Posted February 3, 2010, at 6:55 p.m. CST
 
 The biofuels and biomass industries received nothing but good news Feb. 3, with the release of the long-awaited renewable fuel standard (RFS2) final rule, the first report generated by President Barack Obama's Biofuel Interagency Working Group, and the <a href="http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/bcap_prm_on_public_display_ofr.pdf">Biomass Crop Assistance Program proposed rule </a>.
 
 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner participated in a conference call to discuss the energy announcements following a meeting with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and a bipartisan group of governors from across the country. 
 
 During the conference, Vilsack pointed out that historically, government agencies such as the USDA and EPA have been duplicating efforts for similar but different energy-related projects, rather than collaborating. The first task force report encourages interagency cooperation, he said, while clearly delineating responsibilities in order to concentrate and leverage resources. 
 
 The report also recognizes that one size does not fit all, Vilsack added. "So every region in the country will able to participate in a biofuel future to create jobs and economic opportunity, particularly in rural communities," he said. "It lays out necessity focusing on a regional approach, each region of the country playing to its strengths." Obama's FY2011 budget will develop five regional feedstock research and demonstration centers that will partner universities, industry and other federal and state agencies, tribal nations and internationals, to accelerate research and development in second- and third-generation feedstocks, and the implementation of a supply chain that will allow the U.S. to get new biofuels to market as quickly and sufficiently as possible.
 
 "One issue we face in connection with promoting biofuels is encouraging production of feedstocks," Vilsack said. "So many [people] have been waiting for the proposed rule as it relates to the BCAP program. We believe [BCAP] is an essential component to our national biofuels and renewable energy policies, and needs to be designed to reduce financial risks for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who want to invest in and establish production of nonfood, non-feed biomass. BCAP will address the ‘chicken or egg' dilemma that has stalled biomass growth in this sector, and we believe we have fashioned a rule that has sufficient flexibility to ensure technology neutrality. Cellulosic feedstocks, woody biomass, energy cane all need to be and will be explored with the BCAP rule." 
 
 Vilsack also said the interagency group believes the rule addresses concerns expressed by the wood industry, by proposing a prohibition on wood waste and residues not just on federal land but also nonfederal land, that otherwise might be used for higher value products. "We're also putting forward a number of alternatives for matching payments to biomass suppliers to make sure that those funds are targeted to biomass that contributes to an increase in the baseline use among current biomass conversion facilities," he said. "The public has 60 days to comment on proposed rule, and we will incorporate those comments into the final rulemaking process." 
 
 Jackson discussed the changes to the RFS2 ruling, while ensuring it will create many new jobs, particularly in rural areas that have been hit hard by the economic depression, and also help farmers by creating new markets for agricultural products. She estimated the rule will result in an annual $13 billion increase in income for U.S. farmers by 2022.
 
 The RFS2 is an effort to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG), Jackson said, and there has been reasonable worry that with the life-cycle impacts of switching to renewable fuels there may not be reductions of GHGs, or that even more carbon emissions may be generated. "To address those worries, the EPA used the soundest available science that has evolved in response from questions and concerns from a number of stakeholders, and employed a full life-cycle analysis to track GHG emissions for biofuels production and use including land use issues," she said. "Using this, [with RFS2] we've estimated a reduction of carbon emissions to the equivalent of taking 27 million cars off the road annually by 2022."
 
 Jackson concluded by emphasizing that the interagency group wants to send a positive, specific and direct message that the Obama/Biden administration is highly supportive of the biofuels industry, sees a tremendous opportunity for growth and expansion of that industry, and is committed to making it happen.
 
 Novozymes, a company that develops enzymes and is currently building a production facility in Nebraska, applauded the government for its efforts to expand ethanol production. "The new commitment made by President Obama will significantly help grow and advance development of biofuels in the U.S., and at the same time create thousands of new green jobs," said Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes. "The new RFS2 is a strong framework and by moving to E15 and increased accessibility of E85, the biofuel industry can create more long-lasting, high earning jobs that will help transform the way the U.S. and world use and consume fuel. And at the same time lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil."

Obama takes steps to boost biofuels

Posted February 17, 2010, at 10:37 a.m. CST
 
 British Airways and Washington, D.C.-based Solena Group Inc. have entered a joint venture to build a 16 MMgy waste-to-jet fuel plant in eastern London.
 
 The plant will process 500,000 metric tons (551,156 tons) of municipal solid waste (MSW) into fuel each year, employing Solena Group's plasma gasification technology and the Fischer Tropsch process to produce the jet fuel and bionaptha, an oil blending component and feedstock for the petrochemical industry. 
 
 British Airways, which has a goal to reduce its net carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, has signed a letter of intent to purchase all fuel produced at the plant to power part of its fleet. 
 
 The Fischer Tropsch process tail gas will be used to generate 20 megawatts of electricity, which will be exported to the national grid or converted into steam to be used in a district heating system. British Airways media relations associate James von der Fecht said the location of the plant is yet to be determined. "We have short-listed our site search down to four potential sites in the east of London," he said. "We're working very closely with the Greater London Authority on this project and they have been extremely supportive." 
 
 Currently, waste disposal in London is payed for by local authorities through landfill taxes of about £40 ($63) per metric ton, and will rise to £72 per metric ton between 2013 and 2014. The groups estimate the 500,000 metric ton waste requirement of the plant will save £36 million in landfill costs and could result in lower council taxes. 
 
 The project coincides with London's "Foodwaste to Fuel Alliance," a project announced last year by Mayor Boris Johnson to jump-start the conversion of the city's food waste into renewable energy and reduce landfill rates and emissions through the construction of anaerobic digestion and biodiesel production facilities. According to the mayor's office, each year London generates 2.7 million metric tons of organic waste; the city landfills receive approximately 40 percent of it.
 
 The Solena Group is financing the building and subsequent operations of the plant, according to von der Fecht, which has an estimated cost of $280 million. He said the groups anticipate construction to commence in early 2012. The plant will take about two years to construct and British Airways hopes to begin receiving the fuel in 2014.

British Airways teams for waste-to-jet fuel plant

Biomass reaction, a patented technology by Iowa-based Kimberlin Inc., combusts biowaste for heating or cooling in commercial spaces, and is being further developed to produce electricity.
 
 The process combusts biomass, typically animal and poultry wastes, wood fuels and agricultural materials, from within the fuel mass, with what the company calls a tornado of fire. Instead of external energy collection, the process uses the energy created from inside the burn. "Nobody's ever done this before," says owner John Kimberlin. "It burns within itself." 
 
 Heat output varies with the size of the furnace, but can range from 175,000 Btu per hour to 750,000. "Our piece of equipment will be the basic heat source for your building," Kimberlin said. The technology is used in two Kimberlin products currently: Nature's Furnace, which is a hot air combustor that can produce up to 500,000 Btu; and the Bio-Power boiler, which is a fluid unit that can produce up to 750,000 Btu, according to Kimberlin. Four Nature's Furnaces have been sold in Europe, with 20 to 30 pending, according to the company. Prices range from $150,000 to $500,000, depending on energy output and selected options.
 
 Texas A&M is also working on a prototype that will use the biomass reaction to produce up to 15 kilowatts of electricity. The system bypasses steam production by using super-heated oil to change Freon to gas, instead of changing steam to gas, Kimberlin said. "We stay away from all the problems that come with steam," he said, adding that using steam would require the company and its clients to adhere to stricter standards. Kimberlin expects the system to be finished and available around the middle or end of this year. 
 Nature's Furnace units are built to run 24/7 and are made up of 11 moving parts. They are computer controlled and optional monitoring systems are available, Kimberlin said. "We can see what a machine is doing in Europe," he said.
 
 Kimberlin's target market includes horse race tracks and casinos, stud farms, breeding facilities, boarding stables, dairies, poultry producers, farms, ranches, tree services, landfills, recycling plants and seed stock facilities. "We're just starting to market," Kimberlin said. "We've been working on the technology for decades." Prospective clients include a race track looking into purchasing six units. "Each one will keep up with about 100 stalled horses," he said. More target markets will be identified, as many waste streams exist and the system can use most biomass feedstocks. "Just about anything you can see out your window [can be used] for fuel," Kimberlin said.
 
 -Lisa Gibson

‘Biomass reaction' combusts fuel from within

Posted January 28, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. CST
 
 Montana holds potential for two biomass projects, both in very early stages of development, but one is at a standstill after the local utility declined to enter into a power purchase agreement. The other, involving the Conservation District of Chouteau County and the Research Conservation and Development Board, is trying to find a use for an abundance of wheat straw. 
 	
 Stoltze Land and Lumber in Flathead Valley, Mont., believes the recent closing of a pulp and paper mill in Frenchtown, Mont., leaves the area's well-developed forest products infrastructure in limbo. "It's hanging on the edge," said Chuck Roady, Stoltze vice president. The solution, according to Stoltze, is to build a 12 megawatt biomass power plant and use existing wood that would previously have been delivered the mill. The project hit a snag, though, when the local utility declined a power purchase agreement because of energy and feedstock costs, Roady said. "We are at a standstill," he said. "A frustrating standstill." 
 	
 Until a PPA is secured, the project cannot proceed because no funding will be granted to a project that has no use for its end product. Stoltze has been trying to work with power company Northwestern Energy, but it would involve transmitting the energy, a problem not easily solved, according to Roady. "We have very limited transmission capabilities in Montana," he said. 
 	
 Initially, Stoltze hired consultants to evaluate the project. "We determined the best avenue or sweet spot as far as bang for our buck is a 12 megawatt plant for 12 months a year," Roady said. Additionally, 18 megawatts would be generated during peak energy consumption times from December to February and from July to September, he added. The cost would be between $36 million and $54 million, or $3 million per megawatt, Roady said. 
 	
 Besides bringing jobs and work back to the community, the plant would have several other benefits including improved forest management, healthier trees and forests that can store more carbon and wildfire mitigation, Roady said. "We live in a smoke blanket in the summer," he added. 
 
 The company is still working to find ways around its current PPA barrier and trying to convince utilities to look beyond today and see the potential of biomass power in the future. Montana currently has cheap hydropower, at about 3.2 cents per hour for consumers. Compared with an 11 cent-per-hour price tag for biomass, hydro seems much more attractive today, Roady said. 
 
 The state could also be the home to another biomass project, this one in Chouteau County, the biggest agriculture-producing county in the state. The Conservation District of Chouteau County and the Research Conservation and Development Board are working together to determine what type of product should be developed to use wheat straw from local farms. Annually, farmers in the county generate between 50,000 and 100,000 1,000-pound bales, which is a conservative estimate, according to Mike Arnst, who serves on both boards and is also a farmer. "We're trying to turn it into local revenue that can create jobs," he said.
 
 About 440,000 acres of winter wheat are planted in the county each year, not including spring wheat and barley. But this project would only use winter wheat, Arnst said. "We feel there's a huge potential to take some of this residue off," he said. "Right now, we're not doing anything with it."
 
 The organizations are currently weighing two options: electricity production for the local community, along with export; and pellets for local use or exportation. "We're investigating what the potential is and what options we have," he said. No timeline has been established for release of the results. 
 While there has been a little skepticism and concern, numerous farmers have expressed interest to Arnst about participating. While the straw can be collected with existing equipment, Arnst doesn't think farmers harvesting their own residue is the best approach. "We don't want to worry about straw while we're harvesting our wheat," he said. Instead, young farmers who are "sitting on the fence," he said, can get involved and contract for those harvests. "I feel there's an opportunity for young farmers to go out and create a business out of it," he said.

Biomass project potential in Montana

Posted January 29, 2010, at 8:24 a.m. CST
 
 Alternative fuel supporters listening eagerly to President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address heard the word they were listening for: biofuels. 
 
 Obama laid out four things the U.S. needs to do to move ahead, including serious financial reform, technology innovation, exporting more domestic goods and investing in the skills and education of our people. "I do not accept second place for the United States of America," he said. "As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may be, it's time to get serious about fixing the problems that are hampering our growth." 
 
 Weaving biofuels into American innovation, Obama reiterated the importance of clean energy jobs in the country. "But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives," he said. "That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies." 
 
 
 But he didn't stop there. He went on to talk about passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with the needed incentives to "finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America," he said. 
 
 The House passed such a bill last year and Obama said he hopes a bipartisan effort in the Senate will succeed this year. "I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy; and I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change," he told the crowd. "But, here's the thing, even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future – because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy and America must be that nation." 
 
 Reactions to Obama's address from the biomass and biofuel industries have been seemingly positive.
 
 "The President's speech was very encouraging," said Wes Bolsen, chief marketing officer and vice president of government affairs for Coskata Inc., a renewable energy company. The best news, from Bolsen's perspective, was the focus on job creation. "Coskata believes that biofuels, by far, is the biggest creator of jobs in all of renewable energy," he said. The company, which is based in Warrenville, Ill., has a semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol facility in Madison, Penn., and is working on designs for a commercial scale plant. 
 
 That's something other clean energy sectors lack, according to Bolsen. "It takes people to build solar cells or install wind turbines, for example, but once they are completed it doesn't take people to operate them. Of all renewable energies, biofuels provides the most benefit for economic growth, energy security and environmental sustainability. It's the most near term way to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint," he said. 
 
 Chris Thorne, director of public affairs for Growth Energy, was also encouraged by Obama's address. The very next day, Thorne added, came the positive remarks of U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who spoke Jan. 28 at the 2010 Washington Auto Show. Chu talked about, among other things, the importance of decreasing American dependence on foreign oil and supporting next-generation biofuels, such as through $600 million in grants for 19 pilot, demonstration and commercial-scale biorefineries. "Between what Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said today and what President Obama said during the State of the Union address, we are confident that the Administration sees the great job-creation potential of domestic ethanol," Thorne said. 
 
 Some other high-tech industries started here in the United States but were quickly outsourced. Thorne gave the example of flat-screen TVs, which were developed here but are now made in China. "But the development of the domestic ethanol industry would create jobs here in the United States, and those are jobs that can't be sent overseas," he said. 
 
 The Renewable Fuels Association lauded the President's focus on public and private investments in clean energy and green jobs during his speech. Still, there are several things the President and Congress need to do to ensure the economic potential of biofuels such as ethanol are realized, according to the RFA. The list included using the "best available science" to finalize the renewable fuels standard, approving E15, extending tax incentives for the use of all feedstocks, partner with the industry to expand blending and dispensing infrastructure and mandate for more flex fuel vehicles. 
 
 "The President mentioning biofuels in his State of the Union is really just gravy," Matt Hartwig, RFA communications director, told EPM. "The real meat and potatoes will be when this administration and this Congress act on a number of issues important to the long term success of this industry."
 
 Advanced biofuel producer Rentech Inc.'s CEO Hunt Ramsbottom said it's very positive that Obama realizes a path forward toward advanced biofuels is a complete necessity for the U.S. "We were pleased that he mentioned it (advanced biofuels), and not just a specific type. Other countries around the world-Germany, China, Canada-these countries aren't waiting, as Obama mentioned, and if we continue to debate this, we're going to lose in this race; green jobs and green technology." 
 
 He seemed to put it as a high priority, Ramsbottom said, but historically most administrations lose enthusiasm about biofuels after they've been in a year or two and move on to something else. "However, I really do believe that this is a way to create sustainable jobs for our country," he added. "He also mentioned clean coal and we do that, too. Overall, it seems to be a very realistic approach, and time will tell whether they stick to it."

Biofuel industry reacts to Obama's address 

Posted February 17, 2010, at 4:30 p.m. CST
 
 A combined-heat-and-power (CHP) biomass gasification system to be installed on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver will generate 2 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,500 homes. The UBC Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Project is a partnership with Vancouver-based Nexterra Systems Corp. and GE Energy. 
 	
 The project has two main operating modes. The first, a thermal-only system, will use Nexterra's gasification technology to produce syngas, which will be used to produce 20,000 pounds per hour of steam, replacing natural gas to meet heating needs, according to UBC. The second mode, dubbed the "Demonstration System," will use Nexterra's gas conditioning system and GE's high-efficiency gas engine to convert syngas to steam and electricity, satisfying up to 6 percent of the university's electricity demand. 
 
 The system will require two to three truckloads of wood fuel per day, as much as possible sourced locally from British Columbia Aboriginal and First Nations communities. It will include clean surplus wood manufacturing material, whole-tree chips from beetle-killed and non-marketable timber, wood chips from saw mills and tree trimmings from the campus, according to UBC. 
 	
 Upon approval, construction on the $26 million project could start in the second quarter of this year and be finished within 15 to 18 months, according to UBC. The school will pay $5.5 million of that cost with the rest coming from industry, federal and provincial governments, including the BC Bioenergy Network, Natural Resources Canada's Clean Energy Fund, Sustainable Development Technology Canada and FPInnovations, according to the university. UBC will recover its portion from reduced natural gas consumption, lower fuel costs and reduced carbon taxes. The 220-foot-long, 80-foot-wide and 4-story-tall building will be constructed using engineered wood products produced in British Columbia. 
 	
 The project also will provide learning and research opportunities for the school's students and faculty. Research collaborators include the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability; the Clean Energy Research Centre; the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability; the Faculty of Applied Science; and the Sauder School of Business.

UBC to install biomass gasifier

Posted January 29, 2010, at 8:39 a.m. CST
 
 A company in Indiana aims to streamline Miscanthus giganteus and Arundo donax (giant reed) production by offering growers plantlets resulting from a micropropagation technology. 
 
 Both crops are high-yielding perennial grasses that have been studied as potential biomass feedstocks for quite some time, but their use as a commercial-scale energy crop has been slow to fruition due to their sterile nature and above-average labor intensity involved in harvesting the plants.
 
 White Technology LLC acquired an exclusive license for the micropropagation technology, developed by University of South Carolina plant geneticists Laszlo Marton and Mihaly Czako, about a year ago. It utilizes the regenerative nature of miscanthus and arundo to enable mass plantings of the crops. 
 
 President Kenn Davis said the technology is superior to traditional methods of growing the crops, in that thousands to millions more plants can be grown in the same amount of time required by other companies working to develop and plant rhizomes. Rhizomes are horizontal, underground plant stems, which are cut from mature plants and then planted for reproduction.
 
 "We'll be able to support large farm operations, large enough to support biomass feedstocks for energy plants in a much shorter period of time; it's a lot more reliable," Davis said. 
 
 Davis said White Technology is putting together package deals for buyers and is currently taking orders. He said interest in the crops has been "overwhelming," but the company has found very few who are interested in actually purchasing the plantlets. Rather, the majority of inquiries are persons looking for the mature plants to use as feedstocks at biomass plants. "So we're working to incorporate that philosophy into a package deal," he added. "We have a lot going on."

Company to optimize energy crops

Enerkem Inc. announced that the city of Edmonton, Alberta, the government of Alberta, through the Alberta Energy Research Institute, and Enerkem Greenfield Alberta Biofuels have launched a Web site for their Edmonton waste-to-biofuels project. This innovative public-private sector initiative will divert more waste from the city's landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and produce a green transportation fuel. The Web site provides detailed information about the three facilities making up the project, including its status and the technology being used. Visit the Web site at <a href="http://www.edmontonbiofuels.ca">www.edmontonbiofuels.ca</a>.

Edmonton launches waste-to-biofuels project Web site

Debate over indirect land-use change isn't going away despite the many rational arguments that have been made to debunk it. The notion that we in the U.S. can control the loss of rainforests in Brazil is too much for me to fathom. 
 
 Naturally, I don't want to see rainforests destroyed because they are an important part of our ecosystem, I believe it's the Brazilians responsibility to preserve and protect their own land. 
 
 Instead of trying to make a rational argument for something I find absurd, I direct your attention to Mark A. Edelman, professor of economics and public policy and director of the community vitality center at Iowa State University. Edelman wrote about land-use change in the Jan. 10 AgMRC Renewable Energy Newsletter and I find his logic to be undeniable. 
 The piece, titled "Indirect Land Use: The Folly of Overindulgent Environmentalism?" and can be found at <a href="http://www.agmrc.org/renewable_energy/climate_change/indirect_land_use_the_folly_of_overindulgent_environmentalism.cfm">www.agmrc.org/renewable_energy/climate_change/indirect_land_use_the_folly_of_overindulgent_environmentalism.cfm</a>.
 
 To make his point, Edelman outlines the three main approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions-regulatory, tax and tax credit, and cap and trade-and the logic behind indirect land use, which simply put, is that as farmers in the U.S. plant more corn to keep up with the growing demand for biofuels, thereby displacing soybeans, farmers in Brazil convert more acres of rainforest into cropland to compensate for the lost U.S. soybean acres. 
 
 He then lists the top factors that influence the conversion of rainforest land in Brazil: "the investments in agricultural resources and infrastructure being made by the Brazilian government to further develop the agricultural resources and rural economy, increased spending by the Brazilian government provide incentives for expanding Brazil's crops and livestock industries, and Brazilians who see opportunities for earning income by converting rainforests into other land uses." Is a pattern emerging here? The point he makes is that there is no guarantee that U.S. land-use change will have any impact on rainforest destruction in Brazil because there are many other factors involved. "While the U.S. biofuels industry has expanded in more recent years and may have some correlation with recent land use change events, correlation does not necessarily prove causality," Edelman writes.
 
 Edelman goes on to say that Brazil has to regulate its own land use as it seeks to expand its agricultural industry and keep up with the growing demand for food from countries such as China. "In the final analysis, the approach of pursuing a unilateral indirect land use policy appears to run the risk of imposing extra costs on a domestic sector while having no apparent impact on rain forest preservation," Edelman concludes.
 
 I hope policymakers and environmentalists will pay attention to Edelman's measured response before making decisions that are detrimental to our agriculture and renewable energy industries.
 
 Rona Johnson
 Editor
 <a href="mailto:rjohnson@bbiinternational.com">rjohnson@bbiinternational.com</a>

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Making Sense of Indirect Land Use?

Disappointed that investors and lenders aren't knocking down your door to fund your biomass project because there was no agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Copenhagen in December? The prospects for a U.S. carbon cap-and-trade system currently appear doubtful at best, and even less certain for any meaningful global agreement. So what are the prospects for getting biomass projects financed now? Probably no different than your chances were before Copenhagen. 
 
 Carbon credits have never been a significant factor in U.S. biomass financing because there is no well-established cost of carbon that could be used to reliably model the credits' impact on project financials. Well-meaning efforts to duplicate the international model for carbon credit financing have generally been unsuccessful. Existing carbon credit markets such as the Chicago Carbon Exchange are not well established enough to serve as a reliable funding mechanism for large biomass projects.
 
 Financial markets dislike the regulatory uncertainty around carbon regulations and have tended to factor this in when evaluating renewable energy and biomass projects. Because the U.S. did not have a carbon regulatory regime before Copenhagen, the fact that the county still doesn't have one after has not had an impact one way or another. The key however, is that the lack of a regulatory regime, or even a consensus on if or when one may be adopted, continues to be counterproductive for financial investment in biomass and other renewable technologies because potential returns, already a difficult thing to predict, are made even more unpredictable and uncertain.
 
 The situation is far from bleak, however. Federal, state and private investment in renewable energy continues to be strong, and 2010 certainly promises to be better than 2009. In addition, the public's concern regarding climate change and energy insecurity will continue to drive demand for renewable energy projects, notwithstanding uncertainty over carbon regulation and pricing.
 
 Financing of various biomass technologies, as opposed to project financing, also has a number of positives even without a mandatory agreement coming out of Copenhagen. The majority of federal incentives related to biomass have been in the form of grant programs for advanced bioenergy and biofuels research and development and precommercial efforts. Venture capital has traditionally been more interested in technology companies than in companies developing projects. Technology investments also tend to have longer time horizons, which allow them to view the markets with an eye to long-term trends. In addition, most venture capitalists will require that their portfolio companies be profitable without government support or incentives. The fickle nature of, and boom and bust from, incentives in the ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar industries projects cause venture capital to be skeptical where projects require governmental support. 
 
 Even without an agreement in Copenhagen regarding mandatory reductions, biomass will continue to occupy a larger market share going forward. While federal climate change legislation appears uncertain at this point, the EPA's "endangerment finding" and decision to move forward with carbon regulation will continue to put pressure on utilities and other large energy sources to reduce carbon emissions. And states, alone or as part of a regional effort, will fill the void that they believe Congress continues to leave. Thus, even without a global or national consensus on carbon, the need to find alternatives to fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions through development of new biomass power and transportation fuel projects will continue to grow.
 
 Todd Taylor is a shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron's corporate, renewable energy, securities and emerging business groups. Reach him at <a href="mailto:ttaylor@fredlaw.com">ttaylor@fredlaw.com</a> or (612) 492-7355.

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The Day after Copenhagen: What's next for Biomass Finance?

Netherlands-Dyadic Nederland BV, the research and development arm of Dyadic International Inc. has joined the Industrial Platform of the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation. This platform consists of both small- to medium-enterprise companies and multinationals involved in the field of industrial fermentation. Industrial Platform members link to the Kluyver Centre and benefit from direct, confidential access to results from the Kluyver Centre's precommercialization research activities. Membership will also enable Dyadic Netherlands to rapidly access an extended network of world class scientists. By joining the Kluyver Centre's Industrial Platform, Dyadic Netherlands will be actively involved in the Kluyver Centre's research program entitled, Filamentous Fungi for Proteins and Peptides, but also intends to contribute its experience in genomics of industrially relevant fungal strains to the centre.

Dyadic Netherlands joins Kluyver Centre's Industrial Platform

Posted Feb. 2, 2010, at 4:18 p.m. CST
 
 Novozymes Inc., has partnered with Fiberight LLC, to produce advanced biofuel made from government office waste paper and cardboard. The companies unveiled the new fuel at the 2010 Washington Auto Show held Jan. 27-31. For the show, the "transhanol," as CEO of Fiberight Craig Stuart-Paul calls it, was used in two demonstration vehicles. A flex-fuel Ford F-150 and a Chevrolet HHR were both available in a Ride 'n Drive event allowing government VIPs and media officials to test drive the E85 waste-powered cars. 
 
 "The advanced biofuels showcased here today demonstrate that the enzyme technology is ready for market," said Adam Monroe, president of Novozymes, North America. "What we need now is commercialization and deployment of advanced biofuels in order to help meet our country's most pressing energy and environment challenges."
 
 According to Novozymes, after a sequence of pulping, pretreatment and wash, the office waste products are broken down by enzymes and turned into the biofuel. The enzymes used for the biofuel are the Cellic CTec and the HTec. Both the CTec and HTec present stable formulations for the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials. During the show, the feedstock paper which looks like shredded cardboard, was on display. 
 
 Staurt-Paul says the decision by Fiberight to partner with Novozymes was based on the need for a company to supply commercial quantities of enzymes. Along with the need for high volume, Stuart-Paul also noted Novozymes willingness to work with Fiberight technology and the CTec and HTec enzymes quality and reactivity to their substrates and enzyme recycling processes as a reason for the partnership. 
 
 The typical family of four, according to Staurt-Paul, produces enough waste in one year to make fuel to drive 8,000 miles. "We're talking about waste that otherwise would be burned or go into a hole in the ground," he said. For Novozymes, the company sees the partnership as a step in the right direction, a step they feel shows that commercial enzymes needed for the production of advanced biofuels is a reality now. 
 
 "Biofuels have a tremendous future for energy security, jobs and sustainable fuel," Monroe said, "If it's going to happen, it comes down to enzymes." 
 
 Fiberight, based out of Maryland, Virginia, and Iowa, currently has a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Blairstown, Iowa, that could eventually produce 10MMgy of cellulosic ethanol. 
 
 SOURCE: ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE

Novozymes, Fiberight to make biofuel from paper

Fagen Inc. of Granite Falls, Minn., has reached an agreement with wholesale energy supplier Southern Power for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Nacogdoches Generating Facility in Sacul, Texas. The 100-megawatt facility is the largest single-boiler biomass project in the U.S. Southern Power, the subsidiary of Southern Co., which acquires, builds, manages and owns wholesale generation assets, acquired the project from American Renewables LLC in October and is moving ahead with construction. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2012. Zachry Engineering Corp. has been contracted by Fagen to be the design engineer. Fagen's partner for the engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of the biomass boiler and distributed control system is Metso Power, Charlotte, N.C. Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas of Lake Mary, Fla., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is Fagen's partner for the steam turbine. Fagen's partner, Wolf Material Handling Systems of Elk River, Minn., is responsible for the design, engineering, supply and commissioning of the biomass fuel handling system.

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Fagen EPC contractor for Southern Power biomass project

Rentech Inc. has appointed John A. Williams to the company's board of directors. Williams has more than 40 years of business experience, principally in the real estate and banking industries. Since 2004, he has served as the CEO, president and managing member of Corporate Holdings LLC, a diversified holdings company, and since November 2004, he has served as CEO and managing member of Williams Realty Advisors LLC, a real estate firm adviser to more than $3 billion in assets. Williams also has nearly 20 years of alternative energy experience stemming from his investment in the biomass gasification company SilvaGas Corp., which was acquired by Rentech in June 2009, creating an unmatched capability to transform biomass resources into renewable low-carbon certified drop-in fuels.

Rentech appoints Williams to its board of directors

DP CleanTech announced that it has been accredited as a High and New Technology Enterprise by Beijing municipal government, issued jointly by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation. This accreditation is a reflection of the technological achievements of the company in the expansion of its proprietary intellectual property. DP CleanTech Group Ltd. was granted patents on two power equipment manufacturing technologies. The Straw Dosing Silo equipment can be applied to conventional coal-fired power stations and enables them to run successfully on a coal and straw mixed fuel. DP CleanTech also invented a way to avoid low-temperature corrosion in the air preheater. The new technology enables higher boiler efficiencies and reduced maintenance costs. The accreditation makes the company eligible for a number of preferential policies to support ongoing research and development initiatives.

Beijing recognizes DP CleanTech's technological achievements

Mascoma Corp. announced that it has once again made the top 10 list for 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2009-'10. The list, published in Biofuels Digest, recognizes innovation and achievement in bioenergy development. In total, more than 1,000 companies were eligible and 311 companies received votes. Rankings were determined 50 percent on votes from a 75-member panel of international selectors, and 50 percent on votes from subscribers of Biofuels Digest. Mascoma came in No. 10. In February 2009, Mascoma announced that its pilot facility in Rome, N.Y., had begun producing cellulosic ethanol. The demonstration facility has the flexibility to run on numerous biomass feedstocks including wood chips, tall grasses, corn stover and sugarcane bagasse. The company, in collaboration with its commercialization subsidiary Frontier Renewable Resources LLC has plans to build a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Kinross Township, Mich., that will initially produce about 20 million gallons of liquid fuel annually.

Mascoma makes 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy list

For the third consecutive year, River Consulting is one of the top 25 fastest-growing architectural, engineering and environmental firms in the U.S. and Canada, as determined by ZweigWhite. River Consulting was ranked 23rd out of 200 Hot Firms Recipients and 50 honorable mentions. The Zweig Letter Hot Firm list is the leading annual ranking of high-growth firms in the industry. The 2008 awards recipients were ranked according to percentage and dollar growth in gross revenue from 2004 to 2007. ZweigWhite is the nation's largest source of management consulting, information and education for the design and construction industry.

River Consulting named 23rd fastest-growing firm

Bandit Industries Inc. introduced a new 12-inch drum chipper at the Tree Care Industry Expo in Baltimore in November. The Bandit Model 990XP is a compact 12-inch diameter capacity drum chipper specifically designed for municipalities, rental companies, and tree services looking for a high-performance lightweight chipper. The feed system and components on the 990XP are comparable to the popular Model 1090XP, but with a smaller 24-inch diameter drum, a unique discharge transition and a compact design. Engine options up to 86 horsepower are available from most major engine suppliers.

Bandit introduces new drum chipper

Laboratory and ocean research instrumentation manufacturer Fluid Imaging Technologies of Yarmouth, Maine, hosted a 10th anniversary gala celebrating the company's first decade in operation since introducing the FlowCAM particle imaging and analysis system, which automatically takes high-resolution, digital images of individual particles and cells in a fluid, measures dozens of parameters in real time and saves the images and data for analysis. 
 
 It replaces manual, labor-intensive sampling and microscopy with a far faster approach that yields highly accurate, actionable data. The company was named the New England Region Exporter of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2007 for its success in developing overseas markets, and CEO Kent Peterson was named the 2008 Business Leader of the Year by Mainebiz. Peterson was honored as "the leader who stands head and shoulders above his or her peers" in recognition of his global strategy

Fluid Imaging Technologies celebrates 10th anniversary

Metabolix Inc., a bioscience company focused on developing sustainable solutions for the plastics, chemicals and energy industries, announced that it has been named to the 2010 Class of Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer by the WEF, a company must be involved in the development of a life-changing technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership and show all the signs of a long-standing and sustainable market leader, and its technology must be proven. The Technology Pioneers program is the WEF's means of identifying and integrating those companies around the world that are involved in the design and development of new technologies. The forum's objective is to identify and address future-oriented issues on the global agenda and to further its commitment to improving the state of the world

Metabolix named 2010 Technology Pioneer

Gas Turbine Efficiency plc hired Lee Wilkinson as sales director for the company's European power generation market. Wilkinson will direct business development operations to expand GTE's power generation business from its North East Lincolnshire, U.K., office. In addition to achieving strategic growth goals, Wilkinson has been tasked with increasing GTE's customer mix and meeting the company's new business objectives through agreements with utility operations throughout Europe. Through his development of market intelligence, GTI will secure its industry leadership in Europe as part of the company's expansion plans. Before joining GTE, Wilkinson worked with Pratt & Whitney as European sales manager and with RWE Power International as head of its business development group.

GTE hires European sales director

The consensus at Biomass Magazine's Pacific Northwest Biomass Conference & Expo held Jan. 11-13 in Sacramento was that strong government support is essential for the biomass industry to reach its peak potential in the Pacific Northwest, and other regions in the U.S.
 
 Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn, California Energy Commission Vice Chair and Commissioner James Boyd and USDA Farm Service Agency of California Executive Director Val Dolcini kicked off the conference. "We have made sustainability a key goal here in Sacramento and California, and more importantly I think for our local area, it's also a major source of jobs," Cohn said, adding that green jobs in the city increased 36 percent in 2009. "That's remarkable in the midst of the worst recession that we've seen since the Great Depression," he said. "In any sector it's impressive-and that was the highest percentage in California."
 
 Dolcini talked about the success of the USDA-FSA's Biomass Crop Assistance Program in California. Historically, the FSA has worked closely with the growers of food and fiber, and is now working closely with the growers of fuel, he said. "In California, [the BCAP program is] off to a great start."
 
 The FSA has approved 36 biomass conversion facilities in California-more than any other state-and allocated $15 million in fiscal year 2009, Dolcini said. "So far in FY10, we're off to a great start," he said. "We've allocated about $30 million, and expect to allocate almost $20 million more before the end of the year. This program has been met with real enthusiasm here in California and we anticipate that application number will continue to grow steadily." 
 
 There are currently about 360 qualified BCAP facilities across the U.S., Dolcini said, with California's constituting about 10 percent. "Facilities are getting all the materials they can handle right now, and I think that should continue into the next year," he said. "And this is only the first phase of this program; the second will stimulate the production of eligible 
 crops for bioenergy conversion." 
 
 From Dolcini's perspective, the country's economic recovery will largely depend on the continued development of a renewable energy economy. "Biomass energy has a lot to offer right now, but will it be easy to harvest? Let me just say this, all of the low-hanging fruit has been picked," he said. "We're doing things across the board here that haven't been done before so there will be some experimentation and adaptation, but we're pretty good at that here in California. I know we can continue to light the path for the rest of the nation."
 
 -Anna Austin

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Biomass shines in the Golden State

Major changes are taking place in the international distribution of the petrochemical industry, mainly driven by availability and cost of raw materials. Amid this trend, the Middle East has been in the spotlight with plentiful supplies of feedstock and a growing petrochemical industry. In alternative feedstocks, however, Brazil is at the forefront, leading the way in the biomass-based industry, and its competitive advantages have attracted several start-up companies and world-class players looking for ways to boost their "green" businesses. A proper entry strategy is imperative for decision makers aiming to jump on the Brazil bandwagon. In the contemporary corporate realm, if one were to make any business decision without gaining substantial knowledge about the outcome it could result in an economic catastrophe. Therefore prudence dictates that prospective investors must devise suitable due diligence processes to obtain as much information about the Brazilian assets as possible to be able to make good business decisions.
 
 Brazil's Competitive Advantages
 Articles about Brazil's promising future have been popping up in the media lately. Recently, The Economist published an article titled "Brazil Takes Off," highlighting the country's robust economy and political stability, and stated that "Forecasts vary, but sometime in the decade after 2014 Brazil is likely to become the world's fifth-largest economy, overtaking Britain and France." A recent article in the Financial Times, "Dancing Through the Economic Crisis," pointed out that Brazil "is catching the world's attention-and sucking in foreign direct investment, while many rivals go without."
 
 Brazil also presents a unique set of advantages over other countries in terms of its geography, tropical/temperate climate, plenty of arable land and absence of large natural catastrophes. The country has an area of more than 850 million hectares (2.1 billion acres), with forests, agriculture and pastures representing almost 90 percent of it (see figure 1).
 
 When performing a comparison with other countries, Brazil's potential is prominently greater (see figure 2 on page 46).
 
 The Race has Begun: The Moment is Now
 After decades of research and commitment to a technology based on sugarcane ethanol, Brazil is the leading and most efficient sugarcane producer in the world. The country has more than 350 sugarcane mills producing more than 20 billion liters (5.5 billion gallons) of sugarcane ethanol per year, and has the potential to produce much more-sugarcane production occupies less than 1 percent of the country's arable land. More than a cost-effective way of manufacturing biofuels, the country has proven to have projects that are environmentally sustainable and potentially capable of changing the way we manufacture several chemical products, formerly made from petroleum.
 
 Such facts have encouraged large petrochemical companies to embark on sizeable green plastics projects in Brazil. Giants such as Dow Chemical, Solvay and Braskem are already planning to produce ethylene from Brazilian ethanol and use it as raw material in the manufacture of renewable polyethylene and polyvinylchloride (PVC).
 
 -Dow announced plans to build a facility Santa Vitoria in (Southeast Brazil) to produce 350,000 metric tons (770 million pounds) per year of polyethylene. The $1 billion facility, expected to start production in 2011, would be the first integrated facility in the world (sugarcane plantation, ethanol mill and plastics manufacturing) to produce bioplastics.
 
 -Solvay-Indupa, Brazil's arm of the chemical major Solvay, is investing $135 million to produce "green" PVC also in Southeast Brazil. Solvay-Indupa's plan is to use its existing assets to make PVC from an additional 60,000 metric tons (130 million pounds) of green ethylene per year, starting in 2011.
 
 -Braskem, the third-largest resins producer in the Americas, is building a $300 million plant at the company's Triunfo (South Brazil) site with the capacity to produce 200,000 metric tons (450 million pounds) of green plastic per year. The facility, expected to come on line in the next year, will be the first of its kind to enter commercial operation.
 
 Small- and medium-sized companies, such as the American Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. and the local Raudi Industria e Comercio Ltda., are also seeking to capitalize on the competitive advantages offered by Brazil.
 
 -Amyris Brasil Pesquisa Desenvolvimento Ltda., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amyris, started its demonstration facility in Campinas (Southeast Brazil), which was the final step before full commercial production of Amyris products. The facility is designed to convert Brazilian sugarcane into a range of high-value renewable fuels and chemicals using a proprietary synthetic biology technology.
 
 -Brazilian company Raudi is also attracting the attention of foreign investors with its pioneer technology. The company makes "green" sodium bicarbonate using the carbon dioxide byproduct of alcohol production as feedstock. The company has an operating plant and plans to expand its capacity.
 
 All opportunities are being carefully analyzed by the international community and big players are investing heavily in Brazil to either build new ethanol mills or acquire existing assets run by local and less structured groups.
 
 Recently, the Brazilian unit of the French commodities group Louis Dreyfus agreed to take over the Brazilian firm Santelisa Vale. Dreyfus will hold a 60 percent stake of the new venture, called LDC-SEV, which will control 13 sugar and ethanol plants and have annual cane crushing capacity of 88 billion pounds (40 million metric tons), being the world's second-largest sugarcane processor, only after Brazil's Cosan.
 
 At least 10 major foreign groups are already getting their pieces of the Brazilian pie, including some of the biggest commodities companies such as Cargill Inc., Bunge Ltd., Tereos, Adecoagro, Noble Group and even the oil giant BP.
 
 From 2000 to September 2009, Brazilian ethanol companies were faced with 99 mergers and acquisitions. It's important to mention that 45 of them occurred in the past three years, and 22 out of those 45 ventures involved foreign companies acquiring existing assets.
 
 The dilemma here would probably be the classic one of entering a new market: There's still plenty of uncertainty in the young biomass-based industry. Would it be too risky to bet on a specific business now and lose competitiveness in the near future?
 
 It's no secret that if the business environment changes considerably, future entrants will be favored. Indeed, in the commodities sector, often the latest entrants were the winners, wielding the most efficient technologies and producing on a larger scale.
 
 However, the trick is that land and other vital resources should soon be at a premium (some already are) and waiting is likely to be a costly choice. In addition, newcomers will need partners, and the best ones may soon be taken. On the whole, companies aiming to compete really must devise entry strategies now.
 
 Imperative Steps to Joining the Brazilian Green Wave
 If either a world-class or start-up company is planning to benefit from Brazil's competitive advantages, through joint ventures, acquisitions or investing, a proper auditing process (due diligence) approaching Brazil's company in focus, its agents and commercial partners is imperative.
 
 In the due diligence process some vital steps must be considered, such as gathering data, reviewing documents, researching and interviewing current (and former) employees, business partners and related government entities. The goal of this initial approach is to establish precisely the expertise, competence and reputation of the company, understanding its business model and culture.
 
 Another big challenge that cannot be taken for granted is obtaining reliable data in Brazil. Unlike the U.S., where several agencies often publish compiled data that supports entrepreneurs and executives in the complex decision-making process, in Brazil gathering, and many times even discovering such information may be a tough task. Usually and unfortunately, the source and the nature of the information provided are the main bottlenecks for auditing accuracy. Effective due diligence relies on a set of planned interviews that must be focused on relevant industry information, its processes and procedures; they must be able to disclose incomplete information and enable the understanding of companies' performance, financial status and internal controls.BIO
 
 Felipe Tavares is president and CEO of Intratec Solutions LLC. Reach him at felipe.tavares@intratec.us or (713) 821-1745. Thiago Carneiro and Aldemir Marreiros are technical managers at Intratec Solutions. Reach them at thiago.carneiro@intratec.us and aldemir.marreiros@intratec.us.

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Starting up a business in a foreign country such as Brazil can be quite challenging and some setbacks can arise. That shouldn't discourage investment from foreign companies and start-up ventures, however, for a simple reason: Brazil offers remarkable advantages.

Meeting the Challenge of Conducting Biomass-Related Business in Brazil

A recent exchange of e-mails between the Energy & Environmental Research Center and a county economic developer in a Pacific Northwest state highlights a recurring challenge in the U.S. wood biomass industry-how do we develop biomass energy projects in low-population regions that have huge resources but lack the financial backing and market interest to overcome that initial inertia of putting in a power plant or biorefinery? 
 
 Current bioenergy business models tend to be based on low-cost or negative-cost biomass feedstock acquisition, such as having a healthy local lumber or pulp and paper mill industry to supply low-cost wood residues. However, to achieve more widespread utilization of biomass to significantly offset fossil fuel utilization, new aggressive approaches need to be developed. What works in one situation will not necessarily work elsewhere because of varied geographic, economic, environmental and sociological conditions.
 
 As an example, for more than 20 years, Minnesota Power, a utility based in northern Minnesota, has been taking advantage of low-cost wood biomass in the northeast Arrowhead section of Minnesota by using it to generate one-fifth of its electrical generation needs. A viable logging industry is still in place in this region to help with the infrastructure needs of consistent wood residue acquisition and delivery. Although this same model is used by other entities throughout the U.S., to reach the next level of significant biomass utilization, a much more integrated approach is required: one that includes more local buy-in and investment.
 
 The agricultural sector may provide a blueprint for an integrated approach in the form of cooperatives. The early ethanol industry used cooperatives to promote corn supply, ethanol production, and distribution of ethanol and byproducts in the plains states. Even the newly proposed U.S. health care bill advocates the use of cooperatives in health care to offset rising costs and better utilize what is available. Perhaps the cooperative model may prove useful in forested regions to help bring capital to projects not in the mainstream limelight and provide more payback and profitability for local stakeholders. 
 
 In forested areas, such cooperatives could thrive and provide much-needed employment and local wealth. Side benefits would include reduction of wildfire hazards and enhancement of wildlife habitat. These cooperatives would need to bring all parties involved to the table to develop sustainable collaborative relationships: even entities that typically may be opposed to each other such as local environmental organizations, loggers, and processing industries in addition to local, state and federal officials.
 
 In addition to sustaining the current industries through frequent and persistent dialogue, these cooperatives could provide the necessary architecture needed to support nascent bioproduct technologies that require a consistent supply of feedstock as well as a support structure to help them attain success. It is the high-value-added bioproducts that will help to support these low-margin industries in the future while providing the U.S. with a more sustainable future.
 
 Bruce Folkedahl is a senior research manager at the EERC. Reach him at bfolkedahl@undeerc.org or (701) 777-5243.

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New Approach to Stimulate Forest Biomass/Bioenergy Projects

Posted January 25, 2010, at 10:12 a.m. CST
 
 The Algal Biomass Organization, the trade association for the algae industry, challenged the conclusions of a published report in <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es902838n?cookieSet=1&journalCode=esthag">Environmental Science and Technology</a> claiming that "conventional crops have lower environmental impacts than algae in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and water." The report was based upon obsolete data and grossly outdated business models, and overlooked tremendous improvements in technology and processes across the production cycle. ABO believes strongly that these obsolete data and faulty assumptions seriously undermine the credibility of the study's conclusions. 
 
 "Even with the scientific shortcomings of the survey, it shows that with a few improvements, algae is much better than terrestrial plants as a fuel source."
 "We appreciate and support the interest in algae among the scientific community, and agree that examination of the life cycle impacts of algae for fuel processes is important," said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of ABO. "However, we expect such research to be based on current information, valid assumptions and proven facts. Unfortunately, this report falls short of those standards with its use of decades-old data and errant assumptions of current production and refining technologies." 
 
 Among the many concerns of ABO about the report are: 
 
 •Assumptions about algae growth systems. The report uses a first-generation, raceway-style pond system as its benchmark. Many leading algae companies abandoned that approach years ago and have a variety of more advanced cultivation systems, some of which are unrelated to the methods the authors sought to assess. 
 
 •Assumptions about co-location. By assuming the production facility is not co-located with a large CO2 emitter, calculations for sourcing CO2 are flawed, resulting in a higher attribution of CO2 for algae plants. Most commercial-scale algae projects are being developed alongside major emitters in order to beneficially reuse CO2 that will take the place of equivalent carbon emissions from petroleum fuels. 
 
 •Assumptions about water use. The study assumes fresh water and non-potable salt water are equal. A sustainable industrial algae production model uses non-potable, non-agricultural water in the process of making liquid fuels. 
 
 •Assumptions about nutrient use. Because the report does not look at the full algae fuel cycle, ignored is the opportunity to consider the ability of algae producers to recycle nutrients and avoid such a substantial burden. 
 
 •Assumptions about energy use. Because the authors admittedly did not consider the full algae fuel cycle, which allows energy reuse through biodigester biogas combustion coupled with the carbon recycling from all of the aspects of biodigestion, the report errantly gives a higher emissions burden. 
 
 •Assumptions about purchase of CO2 and fertilizer. The base case assumes algae farmers will purchase CO2 and fertilizer, yet such an approach is so prohibitively expensive it would never happen in reality. Yet those inputs are the major drivers of the negative impacts in the study. 
 Lastly, the authors make it very clear that their approach is "stochastic." ABO believes the results of any stochastic study, defined as "of or pertaining to a process involving a randomly determined sequence of observations each of which is considered as a sample of one element from a probability distribution," should not be given the same weight as studies and analyses based on facts and other measurable data. 
 
 "Even with the scientific shortcomings of the survey, it shows that with a few improvements, algae is much better than terrestrial plants as a fuel source," said Stephen Mayfield, director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology. "The truth is that the algae industry is already well beyond the obvious improvements these authors suggest, and as we add these new efficiencies algae will become much more environmentally beneficial." 
 
 In general, the ABO firmly believes life cycle assessments are critical to the development of the industry, given the need to accurately assess and quantify the environmental impact of algae-derived energy. Its membership supports the development of robust LCAs, but believes that the process should include input from a multitude of stakeholders, including algae technology companies, NGO's and other scientists. ABO has published a set of guidelines for LCA on its Web site (<a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es902838n?cookieSet=1&journalCode=esthag">http://www.algalbiomass.org/committees/documents/ABOLCABrief.pdf</a>) and is working with a cross section of industry leaders to develop a definitive LCA framework for algal biomass systems. 
 
 SOURCE: ALGAL BIOMASS ORGANIZATION

ABO questions University of Virginia algae study

The paradigm shift in converting a coal power plant to biomass is riddled with permitting hurdles, along with technology and logistics issues.
 
 "Going from a black hat to a green hat is hard to do," said Mike Hawkins, president and CEO of Ohio-based Red Hawk Energy LLC, who participated in the Pacific West Biomass Conference & Expo in Sacramento. The company's 52-megawatt coal plant is transitioning to biomass power and should be fully operational with 100 percent biomass in the second quarter of 2011, he said. 
 
 In converting, economics of size matter, he said, reiterating the point made by fellow presenter Peter Flynn, a professor in the mechanical engineering department at Canada's University of Alberta. Optimal plant size varies with biomass feedstock availability and processing technology, but is much larger than conventional wisdom suggests, Flynn said. Although larger plants may have longer transportation routes, efficiency in larger plants comes out on top. "Capitol efficiency trumps transportation costs," he said.
 
 In large power plants, coal costs about $4,500 per kilowatt hour, with biomass at about $4,000, Hawkins said. Biomass for a converted coal plant, however, costs only $1,000 per kilowatt hour. 
 
 Conversion is challenging and should not be underestimated, Hawkins said. Operating issues include fuel quality, erosion and corrosion, the capacity factor, operations training and fuel handling. Technology issues include a boiler study, unit de-rating, boiler and fuel feed modifications, and fuel receiving and storage. Companies can opt for a basic dump truck and storage system, or take the route Red Hawk Energy took: a state-of-the-art storage facility with dust and fire suppression, Hawkins said. 
 
 The plant is currently cofiring 20 percent biomass. Hawkins recommends plants considering conversion perform a detailed fuel study, and analyze the reliability of suppliers and fuel contracts. 
 
 He also discussed power purchase agreements, emphasizing the importance of obtaining the terms needed. 
 Other issues companies will face include lender issues, and development and construction costs. The entire process from start to finish probably will take about three years, Hawkins said.
 
 -Lisa Gibson

Switching from a black hat to a green hat

Biomass is the No. 1 renewable energy resource for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, holding a steady 41 percent of energy from renewables, according to Michael DeAngelis, manager of SMUD's Advanced, Renewable & Distributed Generation Technologies Program.
 
 DeAngelis was the first speaker in the panel titled Securing the Position of Biomass in California's Energy Portfolio at the Pacific West Biomass Conference & Expo in Sacramento. "It's clear that renewable energy and biomass are here to stay," DeAngelis told attendees. "Biomass has become a very significant portion of our energy supply in the Sacramento region. We expect it to remain a major portion of our supply." That biomass energy supply consists primarily of wood waste cogeneration, with five landfill and wastewater gas projects, along with the use of biomethane in the pipeline, which he said is the fastest-growing of all SMUD's renewable energy options.
 
 The publicly owned utility has the most aggressive energy efficiency goals-15 percent in 10 years-of any large utility in the state of California, DeAngelis said. In addition, the company expects to be the only large utility to meet California's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of 20 percent by 2010. 
 
 Overall, the state is not on track to achieve that goal, according to Michael Leaon, supervisor of the Integrated Energy & Climate Change Unit of the California Energy Commission. Additionally, the Governor's Executive Order establishes a 33 percent RPS by 2020, with 20 percent from biopower, Leaon said. Statewide, 20 percent of renewable energy in 2008 came from biomass, 70 percent of that from plants that came on line by 2000, he added.
 
 Financial support has the potential to spur biomass development and help reach RPS goals, Leaon told attendees. The state offers the Existing Renewable Facilities Program, which provides incentive payments for energy generated from solid biomass. "This has been an important program for supporting solid biomass facilities," he said. 
 
 Gregg Morris, director of the Green Power Institute, agreed that California's RPS is too lofty a goal and current progress has not kept up. "There's not a chance that we will achieve that 20 percent target by 2010," he said. "We want our renewable production overall in California to approximately triple compared with where it was in 2002." 
 
 The RPS requires utilities to increase renewable energy sources by 1 percent annually, but they have instead declined since the RPS was established in 2002, he said. "They've actually fallen behind every single year since it went into effect." 
 
 Biomass made up 22 percent of total renewable energy in California in 2003, decreasing to 20 percent in 2008. In that time, the mandate required 43 percent renewable energy generation, but only 3.4 percent was achieved. The reason: Biomass is expensive, Morris said. "But the fact is, it's also expensive not to do it," he said, adding that landfill burial and burning of waste are more costly alternatives. Since 1980, 60 biomass plants have been built in California, only half of which are still operational. The next steps to increasing biomass use are continued support for existing facilities, bioenergy banding within the RPS, targeted credits for specific biomass facilities and generating credits for bioenergy, Morris said. 
 
 David Bischel, president and CEO of the California Forestry Association talked about the untapped potential for woody biomass in California's forestlands. One-third of California's 100 million acres is forestland. The state has more than twice as much wood standing dead in forests as there is wood being harvested, he said. More than 10 million acres are at high or very high risk of catastrophic fire, driven by accumulated fuel loads. Climate change could make that fire threat worse, Bischel said. "The opportunities for sustainable biomass utilization are immense in dealing with this issue," he said. Reducing that fuel load also protects water quality and lowers the cost of cleaning it for consumption.
 
 There are 14 million bone-dry tons of potential woody biomass that needs to be removed from forests, Bischel said, with the potential to produce 1,750 megawatts of electricity and 17,000 new jobs. Challenges include the cost, definition of biomass and regulations. "I couldn't agree more that California is really in a state of regulatory gridlock," he said. But the will, motivation and resources on the part of landowners are what will determine how far woody biomass can go, he added.
 
 -Lisa Gibson

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Securing biomass's position and meeting RPS goals

Posted January 22, 2010, at 10:39 a.m. CST
 
 Amid much speculation as to the source of its origin, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a disapproval resolution Jan. 21, seeking to prevent the U.S. EPA from regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act.
 
 Murkowski's resolution challenges the EPA's recently finalized endangerment finding of GHGs, which is necessary for the EPA to instigate regulatory measures for GHG emissions. If the resolution is passed, it would leave Congress responsible for regulating GHG emissions and stop the EPA from moving forward with further regulatory measures. The rarely used disapproval resolution invoked by Murkowski was created in the Congressional Review Act and requires approval by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works before it can be introduced in the House of Representatives. President Barack Obama's signature is the final step required before the resolution can be passed.
 
 Murkowski has been a supporter of climate change legislation, but claims the EPA's "command and control" approach to reducing GHG emissions is the worst option for regulation. "Our bipartisan resolution deals with an incredibly important question: whether or not members of this body are comfortable with the actions EPA will take under its current interpretation of the Clean Air Act," she said. "I'm not comfortable with those actions, and neither are the senators who have already agreed to add their names to this effort."
 
 Murkowski introduced the resolution after banking much-needed bipartisan support. Thirty-six Republicans and three Democrats-Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.-signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution. 
 
 "Controlling the levels of carbon emissions is the job of Congress," Nelson said. "We don't need EPA looking over Congress' shoulder telling us we're not moving fast enough. Carbon emissions should be reduced, but not through costly and complicated EPA regulations or a disadvantageous cap-and-trade proposal in Congress."
 In her floor statement to introduce the resolution, Murkowski responded to allegations that the proposal had been written by lobbyists representing interests that contributed heavily to her campaign and would be disadvantaged by carbon regulation. "Given what has been alleged about my intentions, I believe this debate needs to be directed back to its substance, and away from the ad hominem attacks and red herrings that have been thrown out in recent weeks," she said. "There is a legitimate and substantive debate to be had over whether the EPA should be allowed to issue command-and-control climate regulations, and I welcome that debate." Murkowski denied the claims that lobbyists helped to draft her previous amendment and said the allegations highlight the unwillingness of opponents to engage in policy discussion.
 
 In her floor statement, Murkowski predicted that the EPA's proposed tailoring rule to lift the emissions thresholds to 25,000 tons per year of GHG emissions will be met with swift litigation if finalized as proposed. "When the final rule is issued, it will be challenged," she said. "I expect the courts will then reject it, as it has no legal basis, and restore regulatory thresholds to 100 tons and 250 tons per year. Before long, the agency will find itself mired in the regulatory nightmare it has sought to avoid." 
 
 Murkowski admitted that Congress is far from passing any type of climate control legislation and blamed the EPA's actions for diverting some of its focus. "My goals here are twofold: to ensure that Congress has sufficient time to work on climate legislation and to ensure that the worst of our options-a massive expansion of the Clean Air Act-does not occur before that task is finished."
 
 "I believe the looming spector of EPA regulations is actually a big part of the reason why we have had difficulty moving forward on climate legislation," she continued. "Even though we know that some approaches for reducing emissions are greatly inferior to others, there's inexplicable resistance to removing even our worst options from consideration. I haven't heard one member say that he or she prefers regulation over legislation. And yet, that option is not only still around, but also closer than ever to becoming reality. If we are serious about fulfilling our duty to our constituents and giving this issue the full debate it deserves, we should take EPA regulations off the table."
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-N.V., does not support Murkowski's resolution. "There is no disagreement that it would be better for Congress to pass bipartisan comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation than for EPA to move forward with command and control regulation of global warming pollution," his office stated. "Unfortunately, thus far, very few Republicans have shown any willingness to work with us on that more constructive solution. Sen. Murkowski's resolution would also undo a major agreement reached last year to reduce our oil consumption, making us more dependent on foreign oil and undermining our efforts to help the U.S. regain the lead in advanced automotive technology."
 
 It is believed that if Murkowski's resolution passes the House, Obama will not sign the document, which will prevent the resolution from becoming finalized.

Senators attempt to block EPA GHG regulation

Jim Stewart, chairman of the California BioEnergy Producers Association, relayed a simple message to the 400-plus attendees of the Pacific Northwest Biomass Conference & Expo: it's time to begin confronting the real issues involved in developing a constructive statutory and regulatory environment for bioenergy production.
 
 Stewart referred to biomass as the "holy grail" of sustainability, touting production of ethanol from organic wastes as the only pathway available that can meet or exceed the greenhouse gas reduction goals established in California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. "Many of us here have attended conferences before where we have a chance to network, say nice things about innovative technologies we're working on, listen to a few speeches proclaiming the need for a better environment, and go home perhaps feeling a little better about ourselves without confronting the real issues," he said. "But the time has come for a frank discussion and coordinated action. We will never achieve our goals for renewable energy and a better environment for this nation without a cooperative effort among business, labor, government and the environmental community." 
 
 America generates 1.5 billion to 2 billion tons of carbon-based wastes annually, according to Stewart, about 500 million tons of which are readily available to convert into energy. In 2008, a recession year in which municipal solid waste (MSW) generation declined by 10 percent, California still landfilled 35.5 million tons of post-recycled material. "Just from this single source of biomass, thermal conversion technologies could coproduce 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol and about 1,250 megawatts (MW) of power, turning the state into a net exporter of ethanol," he said. 
 
 Stewart referred to a recent study by the International Energy Agency showing that production in the world's oil fields is declining by 7 percent per year, and predicted that the world will need eight more Saudi Arabia's by 2030 to make up for the decline and meet projected global oil demand. "The way to achieve this goal is not to devastate the environment to recover oil from tar sands in Canada-to me that is direct and indirect land-use change of far greater impact than anything that could be projected from corn or cellulosic biomass, and yet it is just one of the factors relating to petroleum production that seems to be totally ignored by the U.S. EPA in its rulemaking," he said. 
 
 In 2009, the U.S. DOE awarded grants to a wide range of emerging renewable energy technologies including $193 million for six thermal biomass conversion projects supporting a total investment of $410 million, none of which will be built in California. "Why is this happening?" Stewart asked. "It's happening because California has a statutory and regulatory environment that is driving biobased technology providers and investment capital out of the state. As further evidence, the governor announced a list of 244 renewable energy projects now being proposed to help meet the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) goal of 33 percent by 2022, and only three were for biomass conversion." 
 
 Stewart said the BEPA is sponsoring legislation to expedite the introduction of new conversion technologies that will produce advanced biofuels and/or green power from organic waste materials. AB 222, which addresses the issues necessary to achieve this goal, passed in the California State Assembly 54-13 during the 2009 legislative session in Sacramento, after having been approved by a unanimous bipartisan vote in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee. In July 2009, it was approved in the Senate Utilities, Energy and Communications Committee, however, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee elected not to act on the bill and converted it into a two-year bill, which cannot pass the State Senate and be signed by the Governor until 2010, and will not take effect until January 2011 at the earliest. During those intervening 17 months, the state will place another 50 million tons of post-recycled municipal waste in its landfills, which theoretically could support the annual production of 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol and approximately 1,250 MW of power. Stewart urged attendees to contact the Senate and demand the legislation be passed.
 
 -Anna Austin

Stewart of the California BioEnergy Producers Association told conference attendees that it?s time for frank discussion and coordinated action in order to achieve renewable energy goals. PHOTO: BBI INTERNATIONAL 

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Biomass needs regulatory, government support

Ireland-based B9 Shipping Ltd. anticipates the launch of two fossil fuel-free demonstration cargo ships in 2012, powered by soft sails and biogas from anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic waste streams, food waste and landfill gas.
 
 The demonstration ships will be designed and financed in 2010 and built in 2011. One will be a dry bulk carrier, designed for cargo such as wood chips and carried to biomass power plants in the U.K., and the other will be a chemical tanker for bioethanol and biodiesel markets, according to David Surplus, B9 Shipping managing director. The company is initially concentrating on the wood chip and pellet trade between the Baltic states and the U.K., but has identified some potential on the coasts of the U.S. and Canada. The long-term goal is to deploy the vessels all around the world, especially in small island states that rely on small coastal vessels as the backbone of their economies, Surplus said.
 
 
 B9's sister company, B9 Organic Energy Ltd., is a U.K. market leader in AD and will aid its shipping counterpart in securing an adequate supply of biogas through two means, Surplus said. First, the biogas (60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide) can be compressed and run through a spark ignition engine to drive the propeller; or the methane component can be liquefied to produce biomethane and run the same spark ignition engine. A 50,000-ton-per-year AD project will provide sufficient biogas to run a 1.5 megawatt engine 24/7, Surplus said. "Because the B9 ship operating plan is focused on saving biogas through optimizing the use of wind power, we are projecting that four ships will be fuelled from each AD project," he said. "To achieve this, it is necessary for the wind speeds along the route to be as high as the North Sea."
 
 "We also will provide best practice environmental performance over the life of the contract, which is important if the biomass power plant planning permission is granted on this basis," he said. "We will always need to identify a suitable return cargo for ships and if no trades already exist, we have the ability to stimulate new trades supporting new industries. In particular, we are keen to transport recyclate for reprocessing because those commodities also have strong environmental performance targets."
 
 Once the demonstration vessels have proven themselves, the company has an initial commercial target to build 50 dry bulk vessels, which would allow the U.K. biomass industry to comply with the new Renewable Energy Directive from the EU of 10 percent, Surplus said. "Thereafter, and as we move closer to the low-carbon economy, we foresee that the majority of the 1,800 coasters in EU waters and 10,000 throughout the world will need to be replaced with fossil fuel-free vessels," he said. 
 
 -Lisa Gibson

B9?s ships would be powered by soft sails and biogas from anaerobic digestion. SOURCE: B9 SHIPPING LTD.

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Ireland company prepares to launch fossil fuel-free ships

Posted February 3, 2010, at 4:22 p.m. CST
 
 The new requirement for cellulosic biofuel production in 2010 is reduced to 6.5 million ethanol--equivalent gallons in the renewable fuels standard (RFS2), down significantly from the 100 million gallons established in RFS1, included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The U.S. EPA released final RFS2 rules Feb. 3 as media outlets, producers and others scrambled to find out how it will affect their industries. 
 	
 While the required total volume of renewable fuels produced this year remains the same at 12.95 billion gallons, changes within the requirements for different types of fuels are drastic. Good news came for the biodiesel industry, as the requirement for a new biomass-based diesel program jumped to 1.15 billion gallons, a combination of standards for 2009 and 2010, to be applied in 2010.The advanced biofuel requirement remains the same at 950 million gallons. 
 	
 The new cellulosic biofuel standard is based on an updated market analysis considering detailed information from pilot and demonstration-scale plants, an Energy Information Administration Analysis, and other publically and privately available market information, according to the EPA. While 6.5 million shows a drastic reduction, a number of companies appear poised to expand over the next several years, it added.
 	
 "We see it as a positive change," said Jennifer Hutchins, spokeswoman for DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE), which opened a demonstration plant in Vonore, Tenn., at the end of January. "As a leading player in cellulosic ethanol, we're glad the standard has changed. Obviously, the industry wasn't going to meet that 100 million-gallon mandate." The plant runs on corncobs now, but will transition to 100 percent switchgrass over the next year.
 
 "I think it's a great change," said Arnold Klann, CEO of California-based BlueFire ethanol, which focuses on producing cellulosic ethanol from waste. "It was very clear our industry couldn't meet the standard set for this year." He added that the new goal is easily achievable and was a good decision.
 
 Fortunately, changes to the greenhouse gas (GHG) modeling mean all classes of biofuels meet the RFS GHG reduction goals. According to the RFS2 Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis, ethanol from switchgrass reduces GHG emissions by a stunning 110 percent through biochemical conversion and 72 percent through thermo-chemical processes. That was no surprise to DDCE. "We have known about the greenhouse gas reduction potential of switchgrass," Hutchins said. "That's one of the reasons we work with it." Ethanol from corn stover reduces emissions by 130 percent through biochemical conversion and 93 percent thermochemical. That means both meet the 60 percent GHG reduction requirement in EISA for cellulosic biofuels. 
 	
 Ethanol from sugarcane also meets the standard, reducing GHG emissions by 61 percent. "EPA's reaffirmation of sugarcane ethanol's superior GHG reduction confirms that sustainably-produced biofuels can play an important role in climate mitigation," said Joel Velasco, chief representative in Washington for the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA). "Sugarcane ethanol is a first generation biofuel with third generation performance."
 	
 Biomass-based diesel must meet a 50 percent reduction standard to qualify for the RFS2. The National Biodiesel Board welcomed the RFS2 almost immediately after its release. The new rules, specifically the implementation of the biomass-based diesel program, will help America reap existing benefits in job creation, energy security and the environment, according to Joe Jobe, NBB CEO. "The U.S. biodiesel industry stands ready to provide the fuel that will be needed to meet the readily-attainable biomass-based diesel goals established in the RFS2," he said. "We look forward to working with all industry stakeholders to successfully implement this worthwhile program." 
 	
 The EPA also mentioned five categories of feedstock that are expected to have less or no indirect land use changes, including crop residues such as corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, citrus residues; forest material such as eligible forest thinning and solid residue remaining from forest product production; secondary annual crops planted on existing crop land; separated food and yard waste; and perennial grasses including switchgrass and miscanthus.
 
 RFS2 rules were originally scheduled for release Jan. 1, 2009, but inclusion of new elements pushed it back. It expands the scope of the program and lays out the strategy for reaching the RFS of 36 billion gallons by 2022. Currently, the country is not on track to meet that goal, as only about 12 billion gallons of biofuels are produced annually. President Obama's biofuels initiative, also released Feb. 3, states that the goals will be met by supporting the existing biofuels industry, while accelerating the commercial establishment of advanced biofuels by increasing communication and having a strategic plan across the U.S. government, and by employing strategic public-private partnerships. 
 	
 "We welcome the commitment of the President to continue growing the domestic ethanol industry. He correctly noted that producing home-grown ethanol creates jobs in America at a time America most needs them," Poet LLC CEO Jeff Broin said. "However we are concerned that some pieces of the rules put out by EPA today run contrary to that stated effort. Although the international indirect land use change penalty has been lessened somewhat, EPA still relied on the disproven theory when all of the data shows that ethanol production continues to improve and isn't requiring new land." South Dakota-based Poet produces corn-based and cellulosic ethanol from corncobs. 
 
 "The final rule announced today by the EPA highlights the fact that-even with assumptions about international land use change-advanced biofuels can significantly reduce and reverse growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from transportation," said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of Biotechnology Industry Organization's Industrial Environmental Section. "Advanced biofuels are a key to creating new jobs and revitalizing the U.S. economy. ... Development of the advanced biofuels industry could produce hundreds of thousands of new green jobs and contribute more than $140 billion in economic growth by 2030."
 
 To see the RFS2 rule go to <a href="http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/">http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/</a>.

RFS2 reduces 2010 cellulosic ethanol requirement

A pre-industrial scale second-generation biofuel plant in Bure-Saudron, France, will be the first in the world to add external hydrogen to syngas for increased conversion efficiency.
 
 The plant is expected to produce 23,000 metric tons (25,350 tons) of biofuels per year, including biodiesel, kerosene and naphta, using about 75,000 metric tons of local forestry and agricultural resources, according to the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The CEA and its industrial financial partners are launching the first stage of the project, which will include a detailed study of the design, but the study is subject to a contract with partners. Construction will begin once the study is complete and is slated for June 2011, according to the CEA. The project aims to improve biomass-to-liquid mass performance, which the CEA defines as the quantity of input material divided by the quantity of output fuel, by adding external hydrogen.
 
 The objective of the project is to demonstrate both the technical and economic feasibility of a complete chain of production of liquid biofuels from biomass in France, from harvesting to fuel synthesis, according to the CEA. The plant will be able to investigate production along a complete manufacturing line: collecting and conditioning, gasification, and conversion through the Fischer-Tropsch process. The pilot unit will be the first of its kind in France, combining the various components for manufacture of biofuels in one facility. The CEA says the fuels will be high quality, both in engine performance and pollutants emitted. 
 
 Bure-Saudron, in northeastern France, was chosen partly because it allowed research laboratories to dispose of nuclear waste in deep geological formations, according to the CEA. Members of the nuclear industry made a commitment in 2006 to support the economic development of areas that allowed such disposal.
 
 Project partners include contracting group CNIM, France-based air gas producer Air Liquide group, German-based gasification company Choren, Canada-based engineering and construction firm SNC Lavlin, contractor and equipment supplier Foster Wheeler France and MSW Energies, according to the CEA.
 
 -Lisa Gibson

French biofuel plant will add hydrogen

Swedish AB Volvo subsidiary Terracastus Technologies and waste management firm Nordvastra Skanes Renhallningsbolag plan to jointly construct a liquid biogas plant in southern Sweden for the production of vehicle fuel.
 
 In December, the two companies signed a letter of intent to begin a joint company for upgrading biogas to liquefied biogas. The first project will be located outside of Helsingborg, at the site of NSR's landfill. Tobias Elmquist of Terracastus said half of the biogas produced will be generated by an anaerobic digester. About 140,000 metric tons (154,320 tons) of waste will be required at the plant annually, to produce the equivalent of 15 million liters (4 million gallons) of diesel per year.
 
 Terracastus currently employs 10 people who are engaged in project development. The company is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and has a New York City location as well. Wholly owned within the Volvo Group, Terracastus was established in 2007 to manage the commercial development of CO2 Wash, a system that transforms raw biogas into high-quality liquid biomethane, Elmquist said. 
 
 Elmquist said Terracastus technology is unique in using the CO2 in the raw biogas as a cleaning agent for removal of contaminants such as volatile organic compounds, sulfur and siloxanes. "Prior to establishing Terracastus, Volvo helped manage extensive testing and development of CO2 Wash including the construction of a successful pilot plant (cofunded by the U.S. DOE) at the Burlington County Landfill in Columbus, N.J.," he said. "The project at Burlington County became the first to accomplish a long sought goal of the landfill industry-continuous conversion of landfill gas-to-liquid methane truck fuel used in regularly scheduled commercial refuse collection." During the project, sample trucks accumulated more than 600 hours of operation using the fuel, and post analysis showed no degradation of engines.
 
 The Gothenburg project is the one of the larger, if not the largest, facilities for production of liquid biogas in the world, according to Elmquist. Construction is slated to begin the second half of 2010; completion in the third quarter of 2011. 
 
 -Anna Austin

Refueling a truck with liquid methane PHOTO: TERRACASTUS

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Swedish companies plan liquid biogas plant

Posted January 25, 2010, at 10:41 a.m. CST
 
 Rentech Inc. and ClearFuels Technology Inc. jointly announced Jan. 25 that their project to construct a biomass gasifier at Rentech's Energy Technology Center in Denver has been awarded a conditional $22.6 million grant from the U.S. DOE. The gasifier will be integrated with Rentech's Product Demonstration Unit for the production of renewable synthetic fuels from biomass.
 
 The conditional award follows the DOE's selection of the project in December 2009 to receive funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to validate refining technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of an advanced biofuels industry in the United States. The award is conditional upon final approval of the application and any supplemental information as well as completion of negotiations. 
 
 The grant award will be used to manufacture and install at RETC a 20 ton-per-day ClearFuels biomass gasifier designed to produce synthesis gas from various wood waste and sugar cane bagasse feedstocks. The gasifier will be integrated with Rentech's existing PDU at the site, which uses the Rentech Process and UOP's upgrading technologies to produce renewable drop-in synthetic jet and diesel fuels at demonstration scale. This joint demonstration of an integrated biorefinery is anticipated to be completed in late 2011 and will lead to the final design basis for commercial facilities that are expected to use the combined technologies. The proposed team for the demonstration project includes ClearFuels, Rentech, URS, Linde/Hydro-Chem, Hawaiian Electric Co., National Renewable Energy Lab and Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.
 
 Rentech has a 25 percent strategic ownership interest in ClearFuels, which has begun development of multiple commercial-scale biomass-to-energy projects in the Southeastern United States, Hawaii and internationally. These projects are expected to use an integrated ClearFuels-Rentech design and be co-located at biomass processing facilities. 
 
 Commenting on the award, D. Hunt Ramsbottom, president and CEO of Rentech, said, "We are pleased that the DOE has acted quickly in granting this award. The award recognizes the potential value of integrating Rentech's and ClearFuel's technologies for the production of renewable synthetic fuels." Ramsbottom continued, "We believe that the deployment of our joint technologies at commercial-scale renewable energy projects will play an important role in helping our country meet its goals for sources of low-carbon renewable fuels and green jobs."
 
 Eric Darmstaedter, CEO of ClearFuels, commented, "We are very pleased with our collaborative discussions with the DOE. We expect to complete submission of required supplemental information and start receiving funds in the next few months to facilitate the demonstration of our integrated technologies."
 
 SOURCE: RENTECH INC.

Rentech, ClearFuels receive DOE grant

Posted January 25, 2010, at 12:16 p.m. CST
 
 Waste Management Inc. and Harvest Power announced Jan. 25 an agreement by Waste Management to invest in Harvest Power to expand next-generation organics recycling facilities across the United States and Canada. As part of this agreement, Waste Management joins founding investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners, who also increased their investments in Harvest. 
 
 Harvest has significant expertise in organic waste management, from building and operating large-scale organics recycling facilities to marketing compost products. Harvest owns and operates the largest food and yard waste composting facility in North America, located in Richmond, British Columbia. Harvest is also developing innovative high-solids aerobic and anaerobic digestion and composting technologies, which accelerate the decomposition of organic materials to produce renewable energy that offsets the use of fossil fuels. The process creates clean biogas that can be converted into electricity, liquefied natural gas, or compressed natural gas, and also generate high-quality, nutrient-rich compost products. 
 
 "We want to extract more value from the materials we manage than anyone else in our industry through new and emerging processing and conversion technologies," said Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste Management. "Combining Waste Management's industry leadership and expertise in the collection and management of a wide range of segmented waste streams with Harvest's leading technologies and industry knowledge will be key to developing new, high value-added end markets for organic materials and accelerating the growth of organics recycling across North America." 
 
 North America generates more than 180 million tons of organic waste each year and as state, provincial, and national mandates and incentives for renewable energy continue to increase, demand for local distributive, clean energy resources is higher than ever. 
 
 "Through partnerships with leaders like Waste Management, and by designing, building, owning and operating our own facilities, we will be turning more organic waste into renewable energy and high-quality compost. Our goal is to harvest the power in organic materials to create more sustainable communities, and we look forward to expanding our business with our new partner," said Paul Sellew, co-founder and CEO of Harvest Power. 
 
 The agreement with Harvest Power complements Waste Management's comprehensive waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, waste-to-energy and consulting services. This investment will also help move Waste Management toward meeting three of its sustainability goals: doubling its renewable energy production and tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste. 
 
 SOURCE: WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.

Waste Management invests in Harvest Power

As a result of service agreement amendments with the city and county of Honolulu, Covanta Energy Corp. will expand its waste-to-energy facility to increase its current capacity by approximately 40 percent.
 
 Covanta Energy operates more than 40 waste-to-energy facilities across the globe. These plants collectively convert 20 million tons-or more than 5 percent-of the nation's waste into renewable energy each year.
 
 The $302 million expansion project, will be designed, built and operated by Covanta, but funded and owned by the city and county of Honolulu. Covanta Honolulu Resource Recovery Venture, or "H-Power," currently produces about 2,160 tons of refuse per day. It will be increased by 900 tons per day, or the equivalent of handling the municipal solid waste (MSW) produced by 850,000 residents and 6 million visitors annually. The overall waste processing capacity of the facility will reach 900,000 tons when complete. 
 
 The agreement also includes an extension of Covanta's tenure as the facility's operator for 20 years from initial start-up of the expansion, which the company estimated to occur within 24 to 34 months. H-Power will have the potential to generate 84 megawatts, which will be sold to Hawaiian Electric Co.
 
 Covanta has operated the H-Power facility, which is located on 28 acres in Campbell Industries Park, Kapolei, Hawaii, for more than 15 years after it acquired the facility in 1993 from Combustion Engineering. 
 
 In early January, Covanta Spokeswoman Vera Carley said construction of the expansion will begin within the next 30 days. "We're waiting for the final permits to get started," she said. The renovation will consist of a new boiler building and tip floor, which will be half of the size of the boiler building and tip floor building in the existing plant, according to Carley. 
 
 -Anna Austin

Covanta launches $302 million expansion project

The Louisiana State University Agricultural Center has permission from the board of regents to establish the Louisiana Institute for Biofuels and Bioprocessing, a research, education and outreach initiative within the AgCenter. 
 
 The institute will not occupy its own facility, but will be a "virtual center" that will provide the roadmap needed to support new biofuels and bioprocessing endeavors in the state and prioritize pathways for integration of those industries into the mainstream, according to John Russin, AgCenter associate vice chancellor and institute director. The center is expected to link Louisiana's agricultural base with emerging bioenergy initiatives, which will expand the state's role in developing renewable energy sources, while increasing the economic base for crop producers in the state, according to the proposal submitted to the board of regents. 
 
 The regents' approval is conditional for one year, in which time the AgCenter will work on several first-year initiatives, including soliciting ongoing federal support; assembling an external advisory board; developing an annual conference with speakers from the industry and academia; facilitating effective information exchange among public and private partners; and developing electronic and print materials to educate stakeholders and policymakers about industry opportunities in Louisiana, according to the proposal. 
 
 Initially, the institute will encompass all ongoing research projects within the AgCenter, including those involving the conversion of bagasse, sweet sorghum, switchgrass and algae to biofuels, polymers and specialty chemicals. "As the external advisory board develops and corporate partners emerge, we hope to expand the breadth and depth of our programs," Russin said. Louisiana has a strong and diverse agricultural base and is well-positioned to produce energy crops, the proposal states.
 
 Objectives of the institute should complement those of the Clean Power & Energy Research Consortium, which supports programs from seven campuses of higher education in Louisiana. A unique attribute of the institute will be its ability to address all aspects of industrial development for new bioproducts from Louisiana crops, according to the proposal. That encompasses areas from biofuel crop development and production to optimum harvesting, handling and storage; from processing to optimization for biofuel specialty chemical production; and from product conceptualization through development to economic analysis and marketability, according to the proposal. 
 
 -Lisa Gibson

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LSU to establish Louisiana Institute for Biofuels and Bioprocessing

A wood-drying system that has been used in Japan for the past five years will be available in the U.S. market in early 2010.
 
 Greenstone Holdings Inc.'s Green-Dri system was developed from a biotechnological concept based on Toshio Ito's Nobel Prize-winning Bound Water Transfer Theory, according to the company. Ito, a professor at John's Hopkins University School of Medicine, discovered channels that regulate and facilitate water molecule transport through cell membranes. 
 Wood and its cells survive and function as a living organism after being cut and the Green-Dri system uses that natural characteristic to "sweat out" water through the channels without damaging the cells, according to the company. The system allows for lower temperatures and less energy than conventional kilns, while shortening the drying time.
 
 The sauna-like structures have double-layer walls, ceilings and floors made out of wood. The wood construction is a key element to the process and because of a constant temperature setting, no scheduling is necessary and mixtures of different species and sizes of wood can be dried at the same time. Systems can range in size from 5 feet long, 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall, to 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet tall, according to Sal Miwa, Greenstone CEO. Costs can be anywhere from $3,000 to more than $200,000, he added. The operating cost, however, is about 10 percent that of conventional drying kilns. "Our test unit, which has 2,000-board-feet capacity, cost only $17 for electricity cost for one month," he said. "A major part of saw mill cost and energy consumption is the drying process, so we would be saving lots of energy."
 
 The kilns come with sliding or swinging doors and feature a small entry for inspections. A protective housing is available for use in colder regions and the system can be fit for loading via forklift or rail track. The target markets for the product are saw mills, lumber yards, and manufacturers of sporting equipment, musical instruments, furniture, cabinets and others, Miwa said. 
 
 More than 30 units have been sold in Japan so far. Japan's Imperial Housing Agency approved specified usage of wood dried by Green-Dri for the new earthquake-proof Central Cultural Center at Todaiji Temple in Nara, Miwa said. The wooden Buddhist temple, also the largest wooden building in the world, dates back to 782. 
 
 -Lisa Gibson

The Green-Dri system will soon be available in the U.S. PHOTO: GREENSTONE HOLDINGS INC.

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Wood-drying system available soon in US

Minnesota-based Midwest Biogas LLC plans to construct a biogas plant in northern Iowa, a project that will mark the company's renewable energy debut. 
 
 Plans are to break ground at the Albert City, Iowa, location in early 2010, said Midwest Biogas President Nick Nelson. Buena Vista BioEnergy will be located near and utilize byproducts from an ethanol plant, as well as waste materials from a nearby egg producer, to produce biomethane, electricity and fertilizer. "In essence we will be getting three types of renewable energy-ethanol, biomethane and electricity-from one crop of corn, and we are able to return most of the nutrients back to the farm for the next crop," Nelson said.
 
 Nelson told Biomass Magazine that because of the size of the project, which is currently estimated to be about $120 million, it will be completed in phases. The first phase is anticipated to begin operations in early 2011 and the entire project will be on line some time in 2012. According to Nelson, when complete these plants will produce about three times as much biomethane as the largest plant in the world in Gustrow, Germany, which Nelson said he toured in November during a due diligence study of the company's biogas upgrading technology. 
 
 The site for Buena Vista BioEnergy was chosen because of its close proximity to feedstock sources. Midwest Biogas will be responsible for the transportation of the feedstocks to its plants to ensure that it's done safely and cleanly. "When you're handling materials like swine manure, you want to make sure that these are transported in sealed tanks and that they are stored properly on site for the shortest period of time possible," he explained. Midwest Biogas will employ a truck washing mechanism to clean every transport as it is exiting the plant to prevent the spread of any diseases. 
 
 According to Nelson, Midwest has plans to build several similar plants across the Corn Belt. He added that it's also important to get the first plant on line to show how well Midwest Biogas's business model works, and that it can be successfully implemented in the U.S. "Midwest has a very dedicated team that is focused on doing this right, and we're looking forward to having many successful plants with the first two being Buena Vista BioEnergy and Welcome BioEnergy in Welcome, Minn.," he said. 
 
 -Anna Austin

Midwest Biogas plant to use ethanol byproducts, animal waste

The Gas Technology Institute was created to address the needs of the natural gas industry, but its work has evolved as the world's energy requirements have changed. The nonprofit conducts research and development for the purpose of developing technologies that can be applied in the marketplace. 
 
 "Our mission is to turn raw technology into practical solutions for the market's energy needs," says Vann Bush, managing director for the gasification and gas processing group at GTI. "We have created solutions that include our own gasification technologies but we're also a technology development partner for industry." To do this, GTI contracts with private companies, works with state and federal government agencies and regulators, and provides investment opportunities within the energy sector and other industries. 
 
 GTI is involved in gasification of fossil and renewable fuels, natural gas exploration-mostly from unconventional sources including shale, tight gas sands and coal beds-distribution and pipeline technology, and new technology development, deployment and commercialization. Although the institute's headquarters are in Des Plaines, Ill., it also has a group working on biomass gasification and other areas of biomass conversion in Birmingham, Ala., a research and development facility in Oklahoma and offices in Washington, D.C., and on the East and West Coast, Bush says.
 
 "My business unit is one of the four R&D sectors here at GTI," says Bush, who works at the GTI campus in Des Plaines, where there are 28 specialized laboratories and facilities. "My focus is on the conversion of hydrocarbon materials into products whether they be fuels-liquid or gaseous fuels-chemicals or power. In my area, our business revolves around thermochemical processes and we have a group that's devoted to gas conditioning and treatment technologies as well as a generation of gases and liquids from solid feedstocks. About half of our business is biomass related at present and about half is coal and natural gas related."
 
 The number of biomass and coal projects fluctuates from year to year but historically there is a good balance between the two, Bush says. "There is a lot of interest right now in the renewables area, of course, because of the carbon management issues, and we're seeing changes in the kind of products that people are looking for from biomass," he says. "The past couple of years, the focus has been on liquid fuels/transportation fuels so there is a lot of activity in our shop and around the world dealing with the conversion of biomass material into replacement transportation fuels." Prior to that there was more interest in power and combined-heat-and-power applications from renewable resources, he adds. 
 
 GTI in Action
 GTI's participation in projects can take on several forms, depending on the client's needs. 
 
 "Industry often comes to us with a technology that they need to pass through the development cycle and we partner with them to carry their technology through the stages of development and work alongside them," Bush says. "Some of the technologies that have sort of a GTI imprint on them are developed by our own staff and some of the technologies with which we are associated are the development of our industrial partners and we assist, doing testing or developmental work in cooperation with them."
 
 GTI developed a fluidized bed gasification solution for coal applications and a fluidized bed solution for biomass applications and both have been licensed. "Those technologies are now commercial offerings," Bush says. "We continue to provide technology support for those partners and at the same time we will work with other folks' technologies from the venture-funded type organizations like Great Point Energy, who brought their technology to GTI for development, or Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, who brought their technology to GTI for pilot development."
 
 GTI worked with Finnish companies UPM-Kymmene Corp. and Carbona/Andritz to help them develop technology to make biodiesel from wood waste.
 
 UPM, a global forestry company, and Andritz Carbona, a gasification technology provider, are cooperating on a biomass-to-liquid plant that would convert wood waste to biodiesel. The process involves gasifying biomass, purifying the gas and processing it in a Fischer-Tropsch liquefaction plant. The plant would combine carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a catalytic reaction and convert them into liquid hydrocarbons. 
 
 "We were looking for a gasifier with significant size, capable of gasifying biomass with oxygen under pressure, and there are not that many pilot plants available," says Petri Kukkonen, director of biofuel at UMP. Andritz/Carbona secured access to GTI's pilot gasification facility for the project, which saved the companies $7 million to $10 million and about two years time, says Jim Patel, president of Carbona Corp., which is a majority owned subsidiary of Andritz Oy. "GTI saved us a lot of money and time because they have existing equipment that we could use and add on to," Patel says. "We used GTI's equipment and modified it and then we added a gas cleaning system of our own design."
 Andritz/Carbona uses the fluidized bed gasification technology that it licensed from GTI about 30 years ago as the basis for its own technology. "We built a plant in Finland and developed the technology on our own, to the level where it could be commercialized and built into an actual plant," Patel says.
 
 For the current project, Andritz/Carbona and UPM are using GTI's test plant to do the testing of the technology for the new project. UPM has a demonstration plant in Chicago and plans to build a commercial plant in Europe near one of its pulp and paper mills. "We have an environmental impact assessment complete for two plants in Finland, but we are looking at our mills in central Europe as well," Kukkonen says "We have 16 plants in Europe."
 
 GTI also obtained the permits to build the demonstration plant in Chicago, Kukkonen says. "In the beginning we had some problems getting permits to build the plant because it's located close to the Chicago O'Hare Airport and building that kind of facility near an airport after Sept. 11 has been a struggle." The permit issue delayed the project, but once the permits were in place the project went smoothly. "GTI got the construction permit and upgrading we needed for the downstream syngas cleaning equipment and also for some modifications for the existing gasifier." 
 
 Preparing for the Future
 To keep up with changing energy demands and the needs of its clients, GTI is constantly looking to the future. "We put together what are we going to look like, what are we going to be in three years, what sort of business mix we foresee and then what are some of the things beyond that that we want to keep our eyes on," Bush says. That three-year forecast is updated every year during an off-site strategic planning workshop with the institute's board of directors and the management team. 
 
 Although GTI's business units have distinct areas of expertise, lately carbon management has been the common thread that materializes in the annual planning sessions.
 
 While research and development are the main focus, the institute also has to be aware of and prepare for outside influences that impact their work. "We also want to look at what are the factors that are institutional or that are regulatory or policy factors that are going to overlay the technology issues that we are working on, and it's important that we have our board here to go through that," Bush says. "It's a way to keep ourselves in tune with what we perceive to be the real needs out there in the market. Of course, industry is going to give us a good idea about that in what they are willing to support. We want to offer the technology solutions that are going to be relevant to them so we have to really be apprised of it."
 Because it is a nonprofit, GTI shares results of its studies with the industries it works with through technical reports, presentations at conferences, peer review journals and other means, and works closely with organizations such as the American Gas Association and pipeline networks. "We do have to be circumspect and careful if we are working for a specific industrial partner where there are proprietary or intellectual property issues, but general findings and work that we do collaboratively in the delivery sector those kinds of results get populated to the user market pretty quickly," Bush says.
 
 In September 2009, the institute organized the tcbiomass2009 conference in Chicago with 250 participants from 22 countries and 130 organizations. The conference focused on new research in thermochemical biomass conversion including gasification, pyrolysis and upgrading of pyrolysis oil.
 
 GTI also holds workshops for industry groups and conducts twice yearly meetings of its public interest advisory committee, which is comprised of members of the regulatory community and consumer advocacy groups. "We share things that are relevant and current things, that are our distillation of what the market pressures are and where technology might be going," Bush says.
 
 GTI is typically funded through three different revenue streams: federal and state funds, the gas industry and industry partners. "The particular business unit that I have in gasification, we've been more about private sector work for the past four or five years than government work; we've been over 80 percent funded by the private sector," Bush says. "But there is a swell of funding from the federal government as they re-adjust their priorities, so our distribution of funding from private to government might shift a little bit in the coming year."
 
 To receive money from these groups, the researchers at GTI write proposals that address specific technical issues, and compete against other institutions and companies for projects. 
 
 Bush says he's encouraged that the federal government is putting a lot of emphasis on technology development to solve the nation's energy needs. "Whether it's to supply fuels, power from sustainable sources or for the mitigation of environmental issues, it's good to see that there's recognition that technology is going to provide us valuable ways of addressing those needs and hopefully the resources will back that up."
 
 Rona Johnson is the editor of Biomass Magazine. Reach her at rjohnson@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4940.

GTI?s Advanced Gasification Test Facility photo: GTI

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GTI?s Flex-Fuel Test Facility and Advanced Gasification Test Facility PHOTO:GTI

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For 68 years, the Gas Technology Institute has been advancing new technologies to ensure the world has access to an abundant, affordable energy supply.

Development to Deployment

When Heat Transfer International President David Prouty met gasification veteran Robert Graham, he recognized a great, but also somewhat risky, opportunity. Historically, the development of a renewable energy industry in the U.S. had not been consistent. Hot streaks of interest erupted briefly, but generally faded away as quickly, Prouty tells Biomass Magazine. "In the '70s, people began to care about energy after the oil embargo and they spent some time in alternative energy, but interest was lost after awhile," he explains. "So they went back to doing what they did. In 1979 to '81, people became interested again. At that time, Bob's work revolved around improving gasifiers for the destruction of waste. No one cared about the extra energy so they threw away a great deal of energy, but interest in those areas soon died down again."
 
 When Prouty became acquainted and familiarized himself with Graham's work, he decided the third time just might be the charm. "Come 2003, I asked myself if the world would once again shy away from alternative energy and gasification and turn back to fossil fuels, or if interest would stick this time," he says. Prouty went with his gut feeling, which was indicating to him that this time the world was finally ready to forge ahead with alternative energy. 
 
 Graham had spent the bulk of his career working in the field of waste gasification and high-temperature combustion equipment, dealing with materials such as precious metals and army munitions-things which Prouty says nobody else in the world would touch-to develop the means to destroy the products or capture anything usable in the ash. Soon after Prouty purchased Graham's intellectual property and design rights, HTI emerged. The company moved Graham and his wife to Kentwood, Mich, where HTI is based. 
 
 At 78, senior application engineer Graham still comes into the office every day, Prouty says, and his 50 years of experience in the field has been invaluable to HTI's growth. 
 
 SALT System Benefits
 HTI is a designer and manufacturer of starved-air/low-temperature (SALT) retorts, which are biomass gasification systems that convert biomass, through a thermal process, into synthesis gas. 
 
 By properly controlling the air injection arrangement the feedstock pile temperature is kept below the sublimation, vaporizing or melting temperatures of the noncombustible solids, and at the same time vaporizes the volatiles using the energy from partial combustion of the wastes. The resulting syngas is sent to a chamber, or "low NOx (nitrogen oxide) oxidizer," where it is combusted much like natural gas or propane and is then used to make heat, which can be converted into steam, power or hot water.
 
 Prouty says the key benefit of the SALT system is that a hot air turbine is used instead of water for power generation. The company has a partnership with Walled Lake, Mich.-based turbine manufacturer Williams International, and has spent the past three years working with Williams to optimize a biomass turbine. The companies' collaborative work was showcased in the fall of 2009 with the commissioning of a project at Sietsema Farm Feeds in Howard City, Mich., which now hosts the state's first gasification plant and the world's first hot air turbine powered by biomass. 
 
 Projects, Partners and Progress
 Sietsema Farms Feeds owner, Harley Sietsema's goal is to completely remove his operation from the power grid, with a 90 percent reduction in energy costs
 The Sietsema project utilizes about 70,000 pounds (two semi-truckloads) of turkey litter a day as the fuel source. Uniquely, electricity and steam are produced at the Sietsema plant, but none of the steam is used to generate electricity-instead, 100 percent is used to soften grain that is used in the feed mill to make turkey and hog feed. 
 
 HTI also has a partnership with Morbark Inc., a manufacturer of size-reduction equipment for organic materials, to provide chipper/grinder/shredder equipment for feedstock material preparation and handling, a logistic which Prouty describes as the "Achilles' heel" of gasification. "Feedstocks like industrial sludges, sewer sludges and municipal solid waste are complex because there is a wide variety of chemicals in them, typically a high ash content, and they are often not uniform in size, so you need to have a way to deal with those issues," he says. 
 
 For further testing, HTI is constructing a $3.5 million biomass development center, which Prouty says will house four different styles of gasifiers and different forms of power generation. The machines will be larger than pilot scale-big enough to prove formulas for a smooth transition to full-sized machines. "What we want to be able to do is, when a customer brings in a material, we can prove out exactly what the right recipe of waste should be, and determine which full-scale gasifier will work best with it," Prouty says. "We'll prove the process and the air emissions, so that as they move into their permitting and design phases they know exactly how the material will perform in the gasifier."
 
 HTI has offered the center to Michigan State University, which will provide researchers to work on new gasification concepts and prove out any operational characteristics HTI may encounter. While the center is being built, Prouty says, interest in gasification projects continues to mount. 
 
 Feedstock Flexibility 
 Gasification may not be the right solution for every operation and several questions need to be addressed before making a decision, the first being whether an interested party has control over its waste stream. "You need to know if you'll have control over it for the next 10 to 20 years," Prouty says. "Do you have a need for power that you can use on the farm or at a nearby facility? If you don't, does your state have renewable portfolio laws that will allow you to distribute that power to the grid? Do you have or can you get financing? There are a lot of people who want to do things, who don't have access to capital."
 
 The amount of waste is a factor too. SALT systems are designed for medium-sized operations. "At some point, if you're on the smaller side, you have to determine if it's economical," Prouty says. "If it's smaller, it's tougher to make the economics-and as you get larger it also gets tougher. We operate right in the middle from a half of a megawatt (MW) of power up to about 20 MW. If someone wanted to produce 300 MW, that wouldn't be for us. If someone said they wanted to build a gasifier for their shed in the back of their house, that wouldn't be us either." 
 Feedstock flexibility can't be overlooked when planning a project, Prouty says. "Guys who have built 40, 50, or 100 MW wood incinerator power plants, in watching and dealing with them over the past five years, all of them have told us that when they built those plants in the 1980s and '90s, they quickly discovered that the biomass they started out with initially always changed. As we work with customers, we also ask if they are certain they have a long-term feedstock, and what could happen if it goes away." 
 
 A gasifier must be robust enough to be able to handle different feedstocks. "History says it's probably going to change-and you should be capable of adapting to that new fuel because it's a very significant financial investment," Prouty says. "It wouldn't be good if five years down the road the only thing your gasifier can handle is woody biomass and your wood source goes away. That's incredibly important for the end customer to understand." The feedstock issue is especially important as competition from new wood-fired power plants and cellulosic ethanol producers heats up, he adds. "As those guys get things rolling ... we need to understand that there's going to be competition and we'll need fuel sources with low costs. If you're using kiln-dried wood chips costing $80 per ton, you're plant isn't economically viable." 
 
 Global Interest
 The breadth of the types of projects HTI is receiving inquires about is vast, according to Goutam Shahani, HTI chief revenue officer. "Different industrial segments have different needs and priorities for gasification utilization," he points out. "Some people want to destroy undesirable materials, some want to create energy, others want to become self-sufficient. Certainly, the driving force is different in Europe or Asia than it is in America, just because the economics are very different," Shahani says. 
 
 Though HTI is primarily focused on projects within the U.S., Shahani says the company has entertained enquiries from many different countries including Peru, China and India, and will soon engage in its first overseas project in Italy. He points out that there are strong environmental forces at play, not just energy needs or economics. "Right now, there is a very strong push to remove nutrients from waterways," he says. "There's extensive damage being caused in the Chesapeake Bay. Nitrogen and phosphorous are prevalent in manure and turkey litter that gets into waterways, and water contamination is a concern." 
 
 "This year is going to be a wonderful year as the economy rebounds and capital becomes a little more available," Shahani says. "Projects in gestation will be able to come to the forefront-many of which have been stalled because of the economic crisis. We're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and quite frankly, the biggest challenge for us as a smaller company is managing growth."
 
 "I think we're going to have to say no to a lot of people because there's more opportunity and people who want to do things than we'll be able to handle," Prouty says. This interest isn't just beneficial to HTI, but also to the biomass gasification industry in general. "We'll find some projects that suit HTI well, and there'll be other gasification systems that fit better with other projects. We don't typically see all these other folks as competitors because we think, as we go forward over the next 15 to 20 years, there will be so much more than we or any one company could even begin to handle. We just all need to find our niches." BIO
 
 Anna Austin is a Biomass Magazine associate editor. Reach her at aaustin@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4968.

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HTI commissioned a project at Sietsema Farms Feeds in Howard City, Mich., which is the state?s first gasification plant. PHOTO: HTI 

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Touting feedstock flexibility as the key to a lucrative biomass gasification operation, Heat Transfer International predicts 2010 will be an extraordinary year for business and the industry in general.

Gasification Guru

Researchers around the world are on a quest to develop optimal and economic processes for syngas cleansing, many leaning away from traditional scrubbing and more toward filters, sorbents and reforming catalysts. Contaminants in syngas from biomass can harm reforming catalysts and deactivate conversion catalysts, rendering them useless.
 
 Gas-to-liquid conversion catalysts are fussy and the concentration levels of toxins, including hydrogen sulfide, sulfur, trace metals, ammonia and organic molecules such as tars in syngas need to be low. Limitations for Fischer-Tropsch systems can depend on the manufacturer's specifications, but typically sulfur should be at or below 50 parts per billion, and metals and hydrogen cyanide should be at about 10 parts per billion, according to Thomas Gale, manager of Power Systems Research at the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Ala. "But even at 50 parts per billion, you're still going to damage your catalyst," he says. The contaminants react with the catalytic sites on the surface, forming a new product that is no longer a catalyst for the desired process. Different processes and catalysts demand different concentration levels, but all are strict. Any level of contaminants in syngas will damage a catalyst, but lower levels will allow it to function longer without needing a replacement. 
 
 Typical cleansing techniques include sorbents, scrubbers, filters and reforming catalysts that crack tars into smaller molecules, or more syngas, along with guard columns that can be used to scrub syngas prior to reforming. Tars may be the most difficult contaminant to handle, as they will gum up the conversion process.
 
 Sorbents-material substrates that absorb and contain other substances-capture halides, trace metals and sulfur, and also help crack tars. Their application depends on the type of gasifier and the other methods of cleanup being deployed. Gale has conducted a considerable amount of research using sorbents to capture trace metals before they go through syngas filters, which are also studied at Southern Research, specifically candle filters. The filters consist of a solid ceramic or metal material that covers a cage and forms a tube-like structure. The ceramic or metal has small pores that capture the char from the syngas before it continues up the tube, emerging clean on the other side. "Ultimately, we'd like to just have carbon monoxide and hydrogen in our syngas," Gale says. Several stages of syngas cleaning using sorbents and other materials that crack tars before the filter, along with tar-cracking catalysts after the filter, could be the most effective cleaning system, and Gale's team has made progress in developing that process. 
 
 Applying It All
 Southern Research, which operates in Alabama, North Carolina and Maryland, has filed a full submission for a patent on its Multi-Component Syngas Treatment system, Gale says. "The concept is to apply all of the available syngas cleanup techniques that we have into a compact unit that can be used to connect distributed biomass gasification systems with the end component," he says. 
 
 Because Southern Research is a nonprofit organization, development of the system has been slow. The organization is working on a laboratory-scale pressurized gasifier, but has only had the funding thus far to purchase the main reactor, Gale says. It will continue to work on building the structural supports and a thermal oxidizer, along with all the other associated equipment. Once that system is up, the first priority will be to start testing MCST configurations for different potential uses and gasifying systems, he says. "Eventually, we'd like to have a small Fischer-Tropsch system hooked up to it." The type and extent of cleaning depend on the desired end product and type of gasifier the MCST is attached to. Additional catalysts could be incorporated after the filters to shift the syngas composition more toward hydrogen. "If we're good at doing our cracking, we'll have carbon monoxide and hydrogen, but typically many applications wish to have more hydrogen than you might otherwise produce," Gale says. The system will also include catalytic candle filters. "So inside the filter, there will be catalysts," he says. "That's an important component we're implementing."
 
 The MCST will be designed to be cheaper, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than other cleansing processes. Scrubbing, for example is an expensive form of cleanup. "We hope that we'll be able to remove some of the metals upstream of the candle filter, so scrubbing will not be required," Gale says, adding that it's very possible the MCST will include scrubbers for certain applications. 
 Ideally, Southern Research will develop and optimize the MCST for commercial use all over the world. Because of funding hurdles, however, a timeline for that goal has not been established. The catch in the scenario is that sometimes it takes significant investment and development, with the presentation of technical findings, before commercial interest is piqued. Still, the system will address what Gale says is the biggest challenge in syngas cleanup: integrating everything into a compact unit.	
 
 Research Priorities
 Engineering the cost-effective integration of the gasifier, cleansing technologies and FT system is key, according to Stephen Piccot, director of advanced energy and transportation technologies for Southern Research in North Carolina. Piccot's team has developed an integrated 4-ton-per-day pilot-scale biorefinery that cleans syngas using a "biosolvent" and scrubber system, he says. The system is attached to an FT system, converting the syngas to diesel fuel and FT wax. "It has a conventional syngas cleaning system that we're commissioning and trying to optimize at the moment," Piccot says. "It's gotten to the point where it looks pretty clean and it's working well." Piccot and his team haven't analyzed the wax yet, but it looks "stark white," he says, and any impurities would probably show. "We'll integrate a more advanced system this year," he says. 
 
 Also in North Carolina, Southern Research and its partners are using U.S. DOE funding to develop another system quite similar to the MCST that would bypass scrubbers, instead using injection of advanced sorbents, a candle filter for solids removal and a tar cracking catalyst to finish the job, according to Piccot. "Dealing with tars is tough to do and the only way to do it now is with these scrubbing approaches, but everyone is trying to move away from them," he says. The process will keep the syngas hot and avoid using liquids, thereby avoiding liquid waste. As in Alabama, the project's progress has been slow, but Piccot expects to have the system built and ready for experimenting this year. The North Carolina location has a bit more funding than Alabama, Piccot says, so the system might be up and running there first. 
 
 Along with syngas cleansing, several projects are underway to optimize the biomass feeder system. According to Piccot, feeders and syngas cleanup are the two biggest issues facing the industry. "And we're wrestling with both of them here," he says, adding that the organization is looking to create a win-win situation in syngas cleanup: avoiding the generation of liquids, and turning the tar into something useful. "If we can crack these long-chain tars down to syngas, we just made our system more efficient," he says. "We can produce more fuel now." 
 
 Bob Dahlin of Southern Research has studied rare earth metals and found that they function well as low-temperature catalysts for cracking tars, Gale says. That process needs further research, however, to determine the best composition of the metals, how much is needed, optimal temperature range, the lowest level of toxin concentration they can achieve, and what will deactivate them, among other questions, Gale adds. "There are a lot of details on the development of those low-temperature catalysts that still need to be addressed," he says. Other cleaning processes are in the works, too, such as passing the syngas through plasma, effectively killing everything but the gas.
 
 A lot of work has already been done on high-temperature catalysts and it's been determined that a nickel-based dolomite substrate might be the best because it is resistant to sulfur deactivation. Its nickel composition, however, makes it costly. "You definitely need to protect it if you're going to use that type of catalyst because it is very expensive," Gale says. 
 In addition, Emery Energy Co. is working with partners to develop a proprietary means to mitigate tars and oils in biomass syngas, joining several other companies conducting research projects in the field. Numerous projects in the U.S. dealing with catalyst research have received federal funding. U.S. DOE Secretary Steven Chu appropriated a portion of the $1.2 billion for science from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to catalysis for energy research at Energy Frontier Research Centers, according to the DOE. 
 
 An Uncommon Practice
 While gasification with subsequent cleansing and conversion to liquid is the subject of plenty of research, the practice is not all that common on a commercial scale, Gale says. A South African plant that gasifies coal, cleans the syngas and uses it for fuels is the only current commercial project both Piccot and Gale can identify. But even that system does not clean the syngas to levels ideal for Southern Research's processes. While several companies are poised to develop commercial tar-cracking catalysts the market does not yet exist, Gale says. "There's not too much in the way of commercial catalysts at this time," he adds. But research into tar-cracking catalysts is common among those developing syngas cleanup systems.
 
 Peter Flynn, a University of Alberta professor and biomass expert, agrees that gasification and post-processing are rare and says oxygen gasification has been used only a few times in history-including at the South African plant-to produce syngas. "I don't think it makes sense, personally," he says of gasification. Flynn was a corresponding author on a study conducted in 2006-'07 by Erin Searcy, who was then a student of his, on the end uses for corn stover and straw, finding that gasification and FT processes were significantly less economical than other processes. "If you want electricity, burn [biomass], if you want biofuel, do lignocellulosic fermentation," he says, adding that air gasification is much less economical for electricity production than simply burning the biomass. Flynn says he and Searcy expect the results would be similar using woody biomass. The study has not yet been published. 
 
 The problem with FT conversion is that it's expensive, Flynn says. "The catalyst works; you can make this work," he says. "It's just much more expensive than other things you can do with biomass." 
 
 Even so, Flynn and Piccot agree that FT conversion catalysts are well-developed and established. "I wouldn't list that as a big area of uncertainty and research need," Piccot says, adding that there is much to do in the area of cleaning and reforming. "The general trend is to ditch the scrubbers," he says. "They're just a big and inefficient mess."
 
 Lisa Gibson is a Biomass Magazine associate editor. Reach her at lgibson@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4952.

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Sufficiently cleansing and efficiently reforming syngas are complicated elements of gasification for biofuels production and continued research seeks to optimize both.

Syngas Tasks

Plenty of work is being done to further the progress in capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide, along with avoiding its production altogether. But what about using CO2 to maximize the efficiency of existing renewable energy processes? This is a question Marco Castaldi, assistant professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University, posed several years ago when contemplating innovative uses for waste streams in conversion processes, particularly in gasification. 
 
 Conventional gasification uses steam, but this creates two issues: it uses water, and the entire reaction is endothermic, meaning it absorbs heat and requires energy input, Castaldi says. Using carbon dioxide in the process is less energy intensive, as it is already a gas and does not require the heating of water to produce steam. "The big energy savings come because I'm not using water," he says. "Any process that uses less water is better." The concept became the focus of a study by Castaldi and post-doctoral researcher Heidi Butterman called "CO2 as a Carbon-Neutral Source via Enhanced Biomass Gasification," featured on the Web site of the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. 
 
 Energy efficiency is not the only benefit of using the common greenhouse gas during biomass gasification. "To my surprise, when I did the experiments, not only did it need less energy, but it also more efficiently converts the solid fuel," he says, adding that using steam leaves behind residual that has some carbon left. "With carbon dioxide, the only thing left is the nongasifiable minerals that are in that biomass," he explains. The use of oxygen instead of water/steam is an option, but it is highly reactive and can combust the biomass instead of gasifying it, he explains. "[Carbon dioxide] is more reactive than steam, but not as reactive as oxygen, and that's important," he says.
 
 The How and Why
 Castaldi and Butterman used a range of carbon dioxide (0 percent to 100 percent) and steam mixtures on about 50 different kinds of biomass, finding that between 25 percent and 40 percent carbon dioxide seemed optimal, depending on the process and desired end product. "Adding much more than 40 percent carbon dioxide in that process is only adding a diluent," he says. Feedstocks such as beach grass, pine needles, poplar wood and municipal solid waste, along with coal, were gasified at temperatures of 25 to 1,000 degrees Celsius (77 to 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) at rates of 1 to 100 degrees Celsius per minute in the range of carbon dioxide/steam mixtures, according to the study. 
 
 The increased efficiency occurs for two reasons. The first is because of carbon dioxide's reactivity. "If it's not reactive enough, like the steam, you form a residual that is very, very low in surface area, that's nonporous," Castaldi says. "And what happens is, as it reacts, it becomes more and more difficult to react." He compares the reaction to a sponge, saying it's crucial to absorb the reactive medium all the way through, not just on the surface. Steam reacts mostly on the surface, densifying the biomass and preventing it from absorbing more steam. But the carbon dioxide reacts at the right amount to not only continuously react with the biomass, but to keep pores open or even open them further, he says. The carbon dioxide enables the biomass to keep its sponge-like quality, or porosity, while steam collapses those pores, he says. 
 
 Another reason that carbon dioxide increases biomass gasification efficiency is the increased occurrence of the water-gas shift reaction: water and carbon monoxide reacting to form hydrogen and carbon dioxide. It works like this: as the mixture of steam and carbon dioxide goes over the biomass and gasifies it, the carbon dioxide reacts more than the steam, which means there is steam present that is not reacting with solid biomass, Castaldi explains. It's left in the gas phase and as the carbon dioxide gasifies the biomass and makes carbon monoxide, that carbon monoxide goes into the gas phase and reacts with water via the water-gas shift reaction. The reaction is exothermic, meaning it releases heat, and the steam the carbon dioxide leaves behind increases that heat release, thereby increasing occurrence of the entire reaction, he says. "A system using carbon dioxide needs less energy because there's an exothermic reaction that's a little more engaged," he says. The process does not use all carbon dioxide, Castaldi says, but about 30 percent. "It turns out that the energy needed to create syngas from steam and biomass is nearly equal to making syngas using all carbon dioxide and biomass," he says of the reaction. But the difference is in the heat release.
 
 In addition, some of the carbon dioxide input-between 20 percent and 50 percent of that 30 percent-is actually converted into carbon monoxide, Castaldi says. "So now I'm introducing a sufficient quantity of carbon dioxide that causes the process to actually utilize a good portion of it," he says. 
 
 In this process, the input of carbon dioxide determines the ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide in the syngas. With more carbon dioxide, the ratio goes down, increasing carbon monoxide and decreasing hydrogen. Tweaking input can make desirable syngas compositions for different processes, such as turbine combustion, special chemicals production, Fischer-Tropsch for diesel fuels, and others, Castaldi says. 
 
 Applications and Implications
 Applied globally, this process could recycle tens of hundreds of megatons of carbon dioxide per year, Castaldi and Butterman say. The use of the greenhouse gas in the low-temperature gasification of beach grass on a global scale could create a beneficial use for 437 million metric tons (482 million tons) of carbon dioxide, based on estimated transportation needs in 2008, according to the study. That's the equivalent of taking about 308 million typical vehicles, producing 6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, off the road. 
 
 Using carbon dioxide for gasification in large power plants can increase efficiency by 3 percent to 4 percent, Castaldi says. He recognizes that it may seem small, but when hundreds of megawatts are being produced, that percentage adds up. "That's huge," he emphasizes. "That's a lot of power." Companies want greater efficiency to boost economic benefits. They also want to be environmentally conscious, but efficiency will increase profit and all businesses strive for that, he says.
 
 Castaldi and Butterman studied bench-scale applications, but Castaldi has set up a larger process at Columbia and says the data and information match and still look promising. Even so, more work remains to be done. "I still need to understand the reactions that are going on and need to find if there's a better biomass to use or if there's a better coal to use," he says. "How does this work in terms of municipal solid waste?" More research in the optimal percentage of carbon dioxide in the mixture is warranted, also, he adds, as the bench-scale study was not exhaustive in that regard.
 
 "Do I think this could be deployed on a wide scale?" he asks. "Absolutely. You could employ this technology today in existing coal-fired power plants. It really depends on how serious people are in terms of using waste streams." Streams with a wide range of carbon dioxide percentages can be used, the study showed, but the big question is where to get it. "There's definitely potential," he says. "The data is there. It's just an engineering solution."
 
 That solution may come from the New York division of ATK, a Minnesota-based aerospace and defense company. ATK's Center for Energy and Aerospace Innovation and Columbia University have been working together on various alternative energy processes for years. "This was an idea that professor Castaldi had approached our organization with and we've been working with him and his group on developing a subscale prototype," says Dean Modroukas, ATK director for advanced programs. ATK has a small 2.5-kilowatt operational system using torrefied waste biomass and coal, and now is working on the funding for scale-up. The emphasis thus far has been on the gasification process and preprocessing upstream. "Right now, the focus of the activity has been on the heart of the system," Modroukas says. The next step will be using a solid oxide fuel cell to convert the syngas to electricity. 
 
 "Our goal is to work with professor Castaldi and his team to take it to the next level and bring it to light from the product perspective," he says. "We're hopeful that as the process goes on and as we continue to make the successes we've been making, that with all the partners involved, we'll be able to make this a product offering." Target markets would be military depots where equipment is located and hardware is built, Modroukas says. "Those types of facilities generate a lot of waste," he says, including wood, cardboard, crates and paper products. "All of that just normally gets shipped away." The system also could be used for distributed power generation for the commercial space. Modroukas declined to delve into details about the ongoing project, as more research and work is being done and no timeline has been established.
 
 While ATK is accustomed to defense and aerospace projects, the company has found a new interest in renewable and clean energy solutions, Modroukas says. "When you look at us, you may see all the bullets and all the rockets, but a lot of the technology that goes into developing a gasifier and putting together systems that can actually work in long term and have the reliability that's necessary is perfectly suited for a defense company," he says. "It's an exciting time and we're very excited about the process. It's going quite well and it's been quite successful."
 
 The process illuminates the capabilities and opportunities of using the gas for something, and on a broader scale, of using waste for something and gaining value. "It's not just about sequestering the carbon dioxide," Castaldi says. "It's not just about capturing it and burying it." Any good engineer would look at a system and question how the waste can be used for another process, he adds.
 
 Lisa Gibson is a Biomass Magazine associate editor. Reach her at lgibson@bbiinernational.com or (701) 738-4952.

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A New York company is building on the results of a study by Columbia University researchers to optimize solid fuel-to-energy conversions, with a new and surprising reactive medium in biomass gasification: carbon dioxide.

Carbon Capacity

The key ingredients of success for Colmac Energy Inc., operator of a 47 megawatt (MW) net biomass-fueled facility in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, Calif., are the constant supply of quality landfill-diverted wood waste and the highest quality processing equipment. 
 
 The plant, which has been in continuous operation since 1992, consumes approximately 325,000 tons per year of wood waste, landscape and right-of-way tree trimmings, broken pallets and used boxes. The company will accept construction waste, but no treated wood or painted materials. About 12 percent of the plant's fuel (40,000 tons per year) consists of locally collected agricultural residues that would otherwise have been disposed of by burning in open fields. And because of Colmac's plant, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are able to meet their state mandated recycling standard (AB939).
 
 Unlike companies that convert trash into power, Colmac processes only biomass material. Sixty to 80 trucks arrive at the facility each day coming in from a 200- to 250-mile radius, from east of Phoenix to south of Los Angeles. The trucks discharge up to 25 tons of biomass every five minutes. Upon arrival, the biomass material passes through separators that take out any ferrous materials, after which it is deposited into the first holding cell of a two-cell system. From that holding cell, it is transferred to an operating cell, from which it is broken down by grinding equipment prior to being fed into the boilers. No biomass fuel stays on site for more that 30 days at a time.
 
 Though Colmac takes care to make sure that the biomass provided by its suppliers is of high quality and is cut into small pieces so as to limit stress on the material handling machinery, the internal biomass feed system still sees considerable wear. "Biomass is among the hardest fuel sources on equipment," says Graeme Donaldson, Colmac's vice president and plant operations manager. Critical path transfer components must be selected and maintained with care to avoid failures that can shut down the whole line. In this area, maintaining close working relationships with equipment suppliers pays off.
 
 The Colmac site has been using screws and valves supplied by Precision Machine and Manufacturing Inc. of Eugene, Ore., since the current generating plant came on line in 1992. The plant now employs two sets of 12 metering bin screws (that feed the boilers), two sets of transfer screws, and two rotary valves per boiler, all provided by Precision Machine. Donaldson regularly consults with the company on things that Precision Machine can do to improve the reliability of the plant. "Precision Machine's valves last longer because they are built to tighter tolerances and the metallurgy has been designed to match the chemistry of our fuel," says Donaldson, who is an ex-marine materials engineer.
 
 Avoiding Downtime
 This attention to detail is critical because if a boiler were to go down for any reason, including the interruption of the biomass transport line, the cost to Colmac in terms of lost productivity would be substantial. Donaldson estimates it at $5,000 per hour per boiler. 
 
 When a plant is shut down, the adverse impact goes beyond lost power output. "You can't shut down the fuel flow when a plant goes down," Donaldson says. "If you send the fuel away, it gets used someplace else and it's hard to acquire again."
 
 "We continue to push the envelope on the reliability of our system," he says. "We used to change our rotary valves every three months. Now, because of Precision Machine's experience with advanced metallurgy and quality control, we do so only once per year, and we're looking at ways to improve the reliability beyond that. The payoff is in lower costs and increased efficiency." The Colmac plant runs an efficiency of 92 percent to 95 percent whereas other plants run between 82 percent and 85 percent. Using equipment with longer operating lifetimes also helps Donaldson keep the cost of maintaining spare parts inventories under control.
 
 "We can't increase our plant's output," Donaldson adds. "We're limited by the original boiler design to 47 MW. The only way that we can improve the financial returns from our process is to increase the system's reliability, which translates to more continuous uptime. And when it comes to maximizing, Precision Machine engineers it into every one of their products."
 
 Tony McNeil is the sales manager for Precision Machine and Manufacturing Inc. Reach him at tonym@premach.com or (541) 484-9841.

The Colmac Energy plant in California uses wood waste and agricultural residues to produce power. PHOTO: COLMAC ENERGY INC. 

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The Colmac plant contains two boiler systems manufactured by ABB-CE. This diagram shows the equipment involved in transporting combustible biomass materials into one of the boilers. Precision Machine supplies the screws and rotary valves used in the 

1351-1286340833.jpg

Maximizing uptime and throughput are key factors enabling the country's largest biomass power plant to consistently turn a profit.

Colmac Energy's Secret to Success: Reliability and Maximum Uptime

Posted January 26, 2010, at 12:54 p.m. CST
 MHG provides ERP system for Poland 
 
 MHG Systems Ltd. and Polish Research Innovation Group Ltd. (RIG) intend to build up an enterprise resource management system for pellet production and short rotation forestry (SRF) in Poland. In the first phase, the delivery consists of management systems for RIG´s pellet production based on agricultural wastes, wood wastes and SRF. MHG Pellet enterprise resource planning (ERP) and MHG SRF ERP enable tracing of origin of feedstock, management and monitoring of feedstock quality and quantity, logistics, and development of carbon footprint of the pellet supply chain. 
 
 The agreed management modules are tailor-made from the bioenergy ERP, management and map service entity provided by MHG Systems. The delivery will start in the beginning of March. 
 
 For MHG Systems the order from RIG represents the opening of markets in Poland because it includes besides management system of SRF, in particular, willow and poplar species also recycling management of ash and sludge coming from co-firing and biogas production, said MHG General Manager Seppo Huurinainen. 
 
 Jan Bocian, president of RIG, said that the co-operation with MHG Systems brings a remarkable competitive edge for their businesses. Now we can prove to our customers top quality and transparency of our pellet production, he said. With expertise and novel technology of MHG linked with our novel pellet production and SRF concepts we are able to launch to the Polish and global market a totally new business model. It is not only the system for solid biomass but it has a big market advantage for liquid biofuel certification applied to Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (<a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:140:0016:0062:EN:PDF">http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:140:0016:0062:EN:PDF</a>). The MGH Service can in transparent and effective ways help bioliquids producers decrease their carbon footprint according to the life assessment required by the new directive too, Bocian said. 
 
 The co-operation agreement between MHG and RIG was published recently in Warsaw, at the first bioenergy conference organized in Poland.
 
 SOURCE: MHG SYSTEMS LTD.

MHG provides ERP system for Poland

Posted January 27, 2010, at 3:56 p.m. CST
 
 A study recently published by Michigan State University has found that diverse biomass crop plantings such as switchgrass and native prairie grasses attract a higher number of beneficial insects than nondiverse crops such as corn. 
 
 The purpose of the study was to assess the implications of different biofuel crops for beneficial insects -pollinators and pest controllers such as bees-that provide valuable ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. MSU entomology professor and study co-author Doug Landis said existing plantings throughout southern Michigan that were not actively being managed as biofuel crops were sampled, and it was found that the crops contained a diverse bee community comprised of 75 species. Overall, bees were three to four times more abundant in switchgrass and prairie grass than in corn.
 
 The study suggests that there are important consequences for the insects in the type of biofuel crop that is grown. Results indicated that as an annual crop with low plant diversity and high levels of soil disturbance, corn tends to have low abundance and diversity of these beneficial insects. Contrastingly, both perennial grassland-based biofuel crops harbored a higher abundance, species richness, and diversity of beneficial arthropods compared with corn monocultures, according to the study. 
 
 The researchers believe their findings suggest important policy implications. Particularly, on U.S. government policies toward cellulosic biofuels being driven by ethanol production targets that influence research focused on attaining high biomass productivity and corresponding efficiency in processing, without explicit consideration of the landscape-level environmental impacts such systems may induce. 
 
 Landis told Biomass Magazine that a caveat he and his team has is that as these crops are "pushed" for higher yield that diversity will likely decline. Future bioenergy policy should be developed to explicitly enhance biodiversity as a means of improving the delivery of ecosystem services by agricultural landscapes, they contend, while also meeting biofuel production targets.
 
 Funding for the study, published in January in the BioEnergy Research Journal, was provided by the U.S. DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, the Michigan Agricultural Extension Station and the USDA National Research Initiative program.

Study: Biomass crops attract beneficial insects

Posted January 28, 2010, at 10:01 a.m. CST
 
 Fertilizers made mostly from pine tree biomass and produced by Washington-based EcoTrac Organics have been shown to enhance growth in conifers and pine trees, and can reduce water requirements of treated lawns and plants, according to the company.
 
 Since its establishment in 2007, the company has sought to manufacture and market environmentally-friendly products and has come up with three so far, with some patents pending. The first, HyperGrow, is a pine tree-derived biomass fertilizer. It is composed of pine tree sawdust and wood ash from biomass cogeneration processes, according to Jim Lodwig, EcoTrac president. It enhances growth rate, specifically in conifers. HyperGrow is primarily used in applications where the plants require lower levels of nitrogen.
 
 The second product is HyperGrow Plus, which is manufactured using various timber and agricultural waste residues, without adding any synthetic components, Lodwig said. The product is made from 100 percent natural, organic plant and crop waste and replaces some components used in HyperGrow with others that enhance nitrogen content in the fertilizer. HyperGrow Plus is low in phosphate so it's ideal for municipal use, as many municipalities have created ordinances requiring fertilizers used in golf courses and public parks to be low in phosphorous to reduce the possibility of contaminating the groundwater, according to Lodwig. The product also contains wood ash and sawdust, but does not exclusively contain pine tree or softwood sawdust, according to EcoTrac. Sawdust gives the fertilizer fiber to keep it from leeching through the soil post-application and bypassing the roots of crops and grasses before they can absorb the nutrients. The company obtains sawdust and lumber yard waste for its products from various local lumber mills.
 	
 HyperGrow and HyperGrow Plus share beneficial traits for trees, crops, gardens and lawns, such as enhanced growth, replenished fiber in the soil profile, and the increased benefits of that fiber, according to the company. HyperGrow Plus can be applied during the seeding process and is currently being tested by a number of farmers in Washington and Idaho.
 	
 EcoTrac's third product, Traction Plus, is a traction aid additive for winter highway maintenance sand and is also made from pine tree biomass. It blends with sand and immediately adheres to compact snow and ice, minimizing the scatter upon application and keeping sand in place longer under traffic conditions, according to Lodwig. Traction Plus also minimizes dust pollution from excessive sand use and fertilizes the areas surrounding the highways. 
 	
 EcoTrac is working with Stimson Lumber, the Idaho Forest Group and the Colville Indian Precision Pine, among others in the Northwest Region of the U.S., to secure lumber processing waste for its products. Raw byproducts are blended and pelletized at West Oregon Wood Products, according to EcoTrac. 
 	
 The market potential for EcoTrac's products seems to be substantial, including timber companies, landowners, homeowners, park managers or any entity that plants trees for consumption or beautification, according to the company. EcoTrac expects future markets will include retail consumer applications of its formulas.
 	
 The company will continue to research new formulas and different additives for various applications and will investigate new compatible resources for its current products, such as forest slash, according to Lodwig. EcoTrac is also conducting trials using HyperGrow Plus in conjunction with a seed starter called HyperPlantStart, which give seeds a healthier, stronger start to increase yield potential and reduce the need for chemical applications. The combination gives plants both a pre-emergence boost and a post-emergence growth advantage, according to the company.

Biomass-based fertilizers enhance growth

Posted January 28, 2010, at 12:15 p.m. CST
 
 Wisconsin biomass advocates are requesting active support from the public to secure the passage of Gov. Jim Doyle's Clean Energy Jobs Act (SB450 and AB649), which was introduced in early January. 
 
 The bill, which largely endorses biomass energy, will increase the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and cleaner fuels in Wisconsin. "The legislation provides multiple benefits for biomass energy systems and for the first time, introduces measures to encourage the most efficient use of biomass in heating and cogeneration," said Peter Taglia, staff scientist for the environmental advocacy organization Clean Wisconsin. The provision is part of an enhanced renewable portfolio standard (RPS), he added, which would credit biomass thermal applications from cogeneration and biogas injected into the natural gas pipeline, providing additional opportunities to farms to install anaerobic digesters at locations where the cost to install electric generators or transmission isn't feasible. The section also proposes allowing utilities to count the heat produced from biomass cogeneration toward the RPS, and improves the calculations used to determine the energy produced from biomass cofiring and biomass cogeneration facilities, according to Taglia. 
 
 Wisconsin's current RPS targets the increase of renewable energy in the state to 10 percent by 2010 and the proposed bill would expand the RPS to 25 percent by 2020. In addition, all state agencies would use biomass to provide 25 percent of their energy use by 2025.
 
 Among provisions that would benefit the production of local biomass resources is a Biomass Crop Reserve Program, which would award contracts to farmers to plant native perennial plants to sell for bioenergy production. Taglia said this program would help solve the "chicken-and-egg problem" of jumpstarting the homegrown fuels market, and make Wisconsin more competitive to receive funding through the USDA's Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
 
 Taglia said proponents of the bill hope to get it passed and signed into law before this legislative session ends in mid-May. Clean Wisconsin is requesting letters of support for the bills from the public, which may be submitted at <a href="http://cleanwisconsin.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=297">http://cleanwisconsin.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=297</a>. 
 
 A public hearing to discuss details of the bill will be held at the State Capitol building on Feb. 10. For an overview of SB 450 and AB 649, visit <a href="http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/publications/climate/index.htm">http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/publications/climate/index.htm</a>.

Bill will boost biomass in Wisconsin

Posted February 3, 2010, at 5:04 p.m. CST
 
 As President Obama announced Feb. 3, the USDA issued a proposed rule for the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program that intends to spur the expansion of dedicated nonfood crops for renewable energy and biofuel production. A public comment period will continue for 60 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register. 
 
 "Advancing biomass and biofuel production holds the potential to create green jobs, which is one of the many ways the Obama Administration is working to rebuild and revitalize rural America," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Facilities that produce renewable fuel from biomass have to be designed, built and operated. Additionally, BCAP will stimulate biomass production and that will benefit producers and provide the materials necessary to generate clean energy and reduce carbon pollution." 
 
 Authorized in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, BCAP is designed to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new, nonfood, nonfeed biomass crops is established in anticipation of future demand for renewable energy consumption. BCAP is intended to reduce the financial risk for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners by providing incentive payments to those who invest in the production, harvest, storage and transportation of new first-generation energy crops that displace hydrocarbon-based materials now used for heat, power and vehicle fuel. 
 
 On May 5, President Obama issued a Presidential Directive to accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels. On June 11, a notice of funds availability (NOFA) was published for certain portions of BCAP, and the USDA Farm Service Agency issued the first payment in August. Early program beneficiaries to date include a Vermont school that will replace 100 percent of its fossil fuel consumption with biomass, a start-up pellet company that uses locally grown agriculture residues from Iowa farms and a rural electric cooperative that displaces fossil fuels with woodchips to generate low-cost electricity in northeastern Georgia. 
 
 BCAP is authorized to fund two main types of activities. First, it provides funding for agriculture and forest landowners and operators to receive matching payments for eligible biomass materials sold to qualified biomass conversion facilities for the production of heat, power, biobased products or advanced biofuels. The payment rate is intended to assist producers with the cost of collection, harvest, storage and transportation of the biomass to the facility, for up to two years. This is the part of the program covered by President Obama's Presidential Directive. 
 
 Additionally, BCAP will provide funding for producers of eligible renewable crops within a select geographical area to receive payments up to 75 percent of the cost of establishing the crop and annual payments for up to 15 years for crop production. 
 
 Other proposed notable goals of BCAP include improvements in forest health by removing uneconomical forest thinning, reducing the risk of disease, invasive species and forest fires and providing new options for improving air quality by avoiding open-air burning of scrap biomass. 
 
 A copy of the proposed rule is available online at <a href="http://www.fsa.usda.gov/bcap">www.fsa.usda.gov/bcap</a>. Comments on the proposed rule are invited and may be submitted to: 
 
 Email: cepdmail@wdc.usda.gov 
 
 Fax: 202-720-4619 
 
 Mail: Director, CEPD 
 
 USDA/FSA/CEPD/Stop 0513 
 
 1400 Independence Ave., SW 
 
 Washington, D.C. 20250-0513 
 
 Comments are also accepted through the Federal e-rulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comments. 
 
 To learn more about the BCAP program, please contact your local county Farm Service Agency office or <a href="http://www.fsa.usda.gov">www.fsa.usda.gov</a>. To read more about the President's announcement go to: <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-and-vice-president-meeting-with-governors-energy-policy">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-and-vice-president-meeting-with-governors-energy-policy</a> . 
 
 SOURCE: USDA

USDA seeks comments on BCAP proposed rule

Posted January 29, 2010, at 10:05 a.m. CST
 
 A job fair in Nacogdoches, Texas, in search of construction workers for a biomass power plant resulted in about 330 completed job applications and almost as many job interviews, according to Bill King, president and CEO of the Nacogdoches Economic Development Corp.
 	
 NEDC held the fair in conjunction with Fagen Inc., which is managing construction of the 100-megawatt Nacogdoches Power LLC plant near Sacul, Texas. About half of the job fair attendees came from Nacogdoches County, King said, the rest traveling from elsewhere. "Job opportunities like this attract people from a pretty good distance," he said. The county has been fortunate in experiencing a fairly lower unemployment rate-about 6.2 percent-than surrounding areas, he added. "Housing and construction have been hit pretty hard by this recession."
 	
 During the 2 1/2-year construction period, about 200 to 300 workers will be needed at all times, King said, adding he expected the job fair to attract about 200 people. Many prospective workers have also filled out online applications on Fagen's Web site (www.fageninc.com), he added. Since the fair was announced, King has seen substantial interest in it and the available positions. "Were getting calls from all over the place," he said.
 	
 The plant will occupy 165 acres and will run on about 1 million tons annually of biomass such as forest residue, wood processing residue and clean municipal solid waste from a 75-mile radius, according to Fagen. A 20-year power purchase agreement has been reached with utility Austin Energy, which serves Austin, Texas. The $400 million facility is slated for operation in the summer of 2012.

Construction job fair attracts hundreds

Posted February 18, 2010, at 10:05 a.m. CST
 
 Republicans may feel like they fell for the classic "bait and switch"-a political maneuver where one party agrees to a deal simply to ascertain the wishes or motivations of an opponent, then once obtaining this information, backs out-regarding the recent actions of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., while negotiating a job creation bill that no longer includes an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive. 
 
 On February 11, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, unveiled the Hiring Employees to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, legislation that provided for the extension of expired tax provisions, including the biodiesel tax credit among other things. 
 
 This was a "jobs" bill worth $85 billion that had bipartisan support and approval of the White House. It didn't even take a day, however, once Grassley and Baucus' work was circulated, for Reid to announce his decision to move forward with a scaled-down jobs package that did not include an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive, "indicating that this issue and other expiring provisions would be addressed at some undetermined point in the future," the National Biodiesel Board said. 
 
 While some of the circumstances surrounding last week's jobs bill debacle remain mysterious, speculation indicates the Democrats have become sensitive to deficit critiques. "The Republicans are screaming that Obama is building the deficit more than any other president," said David Swenson, biofuels analyst and professor of economics at Iowa State University. "The Obama Administration has gotten halfway into the disbursement of the stimulus package and has become timid. Now there's going to be an emphasis on deficit reduction and a spending freeze-I think this is behind some of what we're seeing from Reid." 
 
 Actually, The White House announced last week that it had supported the Baucus-Grassley draft, saying that the President looked forward to working with members from both parties on this bill and on the additional job creation measures he identified, including incentives for energy efficiency investments and increased access to credit for small businesses. 
 
 Since Reid's announcement that the deal was off, however, the President signed into law H.J. Res. 45, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, which increases the public debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion, and establishes a statutory Pay-As-You-Go procedure, requiring that new non-emergency legislation affecting tax revenue or mandatory spending not increase the federal deficit. 
 
 Reid's editing of the jobs bill cut approximately $70 billion from the Baucus-Grassley draft. 
 
 "We're very disappointed that Sen. Reid stripped the biodiesel tax credit out of the jobs bill, but we're still hopeful that the issue is going to be addressed quickly," said Randy Olson, director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board. "We hope that Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, emphasizes the importance of biodiesel-with the reenactment of the tax credit we can put people back to work the day after it's passed." 
 
 Backing a strategy to employ energy tax credits as a means to create jobs might be a hard position to defend, Swenson said. "A biodiesel plant that produces 30 MMgy would be subsidized at $30 million and only support 30 jobs-that's $1 million per job," he said. "If $100 million is spent constructing roads and bridges or doing building retrofits, it could support between 1,750 and 2,000 jobs. So I'm not sure the biofuels industry wants to make the argument that energy subsidies create jobs, because those jobs are extremely expensive." 
 
 The biodiesel tax incentive has been written into at least three bills since November that have never gotten to a Senate vote. Controversy aside, the current episode is a real setback for the biodiesel industry, which must now find a new legislative vehicle to move its excise tax incentive through the voting channels as soon as possible. "Grassley and Baucus worked hard to craft this legislation, and the fact that Reid changed it is terribly disappointing," Olson said. 
 
 Reid's announcement sends a message that "he wants to go partisan and blame Republicans when Sen. Grassley and others were trying to find common ground on solutions to help get the economy back on track and people back to work," Grassley's office stated last week. "The majority leader pulled the rug out from work to build broad-based support for tax relief and other efforts to help the private sector recover from the economic crisis."
 
 SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINE

Biodiesel out as jobs bill episode continues

Posted January 29, 2010, at 10:20 a.m. CST
 
 Leaders from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, the University of Tennessee, Genera Energy and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen cut the ribbon on one of the world's first cellulosic ethanol demonstration facilities, located in Vonore, Tenn. The 74,000-square-foot plant has started producing ethanol and will deliver low-cost, fully-integrated technology for commercial production of ethanol from agricultural residue and bioenergy crops, including corncobs and switchgrass. 
 
 "The Tennessee Biofuels Initiative already is creating new jobs and opportunities, and I believe the Vonore facility is going to be a real catalyst for additional economic activity in Tennessee," Bredesen said. "I'm pleased with the progress of this partnership and believe this marks an important step forward in our state's efforts to develop clean energy technology." 
 
 "The world should be watching Tennessee," said DDCE President and CEO Joe Skurla. "Here in Vonore, DDCE and Genera Energy are well ahead of the curve as we develop the entire value chain, from feedstock to production. We delivered on our promise to investors, customers and the industry by initiating startup at the end of last year and are on track to provide the industry with investment-grade packages that meet demands for low-cost, scalability and sustainability." 
 
 Bredesen was joined by U.S. Reps. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., state officials, leaders from DDCE, DuPont, Danisco, Genera Energy, the University of Tennessee and more than 300 guests to commemorate the plant's completion and production startup. It is a major achievement for DDCE, Tennessee's Biofuels Initiative and the cellulosic ethanol industry, which is under federal mandate to deliver 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022, of which 16 billion gallons must come from cellulosic sources. 
 
 The University of Tennessee's Biofuels Initiative, championed by the governor, established a bioenergy crop research and production basis for the burgeoning industry and attracted second-generation biofuels leader DDCE to participate as an industrial partner in the development of the cellulosic ethanol biorefinery. The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, with the support of Genera Energy, is establishing a supply chain for the development of fuel. 
 
 The state-of-the-art facility in Vonore has capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol annually, though its focus is on optimizing technologies for large-scale production. It represents an investment of more than $50 million, including funding from UTBI and DDCE. The project also integrates about $100 million investment in proprietary research by DuPont and Danisco, highly valuable intellectual property platforms and talent pools from both companies and DDCE's commitment to pay operating costs not covered under UTBI. The Vonore facility currently has a full-time staff of about 20. 
 
 Kelly Tiller, CEO of Genera Energy and director of external operations for the UT Office of Bioenergy Programs, said, "The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative is the only fully integrated program that is working with farmers and the agricultural industry to reliably supply the necessary feedstock so biorefineries can produce plentiful, affordable, renewable and sustainable fuels." She said plans are for Tennessee farmers to place an additional 4,000 acres of switchgrass into production this spring, bringing the total production in the state to nearly 7,000 acres of the dedicated energy crop. 
 
 SOURCE: DUPONT DANISCO CELLULOSIC ETHANOL LLC AND GENERA ENERGY

Cellulosic ethanol demo plant opens in Tennessee

Posted Feb. 1, 2010, at 12:54 p.m. CST
 
 OriginOil Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae into a true competitor to petroleum, unveiled a comprehensive pilot system for algae growth and harvesting at an exclusive event held at its Los Angeles headquarters on Jan. 28.
 
 At the event, Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO, spoke to the assembled group of core investors, celebrities and members of the press. "I'm very proud of our team that has worked so hard over the months to make our technologies work in a complete pilot system," he said. "Until now we have been in pure research and development. Now we have turned the corner to commercialization of our technologies. It's a historic milestone for us."
 
 Sipping algae martinis and nibbling at raw treats, guests also viewed the company's live extraction system, designed to "milk" algae oil without destroying algae cultures, and a bioreactor prototype specifically designed for wastewater applications.
 
 "Algae will be local," Eckelberry concluded. "Unlike today's centralized energy systems, algae will go wherever the CO2 is, and that's everywhere." He continued, "Algae systems will be attached to wastewater plants, factories, breweries and any other location that generates CO2. This will lead to a highly distributed energy production model and will truly deliver the jobs creation that we so urgently need in this country and the world."
 
 At the heart of the new system is a series of 200-gallon tanks, which can be individually configured and managed for various strains, growth strategies and lighting geometries. The tanks are now illuminated with LED light sticks submerged in icicle-like arrays. A stirrer circulates the algae slowly around the lights.
 
 Once the algae reaches harvest concentration it is sent to the integrated extraction system, a combination of ultrasound generation and low-power electromagnetic pulsing. This new system has a throughput of 5 gallons per minute, which easily keeps up with the daily output of the pilot system. After extraction, a series of settling tanks separates the oils and biomass for eventual use as fuel and valuable byproducts. A water recycling system completes the loop so the process can start again. 
 
 The company's Dynamic Control System manages the operation of the growth phase, releasing CO2 and other nutrients as the algae needs it. While bottled CO2 is currently used, an in-house generator is planned to test real-world scenarios where exhaust gas is processed for its CO2.

OriginOil unveils in-house pilot system

Posted February 2, 2010, at 11:52 a.m. CST
 
 Temecula, Calif.-based Promethean Biofuels Cooperative Corp. announced that it will celebrate its grand opening on Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. City, regional, state and industry officials will be on-site as the company presents its model facility. The general public is also invited to attend the inaugural batch production of its first road-grade, American Standard Tests and Measurements specification biodiesel.
 
 Attendees will:
 
 See how the company converts cooking oil to biofuel, which can be blended with diesel or used in its pure form for a nearly 100 percent emission-free environmental experience;
 
 Find that the plant makes the local production of 1.5 million gallons of renewable diesel fuel possible and serves as a model for others to build biofuels plants of similar scale;
 
 Learn about Promethean's cooperative, community-oriented business model;
 
 Observe that the majority of the plant has been constructed using repurposed or reused material; the company estimates that nearly 90 percent of the plant has been recycled while maintaining the highest standards of modern construction;
 
 Note that Promethean is strategically located adjacent to a community recycling facility, which helped during construction but also allows recyclers the most convenient place to recycle metals, cardboard, waste vegetable and motor oils year-round.
 
 "Make it a better place," has been a life theme of Todd Hill, Promethean Biofuels founder and managing principal. "With our cooperative biofuels model, we are ideally suited to collaborate with citizens, businesses, and officials of city, county, and the state in an effort to lead the way to a clean, community-based,
 innovative, renewable, sustainable energy production and consumption way of life," Hill said. 
 
 SOURCE: PROMETHEAN BIOFUELS COOPERATIVE CORP.

Promethean Biofuels to hold grand opening

Posted February 2, 2010, at 1:52 p.m. CST
 
 ZeaChem Inc., a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals, announced Feb. 2 the first fermentation results of acetic acid, an intermediate in the ZeaChem process. The results demonstrated successful process scaling to a level that is 10,000 times greater than standard lab scale. Fermentation units were scaled from 0.5 liter to 5,000 liters.
 
 The positive results are a direct outcome of ZeaChem's collaboration with Hazen Research Inc., an industrial research and development firm in Golden, Colo. Hazen has constructed and is hosting the initial front-end process unit and providing infrastructure and operations support. Start of construction at Hazen was announced on Nov. 18 and the first fermentation runs exceeded commercially acceptable acetic acid concentration levels. The fermentation process also exceeded ZeaChem's time goals for achieving the concentration level. The results demonstrated successful fermentation of greater than 50 grams of acetic acid per liter in less than 100 hours. These results have been repeated and verified.
 
 "ZeaChem has met and exceeded its concentration and rate fermentation targets," said Jim Imbler, president and CEO of ZeaChem. "We now have sufficient evidence, based on mixed sugars, to indicate that our results are scalable to industrial production levels. Our process, using naturally-occurring acetogen bacteria and existing processes, exceeds the commercially viable threshold for fermentation. ZeaChem is meeting its milestones and continuing to move forward in deploying cellulosic biorefinery technology."
 
 Acetogens have been shown to be powerful organisms in other industries such as wastewater treatment before ZeaChem began utilizing them for biobased chemicals and fuels production. Naturally occurring acetogens are highly robust and, unlike yeast, produce no carbon dioxide (CO2) during the fermentation process, allowing ZeaChem to realize a significant efficiency and yield advantage. ZeaChem has successfully used acetogens to produce acetic acid at the lab scale in over 1,000 fermentation trials using mixed sugars as well as hydrolyzate derived from cellulosic biomass. ZeaChem is now seeking hydrolyzate supply to replicate these scale-up results. 
 
 "In our experience, these 10,000 times scale-up results verify the ability to scale to commercial fermentation," said Geoff Stephenson, P.E., principal process engineer at Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc.
 
 Acetic acid, the product of ZeaChem's front-end fermentation unit, is the first step in the hybrid biochemical and thermochemical process for creating cellulosic ethanol and biobased chemicals. The next step will be to concentrate and purify the ZeaChem produced acetic acid into a salable product, using an energy efficient, nondistillation based process.
 
 ZeaChem intends to scale to a commercial biorefinery upon successful operations at the 250,000 gallon-per-year facility, which is proposed to be built in Boardman, Ore. The core technology of the facility will begin to come on line in 2010.
 
 SOURCE: ZEACHEM INC.

ZeaChem hits industrial-level fermentation goals

Posted Feb. 2, 2010, at 2:10 p.m. CST
 
 Mitsubishi Corp. and Weyerhaeuser Co. announced Feb. 2 that the two companies signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the possibilities of collaborating in the biomass-to-energy business.
 
 The companies are specifically interested in assessing the feasibility of jointly investing in and operating a commercial-scale biopellet production facility in the U.S. by 2011. Depending on the success of the joint feasibility study, more facilities could follow in addition to the initial production facility, in aspiration to become a world class biopellet producer. The biopellets will be produced using wood-based biomass, targeted from U.S.-sourced sustainably managed forest resources or byproducts and sold to utilities and industrial users for energy production.
 
 The agreement signals the belief of both companies that there are existing and emerging opportunities in an expanding bio-energy market. The MOU brings together two industry leaders and leverages the strengths of both companies: Weyerhaeuser's capacity to produce renewable biomass at scale from its sustainably managed forests and Mitsubishi's worldwide network and experience in the energy sector and biopellet manufacturing business. Mitsubishi currently operates two biopellet facilities in Japan and is also actively involved in the management of Vis Nova Trading GmbH, a major producer of biopellets in Germany.
 
 "Weyerhaeuser is committed to developing sustainable and renewable energy solutions for a carbon-constrained world," said Dan Fulton, Weyerhaeuser president and CEO. "This opportunity has the potential to offer a significant renewable energy option here in North America and beyond while also creating green jobs in our operating communities. At the same time, we have the opportunity to enhance the value of Weyerhaeuser timberlands by converting residuals from our forest management activities into a new revenue stream."
 
 "Through this collaboration, Mitsubishi Corp. is further demonstrating our commitment to the environment by developing practical business solutions to address climate change. Given the potential for biopellets to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, we see good prospects for future biopellet market growth," said Yorihiko Kojima, Mitsubishi president and CEO. "This opportunity with Weyerhaeuser will enable us to establish a biopellet production facility in the U.S., adding to our existing investments in Japan and Europe and thereby creating a stable worldwide supply."
 
 Biopellets are a renewable and carbon-neutral fuel made from biomass, which can include by-products from forest management. The biomass is compressed and molded into small, cylindrical pellets. Cofiring biopellets with thermal coal has proved effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. 
 
 SOURCE: WEYERHAEUSER CO. AND MITSUBISHI CORP.

Mitsubishi, Weyerhaeuser to explore biomass-to-energy venture

Posted February 2, 2010, at 3:35 p.m. CST
 
 Project Apollo, a 25-megawatt biomass power plant to be built in Milwaukee, Wis., should be operational in late 2013, producing enough electricity to power 20,000 homes in the Milwaukee area, according to developer Alliance Federated Energy.
 	
 AFE plans to use Westinghouse Plasma Corp.'s plasma gasification technology to convert municipal and industrial wastes into syngas for energy. Several facilities around the world, such as in Japan, operate commercially with the technology, with several more in final design or construction phases, including in India and Turkey, according to Westinghouse. AFE, established in 2005, develops and finances renewable energy projects in the Midwest, and provides development services for projects led by third parties through a network of independent consultants and contractors. 
 	
 The $225 million Milwaukee plant, which will be built on a 25-acre industrial site, will be AFE's first project and CEO Christopher Maloney calls the plasma gasification technology the "ultimate in recycling." The project will create more than 250 jobs during construction, along with another 45 full-time positions once operational, according to AFE. Badger Disposal of Wisconsin, one of the region's leading industrial waste management services companies, has already committed to supply about 30 percent of the waste feedstock for the facility. AFE is in discussions with third parties for the sale of syngas and electricity. 
 	
 The first phase of the facility is expected to process about 1,200 tons of waste per day, according to the company. AFE partner CorVal-Ryan, based in St. Paul, Minn., will design and fabricate the plant, and Los Angeles-based partner Aecom will provide technical, environmental and management support services for the project.

Biomass project proposed in Milwaukee

Posted February 4, 2010, at 8:40 a.m. CST
 
 Longview, Wash., might be the new home for a 65-megawatt biomass power plant that would run on 38,000 bone-dry tons of mill, forest and urban waste wood per month, according to Sarah Taydas, corporate communications manager for Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, Inc., the company proposing the plant.
 	
 The plant would replace Longview Fibre's existing 25 MW wood-fueled power plant, which generates about 30 percent of electricity for the company's pulp and paper mill in Longview, Taydas said. She added that the company has not yet determined whether the new plant would serve only the mill, or if power could be sold and used in the community. 
 	
 Project planning is in very early stages and plenty is yet to be determined. The company just recently filed paperwork with Washington's Department of Ecology seeking a permit. "We're anticipating that we'll be starting up in the third quarter of 2011," Taydas said. 
 	
 Cost estimates top $100 million, but Longview Fibre is still identifying funding options, she said. The company is a manufacturer of craft paper, corrugated boxes and container board, with locations in Washington, California, Idaho and Utah. 
 	
 The city of Longview has been a popular location for waste-wood biomass plant proposals. Vancouver-based Northwest Renewables LLC is planning a 24 MW power plant in the city's Mint Industrial Park, and Rappaport Energy Consulting Inc. will build an integrated biorefinery that will produce electricity as well as ethanol. Rappaport received a loan from the Washington State Department of Commerce for $1.5 million for its project, according to the department.

Paper company proposes biomass plant

Posted February 4, 2010, at 10:19 a.m. CST
 
 A federal renewable electricity standard (RES) of 25 percent by 2025 would create about 274,000 more renewable energy jobs and a cumulative 2.36 million job years of work by 2025 compared with no national policy, according to a recently released study commissioned by RES-Alliance for Jobs.
 	
 A federal RES would impact biomass, solar, hydro and wind power. "As tax credits expire, some of these industries will see job loss," said Jay V. Paidipati, managing consultant for energy for Navigant Consulting Inc., which conducted the study. Therefore, a stable policy that looks at the long-term as well as the current is necessary.
 
 The study concluded that a 25 percent RES would double the size of the biomass industry alone, creating about 60,000 jobs in a country suffering from an unemployment rate that hovers around 10 percent. Most of that plant and job creation would happen in the southeast because of resource availability including waste wood. "We think the southeast is undoubtedly and unequivocally the future of biomass power," Bob Cleaves, CEO of the Biomass Power Association said during the Feb. 4 press conference.
 	
 When the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act was passed in 1978, the biomass industry grew significantly, he said. "Overnight, our industry was born and 100 power plants were built." He added that it can happen again and will with a federal RES. "Biomass is really a job creator and it's a job creator in the southeast," he said, adding that the BPA is supportive of a meaningful long-term RES.
 	
 "Our plants last about 50 years and we really need a long-term policy to support that," said Mark Pytosh, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Covanta Energy, a waste-to-energy company. Covanta operates about 45 waste-to-energy plants worldwide and Pytosh said a long-term policy to support the capital-intensive industry and provide infrastructure is crucial. A 25 percent RES would require a $25 billion investment in waste-to-energy, but would mean the construction of about 60 new facilities and would double the industry, according to Pytosh. "We're very excited and supportive of a long-term RES policy," he said, adding that he hopes it comes through this year. 
 	
 Stakeholders in the wind, hydro and solar industries participated in the conference, as well, all agreeing that a meaningful RES is beneficial and important. "America owned this industry 20 years ago," said Don Furman, senior vice president of development, transmission and policy for wind energy company Iberdrola Renewables. "We invented this industry and now we're giving it away because we haven't had a national policy to support it." Furman said China has pulled ahead in the wind energy industry and also mentioned the benefits of PURPA, which seem to have dwindled. "It simply sets the goal and allows the market to work," he said of an RES.
 
 The study can be found at <a href="http://www.res-alliance.org/res-jobs-study">http://www.res-alliance.org/res-jobs-study</a>.

Study: Federal RES would create thousands of jobs

Posted February 4, 2010, at 12:15 p.m. CST
 	
 The <a href="http://www.mbop.org">Modular Bio-Oil Plant</a>, manufactured by Three Seconds to Oil LLC, can process about 25 dry tons of biomass every day and can produce about 1 million gallons of oil per year, along with 1,400 tons of char. 
 	
 The system, which measures 8 feet wide, 40 feet long and 9 1/2 feet tall, can take all types of biomass up to 70 percent moisture, according to Henry Maclin, CEO of TSTO. The machinery, designed by John Tharpe, uses pyrolysis and is engineered for automation, portability, self cleaning and long life. 
 	
 The commercial units have just come to market, Maclin said, but two have already been sold. In addition, more potential customers are preparing to make their decision after seeing the commercial unit's performance during endurance tests, according to Maclin. The market for the system is waste producers such as equine, swine and bovine operations, green waste producers such as road right of way maintainers, invasive tree and brush control and disaster cleanup organizations. "When the MBOP is used to convert biomass contaminated with animal or human solid waste into a liquid fuel, it can reduce the disposal cost of the waste to zero," Maclin said. 
 	
 Other markets such as remote or large electricity users have expressed interest in the MBOP, Maclin said, and on-site efficient diesel generators using pyrolysis oil could realize a substantial cost savings with the system.
 	
 The MBOP costs $2.4 million, but TSTO will work with customers on a case-by-case basis to finance the purchase. The useful life of the MBOP, along with the warranty and maintenance period, is 10 years.

Mobile bio-oil system processes wastes

Posted February 4, 2010, at 3:42 p.m. CST
 
 The first project in a new alliance between John Deere and Adage-a joint venture formed by Areva and Duke Energy-will be a 55-megawatt biomass power plant in Mason County, Wash.
 	
 The $250 million plant will use woody biomass from local private forests, although Adage is still negotiating fuel supply contracts, according to Jarret Adams, media representative for Areva. Adage is in the process of finalizing those contracts, along with power purchase agreements, and expects to begin construction on the facility late this year, with an operation date in late 2013, Adams said. The output will be enough to power about 40,000 homes. "Most of it, of course, is going to the local community," he said.
 	
 In its first 2½ years of construction and operation, the plant will generate $100 million in economic activity and create 700 direct and indirect jobs across the county, according to Adage. Once permanently operational, it will create a new economic incentive for revitalizing Washington's rural communities that will also help maintain forest health, according to Adage. 
 	
 The Mason County region is heavily wooded and makes it a great location for such a plant, Adams said. It will be the third Adage endeavor, but the first in the Pacific Northwest. Construction on Hamilton Biopower, in Hamilton County, Fla., will begin this year, and Gadsden Biopower, Gadsden County, Fla., is in the early stages of project planning, as it was just announced in December, according to the company. 
 	
 The alliance with John Deere will allow Adage access to woody biomass harvesting equipment that has been used in Europe. "The alliance is to bring new technology and process innovation for fuel supply," Adams said. The agreement allows Adage to incorporate the 1490D Eco-III Energy Woody Harvester into this and any future biomass projects. "The Mason County project will be the first to use the harvester," he added. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, Adage President Reed Wills, Jim Orr, director of worldwide marketing for John Deere Construction & Forestry, and other legislators and forestry professionals celebrated the alliance announcement Feb. 4 at an event in Olympia, Wash.
 
 "Our alliance with John Deere will bring new innovation to the forest, enabling more sustainable biomass to be brought out of the woods and put to beneficial use," Wills said. "Expanding biomass utilization means healthier forests and new renewable energy, all while creating jobs in the forest."

New alliance announces first biomass project

Posted February 8, 2010, at 2:02 p.m. CST
 
 California-based renewable petroleum company LS9 has secured an existing fermentation facility in Okeechobee, Fla., that it will retrofit to produce its UltraClean Diesel and chemicals on a demonstration scale, followed by a scale up to commercial production. 
 	
 "The beauty of this facility is that it's scalable," said Jon Ballesteros, spokesperson for LS9. "It already has the large, commercial-scale equipment." Using LS9's proprietary one-step fermentation process, the demonstration facility will be producing 50,000 to 100,000 gallons of renewable transportation fuel by the end of the year, according to the company. After testing and demonstrations are complete, scale up can begin.
 
 The demonstration plant will initially run on sugar cane syrup provided by local suppliers, Ballesteros said, but will also be utilized in testing other feedstocks such as wood chips and agricultural waste. "We will test and optimize the use of sugars derived from cellulosic biomass," he said. 
 	
 Ballesteros declined to release a cost estimate for the project. "But the facility has much of the equipment we need, so the retrofit will not require extensive capital outlays," he said. The six-month construction process will create 30 to 50 jobs, along with 15 to 20 once operational, according to LS9. Purchase agreements for the biodiesel are still being discussed with a number of interested parties, he added.
 	
 LS9 operates a pilot-scale plant in San Francisco with a 1,000-liter fermenter. The company says its fermentation process has higher yields and removes additional production costs associated with the multi-step processes required with other renewable diesel technologies. LS9 genetically engineers microorganisms to precisely produce fuels to have desired properties such as cetane, volatility, oxidative stability and cold-flow, while offering an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the company. 
 	
 "The new facility will allow LS9 to demonstrate that our one-step manufacturing process is ready and capable of bringing low-cost, low-carbon fuels to market while creating and preserving jobs in the Okeechobee area," said company CEO Bill Haywood. It's a huge step for LS9 and represents a significant promise for the U.S. biofuels sector, he said.

LS9 will produce biodiesel in Florida

Posted February 9, 2010, at 10:18 a.m. CST
 
 California-based Verdezyne Inc. has achieved proof of concept in developing a new biobased fermentation process for the production of adipic acid, and intends to partner for scale-up demonstration in the next year.
 	
 Using proprietary technologies, the company discovered and is engineering a proprietary metabolic pathway that can utilize sugar, plant-based oils or alkanes, according to Verdezyne. "We have so far produced adipic from alkanes and fatty acids," said Damien Perriman, vice president of business development for Verdezyne. "We are leveraging the same organism and pathway to utilize sugar as well. Our goal is to deliver a process that enables the operator to select the appropriate feedstock for their region to maximize their profit curve."
 	
 Rather than manipulating one pathway gene at a time, the company uses synthetic gene libraries to introduce diversity into a metabolic pathway, according to Verdezyne. Biological selection or high-throughput screening identifies the most productive combination of pathway genes. 
 	
 Verdezyne is still in discussions regarding a partnership for a pilot-scale project, Perriman said. "We plan to select a partner with the expertise to work on fermentation optimization utilizing both alkane and sugar feedstocks," he said. "The selected partner will determine location of facility, scale and timeline. Our proof of concept means we have produced small amounts of adipic and our next milestone will be to boost productivity of the organism before entering pilot scale." 
 	
 The global adipic acid market was about $4.9 billion in 2009 with its two major applications being polyamides and polyurethanes. Adipic acid is an important engineering resin for markets such as automotive, footwear and construction, and is used in products such as carpets, coatings, furniture, bedding and automobile parts.
 	
 Estimates from Verdezyne indicate at least a 20 percent cost of manufacturing advantage for biobased adipic acid, depending on the feedstock, according to E. William Radany, president and CEO of Verdezyne. The company anticipates growing consumption of adipic acid will exceed capacity by 2015, leading to a necessary increase in production facilities.

Verdezyne proves adipic acid production process

Posted February 10, 2010, at 11:10 a.m. CST
 
 During the 2010 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas, officials from U.S. EPA discussed several of the confounding issues resident in the final renewable fuels standard (RFS2) rule-including feedstock tracking. 
 
 The final RFS2 rule does not require soy biodiesel producers to track the origin of their feedstock and provide regular reports to the agency, as was expected under the proposed rule, but producers using animal fats or used cooking oils will be required to do so beginning July 1 if they want to generate renewable identification number (RIN) credits. 
 
 Although producers using waste feedstock will have to keep feedstock supplier records and produce quarterly reports for EPA, Larry Schafer from the Diamond Group said the requirements are "not onerous." 
 
 Paul Argyropoulos from EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality said if a producer is using animal fats, for instance, "they would have to say, ‘Yeah, this is the feedstock I use, and this is where I got it,'" but they would not have to track it beyond their supplier. 
 
 Producers using domestic crop oils will not have to track feedstock and provide reports to EPA so long as U.S. cropland acres do not exceed the 2007 baseline of 402 million acres. 
 
 SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINE

Biodiesel producers to track waste feedstock

Posted February 10, 2010, at 11:19 a.m. CST
 
 A panel of oil and pipeline company representatives discussing biodiesel took center stage during the general session on day two of the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas. 
 
 The topic of discussion was how oil and distribution companies will carry out renewable fuels standard's (RFS2) biomass-based diesel mandate, and what physical challenges exist in doing so. 
 
 A question that arose was whether investments should be made for terminal blending of biodiesel now, or if waiting for pipeline readiness was a safer bet. Jim Lelio with Kinder Morgan Pipeline Group said his company, which has been on the forefront of efforts to move biodiesel through the pipeline infrastructure, can already handle 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons) of B5 per day-a volume greater than three of the state mandates in place today. Kinder Morgan's total daily fuel throughput is 1.1 million barrels (46.2 million gallons). 
 
 The consensus from the panel was that state mandates are much less preferred than a federal standard such as RFS2. Dave Blatnik with Marathon Petroleum Co. LLC said state-by-state mandates hurt because companies have to invest millions of dollars in infrastructure for a relatively small volume of boutique fuel whose only market is that particular state. Also, fuel distribution systems are not set up to respect state lines. 
 
 Bruce Heine with Magellan Midstream Partners said companies that have to make big investments to satisfy state mandates expect those states to uphold whatever mandates they pass. He said it can be a financial hit when millions of dollars are spent to prepare for a blend requirement and then, due to unforeseen circumstances, the laws are changed or waivers are granted. Heine cited the recent Minnesota waiver for No. 1 B5 as an example. 
 
 With a standard such as RFS2 that requires obligated parties to blend certain amounts of fuel and does not dictate where or how, there is flexibility to strategically invest in their infrastructure as they see fit. 
 
 Heine said it doesn't make sense to make the infrastructure investments in terminals that have little diesel throughput, but rather companies should target investments where the demand is. 
 
 "By 2011, we have to have the infrastructure in place," Blatnik said, adding that five of Marathon's 67 terminals already have biodiesel blending capabilities. Magellan has 12 terminals set up for biodiesel. 
 
 It takes a minimum of nine to 12 months to prepare a terminal for biodiesel blending, said Heine, and that's if the effort begins at the right time of year. Lelio said he hopes it does not take that long to prepare a terminal for biodiesel. The investment cost to prepare a terminal for biodiesel is about $2.5 million to $3 million, Heine said, which includes biodiesel storage capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 barrels (210,000 to 420,000 gallons). 
 
 The question was asked to the panel whether obligated parties would be more interested in purchasing renewable identification number (RIN) credits rather than buying "wet gallons" of biodiesel. Mike Reed with Northville Product Services said, "It's better to break even or make a few cents with wet barrels" as opposed to purchasing RINs alone. Lelio made the point that the physical product will have to be used somewhere, and obligated parties shouldn't solely bank on buying RINs. Blatnik said Marathon will meet its obligations with wet gallons. 
 
 SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINE

Oil companies talk biodiesel

Posted February 10, 2010, at 1:08 p.m. CST
 
 Mounting interest in agave as a biofuel feedstock could jump-start the Mexican biofuels industry, according to agave expert Arturo Valez Jimenez. 
 
 Agave thrives in Mexico and is traditionally used to produce liquors such as tequila. It has a rosette of thick fleshy leaves, each of which usually end in a sharp point with a spiny margin. Commonly mistaken for cacti, the agave plant is actually closely related to the lily and amaryllis families. The plants use water and soil more efficiently than any other plant or tree in the world, Arturo said. "This is a scientific fact-they don't require watering or fertilizing and they can absorb carbon dioxide during the night," he said. The plants annually produce up to 500 metric tons (green) of biomass per hectare, he added. 
 
 Jimenez developed The Agave Project, which began four years ago when he was the national administrative coordinator at the National Confederation of Forestry Producers in Mexico, with a goal to explore and promote the potential of the plant. He is now developing the project separately from the agency, and said the project extends into all 17 agave regions of Jalisco State (central-western Mexico) and will soon become nationwide. Jose Luis Ortega, a local congressman, Juan Frias of Bioenergy Solutions, Juan Villalvazo, a professor at the University of Guadalajara, the Mexican Agavaceas Net and the State Council of Agave Tequilana Producers are also participating the project, he added.
 
 Agave fibers contain 65 percent to 78 percent cellulose, according to Jimenez. "With new technology, it is possible to breakdown over 90 percent of the cellulose and hemicellulose structures, which will increase ethanol and other liquid biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass drastically," he said. "Mascoma is assessing such technology."
 
 Mascoma research scientist Heidi Hau told Biomass Magazine that Mascoma is currently evaluating agave as a potential feedstock, and has conducted some preliminary tests in-house that warrant further testing. "Although we are very much in the evaluation stage, we have not yet committed to a project," she said. Jimenez said the Mexican Ministries of Economy and Agriculture are interested in having Mascoma visit Mexico for that purpose and are providing their assistance. 
 
 Beyond Mascoma, the Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of Illinois is planning a small invitation-only agave workshop in Mexico. Researcher Sarah Davis said the institute may plan a larger meeting at a later date, depending on the outcome. Jimenez said he believes the workshop will be a leap forward in the research of agave for biofuel production. 
 
 Jimenez is also working with Washington-based Clearsky Energy Systems Inc., which is exploring the possibility of building municipal electricity-generating facilities that run on syngas produced from the gasification of agave biomass. "They are also assessing a new technology for sustainable electricity generation that is cheaper than syngas, produces more energy and is cleaner," he said. 
 
 Annually, Mexican agave could produce more than 5 billion metric tons of biomass, using only marginal land," Jimenez said. "We have discussed producing huge quantities of biocrude and syngas in Mexico and to export it via PEMEX (Petroleum Mexico) to the U.S." A biofuels director at a renewable energy laboratory in the U.S. indicated that agave biocrude could sell for the same price as oil, Jimenez said. "The Mexican government is very interested in biofuels production," he added. "Mexican oil production at Cantarel fell 50 percent in just five years and production is decreasing at an alarming rate of 14 percent annually."

Agave shows potential as biofuel feedstock

Posted February 11, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. CST
 
 DuPont announced the creation of an advisory committee on Agricultural Innovation & Productivity for the 21st Century, chaired by former U.S. Sen. Thomas A. Daschle, as part of the company's focus to meet the world's increasing demands for food, feed, fiber and fuel. Agriculture crosses DuPont's core goals of meeting the increasing demand for food productivity; protecting people and the environment; decreasing dependence of fossil fuels; and supporting the growth of emerging markets. Among other initiatives, the advisory committee will build upon existing research, while examining the best public-policy mechanisms to ensure that by 2050 the world's farmers will have the tools to increase current agricultural production in order to fill the looming global food needs.
 
 "The world is facing increasing demands on its limited resources, while the global population continues to grow," said DuPont Executive Vice President James C. Borel, who leads the company's production agriculture businesses Pioneer Hi-Bred and Crop Protection. "It is critical that we find sustainable, science-based solutions that work for both the planet and for the global farming community. DuPont looks forward to working with Senator Daschle and the advisory committee on Agricultural Innovation & Productivity for the 21st Century as we confront the growing global demands for food, feed, fuel and fiber through agricultural innovation."
 
 "The world's population is expected to grow to more than 9 billion people by 2050," said Daschle, who represented South Dakota in the Senate and served as Senate majority leader. "As a result, agricultural innovation and any successful solution to the threatened food gap must empower scientific and technological advances; an open competitive marketplace; collaboration among researchers, farmers, governments and corporations; governmental leadership; and the global farming community." 
 
 The advisory committee, chartered Feb. 11, will meet with DuPont's senior leadership, including Borel and Pioneer President Paul E. Schickler. The advisory committee will present its public-policy recommendations to DuPont in March, 2011. The committee will be supported by ex-officio member Dean Oestreich, former Pioneer chairman, among others who will be named in the coming weeks. 
 
 DuPont has a strong history of agriculture innovation and sustainability, entering into a period where farmers will see the largest gains ever from its research. Through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, DuPont expects to increase yields by 40 percent in corn and soybeans over the next decade with advances in trait development. 
 
 SOURCE: DUPONT

DuPont committee to focus on food, feed, fiber, fuel

Posted February 11, 2010, at 10:29 a.m. CST
 
 Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will expand their algae research this year, revamping a portion of the school's Beadle Center greenhouse to accommodate an algal biofuels research facility.
 	
 Scientists will begin growing algae in small containers, moving to oblong ponds, in an effort to address three important goals: identify the best strains for maximum oil production; identify optimal growing conditions; and modify the algae for maximum cell density, according to Paul Black, a lipid biochemist at the university. The team is working currently with a photo bioreactor that is designed to increase cell density per unit volume from about two grams per liter to eight to 10 grams per liter, by exploring maximum light and carbon dioxide conditions, Black said. "You're in essence, fooling them," he said of the algae strains. 
 	
 The university received $1.9 million in federal funding for its research and is in line for tens of millions more for several related research angles, including one that would couple new research with UNL's already robust corn-ethanol byproducts research, according to the university. 
 	
 Black and fellow scientists are working now with natural strains, but the possibility of genetic modification exists, depending on what genes are turned on or off by certain stimuli, such as light. "It depends on what we come across," he said. "There's a lot of serendipity in science." 
 	
 High-cell density is important because it can make it simpler to harvest the algae. In addition, the team will work to optimize oil extraction. "And that's a bit of a task," Black said. The team has used organic solvents, but is looking at strategies such as the use of carbon dioxide and high pressure. 
 	
 No timeline has been established for tangible results, but Black expects the team will have a good indication of how photo bioreactors work within six to eight months, and will be screening algal strains. "We're just now gearing up to do this," he said, adding that after about 10 months, the scientists should have some compelling data that hopefully will attract interest and investments for further research and the development of an algae growth industry. 
 That industry, though, is more than likely a few years away, Black says, citing cell density, quality oil and oil extraction as major barriers. "I would say it will be five to seven years before we really get to a point of making it commercially viable," he said. "We've got some blocks in front of us, but they're not insurmountable."

UNL expands algae research

Posted Feburary 11, 2010, at 1:21 p.m. CST
 
 Researchers in Maryland have completed a study evaluating the effects of delaying sweet sorghum cane harvest by one month and found it was beneficial given the cooler climate of the state. The group is half way through an additional project to evaluate long-term storage of sweet sorghum, results of which may help pave the way for an ethanol plant to be built in Maryland. 
 
 Last fall, Dr. Jeffrey Benner, Abel Young and Edwin Benner of Solar Fruits Biofuels, Samuel Geleta and Christopher Briand from Salisbury University, local farmer Henry Oakley and Ronald Mulford of the Lower Eastern Shore Research & Education Center collaborated to perform field trials to determine the effects of delaying the harvest of sweet sorghum by one month.
 
 In preparation for the study, eight different varieties of sweet sorghum were established on one acre on a farm in Wicomico County in southeastern Maryland. "We performed a comparison of an early harvest in September and a delayed harvest one month later," Benner said. "Sweet sorghum is mostly grown in tropical climates where it is possible to have multiple crops per year, but up here (Northeast) and in other parts of the country that have colder climates, there will only be one crop per year because of the short growing season. It was important for us to determine whether or not extending our harvest window would be detrimental to our yields." 
 
 Benner said that when they compared the harvests, there was a decrease in biomass and juice volume, but an increase in sugar content with the delayed harvest (a month beyond the soft-dough stage). "When you looked at the total fermentable sugar and alcohol yield, there was a reduction of 14.5 percent from the first harvest to the second, by delaying it approximately one month," he said. 
 
 The delayed harvest, however, was beneficial to the moisture content of the sweet sorghum grain. When harvested early, the researchers found that the sweet sorghum was much too wet, containing average moisture level of about 29.5 percent, significantly above marketable grain levels. "By waiting a month and leaving it in the sun to dry, it came down to 18 percent, which is usable,"Oakley said. "So by waiting a month you've lost a little of your theoretical alcohol yield, but you've gained 1.5 to 1.8 tons of grain per acre to be sold-so it's reasonable to delay it for a month. Once again the best grain dryer ever made was the sun." 
 
 The most recent study began early November, and was performed mainly with the impetus to investigate a solution for the "souring problem" of sweet sorghum cane. This occurs in hot or tropical climates when the crop is cut and left unprocessed for more than five days. 
 When sweet sorghum is crushed, the bacteria which normally coat the outside of the stalk will gain access to the juice inside of the cane. They will quickly divide, replicate and eat up the sugar. "The traditional wisdom is that the cane must be processed immediately or the sugar will be lost" Benner said. The researchers aimed to test strategies that might allow them to harvest the sweet sorghum cane and store it for longer than five days.
 
 Benner and Salisbury University students Hoa Nyguen and Brain Knepper prepared 100-pound bales of freshly harvested M81e sweet sorghum bales. They wrapped half of the bales in plastic, while the other half where left unwrapped. The bales will be left outdoors for six months and then be compared to each other and a control bale that was processed on the day of harvest. After three months, the results are unexpected. "We expected the plastic wrapped bales to do better than those left unprotected out in the weather," Knepper said. Instead, there was no significant loss of sugar, plant weight or juice volume in the unwrapped bales as compared to the wrapped bales and the control bale. Since the cane was harvested on November 6, 2009, the daily temperatures were generally cool and below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cooler temperatures may have inhibited bacterial replication and their consumption of the sugars. Frank Corsini of Give Eco Energy called this approach "the Nordic solution" for cane storage after hearing the results at the 2010 Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Conference. 
 
 Overall, the group believes that if the remaining three months' data is consistent with the first three months, stock-piling of sweet sorghum cane could be used to extend the operation of an ethanol plant in the northern climates beyond four months, which is what is currently possible with one crop per year. "Our results suggest that if you live in a cooler climate you may be able to store your sweet sorghum cane and operate your ethanol plant for longer than four months of the year," Benner said. "The strategy would be to harvest late, plant enough both for immediate and delayed processing, harvest it, stock-pile it like lumber, and use it as needed throughout the winter." In places like Louisiana and Florida this cannot be done on account of the climate, but three or four crops can be planted per year to harvest year-round. 
 
 Benner said next year, the group will likely refine the study by comparing the storage of long cane sweet sorghum to billets (small lengths of cane), open stockpile versus ground silage and differences in temperature.

Sweet sorghum studies yield notable results

Posted February 12, 2010, at 3:30 p.m. CST
 
 Draft legislation to renew the $1-per-gallon biodiesel blend credit, part of the Senate jobs package, is "floating around" Congress, said Manning Feraci, National Biodiesel Board's vice president of federal affairs. 
 
 It's a one-year extension-not a multi-year credit as many hoped-and the bill will not be officially introduced until the week of Feb. 22 because of a virtual shutdown of the nation's capital for the rest of the week resulting from the second massive winter snowstorm within days that buried the city. Next week, Congress is out for a scheduled break so members can return to their home districts. 
 
 Feraci said it appears that the credit will be retroactive back to Jan. 1 and will likely receive bipartisan support. 
 
 The jobs package includes several time-sensitive measures such as extension of unemployment benefits, which expire Feb. 28, so Feraci is hopeful the legislation will be expedited through Congress and signed by the president very soon. "We're optimistic, but we still need your help," he pled to industry stakeholders at the 2010 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas.

Biodiesel tax credit in Senate jobs package

Posted February 15, 2010, at 2:40 p.m. CST
 
 Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, N.Y., will soon host a 9.6-megawatt biomass-fueled cogeneration plant, following the approval of up to $35 million in financing from the New York State Public Service Commission. 
 
 The park, located at the former site of a U.S. Air Force Base, currently covers 3,500 acres and is home to about 80 buildings. When completed, the power plant will supply roughly 75 percent of the park's energy needs. The remaining 25 percent of the park's electricity requirements will be drawn from the national grid. Plant operator Griffiss Utility Services Corp. estimated that the project could reduce the park's energy costs by as much as $1.5 million each year. 
 
 The plant will require about 140,000 tons of woody biomass annually, including locally-sourced low-value hardwoods, industrial residues such as pallets and wood products mill residues, as well as unadulterated wood materials extracted from construction and demolition debris. GUSC estimated that it will receive the fuel in approximately 110 trucks per week, as the facility will use 400 tons per day at 25 tons per delivery. 
 
 Components of the project include two 85 MMBtu/hour gasifiers, two heat recovery steam generators, a tractor trailer tipper, receiving bin, conveyors, magnetic separation, a manual silo bypass for direct feeding of gasifiers, a truck scale and a boiler house enclosing the fuel hoppers, gasifiers and boilers.
 
 The project has already undergone a full environmental review in accordance with the requirements of New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act, and has was granted an air permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 
 
 The commission estimated the project's fuel costs to annually inject about $3.5 million into the local forestry industry. Other benefits of the project include reduced carbon dioxide emissions of about 46,000 tons per year, and electricity produced at the plant would assist in reaching New York's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) target of 25 percent by 2013 and 30 percent by 2015.

New York to host biomass power plant

Posted February 16, 2010, at 8:20 a.m. CST 
 
 Novozymes Inc. unveiled a new commercial grade enzyme capable of producing cellulosic ethanol during the 15th annual National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 15-17. The Cellic (CTec2) enzyme, when combined with the HTec2, will reduce current enzyme costs for cellulosic production down to approximately 50 cents per gallon according to Novozymes. "We have been working on this for the past 10 years and promised our customers and the market to be ready by 2010," said Novozymes CEO Steen Riisgaard. "I am extremely pleased to announce that we are ready. The enzymes are ready. Biofuel producers now have a critical component to turn agricultural waste into a competitive alternative to gasoline." 
 
 A combination of existing enzyme components, the new CTec2 is essentially a cocktail mix, drawing from those pre-existing enzyme components according to Poul Ruben Andersen, global marketing director for Novozymes. "This represents a combination of efforts over the last 10 years with our research partners," Andersen said. The partners helping to accelerate the projects development includes among others: Greenfield Ethanol Inc., Inbicon, Lignol Energy Corp., Poet LLC and ICM Inc. According to Novozymes, the final product works on several feedstock types including corn cobs and stalks, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse and wood chips.
 
 
 The CTec2 has already been tested at Novozymes Denmark facility along with other pilot and demonstration cellulosic plants around the world. During the 2010 Washington Auto Show, Novozymes put the new enzyme to the test. Partnered with Fiberight LLC., the two produced a waste paper fuel made from government waste products. Novozymes now feels the new enzyme will make cellulosic ethanol more cost efficient. "Cellulosic ethanol will be cheaper", said Riisgaard. "Our partners expect production costs to fall below $2 per gallon once their first commercial scale plants are fully operational, and the cost will continue to drop in the future." 
 
 
 SOURCE: ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE

Novozymes: enzyme cost drops to 50 cents

Posted February 17, 2010, at 9:58 a.m. CST
 
 A new biodiesel plant, EDG Fuels, is opening March 13 in Tucson, Ariz. The facility, owned by Environmental Development Group, is scaled to produce up to 3 MMgy of biodiesel in its first year of production, with potential to expand to 6 MMgy the following year. 
 
 Feedstock for the biodiesel refinery will be used cooking oils collected from Tucson-area businesses through Enjoy Dining Green, a "coalition of concerned and environmentally-conscious people and restaurants united to practice environmentally sustainable recycling in the form of used cooking oil to biodiesel processing," EDG Fuels stated. 
 
 Enjoy Dining Green offers free collection containers and service, and members get discounts on combined service packages such as grease interceptor maintenance, facilities maintenance and plumbing. 
 
 EDG states on its Web site that the company anticipates demonstrating a distributive model for biodiesel production through strategic U.S. locations over the next five years. 
 
 SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINe

Tucson plant to open in March

Posted February 17, 2010, at 4:40 p.m. CST
 
 ZeaChem Inc. has developed a commercial grade bio-based acetic acid at the purity concentration level. Using a broth created from a front end fermentation process, ZeaChem's acid was created by a solvent extraction process. The end result for the company is a salable, highly pure, glacial acetic acid to be used for cellulosic ethanol production and other bio-based chemicals. 
 
 "ZeaChem's biggest fermentation hurdles are now behind us and we have significantly de-risked future integrated operations," said Jim Imbler, president and chief executive officer of ZeaChem. The results of the solvent extraction process have been replicated at two different commercial facilities. "As we observed, these results prove the successful concentration to glacial acetic acid using commercially available equipment," said Tom Schafer, vice president of Koch Modular Process Systems Inc., a New Jersey based engineering firm specializing in modular mass transfer systems. 
 
 According to ZeaChem, global demand for acetic acid is 14.3 billion pounds per year. To produce cellulosic ethanol, the company said acetic acid is only a precursor to final production. "The next step is esterification to produce ethyl acetate, which is the final step before ethanol." ZeaChem intends to continue the development of the acid at a proposed 250,000 gallon-per-year facility in Boardman, Oregon which they hope will come online in 2010. 
 
 The core technology at the Boardman plant will first produce the ethyl acetate and then, with the help of a $25 million U.S. DOE grant ZeaChem received in December, the facility will move into cellulosic ethanol production. 
 
 SOURCE: ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE

ZeaChem creates cellulosic building block

Posted February 18, 2010, at 9:13 a.m. CST
 
 The Biomass Crop Assistance Program proposed rule is finally out, and seems to have revived some interest and enthusiasm in the program. At the same time, however, many are anxious for the proposed changes to be finalized, for further clarifications and for the current freeze on the program to cease.
 
 Without warning, as of Feb. 8, the USDA terminated collection, harvest, storage and transport (CHST) payments and indicated new applications for the payments would not be accepted until the final rule is in place. 
 
 Among several new provisions of the rule is a possible prohibition on wood waste and residue on federal and nonfederal land that otherwise might be used for higher value products. Kent Politsch, public affairs branch chief for USDA-Farm Service Agency, said the prohibition proposal resulted because of concerns raised by segments of the wood industry, specifically the pulp and pressboard/fiberboard manufacturers. "They said that the BCAP collection, harvest, storage and transport matching funds were paying for forest items-chips, bark, excess wood, stumps and limbs that were knocked down in the forest and were generally cleaned up afterward-and therefore directly increasing prices and competition for a market that was already established, mostly the fiberboard industry," he said.
 
 CHST funds allow matching payments to eligible material owners of $1 per $1 paid per ton by the biomass conversion facility (BCF) to the producer, up to $45 per dry ton for a time limit of two years after the first payment is made. In the case of particleboard makers, CHST funds could essentially double the usual price paid for materials they utilize in order to maintain their material streams. 
 
 Politsch said the original intent of Congress allowing wood waste and residue to qualify for CHST funds was to appeal to the wood supply industry to clean up unwanted debris that they assumed had no or little market value. "The fiberboard industry responded by saying that was an incorrect assertion, and that there was already a market value for that stuff," he said.
 
 "We support BCAP; it's a great idea-but not if all that is really going to happen is that you'll pay companies double for the materials they're already selling to somebody," said Composite Panel Association President Tom Julia. "There'd be no incentives to go out and develop a new fuel source when someone can get double what they're getting now by selling it to somebody else." 
 
 Julia would also like to see a more specific list of eligible materials. "We're concerned that there are still, even though it's generally supportive of concepts we've enunciated, some that aren't specific enough," he said. "There should be some very bright lines for what materials are eligible for subsidy, and what are not. If the draft has too much ambiguity and subjectivity soon you'll have people trying to take advantage of the system in a way they shouldn't. Vagueness is a prescription for mischief. We don't want to come back in three or six months and fight this battle again because someone has discovered a back door to access our materials." 
 
 Aside from a prohibition on certain wood materials, another proposed change in the rule is to increase the acceptable moisture content of materials received. The USDA reported that many respondents didn't agree with measuring biomass deliveries moisture levels to meet the dry-ton measurement standard, a common industry practice is to measure in terms of green tons, which are generally assumed to possess a moisture level of 45 percent to 50 percent. In the rule, it is proposed to modify the requirement for moisture testing and adopt the industry standard. 
 
 Although not definitive, BCAP does have an estimated spending cap. The USDA reported it intends to cap the cost of the BCAP program at $2.6 billion, including $2.1 billion for matching payments for biomass materials over the next four years, $306 million for crop establishment over the next three years, and $219 million for annual payments over the next 17 years. 
 
 The public comment period for the proposed ruling ends at the beginning of April, and the USDA is confident the kinks will be worked out in the long term. "It will take some time, there will be some hills, valleys and bumps in the road," Politsch said. "People are going to get upset along the way, but it will settle down be a very successful program."

USDA to tweak BCAP

Posted February 18, 2010, at 4:45 p.m. CST
 
 RINs improved as part of RFS2
 By Holly Jessen
 
 
 Posted Feb. 18, 2010 
 
 The U.S. EPA has come up with a new system for renewable identification number (RINs) that should be easier to use as well as cut down on the possibility of human error. A group of hearty conference-goers learned about RINs during a 7 a.m. sunrise session Feb. 17 at the National Ethanol Conference in Florida. "This is very important for this industry," said Jim Redding, vice president of industry relations for the Renewable Fuels Association. "I think it will simplify the process." 
 
 Tony Miller, an EPA chemical engineer, laid out the new, and hopefully improved, EPA Moderated Transaction System (EMTS), a Web-based reporting system. It will be used to generate, sell, buy, separate or retire RINs under the renewable fuels standard final rule (RFS2) released in early February. With RFS1, "a RIN was a RIN was a RIN," Miller said. The new system will track advanced biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, biomass-based diesel and renewable fuels. 
 
 One change is that all transactions must be submitted within five business days, rather than three business days. In addition, the new system will be easier to use and provide more readable information. "(There will be) a little bit more at your fingertips," he said. 
 
 Under RFS1, screening or trading RINs involved a 38-digit number that was often a headache. Now, that number is no more. "There were many issues with handling 38-digit RINs," Miller said. 
 
 RFS2 won't officially go into effect until July 1, which means RINs1 will continue to be traded. However, Miller and other presenters repeatedly urged ethanol producers to sign up early to test EMTS, the transaction system for RINs2. At the latest, producers must be registered for the new system 60 days prior to production of fuel or by July 1. "Please try to register as early as possible," he said. "Make sure you're not waiting until the last minute." 
 
 EMTS has internal quality assurance checks that will give users instant feedback, Miller said. If an error is made, the system will notify the user and won't move on until the error is corrected. With RINs1, there was no indication that anything was wrong until the EPA called. 
 
 Kelly O'Farrell, supervisor of RIN compliance for Minnesota-based Christianson & Associates, said the company was analyzing RFS2 and how it would impact their clients as they transition from RFS1 to RFS2. O'Farrell was hopeful that the new transaction system could help reduce human error common with the old system. "There was a need for something to be done," she said. 
 
 For Christianson & Associates clients, there was no improvement with errors associated with RINs from 2008 to 2009. In fact, in some cases the problems got worse, not better, she said. There were many cases where production numbers didn't match the RIN. The 38-digit number sometimes had numbers transposed, had an extra number or was a duplicate number. "No more, whoops, I sent you a wrong RIN number, please send it back," she said. 
 
 Another change is that EMTS will generate quarterly reports, rather than requiring the regulated party to produce those reports, Miller said. Those reports will still have to be examined for possible mistakes and certified as accurate. "Hopefully, they will be a little more accurate from the start," O'Farrell said. 
 
 Those already using RINs1 can register for RINs2 and begin testing in 24 to 72 hours, Miller said. Those not registered can also do pretesting but the process to get them registered will take longer. All parties must register for EMTS, regardless if they are currently registered for RINs1, as there is no import mechanism for the old system to the new. 
 
 O'Farrell also encouraged ethanol producers to get registered for ETMS and learn the new system as early as possible. "A set up from the beginning is going to work for you in the end," she said. 
 
 To ask questions or to register, e-mail epafuelsprograms@epa.gov or call (202) 343-9755. 
 
 SOURCE: ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE

RINs improved as part of RFS2

Credit is tight. Whether you're trying to finance or refinance a project or simply stay afloat, credit issues have undoubtedly had an impact on your business in 2009. Securing financing for biodiesel facilities has never been an easy task. Even in 2007, when gas prices reached $4 a gallon and the credit markets contained a sufficient number of lenders willing to make a deal, biodiesel plant owners were required to doggedly pursue sources of investment and credit. Two years later, with gas at $2.60 a gallon and a recession that has battered the credit markets, biodiesel plant owners must have a laser-like focus on securing and maintaining financing to keep their business operating. Remaining viable in current economic conditions requires owners to consider how credit-both upstream and downstream of their operations-affects their ability to do business.
 
 
 Upstream: Working with Lenders
 
 The Federal Reserve recently reported that credit during the third quarter of 2009 remained especially tight for commercial and industrial loans. Banks that tightened credit requirements for business loans cited a reduced tolerance for risk, an uncertain economic outlook, and "industry-specific problems." During the quarter, 14 percent of polled banks increased standards for large commercial and industrial loans, while none reported relaxing standards. When credit is tight, the following approaches can help you achieve favorable outcomes with lenders. 
 
 Build your case Engage in some strategic thinking about why your business is uniquely qualified for credit in this market. What advantages do you have over your competitors that could reassure lenders of your ability to repay compared to others? Be realistic, but present this to your current or prospective lender in a convincing manner. Supplying numbers from reputable sources as evidence (of sales trends or market demands, for instance) will give your statements credibility and make them more compelling. 

 
 Disclose your weaknesses Lenders don't like surprises. Negative information will go over a lot better if you reveal it upfront rather than if it is discovered by your lender. Equip yourself with a practical plan for counteracting your weaknesses, including projected time frames for doing so. This is important whether you're working with your current lender or trying to find a new one. Disclose your problems before they show up in a periodic report. For example, maybe your earnings have been weak-or negative-over the past year. That's a weakness but certainly not a deal killer if you can realistically project positive cash flows and earnings in the near future.
 
 Choose your lender wisely If you can, do business with financially secure lenders. Particularly if you are relying on a line of credit for working capital, you need assurance that your lender will be available to provide it. You can learn a lot about FDIC insured banks by looking at the FDIC's website, www.fdic.gov. The site will provide financial information on insured institutions and reveal any formal enforcement actions that have been taken. 
 
 
 Downstream: Protect Yourself from Nonpaying Customers
 
 All businesses, including biodiesel producers, need to plan to avoid or minimize losses from customers who do not pay or file for bankruptcy. Facility operators can protect themselves by making extra efforts. 
 
 Know the customer If you're selling on credit terms, evaluate your customer's creditworthiness. Know what lines of credit and other resources your customer has available, and evaluate your customer's stability. You don't want to become your customer's long-term lender.
 
 Minimize credit exposure Tighten your credit terms and don't let your customers get too far behind on payments if you continue to supply them with fuel. Consider whether your credit terms need to be tightened, and require cash upfront or letters of credit where appropriate.
 
 No business will be successful in the long term without prudent credit management. These economic times have proven that point to far too many companies. Now is a good time to evaluate what has and hasn't worked during this downturn. Make immediate improvements where you can, and don't slack off when the economy improves.
 

 
 Ron Vaske is a partner in the Financial Institutions and Commercial Lending Practice Group of Lindquist & Vennum PLLP. He can be reached at (612) 371-3211 or r<a href="mailto:rvaske@lindquist.com.">vaske@lindquist.com</a>.

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Doing Business in a Tight Credit Market

Now that the U.S. EPA's Clean Air Act 2010 mandate to reduce nitrogen oxide diesel emissions is in effect, transportation professionals are no longer planning for the future-we're living it. The promise of 5 percent better fuel efficiency using SCR systems is a substantial economic carrot, but before we can bite into it, we have to overcome integrating new technology into our fleets and training our teams on best practices. 
 
 Randy Weiss, vice president of sales for Mid-Town Petroleum in Chicago, said there has been a lot of hype in the trucking and heavy-duty industry communities about diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). Last December, Mid-Town trained 12 team members in how to properly store, manage and distribute Air1, the DEF offered through Mansfield Oil's supply partner, Yara, the world's largest DEF manufacturer. Weiss cited that the extensive training offered by Mansfield and Yara was a core reason to go with the Air1 brand. Yara first began offering its DEF product in Europe four years ago, and now more diesel-powered vehicles worldwide use the Air1 solution than any other. 
 
 Mansfield is a national fuel distributor operating the largest commercial fuel distribution network in the U.S., and delivers more than 2 billion gallons of fuel to customers annually. The Mansfield DeliveryOne approach to supplying fleets accents local service, delivering DEF down the last mile through existing fuel, petroleum and lubricant jobbers, to fleets that are already doing business with Mansfield. The DeliveryOne network distinguishes itself as the only national DEF supply option backed with international supply depth. 
 
 Yara's Sluiskil plant in Netherlands is the largest DEF production facility on the planet. Mansfield partnered with Yara because it wanted a long-term partner with global reach. There is enough domestic DEF production right now, but when the demand curve for DEF spikes, Yara is in a supply position to meet demand from the large North American market. 
 
 Most North American DEF producers have already locked down supply arrangements. Cherokee Chemical, for example, supplies Yara and Mansfield exclusively, while Dyno Nobel provides DEF to highly specialized urea distributor Cervantes-Delgado. But domestic demand for DEF is going to be sluggish for the next few years. The investment to bring a plant online to produce at today's volumes doesn't make good business sense, which is why Mansfield's DeliveryOne offering relies not only on domestic production, but can also access the mature European DEF market through Yara.
 
 Looking at U.S.-based options, a company to watch is AirGas, a spin-off division of La Roche, a 100-year-old ammonia producer headquartered in Atlanta with 24 locations. Recently separated from its parent company, AirGas has deep experience in ammonia-related chemical manufacturing and distribution across a spectrum of industries, and has set its sights on being a DEF supply contender. 
 

 Another early supply contender is Terra Industries. The $2.8 billion dollar chemical company has 6 locations. They've chosen leading chemical distributor Brenntag as their exclusive partner.
 
 Air1 DEF was in place nationally as early as late last November. Mansfield's DeliveryOne locations weren't alone in getting product in place early. A number of truck stops are also carrying quantities of DEF. Pilot has 100 of its 310 truck stores stocked with DEF, and plans to add 25 facilities per quarter until each location carries both 2.5 and 1 gallon jugs. 
 
 Tom O'Brien, CEO of TravelCenters/Petro, said his company's 230 locations will offer gallon jugs of DEF for sale, bulk DEF dispensing tanks in all 1,000 maintenance bays in its service shops, and some bulk dispensing tanks at its fuel islands. "We have no concerns that we won't have enough DEF supply-we're getting all we need right now," he was quoted as saying in Fleet Owner in March. 
 
 National demand for DEF is projected to grow steadily but slowly in the next decade as fleet owners bring new engines online, replace existing engines with SCR-equipped ones, and rebalance fleets to take advantage of the fuel efficiencies around DEF. Overall national demand is expected to hit approximately 1 billion gallons per year by 2019. As you build out your own DEF strategy, consider these resources for up-to-date information:
 
 &bull; DEF information hub: OPIS offers an outstanding information portal on DEF news and developments at www.opisdef.com.
 &bull; DEF demand projections: Mansfield provides a free, interactive map of the U.S. on its Web site, www.mansfieldoil.com, under the tab "Air1 DEF," which shows the demand in annual gallons per state.
 &bull; DEF consumption calculator: At the same Web site, Mansfield provides a consumption calculator that allows you to enter the average fleet miles per truck, average miles per gallon, number of SCR-fitted trucks, to find out how much DEF you'll need for your fleet and how many DEF fill-ups to schedule per month.
 &bull; DEF legislation: Yara compiles global legislative information regarding nitrogen oxide emissions and DEF at http://us.air1.info/en/all-about-def/legislation/.
 
 Bob Gray is director of biofuels with Mansfield Oil, and Doug Haugh is executive vice president and chief information officer for Mansfield Oil. Reach them at (800) 695-6626.

February 2010

Business Briefs

Edmonton launches waste-to-biofuels project Web site

Dyadic Netherlands joins Kluyver Centre's Industrial Platform

Fagen EPC contractor for Southern Power biomass project

Rentech appoints Williams to its board of directors

Beijing recognizes DP CleanTech's technological achievements

Mascoma makes 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy list

River Consulting named 23rd fastest-growing firm

Bandit introduces new drum chipper

Fluid Imaging Technologies celebrates 10th anniversary

Metabolix named 2010 Technology Pioneer

GTE hires European sales director

Business Briefs

Columns

Making Sense of Indirect Land Use?

SCR Systems Go Mainstream

Feeling the Effects

Featured

Development to Deployment

Gasification Guru

Syngas Tasks

Carbon Capacity

Europe's Diesel Portfolio

Canadians Backing Biofuels

Year of the SCR System

Plant to Pump Paradigms

Contributions

Meeting the Challenge of Conducting Biomass-Related Business in Brazil

Colmac Energy's Secret to Success: Reliability and Maximum Uptime

February 2010.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Edmonton launches waste-to-biofuels project Web site

Dyadic Netherlands joins Kluyver Centre's Industrial Platform

Fagen EPC contractor for Southern Power biomass project

Rentech appoints Williams to its board of directors

Beijing recognizes DP CleanTech's technological achievements

Mascoma makes 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy list

River Consulting named 23rd fastest-growing firm

Bandit introduces new drum chipper

Fluid Imaging Technologies celebrates 10th anniversary

Metabolix named 2010 Technology Pioneer

GTE hires European sales director

Business Briefs

Columns

Making Sense of Indirect Land Use?

SCR Systems Go Mainstream

Feeling the Effects

Featured

Development to Deployment

Gasification Guru

Syngas Tasks

Carbon Capacity

Europe's Diesel Portfolio

Canadians Backing Biofuels

Year of the SCR System

Plant to Pump Paradigms

Contributions

Meeting the Challenge of Conducting Biomass-Related Business in Brazil

Colmac Energy's Secret to Success: Reliability and Maximum Uptime

February 2010