbed trailer and process several hundred thousand pounds of material per hour. A 2.5 megawatt (MW) plant can be constructed on a 1-acre site, and the largest designed plant of 22 MW requires less than five acres.
 The 2011 business activity outlook for Enginuity seems to be healthy. &ldquo;We have a 22-MW plant designed and a letter of intent on a 2.5-MW power plant that will annually convert 85,000 tons of egg laying manure into energy and recover 13,000 tons of nutrients,&rdquo; Madeira says. During this particular installation, all of the carbon will be removed so nutrients can be recycled as an animal feed supplement. &ldquo;However, the output could be regulated to increase carbon content to create a biochar product,&rdquo; he says.
 Recently, Enginuity constructed a new Ecoremedy research and development facility on the Harrisburg Area Community College campus in Harrisburg, Pa., that will serve to advance biomass gasification testing, evaluate new materials for their application as fuel and evaluate nutrient content for use as fertilizer or feed supplement. Madeira adds that in January, Enginuity, working in conjunction with the American Mushroom Institute and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, will use the Ecoremedy system to prove that spent mushroom substrate is a viable source of clean energy and recoverable nutrients. Live demonstrations will be held in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January.

TESTING GROUNDS: Enginuity Energy recently completed construction of a research and development facility at Harrisburg Community College in Pennsylvania.


2011/01/12941808798.jpg

Gasifier transforms turkey litter into heat, power and fertilizer.

Tried and Tested

A study initiated by Greene County, N.Y., to evaluate its biomass resources and potential has found that the county could lead the state in biomass fuel production, given its vast amount of underutilized resources, location and transportation infrastructure. The study concluded that to get the ball rolling, however, public support must be built through multiple steps.
 Dan Conable of study co-conductor Cato Analytics LLC says familiarizing local businesses, residential consumers and the logging industry with firewood as a source of heat, in lieu of fuel oil, would be a good starting point. In Greene County roughly 70 percent of residences and small commercial/institutional heating comes from fuel oil, Conable says. The county has less than 50,000 people and spends about $2 million dollars monthly on imported fuel oil in the winter, he says. &ldquo;For New York state, the heating oil bill comes to more than $5 billion per year.&rdquo;
 Since many homes and businesses are heated with fuel oil, there is a real opportunity for wood heat in Greene County&mdash;as is the case with most of the Northeast&mdash;even though petroleum prices have been depressed by the economic crisis of the past few years. Although the Btu value of wood is competitive with fuel oil, without any form of subsidy, a large barrier remains&mdash;the relatively high up-front cost of an efficient pellet stove or two-stage wood furnace, Conable says. These units have better than 75 percent thermal efficiency and acceptable emissions levels.
 &nbsp;To help with up-front costs, the report recommends including biomass energy in the state&rsquo;s Property Assessed Clean Energy program to set the stage for a pilot program. PACE eliminates the up-front cost for energy improvements by allowing property owners to pay for the improvements over 15 to 20 years through an increase in their annual property taxes.
 Forest sustainability and harvest practices are also addressed in the Greene County study. &ldquo;One unique aspect of Cato Analytics&rsquo; analysis was that it moved away from the net growth approach to modeling forest biomass availability,&rdquo; Conable says. &ldquo;We call that the &lsquo;haircut approach,&rsquo;&mdash; as long as you do not cut it faster than it is growing, you&rsquo;ll never grow bald. The problem with that approach, as far as forests are concerned, is that it assumes that the only threat to forest health is over-cutting. In fact, the big threats to good forest management are invasive species and the pattern of harvesting known in this part of the world as â€›high-grading.&rsquo;&rdquo;
 Generations of over-harvesting the best hardwood species, including removal of trees at sub-optimal diameters, has left Greene County with degraded forests dominated by low-value trees. &ldquo;In Greene County, business as usual, which is continued high-grading, might give us about 50,000 tons of low-grade wood chips harvested each year, assuming adequate local markets,&rdquo; Conable says.
 If landowners had the incentive to regenerate their forests by removing a significant percentage of undesirable tree species, then coming back for a pre-commercial thinning 15 or 20 years later, there would be two important results, from Conable&rsquo;s perspective. &ldquo;For about 40 years, we would quadruple the supply of available biomass, assuming regeneration cutting of 5 percent of the county&rsquo;s forest every year,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;After 40 years, we&rsquo;d be looking at a forest not unlike the hardwood forests of Europe, producing a higher percentage of prime hardwood logs than we&rsquo;ve been able to harvest in this country for several generations, and a much lower percentage of biomass. That would be fine, given the likelihood that genetic improvements will make cropped biomass a lower-cost source of lignin and cellulose than natural forest, very likely within the next 15 years.&rdquo;

LEANER AND GREENER: Replacing fuel oil with biomass, practicing sustainable forest management and getting public and government support could lead to increased biomass use in Greene County, according to a recent study.

2011/01/12941809600525.jpg

New York's Greene County aims to be a state leader in biomass utilization.

Getting Greener

Slightly larger than the continental U.S. with a drastically smaller population, Australia seems to offer great potential in the growth of biomass crops. At the same time, the biomass resources the country already possesses are vastly underutilized.
 According to the Australian Clean Energy Council, in 2008, biomass and biogas accounted for less than 1 percent of electricity generation in Australia. The small fraction of biomass energy produced is mainly derived from bagasse, wood and wood waste at about 50 facilities nationwide, and nearly all of those plants are sugar production plants in Queensland. Notably, only about 50 percent of the cane biomass available for use is collected.
 Aside from bagasse, Bioenergy Australia Manager Steve Schuck says wood waste is one of the most underutilized resources in the country. Bioenergy Australia is a government-industry forum, formed in 1997 to foster and facilitate the development of biomass for energy, liquid fuels and other value-added biobased products.
 &nbsp;Interest and activity in growing new biomass crops for energy generation is coming around, Schuck says. He points out, in particular, that Delta Electricity, one of Australia&rsquo;s largest utilities, is embarking on an AUD $200 million project to grow oil mallee eucalypts as an energy crop in central New South Wales.&nbsp; &ldquo;They wish to produce energy pellets from coppiced mallee, and then cofire at 20 percent rates at Wallerawang Power Station initially,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So far they have engaged 10 farmers, and also conducted a trial burn at this level. The units are 500 megawatts (MW), so this equates to 100 MW of biomass per unit.&rdquo;
 Regarding suitable, available land for growing energy crops, approximately 70 percent of Australia is desert/semi-arid land, but Schuck believes there is sufficient land, pointing out that mallees are adapted to grow in arid conditions.
 Unfortunately, there aren&rsquo;t any biomass-specific government incentives in the country, as they generally target renewable energy, Schuck points out. &ldquo;Our main driver is the Renewable Energy Target, which supports the target of 20 percent renewable energy&mdash;essentially electricity&mdash;by 2020. This requires 41,000 gigawatt hours of new renewable electricity by that year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Besides that market mechanism, there are few specific incentives for bioenergy.&nbsp; &ldquo;At a state level in New South Wales, there is an incentive for diverting wastes from landfills, where the material would be converted to methane,&rdquo; Schuck says. &ldquo;One plant, a 3-MWe digester in Sydney, takes advantage of this incentive under the New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp; So what are some current hurdles that need to be overcome, and how does Australia compare to the U.S.? &ldquo;The wholesale price of electricity has fallen by a third over the past 18 months, mainly due to a drought breaking in Queensland, freeing up cooling water for large, efficient coal-fired power,&rdquo; Schuck says. &ldquo;Also, the REC (renewable energy credit) price is volatile and depressed, due to unintended consequences of a PV (photovoltaic) and solar hot water stimulus measure.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 &nbsp;The [Australian biomass] industry is probably behind the U.S., he adds, but the hurdles aren&rsquo;t all that unique in comparison. &ldquo;Many [hurdles] are economic and social,&rdquo; Schuck says. &ldquo;Issues such as food verses fuel, land use competition, and water resources will remain issues, even though I believe there is enough land for both food and fuel.&rdquo;

OUTBACK OBSTACLES: Low electricity prices, water availability and the lack of any biomass-specific government incentives are some of the issues holding back biomass power development in Australia.

2011/01/12941811728709.jpg

Although slow to develop, Australia's biomass industry has potential.

Biomass Down Under

Using a torch, University of Northern British Columbia President George Iwama fired up the school&rsquo;s combined-heat-and-power (CHP) biomass gasification system in November. Supplied by Nexterra Inc., the system will heat all of UNBC&rsquo;s core buildings, replace its fossil fuel usage by 85 percent&mdash;an energy savings of $800 per year&mdash;and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 3,500 metric tons per year.&nbsp;&nbsp; Fuel for the gasifier is woody biomass provided by a local family-owned sawmill, Lakeland Mills, according to Robert van Adrichem, UNBC&rsquo;s vice president of external relations.
 The gasifier is currently running intermittently for testing, and a grand opening will be held in mid-March.
 The CHP system and a small pellet plant on campus are part of UNBC&rsquo;s Bioenergy Center for Innovation. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an idea to connect the university, students and&nbsp; researchers to the bioenergy&nbsp; industry, economic development organizations&nbsp; and the government to determine what the ingredients are to make this viable, economic and sustainable industry of value to this community, region, province and country,&rdquo; van Adrichem says.
 The pellets produced in the facility are used to heat the campus&rsquo;s forestry lab. &ldquo;We use them to heat a building that&rsquo;s growing trees and doing forest research, and then using that product to heat the building,&rdquo; van Adrichem says. &ldquo;Initial work was on analyzing the difference between using wood pellets verses natural gas, which is what we&rsquo;ve used for fuel to date on campus, and some other research projects there now are related to emissions and the use of ash as a soil additive.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&nbsp; These projects are being done primarily because bioenergy is emerging as a significant industry in the region, according to van Adrichem. &ldquo;Because bioenergy has never been a big part of the forest industry here&mdash;we&rsquo;re a world leader in lumber production&mdash;it&rsquo;s a whole new thing,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This program provides a new opportunity for the university to work with the community, region and forest industry on fundamental questions surrounding bioenergy&mdash;not just &lsquo;who is going to buy my pellets when I make them,&rsquo; but a look at more foundational questions around forest land base sustainability, emissions, moisture content and energy performance.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 UNBC hopes to use the biomass gasifier and the pellet plant as showcases for the local industry, as well as platforms for applied research and education.

PRACTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL: UNBC will use its CHP system and pellet plant to reduce fossil fuel use, answer questions the community and forest products industry may have about bioenergy, as a research and development platform and an educational tool.


2011/01/12942399226895.jpg

The University of Northern British Columbia is fired up for bioenergy. 

Canada's Greenest University

The cost of using propane to fuel a grain dryer can be astronomical for farmers and grain elevators, especially if the dryers are running 24 hours a day in the fall, which is often the case. A Bismarck, N.D., furnace company says its biomass retrofit can slash that cost by 90 percent. Not only that, but the system&rsquo;s heat recovery application is essentially 100 percent efficient, according to the company.
 &ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve done is displaced the propane burner with a combined system and heat exchanger that blows hot air the same way, but doesn&rsquo;t use super expensive fuel,&rdquo; says King Coal Furnace Corp. President and CEO Mike Robb. Farmers can use the residues and waste products from their crops, such as sunflower screenings, soybean trash and spent grain, to fuel the biomass burner.
 King Coal can build portable systems between 1 million Btu (MMBtu) and 10 MMBtu, and on-site systems up to 50 MMBtu. Robb declined to release a cost for the dryers, but said the company is currently building two for seed company locations in Minnesota and South Dakota.
 With propane costs at $1.50 per gallon, those operations can spend up to $16.50 per MMBtu, whereas sunflower screenings at current prices of $30 per ton and 9,000 Btu per pound, would mean a cost of only $1.65 per MMBtu, Robb says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a 90 percent reduction,&rdquo; he says.
 The cost is only one advantage. &ldquo;The real neat thing about this is this system does not have a chimney,&rdquo; Robb says. It takes gases through a proprietary dust collection system and then redirects it back into the furnace. &ldquo;So the million or so Btus that would be wasted up the chimney go right back into the drying process,&rdquo; he emphasizes. &ldquo;Essentially, we&rsquo;ve developed a 100 percent efficient heat recovery system.&rdquo;
 King Coal has a 2 MMBtu prototype at its Bismarck location to demonstrate the system&rsquo;s function. The company has been building coal-fired air heaters for years with the same type of technology.
 The modular, self-cleaning and automated system leaves only the responsibility of loading the fuel bin to the operator. Robb expects the first installation to be ready in Minnesota next year.

COST-CUTTING DRYER: North Dakota-based King Coal has built a prototype of its biomass burner that burns crop residue instead of costly propane. 

2011/01/12942400890481.jpg

King Coal says its biomass burner can replace propane in grain dryers and save cash.

Drying Crops with Crop Residues

Envio Energi LLC had six biomass power plant projects in the works when the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s proposed Industrial Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (IB MACT) rule was released. Then everything came to a screeching halt, says CEO Roland Fjallstrom. Now, he's unsure of the fate of those projects and his business.
 Fjallstrom, born and raised in Sweden, is a pioneer of biomass combined-heat-and-power systems and has worked in the forest products industry most of his life. In 2009, he obtained a license from KMW Energi, the largest supplier of wood bioenergy plants in Sweden and expanded into the U.S. market.
 Fjallstrom, also a wood chemist, has been compiling carbon footprint data (see chart) since the IB MACT proposed rule release. His research included turning to the EU Commission for clarification on its modeling for carbon footprints, which utilizes the ISO 14000 accredited Life Cycle Assessment. This is a method that&rsquo;s used to analyze the cumulative environmental impact of a process or product through all stages of its life, from equipment manufacturing to construction to operation and maintenence.&nbsp;
 Fjallstrom also acquired data from a study done by the British government in 2006 and updated its harvesting information. &ldquo;A big portion of carbon footprint calculations is the physical harvesting,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;What they&rsquo;ve done with modern machines today is about half of what it used to be in 2005 and 2006. This needs to be displayed to the public and the U.S., at least within this industry, because the EPA&rsquo;s current approach is ridiculous.&rdquo;
 The ISO certification of various biomass LCA methods is well-established in Europe, Fjallstrom says. &ldquo;The biogenic carbon cycle of woody biomass proves that it consumes and absorbs more carbon dioxide in its life cycle than it would ever emit in a reasonable combustion process. It is carbon neutral, if not carbon negative.&rdquo;
 &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone through GHG life cycles many times, and now I&rsquo;m seeing studies that more or less suggest that [the U.S.] cannot use the science the Europeans have used over the past 50 years, rather we must reinvent it,&rdquo; Fjallstrom adds. &ldquo;An individual biomass source consumes and absorbs more CO2 in its life cycle than it will ever emit. There can be no re-sciencing of that&mdash;it has already been proven.&rdquo;

CARBON CONCERNS: Roland Fjallstrom says the data he\&#39;s gathered, especially taking into account improvements in the harvesting process, proves that woody biomass is carbon neutral. 

2011/01/12942405540216.jpg

Envio Energi CEO's research proves woody biomass is carbon neutral. 

Unsound Science 

Northern Maine has about $6 million in Recovery Act funding that will go toward six different biomass boiler installations. In light of the volume of current projects, the Mobilize Northern Maine Biomass Action Team for Wood Supply organized a tour in early December of four biomass-related facilities, to not only direct agencies already committed to installing biomass boilers, but also to inform and educate any that might still be on the fence.
 Tour stops included a Seven Islands Land Co. chipping operation near Ashland; Boralex Inc.&rsquo;s wood-fired Ashland Power Station; a Maine Woods Co. sawmill in Portage Lake; and Northeast Pellets in Ashland. About 35 people took advantage of the free tour opportunity, exceeding organizers&rsquo; expectations of 25. &ldquo;It generated a lot more interest than we expected,&rdquo; says Bill Greaves, member of the action team and a Forest Protection Division Northern Regional ranger for the Maine Forest Service, which administers the Recovery Act funding. Attendees representing organizations that received project grants included school superintendents, university presidents,hospital managers and even custodians who will be operating the boilers once installed, he says.
 &ldquo;They had a lot of questions about what kind of fuel they need for these boilers,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;They were able to talk with engineers who were installing the boilers and designing the boiler systems. And they were able to talk to the fuel providers.&rdquo; At the Seven Islands stop, participants learned from a forester how the biomass material is harvested, chipped and sold. Another destination, Maine Woods, has a biomass boiler at its sawmill so manager Don Tardie was able to speak to tour attendees about both mill and biomass boiler operations.
 The Mobilize Northern Maine Initiative, the action team&rsquo;s parent group, aims to convert 4,500 households to biomass heat by 2015. The initiative also hopes to see 10 commercial establishments convert, and is well on its way at nine.
 The Mobilize Maine Initiative is statewide, but split into six regions and only the northern and eastern groups have begun to roll out their strategies. The program, which was announced by Gov. John Baldacci and supporting agencies in April 2009, is designed to spur community and economic development after a decline over the past decade in traditional manufacturing and commodity-based industries. &ldquo;The idea is for the six regions in Maine to embrace this initiative and go about implementing Mobilize Maine in each of their regions,&rdquo; says Walter Elish, president and CEO of the Aroostook (County) Partnership for Progress, the lead agency for Mobilize Northern Maine.

TEACHING TOUR: A group in Maine organized a tour of of biomass-related facilities, including the Maine Woods Co. sawmill, to educate those installing biomass systems and potential project developers.  


2011/01/12942411575938.jpg

Tour illuminates aspects of biomass boiler projects for Maine agencies exploring or planning to install the boilers.

Brushing Up on Biomass

The Oregon Biomass Producer or Collector Tax Credit program was passed in 2007 and administered by the State Department of Revenue to incentivize biomass supply options for the state&rsquo;s rapid renewable energy development. In 2009, however, administration of the law was passed to the Oregon Department of Energy, requiring the credits be certified and mandating changes to the program.
 After input from industry stakeholders and the public, the state DOE released its final certification rules Nov. 2, outlining eligibility and the application process. &ldquo;So our rules are really designed to administer the certification program and they describe how to apply for the tax credits, what type of documentation there is and how the department will act on those,&rdquo; says Matt Krumenauer, senior policy analyst for the Oregon DOE. &ldquo;The change in the certification program was driven partly by industry request and partly by the Department of Revenue because one of the features of this program is that the tax credits are transferrable.&rdquo;
 The credit offers $10 per green ton of eligible biomass to be used in energy generation and Krumenauer says it has done its duty in spurring biomass production. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been quite a popular program, primarily on the woody biomass side,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We put some criteria in there to target more efficient uses of woody biomass in particular.&rdquo; Those criteria include a cogeneration efficiency standard of 40 percent. Eligible applicants are agricultural producers or biomass collectors; have a title to the biomass at the time it is delivered to the bioenergy producer; produce or collect the biomass in Oregon, directly or indirectly and including through agents or employees; and deliver or facilitate delivery of the biomass to be used as biofuel or to produce biofuel in the state. The rules apply to tax years beginning on or after Jan 1, 2010, and before Jan. 1, 2012.
 The state started the rule-making process in December 2009 with committee meetings of stakeholders, and released temporary rules in July. &ldquo;The temporary rules allow us to administer the program, learn from it, find out exactly how it works for us, and how it works for our stakeholders and customers,&rdquo; Krumenauer says. The final rules released in November had only minor changes from the temporary ones, he added.
 The program is designed to promote anaerobic digestion, biofuel production, and electricity and heat generation, Krumenauer says, adding that thus far, the credits have been used mainly by those supplying biomass for power and thermal applications.
 In the past three years since the credit was implemented, numerous companies devoted solely to the removal of forest residues have cropped up in the state. &ldquo;So I think it has gone to support job growth, especially in rural areas,&rdquo; he says.

BIOMASS BACKER: Oregon provides a tax credit to promote anaerobic digestion, biofuel production, and electricity and heat generation.


2011/01/12942415748504.jpg

Oregon DOE issues permanent certification rules for its tax credit program.

Spurring Development

The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota has released a paper with four recommendations designed to ensure long-term availability of forest biomass, foster development of new markets and maintain logging industries.
 The state&rsquo;s forest products industries have not been immune to the global economic downturn and three of its five oriented strand board mills have shut down since 2007, dropping wood consumption by 20 percent, or 1 million tons. That brings the state&rsquo;s surplus to 3.2 million green tons, according to the paper, &ldquo;Minnesota&rsquo;s Forest Biomass Value Chain: A System Dynamics Analysis.&rdquo; &ldquo;We&rsquo;re at a point where a lot of wood isn&rsquo;t being used,&rdquo; says Tim Welle, BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota project manager. &ldquo;We need industries to come in and use that so there&rsquo;s an incentive to continue to manage the forests.&rdquo;
 Forest management is a prerequisite for successful long-term growth in any forest-based industry, so the first recommendation is to rely on it, as well as increased utilization, to ensure a long-term supply of raw materials. Underutilization of the forests is threatening the state&rsquo;s logging infrastructure, the paper says.
 The second recommendation is to support efficient utilization of that forest wood for heat and power generation, which would also help develop markets for the timber industry. The alliance recommends changes to existing policy tools, including an expansion of the Conservation Improvement Program to include credit for biomass-fired combined-heat-and-power facilities. The program mandates utilities meet an ongoing annual 1.5 percent energy savings, but Welle says it&rsquo;s getting harder and harder for them to meet that standard year after year. The recommendation also states that tax credits for expenditures on wood energy equipment should be comparable to tax credits for other types of renewable technologies. In 2009, the state had 41 facilities using wood for heat and electricity, some cofiring, for a total consumption of 1.8 million green tons.&nbsp;
 &ldquo;Recommendations one and two are to keep loggers working to keep the infrastructure that we have today and really maintain it so that we can continue to manage forestry and can continue to rely on our forests for our economy,&rdquo; Welle says.
 The other two recommendations focus on the state&rsquo;s next-generation high-value opportunities that can serve as the bellweather of the economy for the next 100 years. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really trying to grow the pie,&rdquo; Welle says. Recommendation three is to actively pursue emerging high-value opportunities such as advanced biofuels and biochemicals that can sustain themselves in the longer term. And recommendation four is to foster cooperation in the implementation of all the recommendations. &ldquo;Enormous potential exists if Minnesota can manage its forest biomass supply chain in such a way that creates opportunity for both traditional and emerging forest-based industries,&rdquo; the paper states. &ldquo;The quick story we want to tell is the forest is in a position that we need to act now to keep our communities vibrant, to make sure that we have the employment infrastructure to have a healthy forest-based economy in Minnesota,&rdquo; Welle says.

Group recommends Minnesota maintain its logging infrastructure and grow its forest-based products industry. 

Biobased Bounce Back 

Biomass potential in the Pacific West goes far beyond the well-known forestry resources. From urban wood waste to dairy manure and agricultural waste, the Pacific states of Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California have a lot to offer.
 But even with such vast opportunities, development has been slower in some states than in others because of complications such as the lack of forest products industries, the need for a centralized biomass collection system, or the absence of a market for the biomass material.
 Nevada Needs Infrastructure 
 Nevada is no stranger to such barriers. It is home to about 9 million acres of juniper and pinyon trees that are susceptible to extensive forest fires, drought and climate change, according to Dusty Moller, wood utilization manager for the Small Business Development Center at the University of Nevada, Reno. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an extremely serious condition,&rdquo; Moller says of the risk that he calls a climax environmental situation. &ldquo;Something really needs to be done.&rdquo; The state is in desperate straits, he says, because it never had a primary wood products industry that would have allowed for the processing and removal of biomass material from forests. &ldquo;When you don&rsquo;t have that lumber product to pay for that equipment and pay those wages, you really have a problem,&rdquo; he emphasizes.
 In addition to its forest resources, the state also could make use of the tremendous volume of urban wood waste that is landfilled each year. In Clark County alone, home of the Las Vegas strip, more than 230,000 tons of urban wood waste is buried annually, Moller says.
 But Nevada has not seen the development boom it can support with such extensive resources and only has one operating biomass facility: a combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant located at the White Pine County School District in Ely, part of the U.S. Forest Service Fuels for Schools program. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a chicken-and-egg kind of thing,&rdquo; Moller says, adding that agencies are working together to establish a framework for biomass use. He says the pinyon and juniper plots could provide around 6 tons of biomass per acre at a cost of about $300 per acre, but without a market, that material gets burned or chipped and applied back to the land. &ldquo;You can put a little bit back, but in the desert, you&rsquo;ll come back 20 years later and it will still be sitting there because without water, it won&rsquo;t decompose,&rdquo; he says.
 Plenty of scenarios could jump-start Nevada&rsquo;s biomass industry, currently in limbo, and be included in the equation to help the state reach its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of 25 percent by 2025. &ldquo;If we had a CHP plant or if coal-fired power plants would get onboard and start cofiring coal with this available biomass, then you could start to develop some markets,&rdquo; Moller explains. &ldquo;If we had a market, if the coal-fired people would cofire, if we could increase the Fuels for Schools projects, if we could get a biomass power generator, then we could have a market that would be a pull situation. So we can pull that biomass off that land. Once you get that started, it&rsquo;s just kind of like a sustainable, stable industry.&rdquo;
 Oregon Offers Incentives
 On the opposite end of the spectrum sits Oregon, with its 14 operational wood-fired CHP plants collectively making use of between 3 million and 4 million tons of woody biomass per year, according to Matt Krumenauer, senior policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Energy. It should come as no surprise that the state makes use of its abundant forest biomass resources and Krumenauer says the existing sawmill industry has been crucial to biomass development. Two-thirds to three-fourths of woody biomass used currently in Oregon is mill residuals. In fact, most of the biomass facilities are at lumber or sawmill operations, with the exception of one independent plant in the southern part of the state that generates only electricity. &ldquo;It certainly is a resource we&rsquo;re going to explore and try to utilize much more of,&rdquo; Krumenauer says. &ldquo;We do have a number of projects either under construction, in development, or in operation in the state.&rdquo;
 A study commissioned by the Oregon Forest Research Institute found that treatment of about 4.25 million acres, 15 percent of the state&rsquo;s forestland, would provide about 20 million bone-dry tons, with an additional 1 million annually for the next 20 years, not including merchantable saw timber. About 29 percent of the 4.25 million eligible acres are privately owned, the rest dominantly federal. Other than fuel treatment of overstocked forestlands, the largest source of forest biomass is 3.6 million acres of juniper in 14 eastern counties. Urban wood waste is another biomass resource available for use in the state, as citizens discarded more than 500,000 tons in 2004, according to the state DOE. But like other Pacific West states, woody biomass does not represent the only biomass opportunity in Oregon. In 2004, Oregonians disposed of about 3 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), 70 percent of which could have been used for energy generation, according to the state DOE. Oregon also supports biogas operations at wastewater treatment plants that generate heat or electricity. Still, the DOE estimates that about 36 percent of the biogas produced at wastewater treatment facilities is unused. In addition, biogas from more than 100 dairy farms large enough to install digesters could produce about 13 megawatts (MW) of electricity if used to its full potential.
 Oregon also has a well-established grass seed industry, freeing up tremendous amounts of grass straw residue. The state DOE estimates that in 2003, a total of 1.5 million bone-dry tons of material was available from farming operations and capable of producing about 213 MW. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re finding ways to use that either in digesters or in pellets or in ethanol production,&rdquo; Krumenauer says.
 Oregon offers a number of incentives for renewable energy generation including tax credits for the production and collection of biomass material for use in bioenergy or biofuels. The program offers $10 per green ton of biomass material and helps reduce open burning while helping leverage forest stewardship work, Krumenauer says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been quite a popular program, primarily on the woody biomass side.&rdquo;
 With such incentives and an existing framework boosting so many projects, Oregon seems to be well on its way to reaching its RPS of 25 percent by 2025 for larger utilities and between 5 and 10 percent for smaller ones.
&nbsp;
Idaho Eyes Dairy Waste 
 Being the third-largest dairy state in the U.S., Idaho has made a push to utilize waste materials and has five operating dairy digesters. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a huge dairy state,&rdquo; says John Crockett, senior energy specialist for the Idaho Office of Energy Resources. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a huge potential there.&rdquo; Idaho is home to more than 600,000 dairy animals and about 70 percent of them, along with 126 of the largest farms, reside in the south-central portion of the state dubbed the Magic Valley, according to an Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance Task Force report. The report estimates that the Magic Valley alone could produce more than 34 billion Btu per day from dairy waste.
 As in most populated areas, MSW could serve as another resource for bioenergy and the task force report estimates about 1.08 million pounds were discarded in 2006. That volume could produce enough landfill gas to generate about 1,482 MW and power about 120 homes. The state supports two landfill gas-to-energy projects and has identified 49 food and beverage facilities that are candidates for anaerobic digestion. Eight already employ the process to treat wastewater, yielding a total annual energy production value of 542 billion Btu and accounting for 39 percent of the biogas potential from the entire 49, the report says.
 Still, Idaho is experiencing an increased interest in woody biomass utilization and already has three wood-fired power plants, with another on the verge of securing a power purchase agreement, Crockett says. &ldquo;Our biggest resource is wood,&rdquo; he says. According to task force reports, the state&rsquo;s forest biomass, including thinning and residues, amounts to about 1.3 million dry tons annually, enough to generate about 130 MW. The report points out, however, that the material is at logging sites and would need to be harvested and transported.
 The report recommends the state help spur development of woody biomass facilities through creation of a business tax credit, expansion of the Fuels for Schools program, creation of a biomass removal incentive, an increase in Forest Service funding for forest restoration, a change in the federal definition of biomass, and an increase in community support. Idaho is also the sole Pacific West state without an RPS.
 In addition, Idaho is home to a number of citizen working groups pushing for the use of the available woody materials, Crockett says, including one that spans four counties, another in the central part of the state and one in the north. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping to try to get those groups working together if we can,&rdquo; he says.
 Washington Wipes Out Waste
 Such teamwork is almost perfected in Washington, where many state agencies are forging ahead with strategies aimed at increasing biomass use. The most recent biomass inventory for the state found it produces about 16.4 million tons of underutilized dry equivalent biomass each year, capable of producing more than 1,700 MW, about 50 percent of annual residential electricity consumption. Not surprisingly, forestry makes up 49 percent of that total, but is complemented by crop residues, animal waste, food processing residues and municipal wastes. &ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve demonstrated is there&rsquo;s a lot of material out there, but what we also know is it&rsquo;s not really organized,&rdquo; says Mark Fuchs of the Washington Department of Ecology Waste 2 Resources program and author of the report, &ldquo;Biomass Inventory and Bioenergy Assessment: An Evaluation of Organic Material Resources for Bioenergy Production in Washington State.&rdquo; &ldquo;This industry is ripe for entities to come in and organize.&rdquo;
 Work is being done to collect broadly distributed feedstocks at centralized locations, he says, but that chore is just beginning. Fuchs' assessment does not put an economic factor on collection of biomass material and roughly one-third of it already goes through some sort of system and would need further refining to recover energy nutrients, he says. The state is now home to 13 significantly sized wood-fired facilities, 12 of which are CHP, according to Peter Moulton, senior energy policy specialist for the state Department of Commerce.
 Following forestry, municipal waste accounts for 24 percent of the 16.4 million tons; field residues come next at 14 percent; and animal waste represents 11 percent, according to the report. Fuchs makes note of the fact that a 2005 study by the U.S. DOE and USDA, &ldquo;Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply,&rdquo; also known as the Billon-Ton Report, seems to have underestimated Washington&rsquo;s organic material availability at 9 million tons. &ldquo;We think we&rsquo;re closer to 16 million,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a 76 percent increase.&rdquo; He adds that reports due out in the next few months will likely find even more biomass material potential.
 To help utilize all that tonnage, the Waste 2 Resources program has established the Beyond Waste plan, which has a 30-year vision of transitioning to a society that views waste as inefficient and where most wastes and toxic substances have been eliminated, Fuchs says. The state also has an RPS of 15 percent by 2020.
 &ldquo;I expect that in 10 years or so, there will be lots of companies doing [feedstock organization] work,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;ll take time for people to recognize that there&rsquo;s a business opportunity there.&rdquo;
 California&rsquo;s Commanding RPS 
 California has the most aggressive RPS of the five Pacific West states, at 33 percent by 2020. It&rsquo;s a good thing, then, that the most recent inventory found that biomass in the state totaled 83 million gross bone dry tons in 2007, and is expected to increase to 98 million by 2020, according to &ldquo;An Assessment of Biomass Resources in California, 2007.&rdquo; The report specifies, though, that technically sustainable resources, which amounted to 32 million bone dry tons in 2007, are expected to increase to 40 million in 2020. The current technical potential includes 8 million tons in agriculture, 14 million from forestry and 9 million tons from MSW excluding waste in landfills and biomass in sewage. Dedicated crops are being grown mostly on an experimental basis and are not included in the total for 2007, the report clarifies.
 Gross electrical generation potential from biomass in 2007 was near 9,500 MWe with more than 1,900 MWe from agriculture, 3,500 from forestry and 3,900 from MSW including landfill and sewage digester gas. Technical generating potential is closer to 3,820 MWe. A gross capacity of 985 MW could be reached collectively in California from about 30 existing solid fuel combustion facilities, 60 landfill-gas-to-energy systems, 20 wastewater treatment plants, and 22 animal and food waste digesters, according to research by Rob Williams, development engineer for the University of California, Davis&rsquo; California Biomass Collaborative. Roughly 5,000 gigawatt hours per year are produced through direct combustion of about 5 million bone dry tons of solid fuels such as forest biomass, urban wood, agricultural and food processing materials, and MSW, he adds. Landfill gas, wastewater digester gas and manure digesters produce another 2,600 gigawatt hours or so per year.
 But expansion of biogas from manure development has come to a halt because of a limit of 9 parts per million on nitrogen oxide emissions by the state Air Resources Board, according to Mark Jenner, plant sciences analyst at UC Davis and member of the California Biomass Collaborative.
 Policies and standards could be a barrier in the way of other biomass plant development, too. &ldquo;The debate over moving the build up of fuel out of the forests to prevent wild fires versus leaving it within the forest to preserve habitat and reduce disturbance is as active in California as it is anywhere else,&rdquo; Jenner says. &ldquo;Wildfires destroy thousands of acres each year and are expensive to fight. They destroy lots of resources and emit lots of particulate matter, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and CO2 (carbon dioxide). Biofuels and biopower could serve as potential drivers to pay for the removal, but the policies need to be coordinated before that can happen.&rdquo;
 Resources in the Pacific West are by no means in short supply and such policy analysis and change could mean a better environment for their use in bioenergy development. Learn more about the potential, technologies, existing projects, development barriers and more at BBI International&rsquo;s Pacific West Biomass Conference &amp; Trade Show to be held Jan. 10-12 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel in Seattle. Author: Lisa Gibson Associate Editor, Biomass Power &amp; Thermal (701) 738-4952 <a href="mailto:lgibson@bbiinternational.com">lgibson@bbiinternational.com</a>

2011/01/12942428386704.jpg

BIOMASS BONANZA: Oregon farmers are growing hybrid sorghum and using it to produce power they plan to sell to the grid.

2011/01/12942429098409.jpg

COW CAPACITY:  Idaho is the third-largest dairy state and is making a push to utilize waste materials from the industry. 

2011/01/12942429933169.jpg

WASTE NOT WANT NOT: In California, landfill gas, wastewater digester gas, which is produced at this Sacramento plant, and manure digesters produce 2,600 gigawatt hours of  electricity annually.  

2011/01/12942431058583.jpg

The Pacific West is known for its abundant woody biomass, but numerous other resources hold opportunities and enormous potential. The scale of development varies greatly, however, from state to state.

Pacific  West Biomass Profile

Critics of USDA&rsquo;s Biomass Crop Assistance Program, a federal program designed to jump-start the use of biomass for bioenergy production, caught the attention of USDA officials when they questioned whether certain woody biomass should be included as eligible material in the program.
 Their criticism proved to be true when, after the original Notice of Funding Availability in April 2009, some woody biomass suppliers sold their materials to eligible biomass-based heat, power, fuel or chemical producers allowing them to receive matching BCAP payments, rather than selling to their traditional customers. In most cases, that led to higher prices for customers who weren&rsquo;t eligible to participate in BCAP, such as particleboard makers, and therefore distorted established markets. This caused a suspension of the program so the federal agency could make necessary modifications.
 Anna Dirkswager, biomass program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Forestry Division, said that that particular loophole definitely affected Minnesota, which has 16.7 million acres of forestland. &ldquo;With a strong forest products industry in Minnesota, there were a lot of folks upset with round wood or whole trees being chipped and going to combined-heat-and-power facilities, because those materials were eligible,&rdquo; she says. "In some areas where we have collapsed markets, we would like to see those trees cut, the forests managed and that material indeed being used as biomass," she says.
 &nbsp;Though initial BCAP rules many not have been crafted as meticulously as they could have been, the USDA has altered them with the intent to safeguard materials already being used. At the same time, the door has been left open for qualification of residuals with no local higher value market while endorsing responsible forest management/thinning practices.&nbsp;
 USDA has not yet determined who will decide whether there is a local, higher-value market for some wood material. The job may be handed to foresters or Farm Service Agency personnel. While FSA agents know their way around corn and soybean fields, there are concerns that they may not have enough knowledge about wood markets to make these determinations. Dirkswager says she doesn&rsquo;t think the majority of FSA agents have a particularly good understanding of wood markets, but she is hopeful that FSA will work with her and other state officials, and the forest products industry, to determine certain program details such as what constitutes an acceptable&nbsp; Forest Stewardship Plan.
 Making a Plan 
 The 2008 Farm Bill defines a Forest Stewardship Plan as a site-specific plan that addresses one or more resource concerns on land where forestry-related conservation activities or practices will be planned and applied.
 The plan must be prepared by a forester with a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in forest management or an equivalent curriculum. It must include, but is not limited to, landowner and plan preparer information; legal descriptions or directions to the site; the number of acres covered; general property description; interaction with surrounding properties; known/ threatened/endangered wildlife present; and soil information as well as in-depth descriptions of stand species, class, health, quality, growth rate, hazardous fuels and timber production potential.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 Developing a Forest Stewardship Plan may sound time consuming, but Fred Schatzki, a registered forester for American Forest Management Inc., says once approved, funded and scheduled, it only takes him about two weeks from beginning the fieldwork to preparing the completed plan. The cost will depend on the tract size and the ownership objectives. &ldquo;As a rule of thumb, it&rsquo;s safe to say that rates run about $8 to $12 per acre with a minimum fee of $600,&rdquo; Schatski says.
 He says he expects his workload to increase moderately when the BCAP is fully implemented. &ldquo;My expectation is we&rsquo;ll still be managing the same base resource, but we&rsquo;ll be looking at capitalizing on harvest residues that currently have no good market,&rdquo; he says.
 The verdict is still out, however, on what constitutes an acceptable plan, as well as what defines a higher value market. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to be proactive here in Minnesota and work with FSA to suggest how it might define these and several other program definitions that haven&rsquo;t yet been defined,&rdquo; Dirkswager says. &ldquo;For higher value markets, is it going to be from the logger&rsquo;s home area of residence, or is it a procurement radii? Wood chips are eligible only without an existing higher value market and when a result of an ecosystem restoration service, but we don&rsquo;t know what ecosystem restoration will be defined as. We&rsquo;ve got a variety of things we would like to suggest, but it is difficult to have a go-to person to make these suggestions to.&rdquo;
 Once a Forest Stewardship Plan has been established, it&rsquo;s important to note that eligible woody material must be directly harvested or collected from the land, meaning it cannot be collected or harvested after transport and delivery, nor collected or harvested by separating from that of a higher value material in order to be used for heat, power, biobased products or biofuels. If the material comes from outside of a BCAP project area, it must be a byproduct of preventive treatments to reduce hazardous fuels, to reduce or contain disease or insect infestation, or for ecosystem restoration.&nbsp;
 Tom Kimmerer, senior scientist at Moore Ventures and a BCAP specialist, gives the following example: A logging contractor runs a flail de-barker in the woods, which strips off bark and chips the wood for pulp. The bark can be delivered to a biomass facility and it will be eligible for matching payments. However, if there is an established market in the area for bark, such as bark mulch, the bark may not be eligible; that&rsquo;s up to the discretion of the local FSA office. If that same logging contractor delivers whole trees to a paper mill, which strips the bark off and chips the wood for pulp, the bark can be delivered to a biomass facility but will not be eligible for matching payments.
 Along with the changes made to the woody biomass eligible materials, there were also modifications to the annual payment component of BCAP that were not implemented with the original NOFA.
 More Changes
 Annual payments are now paid on a tiered model based on the end-use of the material, a component that favors cellulosic ethanol and advanced biofuels over biopower or bioheat. Upon sale of the crop, if used for heat, power or biobased products, payment is reduced by 40 percent, compared to a 1 percent reduction for cellulosic ethanol and 10 percent for advanced biofuels. &ldquo;These payments [for biopower/bioheat] are still significant, but one reason for incentivizing advanced biofuels may be because under the [renewable fuel standard 2] there&rsquo;s an aggressive congressional mandate for advanced biofuels and so far, we&rsquo;re well short,&rdquo; says Gregory Lynch, managing partner with Michael Best &amp; Friedrich LLP. &ldquo;The [U.S.] EPA has been lowering that over the past couple of years by a fairly significant amount, and I think this is one of the policy tools USDA is using to try to promote that.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Related-party transactions, if in accordance with USDA definitions, are also allowed, meaning that a group or party can be both the eligible material owner and the biomass conversion facility, which would include closed-loop bioenergy production models. Additionally, several new feedstocks were added to the eligible materials list, including algae, jatropha, energy cane and pongamia.
 While the industry waits for clarification of the new rules, an old concern is still swirling that BCAP funding demands will be much higher than anticipated, and that some eligible participants may miss out. &ldquo;If ecosystem restoration is considered a thinning or something that&rsquo;s restoring forest health and quality, that&rsquo;s a great opportunity to subsidize work we&rsquo;d normally have a hard time paying for,&rdquo;
Dirkswager says. &ldquo;But given that $430 million is allocated for fiscal 2011 and only $130 million of that pot is available for the matching payment portion nationwide, we have concerns over how much of that money will actually reach Minnesota. Many of the necessary program pieces that must come together to receive funding are not yet in place and I fear that we&rsquo;ll get ready and it&rsquo;ll be gone. If we did actually get matching payments funds, there are good opportunities to subsidize forest management work.&rdquo;
 A significant majority of the $243 million in matching payments already distributed or committed under the original NOFA went to woody resources. &ldquo;[Foresters] are all curious about how it will ultimately shake out,&rdquo; Schatzski adds. &ldquo;Last year's experience indicated that there was significantly more demand for BCAP funding than was originally thought.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 Now is a unique time for BCAP, as in the past 18 months there&rsquo;s been a lot of stopping and starting, Lynch says. &ldquo;But the next 30 to 60 days is really the time that companies, especially wood producers or pulp and paper companies should seriously start looking at planning how they can take advantage of BCAP.&rdquo;
 In order to ensure that all program participants are in compliance with the modified or new rules, everyone must apply, even those who had previously qualified and were already receiving matching collection, harvest and storage payments.
 Though the necessary federal notices have yet to be issued, Lynch says some additional clarification can be expected soon. &ldquo;Sometime later this month USDA plans to issue additional guidance in what they&rsquo;ll look for in establishing BCAP designated project areas, and they&rsquo;re looking at doing a fairly aggressive education program for industry participants,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The first tentative meetings will be held in early January, and USDA will give presentations on interpreting the new BCAP rules, as well as providing guidance to interested parties on how to certify project areas.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 BCAP&rsquo;s past trial-and-error period and collaboration with experienced and relevant state agencies could result in a well-crafted, successful program. Dirkswager says her department has already been working with Minnesota&rsquo;s FSA on BCAP-related issues. &ldquo;The [USDA] was able to work with us in being able to get some of the systematic hurdles resolved, but I think the creation of the final rules was a polite way of writing off the forest products industry,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;But perhaps a necessary one, with the market diversion it was creating.&rdquo;
 Author: Anna Austin Associate Editor, Biomass Power &amp; Thermal (701) 738-4968 <a href="mailto:aaustin@bbiinternational.com">aaustin@bbiinternational.com&nbsp; </a>

2011/01/12942433096326.jpg

USDA made significant changes to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program in its final rule, many involving woody biomass utilization, but the jury is still out on how the changes will be implemented. 

BCAP: New and (Maybe) Improved  

A healthy, harvest-ready stand of hybrid poplar can yield four to 10 tons of biomass per acre annually. Each tree is capable of growing more than 60 feet in six seasons, with little maintenance beyond the first planting year. Though short-rotation trees such as poplar, willow and eucalyptus already possess impressive growth characteristics, researchers are working to optimize them as the potential for their use as bioenergy feedstock materializes.
 Timothy Volk, who leads State University of New York&rsquo;s short-rotation woody crops program, and his team are concentrating their efforts on willow, mainly because disease issues associated with poplar in the Northeast have limited its use there. Research at SUNY has included breeding, optimum plant spacing, nutrient requirements, rotation lengths and other crop management issues in and beyond the region, in order to test the trees across a broad range of conditions.
 Growing Willow
 The main impetus behind willow research is to determine how to economically grow the trees on marginal land, Volk says. &ldquo;Much of our region tends to have a high clay content and poor drainage,&rdquo; he says, adding that this is land that traditional row crops would not typically grow well on.
 &ldquo;The first step in the planting process is to control existing vegetation&mdash;if it&rsquo;s an old field you need to kill it off and plow it in a fairly traditional fashion.&rdquo;&nbsp; If that&rsquo;s done in the fall, Volk recommends planting a winter cover crop to control soil erosion. &ldquo;The following spring we&rsquo;d plant in late April and early June, putting in just under 6,000 unrooted dormant plant cuttings per acre, which is done with a planting machine pulled by a tractor,&rdquo; he says.
 Volk says his team has relied on equipment designed in Europe, where willow trees are more commonly grown as a bioenergy feedstock. &ldquo;There are probably about 30,000 to 40,000 acres, largely in Sweden and the U.K. right now,&rdquo; he says. The imported equipment is modified to work more effectively for growing conditions in the Northeast. The problem is that shipping the machines is expensive, and getting new parts or supplies in a timely fashion can cause problems. &ldquo;If something breaks and it takes a while to get here, the planting season is half gone,&rdquo; Volk says. Fortunately, an upstate New York firm has recently obtained a license to manufacture one of the European planters for the North American market, which should help, he adds.
 After the seedlings are in, the focus of the first year is on weed control. &ldquo;Typically after the first year, the leaves drop and then we cut them down,&rdquo; Volk says. &ldquo;We work with willow&rsquo;s ability to resprout effectively. In the first year you might have two to four stems per plant per year, and after coppicing it during the dormant season it&rsquo;ll sprout back the next spring and you&rsquo;ll get a lot more stems coming back, anywhere from six to 15 stems per plant.&rdquo; At that point, the trees look like bushes or shrubs. Harvest should occur after three or four growing seasons. &ldquo;The only thing you do during the next rotation is put a little fertilizer on in the spring as it&rsquo;s sprouting, cut it again and let it grow for another three or four years,&rdquo; Volk says. &ldquo;If you run on a three-year cycle for example, you&rsquo;ll put it in the ground once and harvest seven times.&rdquo;
 Currently, researchers are harvesting 4 to 5 dry tons per acre each year, but new varieties in SUNY&rsquo;s breeding program are showing yield increases of 20 to 25 percent. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s very initial work, but I think we&rsquo;ll be able to increase that steadily over time,&rdquo; Volk says.&nbsp; Across the U.S. in the Pacific West, Greenwood Resources Inc. is also selecting and breeding short-rotation woody crops, zeroing in on hybrid poplar.&nbsp;
 Planting Poplar
 Greenwood manages 35,000 acres of poplar in Oregon and Washington, which are being used for biomass energy and saw and pulp logs. Jake Eaton, Greenwood&rsquo;s managing director of acquisitions and resource planning, says the company believes poplar and woody crops such as eucalyptus will become the feedstock choice for biomass energy, whether for heat and power generation, gasification or advanced liquid biofuels.&nbsp;
 Greenwood&rsquo;s business model is to partner with an energy or technology company, identify a growing area, analyze the potential investment, take the project to investors to get funding for plantation development, and then sell the feedstock to the customers.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 As poplar is the most widely adapted tree species in the world, Greenwood has extended its reach into China, Europe and South America, including operations in Chile to provide feedstock to power stations, Eaton says.
 Ideal locations for poplar plantations are in temperate regions of the globe. &ldquo;Good conditions for poplar are deep, well-drained soils, moderate heat and sunshine, and access to water either through ground water or adequate precipitation,&rdquo; he says, adding that they are grown intensively with timely weed and pest control, and fertilizer if necessary. &ldquo;The production systems for biomass require 12- to 15-year rotations within which we have four to five coppice cycles where the tree is harvested,&rdquo; he says. In the Southern U.S., South Carolina-based Arborgen Inc. is developing high-yielding, short-rotation crop seedlings including poplar, but its highest yielding crop is its freeze-tolerant eucalyptus, which was approved for field testing by the USDA last summer.
 Quantifying Eucalyptus 
 Field testing of Arborgen&rsquo;s freeze-tolerant eucalyptus has shown the trees can survive temperatures as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit and can therefore be planted in Florida, southern Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and southern Texas.&nbsp;
 Arborgen Product Development Manager Jeff Wright says an average 25-megawatt (MW) power plant would require about 137,700 bone dry short tons (BDT) per year, assuming a heat rate of 11,000 Btu per kilowatt hour, 90 percent capacity factor and a heat content of 8,000 Btu per pound. &ldquo;Most woody biomass is delivered shortly following harvest, and the 25-MW power facility would require 250,400 green short tons at a moisture content of 45 percent,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;To supply 100 percent of the woody biomass requirements in southern Georgia would require approximately 19,600 acres of plantation eucalypts on seven-year rotations (7 BDT per acre per year, planting and harvesting 2,800 acres annually).&rdquo;
 To supply all of the woody biomass requirements in south Florida would require 11,500 acres of plantation eucalypts on five-year rotations (yielding 12 BDT per acre per year, planting and harvesting 2,300 acres annually). &ldquo;However, at present, it is unlikely that a 25-MW power facility would be supplied solely by purpose-grown trees given availability of harvest, mill and urban biomass sources not presently utilized,&rdquo; Wright adds.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 Challenges and the Future 
 The system for growing willow trees at a meaningful or commercial scale for bioenergy needs to be further optimized, Volk says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s at a stage where it can start being deployed and, as long as we learn as we go, we can improve it over time,&rdquo; he says.
 Brad Hunter, Greenwood business development analyst, says the company is seeing increased demand for commercial applications in Europe, and while there is interest from utilities and others in the U.S., regulatory uncertainty is weighing on the biomass market. &ldquo;In the areas where these wood pellet, cellulosic ethanol and electricity companies are operating, there&rsquo;s increasing demand for purpose-grown trees and management systems,&rdquo; Hunter says. The demand for these trees in the U.S., however, will largely depend on permitting and engineering developments in bioenergy facilities, Wright says, and also continued financing.
 Another challenge is the upfront establishment cost of tree farms. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re putting in or near 6,000 [willow] plants per acre, we&rsquo;re probably spending $800 to $1,000 an acre to get the crop established,&rdquo; Volk says. &ldquo;Landowners look at that and see it as a big outlay, not getting any money back for four years until the first harvest.&rdquo;
 To help alleviate these costs, Arborgen will provide landowners an opportunity to grow both pine biomass for bioenergy and a higher value pine for saw timber. &ldquo;The analysis undertaken would suggest that financial returns to the landowner will be higher for the flex stand than either biomass or saw timber in separate plantations,&rdquo; Wright says.
 SUNY has done some economic modeling of the willow production system, which, using seven three-year rotations, predicts a return of 5 to 5.5 percent. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t sound so bad for an ag crop, but that&rsquo;s over 21 years,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;When you run a cash-flow analysis, the upfront establishment investment doesn&rsquo;t get paid back until about year 12 or so, about mid-way through the rotation. The last three or four harvests is when you&rsquo;re making your money.&rdquo;
 The Biomass Crop Assistance Program should reduce establishment cost, making it much more attractive for landowners, according to Volk. When SUNY&rsquo;s model is run with BCAP incentives plugged in&mdash;cost share and annual rental payments&mdash;the upfront establishment costs are recovered at first harvest and cash flow is positive after that. &ldquo;The return on investment then is about 35 percent, so it makes it attractive,&rdquo; Volk says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m actually a little concerned that it&rsquo;ll be overly attractive. In Sweden in the early &rsquo;90s, they over-incentivized willow and in a couple years they planted 20,000 or 30,000 acres but much of it was poorly established and had poor yields. There was this initial boost with the incentives, but it stalled out the program longer term.&rdquo;
 Hunter says Greenwood is working with several conversion facilities to apply for the BCAP. &ldquo;We think it is a good opportunity to share the establishment risk, but we&rsquo;re still waiting for more clarity from local [Farm Service Agency] staff on how it will be implemented,&rdquo; he says.
 Right now, Volk believes the cropping system is ready for deployment if a package can be put together. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way to make it work&mdash;to link those pieces together and share the risk,&rdquo; he says.
 Author: Anna Austin Associate Editor, Biomass Power &amp; Thermal (701) 738-4968 <a href="mailto:aaustin@bbiinternational.com">aaustin@bbiinternational.com </a>

2011/01/12942438658919.jpg

DIGGING IN: Researchers are trying to determine how to feasibly grow willows on marginal land that is not suitable for traditional row crops.  

2011/01/12942439206395.jpg

FIELD OF TREES:  A mature hybrid poplar stand should be planted like row crops.

2011/01/12942440401068.jpg

Hybrid poplar, willow and eucalyptus are highly adaptable, fast-growing and easy to regenerate, but will landowners grow them if they can't reap instant rewards?

Cream of the Coppice

The U.S. EPA has recently promulgated environmental regulations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that will impose significant new air quality permitting requirements on both new and existing industrial facilities and projects. For new projects in particular, these requirements could substantially affect the associated cost, design, and permitting timelines.
 On Dec. 7, 2009, the U.S. EPA issued its Endangerment Finding, which determined that the current and projected concentrations of the six key GHGs&mdash;carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride&mdash;in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.1 As a result of this and subsequent rulemaking, these GHGs became &ldquo;regulated pollutants&rdquo; under a number of air quality regulatory programs.
Because of the special nature of GHGs, including the much larger mass of emissions required to have an environmental impact relative to traditional air pollutants, the EPA has since been working to clarify how these new pollutants will be regulated under existing air quality permitting programs.
 On June 3, the U.S. EPA published the &ldquo;Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule,&rdquo;2 clarifying how GHGs are to be treated under these two existing air quality permitting programs (this is known as the Tailoring Rule).
 As a result, existing facilities and new projects will need to consider the potential applicability of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V permitting programs (discussed further below) due to GHG emissions. In some cases, one or both of these programs may apply due solely to GHG emissions, whereas they would not have applied prior to issuance of the Tailoring Rule.
 Of interest to the readers of Biomass Power &amp; Thermal, as part of the Tailoring Rule, the EPA has solicited further information about issues surrounding the degree of carbon neutrality that might be applied to GHG emissions resulting from the combustion of biomass fuels. Although the fact that additional information is being solicited suggests that the EPA may apply different criteria to biomass combustion GHGs in the future, currently the Tailoring Rule does not treat these GHGs differently than the&nbsp; GHGs emitted from fossil fuels.
 One way that GHG emissions will need to be quantified in order to assess applicability of the PSD and Title V permitting programs is to estimate the sum of each individual GHG annual emission rate multiplied by its global warming potential (GWP); this sum is known as the CO2 equivalent emission rate, or CO2e.3 For biomass combustion sources, the value for CO2e will be determined primarily by CO2 emissions.&nbsp; The current applicability of GHG emissions to the PSD and Title V permitting programs, based on CO2e emission levels, are described below.
 Changes to Title V Permitting
 The Title V permitting program provides the top tier of air quality operating permits for existing facilities and is applicable only to facilities with relatively large emissions of regulated air pollutants. Compared to lower tier permitting, Title V permits typically require a higher level of compliance monitoring and incur higher annual permitting fees. At the time of this writing, Title V permitting requirements generally apply only to facilities that have the potential to emit greater than 100 tons per year (tpy) of a regulated pollutant, or 10/25 tpy of an individual/all combined hazardous air pollutants. Going forward, GHG emissions will trigger the need for a Title V permit as described in Table 1.
 As shown in Table 1, existing facilities not subject to Title V permitting prior to July 1 will become subject to Title V permitting on that date if the facility has the potential to emit over 100,000 tons per year of CO2e and 100 tons per year of GHG on a mass basis (i.e., not accounting for GWPs). For these facilities, a Title V permit application must be submitted within 12 months of becoming subject to these requirements.
 For reference, a single wood-fired boiler with a heat input capacity of roughly 110 million Btu per hour (MMBtu/hr) that has no permit restrictions on annual hours of operation would have the potential to emit 100,000 tons per year CO2e.
 Changes to Major New Source Review
 The PSD new source review (NSR) permitting program provides air quality construction permits for projects at relatively large facilities with significant increases of air pollutant emissions located in areas that attain national ambient air quality standards. Unlike the potential Title V permitting requirements for GHG emissions, which can apply to existing facilities not making any changes, the PSD NSR permitting requirements can only be triggered by new facilities, the addition of new emission units to existing facilities, or the modification of existing emission units at existing facilities (i.e., something has to change at a facility that results in a significant increase in emissions).
 Under the Tailoring Rule, many projects for new and modified facilities that wouldn&rsquo;t have previously been affected will be pulled into the PSD permitting program.&nbsp; Prior to the new rule, only those facilities with total emissions of greater than 250 tons per year (or 100 tons per year for certain types of facilities) of a regulated air pollutant could potentially be subject to PSD permitting requirements. These levels of emissions are typically indicative of a relatively large industrial facility or process. For example, a new biomass-fired boiler emitting a reasonably low 0.20 pounds per MMBtu of nitrogen oxides (NOx) would need to have an average heat input rate of at least 285 MMBtu/hr before exceeding the 250 ton per year threshold for regulation under the PSD permitting program (assuming it was the only stationary NOx-emitting source at a facility with the 250 tpy threshold). With emission controls, even much larger biomass-fired industrial boilers could avoid the PSD program.
 Under the new GHG regulations, relatively small facilities with combustion sources will be subject to PSD review for GHGs and, likely, for other pollutants as well.&nbsp; The new GHG PSD applicability thresholds will phase in as shown in Table 2.
 These GHG emission thresholds apply to all new and modified sources combined at a facility. In addition, starting July 1, if a facility (new or existing) has total GHG emissions exceeding 100,000 tpy CO2e, and new emissions (due to adding new sources or modifying existing sources) of other pollutants exceeding their associated Significant Emission Rates (SERs), the project will be subject to PSD NSR requirements for those pollutants as well, even if facility-wide emissions of no other pollutants exceed 100/250 tpy (SERs for many regulated pollutants fall in the range of 10 to 40 tpy). As an example, a new biomass power plant consisting of a 150 MMBtu/hr wood-fired boiler, steam turbine, and ancillary fuel handling equipment could have the following maximum potential annual emissions:
 &bull; 25 tpy of particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM10) (SER of 15 tpy)
 &bull; 130 tpy of NOx (SER of 40 tpy)
 &bull; 136,000 tpy of CO2e (SER of 75,000 tpy)
 Prior to July 1, this project would not be subject to PSD NSR permitting requirements because emissions of each non-GHG pollutant are less than 250 tpy. Starting July 1, such a project would be subject to PSD NSR requirements for PM10, NOx, and GHGs because CO2e emissions exceed 100,000 tpy and maximum potential emissions of all three pollutants exceed their associated SER, likely increasing the cost of the project significantly.
 The PSD NSR permitting program includes potential requirements such as:
 &bull; Use of Best Available Control Technology for control of air pollutant emissions.
 &bull; Dispersion modeling to demonstrate compliance with ambient air quality standards and PSD increments.
 &bull; Dispersion modeling to demonstrate potential impacts to visibility and deposition within Class I protected areas.
 &bull; Pre- or post-construction monitoring of ambient air pollutants.
 Compliance with these additional requirements under the PSD NSR program can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the project.
 In November 2010, the EPA released a guidance document for implementation of the new GHG regulations. Among other topics, this document discusses potential approaches to evaluating BACT for GHGs. Briefly, some of the guidance provided is as follows:
 &bull; BACT for new facilities will need to evaluate energy efficiency measures for the emission unit itself as well as overall energy efficiency of all aspects of the facility pertaining to the energy produced by the facility and used at the facility site (e.g., steam and/or electricity).
 &bull; BACT for modified existing facilities only need to evaluate energy efficiency measures for the new or modified emission units themselves.
 &bull; Energy efficiency improvements to be evaluated include changes to the emission unit design, but not wholesale changes to the fundamental business purpose for the proposed emission unit or facility. For example, a proposed wood-fired boiler need not consider replacement with a natural gas boiler. However, the guidance document gives the specific example of a subcritical steam pressure boiler that would need to evaluate the improved energy efficiency provided by a supercritical steam pressure boiler, which is likely to be a cost-effective change relative to associated reductions in GHG emissions.
 &bull; Capture and use (or sequestration) of GHGs should at least be considered and evaluated within the framework of the BACT determination process.
 In general, if PSD NSR requirements for GHGs are triggered, all BACT options that would reduce GHG emissions to the atmosphere must be considered as part of the evaluation process and either dismissed on the basis of technical infeasibility, dismissed on the basis of adverse environmental impact, dismissed on the basis of cost-effectiveness or incorporated into the project.
&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s Next?
 The discussion above provides only a brief overview of the new GHG regulations under the Tailoring Rule, but gives an indication of how otherwise exempt new or existing biomass facilities might get pulled into the Title V permitting program, and similarly how new or modified biomass facilities might get pulled into the PSD NSR permitting program.
 In addition to evaluating the potential applicability of these permitting programs under the new rules, facility operators and developers should track future GHG rulemaking resulting from:
 &bull; The EPA&rsquo;s future determinations concerning the degree of carbon neutrality associated with combusting biomass-derived fuels. This could alter the applicability of the permitting programs discussed in this article to emission units combusting biomass-derived fuels and/or specific source categories.
 &bull; The EPA&rsquo;s indication in the Tailoring Rule that they intend to eventually lower the GHG emissions thresholds for applicability of the permitting programs discussed in this article, pulling in even smaller facilities. These changes will be finalized no later than July 1, 2012, with implementation following one year later. However, the EPA committed in the Tailoring Rule that no facilities with GHG emissions (or emission increases) below 50,000 tpy CO2e would be pulled into these programs before April 30, 2016.
 In this new era of federal regulation of GHGs, the Tailoring Rule provides what is likely to be only the first step in a program of air quality permitting requirements aimed at reducing overall GHG emissions from industrial sources. 1 Later published in Federal Register, Volume 74, No. 239, December 15, 2009, pp 66496 &ndash; 66546. 2 Federal Register, Volume 75, No. 106, June 3, 2010, pp 31514 &ndash; 31608. 3 GWP values are provided relative to the GWP for CO2, which is assigned a value of one.&nbsp; Other GWP values can be found in the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s mandatory GHG reporting rule (40 CFR Part 98). Authors: Brian Patterson, Ph.D. Associate and Senior Consultant, Golder Associates Inc. (503) 607-1820 <a href="mailto:Brian_Patterson@golder.com">Brian_Patterson@golder.com</a> Geoff Scott, P.E. Senior Project Engineer, Golder Associates Inc. (503) 607-1820 <a href="mailto:Geoff_Scott@golder.com">Geoff_Scott@golder.com</a>

2011/01/12942449035376.jpg

2011/01/12942454293588.jpg

2011/01/12942466055556.jpg

Biomass plant operators and developers need to be aware how the U.S. EPA's Tailoring Rule was developed and to keep track of important dates and trigger levels.

GHG Emissions Trigger New Air Quality Permitting Requirements

Posted Dec. 22, 2010
 
 Barrington, Ill.-based EcoloCap Solutions Inc. has selected Triad Constructors Inc. out of Fenton, Mo., as the installation and commissioning partner for its new biodiesel technology. According to EcoloCap, Triad Constructors will be utilized for the sales, distribution, installation and commissioning of new Nano Processing Waste biodiesel processing units sold in North America. 
 
 Although Biodiesel Magazine was unable to reach EcoloCap for further comment on the contract and its NPW technology, the company's website states that the units can convert a broad range of feedstock into biodiesel without preprocessing. "Through our nanotechnology and use of additive we reduce chemical consumption and production costs significantly," EcoloCap states on its website. "We also offer a glycerin refining process that will refine glycerin to medical grade 99-plus percent."
 
 According to EcoloCap, the system is guaranteed to produce ASTM-quality biodiesel and is designed to be run in a hybrid batch/flow process. The system also includes an automated quality monitoring system and features increased alcohol recovery capabilities. The company further states that the system features a remote system control that can be accessed via the internet, can produce 900 to 18,000 gallons of biodiesel a day, and can be outfitted with an optional glycerin refining processor. 
 
 An annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission in May 2010 also offers a brief explanation of the process. "Our new processing technology will allow customers to utilize cheaper feedstock, reduce production cost per gallon, and produce biodiesel exceeding all ASTM specs," states the report. "Our NPW Series processing technology will convert a multitude of fats, oils and greases, virgin and waste, into 100 percent high-quality ASTM specification biodiesel. Most equipment providers must first approve feedstock to ensure biodiesel quality. We do not … and there is no limit on the degree of waste oil that can be processed." The annual report also notes that EcoloCap acquired 55 percent of nanotechnology provider Mirco Bubble Technologies in 2009, which developed the NPW machine. 
 

 Regarding the contract with Triad Constructors, EcoloCap noted in an announcement that the company was selected due to the significant experience its management team has in the biodiesel industry. "Triad Constructors' President Mark Johnston has been active in industrial construction for more than 30 years, with the last 11 years committed to the renewable fuels industry," stated EcoloCap. "Since 2006, Johnston has designed/built four plants in Missouri and completed the equipment and mechanical installation on three other plants."
 
 According to EcoloCap, Triad Constructors will be commissioning the NPW system that has been purchased by Kansas-based R3 Energy. "Although it has been a long process to bring this technology to market, we have now accomplished a major step in forming this alliance with Triad Constructors," said EcoloCap President and CEO Michael Siegel, in a statement. "We all at EcoloCap are very excited about the potential this brings, and the value it will add to our operations."

EcoloCap selects Triad Constructors as partner

Posted Jan. 5, 2011 A newly-formed coalition, American Biofuels Now, has been formed in Florida with the mission to educate policymakers, media and consumers about the economic and environmental benefits of biofuels. The group has the backing of various biofuel advocates, members of the military and academia, energy activists, end users and advanced biofuel developers and producers such as LS9 Inc., Enerkem Inc., U.S. EnviroFuels, Biodiesel Industries Inc. and BlueFire Renewables Inc. ABN founder Honey Rand told Biodiesel Magazine what distinguishes the new group from the other major trade organizations such as the Renewable Fuels Association or the National Biodiesel Board is that it will focus efforts on educating local media outlets and regional policymakers about the benefits of various biofuels, and how biofuels positively impact local and regional communities. "Our mission is to put a local 'face' on biofuels within communities in Florida," she said. "What we decided that we're going to do is start in Florida and start with local media-The St. Petersburg Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Citrus County Chronicle, The Charlotte Sun Herald-and go to those editorial boards and reporters to talk about the impacts on a local level both economically and environmentally," she said, adding that ABN intends to eventually broaden its strategy out into local communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Rand, a member of the Florida Biofuels Board, said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that occurred in April was what prompted her to spearhead the group's formation. "We have to do something to promote biofuels and to get people to understand that these are American biofuels, that they're American, made by American hands with American technology," Rand said. "This creates economic opportunity now and in the future. It creates a level of security that we don't presently have, and we haven't for many decades." There are no financial or membership obligations to participate in the ABN coalition, Rand said, adding that it also doesn't hold biases toward specific biofuels or technology platforms from any of its current or would-be supporting members. "We're not going to pick winners and losers," she said. "That's for the marketplace to decide and forces well beyond us." The ABN created a petition, a Facebook page and a place where people can sign on and tell their biofuels story from anywhere in the country. "We invite people to tell their story so that we can promote them," Rand said. "We're promoting those people that are participating and helping them to free us from foreign oil and to create green jobs." To learn more about the ABN, click <a rel="external" href="http://www.americanbiofuelsnow.com/index.php" target="_blank">here</a>.

2011/01/12943501842233_thumb.jpg

2011/01/12943501842233.jpg

2011/01/1294352468918.jpg

A newly-formed coalition, American Biofuels Now, has been formed in Florida with the mission to educate policymakers, media and consumers about the economic and environmental benefits of biofuels.

Another biofuel coalition forms

According to the "Biodiesel Overview" report released by the U.S. DOE's Energy Information Administration, production in August sat at 23 million gallons, down from 28 million gallons in July. Similarly, consumption fell to 18 million gallons in August, down from 27 million gallons in July.	
 
 Certainly, macroeconomic factors such as the lapsed tax credit, price disparity between biodiesel and diesel and unfavorable blend economics are impacting decreased production and consumption levels. But, there may be an additional factor, according to Lisa Mortenson, CEO and founder of California-based biodiesel producer Community Fuels. 
 
 "Customers that used to pull product on a steady basis and maintain their own high volumes are now looking at pushing down their on-hand volumes," she says, noting that the company's 10 MMgy multifeedstock facility in Stockton, Calif., has successfully produced and sold biodiesel. "It's not that they're not still buying product, but we're seeing our customers take a 'just-in-time' approach, in other words, pulling product from our plant literally as they need it."
 
 Additionally, EIA reported that biodiesel production peaked at 34 million gallons in March while consumption stood at a high of 29 million gallons in February.

How additional factors are driving decreased biodiesel production, consumption

Pump up the Volume

Posted Dec. 28, 2010
 
 Confined Animal Feeding Operations and algal biomass may have a unique link that could help move algae-to-energy developments closer to commercialization. Why? According to Thomas Byrne, president and CEO of Byrne & Company LLP, a renewable energy project developer, CAFOs offer a rich source of nutrients that can be used as a feedstock to grow algae. Most operations located in the northern climates are equipped with anaerobic digesters that use microbes to break down the organic forms of nitrogen and phosphorous into inorganic forms, Byrne said, all of which can be assimilated by various algal species. 
 
 "The methane produced by the anaerobic microbes is burned in a generator to produce an export of electricity and also waste heat that can be utilized to raise algae year-round," Byrne says. "Bioreactors to grow algal species are well suited to take both the inorganic forms of nitrogen and phosphorous from the digester, as well as the waste heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the generator, to produce ideal inputs for algal growth." 
 
 While the idea of co-locating an algal biomass growing facility with an established CAFO is a very real possibility, Byrne notes that the amount of algae grown for commercialization on a CAFO is limited by the availability of the CO2, nitrogen and phosphorus. "The limitations are both from what the CAFO produces, and what is needed from other operations of the CAFO." Some bioreactor technology, like that of Algaedyne's, which uses a process that controls photosynthesis by injecting only Photosynthetic Active Radiation into the depth of algae vessels, would make the process more feasible. 
 

 During the 2011 Pacific West Biomass Conference & Trade Show, Jan. 10-12 in Seattle, Byrne will discuss the feasibility of a CAFO and algal biomass operation, and he'll do it with a real-life facility as a model. Based on a large dairy operation in Wisconsin, Byrne will highlight the drying technology, CO2 capture, heat exchange and actual conversion percentages to biomass achieved at the facility. 
 
 A University of Wisconsin alumnus, Margaret McCormick, will join Byrne during an algae-based panel, titled, Algal Research, Development and Commercialization in the Pacific Northwest. McCormick, now chief operating officer of a crop biotechnology company called Targeted Growth Inc. based out of Seattle, will discuss algae strain development for advanced biofuels. 
 
 To add to the algae discussion, Shulin Chen from Washington State University will present strategies and other technical approaches for algae development suited for the Northwest, and James Oyler will describe a new gasifier technology that creates renewable natural gas from wet biomass. 
 
 Click <a target="_blank" href="http://pacificwest.biomassconference.com" rel="external">here</a> to register for the 2011 Pacific West Biomass Conference & Trade Show and learn more about the CAFO and algal biomass facility model, along with the latest developments in algae strain research.

Feed ops could help commercialize algae

North Carolina's Fort Bragg is big, roughly 165,000 acres, but while the military installation's main theater of training happens several thousand feet in the air, the Fort needs to expand. But while it cannot expand in acreage, the dilemma might present an opportunity for biodiesel. The institution (the size of an entire county), acts as a major economic driver, according to Jon Parsons, executive director for Sustainable Sandhills, a nonprofit organization founded by Fort Bragg to work with the surrounding communities. Because of the impact, Parson says, "It is a very attractive place to live." That apparently is a problem, especially to the home of the 82nd Airborne Division. 
 
 "At Fort Bragg we had a drop zone that was right on our boundary," says Julia Love, sustainable land use planner for the Fort, "and real estate developers in the 1990s built right up to the property line." And, as Love says, you can't have a drop zone on the boundaries with housing only a few hundred yards away. Why? Imagine taking a sip of your morning coffee on a crisp North Carolina morning, watching a soldier or a piece of equipment fall from the sky into your backyard. Love says, "When we were doing drops with soldiers and cargo equipment, we had drops landing in the back yards of houses, and that basically took that drop zone out of use." 
 
 Today, with commercial and residential encroachment towards the outside fence, they employ a program developed to deal with this specific problem. The Army Compatible Use Buffers program acts to establish a buffer zone around a military installation to reduce land restrictions and increase the amount of land available for a wide range of military training sessions, including air drops like those performed at Fort Bragg. The program at its best, says Love, acts as a public/private partnership, bringing together local farmers or nature conservatories to utilize and maintain sections on and off the base through agricultural practices that benefit both parties. 
 
 Fort Bragg is currently working with a farmer to maintain a 100-acre Coastal Bermuda hay field. As a result, the farmer will get paid and the base can use the hay. "We do not have any program currently where any of that land is in production for biodiesel," Love says, "but it would certainly be a good fit for that program in the future." Typically the crops that grow well in the area are tobacco and soybeans. 
 
 We know the U.S. continues the push for fossil fuel independence, but could we actually grow an energy crop and produce a biofuel at our military installations? If it seems improbable, ask a few homeowners living outside Fort Bragg about the probability of a paratrooper showing up in the backyard.

FROM THE SKY: Excluding holidays, Fort Bragg runs training missions everyday, and several of them utilize drop zones close to the installation's boundaries. PHOTO: FORT BRAGG

2301-1294332350.jpg

At Fort Bragg, the idea of dual-purposing crop land is catching on

The Military's Next Buffer Zone

Thanksgiving came and went, bringing with it nearly a foot of snow, subzero temperatures and the short, dark, very windy days of winter in the upper Midwest. The onset of winter tends to offset people's moods, you can see it in their faces as they adjust to the harsh reality of living in a deep freezer for the next five months. The weather is really the only extreme thing the region has to offer-and it's offered in abundance. Forty degrees below zero is not uncommon, and it doesn't matter if I mean Fahrenheit or Celsius because it's so cold that those scales meet there.
 
 It's almost exciting, waking up hours before sunrise after days of pounding wind have built mountain-like snow drifts before your very eyes, to blow these megalithic drifts away and restore order in the country-at least in the driveway. An hour later, maybe two or three, when you can't feel your legs or fingers anymore, when mustache and eyebrows have turned into blocks of ice, it's very comforting to go into the house, especially knowing it's warmed by biodiesel-blended heating oil. 
 
 I heat my house with an oilheat furnace and a wood stove. Wood takes a lot more work, and time, which I don't always have. But burning a biodiesel blend in my oil furnace takes no work at all, and I don't have to worry about its performance either since it gained my trust long ago. I've never been given a reason to doubt it. And I feel good because I know I'm supporting a great and fascinating industry every time the furnace kicks on, and that's often. 

 
 Wood is nice, it offers an adventure behind it, and it will keep you warm too. Wood heats you three times more than other forms of energy because it heats you when you cut it, then again when you split it, and finally when you burn it. But wood is just not convenient and seamless to the user like biodiesel-blended heating oil is. 
 
 This is our annual Bioheat issue, in which you will find a feature article, an editorial column and a story in the National Biodiesel Board's section that cover the latest developments and opportunities in the sector.

2294-1294332346.jpg

Embrace Bioheat

The rise in social media sites has provided employers with the opportunity to learn more about job applicantsthan ever before. It is an enticing notion to be able to take a sneak peak into an applicant's personal life. But employers must be wary. Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or MySpace to screen candidates may be as difficult as navigating through a minefield. While online research offers potential benefits such as easy, convenient and free information regarding a candidate, employers must also be aware of the concurrent risks associated with such research. 
 
 Social networking profiles often reveal information about a candidate's protected class-a candidate's age, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religious beliefs, military status. This protected information may appear in several different forms within a candidate's profile. Consider the following scenario: Your company decides to perform a Web search on each of the finalists for a new position. The company's human resources professional performs the search and finds a picture of one finalist in full costume leading a local gay rights parade. What does the human resources professional do with that particular information? If a candidate who is not hired for the position finds out that the company conducted the search and reviewed the candidate's personal online profile, the company may find itself having to show that it did not rely on improper information when deciding not to hire that particular candidate. When utilizing online resources to research a candidate, employers should review candidates based on their qualifications and not necessarily the information in an online profile. 
 
 Practically speaking, many times information found online is more fiction than fact. Moreover, even factual information can be misinterpreted when taken out of context. As a result, using online information creates the following dilemmas: Is the information accurate or relevant to the job opening or does it have any bearing on the candidate's ability to succeed in a given occupation?
 
 In addition, employers should be aware that in certain circumstances, reviewing online profiles could lead to an invasion of privacy claim by the candidate. A fine line exists between a candidate's right to informational privacy and an employer knowing as much as it can about the candidate. Many social media profiles are private and only accessible by "friends" of the candidate. Employers must be careful of the tactics they use to gain access to information on social networks. For example, employers should avoid using someone else's login information or falsifying information to gain access to a candidate's profile. 
 
 Employers must first decide whether it is worth the risk to use social media to screen candidates. Employers may want to consider the reasoning/purpose behind using social media in the hiring process. Employers who conduct online research as a part of the hiring process should work with legal counsel to develop and document an internal policy to govern the use of social networks to screen candidates. Such a policy should define the type or specific positions for which online research will be used to assess candidates. In addition, the written policy should create a standardized process for utilizing the online research including defining the point at which human resources may look to online resources. Also, employers may want to specify in the policy what information the employer is looking for through the online research. A written policy that is consistently followed may help mitigate the risks associated with such screening. 
 
 Finally, employers may want to consider asking candidates for written consent to use social networking sites as a part of the screening process or at least provide notice to candidates that a background check will be conducted that may include a review of any publicly available social media sites. Employers, however, should avoid snooping into an account that is blocked from public viewing. 
 
 Author: Danielle D. Smid 
 Attorney, BrownWinick

 (515) 242-2476
 <a href="mailto:smid@brownwinick.com">smid@brownwinick.com</a>

2295-1294332346.jpg

Social Media Pose Risks as Hiring Tool

In suburban Connecticut and many other Northeastern suburban communities, the latest buzzwords to describe the current local economy is the "new normal." Thousands of independent, small and medium-sized businesses are facing extraordinarily sized contractions to their sales and revenues. Financial services firms, real estate and construction companies, retail main street businesses and service companies are financially suffering to the tune of 30 to 50 percent declines in revenues over the past 5 years. The reality of high unemployment and reductions in consumer spending are beginning to settle into the current economy. We all hope this economic correction will end soon, but there are few, if any, optimistic signs in the new normal. 
 
 In 2010, the U.S. biodiesel industry also experienced a drop in domestic gallons produced and distributed, largely due to the failure of Congress to reinstate the $1 per gallon biodiesel blenders excise tax credit, and key market segments such as Bioheat are feeling its effects. The independent retail oilheat marketer is not insulated from the new normal. With the family budget under siege, conservation at home is having a significant impact on overall gallons sold. Other constant economic challenges for the oilheat marketer are sudden commodity changes in the price of oil, poorly hedged contract positions, natural gas competition and even Mother Nature, as temperatures fluctuate. Now more than ever, the oilheat industry must recreate its brand image. Integrating biodiesel into the existing petroleum infrastructure provides the oilheat marketer a new, improved liquid fuel for the existing oilheat consumer. In this fast-changing world, Bioheat represents a sustainable growth opportunity, presenting the independent oilheat marketer opportunity to grow and green their business in the new normal. 
 
 For marketers and distributors searching market certainty in uncertain times, Bioheat has become a significant beneficiary of the RFS2 rulemaking process. U.S. EPA now recognizes biodiesel as an advanced biofuel. Heating oil integration is allowable under RFS2 and provides an opportunity and a likely source for many mandated biodiesel gallons in coming years. The term Bioheat is a registered industry trademark whose definition is ASTM D396 heating oil blended with ASTM D6751 biodiesel.
 
 RFS2 and renewable identification number (RIN) markets provide certainty for the long-term usage of biodiesel-Bioheat marketers can feel secure about marketing this renewable energy source. Another benefit of the new RFS2 rules is that all of the new regulatory reporting, RIN tracking calculations and other compliance regulations are all handled upstream between the biodiesel producer or importer and the oilheat and diesel fuel terminal suppliers. The oilheat marketer will continue to purchase Bioheat through its current petroleum suppliers, with regulatory reporting and RINs calculations in most cases already figured into the wholesale pricing, eliminating pricing confusion. 
 
 This past spring and summer, I spoke with numerous oilheat dealers at petroleum industry conferences, state association meetings and in several private discussions. I clearly sensed some concern from them about the future of biodiesel, because of the absence of the tax credit and the availability of ratable biodiesel supply. The truth is, with RFS2, a Bioheat marketer now has the ability to market an advanced biofuel to the consumer. Biodiesel is a liquid drop-in fuel of the highest quality; a renewable energy that possesses a minimum 50 percent reduction in carbon emission compared to distillate fuel. This reduction calculation takes into account indirect land use criteria as well as the life-cycle analysis of biodiesel. 
 
 Biodiesel is one of the few renewable energy technologies that has made its way out of the lab as a theoretical application, to become a viable renewable energy. Bioheat is ready for primetime distribution and consumer use today in existing heating equipment-without any modifications.
 
 
 Author: Michael Devine

 CEO, Earth Energy Alliance; Petroleum Liaison, NBB
 (203) 221-3044
 <a href="mailto:mike@earthenergyalliance.com">mike@earthenergyalliance.com</a>

2296-1294332347.jpg

Bioheat 2011 in the 'New Normal' Economy

What do Apple's iPad, improved 3-D glasses and Amtrak's Heartland Flyer locomotive have in common? They all made Time magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2010." The Heartland Flyer, which makes daily runs between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas, was the only one of Time's 10 transportation innovations available to the public on the "50 Best" list.
 
 Amtrak received a $274,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to study the feasibility and effectiveness of using B20 in its Heartland Flyer locomotive. Amtrak conducted the 12-month long trial experiment in partnership with the Oklahoma and Texas Departments of Transportation.
 
 "Amtrak travel is already more energy efficient than most other forms of inter-city transportation," says Roy Deitchman, vice president of environmental health and safety for Amtrak. "If the test shows this use of a renewable fuel in our locomotive is successful, it's a home run for our passengers, for our partners and for the planet."
 
 Powered by a 3,200-horsepower General Electric P32-8 locomotive with a 12-cylinder diesel engine, Amtrak announced that the Heartland Flyer would be running on B20 on Earth Day in February 2010. The locomotive subsequently received a decal in April indicating that it used nothing but B20 on its regular stops through Norman, Okla., Purcell, Okla., Pauls Valley, Okla., Ardmore, Okla., and Gainesville, Texas. The Heartland Flyer is fueled in Fort Worth by Amtrak's existing fuel vender, Euless, Texas-based Direct Fuels, which provides beef tallow-derived biodiesel.
 
 "The cost difference between a biodiesel blend and straight ultra-low sulfur diesel is about a nickel per gallon to what it was a few years ago," says Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari, adding that the train does a daily 400-mile round trip between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, burning about 100,000 gallons of fuel a year in the process.
 
 As part of maintenance and inspections during the trial run test, according to Magliari, Amtrak will perform analysis of the engine oil every 10 days for degradation and/or dilution, including wear and tear on gaskets and valves. At the end of the trial test in April 2011, Amtrak will collect locomotive exhaust emissions data in accordance with U.S. EPA locomotive exhaust emissions federal test protocol in the final report. The trial has received support on fuel and engine component evaluation from Chevron Oronite. 
 
 Previously conducted stationary locomotive engine testing of B20 has shown to reduce hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide each by 10 percent, particulates by 15 percent and sulfates by 20 percent, according to Amtrak. 

 
 In an effort to control quality, all the batches of biodiesel are tested in conforming to parameters set by the BQ-9000 program. "We also test for water content, viscosity and carbon residue on every batch," Magliari says. Additionally, at least one batch is tested for metals content and sulfated ash on a monthly basis, along with semiannual testing of cetane and distillation parameters. 
 
 According to Amtrak, ridership in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 stood at 81,749, up 11 percent from the previous year, while ridership in October increased by more than 17 percent compared to the same period in 2009.

FULL SPEED AHEAD: Amtrak's Heartland Flyer at Fort Worth, Texas, the southern terminus of the daily 206-mile route to and from Oklahoma City. PHOTO: William Shaffer

2297-1294332348.jpg

Amtrak's Heartland Flyer uses B20 in trial experiment, makes best inventions list

Biodiesel Gets On Track

At a minimum, 8 percent of U.S. fuel needs in 2011 will be met by renewable fuel, if the U.S. EPA's 2011 RFS2 volume requirements are met. Of that 8 percent, 800 million gallons will come from biomass-based diesel. Although that number pales in comparison to what a fully operational U.S. biodiesel producing market could produce, the number still appears to be a good thing. The NBB thinks so, as do several other producers, but is 800 million gallons attainable? According to the EPA in a statement from its final rule, the answer is yes. "The total biodiesel production capacity at facilities that are still operating is 2.4 billion gallons. Ramping up production will require some time and potentially some reinvestment, but based on feedback from industry we nevertheless believe that it can occur in time to meet a production goal of 800 million gallons." 	
 
 For Ed Burke, a newly elected member of the RINAlliance board of directors, meeting the requirement shouldn't be a problem, and actually, "the number is on the low side," and it's low, he says, partially because "it's wrapped up into the ongoing saga of the tax credit." The EPA might agree, stating "biodiesel production appears to have been significantly affected by both the EU tariff on biodiesel from the U.S. and the expiration of the biodiesel tax credit." But, don't take 2008 or 2009 as an indicator of success to come, according to the EPA. "A regulatory mandate for biomass-based diesel did not exist in 2009, and the mandate for biomass-diesel in 2010 was a unique circumstance that allowed a significant number of 2008 and 2009 biodiesel RINs to be used for compliance in 2010."
 
 Instead, the EPA points to current production rates and the new preset demand. As an example, the EPA looked at the first five months of 2010, when biodiesel production was higher than the same time period in 2009, which is attributed to the biomass-based diesel standard. 
 
 Finally, it appears there is an undeniable demand for biodiesel, and it can be met. But as Burke points out, there is still one problem. "What is scary to me with the EPA," he says, "you don't know if they are going to do an abrupt change."

CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC: Ed Burke, chairman of the board for fuel distributor Dennis K. Burke Inc. and newly elected board member of RINAlliance, says while the biodiesel industry is on track to meet RFS2 goals, one never knows what changes EPA might m

2298-1294332348.jpg

The 2011 RFS2 standards are set, but what will 800 million gallons really mean for the industry?

The EPA's Scary Requirement

Alberta Environment has brought charges against High River, Alberta-based Western Biodiesel Inc. and its former operations manager, Jason Freeman, for alleged incidents that occurred more than two years ago. According to Alberta Environment, the charges relate to alleged release of methanol, improper disposal of wastewater biodiesel, the failure to report the releases and for providing false or misleading information. A statement provided to Biodiesel Magazine by Western Biodiesel President and CEO Dean Cockshutt notes that while accidental spills and releases are not uncommon in the processing industry, it is important to respond to them appropriately. 
 
 "In our case the company did have a release on its property over two years ago during initial commissioning, and the company did not respond correctly," the statement notes. "The plant design engineers that commissioned the equipment advised our operations manager that a waste water tank contained only distilled water and it was safe to release to our yard to evaporate. He did so, but it turned out that the water contained some methanol…and he did not report it to Alberta Environment. He attempted to obscure the truth. That was wrong."
 
 The statement further explains that WBI has since taken a variety of proactive measures to ensure the problems are not repeated. "Since the incident WBI has the right people and systems to prevent a recurrence," the company says. "It's important to have the right people and the right systems to prevent incidents. In 2008 we had poor advice from the engineering company that designed and commissioned the plant compounded with our own people failure. We didn't have the systems in place to prevent the release from occurring. We know better now, and our experience can serve as a learning experience for our entire industry." The initial court appearance was scheduled to be held Nov. 29 at Okotoks Provincial Court.

Alberta Environment brings charges for 2008 incidents

Pending Litigation, Proactive Prevention

Congress isn't the only operation boasting the promise and renewed vigor of a few new faces. The National Biodiesel Board recently elected new leadership, including Renewable Energy Group Inc.'s very own Gary Haer, as chairman. Haer spoke with Biodiesel Magazine on the first day of his new appointment. We (as in biodiesel) are part of the energy solution, and everyone in Washington needs to know that, he says. As the new chairman, Haer explains that NBB's perspective for the near-term future also involves communicating to the petroleum industry that biodiesel is the solution for biomass-based diesel and for advanced biofuels required by RFS2. 
 
 "The future looks very good for us," he says. "The RFS represents a base of demand that we've never had before as an industry. That is going to be very beneficial to the biodiesel producers in the U.S." Haer cites several existing champions of the industry in Washington, but unfortunately, some of them will be ushered out when the new Congress takes hold. Advocates Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., both praised by Haer for their efforts in promoting and pushing for biodiesel, were defeated in the November elections. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also labeled by Haer as champions, are back however, and will certainly be at the forefront again of the biodiesel tax incentive struggle. 
 As for the lapse in the credit and the misfortune seen by the U.S. industry in the past few months, Haer says it was just the focus of Congress at the time. "They are searching for ways to move legislation forward," he said, "and do it in a way that meets their requirements under Paygo. If there is an expenditure to the treasury, they have to find that money somewhere so that it is budget-neutral."

 
 But what about the focus of a new Congress? It might be almost impossible to argue that the "pay as you go" method that Haer infers halted the tax credit in 2010 will cease to exist in 2011, and Haer isn't focused on that unlikely event. Instead, he provides a fresh point to consider when looking at the promise of the industry, and oddly enough, it has nothing to do with saving jobs. "I think that the reason the biodiesel tax credit should receive serious consideration going forward is because it represents jobs," but not the kind (lost jobs that could be restored) we are used to hearing about. While he does highlight the job-saving ability of a renewed incentive, for Haer, the incentive would provide room for something that once fueled the industry. "The tax incentive also represents a new industry, and it represents more opportunity for investment," he says.

FIRST PRODUCER CHAIR: REG's Gary Haer is the NBB's first chairman to also be a biodiesel producer, and says the future for biodiesel is bright. 

2299-1294332349.jpg

2300-1294332349.jpg

The NBB elected a new chairman, a fresh face to revitalize the industry

Chairing the Solution

Posted Dec. 23, 2010

 
 Alberta, Canada may soon be home to a pennycress-to-biodiesel plant. A project initiated by All Peace Industries and its owner, farmer Stan Peacock, is seeking to relocate an existing 17.5 MMgy biodiesel plant from Warren, Mich., to a location in the High Prairie region of northwestern Alberta. 
 
 The idle facility is currently owned by The Power Alternative Inc. According to TPA President Jim Padilla Jr., the pennycress project began when Peacock began investigating the use of the plant as a biodiesel feedstock. 
 
 A biodiesel research project recently undertaken by Alberta Environment and a local university inadvertently included some pennycress oil in a batch of biodiesel. According to Padilla, pennycress grows as a weed in Alberta. Some of the plant's seeds were picked up during the canola harvest and were included in oil used as biodiesel feedstock in the research. The resulting fuel showed superior cold flow capabilities, and spurred local interest in cultivation of the crop as a biodiesel feedstock. 
 
 The High Prairie region has also been experiencing a drought in recent years, which has reduced the yields of locally planted canola crops. Since pennycress can be grown on marginal croplands, it may offer local farmers an alternative to canola cultivation. 
 
 While the Alberta project is still pursuing financing opportunities, Padilla estimates the plant could be up and running within six to nine months. That timeframe is based on TPA's initial experience installing the plant in Michigan. "We started installing in January of 2008, were making spec fuel in April 2008, got our permitting completed in June 2008, and started selling in July," he said. Using that timeline as a basis, Padilla projects the Alberta plant could be complete during the third or fourth quarter of 2011.
 
 TPA will serve as a partner for the project. "We're already in partnership with All Peace as far as developing the pennycress feed and the potential for it," Padilla said. 
 
 TPA is also actively pursuing a pennycress-to-biodiesel project in Michigan. "We've been working with a nonprofit called StartDetroit.org to develop pennycress as a potential urban farm crop," Padilla continued. 
 
 According to Padilla, research conducted by both Michigan State University and the University of Detroit Mercy has studied the viability of roadside cropping and urban farming of pennycress. One interesting finding so far has been that pennycress shows potential as a remediating crop to help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil, Padilla said. 
 

 "We already have crops planted, but it's on the scale of only a few acres," Padilla continued. "We are planning to put more acreage in this spring…and gradually over the next few years grow that up to substantial levels." If the project goes as planned, TPA will bring 1 MMgy to 2 MMgy gallons of biodiesel capacity online to produce fuel. Padilla estimates that urban pennycress farming could supply 30 to 50 percent of the facility's feedstock needs, maybe more if research shows it is possible to complete multiple harvests each year.

Pennycress biodiesel projects move forward

Posted Dec. 22, 2010
 
 Australia-based biodiesel refiner and jatropha plantation company Mission NewEnergy Ltd. completed its second commercial sale and shipment of crude jatropha oil to one of Europe's largest utilities for power generation. Mission NewEnergy would not disclose the name of the power company. 
 
 The shipment, comprised of 60 metric tons of unrefined crude jatropha oil, was three times the size of its first shipment in October when the company shipped 20 metric tons. At approximately $119 per barrel, the second sale price to Europe represented a 34 percent premium to prevailing crude oil prices. Mission NewEnergy's first shipment sold at about $130 per barrel. 
 
 "Over the next 30 years, the acreage cultivated by Mission's farmers is expected to produce an estimated 20 million barrels of sustainable nonfood oil supply," said Nathan Mahalingam. "If sold at the same price, the market value of our jatropha oil supply is over $2.4 billion."
 
 The company said it expects to make further sales of crude jatropha oil or jatropha oil-based biodiesel after the 2010-'11 harvest season. 
 
 Mission operates a 100,000 metric ton (30 MMgy) biodiesel facility in Kuantan Port, Malaysia. The company is in the process of commissioning a 250,000 metric ton (75 MMgy) facility adjacent to the Kuantan Port facility. Though it uses traditional pressing methods to crush its jatropha seeds into oil to be used as feedstock, the company plans to introduce solvent extraction methods to increase oil yields. The company stated that oil from its jatropha farms will eventually replace crude palm oil as feedstock for its biodiesel manufacturing plants.
 
 Meanwhile, Mission NewEnergy and JOil Pte Ltd. entered into a strategic partnership to pursue the growing of jatropha plants and threes from elite jatropha seedlings. JOil is a joint venture company that consists of Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory of Singapore, TATA Chemicals and Toyota Tsusho Group.
 
 Under terms of the collaborative agreement, JOil will provide elite jatropha plant seedlings and plant materials for Mission's next planting seasons in India beginning in 2011. JOil and Mission will also jointly explore new jatropha plantation projects in Malaysia and Indonesia where JOil will provide elite jatropha planting materials and funding for the proposed plantations. 

 
 JOil has been conducting a comprehensive breeding program to generate hybrid plants based on biodiversity present in natural germplasms. Other desirable traits from genetically compatible species are also being introduced into jatropha through introgression breeding. According to Mission, JOil's trial results have demonstrated a material increase in yield per acre and significant shortening of gestation time.
 
 "Mission has a demonstrated ability to successfully plant, nurture and bring to harvest jatropha," said Peter Chia, chief operating officer of TLL and a director on the JOil board. "We are pleased to be able to deploy our high yielding varieties with such a large and well-organized commercialization partner."

Mission triples jatropha oil sales to power co.

A statement released by rock music legend Neil Young makes it clear that the fire was not caused by any component of the car itself. It was human error. "The car was plugged in to charge and left unattended," he says. "The wall changing system was not completely tested and had never been left unattended. A mistake was made. It was not the fault of the car."
 

 Within days preparations were already being made by the LincVolt team to rebuild the zero-emission 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible. The vehicle is a diesel-electric hybrid that uses a biodiesel-powered microturbine engine to recharge batteries that power an electric motor, and can travel a range of more than 400 miles, getting 80 miles a gallon. 
 
 "The reason we started this project has not changed," Young says. "As a nation, we are still excessively burning fossil fuels, doing damage to our plant that will hurt our children's lives and future generations as well. We're still in a race against time. On a project like this, setbacks happen for a reason and we can see that very well from here. 'Barn's burnt down. Now I can see the moon.'"
 
 The Capstone Micro-Turbine survived the fire, and the UQM prime mover. "The underbody of the car appears to be essentially unchanged," Young says. "The engines are both made in the U.S. These are encouraging signs. Lincvolt is ready for the next chapter and the next ride. The mission's unchanged."

Driving Progress: LincVolt is being rebuilt with parts from two other Lincoln Continentals; another 1959 model, and a 1958 model nicknamed 'Miss Pegi' in honor of Neil Young's wife, who gave him the parts vehicle as a 65th birthday gift following the

2302-1294332350.jpg

Neil Young's hybrid electric convertible, LincVolt, damaged in fire

Firing up for a New Start

Although production volumes of biodiesel may be lagging in the U.S., both domestic and international production of renewable diesel may help fill some of the void. 
 
 Finland-based Neste Oil Corp. successfully started up its 800,000 ton-per-year (240 MMgy) NExBTL renewable diesel production facility in the Tuas industrial zone in Singapore, crowning it the largest of its kind in the world. Integrated into the area's existing industrial infrastructure, the plant will utilize the company's proprietary NExBTL technology to process palm oil and animal fat feedstock. Primary markets for the company's renewable diesel, according to Matti Lievonen, president and CEO of Neste Oil, are Europe and North America.
 
 "Our main market areas are the most challenging areas, which put special requirements for product quality," Lievonen says. "NExBTL renewable diesel is an excellent choice in cold areas because it has excellent cold flow properties compared to traditional biodiesel."
 
 The company operates two renewable diesel plants in Porvoo, Finland, with a combined annual capacity of 380,000 tons per year. Neste Oil has a similar-sized facility under construction in Rotterdam, Netherlands, which is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2011.
 
 On the domestic front, Dynamic Fuels LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Syntroleum Corp. and Tyson Foods Inc., started up its 75 MMgy renewable diesel production facility in Geismar, La. The plant, which broke ground in 2008, uses Syntroleum's proprietary Bio-Synfining Technology to produce renewable diesel from nonfood-grade animal fats produced or procured by Tyson Foods, such as beef tallow, pork lard, chicken fat and greases. 
 
 Since its start-up in October, the plant has produced renewable diesel with a cloud point as low as minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit with a cetane value as high as 88, more than twice that of the ASTM petroleum diesel specifications. Although the Geismar plant is producing at half its maximum nameplate production capacity, according to Ron Stinebaugh, senior vice president of finance for Syntroleum, the facility will gradually increase production levels to meet customer demand.
 
 "It doesn't do us any good to not run it," Stinebaugh says, adding that Dynamic Fuels has secured off-take arrangements for its renewable diesel, but declined to name the customer.

 
 In addition to renewable diesel, according to Stinebaugh, the plant is capable of producing high-value specialty distillate chemicals that can be used in a wide variety of applications such as base oils, solvents and ink toner. Having this capability, according to Stinebaugh, allows the company to be profitable without relying solely on a tax credit. 
 
 "We think we have a business model that is a good one in spite of the environment we're in," Stinebaugh says. "We also think we have the ability to push into higher-margin markets where we won't necessarily have to depend on subsidies."

PRODUCT LAUNCH: Reactor tanks are installed at Dynamic Fuels' 75 MMgy renewable diesel plant in Louisiana. photo: DYNAMIC FUELS LLC

2303-1294332351.jpg

How renewable diesel is finding its way into the global marketplace

A Renewed Startup

Predicting the future of the biodiesel tax incentive might be about as easy as understanding the main blockade holding up the incentive's renewal: politics. After multiple attempts during the past year to reinstate the tax incentive came close but fell short, one would think support for the industry was withering. But, both Democrats and Republicans voted for an amendment that included the renewal of the tax credit in a version of the recently passed Small Business Bill, which, when passed, did not contain any biodiesel provisions. In October, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack specifically called for the renewal of the biodiesel tax incentive during a speech to the National Press Club in Washington. In November, Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, again called for the renewal of the tax incentive. Now, even amidst a lame duck Congress, there is a chance the biodiesel tax incentive will be once again reviewed and reinstated. But, as Vilsack indicated during his October speech, the best chance for renewal is coincidentally related to politics of the past, and on top of that, he points out it will most likely have to find a way to pass during the debate of the Bush-era tax cuts.

UP FOR DEBATE: During the lame duck, Congress will try to find common ground on Bush-era tax cuts, and an agreement on the biodiesel tax incentive along the way.

2304-1294332351.jpg

Debate on Bush-era tax cuts could be just what the biodiesel industry needs

Politics of the Past

It's no secret that the ethanol industry has employed creative ways to diversify existing product lines while maintaining and growing new ones. Corn oil extracted from distillers dried grains with solubles, in the back-end of the ethanol production process, is providing a widening business opportunity for several ethanol companies to market as feedstock to existing biodiesel producers. 
 
 Since early 2010, South Dakota-based ethanol producer Poet LLC has been producing about 2 million pounds of corn oil, dubbed Voila, from its research center in Scotland, S.D., using its patent-pending BPX process. Prior to producing corn oil at its Scotland facility, Poet conducted a six-month precommercialization trial run for its BPX process at its 56 MMgy production plant in Hudson, S.D., in 2009. 
 
 A characteristic that makes Voila favorable over other crude corn oil on the market, according to Scott Weishaar, vice president of commercial development, is its lower free fatty acid content, adding that it's also priced competitively with yellow grease, yet below soybean oil spot market prices.
 
 "Our launch strategy with our corn oil has been targeting biodiesel producers," Weishaar says, adding that Poet intends to increase production volumes to meet customer demand by installing extraction technology in existing ethanol production assets. "The bigger issue that we're closely watching is not only the market price of corn oil but the viability of the biodiesel market," Weishaar says. "In other words, as we invest in [ethanol] assets we have to make sure we have a home for our corn oil."
 
 Voila would be a boon for existing biodiesel producers who primarily use corn oil as feedstock, such as Walsh Biofuels LLC, which operates a 1 MMgy facility in Mauston, Wis. According to general manager David Walsh, corn oil gained from the backend of ethanol plants can be one of the toughest feedstocks for producers to use due to its inherently high FFA content. "You have to change a lot of things around to make standard corn oil work," he says.
 
 With corn ethanol companies like Poet capable of producing increased volumes of oil to supply existing biodiesel producers with feedstock, Weishaar says marketing opportunities are expected to expand in 2011.
 
 "What better example of going into the renewable fuels space with a coproduct of an ethanol plant being the inbound feedstock of another plant to produce yet another renewable fuel?" he says. "That's a pretty good synergy."

Why more corn oil could be making its way into the biodiesel industry

The Corn that Binds Us

According to a report published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., vegetable oil and edible oilseed prices appreciated by about 15 percent in 2009, which is attributed primarily to increased demand for palm oil and other factors such as increasing investments in biodiesel plants and growing demand for palm-oil derived biodiesel. 
 

 Aside from the economic downturn in 2008 onward, GIA found that there has been a significant rise in terms of value and volume in the world market for vegetable oils in the past decade, with Asia currently dominating the market from both production and consumption standpoints. 
 
 While North America and the European Union dominated the world in production of vegetable oils in the early 1990s, the report shows that lead has been dwindling since 2004 due to production in China, Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia and Indonesia. In fact, the report shows that the North American and the European Union share of world vegetable oil production dropped from 35 percent to 20 percent over this time period. 
 
 Malaysia and Indonesia are currently the world's largest producers of palm oil, while the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and China are currently the world's primary producers of soy oil. The report also shows that palm oil now represents both the largest and the fastest growing segment of the world vegetable oil market. Growing demand from emerging countries, such as China, India and Indonesia is expected to sustain a strong, robust market for vegetable oils.

Source: Oilseeds: World Markets and Trade, Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA.

2305-1294332352.jpg

Report shows global vegetable oil demand strong

Bouncing Back

At the November National Biodiesel Board meeting in St. Louis, biodiesel industry stakeholders came together to establish its governance structure for 2011. This included the development of policy resolutions and the election of the governing board and board officers. Ed Hegland, soybean grower from Minnesota, served as the NBB chairman for the past 3 years. During that time, Hegland relied heavily on the leadership of his vice chair, Gary Haer from the Renewable Energy Group. In the recent elections, Haer became the first biodiesel producer to be elected chairman of the board of directors. In this candid dialogue, NBB's immediate past chair interviews NBB's new chair about the significance of the election of a producer chairman, the future of the industry and more.
 
 Hegland: First of all congratulations on your unanimous election as NBB chairman. While you are the first producer to be elected chair, it really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. You have served as a significant part of the NBB leadership for the last decade, and especially so during the past three years as vice chair. What do you see as the significance of this election, and your new leadership role?
 
 Haer: I have been honored to serve on NBB's executive committee for the past nine years, and I'm humbled by my election as the new chair. I will have big shoes to fill with NBB's long and proud tradition of farmer leaders, whose policy support and checkoff investment made the U.S. biodiesel industry possible, and continues to help fuel it today. I've especially been honored to serve and work closely with you over the last three years. There are two things that I have come to admire most about your leadership, which I intend to carry forward. First, you have always been willing to step up and face difficult issues and address them head on. Second, you have always demonstrated a willingness to listen to our members, be in touch with their concerns and needs, and to lead in a way that was truly in the best interests of the industry as a whole. Those are principles that I am committed to as well. We have some enormous economic and policy challenges that we continue to face, and it is imperative that we continue to face them as a unified industry.
 
 Hegland: What is your vision of how we get from the economic situation that we are in now to where we need to be?
 
 Haer: If we are going to have a healthy, sustainable, growing industry, it has to be profitable for domestic biodiesel producers to operate. A healthy, growing U.S. biodiesel industry is good for all NBB members, including producers, marketers, distributors and feedstock producers. While we had the policy framework in place to make that happen, Congress' inability to pass timely tax legislation left the industry stranded in 2010 with a lapsed tax credit and a delayed RFS2. The positive news is that 2011 is poised to be perhaps the biggest year ever, with approximately 800 million gallons of biomass-based diesel required by law. However, it may take a few months for all of the remaining uncertainties to be resolved and for the program to really begin to generate demand. There are many NBB producer members who simply will not be able to wait any longer. This is especially frustrating considering that Congress could put this industry back to work immediately with the stroke of a pen. 
 
 Hegland: One thing discussed at the November board meeting was the need to re-launch and redefine biodiesel as an advanced biofuel, rather than being labeled by our opponents as a "conventional biofuel." If the biodiesel industry is going to compete in the new advanced biofuel market that will be created by the RFS2, people need to know that biodiesel is currently the only commercial-scale, domestic fuel that meets the EPA's definition of advanced biofuel.
 
 Haer: This is truly a defining moment for our industry, and we must seize the opportunity to define ourselves rather than be defined by others. NBB staff, led by the CEO, are working on new ways to emphasize biodiesel's role as an advanced biofuel, its carbon, energy balance, diversity benefits, and the fact that biodiesel has net benefits to the food supply. These efforts clearly illustrate how unity and resource leveraging are critical. While NBB producer members' volume dues will remain primarily focused on supporting our federal and state regulatory affairs program, NBB's soybean farmer members continue to support these efforts with additional funds above and beyond their current level of technical and communications support. 

 Recognizing the tremendous challenges that we have before us, I would like to appeal to all biodiesel stakeholders for their help and support in getting this industry to better times. I am committed to working with this outstanding governing board to serve the industry and the organization to the best of my ability. I'm committed to inclusiveness, transparency, and open communications among membership and leadership. I eagerly invite your input and ideas, as we will need all of the good minds the industry has to offer. This industry has struggled before, but we have always come through it stronger. I am confident that together, we can get through this challenge as well.

2306-1294332353.jpg

2307-1294332353.jpg

Changing of the Guard at NBB

National Biodiesel Board members selected their trade association leadership in November, including the first producer to take the chairman role. Four returning governing board members and three new members were elected to serve on the leadership committee. 
 
 Officers elected to lead the board are: 
 
 &bull; Gary Haer, chairman, Renewable Energy Group Inc. (producer) 
 &bull; Ed Ulch, vice chair, Iowa Soybean Board (farmer) 
 &bull; Ron Marr, secretary, Minnesota Soybean Processors (producer) 
 &bull; Jim Conway, treasurer, Griffin Industries (producer) 
 Biodiesel board members also voted to fill seven board member spots. Elected were: 
 &bull; Greg Anderson, Nebraska Soybean Board (farmer)
 &bull; Ramon Benavides, GEN-X Energy Group (producer)
 &bull; Steven Levy, Sprague Energy (producer) 
 &bull; Dave Lyons, Louis Dreyfus (producer)
 &bull; Doug Smith, Baker Commodities (producer)
 &bull; David Womack, Tennessee Soybean Promotion Board (farmer)
 &bull; John Wright, Owensboro Grain Co. (producer)
 

 Ed Hegland, Kris Kappenman, Bob Metz, and Darryl Brinkmann also serve on the governing board. 
 
 Based in Jefferson City, Mo., NBB is dedicated to supporting the commercial biodiesel industry. Its membership is comprised of biodiesel producers; state, national, and international feedstock and processor organizations; fuel marketers and distributors; and technology providers.

National Biodiesel Board members elect governing board

Winter is a time associated with selling and using Bioheat, but this winter has also been a hot time for the promotion of the alternative home heating oil. The National Biodiesel Board works to develop markets for biodiesel, and one of the most rapidly expanding new markets is Bioheat home heating oil. 
 
 
 The airwaves
 
 In November the National Association of Farm Broadcasters conference hosted a unique trade show where Greg Anderson, a soybean farmer from Nebraska, Don Allen, a Bioheat dealer from Virginia, and NBB staff members told the story of Bioheat to more than 30 farm broadcast representatives. The majority of the interviews were recorded on the spot for radio shows to be played all across the U.S. 
 
 "This event was unlike any other I have ever attended," said Allen. "It gave us an opportunity to tell the public about the benefits of biodiesel, and the exciting market it has in home heating oil." Allen added that the Bioheat message was heard by many at the trade show, but the event was unique because the interviews then reached thousands more once they hit the radio waves. 
 
 
 The Big Apple
 
 The National Biodiesel Board helped organize a group of soybean farmer leaders for a New York City Bioheat tour in December. The tour brought state soybean board members to New York to see first-hand the Bioheat and biodiesel markets in the state including biodiesel production facilities, distribution and the New York Mercantile Exchange where billions of dollars of energy products are sold every day.

 
 Starting in October 2012, all heating oil sold within New York City will contain at least 2 percent biodiesel. 
 
 "New York City consumes 1 billion gallons of heating oil annually, more than any other city in the United States," said City Councilman James F. Gennaro, who sponsored the legislation. "This will annually replace 20 million gallons of petroleum with an equal volume of renewable, sustainable, domestically produced biodiesel."
 
 In addition to Bioheat, New York City is the largest municipal user of biodiesel in the country. NYC's Parks Department uses B50 blends in maintenance vehicles at landmarks such as Central Park, Yankee Stadium, and Coney Island. NYC's sanitation department uses B20 in all 4,000 sanitation trucks.
 
 
 Success stories published
 
 
 The NBB recently published a piece titled "Success Stories: the Sustainability of America's Future Through Biodiesel." The publication features profiles of biodiesel and Bioheat companies from diverse sectors of the petroleum market. The companies have made the strategic decision to differentiate themselves from their competitors by introducing biodiesel blends into their product lines. 
 
 The publication also features the Boston Bioheat tour, an event that the NBB, the National Oilheat Research Alliance and the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council put on to bring the oilheat and biodiesel industries together to discuss the potential of Bioheat as the future of the home heating oil industry.
 
 To receive a copy of the publication, please contact the NBB at info@biodiesel.org.

Don Allen and Greg Anderson tape a radio interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters meeting.

2308-1294332354.jpg

New York City is a leader in Biodiesel and Bioheat use.

2309-1294332354.jpg

Winter a hot time for Bioheat promotions

To make it in today's marketplace, the truth is that a renewable fuel must be more than a great product. It must have strong state and federal policies in place to support its growth and development. With the advent of carbon reduction measures and the growing popularity of Bioheat mandates, state policies are more influential than ever. The federal renewable fuel standard has created a market driver, but 2010 showed the dramatic consequences of an industry having the "policy rug" pulled out from under it, with the loss of the federal biodiesel tax incentive. What course is charted from here? 

 
 At the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo you'll hear from the industry's top state and federal policy strategists on what we have done well, where we are going, and how our industry can advance to the next level of effectiveness in the capitol halls of America. 
 
 Along with the federal and state policy discussions, attendees will gain insight on the biodiesel tax incentive, RFS2 implementation, and how biodiesel producers and marketers can put themselves in a winning position. In an effort to gain some perspective on the events of the past year, we're bringing back our 2010 general session of petroleum industry experts. Last year companies within the entire petroleum supply chain from the refinery to the pump explored how biodiesel fit into their businesses. Come back this year to see if their predictions were accurate, and what they see as the future of biodiesel as RFS2 goes into full effect in 2011.
 
 In addition to the general sessions, come see what industry experts have to say in the three breakout session areas: Technical, Markets, and Regulatory. See in-depth topics such as innovations in biodiesel production, biodiesel commodity and risk management, addressing food and fuel arguments, ASTM future developments, RFS2 basic training and much more. 
 
 Visit www.biodieselconference.org/2011 for a full list and descriptions of all the general and breakout sessions, and to register for the 2011 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo. Online registration will remain open until Jan. 21. After that, you must register in person onsite, and the cost of registration will increase.

The petroleum industry experts panel from the 2010 conference is back for the 2011 general session.

2310-1294332354.jpg

Online registration remains open until Jan. 21, then registration must be done onsite. 

2311-1294332355.jpg

The Technical, Markets, and Regulatory track sessions are sure to draw large crowds again in 2011 as industry experts dive deep into issues facing the industry. 

2312-1294332355.jpg

The demographics of our conference attendees indicate most are high-level decision-makers in their respective areas.

2313-1294332356.jpg

Countdown to 2011 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo

In a move intended to avoid delisting by the New York Stock Exchange, GreenHunter Energy Inc. relinquished ownership of its 105 MMgy multifeedstock biodiesel production plant on the Houston Ship Channel in Texas, formerly operated under its subsidiary GreenHunter Biofuels LLC. According to Jonathan Hoopes, GreenHunter Energy president and chief operating officer, the company transferred all of its ownership shares to a trust for holders of its 10 percent debentures due in 2012. The company was notified by the NYSE about a year ago that it wasn't in compliance with listing requirements when GreenHunter's shareholder equity fell below the exchange's minimum $6 million threshold to remain listed. As a result, the stock exchange threatened to delist the diversified energy company from its NYSE Amex Equities listing if the company didn't improve its net liquidity. Rather than issue more shares, Hoopes says, the company decided it was best to restructure its balance sheet through a maneuver of divesting its subsidiary, which raised shareholder equity above $8 million. 
 
 
 Enzyme company Verenium Corp. has partnered with global oils, fats and biodiesel technology firm Desmet Ballestra to expand the use and geographic reach of its vegetable-oil-specific enzyme, Purifine PLC. Nearly a month after announcing a partnership with Alfa Laval to jointly market the enzyme, Verenium has signed with Desmet Ballestra to market the Purifine enzymatic degumming process, while packaging the enzyme with Desmet Ballestra's processing equipment and engineering services. 
 
 
 Little Rock, Ark.-based biodiesel consulting group Lee Enterprises added four new consultants in the past couple of months. The most recent is Jess Hewitt, chairman of Gulf Hydrocarbon Inc., who has more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector. He led the Biodiesel Coalition of Texas during 2009 and 2010 and served on the advisory board for the New York Mercantile Exchange propane and natural gas contracts. Formerly a member of the National Biodiesel Board, Hewitt is also a member of the ASTM committee governing petroleum products and biodiesel. Lee Enterprises also added John Hardy, corporate counsel; Angela Young, Native American Affairs; and Kent Bullard, a BQ-9000 consultant.

 
 
 Milwaukie, Ore.-based Biomass Renewable Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with Whole Energy Fuels Corp. of Bellingham, Wash., to manage the marketing, sales, production and deployment of its proprietary biodiesel production processes and equipment. BRT, a chemical process development company, holds patents for several renewable energy technology processes, including those for biodiesel, gasification and anaerobic digestion. Regarding biodiesel technologies, BRT offers both biodiesel production systems and add-on specialty modules, the latter being a significant area of focus recently. One such module is designed to aid plants that are using high free fatty acid feedstock. Other modules offered can solve problems associated with methanol recovery, sterol removal, feedstock degumming and product purification. Under the agreement, Whole Energy will provide marketing, project management and customer service for the deployment of BRT's technologies and processes. 
 
 
 Darling International Inc. announced its board of directors has unanimously approved a merger agreement to acquire Griffin Industries Inc., a provider of value-added rendering and cooking oil recycling services. Under the merger agreement, Darling will acquire Griffin Industries for approximately $840 million in cash and stock. Griffin Industries' holdings currently include 12 rendering plants and one biodiesel production facility. Darling announced a green diesel project with Valero in September 2009. At that time, the company said it was seeking to form a joint venture with a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corp. to develop a 135 MMgy renewable diesel facility adjacent to an existing Valero refinery. As announced in 2009, the facility would convert waste grease supplied by Darling into renewable diesel. 
 
 
 Municipal transit service provider City-Link unveiled a fully wrapped 1999 model bus to promote the use of B20 blends in its diesel-fueled fleets during a media event on Nov. 12 in Peoria, Ill. The service company has been using biodiesel in its fleets since 2005, beginning with B2 and then B11. The company moved to B20 in August last year. According to Rick Tieken, assistant general manager of CityLink, the wrapped bus serves as a reminder of CityLink's commitment to the public and other municipal fleet organizations the benefits of using B20 in fleets. 
 
 
 Temecula, Calif.-based Promethean Biofuels Cooperative Corp. has been recognized by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) for its waste reduction efforts. As a winner of the 2010 CalRecycle Waste Reduction Award Program, Promethean will receive authorization to use the WRAP winner logo with its products, advertising and business websites to publicize its waste reduction achievements. Promethean's 2 MMgy biodiesel plant has been operating since January, and is currently producing between 5,000 and 25,000 gallons of biodiesel per week, depending on how much feedstock is available, says Todd Hill, Promethean's founder. 
 
 
 The National Alliance for Biofuels and Bioproducts has successfully produced ASTM-quality biodiesel from oil extracted from algae. The NAABB, made up of scientists and engineers from universities, private industry and national laboratories, received $44 million from the U.S. DOE to develop a commercial process for algal biofuel. In its first year, it has produced a small sample of the algal fuel. The oil was supplied by Eldorado Biofuels and was converted using the T300 solid catalyst system developed by Catilin Inc. The consortium will now disperse samples of the algae-based fuel to all 13 of its members for further analysis. 
 
 

 A new fuel station in the New York metro area is now offering B5 to customers. The location, a Sunoco station located in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx, caters primarily to fleet drivers. Biodiesel sold at the station is being supplied by Bronx-based Tri-State Biodiesel LLC, a local waste cooking oil collector, renderer and biodiesel marketer. TSB partners with Rochester-based Northern Biodiesel Inc. for biodiesel production. According to TSB CEO Brent Baker, his company supplies feedstock to Northern Biodiesel, and then markets the resulting biodiesel in the New York metro area. TSB is currently working to contact fleets to fuel with B5 at the Sunoco station. While he cannot provide an estimate of how much biodiesel might be sold at the station over the next year, Baker notes that two of the fleets his company is working to get onboard with the fuel would utilize up to 100,000 gallons of fuel per month. "We're hoping it will be more than that," Baker says.
 
 
 In December, Renewable Energy Group Inc. began offering its branded REG-9000 biodiesel for splash blending at a Kinder Morgan terminal site near Chicago, in Agro, Ill. According to Jon Scharingson, REG's director of marketing, the new terminal will expand REG's downstream capabilities that will allow petroleum marketers to continue to supply biodiesel to a healthy B11 market. The Kinder Morgan terminal is equipped to handle large volumes of various fuel and chemical commodities that feature a total storage capacity of nearly 2.5 million barrels from 218 tanks, with each tank having a storage capacity range between 50,000 and 80,000 barrels. Located along the shore of Lake Michigan, the terminal has access to multiple forms of land and water transport. REG expects biodiesel from its two production facilities in Seneca and Danville to be the primary suppliers for the new terminal location.
 
 
 Dec. 1 marked a major milestone for the nation's transition to ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel as all highway diesel fuel in the U.S. complies with the landmark 15 parts per million (ppm) sulfur standard-a 97 percent reduction in sulfur content from diesel's 2006 levels. The deadline was mandated by the U.S. EPA. However, according to EPA's pump survey, the highway transition to ULSD was actually completed a few weeks prior to the deadline. "It is quite a remarkable feat that refiners have been able to reduce the sulfur content in diesel fuel by 97 percent," said Allen Schaeffer, the executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum. "The United States now officially has the cleanest on-road diesel fuel in the world."

2314-1294332356.jpg

ENERGY WISE: Jess Hewitt brings more than 30 years of experience to biodiesel consulting group Lee Enterprises. 

2315-1294332357.jpg

QUALITY ASSURANCE: Kent Bullard was the longest serving auditor in the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission. 

2316-1294332357.jpg

2317-1294332358.jpg

REDUCING WASTE: Todd Hill, founder of Promethean, says 99 percent of his company's products are made from used cooking oil or kitchen grease. 

January 2011

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Woody Biomass Use Doesn't Have to be Controversial

How Will Republican Leadership Affect Biomass and Other Renewables?

Embrace Bioheat

Bioheat 2011 in the 'New Normal' Economy

Featured

Pacific West Biomass Profile

BCAP: New and (Maybe) Improved

Cream of the Coppice

Coming Soon: New Processes

Bring Biodiesel Back to the Farm

Transforming an Industry

Contributions

GHG Emissions Trigger New Air Quality Permitting Requirements

January 2011.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Woody Biomass Use Doesn't Have to be Controversial

How Will Republican Leadership Affect Biomass and Other Renewables?

Embrace Bioheat

Bioheat 2011 in the 'New Normal' Economy

Featured

Pacific West Biomass Profile

BCAP: New and (Maybe) Improved

Cream of the Coppice

Coming Soon: New Processes

Bring Biodiesel Back to the Farm

Transforming an Industry

Contributions

GHG Emissions Trigger New Air Quality Permitting Requirements

January 2011