On a crisp October morning under cloudless skies, William Feehery, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences gestured to tanks and pipes sitting just beyond a tractor trailer filled with rectangular corn stover bales. &ldquo;The ripple effect of what you see behind me will be felt all over the world,&rdquo; he said, and thanked the audience for joining DuPont in the celebration of the opening of what is now the world&rsquo;s largest cellulosic ethanol production facility. The plant, built adjacent to an existing corn ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa, serves as the tip of the spear for DuPont&rsquo;s entry into the global advanced ethanol category. The facility joins earlier entries into the space from Poet-DSM and Abengoa, all competing in a race to commercialize an economically viable pathway for the conversion of cellulosic biomass materials into fuel ethanol. While DuPont&rsquo;s facility will use the same corn stover feedstock as the other plants, it will rely on a proprietary strain of the enzyme Zymomonas mobilis to convert these lignocellulosic materials into ethanol. DuPont, working in partnership with the U.S. DOE&rsquo;s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, began work on perfecting its cellulosic enzyme platform in 2000. In 2009, DuPont began operations at a demonstration facility in Vonore, Tennessee, and the following year went to work on supply chain research with corn farmers in central Iowa. In 2011, DuPont decided upon Nevada as the site for the facility, and purchased land adjacent to Lincolnway Energy, with an eye on leveraging the existing energy and logistical assets in place at the starch-based plant. Construction began in earnest in 2012. &ldquo;This plant has been a long time coming, and we&rsquo;re proud it&rsquo;s here,&rdquo; said Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad. At full capacity, the facility will annually convert nearly 700,000 bales of corn stover into 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol. The stover collection will require the efforts of over 150 employees each fall, with bales coming from nearly 500 different farms. DuPont estimates the annual economic value of the demand the facility will create for corn stover in the tens of millions of dollars. DuPont&rsquo;s challenge now is to bring the facility up to full throttle, a process that Jan Koninckx, global business director for biorefineries at DuPont Industrial Biosciences, likened to the shakedown cruise new naval vessels typically take. &ldquo;We have done this many times before at DuPont, bringing new technologies online,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At the same time, we know that there is, inherently, a degree of uncertainty in a first plant. When you start up a third or fourth or fifth plant you can predict things much more accurately. We fully expect the first shipments of finished ethanol to come in 2016.&rdquo; The grand opening was as much a rally for the renewable fuel standard (RFS) as it was a celebration of the completion of the facility, as the uncertainty swirling around the policy is already impacting DuPont&rsquo;s licensing prospects in the U.S. &ldquo;I think it goes back to what we&rsquo;ve been talking about relative to the RFS,&rdquo; said Feehery. &ldquo;Interest in the United States is a little bit stalled.&rdquo; However, there is growing interest globally, according to Feehery, and the company has signed a licensing agreement in China. Since the DuPont&rsquo;s grand opening celebration, the U.S. EPA has published the long-anticipated renewable volume obligations, providing some near-term guidance on the required usage of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol for the next two years. The required volumes for cellulosic ethanol is set at 230 million for 2016. The industry&rsquo;s reaction to the announced volumes was lukewarm, as the volumes, while increasing from volumes proposed earlier in the year, still fall short of the volumes set forth in the original program statute. Once operational, the gallons produced in Nevada will be shipped to California, where the state&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard offers a premium for fuel with significantly reduced carbon intensity. DuPont also intends to sell a portion of its production into nonfuel markets, including and specifically mentioned an agreement with Proctor &amp; Gamble, for which the ethanol will be used as a component in that company&rsquo;s Tide laundry detergent product. At the grand opening&rsquo;s conclusion, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley observed proudly and pointedly that DuPont&rsquo;s new facility would offer the world new ethanol gallons &ldquo;without using a single additional bushel of corn or a single additional acre of land.&rdquo; Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4969<a title="Call: 701-738-4969" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" href="#"><img title="Call: 701-738-4969" alt="" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" src="data:image/png;base64,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" /></a> tportz@bbiinternational.com

TAKING ROOT IN FERTILE GROUND: Nestled into Story Countyâ€™s 350,000 acres of active farmland, DuPontâ€™s cellulosic ethanol plant is colocated with an existing starch ethanol facility and is a short drive from long-time project partner Iowa State Un

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BLUE SKY, GREEN FUEL: DuPont is the third commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant to come online in the U.S. over the past year.

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In October, probiofuel dignitaries celebrated the grand opening of DuPont's Nevada, Iowa, cellulosic ethanol plant, closing the first chapter of the industry's second-generation build-out story.

DuPont's Turn at Center Stage

Biomass business leaders need to be familiar with the food challenges facing the globe today. It is widely predicted that world food production must increase by 60 percent before 2050, today&rsquo;s food is not produced where it is most needed, fish stocks are overexploited, and climate change is degrading agricultural zones around the world. These pressures make it clear that the world doesn&rsquo;t just need more food&mdash;we need better food. What are the possible responses to these challenges, and how will biomass industries be impacted? The good news is that through smart management and research and development by federal and state agriculture agencies, the yields of many crops have increased over the years, resulting in more protein and biomass for a variety of uses. Sadly, these advances may not be enough to satisfy the demand for biomass for food, fuel and other products. People are demanding more, and higher quality from their agricultural products. Demand for meat, and the feed to produce it, has been rising in the developing world for decades, and more recent skyrocketing production in developing nations portends a future where protein demand will butt against what today&rsquo;s farming technologies can supply. In the next decade alone, we may require around 250 million additional acres to support the expected increase in protein production. Harnessing this much land will be difficult, and those who can perfect technologies that produce the most protein with the fewest inputs may have the most interesting futures. Existing crops will have to improve production, but alternative sources will inevitably need to step up to the plate. Algae is getting ready. In the past few years, hundreds of new algae products have hit the market. Algae-based foods like cooking oils and flours have been received well by consumers. Algae-based animal feeds have tested off the charts. In the case of algae-based feeds alone, compared to traditional feeds, they have less than 10 percent of the carbon footprint, they use less than 10 percent of the land requirements, and they have less than 20 percent of the water impact. For human consumption, hitting shelves are new algae products that don&rsquo;t look at all like the kelp chips you find in the supermarket. Solazyme recently introduced an algae-derived cooking oil with a mild flavor profile, high cooking temperature and an insanely high ratio of heart healthy monounsaturated fats. Algae will continue carving out niches, and over time. it will evolve into a more dominant feedstock for many foods and animal feed products. Yet this doesn&rsquo;t mean that other biomass crops will languish. The strength of global demand leaves plenty of room for soy, wheat, corn, brown rice and other crops to expand their market share substantially. The result could be greatly expanding supplies of biomass. Higher corn and wheat yields mean more crop residues that can be harnessed for cellulosic biofuels and others markets. In the algae industry, we see the innovation required to address food challenges as an opportunity for all of agriculture. Expanded agricultural research to meet global challenges will also empower a new generation to grow new crops, build new businesses, and develop new products for markets clamoring for solutions. Existing crops have been greatly improved, but similar research and development for new crops must also be part of the equation. Among those new crops is algae, and as more marketable products prove their potential, the payoff for expanded development efforts will become even more obvious. Author: Matt Carr Executive Director, Algae Biomass Organization mcarr@algaebiomass.org 877-531-5512<a title="Call: 877-531-5512" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" href="#"><img title="Call: 877-531-5512" alt="" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" src="data:image/png;base64,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" /></a>

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Through smart management and research and development by federal and state agriculture agencies, the yields of many crops have increased over the years, resulting in more protein and biomass for a variety of uses. 

Expanding Food Production and Biomass Benefits

When Rosendale Dairy in Pickett, Wisconsin, undergoes an outage, the operations team on site has undergone extensive training in preparation for the task at hand. This training ensures staff can recognize anomalies and take corrective actions in advance. Completed in 2013, the $7 million project is located at the largest dairy in Wisconsin, and is the third digester in collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and BIOFerm Energy Systems. The wet fermentation digester utilizes manure from the farm&rsquo;s 8,500 cows, and is designed to process approximately 350 tons of manure per day. Consisting of a 2G Cenergy-supplied, combined-heat-and-power module utilizing a Jenbacher 420 engine and complete gas treatment system, the system possesses 1.4 MW electric capacity, power that is purchased by utility Alliant Energy, and 1.5 MW thermal capacity, heat that is used to maintain consistent temperatures inside of the biodigesters&mdash;an essential piece to the AD puzzle where winters are very cold. The anaerobic digester was designed and constructed by BIOFerm, a subsidiary of AD veteran The Viessmann Group of Germany. BIOFerm is also charged with maintaining and operating the plant, and keeping tabs on individual plant components is a key part of BIOFerm&rsquo;s O&amp;M strategy. &ldquo;Preventative maintenance software is deployed at our facilities from start-up, aiding the operations staff in tracking inventory, wear and tear, scheduling of tasks, and critical component performance information.&rdquo; says Whitney Beadle of BIOFerm. &ldquo;Trend data on performance is integral to controlling costs at our facilities and impacting future plant design by choosing components with desired characteristics.&rdquo; Areas of typical preventative maintenance include the separators, screens, pumps and engine. &ldquo;Our operations staff also conducts&nbsp; numerous visual inspections of the entire facility and key process areas, including client and customer interface,&rdquo; she explains. Though it varies by system, at the Rosendale Dairy Digester, BIOFerm typically has at least two employees at the site during a partial outage, and four operators on-site during a complete outage. Vast experience operating plants&mdash;it is BIOFerm&rsquo;s fourth completed digester project in the U.S., and Viessmann has built over 400, mainly in Europe&mdash;has enabled the company to really dial in to each piece of equipment&rsquo;s maintenance needs. &ldquo;If, for example, we know a piece of equipment typically needs replaced or repaired at around 3,000 hours, we start watching it closely at around 2,500 hours,&rdquo; Beadle says. &ldquo;This way, if we start seeing any changes in performance, we go ahead and schedule maintenance early to avoid trickier complications.&rdquo; As is the case with any electricity-generating plant, unforeseen events occur, even despite thorough maintenance strategies. &ldquo;Our [BIOFerm&rsquo;s] maintenance team is trained to handle the unexpected outages from unpreventable circumstances, and errors can be detected via cell phone alert and viewed with smart phones, tablets, etc.,&rdquo; Beadle says. Some instances of unexpected downtime at Rosendale have occurred to repair pumps, sand separating equipment&mdash;Rosendale is equipped with McLanahan sand separation technology that filters out and recycles animal bedding cleaning pits or sand from manure. &ldquo;These [unplanned] outages typically last two to three hours,&rdquo; Beadle says, adding that another reason for an unforeseen outage may be because of issues experienced by the electrical company. In that case, the digester may have to undergo an unplanned outage for safety purposes.&nbsp; This is done to avoid producing excess [methane] gas that wouldn&rsquo;t be converted to electricity and flared instead. Rosendale&rsquo;s two 30-foot tall, 80-foot diameter COCCUS digester tanks each possess a capacity of 1 million gallons.&nbsp; BIOFerm&rsquo;s trademarked COCCUS design is complete-mix with a mesophilic temperature operating range, designed for input materials with low solids content (between 8 and 12 percent). Tanks are reinforced with concrete and contain two or three REMEX paddle mixers, which are designed to achieve optimum fermentation via deep, slow and continuous agitation. The digesters can normally last about 1.5 to 2 days of downtime without experiencing a huge temperature change, depending on the time of year, Beadle says. &ldquo;During this time, the mixers are able to continue stirring,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Although every plant is different, we typically don&rsquo;t like to drop below 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the Rosendale digester, which ideally runs at around 108 to 109 degrees Fahrenheit.&rdquo; For longer outages, BIOFerm typically brings in boilers to keep temperatures at the appropriate levels, Beadle adds. &ldquo;If the temperatures aren&rsquo;t maintained, the system will experience an upset, and the microorganisms don&rsquo;t grow, causing reduced feeding into the system and an upset in biogas production.&rdquo; Authors: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4961<a title="Call: 701-738-4961" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" href="#"><img title="Call: 701-738-4961" alt="" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" src="data:image/png;base64,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" /></a> asimet@bbiinternational.com

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BIOFerm's long-term AD operations and maintenance (O&M) strategy leads to efficient outages and little down time.

Attention to Detail

Surrounded almost entirely by the sea, Nova Scotia&rsquo;s lush forestland serves as a mainstay of life on the province, and its proximity to Europe an advantage for trade of forest products like wood pellets. One source of the province&rsquo;s pellet production resides in the heart of central Nova Scotia. A few years ago, Viridis Energy resurrected the former Enligna Canada Inc. pellet mill and renamed it Scotia Atlantic Biomass Co. The operation occupies a 157-acre property, inhabiting 20 operating buildings with an additional 22-acre wood lot. Since Viridis acquired the assets and property, the plant has been overcoming hiccups and pursuing opportunities, and this is expected to continue. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a constant improvement facility,&rdquo; says Julie Millington, general manager of Scotia Atlantic Biomass. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re ever going to chase down every bottleneck, as soon as we fix one we look for the next one.&rdquo; Some bottlenecks that have already been addressed include the elimination of picket feeders to provide better flow of materials in the hammer mills, moving to a double-belt system versus single to reduce belt damage and replacement costs and maintenance, and lowering grease consumption by installing grease systems on each pelletizer and the charged distribution blocks. Other measures the company has taken include implementing new moisture testing and sampling procedures to better understand the mix and fiber-cost analysis, redefining positions to increase safety and capabilities, and installing steam heaters through the facility to decrease freeze-ups in the winter. Although the ongoing battle against the plant&rsquo;s bottlenecks hasn&rsquo;t been easy, the mill has achieved visible progress, and in Q3 2015, it was able to breakeven and attain profitability on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis. &ldquo;It was challenging to change the attitude of many of the staff who were discouraged with missing production targets and financial losses,&rdquo; says Michele Rebiere, chief financial officer of Viridis Energy. &ldquo;However, Julie is a great leader with an exceptional outlook and she kept the spirits up and encouraged top performance out of everyone.&rdquo;A total of 25 employees work at Scotia. This is one of two pellet mills Viridis operates. &ldquo;Our diversified business model was developed around two different operations, which could produce two different types of pellets and access two different markets,&rdquo; Rebiere says. Scotia Atlantic produces an industrial pellet product to serve the European marketplace, and Okanagan Pellet Co. produces a premium pellet for the North American and Asian marketplaces. OPC does bagging, totes, bulk container loading and bulk rail car loading to satisfy different consumer needs, whereas Scotia Atlantic is a full-bulk operation, which suits the industrial market. Mid-November, Viridis began loading its largest shipment&mdash;a 33,000-ton load&mdash;of pellets at the Port of Halifax. Scotia has also begun developing an ENplus A1 equivalent pellet for the local and U.S. market. Churning out consistent production to serve these markets has been one of the facility&rsquo;s main operational challenges, according to Rebiere. However, since the company right-sized the facility and opted for a 24/4 operation model over the previous 24/7 model, the plant has been &ldquo;running beautifully,&rdquo; she says. Scotia Atlantic has practical capacity of 120,000 metric tons annually, but is currently right-sized at 80,000 metric tons per year. During a mid-April shutdown the plant underwent for maintenance and road closure, the company built up fiber inventory and restructured the staffing model. Round wood inventory was built to allow six weeks on the ground through summer to decrease moisture for winter production. Staffing was reduced to two shifts per day, four days per week, with a maintenance day on Friday and no operation over the weekend. &ldquo;That allows us to not only do our ongoing maintenance, but start to really focus on what we can do to make repairs,&rdquo; Millington says. &ldquo;We ensure that when we start-up on Monday the plant is spick and span, we never have to worry about dust collection, any of the concerns when you&rsquo;re running 24/7 and it&rsquo;s a lot harder to keep under control.&rdquo; She adds that the furnace is kept burning over the weekend on idle so it isn&rsquo;t a full start-up each week. Rebiere says right-sizing has &ldquo;ensured preventative maintenance and matches production to inventory.&rdquo; Another aspect of the plant that has helped operations is the plant&rsquo;s 20 separate buildings. &ldquo;At the time Scotia Atlantic was built, it was a state-of-the-art facility utilizing the concept of separating and isolating each piece of process equipment,&rdquo; Rebiere says. &ldquo;The isolation ensures that a fire or hazard in one area of the plant does not extend to the rest of the facility. It also allows for ease of repair of each component.&rdquo; Although bottlenecks have been addressed and operations have improved, Millington says certain aspects of the facility can be upgraded and new opportunities explored. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always the opportunity to get more production through our dryer in the summertime,&rdquo; she says. If Scotia can increase the amount of fiber coming in, the addition of another hammermill or pelletizer would be considered. The company is also exploring feedstock supply prospects. Millington says getting more fiber at a reasonable price has been challenging. Just this year, Scotia began taking fence posts from an area provider and is looking at a potential nearby supplier to provide a small amount of hardwood shavings. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to be innovative with our neighbors to figure out ways to get right fiber to the right place,&rdquo; Millington says. Right now, capital is being driven into investigating what the fiber basket will be on an ongoing basis, storage capacity and more. Late next year, Viridis plans to roll out some major upgrades and a capital plan for Scotia Atlantic Biomass. Millington&rsquo;s portrayal of Scotia as a constant improvement facility, delivered on that label, making significant progress since start-up. &ldquo;My management team, the head of maintenance and the head of the mill have been really instrumental in getting us to where we are and having quite a turnaround at this facility.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Associate Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920<a title="Call: 701-738-4920" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" href="#"><img title="Call: 701-738-4920" alt="" style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" src="data:image/png;base64,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" /></a> kfletcher@bbiinternational.com

MAXIMIZING EFFICIENCY: Usually, four or five presses run each day at the Scotia Atlantic Biomass pellet plant. In the wintertime, four machines run at 4 tons per hour, or five, if there's enough material. During the summer months, five presses are ge

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Biomass Buildup: Viridis committed $2 million of new investment to Scotia Atlantic, which was dedicated to buying fiber and building inventory for start-up in May 2015 after a five-week shutdown. This has allowed the chance to premix material and ens

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A few years ago, Viridis Energy resurrected the former Enligna Canada Inc. pellet mill and renamed it Scotia Atlantic Biomass Co. The operation occupies a 157-acre property, inhabiting 20 operating buildings with an additional 22-acre wood lot.

Chasing Down Bottlenecks

My last column for Biomass Magazine, which appeared in September, had an uncertain tone, thanks to the lack of policy certainty around renewables in the United Kingdom, and the swinging cuts that had been made to various support schemes in the preceding months.&nbsp; At the time, the biomass heat sector was lobbying hard to avoid falling foul of the knife being wielded by U.K. Treasury in the run-up to the Comprehensive Spending Review, the process government uses to set its budgets for the remainder of the parliament. The biomass heat industry let out a collective gasp on the day of the CSR. The Renewable Heat Incentive had been retained, but with what appeared to be just &pound;10m ($15.1 million) of funding for new projects in the 2016-&lsquo;17 financial year. That&rsquo;s enough for just a few hundred new installations to join the RHI. This caused 24 hours of concern and consternation&mdash;funding just a few hundred more schemes spread across an industry that has been averaging 250 systems a month since the RHI was launched in November 2011&mdash;sounded very much like a death knell for biomass heat. Thankfully, the figures in the original announcement were wrong, and the RHI budget has actually been increased by &pound;210m ($318.3 million), to &pound;640m ($940 million), which includes existing commitments in the 2016-&lsquo;17 financial year, triggering sighs of relief all round. Now that we know the RHI is being continued, and with a budget that will allow the entry of many thousands of new projects, there is some certainty in the U.K. biomass heat sector for the foreseeable future. That said, there were accompanying announcements about reform to the RHI, which has seen its fair share of gaming over the past four years. Thanks to loopholes in the RHI scheme design, some unscrupulous suppliers and heat customers have taken advantage of opportunities to create projects with disproportionately high rates of return. The language of DECC&mdash;the scheme funder&mdash;indicates what many of us have been hoping for: that the days of RHI gaming are numbered.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ve been told that radical reform and bold changes are in the cards, all to ensure that the RHI delivers the best value for money possible for the U.K. taxpayer. We still have a long way to go to reach our legally binding carbon reduction targets in the U.K., and as heat is the largest contributor to our national CO2 emissions, decarbonizing the sector clearly remains a priority for our government. The DECC is now very much in information gathering mode, with civil servants actively polling the views of industry to help shape the changes to come. Ultimately, all responsible participants in the biomass heat sector want to see us deliver value for money, as only by doing this can we ensure that government has the confidence to continue supporting the industry for as long as it needs to become sustainable. Improving quality and efficiency through the development and enforcement of standards is seen as critical, as are moves to provide the industry with more than just a cash injection. The various forms soft support needed to help the industry professionalize and grow are high on our list of priorities for the coming years. As Adam Sherman, Vermont-based Biomass Energy Resource Center&rsquo;s executive director recently commented in his talk to the 2015 Wood Heat Association conference in Bristol, the way to ensure a biomass heat sector grows as we all would like it to, is to use &ldquo;silver buckshot&rdquo; rather than a silver bullet. We&rsquo;ve tried the silver bullet over the past four years and made good progress, but the time has certainly come to break out the big guns now that we&rsquo;ve dodged treasury&rsquo;s knife. &nbsp; Author: Neil Harrison Board Member, Wood Heat Association neil@reheat.uk.com 44 (0) 7917-632-171

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Now that we know the RHI is being continued, and with a budget that will allow the entry of many thousands of new projects, there is some certainty in the U.K. biomass heat sector for the foreseeable future.

Biomass Gets  Budget Boost

A warmer winter forecast, low crude oil, propane and heating oil prices, and ample distillate stocks will be pleasing to the average household this winter, but how the wood pellet and other bioenergy industries are affected gets a bit more complicated. As of Nov. 30, the Cushing, Oklahoma, West Texas Intermediate spot price for crude oil was $40.43 per barrel, its lowest since early 2009, and down from $106.64 a bbl in late June 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Residential propane prices entered the 2015-&lsquo;16 heating season at an average of $1.94 per gallon, nearly 44 cents per gallon lower than at the start of last year&rsquo;s. Wholesale propane prices averaged nearly 59 cents per gallon, almost 54 cents per gallon lower than the first collection week in October last year. As of September, natural gas prices per 1,000 cubic feet for industry&mdash;a lower cost than residential or commercial natural gas&mdash;were at $3.53, down from $6.58 in February 2014 and up from a May 2012 recent low of $3.02. The New York Harbor ultra-low sulfur diesel No. 2 spot price, as of Nov. 30, was $1.345 a gallon, down from the recent high of $3.394 in February 2014. And heating oil prices are down more than $1 compared to a year ago; as of Oct. 5, residential heating oil prices averaged $2.41 a gallon, almost $1.11 lower than the same time last year. The average wholesale heating oil price at the start of the cold season was $1.63, nearly $1.04 below the first week of last year&rsquo;s. EIA says a combination of warmer weather and lower crude oil prices this winter is contributing to the lowest expected average residential heating oil expenditures in nine years. Furthermore, distillate fuel inventories in the Northeast U.S.&mdash;and globally&mdash;were ample heading into the winter due to slowing economic growth in emerging economies, the major driver of distillate consumption in recent years. So what does all this mean for the wood pellet and other bioenergy industries? It&rsquo;s a mixed bag, certainly, but not the doom and gloom one might expect. &ldquo;If you look at the logistics side of the equation, a drop in oil prices means the cost of diesel for railroad and truck transport is lower, leading to an increase in profitability,&rdquo; says R. Delbert LeTang, founder and CEO of SG Preston, a bioenergy startup with four biobased segments&mdash;SGP Biomass, SGP Wood Pellets, SGP BioEnergy and SGP Biofuels. The company most recently made news in October when it announced an agreement with Houston-based EPC contractor IHI E&amp;C to develop five renewable diesel projects scaled at 120 MMgy each. &ldquo;At one time we were supplying wood chips to major global biomass company in the far Northeast when diesel prices were up as high as $4 a gallon,&rdquo; LeTang says. &ldquo;That translates into a delivered cost for wood chips that&rsquo;s fairly high. For end-product pricing, customers look for parity with petroleum products and high input costs make that more challenging. But when those input costs, or related costs for transport, decrease 40 to 60 percent, the companies that are more customer-centric pass on that savings to their customers while keeping some for themselves. It can have a very positive impact.&rdquo; Cory Schrock, plant manager of Fiber By-Products Inc., an 80,000-ton pellet mill in White Pigeon, Michigan, says the company was founded by his father in the early 1990s to provide a service to area sawmills and other wood industry manufacturers by contracting for their waste vs. them paying for disposal. The company amassed a fleet of diesel trucks to haul the raw material and its refined mulch and animal bedding products for which it was developing growing markets. &ldquo;By the time 2004 came around, the business had grown, and there was more wood fiber and scraps than we knew what to do with,&rdquo; Schrock says. The growing pellet market got the company&rsquo;s attention, and by mid-2006, it was steeped in the pellet manufacturing business. The company manufactures its ProPellet brand and fills various private label bags. With its own fleet of trucks, Schrock says lower diesel prices are a positive for the company&rsquo;s bottom line. &ldquo;We have about 18 trucks running every day, and lower diesel prices are always a welcoming site,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It costs us less. Our trucks are getting about 6 miles per gallon, and they&rsquo;re running about 300 miles per day. That&rsquo;s a large expense.&rdquo; Schrock says with new emissions regulations and controls, operating costs for diesel fleets have never been higher. &ldquo;We get less miles per gallon, and with the high fuel prices over the past few years, it really hurt the industry,&rdquo; he says. Rockford, Illinois-based Equustock LLC started in 2001 as a company built around pet products such as cat litter, horse bedding, animal pellets, pine shavings and oil adsorbents. &ldquo;Then we sort of stumbled into fuel pellets by using a byproduct of our feedstock to make the pellets, and we developed a brand,&rdquo; says Claire Brant, owner and managing partner of Equustock. The brand is Big Heat Fuel Pellets, but Equustock also does contract packaging. Its fuel pellets are sold in Home Depot, Menards, Lowe&rsquo;s and other retailers. Over the years, the firm has contracted with and acquired several plants, totaling 10 facilities today with 150,000 tons of active pellet capacity. &ldquo;Some we own, some we partner with, some we have an exclusive partnership with,&rdquo; Brant says, adding that the company operates a fleet of 50 to 60 trucks. &ldquo;If the delivery side costs less, sometimes customers will negotiate tough to get their price down to offset that, but I haven&rsquo;t really seen anything at this point,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Orders are not slowing down now.&rdquo; Lower freight costs can broaden the radius around a pellet mill within which its goods can be economically delivered. &ldquo;For us, it started at 700 miles,&rdquo; Brant says, &ldquo;but over years as fuel prices rose, this shrunk to 350 miles. But this year we can see a benefit from the lower cost of shipping, and we are increasing that radius to between 500 and 600 miles.&rdquo;&nbsp; On the flip side, however, biomass power, pellets and renewable fuels typically become more popular when traditional energy prices are high. &ldquo;We are an alternative energy business and we like seeing high conventional energy costs,&rdquo; says Schrock. &ldquo;It makes our product more attractive. It may seem selfish, but in America we are trying to develop alternative energy, and when oil prices come crashing down, all our efforts seem to have been in vain and we have to start all over again.&rdquo; Schrock says clearly there is a correlation between oil prices and pellet supply and demand&mdash;when oil prices are high, pellets are in high demand. &ldquo;We just learn how to adjust,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There are a lot of factors that drive demand for our alternative fuel&mdash;the high cost of oil and propane is one. It really changed the wood pellet market over the past few years with new capacity coming online. We made changes here to meet that demand. Now, the demand is softening and one factor is the lower energy costs. Two, we&rsquo;re still waiting for winter to start.&rdquo; Schrock says energy prices&rsquo; seven-year low indicates a correction period. &ldquo;Is this a new normal?&rdquo; he asks. &ldquo;I doubt it. The economy will come back. The world is driven by energy. As the world consumes more, prices will go back up.&rdquo; When the cost of doing business in the pellet world goes down as a result of lower oil prices, does it go down relative enough to compete with low natural gas, propane and heating oil prices? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; says Brant. &ldquo;We benefit some in that we see lower shipping costs, and if we charge landed pricing to our customers, we benefit from that. So that may offset a lower amount of sales, I suppose.&rdquo; At this point, Brant says low oil prices haven&rsquo;t forced down the price of Equustock&rsquo;s pellets yet. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s determined by other producers,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Folks who have switched to fuel pellets as a primary source are going to continue to use them unless the price gets so ridiculously expensive they can&rsquo;t afford to anymore. We&rsquo;re not seeing any difference in sales, but when we hit Jan. 1, we&rsquo;ll see. Of course, that may be more driven by the weather than a cost-comparison.&rdquo; Schrock says it&rsquo;s a margin and volume game. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a line where you lower your price and keep production high,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to produce at volume, and figure out a way to sell your product when oil prices are so low. As a wood pellet company, the market will force us to adjust.&rdquo; While oil prices and pellet demand are beyond control of individual producers, what is within their control is the ability to operate a diversified business and allocate production into markets that are less affected by the price of energy. Brant says her approach, from the perspective of a diversified wood byproducts business, may be different than someone steeped solely in the fuel pellet business. &ldquo;I keep my finger on the pulse to best know where we should allocate production for the various markets we serve,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But we do have a lot of fuel pellets out there.&rdquo; Schrock points out that Fiber By-Products has been making pellets long enough to understand how the various factors&mdash;including winter forecasts and energy markets&mdash;affect the pellet market. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re weathering the storm, and we can absorb the markets for the most part,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We make a quality product and we&rsquo;re price-competitive. And since we do have other markets that we serve, we may have to do some adjusting here and there. We would still handle the same amount of fiber, it would just go into other markets such as mulch and animal bedding.&rdquo; In its 20-plus years of business, Schrock says Fiber By-Products has never resorted to layoffs to remain profitable during downed markets. &ldquo;I credit our diversity for our success,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It allows us to adjust to the markets.&rdquo; Though layoffs may not result from low oil prices in White Pigeon, Michigan, more frugal operations do. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a strong believer in efficient operations, and things like having a lot of spare parts on hand helps that,&rdquo; Schrock says. &ldquo;During times when oil prices are low, maybe my spare parts list is more conservative, or we&rsquo;re less apt to repair or change out noncritical parts.&rdquo;&nbsp; For liquid biofuels, LeTang says what sustains a company&rsquo;s ability to ride the tough time of low oil prices is its ability to control feedstock. &ldquo;The technology we will use has the ability to use all the feedstock options, but what we will focus on is a small family of plant oils,&rdquo; he says, unwilling to disclose further details. &ldquo;We have direct control over this process. We de-commoditize that, and as result, we control our feedstock input price.&rdquo; He says the renewable diesel SG Preston will produce comes at a fixed price and value-addition to the market with standard escalations to avoid the market lulls associated with low oil prices. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a price that&rsquo;s hedged to any index,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It may be slightly higher today, and anyone who&rsquo;s looking at fluctuations in petroleum knows this will, at some point, go back to where it was and customers are asked to place hedges against that. What we offer is finished product that&rsquo;s a natural hedge. We have a fixed, long-term predictable price. We designed our model to project a long-term predictable value. That&rsquo;s what the customers are looking for, and it&rsquo;s what the investment community is looking for.&rdquo; From a natural hedge standpoint, LeTang says SG Preston relies on its products&rsquo; strong value proposition and the value-added sale to clients, and the company&rsquo;s ability to help its clients deliver a stronger end-product to their customers. &ldquo;What allows us to drive and meet that is our fully integrated business model, which allows us to control the price of our inputs,&rdquo; LeTang says. Alt energy proponents can take solace in the fact that even more positives exist in a market dominated by low energy prices than just lower shipping costs or expanded product delivery radii, particularly since a common superficial observation is that the effects are generally negative given bioenergy&rsquo;s popularity when oil prices are high. For instance, it can have a stabilizing effect on an industry that has arguably grown faster than may be healthy. &ldquo;One of the things I hope these low oil prices will do is keep some of the folks from jumping into the industry,&rdquo; Brant says. &ldquo;Money guys jump in and dilute the production pool by building additional plants to alleviate the product shortages we&rsquo;ve seen in the past few years. At some point the market has to say it&rsquo;s saturated and let those in the business figure out how to gain capacity when they can. It may be at a tipping point now.&rdquo; SG Preston is one of those companies that has put the brakes on its plans for producing pellets&mdash;not because of low oil prices though. &ldquo;We put wood pellets on the back burner for now because of the lack of visibility in regulatory markets overseas,&rdquo; LeTang says. Even the perception of a strained bioenergy market due to low oil prices may have a Darwinian effect on the pellet sector as natural selection plays out, and those companies less apt to adapt to changing market conditions are phased out or absorbed by bigger, stronger competitors. &ldquo;The good news about wood pellets is there are some opportunities there&mdash;the market may force consolidation, and that&rsquo;s not bad,&rdquo; Brant says. &ldquo;As a company, we&rsquo;re in acquisition mode right now, so as people get tied up in the comparison of oil and gas to pellets, and pellet profitability goes down, it&rsquo;s a good opportunity for us.&rdquo; Author: Ron Kotrba Senior Editor, Biomass Magazine 218-745-8347<a style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" title="Call: 218-745-8347" href="#"><img style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" title="Call: 218-745-8347" src="data:image/png;base64,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" alt="" /></a> rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

FUEL SAVINGS: Fiber By-Products of White Pigeon, Michigan, operates a fleet of 18 diesel trucks, each of which transports feedstock and finished products about 300 miles a day. Low diesel prices have helped increase the companyâ€™s bottom line.

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ADJUSTABLE MODEL: With an 80,000-ton pelleting capacity, Fiber By-Products goes with the flow on its actual production volume based on the markets, says plant manager Cory Schrock.

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Alternative energy companies typically prosper when oil prices are high, but it's not all doom and gloom when the cost of crude nosedives. 

The Untold Upside of Low Oil Prices

The Paris climate agreements and the U.S. Clean Power Plan are good news for U.S. pellet producers. A bit of good news for pellet producers is needed these days. Market forces and a warm early winter are not supporting domestic heating and industrial pellet demand. The strong dollar is making U.S. exports, including industrial pellets, costly for European Union and United Kingdom buyers. Impacting the heating markets are low petroleum prices. As I write this column, oil is $35 per barrel, and heating oil in southern Maine markets averages $1.57 per gallon. At current pellet prices in Maine, heating oil would have to hit about $2.10 per gallon to provide a breakeven in cost per unit of energy. By FutureMetrics&rsquo;s rough estimate, about 80 percent of the bagged pellet market is driven by homeowners seeking to save money on heating bills. The other 20 percent have pellet stoves in their living rooms for ambiance, and are more interested in lowest maintenance for the pellet stove. That 20 percent is the demographic that supports the super-premium brands, produced from 100 percent Douglas fir, that have almost no ash and burn very clean. Those homeowners are willing to pay the typical $100 per ton or more premium those pellets command in the markets.&nbsp; But the other 80 percent may notice that this winter&mdash;if it ever starts!&mdash;they can actually save money using the heating oil boiler. If oil prices remain low, there is potential for a very challenging winter for pellet producers whose primary market is in bagged pellets. Power Plan good news?&nbsp; In the short-run, not much can help with cheap oil in the Northeast markets. But in the medium- to long-run, two pathways will be good for pellets. Pathway one: heating with pellets. If the U.S. actually gets serious about GHG emissions following COP21, a reasonable and modest revenue neutral carbon tax would achieve a great deal.&nbsp; British Columbia and Sweden, for example, have shown that a revenue neutral carbon tax is not only possible, but good for the economy. Carbon taxes can be revenue neutral because every dollar generated by the tax is returned through reductions in other taxes. In 2013-&lsquo;14, British Columbia generated $1.21 billion in carbon tax revenues and lowered other taxes by more than that amount.&nbsp; If heating oil carried a carbon tax, even when petroleum prices are low, wood pellets would be the lower-cost heating fuel. As an added bonus, heating with wood pellets keeps money circulating in the regional economy, creates jobs and produces strong, positive economic benefits. Pathway two: substituting pellets for coal in pulverized coal power stations. The CPP can enable the U.S. to do what it already does in Europe, the U.K., Korea, Japan, and soon, China.&nbsp; The good news for U.S. pellet producers is that as the domestic industrial pellet market grows, it will support new regional demand for pellets in areas that currently are not logistically attractive to the industrial pellet exporters. That will benefit pellet producers of all sizes, in all areas of the country. Substituting a low-carbon, pulverizable solid fuel for coal under cofiring strategies to lower CO2 emissions from power generation should be part of every state&rsquo;s plan for CPP compliance. That strategy has the potential to increase demand for pellets in the U.S. by many millions of tons per year. Recognizing wood pellets as a low-carbon solution means recognizing the carbon neutrality of pellets in combustion. Some critics of using pellets claim there is a carbon debt. If basic sustainability conditions are met, there is no carbon debt.&nbsp;&nbsp; It is in the interest of all stakeholders in the pellet manufacturing space to understand why the so-called carbon debt models are flawed. Simply put, the working forest landscape around a sawmill, pulp mill, or pellet mill is in a continuous state of growth and harvest.&nbsp; As long as the rate of harvest does not exceed the rate of growth in the region from which the mills draw their wood, then the stock of wood, and therefore the stock of sequestered carbon, never diminishes. That is the fundamental sustainability constraint that has to be met to certify that pellet fuel is carbon neutral in combustion. Author: William Strauss President, FutureMetrics Inc. William.strauss@futuremetrics.com www.futuremetrics.com

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Current market conditions for pellets may be challenging, but in a world that needs to lower the net CO2 added to the atmosphere, the future for pellets is bright.

COP21 and Clean Power Plan  Good News for Pellet Industry

Koda Energy LLC is a 24-MW, combined-heat-and-power biomass plant located in Shakopee, Minnesota, that came online in 2009. It is a baseload facility that must be online and producing energy for our customers as much as possible, but we shut down occasionally to make repairs, do maintenance, and perform upgrades and cleaning. Work performed during a typical scheduled outage might include defouling and slag removal to restore heat transfer surfaces to full capability; cleaning and inspecting areas that are inaccessible while the plant is operating; reparation of equipment that cannot be accomplished safely while online; completing improvement projects or modifications; or to perform code work&mdash;insurance company or OEM recommended&mdash;and ultrasonic tube thickness inspections in normally inaccessible areas of the plant. Mapping Out Plans Our outage process planning begins well in advance of our shutdowns. We begin by developing a list of projects, parts, and contractors required to complete the work. All parts, safety supplies, and expendable materials are ordered in advance so that they arrive at least a week prior to the outage start date. We also coordinate staff, contractor, inspector, fuel supplier, and customer schedules, and move parts and equipment inside the plant within close proximity to where they will be used. The actual outage begins by reducing fuel load in the plant several hours, or even a day or two, prior to reducing output. This is done to ensure that our entire fuel system is empty and ready to inspect and repair once we shut down. We will notify our power purchaser, Xcel Energy, and Rahr Malting&mdash;our neighbor, who supplies us with fuel and we supply with process steam&mdash;of what time we anticipate ceasing electricity production. We then begin reducing the electrical output of the plant, and take our steam turbine generator offline. At this point, the plant is no longer producing electricity, but it is still online as a thermal heating system for Rahr malting. One at a time, Rahr will switch its kilns to natural gas heat, while gradually reducing the firing rate and steam pressure in the boiler. This begins to reduce the tube temperature in the boiler&mdash;the warm-up and cool-down rate is limited to 100 degrees Fahrenheit per hour.&nbsp; Once only a small amount of thermal load remains, we will continue &ldquo;cooking down&rdquo; the boiler temperature and pressure, until they are no longer adequate to support the thermal load. The last energy user is switched over to backup systems, and the boiler is shut down to continue cooling. In the meantime, the operations crew is busy preparing all systems to be opened up. Steam, water, fuel, and electrical systems must be isolated, drained, and brought to zero energy potential. LOTO (lock out, tag out) sheets will be completed, and all locks hung. Ash systems are emptied out, and ash hauled off site. LOTO is a safety procedure done to ensure machines are properly shut off and can&rsquo;t be started up prior to completion of maintenance or servicing work, while it is in a hazardous state or a worker is in contact with it. Equipment must be isolated and rendered inoperative before work begins, and sources are then locked. A tag is placed on the lock identifying the worker who has placed it. Koda lists all isolations and lock outs on a board and adds or modifies as new projects are added or completed. Once the LOTOs are complete and the temperatures are acceptable for personnel, the operations crew will begin cleaning combustibles from hot work areas and ash and slag from boiler internals. They will also create scaffold access, run power cords, and provide lighting for all the work areas. All Koda employees work 12-hour days during our outages, with two crews on nights and days. Pictured below are some projects completed during our last outage in October. Koda Energy completed many more (unpictured) projects during this outage, including the upgrading of software for the control system, replacement of the internal housing wear parts on a hammer mill, cleaning and inspection of the electrostatic precipitator internals, replacement of all the lighting fixtures in the fuel unload building, replacement of an ash belt and drag chain flights, replacement of the seals on the turbine&rsquo;s extraction nonreturn valves, calibration of instruments, replacement of steam and water valves, and repair ration of&nbsp; leaks in the plant. By the time an outage is complete, we will know the condition of nearly everything that cannot be directly observed while the plant is in operation. That enables us to begin a list of work items and improvements to include in our next outage planning cycle. In preparation to come back online, LOTOs are cleared, all valves and breakers are placed in their startup positions, and the boiler is warmed back up at a rate of 100 degrees F per hour. The steam piping is warmed and we begin taking on thermal load, bringing the turbine back online. Output is gradually increased until we&rsquo;ve reached capacity. An outage at Koda Energy is a very busy time, and our team is in a state of constant motion to get all work completed with as little down time as possible.&nbsp; Our most recent outage was our quickest turnaround to date&mdash;the boiler was shut down at 1:00 a.m. on a Friday morning, with all work completed by Monday morning. Warming of the boiler began on Tuesday morning, and the facility was back in full output by the afternoon. Outages are performed to clean, inspect, repair, modify, and improve plant components and its operations. If done safely and efficiently with proper planning, it will more than likely ensure the facility operates problem-free until the next scheduled outage. Author: Stacy Cook Plant Manager, Koda Energy scook@kodaenergy.com 952-641-3613<a style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" title="Call: 952-641-3613" href="#"><img style="margin: 0px; border: currentColor; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; float: none; display: inline; white-space: nowrap; position: static !important;" title="Call: 952-641-3613" src="data:image/png;base64,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" alt="" /></a>

During a plant outage, Koda Energy employees often climb in and out of ingress and egress areas, which are not normally not fit for occupancy.

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The floor of the cooling tower basin must be washed down, inspected for deterioration, and any organic sludge removed, to inhibit algae and bacteria growth.

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Pieces of scaffolding ready for assembly inside the boiler after the plant is cooled down enough so that plant personnel may enter.

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Workers at Koda Energy replace a section of steam line. 

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Approximately 30 million pounds of biomass flour is pneumatically conveyed through each fuel line every six months, between outages. The biomass flour is abrasive at high velocities in these lines, and wears through the metal. Pictured are the fuel l

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A Koda employee begins slag removal in the boiler superheater.

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Koda Energyâ€™s lock out, tag out board and keys are kept in the control room during plant outages.

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A biomass cogeneration plant manager provides an overview of events that occur during a typical scheduled outage.  

A Walk In Our Boots

Every January, the Biomass Power Association and its board of directors begin planning for the year ahead, predicting what the policy landscape will look like and prioritizing our goals for the coming year. In some ways, we have a clear idea of what must be done in 2016. In other ways, we know we will have to improvise more than we have in the past. The Clean Power Plan has been a dominant theme over the past two years, and will continue to be top of mind for the foreseeable future. While the EPA didn&rsquo;t grant us the clarity that we had hoped for, they did give a resounding endorsement to biomass as a low-carbon emissions reduction strategy. As with the rest of the plan, EPA has emphasized that states will have the flexibility to determine the role of biomass in their state implementation plans. While that is generally a good thing, since most states with biomass resources available will almost certainly want biomass to offset their fossil reduction obligations, it does create some uncertainty for biomass as we anticipate 49 different carbon reduction strategies. The Clean Power Plan also presents the prospect of increased cofiring. Many industry stakeholders see a viable path forward for coal facilities to shift some of their fuel to pellets to reduce the carbon emissions restrictions that will soon be placed on them. Of course, there are many obstacles to a thriving U.S. pellet power market, not the least of which is the challenge of making the economics work out. But it is a real possibility that we will see experimental cofiring in the not-too-distant future. There&rsquo;s also the issue of tax and incentives. Of course, all in the biomass industry would appreciate more financial security. We are the only renewable energy source that pays for its own fuel, yet we provide many benefits other than power generation. Biomass keeps forest markets stable and healthy, lessens the need for coal and other fossil fuels, and employs thousands of Americans in rural areas. And we&rsquo;ve done all of this with much less support than other renewables have received. There are many ways that the government can recognize all of these benefits and help keep facilities in business, and we hope to identify a couple of these in the year ahead. The most effective way that the industry can maximize its relevancy and grow under the Clean Power Plan is for all involved to unite to weigh in on the important policy and regulatory discussions that are happening. Joining the Biomass Power Association is a great way to make your voice heard. We welcome as members all power producers, suppliers and anyone involved in the U.S. biomass power market. We&rsquo;d love to hear from you if you&rsquo;re interested in joining. To find out more about how you can play a role, please contact Carrie Annand, BPA&rsquo;s vice president of external affairs, at carrie@usabiomass.org.&nbsp; Author: Bob Cleaves President, Biomass Power Association bob@biomasspowerassociation.com www.biomasspowerassociation.com

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The most effective way that the industry can maximize its relevancy and grow under the Clean Power Plan is for all involved to unite to weigh in on the important policy and regulatory discussions that are happening.

Biomass Power Uniting to Confront Market, Policy, Regulatory Shifts 

DuPont appoints CEO Edward Breen has been named chair and CEO of DuPont. Prior to joining DuPont, Breen served as CEO of Tyco International plc, where he oversaw the design and implementation of a comprehensive action plan to revive the company from near-bankruptcy and rebuild its brand and credibility. During his time at Tyco, Breen oversaw a restructuring, including two break-ups of the company resulting in the spin-offs of Covidien, Tyco Connectivity, ADT Corp. and the merger of Tyco Flow Control with Pentair. Breen also previously served as president and chief operating officer of Motorola, and as chairman, president and CEO of General Instrument Corp.&nbsp;&nbsp; Drax adds director Drax has announced that Andy Koss, chief executive of Drax Power Ltd., has been appointed a director of the company, effective Jan. 1. Koss joined Drax in 2005 and has held senior roles in finance and regulation. Peter Emery, group operations director at Drax, was scheduled to leave the company and cease to be a director Dec. 31. His departure follows the completion of the transition to the new executive management structure announced earlier in the year. Biomass professional recognized by OSU Bill Levy, CEO and founder of Pacific Ag, recently received a Distinguished Luminary Award from Oregon State University. The award is designed to publicly acknowledge the accomplishments of outstanding alumni, and is given to an individual who made early career and community contributions that clearly identify him as a future leader. Pacific Ag is a biomass supply chain management provider. The company&rsquo;s customers include U.S. cellulosic biorefineries, forage importers in Asia and the Middle East, U.S. cattle and dairy operations, and others. BioAmber hires CFO BioAmber Inc. has added Mario Saucier to serve as its chief financial officer (CFO), effective Jan. 4. Andrew Ashworth, who came out of retirement in July to act as CFO on an interim basis, was scheduled to leave BioAmber at the end of January. Saucier will lead all finance activities, including treasury, budget planning, investor relations and information systems, and will play a leading role in the company&rsquo;s growth initiatives. He previously served as CFO of Englobe and chief accounting officer of Quebecor World. Sierra Energy partners with Andy Egan&nbsp; Sierra Energy has selected Andy Egan as its engineering and procurement partner in delivering renewable energy solutions to the U.S. Army and California Energy Commission. Andy Egan will play a key role in the design and fabrication of the FastOx gasification system at Fort Hunter Liggett, a U.S. Army garrison in California. The project will divert waste generated on base from landfills for the creation of renewable energy. Fort Hunter Liggett is on track to become one of six army installations in the nation to achieve net-zero waste production, energy usage and water consumption.&nbsp; Anellotech announces investment Anellotech, a company developing proprietary thermal catalytic biomass conversion technology, has received a $7 million equity investment from a new strategic investor. The new investor joins existing partners Axens, IFP Energies nouvelles, Johnson Matthey, and other industry leaders. API awarded patent for nanocellulose applications American Process Inc. has announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted the U.S. Patent No. 9,187,865 for its BioPlus nanocellulose technology. The patent covers an AVAP process for producing a nanocellulose material, as well as many downstream applications using the nanocellulose. The process includes fractionating a biomass feedstock with acid, a solvent for lignin, and water, to generate cellulose-rich solids; and then mechanically treating the cellulose-rich solids with a relatively low amount of energy to form cellulose nanofibrils or nanocrystals. Other patents are pending for the nanocellulose material and compositions that include the nanocellulose, as well as for other aspects of the technology, in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, Japan, China, India, Russia, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa. IDA names new chair The International DME Association has named Rebecca Boudreaux, president of Oberon Fuels Inc., as its chair. The IDA represents interests of the international dimethyl ether (DME) fuel industry and its members, including stakeholders involved in the production, distribution, and use of DME for fuel applications and in the research and development of technologies related to its use. At Oberon, Boudreaux leads the consumer development and strategic partnering efforts with OEMs, feedstock suppliers, and trucking companies. Gevo, Praj sign agreement Gevo Inc. has entered into a license agreement and a joint development agreement with Praj Industries Ltd. to enable the licensing of its isobutanol technology to processors of noncorn-based sugars, including the majority of Praj&rsquo;s global customer base of ethanol plant owners. As part of the agreements, Praj will invest substantial resources in the development and optimization of Gevo&rsquo;s isobutanol technology for use with noncorn feedstocks, including sugarcane, sugar beets, cassava, rice, sorghum, wheat and certain cellulosic sugars. The development work is expected to lead to process design packages (PDP) designed to accelerate the licensing of Gevo&rsquo;s technology to processors of these feedstocks, particularly in Praj&rsquo;s customer base. The development work is expected to build on the PDP Gevo has already developed for corn. Under the agreements, Praj would be the customer-facing entity marketing Gevo&rsquo;s isobutanol technology to its existing customer base, and would provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for such projects. Gevo would be the direct licensor of its technology to these end customers. The two companies expected to license up to 250 million gallons of biobutanol capacity over the next 10 years under this partnership. In addition to the PDP development, Praj will contribute engineering services to optimize Gevo&rsquo;s Luverne, Minnesota, facility, with the initial focus on optimizing energy and water usage at the plant in order to further lower the cost of the isobutanol process. Fortistar company appoints CEO Fortistar has appointed Mo Klefeker as CEO of its portfolio company Primary Energy Recycling, which helps industrial companies create value from waste energy by building, owning and operating waste-heat-to-power and combined-heat-and-power plants at their manufacturing locations. Klefeker most recently served as president and CEO of Southwest Generation.

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Business Briefs

The impact that a quality maintenance program can have on a bioenergy facility cannot be overstated.
 In the case of Scotia Atlantic Biomass, a pellet producer in the heart of Newfoundand&rsquo;s forest products industry, a revamped operations and maintenance program is being credited with ushering an era of profitability. For Associate Editor Katie Fletcher&rsquo;s page-28 story, she caught up with Viridis Energy&rsquo;s Michele Rebiere, who shared with her how the company migrated away from 24/7 operation while making maintenance a routine weekly discipline. Julie Millington, Scotia general manager, told Fletcher that the new program not only allows her team to keep the facility &ldquo;spick and span,&rdquo; but also provides an opportunity to think proactively about repairs. Also on the roster of stories this month is a piece written by Stacy Cook, a Biomass Magazine editorial board member and plant manager at Koda Energy. The article, on page 16, provides a task-by-task account of the goals Cook and his team have for their facility&rsquo;s planned outages, and offers a front row view of what Cook makes clear are among the most critical three days in the plant&rsquo;s calendar year. More accurately, three days is a measure of how long the plant is offline and delivering neither heat nor electric power. Preparing for an outage is an ongoing discipline, and the planning for Koda&rsquo;s next one began while this one was underway. Since late summer, our team has been looking for an opportunity to explore what the trend of lower oil prices means for the biomass industry. As the price of oil reached a six-year low, Senior Editor Ron Kotrba reached out to producers to better understand how market conditions are affecting operations and profitability. He opens his page-22 story by comparing the current prices of a number of energy commodities with prices from a year ago. Despite working every day in the space, seeing the numbers reported in this rat-a-tat fashion was jarring. Unless winter comes on with a vengeance, heating oil expenditures this year will be as low as they&rsquo;ve been in a decade. Knowing that these low prices will eventually impact the revenue side of their ledgers, savvy producers are working to capture all of the savings they possibly can, wherever they spend money on petroleum in the operation of their business. Kotrba&rsquo;s story underscores the lessons offered in the issue&rsquo;s other pieces. Energy markets have always been a low-margin game, but current conditions leave producers little margin for error. Thoughtful, well considered operations and maintenance strategies may well be the surest path to profitability.
Author: Tim Portz Vice President of Content&nbsp; &amp; Executive Editor tportz@bbiinternational.com

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 Energy markets have always been a low-margin game, but current conditions leave producers little margin for error. Thoughtful, well considered operations and maintenance strategies may well be the surest path to profitability.

January 2016

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Expanding Food Production and Biomass Benefits

Biomass Gets Budget Boost

COP21 and Clean Power Plan Good News for Pellet Industry

Biomass Power Uniting to Confront Market, Policy, Regulatory Shifts

Maintaining Profitability

Featured

The Untold Upside of Low Oil Prices

Contributions

A Walk In Our Boots

Departments

DuPont's Turn at Center Stage

Attention to Detail

Chasing Down Bottlenecks

January 2016.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

Columns

Expanding Food Production and Biomass Benefits

Biomass Gets Budget Boost

COP21 and Clean Power Plan Good News for Pellet Industry

Biomass Power Uniting to Confront Market, Policy, Regulatory Shifts

Maintaining Profitability

Featured

The Untold Upside of Low Oil Prices

Contributions

A Walk In Our Boots

Departments

DuPont's Turn at Center Stage

Attention to Detail

Chasing Down Bottlenecks

January 2016