&ldquo;Green heat&rdquo; is part of the name of our organization: the Alliance for Green Heat.&nbsp; But the definition of &ldquo;green&rdquo; is getting less clear when it comes to heating and to renewable energy generally. Tesla is releasing an affordable electric car with great fanfare, and it&rsquo;s alarming how many people aren&rsquo;t thinking about which grid they will be recharging the car on.&nbsp; There is nothing &ldquo;green&rdquo; about an electric car that uses electricity on the grid in scores of states where coal still dominates the fuel mix. Less in the spotlight is the electrification of heating and the new popularity of high-efficiency, air-source heat pumps.&nbsp; Air-source heat pumps are gaining traction as a green solution because they remove combustion from the home and provide high-efficiency electric heating and cooling. Both heat pumps and electric cars remove combustion from the appliance and centralize it in gas, coal or nuclear power plants, unless you have a very large array of solar panels, or the grid of your state has a lot of hydro or nonhydro renewables.&nbsp; In Washington state, three-quarters of the electricity on the grid comes from renewables (mostly hydro, but wind is starting to make up a significant share).&nbsp; In California, about 30 percent of electricity comes from renewables. More than 50 percent of electricity comes from renewables in six states: Vermont (99 percent), Washington (75 percent), South Dakota (75 percent), Idaho (74 percent), Oregon (68 percent) and Maine (66 percent).&nbsp; At least three of these states are now offering incentives for electric heat in the form of high-efficiency, air-source heat pumps.&nbsp; An Oregon utility offers a rebate to switch from wood to a heat pump.&nbsp; The problem with electricity has been its cost, not necessarily its carbon intensity, but as more cars, heat and other uses rely on electricity, there will be some major drawbacks.&nbsp; Peak electricity loads will be shifted to the winter, not just summer months. And meeting more peak load periods typically involves higher carbon-dense fuels. A key problem with electric heat, which involves all heat pumps, is that one has already wasted 65 to 75 percent of the fuel, whether it was coal, gas or wood chips.&nbsp; Power plants in the U.S. rarely use their waste heat, which is the majority of energy produced.&nbsp; By decentralizing the combustion and focusing on distributed energy technologies such as pellet stove or boilers, we capture 70 to 80 percent. This brings a huge contradiction in the renewable energy movement.&nbsp; Many think we are and should move to distributed, local production of energy, which includes rooftop solar, pellet stoves and boilers, etc. But we are also moving more toward the continued centralization of energy supply, which includes large-scale wind farms, large-scale hydro, and nuclear. So what is &ldquo;green heat?&rdquo;&nbsp; First of all, the greenest Btu is the Btu you never use.&nbsp; For anyone interested in green energy, the first step is to get a home energy audit and make sure your house is not leaking like a sieve. When you have an energy audit, find a BPI-certified auditor and make sure they use Annex J, the Alternate Procedure for Solid Fuel Burning Appliance Inspection, to inspect your wood or pellet stove. If you are part of the 33 percent of the U.S. population who already use electric heat, you can pay a bit more to your utility and buy green power.&nbsp; Not all utilities offer this option, but for my home in Maryland, it adds less than 10 percent to our monthly electric bill. Geothermal, or ground-source heat pumps, draw heat from the ground but use a lot of electricity in the process. Again, for geothermal to be considered truly green, you should be using electricity generated from renewable energy to pump the heat into your home.&nbsp; Otherwise, geothermal is little more than high-efficiency electric heat. Solar thermal is somewhat of a misnomer because solar thermal systems rarely provide energy for space heating.&nbsp; In the U.S., they usually only produce enough heat to cover domestic hot water needs, and most people do not use enough domestic hot water to make the investment worthwhile. How about wood and pellet stoves?&nbsp; Are they really &ldquo;green?&rdquo; I often get baffled looks from my friends and neighbors when I talk about wood heating.&nbsp; They say, &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t the smoke make it less than green?&rdquo; My answer is always yes.&nbsp; If there is visible smoke, you either don&rsquo;t have an EPA-certified stove, are using green wood, aren&rsquo;t operating the stove well, or all of the above. Putting a steady stream of smoke into a neighborhood can hardly be considered green, even though you could argue that wood still has plenty of environmental benefits compared to gas or oil. In fact, none of the last three EPA-certified stoves I have used to heat my house can burn dry wood without visible smoke at their lowest air setting. Although they can work well with plenty of airflow, these stoves are made in a way that lets people use them poorly. Ironically, the main reason many manufacturers make stoves with such low air settings is because the EPA mandates it. This is surely one of the most counterproductive EPA requirements. Pellet stoves are consistently superior to wood stoves when it comes to reducing smoke. A German-designed pellet stove in the 2016 Pellet Stove Design Challenge was so clean that you could barely see the particulate matter catch on the white filter.&nbsp; Pellet stoves that emit under 1 gram of particulate matter per hour are a great &ldquo;green&rdquo; heating option for American homes.&nbsp; We expect to see more and more homes using both pellet stoves and high-efficiency, air-source heat pumps together, as they can complement each other. With better federal and state policies, we could even expect to see double-digit growth of pellet stoves once oil and gas prices start to increase again. If the country is serious about renewable energy, it means getting a lot more serious about all renewable heating options. The most affordable ones now are pellet stoves, anywhere in the U.S., and high-efficiency heat pumps in states where the majority of electricity comes from renewables.&nbsp; Getting serious about renewable heating technologies is happening slowly at the state level, and far more quickly in Europe. In 15 to 30 years, renewable electricity may be cheap and plentiful enough to take over a big chunk of our space heating needs and our cars, but we may be looking at 40 to 60 years to get that much renewable energy on grids.&nbsp; Perhaps wood and pellet stove and boilers will be more of a transitional low-carbon technology, but for now, they remain a very affordable, smart way to reduce fossil heating fuels.&nbsp; But first, get an energy audit. Author: John Ackerly President, Alliance for Green Heat jackerly@forgreenheat.org 301-204-956

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If the country is serious about renewable energy, it means getting a lot more serious about all renewable heating options.

What is “Green” Heating?

Certain terrains, smaller timber tracks and larger tree diameters still call for chainsaw-wielding lumberjacks to fell trees, but an increasing number of forestry operations today are run by operators of heavy machinery used to fell, cut, skid, forward, process, load and transport wood. These machines are the stuff little boys dream of. Hulking, dauntingly powerful, cool-looking and even cooler-named forestry equipment are the most uniquely designed and specialized heavy-duty vehicles around. By all accounts, the four major equipment providers in this space are John Deere, Caterpillar, Komatsu and Tigercat. Biomass Magazine talks forest harvesting equipment with each of them to paint a picture of what the sector looks like, and what advancements have been made in recent years. Although a myriad of site-prep tractors, bulldozers, loaders, excavators and other machines such as knuckle booms and dangle head processors are integral to forestry operations, what are considered perhaps the most ubiquitous, specialized machines in the field are feller bunchers, skidders, harvesters and forwarders. A harvester is a self-propelled machine with a cutting head attachment that is used to fell and process&mdash;or delimb and buck&mdash;trees in cut-to-length operations. Harvesters come in track or wheel configurations, and which one is preferred depends on the terrain. Caterpillar makes track harvesters, according to Antonio Solano Jr., the global commercial manager for Caterpillar Forest Products, while Steve Yolitz, forestry marketing manager for Komatsu America Corp., says Komatsu manufactures cut-to-length wheeled and track harvesters. Mike Schmidt, the forestry tactical marketing manager for John Deere Construction and Forestry-North America, says track harvesters are better-suited for soft, wet ground because they exert less pressure per square inch on the soil, and track equipment is safer on steeper slopes. &ldquo;Operations are trying to get away from hand-falling on steep slopes because it&rsquo;s dangerous,&rdquo; Schmidt says. &ldquo;Some even use track harvesters on slopes that are tethered by a cable to a bulldozer with a wench.&rdquo; Yolitz says Komatsu also provides a broad range of harvesting and processing head attachments designed for everything from thinning to final felling applications.&nbsp; &ldquo;This includes heads with multistem harvesting capabilities for thinning projects and heads that excel in the recovery of wind-blown timber,&rdquo; he says. A feller buncher is self-propelled with a cutting head designed to hold more than one tree at a time. Unlike a harvester, most feller bunchers are used solely for cutting, holding, and placing whole felled trees on the ground, and they do not have the ability to process. Wheeled feller bunchers are sometimes called &ldquo;drive-to-tree&rdquo; and have the cutting head mounted directly to the carrier without a swing boom, whereas track feller bunchers are boom-equipped and do not have to drive to each tree to fell. While a feller buncher is typically used only to cut, hold and place, Yolitz says Komatsu&rsquo;s XT-3 series machines can also be equipped with a harvesting head and perform cut-to-length harvesting and processing. &ldquo;Komatsu&rsquo;s XT-3 Series track feller bunchers are for tree-length logging, and offer an automated four-way leveling system for maximizing operator productivity while operating on sloped or rough terrain,&rdquo; Yolitz says. &ldquo;Models feature a state-of-the-art cab with dramatic widescreen visibility and first-in-forest use of the advanced IQAN-MD4 control system.&rdquo; Models include the nonleveling XT430-3 and the cab-leveling XT430L-3, XT445L-3 and the largest XT-460L-3. Skidders are typically used to drag whole, felled trees to a landing or roadside with either a cable configuration or grapple, or both. Schmidt says they also help keep the landing clean, as most have front blades used to push material away and take limbs from the processing area at the landing back out to the forest to be spread out. While most skidders are wheeled, there are some track skidders that are either custom- or purpose-built. A skidder takes piles of trees left by the feller buncher and brings to processing at the landing. Forwarders operate in conjunction with a harvester to haul cut-to-length logs processed in the woods to the landing. Typically they are wheeled units with a cab, a bunk for hauling and a grapple to load and unload material. Technological Advancements Ongoing improvements in the forest harvesting space have focused on lower emissions to meet stringent regulations, better safety, increased efficiency and productivity, and greater operator comfort. &ldquo;Komatsu was the &lsquo;first in the North American forest&rsquo; to offer a complete line of harvesters with powerful, fuel-efficient Tier 4 Final engines,&rdquo; Yolitz says. Tier 4 emissions standards for off-road diesels, implemented by U.S. EPA in the past few years, significantly reduce allowable levels of NOx, particulate matter (soot) and hydrocarbon emissions. Tigercat&rsquo;s international factory sales representative Gary Olsen says, &ldquo;The biggest challenge for all forestry equipment manufacturers over the past couple of years has been complying with the new Tier 4 environmental emission level requirements.&rdquo; Though manufacturers of diesel equipment utilize many different configurations to meet the new standards, Olsen says Tigercat has tackled this challenge through teaming up with FPT Innovations to develop an engine series that meets the stringent requirements without the need for a variable geometry turbocharger, an exhaust gas recirculation system, a higher capacity cooling system, an intake throttle body or a diesel particulate filter (DPF). &ldquo;No &lsquo;regens&rsquo; are required,&rdquo; he says, referring to regeneration of a soot-loaded DPF. &ldquo;In addition, the engine series offers proven reliability and lower long-term maintenance costs. Most of the new emission equipment is found in the exhaust or aftertreatment system. The key is the selective catalyst reduction (SCR) system, which converts the harmful components of the exhaust gas stream into water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.&rdquo; Caterpillar&rsquo;s new engines not only meet the more stringent EPA standards, but Solano says they are also more fuel-efficient and productive. &ldquo;Operating modes that give the logger the choice of running a machine for maximum fuel economy or maximum power are another example [of how technology is advancing],&rdquo; he says. Logging companies are saying it&rsquo;s getting harder to find labor, Schmidt points out, so forestry equipment manufacturers are charged with making their machines capable of doing more while providing greater safety and comfort to the operators. &ldquo;The Komatsu 855.1 forwarder is available with the advanced &lsquo;Comfort-Ride&rsquo; hydraulic cab suspension system option, which effectively dampens the bumps and jarring effects of rough terrain normally felt by the operator,&rdquo; Yolitz says. &ldquo;This four-point cab suspension system is more effective than other three-point systems.&rdquo; As Caterpillar continues to focus on safety, the company has delivered what it calls an Operator Safety Fatigue Monitoring system. &ldquo;This creates an operator awareness and reduces the risk of fatigue,&rdquo; Solano says. &ldquo;Also, our ergonomically friendly cabs contribute to operator comfort. This allows our customers to get more out of their equipment.&rdquo; Caterpillar Forest Products is also introducing a seat suspension technology for D Series wheel skidders that Solano says will provide unmatched comfort for operators and help improve the bottom line for logging contractors. &ldquo;The Cat Advanced Ride Management seat suspension system is a semiactive suspension that dampens vibration and minimizes end stop events, significantly improving operator comfort,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Semiactive means the suspension can adjust the rate of damping in real time&mdash;a breakthrough technology.&rdquo; John Deere recently released innovative software technologies for its forest harvesting equipment: TimberNavi and JDLink. JDLink transfers information between the customer and the dealer to identify and preempt any problems developing in the machine, Schmidt says. Before the problem causes downtime, Schmidt says they can get in front of it and prevent more significant damage. &ldquo;That technology is pretty new and evolving rapidly,&rdquo; he says. TimberNavi allows monitoring locations of machines in real time to optimize operations. &ldquo;It provides information, and the more information you have, the better your decisions can be,&rdquo; Schmidt says. For instance, a job can be structured to use the same skid trails to reduce impact to soil on a particular parcel; or to predict volume and schedule trucking. Caterpillar also utilizes telematics, or technology that uses wireless communications and GPS tracking, to monitor and manage equipment. &ldquo;This technology is underutilized in the logging community now, but will gain acceptance as loggers see what it can do for their bottom line,&rdquo; Solano says. &ldquo;With Cat Product Link, customers can more effectively manage their business by, for example, reducing equipment idling time, identifying less productive operators and avoiding catastrophic failures. Cat dealers can monitor their customers&rsquo; machines and watch for issues and alert customers when maintenance is due. The system can also ensure operations occur within agreed boundaries to avoid potential liability or sanctions.&rdquo; Caterpillar forestry machines are even being utilized via remote control for the first time, in a project that Solano says may ultimately may pave the way for wider application of the technology to increase operator safety in the logging industry. &ldquo;Although remote operation has been used in Cat mining and construction equipment in the past, this is the first use of the technology with Cat forestry equipment,&rdquo; Solano says. Tigercat advancements and innovations include TurnAround technology, which allows the operator to drive blade-forward or grapple-forward with full control of all functions. The full speed range and maximum-tractive effort is available in both directions. Its ER boom system technology allows the operator to actuate the boom with optimal hydraulic efficiency, extending and retracting on a horizontal plane quickly and smoothly with a single joystick. Tigercat also reports that its low-wide bunk system is unique to the industry. The bunks are angled to reduce overall gate height and to eliminate the need for a vertical sliding gate. Solano adds, &ldquo;Caterpillar has also made significant design improvements in something as simple as the grapple tongs to make it easier to grab more per load, thus reducing the amount of cycles that a skidder needs to go through, increasing productivity and burning less fuel.&rdquo; While equipment design, reliability, efficiency and productivity are paramount to customers and operators, virtually all the manufacturers Biomass Magazine talked with boast their dealer network and customer service as top-tiered and second-to-none. Ultimately, the improvements made to the variety of machines in the forest harvesting space over the years are as varied and wide as the international landscapes on which they operate. Author: Ron Kotrba Senior Editor, Biomass Magazine 218-745-8347 rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

HEAVY HITTER: Tigercatâ€™s 720E feller buncher with a 2000 model shear fells trees and can hold and place them for a skidder to haul to the landing. 

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HEAVY HAULER: Caterpillarâ€™s 535D Skidder secures whole felled trees with its grapple and skids them to the landing site where they will be processed and transported. 

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FULL SWING: Caterpillarâ€™s 541 Series 2 harvester is a full tail swing machine designed for high-production clear-cut and for clear- or select-cut in rough terrain. 


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MOVING FORWARD: John Deereâ€™s 1110E IT4 Forwarder works with harvesters and processors by transporting cut-to-length logs from the forest to the landing or roadside in an elevated bunk. 

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LEVELING CAB: Komatsuâ€™s XT460L-3L (leveling) feller buncher features a new cab with enhanced visibility and advanced IQAN-MD4 control system. 

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CUT-TO-LENGTH: Komatsuâ€™s 931 Harvester has a powerful, fuel-efficient Tier 4 Final engine and advanced hydraulics, which allow the operator to simultaneously feed, slew and maneuver. 

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The Big Four equipment manufacturers in the forest harvesting space discuss product offerings and technological advancements to improve emissions, operator comfort and safety, productivity and efficiency.

Workhorses of the Woods

One-third of the world&rsquo;s food is wasted every year. In the U.S. alone, over $100 billion worth of food goes uneaten annually, with 98.4 percent, or more than 34 million tons, landfilled. Throughout North America, Green technology company BioHiTech Global Inc.&rsquo;s subsidiary, BioHiTech America, is installing digestion technology that reinvents food waste management by focusing on processing the waste at its point of generation for easier, more cost-effective disposal. BioHiTech named its waste processor the Eco-Safe digester, an onsite aerobic digester that eliminates up to 2,400 pounds of food waste in a 24-hour period by converting it into a nutrient-neutral grey water that&rsquo;s discharged through standard sewer lines. BioHiTech has been investigating further uses for the liquid slurry by testing the transportation and use of it in an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility. &ldquo;BioHiTech teamed up with Natural Systems Utilities, Ridgewood Green RME LLC and the village of Ridgewood, New Jersey, to test a process that allows BioHiTech&rsquo;s Eco-Safe digester to digest, tank and deliver the effluent from its Eco-Safe digesters to anaerobic digestion facilities anywhere in the world,&rdquo; says Frank Celli, CEO of BioHiTech Global. In order to test whether the effluent from the digester would be a good feedstock, the company installed a unit at a high-volume supermarket in New Jersey. &ldquo;After testing by both BioHiTech and Natural Systems, it was determined that with some modifications to the settings on the Eco-Safe digester, the effluent would essentially complete the first step of AD, which is hydrolysis,&rdquo; Celli says. He explains that hydrolysis is where the bacteria transform the particulate organics into liquid, and by adjusting the amount of microorganisms introduced into the system, the company can provide a viable feedstock that meets the needs of the AD facility.&nbsp; &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking to bring more of their material in on a longer-term basis,&rdquo; says Richard Cisterna, executive vice president of business development with Natural Systems Utilities. Ridgewood Green&mdash;composed of NSU, American Refining and Biochemical, and Middlesex Water Company&mdash;entered into a public private partnership with the village of Ridgewood on the waste-to-energy project. The Ridgewood Green facility is located at the village&rsquo;s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which includes a 20,000 gallon-per-day liquid waste receiving facility. Outside organic wastes are brought to the facility and codigested in two digesters with municipal biosolids that are generated at the WWTP. The resulting biogas is used in a combined-heat-and-power system with the capacity to generate 240 kilowatts of electricity and 1.5 million Btu per hour of thermal heat, equaling almost all of the WTTP&rsquo;s required energy. Waste heat recovered from the engine is used to optimize the AD process by heating the sludge. Only a few thousand gallons of BioHiTech&rsquo;s effluent has been tested in the digesters, but once the company deploys more of its systems to generate material on an ongoing basis, NSU hopes to move beyond the trial period. &ldquo;They need to know there is a viable outlet that creates sustainable products, which we&rsquo;re doing by creating renewable energy,&rdquo; Cisterna says. He adds that this demonstration will give BioHiTech the ability to deploy more of their systems at commercial facilities, especially in light of food waste generators&rsquo; obligation in certain jurisdictions to abide by legislation banning food waste from landfills. Currently, there are food waste diversion bans from landfills already in effect in Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York City and, according to Cisterna, it&rsquo;s being proposed now in New York and New Jersey, states that&nbsp; NSU is very active in. &ldquo;We are participating in promoting that,&rdquo; he shares. Since the Eco-Safe digester completes the hydrolysis step of the anaerobic process prior to arrival at the AD facility, Celli says this assists with blending other feedstocks into the process. &ldquo;It breaks down the material and liquefies it so it&rsquo;s more readily digestible by our anaerobic digesters,&rdquo; Cisterna adds. The liquefied state also makes it easier to transport. In a way, the system is geared toward enhancing a hub-and-spoke model of handling biogas feedstocks by predigesting food waste onsite at the source (the spoke) which can then be transported to a central AD plant (the hub) for energy generation. &ldquo;The way it&rsquo;s contemplated now is they would arrange for the hauling to pick up that liquid material from multiple locations, and they would haul the material to our facility at the waste water treatment plant,&rdquo; Cisterna says. According to Celli, tanking of the effluent will be done on a case-by-case basis. &ldquo;The economics of distance to an AD facility and trucking the effluent have to add up to a positive,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We are working with customers who have sustainability goals to determine if the environmental benefits of producing energy are balanced with the distance and impacts of trucking.&rdquo; In many instances, Celli adds, there are positive impacts, but for those where an AD plant is too far away, discharge to the sanitary sewer can accomplish many sustainability goals as well.&nbsp; Prior to discharge into a sanitary sewer line or a collection tank, the digester weighs each increment of waste and allows users to qualify its type and origin, and then immediately transmits the data to BioHiTech Cloud. This &ldquo;Software as a Service&rdquo; analytics platform measures key metrics like utilization data, environmental impacts, costs savings, hour-of-day or day-of-week trends, waste categorization, as well as machine and digestion performance. &ldquo;These metrics are providing the industry with an unprecedented level of transparency that not only helps to reduce the amount of waste generated, but also improves company-wide efficiency and profitability,&rdquo; Celli says. The company also has an app called BioHiTech Cirrus, which provides easier access to real-time data. BioHiTech has more than 300 units installed&mdash;nearly 400 if counting units under contract but not yet deployed&mdash;in 37 states and 13 countries, according to Celli. These customers span as many as 11 verticals, including prisons, followed by hospitality, grocery and restaurants as the largest portion of BioHiTech&rsquo;s install base. Clients include The Cheesecake Factory, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Fairway, GE, and many others. &ldquo;In 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, BioHiTech Eco-Safe digesters have diverted over 5,500 tons of food waste from landfills; this does not include digesters that currently are not utilizing BioHiTech Cloud technology, therefore the number is substantially greater,&rdquo; Celli says. &ldquo;Through the use of BioHiTech Cloud technology, owners and managers of food processing establishments will be able to modify their solid waste management practices to reduce the amount of waste that is generated before disposal even becomes a factor.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Associate Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 kfletcher@bbiinternational.com

Viable Feedstock: Grey water resulting from BioHiTechâ€™s Eco-Safe digester process has been proven through demonstration-scale testing to transport and mix well at Ridgewood Greenâ€™s AD facility colocated at the wastewater treatment plant. A local 

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BioHiTech's Eco-Safe digester technology breaks down organic waste on-site, creating an easy-to-pump and -transport effluent that eliminates the need for costly preprocessing at the biogas plant.

Prepping at Point of Origin

Though short-rotation woody crops such as willow and poplar boast a variety of characteristics that make them attractive as potential bioenergy feedstocks, the real challenges dwell within harvesting and transport logistics, a segment of the supply chain that has taken collaboration from government, academia and equipment suppliers to navigate, and work is still ongoing. One of the biggest hurdles in mechanizing the harvest of woody biomass crops is variation in cultivation. Doug Otto, New Holland&rsquo;s senior manager of specialty business units, didn&rsquo;t hesitate with an answer when posed with the question. With poplar and willow just emerging in the U.S. as commercial bioenergy crops, researchers and growers are still writing the book of best practices, and New Holland is largely serving as a contributing author.&nbsp; &ldquo;First, these crops have to be grown in appropriately sized lots so that the machines can get in,&rdquo; Otto says. &ldquo;If the rows of trees aren&rsquo;t planted appropriately, then we suffer considerable machine damage. The harvester really wasn&rsquo;t intended to be running down rows of trees, and there isn&rsquo;t enough shielding to avoid the units taking on damage. As we have moved forward with mechanized harvesting, growers have changed and adapted to the kind of cultivation these [crops] require. In the beginning, that was a real challenge.&rdquo; Otto has been on the forefront of New Holland&rsquo;s efforts in working with clients to test how the company&rsquo;s machines work in fields of short-rotation biomass crops, and tweaking them to maximize performance according to each specific crop&rsquo;s characteristics. Another challenge that Otto mentions has been the time of year these crops are harvested. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s muddy, so there are issues trying to drive a large machine down in the mud, issues that generally aren&rsquo;t present when you&rsquo;re harvesting other kinds of crops,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Sometimes you can do it when the ground is frozen, and that helps.&rdquo; Machine-wise, the actual chopping of the biomass crop&mdash;i.e., willow&mdash;isn&rsquo;t difficult, according to Otto, but manipulating the tree so that it&rsquo;s properly fed into the forage harvester can be, as these trees do not always grow in the desired direction. Essentially, the forage harvester is a giant paper shredder, Otto explains. &ldquo;The base unit&mdash;the forage harvester&mdash;is a giant chopper,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It has a rotating drum inside that is equipped with rotating knives. The header&mdash;the unit in the front&mdash;is a machine that is equipped with saw blades at the bottom, which cut the tree off at the ground, and then presents it&nbsp; to the chopper in such a fashion that it can be pulled horizontally into the cutter head. A feed roll pulls materials in, where they are sliced into small pieces.&rdquo; Beyond the cutter head is an accelerator, or blower, that forces the crop out of a pipe into a wagon. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Success By Trial Since State University of New York&rsquo;s College of Environmental Science and Forestry landed a $3.5 million U.S. DOE grant in 2009 to fund an ongoing project that is focused on developing ways to reduce the cost of delivering biomass for refinement, New Holland Agriculture has gone the extra mile to assist. Not only did the company provide SUNY with a FR9080 self-propelled forage harvester with a&nbsp; 130FB coppice header for use during the project, which is focused on short-rotation woody crops like willow&mdash;but the company has actually been involved with SUNY since 2004 when the project was first conceived, and worked with SUNY to acquire feedback on what the machine was doing in the field and details on failures. These challenges were taken to New Holland&rsquo;s Innovations Team, where some different solutions were designed, and, years later, resulted in permanent equipment modifications. &ldquo;From this real word experience and back and for with them, we drove several changes into the units&mdash;it improved the performance of the units that we were selling in Europe as well,&rdquo; Otto says. &ldquo;In a niche market like that, it&rsquo;s what we do. The coppice head was actually initially designed for use in Europe, where the market is much more developed. We took that design and started testing it here with SUNY because of the emerging willow market, and we found that we needed to make some changes.&rdquo; Those changes included saw blade modification, in-feed changes and hydraulics tweaks. As Otto points out, saw blades are fairly unique for various wood crops. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re using them to cut poplar, different blade properties work better there than they do with willow.&rdquo; &nbsp; Changes related to crop guides affected how the trees are fed into the machine after being cut off. &ldquo;Some of these [malfunctions] happen because of the differences between species of trees, but in the end, we found that the changes we made were good for everyone,&rdquo; Otto says. &ldquo;We also made some hydraulics systems improvements&mdash;some changes with feed rolls inside the header&mdash;it&rsquo;s all about getting better feeding from when you cut off the crop to getting it into the chopper.&rdquo; SUNY&rsquo;s research project is still ongoing, and though New Holland is no longer active on-site working to engineer new solutions, it continues to support SUNY&rsquo;s efforts through the donation of the machine and support for the unit itself. New Holland is also involved in a&nbsp; similar, less-formalized project in Boardman, Oregon, with Greenwood Resources, which uses poplar, a crop that Otto says has integral differences in terms of final product, but isn&rsquo;t much different than willow in terms of harvesting. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t necessarily have to make changes to the machine for one or the other&mdash;it comes down to how they cultivate it, which is what provides the differences. The same header can be used to do both.&rdquo; While universities and companies continue moving forward in commercial growth of woody biomass crops, New Holland plans to ride along and assist. &ldquo;[Woody crops] is a new thing that hasn&rsquo;t taken off everywhere, so we&rsquo;re trying to help drive the market,&rdquo; Otto adds. &ldquo;We want to show that we can produce equipment for traditional ag uses, but also open up the opportunity for customers to use these machines for alternative means to help pay off the investment.&rdquo; Author: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine asimet@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4961

THINNING THE PLOT: Willow coppice at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestryâ€™s woody biomass project is harvested by a New Holland Agriculture Woody Crops 130FB Cutting Header and 9000 Series Forage Harvester.

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New Holland is plowing the path to commercial use of woody biomass crops for bioenergy.

Foraging for Efficiency

Chris Madsen needed a career change. After owning and operating his own construction business for over 20 years, a hand injury propelled him to look in other directions. At 45, the father of two enrolled in the plant operations program at Walla Walla Community College. &ldquo;An area that is focused on heavily [in the program] is the chemical process we use in order to utilize bioenergy,&rdquo; says Madsen, who also completed a summer internship at biorefinery developer ZeaChem, an industry partner of the Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest project. Madsen and others are part of a growing number of students recognizing the value of instruction and hands-on experience to meet the needs of a growing bioproducts workforce. The program, which is administered in partnership with the Agriculture Center of Excellence, is a component of AHB&rsquo;s education efforts. Classes began in the fall of 2013, and in addition to the core applied associate degree in plant operations, students can earn certificates in bioproducts, biomass feedstock management, or even a transfer degree in plant operations. &ldquo;The program prepares students to work in facilities converting biomass into electricity, heat, transportation fuels, clean water and high-value chemicals and products,&rdquo; says Jason Selwitz, colead of AHB&rsquo;s Education Team, project manager at the Agriculture Center of Excellence, and a WWCC Energy Systems Technology instructor. Students are pursuing careers in public works, utilities, pulp and paper, food processing, industrial maintenance, wastewater and drinking water treatment, agriculture and forestry, bioproducts, solid waste management and waste to energy, and engineering contractors. A minimum 10-week summer cooperative work experience is required between the first and second year of the program. For Madsen, working in this industry also has a moral component. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve used this planet&rsquo;s resources for my benefit and see the effects imposed on our home, earth and the environment,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Through self-and outside education, I have come to realize that in order for all of us to continue, we have to value and take care of our planet to move us forward. It&rsquo;s time to examine and research what benefits and works symbiotically with our needs.&rdquo; Madsen&rsquo;s 18-year-old son Michael, is also a student in the program. As it has developed, so have the increased opportunities for internships and positions. &ldquo;Three students turned internship experiences into jobs in the biofuels and wastewater areas,&rdquo; says Selwitz. Industry representatives regularly visit campus to talk with students about their industry sectors, job openings, review resumes, and conduct mock interviews. &ldquo;By June 2017, we project to see 21 current first-year and dual-degree students graduate into meaningful careers within the rural reaches of the Northwest.&rdquo; Growth and collaboration are also virtual. Seven Bellingham Technical College process technology students are currently taking online courses in plant operations through WWCC. Students will earn their process technology degree at BTC and a certificate in Bioproducts from WWCC. Additionally, expansion of the plant operations program to the WWCC Clarkston campus will begin this fall, allowing students the option of earning a certificate in industrial maintenance followed by a degree in plant operations-mechanic. Chris Madsen is excited to graduate this June. &ldquo;I see myself working at either ZeaChem, possibly a power plant, or working in some other biofuels-oriented field,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;At my age, I am very thankful that this program came along when it did, and that it is something that seriously interests me and has given me a second working life. The future is bright.&rdquo; Author: Betsy Fradd Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest and Extension Forestry, Washington State University 253-241-5043 http://www.hardwoodbiofuels.org

Students use a hammer mill to reduce particle size of hemp straw so that itâ€™s ready for pretreatment using wet oxidation, in order to produce sugars ready for fermentation. 

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Students in the Plant Operations program at WWCC preparing food waste for composting with chipper.

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Skilled, professional, and motivated technicians and operators are in demand for first-generation, advanced biofuel and cogeneration plants, and other bioenergy facilities.

Expanding the Bioenergy Workforce

En route to ending the world&rsquo;s addiction to oil, the biomass sector may be on the verge of delivering perhaps an even more profound result: sustainable global food security. A new analysis published in Carbon Balance and Management finds the use of algae as feed for animals as potentially having a big role to play in limiting global carbon emissions, while also providing the world with a major new source of sustainable proteins. The authors find that algaculture (production of algae as an agricultural commodity), combined with a modest amount of carbon capture and sequestration, could help bring atmospheric carbon concentrations down to preindustrial levels by the end of the century, and radically alter&mdash;both literally and figuratively&mdash;the global food landscape. The study is just the latest in a string of developments that suggest taxpayers&rsquo; investment in algae and other next-generation biofuel feedstocks is beginning to produce big dividends that extend well beyond sustainable transportation. As I noted in my February column, DOE investments in algae R&amp;D have led to highly promising breakthroughs in human and animal health, alternative fertilizers, wastewater treatment, and even sustainable surf boards. But the industry&rsquo;s biggest impact may be in the most basic, yet vital, of markets: food and feed. For decades, first-generation biofuel producers have delivered high-quality, protein-rich animal feed in the form of distiller&rsquo;s dried grains, as a coproduct of biofuels production. But now, the same traits that made algae an attractive crop for sustainable biofuel production&mdash;ability to grow on marginal lands using saltwater or wastewater, and yields many times those of traditional crops&mdash;are drawing increasing attention to algae. These traits form the basis for a new, sustainable source of protein that could greatly expand the world&rsquo;s agricultural base, and potentially address the world&rsquo;s anticipated explosion in protein demand. Based on feasible costs, the new study&rsquo;s authors estimate that algae could have supplied 40 percent of global feeds in 2013. By intensifying protein production and shifting it to previously nonproductive land, algaculture could free large swaths of arable land for other purposes such as human food crop production or reforestation, the authors find. The reforestation scenario is particularly intriguing, as it would turn the traditional biofuels land use change argument on its head, and nearly singlehandedly offset global greenhouse gas emissions through sequestration in soil and forest biomass.&nbsp;&nbsp; A growing number of feed trials suggest that algal feeds are especially well-suited as fish feed, which isn&rsquo;t altogether surprising, given that algae form the base of most fish food chains. Substitution of algae for traditional fish meal, typically produced from ground up &ldquo;trash&rdquo; fish, could relieve pressure not only on land use, but ocean ecosystems as well. In the words of the authors, algae-based animal feed is a &ldquo;promising and simultaneous solution to food security and climate change and these systems merit greater attention and closer scrutiny than they have thus far received.&rdquo; Other promising new protein platforms, such as methane-based microbial protein production, are also emerging from biofuels investments. And we&rsquo;ve barely begun to contemplate the protein potential of energy grasses and other purpose-grown energy crops of the future. At the 2015 Milan Expo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry drew a direct link between climate security and food security. Algae and other biomass sources offer a highly promising opportunity to address both. A 2015 Wall Street Journal editorial bemoaned the shift of next-generation biofuel developers into new markets like food and feed. The WSJ and other biofuels critics should be celebrating the side benefits of these public investments. They may well save the world in more ways than one. Author: Matt Carr Executive Director, Algae Biomass Organization mcarr@algaebiomass.org 877-531-5512

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A new analysis published in Carbon Balance and Management finds use of algae as feed for animals as potentially having a big role to play in limiting global carbon emissions, while providing the world with a major new source of sustainable proteins.

Food + Fuel: The New Biomass Equation 

For many of us in the biomass thermal industry, March and April were busy months. Whether one is an emissions expert who attended the Pellet Stove Design Challenge at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island, a manufacturer who exhibited at the Northeast Biomass Heating Expo in Burlington, Vermont, an attendee of the International Biomass Conference &amp; Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina, or any of the other trade shows and workshops around the country, there were certainly plenty events to partake in. At the same time, there has been significant activity in another part of the industry, in the area of biomass fuel and equipment standards. BTEC, for example, is in the midst of collecting feedback on our efficiency test method for commercial-size biomass boilers, and anticipates starting work on an American wood chip fuel standard soon. These two projects will benefit the industry, as they fill a gap in American standards regarding solid biomass. Currently, there is no industrywide, accepted efficiency and emissions measurement for commercial-size solid fuel boilers (the EPA New Source Performance Standard covers residential, and Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology rules take effect for boilers over 10 MMBtu per hour). In many ways, specifying wood chip fuels is still the &ldquo;Wild West.&rdquo; Both of these projects will look to existing U.S., European and ISO standards, but will ultimately be shaped by what requirements and methods are best-suited to the complex American market. Where there are already accepted and useful standards in place, the creation of another standard may cause uncertainty and confusion in the industry, as well as present another hurdle for fuel suppliers. This would seem to be the case in the recent developments from NESCAUM, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, which recently announced its intention to initiate the creation of a regional biomass pellet fuel standard for the northeastern U.S. The fact that many pellets in the U.S. are sold as &ldquo;premium&rdquo; and yet can contain many different contaminants was an issue raised by a NESCAUM representative as necessitating this proposed project. Biomass industry observers are aware that the Pellet Fuels Institute, CanPlus and ENPlus standards are already recognized by the U.S. EPA as fuel standards in the U.S. The fact that some pellet producers do not certify their product to any standard, but ensure that pellets live up to their ingredient labels, is laudable in terms of making biomass fuels as clean-burning as possible. Nonetheless, increasing the regulatory and certification burden on an industry that is already under pressure from warm winters and unnaturally low fossil fuel prices risks causing more problems that can't be justified by ferreting out a few corner-cutting fuel manufacturers. Manufacturers who have already made significant investments to certify their pellets would face another burden, while there is no guarantee that a new regional standard would have the weight to significantly change the behavior of those who already are less-than-careful with their feedstocks. We strongly discourage regional standards and favor strengthening national standards as desired through inclusion of other organizational and regulatory interests. It seems that regulatory goals, in terms of emissions and quality control, would be much more achievable by adding rigor to current national standards, cooperatively with entities such as NESCAUM, to address the issues of chemically treated wood and other materials like plastic and heavy metals, instead of creating a whole new regional standard. The mixing of a regulatory fix and a standards solution may take good collaboration, and we are optimistic that this is the right approach. Author: Ben Bell-Walker Manager of Technical Programs, Biomass Thermal Energy Council Ben.bell-walker@biomassthermal.org 202-596-3974

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Where there are already accepted and useful standards in place, the creation of another standard may cause uncertainty and confusion in the industry, as well as present another hurdle for fuel suppliers.

A Proliferation of Fuel Standards

The ninth annual International Biomass Conference &amp; Expo brought nearly 1,000 attendees to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a frank discussion of the current state of the biomass energy industry and the outlook for the next year, as well as three days of information and technology sharing, collaboration and networking. Association leaders participating in the April 12 general session discussion didn&rsquo;t skirt the issue that record-low fossil fuel and energy prices have caused turmoil for most industry sectors, but they also shined some light on promising solutions to some problems faced and highlighted each sector&rsquo;s bright spots. The Clean Power Plan&mdash;the ultimate fate of which will be decided with the fall election&mdash;and a push for renewed tax credits were emphasized during the panel, fronts that the usually fragmented industry have united on. Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, said the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s recent workshop focused on biomass in the CPP&mdash;which was held despite the CPP&rsquo;s current legal limbo&mdash;was encouraging, and conveyed a strong message that biomass can play an important role in state implantation plans (SIP). The looming question is how states will define biomass, and for those that&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; choose not to craft their own SIPs, that job will&mdash;disadvantageous&nbsp; to the industry&mdash;be left up to the U.S. EPA, which recently put out a rulemaking to determine which types of biomass should be included. &ldquo;That is a really bad approach&hellip;the idea the EPA could be the arbiter of what are acceptable types of biomass,&rdquo; Cleaves said. All panelists urged industry stakeholders to call their senators to request an extension of the Section 45 production tax credits, as they are set to expire at the end of the year. It was agreed that there was good opportunity to get the extension included in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, which was passed by the Senate April 19, and is now in the hands of the House, which must act before the FAARA expires in July. Also having potential for inclusion in the FAARA is the BTU Act, said Dan Wilson, board chair of the Biomass Thermal Energy Council. He reminded attendees that biomass thermal has faced an unlevel playing field with other renewables for many years, and pointed to the BTU Act as a means of rectifying the discrepancy. &ldquo;This is the time to make the push, and I can&rsquo;t state enough what a big deal this is for the industry.&rdquo; Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council, said there have been and are some sector challenges, &ldquo;but also some high highs.&rdquo; The biogas industry has been challenged by the low price paid for power produced by biogas-based electricity projects, and regulatory issues surrounding getting upgraded biogas into the pipeline and electricity to the grid, but there has been a push toward more organics recycling and other favorable policies that are providing growth opportunities. Stephen Faehrner, chairman of the Pellet Fuels Institute, said besides the major dip in demand due to the warm winter, the domestic pellet industry faces some regulatory challenges, including the New Source Performance Standards, which PFI worked on with the EPA for many years but still resulted in some confusing and challenging language. On positives, he said that many states in this country that have done a lot to try to help biomass thermal, specifically pellets or stoves. &ldquo;More states are beginning to recognize biomass&hellip;Maryland has a biomass directory and a program manager&hellip;.23 states have some form of program to help folks get a wood or pellet stove. It&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s really encouraging.&rdquo; Seth Ginther, executive director of the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, discussed the Sustainable Biomass Partnership, saying it&rsquo;s off to a great start and seeing some success, as well as an initiative to secure government funding to allow the conversion of Drax&rsquo;s final unit to biomass, which he said would provide some great opportunity for the industry. He also touched on USIPA&rsquo;s strategy to start thinking long-term, and how the industry will navigate a subsidy-free future. Author: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4968 asimet@bbiinternational.com

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E. Allen Lash of FamilyFarms Group and Bill Strauss visit between track sessions.

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During a breakout panel moderated by Katie Fletcher, associate editor of Pellet Mill Magazine (seated), Charlie Niebling, principal and partner at Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC, discusses development of a national wood chip fuel quality s

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Josh Rohrer and Jamie White of NCH Certified Laboratories man the company booth during dedicated expo hall time.

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(Left to right) Emmanuel Torkuma Manger and Tavershima Adyorough, Benue State Government of Nigeria; and Emmannuel Kucha, Aondoyila Kuhe and Isaac Itodo, University of Agriculture Makurdi, attend breakfast before day two breakout track sessions begin

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Vecoplan LLC's Bill Miller, Ralf Rosenkranz and Yuri Chocholko ready to greet booth traffic.

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Platinum-level sponsor New Holland's Gary Wojcik and Jarrod Angstadt, and Tim Portz pose following the expo hall grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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Representing Babcock & Wilcox on the expo hall floor were (from left) Todd Pini, B&W; Paul Vargas, B&W MEGTEC; Pat Collins, B&W MEGTEC; John DeFusco, B&W, and Paul Sengupta, B&W MEGTEC.

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Art Samberg, project coordinator at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center, discusses opportunities for biomass power in the Clean Power Plan during a panel that included (from left) moderator Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine managing editor; David Minott

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Chris Wiberg, lab director of Timber Products Inspection and the Biomass Energy Laboratory, (right photo) presented on pellet certification quality standards during the Global Pellet Market Outlook Summit.

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Roeslein Alternative Energy received the Groundbreaker of the Year Award for its  swine waste-utilizing biogas project on the Ruckman complex of Smithfield Foods Hog Division northwest of Albany, Missouri. Accepting the award on behalf of the company

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Dan Wilson, board chair of the 
Biomass Thermal Energy Council, 
discusses the importance of the BTU Act to the U.S. biomass heating 
industry for their respective sectors.

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Dayre Lashnits, U.S. commodity sales manager at Euronext, 
talks wood pellet futures at the Global Pellet Market Outlook Summit, a preconference seminar of the International Biomass Conference & Expo. 


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Held concurrent to the International Biomass Conference & Expo was the Onsite Energy Conference & Expo. General session speakers included (from left to right) Tom Bryan, vice president of BBI International; Mark Fennell, business development manager 

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At left, Tim Portz, Biomass Magazine executive editor, interviews Stephen Faehner, Pellet Fuels Institute chairman, and Seth Ginther, exeutive director of the U.S Industrial Pellet Association, during the International Biomass Conference & Expo gener

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Melissa Brown, CFO of Drax, accepted the Excellence in Bioenergy Award on behalf of Drax CEO Dorothy Thompson, who won based on her efforts in leading the utility through the technical, logistical and political challenges associated with converting E

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Patrick Serfass (left), 
executive director of the American Biogas Council, and Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, highlight the year's successes and challenges.

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Forest2Market's Pete Stewart, president and CEO, and Tracy Leslie, director, discussed biomass supply chain optimization and the effects of U.S. wood pellet exports on southern forests, respectively. 

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Judi Rawlings and John Rawlings of Rawlings Waste Wood Recovery Systems ready to talk shop. 

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Low oil, dipping power prices and a warm winter have presented
the biomass industry with a challenging year.

Rallying for a  Rebound Year

In April, the Maine legislature voted overwhelmingly to pass a bipartisan measure to help our state&rsquo;s biomass industry. Maine Gov. Paul LePage signed the bill a few days later, approving a package that will fund the industry with $13.4 million from Maine taxpayers over the next two years. In passing this bill, Maine&rsquo;s lawmakers lived up to the state&rsquo;s motto, &ldquo;Dirigo,&rdquo; which is Latin for &ldquo;I lead.&rdquo; The predictable refrain from state environmental groups (biomass is &ldquo;dirtier than coal&rdquo;) was thoroughly debunked and rejected by leaders from both parties, many of whom are known throughout Maine as champions of the environment. Maine&rsquo;s leaders recognized that a healthy biomass industry is crucial to the state&rsquo;s economy. It&rsquo;s no secret that biomass, along with the forest products sector, is going through a hard time right now, not just in Maine, but across the country. The lowest fossil fuel prices in six years, combined with regulatory uncertainty, are causing plants to go idle from Maine to California and in many states in between. The forest products industry is faring no better. Last month, the Madison paper mill announced impending closure, marking Maine&rsquo;s fifth paper mill closure in less than two years. With this closure, Maine&rsquo;s paper industry workforce will have been reduced by 2,300 in five years. Biomass power, as part of the forest products sector, is a cornerstone of Maine commerce. Loggers, sawmills and paper mills depend on revenue from selling unusable, low-value materials like treetops, limbs, chips and sawdust to biomass facilities. An estimated 2.5 million tons of these materials are sold to biomass facilities in Maine each year. Without this market, they would either be landfilled or cause an even more serious strain on the higher-value forest products market. When Maine&rsquo;s biomass fleet is running at full capacity, it provides up to 25 percent of the state&rsquo;s total electricity. That&rsquo;s not a share of renewable power, but of Maine&rsquo;s entire electricity needs, one of the highest renewable power shares of any state in the nation. It&rsquo;s hard to define the full benefits conferred by biomass. The cents paid to a facility per kilowatt-hour do not accurately reflect its jobs, market support, waste wood disposal or environmental benefits. In Maine, state leaders concluded that they could not forfeit these benefits, and certainly not the $300 million annual contributions of biomass to Maine&rsquo;s economy. In Maine, this was a team effort contributed to by biomass facilities, loggers and landowners in equal measures. By working together, these groups were able to showcase the full force of the revenue and jobs at stake. Hopefully, other states like California and Michigan will emulate Maine&rsquo;s good example and support the biomass industry and its many partners through the challenges experienced in so many markets. For a reasonable investment, the biomass industry can be kept up and running, helping maintain forests and economies alike. The Maine state government has shown its support for biomass. Other states should follow its lead. &nbsp; Author: Bob Cleaves President, Biomass Power Association bob@usabiomass.org www.usabiomass.org

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Hopefully, other states like California and Michigan will emulate Maine's good example and support the biomass industry and its many partners through the challenges experienced in so many markets. 

Dirigo: Maine Lives Up to Motto

Scepter Holdings to acquire share in Maine Woods Biomass Exports Scepter Holdings Inc. has executed and entered into an equity purchase and sale agreement to acquire 80 percent of the issued and outstanding percentage interest in Maine Woods Biomass Exports LLC. Searsport, Maine-based MWBE is a biomass wood chip producer. The company aims to expand its current operation and develop and build a multifunctional wood chip processing, manufacturing, and log drying facility using phytosanitation heat treatment. The facility would be designed to manufacture a minimum of 310,000 metric tons per year for export to the EU for combined-heat-and-power (CHP) production, and to produce medium-density fiberboard. UNTHA announces new shredder&nbsp; Austrian-based UNTHA has announced a new electric-drive shredder. The UNTHA XR shredder has been designed and engineered to increase capacity, profitability and safety levels in the wood recycling and biomass market. A slow-speed, high-torque drive allows the XR to consistently process up to 40 metric tons of wood per hour. The system significantly minimizes dust levels, which reduces the risk of fire. It is available as either a static or mobile solution. Trials have shown that the XR produces fines as low as 5 percent. As a result, the shredder yields up to 20 percent more saleable biomass material per ton than other solutions, often without the need for any additional screening systems. Professor wins NSF funding for bioenergy project Pankaj Lal, assistant professor of Earth and Environmental Studies at Montclair State University, was recently awarded a five-year, $450,000 Faculty Early Career Development grant from the National Science Foundation to explore sustainable bioenergy solutions in the Midwestern and Southern United States. Titled &ldquo;Exploring Place-Based Opportunities for Bioenergy Sustainability,&rdquo; Lal&rsquo;s project will focus on place-based policy solutions that develop forest- and agriculture-based bioenergy as a fossil fuel alternative. Anaergia adds team member Anaergia Inc. has appointed Matthew Kuzma to lead its technology commercialization in the wastewater resource recovery sector. He will be responsible for leading technology commercialization, distribution channels and marketing of Anaergia technologies in the wastewater sector. Kuzma has more than 20 years of experience in the wastewater industry and has been primarily focused on advanced technologies, such as membrane filtration and membrane bioreactors, nutrient management and recovery, and advanced biological wastewater processes. He gained his experience at USFilter, Veolia, Siemens Water, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, and Organica Water. MHG adds CEO&nbsp; MHG, a biopolymer manufacturer and provider of specialty toll manufacturing services, has added Stephen Croskrey as CEO. One of his first undertakings is the planned eightfold expansion of the company&rsquo;s polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) pilot biorefinery. MHG also plans to commission an engineering study for a commercial-scale PHA plant. Croskrey previously served as president and CEO of Armor Holding Products LLC. Comet adds to leadership team Comet Biorefining Inc. has appointed Rich Troyer as CEO. Troyer most recently served as chief business officer at Coskata, where he oversaw business development, strategic planning, project development and external relations. He also previously served as managing director of the Blackstone Group, where he was responsible for investments in biofuel and biochemical companies. Earlier in his career, Troyer was an equity research analysis at AllianceBernstein, Credit Suisse First Boston and Piper Jaffray, where he focused on the clean technology and biotechnology sectors. Andrew Richard, Comet founder, has been appointed chairman of the board and chief technology officer. In addition, Bruce Jamerson has joined the company&rsquo;s board of directors. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Mascoma Corp. and was president and a board member of VeraSun Energy Corp. Jamerson currently serves as president of Conifer Investments LLC and holds a board position with Ensyn Corp. DOE selects participants for Small Business Vouchers pilot program The U.S. Department of Energy has selected 33 small businesses to work directly with its national labs through the Small Business Vouchers pilot program to accelerate the transformation toward a clean energy economy. Two bioenergy projects were selected to participate in the program. Emeryville, California-based Lygos will work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Berkeley, California-based Visolis will work with NREL and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. UPM Biofuels earns ISCC PLUS certification&nbsp; UPM Biofuels has extended sustainability certification to cover all of its output streams from the Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Scheme ISCC PLUS. UPM Biofuels produces renewable diesel and naphtha at the Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland. Wood-based renewable diesel UPM BioVerno for transportation is the main product. However, the process also generates a smaller share of renewable naphtha, which can be used as a biocomponent for petrol. &nbsp; Avantium closes financing round Avantium has closed a financing round of &euro;20 million ($22.59 million). The investments are made by PMV, an independent investment company for Flanders, FPIM, a Belgian Federal Holding and Investment Company, and Avantium&rsquo;s existing shareholders. The funds will be used to commercialize the YXY technology for producing 100 percent biobased packaging material polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), a next-generation plastic with superior performance. Avantium&rsquo;s roll-out plan includes the construction of a &ldquo;reference plant&rdquo; to produce furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). This reference plant with a capacity of up to 50,000 metric tons per year is intended to be located in Antwerp, Belgium. Gevo announces revised ASTM standard for aviation fuel Gevo Inc. has announced that ASTM International completed its process of approving the revision of ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons) to include alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK) derived from renewable isobutanol. Gevo&rsquo;s renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) is now eligible to be used as a blending component in standard Jet A-1 for commercial airline use in the United States and in many other countries around the globe.&nbsp; Gevo&rsquo;s ATJ is eligible to be used for up to a 30 percent blend in conventional jet fuel for commercial flights.

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Business Briefs

I read the proof of this Biomass Magazine issue while aboard a train in Sweden, headed southwest to tour an integrated sawmill and pellet plant. The landscape was dotted here and there with active logging sites, and while reading Senior Editor Ron Kotrba&rsquo;s page-20 cover story, &ldquo;Workhorses of the Woods,&rdquo; I was quite literally comparing photographs of what I found in the feature to what I was seeing in Sweden&rsquo;s woods. We chose Kotrba&rsquo;s feature as our cover story because heavy logging equipment is the epitome of the tip of the spear when it comes to biomass harvesting, this month&rsquo;s area of focus. The efficiencies Kotrba describes in his feature revolutionized forestry, and along with it, woody biomass-derived energy production. As chance would have it, I also passed some stands of willow, or energy coppice, as it&rsquo;s more commonly called there, and Managing Editor Anna Simet&rsquo;s page-28 story details the efforts underway at New Holland to purpose-build a forage harvester optimized for this promising feedstock. I was pleased to see some larger stands of coppice in Sweden, and recognized that in a globalized bioenergy economy, a growing market for this equipment there, or anywhere, will provide leading OEMs all the incentive they need to commit research and development budgets to the challenge. This sentiment was echoed by New Holland&rsquo;s Doug Otto when he told Simet, &ldquo;Woody crops are a new thing that haven&rsquo;t taken off everywhere, so we&rsquo;re trying to help drive the market.&rdquo; For anyone who missed this year&rsquo;s International Biomass Conference &amp; Expo, we&rsquo;ve included a robust photo spread of this year&rsquo;s event that begins on page 13. Our traditional association executive roundtable found our industry working to reimagine itself a little in the face of prolonged ultra-low energy prices, as well as the industry&rsquo;s ongoing challenge of managing intermittent federal and state policy support. During the pictured general session, I found myself thinking again and again about one of the foundational values of biomass energy, and its unique ability to provide always-on, baseload and dispatchable and renewable heat, power and fuel. No other renewable can make the same claim, and while I&rsquo;m not in a big hurry to argue against other forms of renewable energy, I do believe it&rsquo;s time to return to this argument as the drumbeat of our industry&rsquo;s advancement.
&nbsp;
Author: Tim Portz Vice President of Content &amp; Executive Editor tportz@bbiinternational.com

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Heavy logging equipment is the epitome of the tip of the spear when it comes to biomass harvesting, the area of focus of the June issue of Biomass Magazine.

June 2016

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

What is “Green” Heating?

Food + Fuel: The New Biomass Equation

A Proliferation of Fuel Standards

Dirigo: Maine Lives Up to Motto

The Tip of the Industry's Spear

Featured

Workhorses of the Woods

Foraging for Efficiency

Rallying for a Rebound Year

Contributions

Expanding the Bioenergy Workforce

Departments

Prepping at Point of Origin

June 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

What is “Green” Heating?

Food + Fuel: The New Biomass Equation

A Proliferation of Fuel Standards

Dirigo: Maine Lives Up to Motto

The Tip of the Industry's Spear

Featured

Workhorses of the Woods

Foraging for Efficiency

Rallying for a Rebound Year

Contributions

Expanding the Bioenergy Workforce

Departments

Prepping at Point of Origin

June 2016