The cover of this issue of Pellet Mill Magazine is a bit unconventional being sugarcane bagasse, the waste material that sugar mills end up with post-process. The volume generated at each mill is significant—for every 10 tons of cane processed, approximately three tons of bagasse remains. For context, 34.6 million tons of cane was produced in the U.S. in 2022, meaning 11.5 million tons of bagasse was generated. While Florida leads the way in cane production, Louisiana—the location of Delta Biofuel’s bagasse-to-pellet facility under construction—ranks No. 2 (and together, Florida and Louisiana constitute about 97% of the nation’s cane production). For our page-14 feature, “Big on Bagasse,” freelance writer Keith Loria chats with Philip Keating, CEO of Delta Biofuel, about the project, which was initially proposed in 2021 and has strong support from the state.&nbsp; Using bagasse for energy isn’t novel—many mills use it as cogeneration fuel—but there is still excess beyond that. Keating believes this will be the first bagasse pellet operation in North America, and understandably, the project development process has not been without challenges. Keating is candid in sharing how project costs rocketed—from an original $70 million to $115 million—and how it has impacted progress, which is finally unfolding. On the note of innovation, we are pleased to share the story of CPM’s journey in developing its Twin Track technology. In “The Revolution Inside” on page 26, CPM’s Kyle Hoffman discusses what the company’s goals were when embarking on the mission to develop what ultimately resulted in the Twin Track, and how they achieved success through trial and error. “We wanted to improve energy efficiency to produce pellets, increase capacity of the mills and improve pellet quality, all while making sure any innovations could be retrofitted into existing pellet mills,” Hoffman writes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The final story I’ll mention is “When Small-Scale Pelletizing Makes Sense,” on page 23. Salmatec’s Timo Müeller attended the International Biomass Conference Expo in Atlanta in late February, and he told me that a question he received several times by booth visitors was focused on small-scale pellet operations, and whether it could be economical in certain scenarios. In short, the answer is yes—read Müeller’s perspective to learn more.&nbsp; Outside the editorial scope, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to our advertisers—this issue exceeded our expectations, and without you, what we do wouldn’t be possible. Author: Anna Simet Editor, Pellet Mill Magazine

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The cover of this issue of Pellet Mill Magazine is a bit unconventional being sugarcane bagasse, the waste material that sugar mills end up with post-process.

A Deviation from the Norm

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