Highland Pellets ended 2016 on a high note, successfully producing a test batch of pellets at its flagship pellet plant on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. The first few weeks of 2017 were spent making minor adjustments before the first of four 150,000-ton-capacity production lines were fired up in early February. Each line will be commissioned sequentially, with subsequent lines turned on every three months. On this schedule, the company hopes to reach full capacity in November.
Project developers chose the 209-acre Pine Bluff plant site because of the area&rsquo;s deep fiber basket and strong logistics chain to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Southern Yellow Pine from managed forests serves as the plant&rsquo;s feedstock source, with most coming from forest thinnings, in addition to tree tops, low-grade trees without an end market, and mill residuals. Although the pellets Highland produces with this raw material will service Drax Power Ltd.&rsquo;s power station in the U.K., the company recognizes what the pellet operation brings to U.S. soil. Highland Pellets&rsquo; founder, Tom Reilley, and his team believe wood pellets are an important new market for sustaining working forests. &ldquo;We are big fans of the industry, and we think it&rsquo;s really important that the sustainability story is told,&rdquo; Reilley says.&nbsp;
Sustainably sourcing raw material for the plant is estimated to result in 350 to 400 direct cutting and hauling jobs, which are in addition to the bookkeeper, tire salesman, gasoline attendant, spare parts manufacturer, banker and others beyond the forest. According to Reilley, construction of the plant resulted in up to 900 jobs on top of the plant&rsquo;s 68 direct employees.&nbsp; Design Difference Highland was only able to execute its vision effectively with the help of its partners, including Astec Inc., Wagner Construction, Nexus Program Management Group, Weyerhaeuser Services, Entergy Arkansas and Union Pacific. Astec supplied the vast majority of the plant equipment (conveyors, drying equipment, etc.) from its own group of Astec companies, allowing it to pre-engineer the plant. &ldquo;We design the equipment on a modular basis, so that means that most of the equipment is completed here in a shop environment, and is highly shippable,&rdquo; says Malcolm Swanson, president of Astec, from the company&rsquo;s headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee. &ldquo;That gives us better control of the construction of the equipment, and enables us to deliver equipment in a more completed and higher-quality state.&rdquo;
Astec channeled its decades of experience making asphalt plants into designing pellet operations. &ldquo;A lot of what we had in terms of equipment, knowledge and expertise were applicable, so it seemed to be a natural place to expand our business,&rdquo; Swanson says. Astec built and operated a 5-ton-per-hour prototype plant at its facilities in Chattanooga, prior to building full-scale. The Pine Bluff facility is Astec&rsquo;s second commercial pellet plant project, having completed previous work on Fram Renewable Energy&rsquo;s 500,000-metric-ton pellet plant in Hazlehurst, Georgia.
The Pine Bluff facility&rsquo;s production lines are built independent of each other for maximum redundancy and reliability. &ldquo;If a critical piece of equipment goes down on one line, the other three can continue to operate,&rdquo; says Jody Doak, Highland&rsquo;s plant manager. &ldquo;This is far from the norm, as most facilities rely on single pieces of critical equipment. Astec&rsquo;s design allows for redundancy in lines keeping facility downtime to a minimum.&rdquo;
Doak adds that in other areas of the mill internal to each individual line, Astec provides additional &ldquo;spares&rdquo; in the design. For example, four pellet mills are required for each line at full production rates, while five pellet mills are supplied. This spare gives Highland the capability of maintaining optimal production rates with minimal negative impact, should a piece of equipment fail. &ldquo;While we cannot have a spare for every step of the process, Astec has done a great job at identifying areas more prone to production challenges and designed around it,&rdquo; Doak says.
Andritz Inc. supplied the pellet plant with 20 PM30, 500-horsepower pellet mills, as well as ancillary equipment like conditioners and lubrication systems. &ldquo;Every bit of our equipment is there on-site, and line one is fully installed,&rdquo; says Mike Curci, Andritz North American capital sales manager for biomass. According to Curci, Andritz also signed an agreement to supply Highland with aftermarket support service for an extended length of time.
Another unique component to Astec&rsquo;s pellet plant design is its drying system, which differs from the conventional convection-type dryer. Highland uses a hot oil tube dryer, which rotates with approximately 550 tubes carrying&nbsp; heat transfer oil. &ldquo;The mechanism of providing heat for the drying process is by flow of oil through the tubes in the dryer, and then the material is tumbled over the heated tubes,&rdquo; Swanson says. &ldquo;The temperature of the tubes is around 500 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit, so it&rsquo;s a lot cooler than the convection dryers, and we think a safer dryer, and it&rsquo;s more gentle on material.&rdquo;
Even though this project is only the second commercial-scale pellet plant Astec has provided equipment for, it&rsquo;s gone smoothly. And for experienced civil contractor Wagner Construction Inc., it was the company&rsquo;s pellet project debut. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been looking at different market segments,&rdquo; says Kalan Wagner, president of the company. &ldquo;The wood pellet industry is relatively new, and we looked at it as a market to get into.&rdquo; According to Wagner, the company&rsquo;s involvement consisted of first clearing and grubbing over 200 acres, then installing all of the site utilities and mass grading over 500,000 cubic yards of dirt. Wagner Construction also built a double-loop track railcar system for the project site, and completed all of the structure excavation and backfill for all of the pellet plant components.
The company was tasked with the extra challenge of stabilizing the soil, as the area received record rainfall, but Wagner says his crew was able to keep the civil portion of the project on schedule, which was a &ldquo;big feat.&rdquo; Although soil stabilization was needed to keep the project on track, he adds, the project essentially took one year from notice to proceed until the first pellets were produced. A portion of the Wagner Construction crew is still on the site completing structure excavation, backfill, placing aggregates and concrete paving, but Wagner estimates that the work will be complete within four or five months. &ldquo;The whole team on this project has worked together to produce a high-quality project on schedule and on budget,&rdquo; he says.
Other partners agree. &ldquo;Candidly, we&rsquo;ve been impressed by the way this project has gone, by what we&rsquo;re seeing thus far,&rdquo; says Ben Hubbard, Nexus PMG president. Nexus PMG represents Highland&rsquo;s construction team as independent engineering consultants. Half of Nexus PMG&rsquo;s business is working with private equity and commercial lenders, but the other half is focused on owner&rsquo;s engineering, which is the role it took on with the Highland team. The company was brought on during prefinancial close to put together the project execution plan, project schedule, and support in due-diligence efforts. During project execution, Nexus was tasked with managing all of the cost budgets, monitoring the contingency profile, handling change order requests from the contractors, and more.
Although this is Wagner&rsquo;s first pellet plant project, Nexus PMG is no stranger to the industry. &ldquo;We work pretty heavily in that space; we&rsquo;ve worked with many of the major wood pellet producers in North America, and we&rsquo;ve worked on various biomass power plant conversion projects in Europe, representing lenders, contractors and developers,&rdquo; Hubbard says. &ldquo;The Highland project is the first time we&rsquo;ve engaged with the Astec modular design, which is very different than your traditional black box design where you&rsquo;re sourcing all of the major equipment from various suppliers, and designing and assembling it yourself.&rdquo;
Because of the modular design, the main process areas are well understood at the start of the project, thus minimizing design and execution risk, according to Hubbard. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited to be part of a project that could potentially deliver pellets to the market much faster than any that we&rsquo;ve seen in our experience, and we&rsquo;ve seen quite a few,&rdquo; he says. Strong Logistics At full production, Highland could receive 160 truck deliveries of roundwood thinnings and mill residuals each day. &ldquo;All of our feedstock will come from recognized sustainable sources through our procurement agent, Weyerhaeuser,&rdquo; says Rob McKenzie, Highland&rsquo;s managing director. The company has built solid relationships with local foresters such as Bobby Taylor of Shelby Taylor Trucking, he adds, as well as the Arkansas Forestry Association, of which Highland is a member.
Sustainability is key for the company&rsquo;s operation, and it&rsquo;s currently undergoing certification through the Sustainable Biomass Partnership. Highland uses a track-and-trace system that is able to record the GPS location and contract number of every delivery of fiber that is brought to the site. &ldquo;The truck driver provides the weigh bridge with a ticket that has a bar code, so we can quickly scan all the data into our system to check that the fiber has been sourced from legal and sustainable land according to our contracts,&rdquo; McKenzie explains. &ldquo;If the truck does not have a correct ticket, then it does not enter our site.&rdquo;
Once the raw material arrives at the site, there will be different storage areas for the fiber, as well as for the final product after it&rsquo;s produced. &ldquo;We have five dedicated silos that are each capable of holding 1,000 metric tons,&rdquo; McKenzie says. &ldquo;We are also able to store pellets in spare rail cars.&rdquo;
Pellets for shipment are loaded into 5,700-cubic-foot enclosed rail cars by an overhead hopper. Each car will be able to hold about 89 metric tons. &ldquo;We will then use Union Pacific mainline rail to transport the pellets directly to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge using unit trains that will be 80 to 100 cars in length, with six to seven trains per month at full capacity,&rdquo; McKenzie says.
The cars are unloaded by gates below each car into a rail dump at the port before returning to Pine Bluff. &ldquo;The total turnaround time for each train will be four to five days, depending on train length,&rdquo; McKenzie says. &ldquo;We will have enough rail cars to fill two unit trains, so as soon as the train returns to our site, we will have the cars loaded to dispatch the next unit train.&rdquo; Long-Term Bullish Come May, Highland&rsquo;s pellets will ship to Drax via Supramax or Panamax vessels, depending on the delivery schedule. Drax Biomass owns the storage domes and loading equipment at the port. According to Reilley, Highland's delivery of pellets to the port, combined with Drax&rsquo;s existing pellet infrastructure, has been a huge success story for the port. &ldquo;This has led the port to commit to expanding the rail infrastructure at the port to enable delivery of longer unit trains,&rdquo; he says.
Highland Pellets also plans on expanding. &ldquo;Now that our business model has been proven, we are excited to explore other sites in Stephens, Arkansas, and in Enterprise, Mississippi,&rdquo; Reilley says. The company is currently pursuing the requisite permitting requirements.
If built, Reilley says, these would be 600,000-plus-metric-ton pellet facilities, similar in design and contract chain to the facility at Pine Bluff. Highland is targeting Stephens as its next site, and, if developed, it would supply the Port of Greater Baton Rouge with a further 600,000 metric tons of pellets. Reilley says they are in discussion with other European and Japanese customers regarding supply from the south Arkansas and Enterprise development sites, but which will be utilized, and when, depends on securing an offtake contract, and the customer preference for which port used for export.
As project developers and partners know, developments such as Pine Bluff take considerable time. In fact, the facility saw a delay from its original March 2016 completion date, due to the successive number of regulatory and political developments that increased market uncertainty and prevented buyers from being able to commit to an offtake. These included the European Commission&rsquo;s lengthy state aid investigation into the U.K. government&rsquo;s award of a contract for difference for a Drax unit conversion, the end of renewable obligation certificate grandfathering, a U.K. election outcome that raised significant questions about the country&rsquo;s future energy policies, the end of renewable exemption from the U.K. Climate Change Levy, and the Levy Control Framework budget overspend, which led to widespread reduction in subsidies for some renewable technologies. &ldquo;The industry needs periods of political and regulatory stability in order to be able to make significant long-term investments,&rdquo; Reilley says. Another consideration for project development, he adds, has been the local workforce. &ldquo;Our experience with the people of Pine Bluff has been inspiring and uplifting.&rdquo;
Highland is long-term bullish about the future of the market, and so are its industry partners. Curci says Andritz expects the company and industry to continue to grow for several more years in regions throughout North America and abroad. &ldquo;We look forward to see what the future has for many years in the space, and continue in development and process improvement,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Also, we continue to work on improving the machinery to reduce the operational cost and production of pellets.&rdquo;
Astec, too, hopes to continue working in the industry, using its success stories with Fram and Highland as leverage. &ldquo;The whole industry is in a little bit of a lull at the moment, but those in the industry who should know are saying it will be a short-lived lull,&rdquo; Swanson says. &ldquo;We are working on proposals for projects that other companies are currently planning to put together.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Associate Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 kfletcher@bbiinternational.com

A total of 68 direct employees will work in four different rotating crews 24/7 at Highlandâ€™s Pine Bluff pellet plant, once operational. The $200 million plant, including financing costs and contingencies, is budgeted for 7,500 hours of operation a 

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Highland Pellets undertook four sustainability audits with NSF International during December, and has already received three certifications. Highland hopes to achieve SBP certification within the next couple of months. 

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As its primary process heat source, Highland Pellets' Pine Bluff plant burns wet bark in a Sigma Thermal bark-burning furnace. One furnace is used for each line.

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While pellets produced at Highland Pellets' new facility leave for overseas, the benefits remain in the surrounding community of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 

True  Sustainability  in Pine Bluff

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. is a penny stock traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange operated by CNSX Markets Inc., which was recognized as a stock exchange in 2004. The CSE is described as an &ldquo;alternative stock exchange.&rdquo;
Some larger public companies trading on major stock exchanges are unwilling to share anything outside of what&rsquo;s been presented in press releases, filings and required documentation, while smaller penny-stock businesses traded on securities exchanges are often more willing to discuss plans, visions and intentions. The lingo of publicly traded companies is a complex language unto itself&mdash;convertible debentures, private placements, tranches, public shells, exercisable warrants. Ironically, the disclosure requirements for public companies necessitate transparency but deciphering the code and navigating the trail of meandering business deals can be challenging. One phrase used often by these firms, however, is the all-too-clear &ldquo;forward-looking statements.&rdquo;
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says the term &ldquo;penny stock&rdquo; refers to a security issued by a very small company that trades at less than $5 per share. Penny stocks are commonly quoted over-the-counter, but they may also trade on securities exchanges. &ldquo;Penny stocks are generally considered speculative investments,&rdquo; states the SEC. &ldquo;Consequently, investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment.&rdquo;
CWS has been developing its technology, designed to convert a myriad of refuse feedstock into renewable diesel, for 13 years at a cost of $16 million, says CEO Don Allan. &ldquo;And $9 million of that came from my own family,&rdquo; he says. The technology is referred to as thermal catalytic depolymerization (TCD).
Allan says his background is in mechanical engineering and, on the business management side, specializing in &ldquo;small companies that are in rough shape, taking them to international standards, and selling them off,&rdquo; he tells Biomass Magazine. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done it a few times, building corporations up.&rdquo; After being asked to help save an anhydrous ammonia plant in northern Alberta&rsquo;s oil sands as natural gas prices rose above $6, Allan thought to use the hydrogen reformer on-site to lighten heavy crude. &ldquo;I thought it was a good business model, but we found out it was going to be a multibillion-dollar upgrade,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;Our budget went from $800 million to $2.3 billion and there was no longer a return on investment.&rdquo;
Afterward, with the employ of Canadian engineers, Allan says he began to focus on waste-to-energy technologies, including gasification. &ldquo;We felt it wasn&rsquo;t enough of a return on investment creating power out of gasification technologies,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;so we began looking for a higher return. We found some technologies using waste to make low-grade fuel, and we began putting a lot of money into them, but we were frustrated with their abilities. So we ended up buying the only existing plant in the world that could do what we wanted to do. We brought it back here to Alberta, changed the technology significantly and changed the catalyst for our thermal catalytic depolymerization process. We conducted an international patent search and didn&rsquo;t find anything like this, so we decided to move forward.&rdquo;
Michael Yeung, a business development and financial advisor to CWS, says there&rsquo;s a lot of interest in CWS&rsquo;s TCD technology to produce renewable diesel from trash. &ldquo;The waste industry is the fastest growing one we have today&mdash;everyone&rsquo;s got a garbage problem,&rdquo; Yeung says. &ldquo;The biggest hurdle now is finding the right investors to step in at this current moment.&rdquo;
The roots of CWS and its demo plant are in gold and mineral mining and oil exploration. CWS was previously called Cielo Gold Corp. until the company changed direction and its name in 2013. The demo plant was property of Blue Horizon Bio-diesel (BHBD) owned by Blue Horizon Industries, also involved in mining, construction and oil exploration. &ldquo;It was obvious to us that if we were going to raise capital, we were going to require a public shell to purchase, as the shareholders investing into green companies would not be happy with the mining and oil exploration companies,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;We looked at Northcore Technologies as the public shell, as it had $800,000 cash and was listed on a larger stock exchange than Cielo Gold. It turned out that we found many issues that we could not overcome, so we decided to drop the purchase of the company. Cielo Gold was an empty shell with no assets, so it was a simple purchase, and then a change of name and direction for the company.&rdquo;
As for the demo plant, Allan says CWS operated the facility for four years but didn&rsquo;t complete the purchase from BHBD to Cielo until fall 2016. &ldquo;There was no rush to do this, but it was the last asset in BHBD, and now we are winding that [company] down, so the time was right to make the final transfer. I am president of BHBD, so there was never any issue of the sale or timing.&rdquo;
Allan says he spent years working on catalyst development to process municipal solid waste, and then a number of different feedstocks. &ldquo;We then spent two years working on catalyst vs. various feedstocks and determined the best all-purpose catalyst,&rdquo; he says. CWS hired a company named 1888711 Alberta Inc., which was incorporated April 2015, to further develop the technology, Allan says. &ldquo;They had the engineers and financing to complete the work we had been doing. We then agreed to pay them a royalty for their investment, and signed a world licensing agreement with them &hellip; We&rsquo;ve engineered this thing to death, and we&rsquo;re hoping to write the patent in the next few months covering the U.S. and Canada.&rdquo;
On June 24, 2014, CWS entered into an agreement with Seattle-based New Fuel International Inc., which gave NFI the exclusive right to market and produce renewable biofuel derived from industrial biomass waste streams, initially in the U.S. states of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. NFI&rsquo;s responsibilities were to include securing biomass feedstock, triggering offtake agreements, managing operations, marketing, sales, and providing financing for the different NFI projects. At that point, NFI was incorporated for less than three weeks. When asked about this, Allan says, &ldquo;NFI was a small buyer of biodiesel and renewable fuels based in Spokane, but we [subsequently] decided to let this contract lapse and sign with a much larger buyer, Elbow River Marketing, as they are local and we would like to sell our product here in Alberta, as it would significantly be an advantage over the importers.&rdquo;
In March 2016, CWS signed a long-term lease for more than 2 acres and a right of first refusal on an additional 8 acres in Edmonton. &ldquo;And there&rsquo;s another 100 acres behind that,&rdquo; Allan says. Here CWS planned to build a 1,000-liter-per-hour refinery using its TCD technology. The site is in Edmonton&rsquo;s Heartland Industrial area on a major highway close to suppliers, buyers and manufacturers. &ldquo;We always planned to have that as our startup,&rdquo; or first commercial proving grounds, for CWS&rsquo;s TCD technology to produce renewable diesel from waste. &ldquo;Then, when the opportunity came along to pick up an idle biodiesel plant, we thought that was much quicker and less risk.&rdquo; High River In November, CWS announced the signing of a commercial purchase agreement with XR Resources Inc. to buy property in High River, Alberta, near Calgary, which includes a 16 MMly (4.2 MMgy) biodiesel plant formerly owned by Western Biodiesel Inc. Allan says the plant was built in 2009 for $10.2 million, and shut down in 2013. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in good shape,&rdquo; he says. The purchase price was for $2.3 million, with 5 million common shares at 6 cents apiece, and $2 million in cash. Allan says construction costs to retrofit the plant will be an additional $6.3 million. The company is conducting two private placements to raise that cash&mdash;one for the construction costs, and another $1 million for operating capital. Yeung says although the company is still in the middle of raising the construction funds, CWS has strong indications this will come through. &ldquo;The team is ecstatic,&rdquo; Yeung says.
&ldquo;The High River plant&mdash;we&rsquo;re not putting any lipstick on it,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s cheap, dirty and will have a lot of used material. We plan to put the least amount of money possible to prove our technology works.&rdquo; The plan is to start with 1,000 liters per hour, or slightly more than 2 MMgy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re designing for a much larger plant, but want to be conservative,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;We want to walk this up nice and slowly. We don&rsquo;t want to risk 13 years and $16 million.&rdquo; He says the biodiesel technology itself is stripped out of the plant. &ldquo;Basically what&rsquo;s left behind is what we can use&mdash;the tank farm, boilers, coolers, the lab, offices,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;A lot of these pieces lower our capital expenses by 40 percent and speeds us through construction.&rdquo;
CWS is not investing in feedstock handling and preparation in High River either, as the company plans to use sawdust supplied by Parkland Chip Products Ltd. &ldquo;We have enough feedstock in place for the first six plants,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;One in High River and five in Edmonton.&rdquo;
The process will begin with sawdust being delivered in a 53-foot truck. The product will move to a hopper, and then to silos. Allan says the feedstock must be mixed with a medium to create a slurry, otherwise, it plugs up operations. &ldquo;We could use animal tallow, yellow grease or canola, but that&rsquo;s too expensive,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We thought about using heavy oil from up north, but we decided on used motor oil, it&rsquo;s very inexpensive.&rdquo; In March 2016, CWS signed a multiyear agreement with Dipper Oil Recycling for the purchase of used motor oil. Allan says the oil and sawdust are blended in a 50/50 ratio. The idea is to continuously recycle the oil, but Allan says a small percentage of it gets cracked in the process and becomes part of the finished fuel. &ldquo;About 8 percent gets turned into diesel,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not looking to crack that. At first we were cracking way more than we wanted to, so it was important to find a catalyst that wouldn&rsquo;t crack the used motor oil. We&rsquo;re down to between 6 and 8 percent now that still gets converted. We&rsquo;re trying to recycle as much of that as possible.&rdquo;
The materials will be blended and heated, and then enter a dehydration process to remove moisture followed by a desulfurization process. From there, the pretreated feedstock will enter a reaction tower in which the zeolite-based proprietary catalyst is introduced. After reaction, the product will move to a fractionation tower out of which will be distilled three products: naphtha, kerosene and diesel. Allan says the residual waste product will be run through one more reactor to further break it down into more naphtha, kerosene and diesel. Then, different fuel conditioning tanks will be utilized to meet client specifications, he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have a small waste stream&mdash;sulfur, asphalt and water that we dispose of,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;We will use a flare stack, but we will not flare on a regular basis, just in emergencies.&rdquo;
The process is intolerant of water, he adds, so CWS will spend a lot of money making sure the product is dry. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t put more than 2 percent moisture in the process,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;Steam is a real problem. We run at atmospheric pressure. Our reaction time from the reactor to the frac tower is seconds. As soon as the catalyst hits the feedstock, it converts within two seconds. Normally, it takes 15 to 18 seconds, so our energy costs are minute, comparatively.&rdquo;
Just days after announcing its intention to purchase the old Western Biodiesel plant, CWS announced it had awarded construction contracts for the retrofit. The fabrication work will be provided by Advanced Metal &amp; Lyncorp Manufacturing Ltd. just down the road. The electrical and instrumentation work has been awarded to Electech Contracting Ltd. out of Calgary. Kwik-Fab Energy Services in Sundre, Alberta, will perform millwright work. Kwik-Fab worked closely with CWS on maintenance services at its demo plant in Red Deer, according to CWS. &ldquo;It's been a great experience to work on the demo plant with Cielo and Don,&rdquo; Mark Haldane, vice president of operations at Kwik-Fab, stated in CWS&rsquo;s press release. &ldquo;In addition to the opportunity to bring diversity into a new industry, it&rsquo;s been particularly exciting to witness and be a part of this new technology. I believe it&rsquo;s an excellent opportunity for us and everyone involved.&rdquo; CWS says the contracted construction companies have agreed to assist CWS in financing the retrofit by deferring profits until the plant is operational and earning revenues.
One of the main differences between the demo process and the one to be employed in High River is the need to move from batch to continuous operations. &ldquo;We need to run continuously,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where the risk is. Also, the amount of catalyst we use for the cracking&mdash;if we use three times more than we planned for, that&rsquo;ll change our economics. But we believe the catalyst will work. We spent four years on it, we&rsquo;re very confident we&rsquo;ve eliminated that risk.&rdquo; The small size of CWS&rsquo;s first commercial plant, 2 MMgy, is critical, too, he says. &ldquo;If we have problems, it&rsquo;ll be tens of thousands of dollars to fix vs. tens of millions. So that&rsquo;s a good reason start small and walk it up from there. That&rsquo;s our business philosophy. Our competitors need scale but, for us, we&rsquo;re using such cheap feedstock we can start small and walk it up.&rdquo;
Allan claims the renewable diesel produced in CWS&rsquo;s process is functional down to minus 120 degrees Celsius (minus 184 Fahrenheit). &ldquo;It has no freezing point that we have found,&rdquo; he says. His plan is to supply the oft-frigid Canadian markets with fuel to help meet federal and provincial biomass-based diesel mandates and reduce the need for imported product. &ldquo;The governments keep increasing the mandates, but nobody is producing up here,&rdquo; Allan says. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s important to say we&rsquo;ve built this company without subsidies. We need to know that we can operate with whatever government is in place. We need to be profitable, and we&rsquo;ve done that. We know we can compete with fossil fuels, even if the mandates fell aside.&rdquo;
He says, &ldquo;fingers crossed,&rdquo; High River should be producing by fall 2017. Once that is commissioned and the company gets comfortable with operations and performance, the plan is to double capacity on-site. Afterward, CWS intends to concentrate on the Edmonton site where it can build production units modularly. Allan says he hopes to break ground there by Q1 2018.
&ldquo;When we first commercially produce, this will be an exciting, exciting stock to watch,&rdquo; Yeung says. &ldquo;A world changer.&rdquo; With its precious metal mining roots, whether CWS can turn trash into gold&mdash;or its dreams into cash returns for investors&mdash;remains to be seen. Author: Ron Kotrba Senior Editor, Biomass Magazine 218-745-8347 rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. interrupted its business plans to commercialize the companyâ€™s renewable diesel technology from the ground up in Edmonton, Alberta, when it purchased the abandoned Western Biodiesel plant near Calgary. 

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With help from investors, Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. plans to fast-track deployment of its renewable diesel technology at a shuttered, gutted biodiesel plant in Alberta. 

Commercial Proving Grounds

The first few weeks of President Trump in office have created both a new fascination with Washington, D.C., and uncertainty surrounding the renewable fuel standard (RFS) program. If uncertainty is a bad word for business and a good word for traders, we will have plenty of both unhappy and happy people, respectively, with the state of the renewable fuels sector.
Given this state, I would like to provide an overview of the outstanding issues confronting the industry writ large, in hopes of honing in on the true priorities for the industry over the next six months. First, we must finalize the 2017 renewable volume obligation (RVO) rule for the RFS program. Second, we must push for the 2018 mandates to be published before the Nov. 30 deadline to send a strong signal for next year. Third, we must support the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s denial of the petitions to move the point of obligation under the RFS. Finally, we must engage on tax reform proposals, as alterations to tax policy have the potential to help or hinder the development of our industry, particularly biodiesel and advanced cellulosic fuels.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The 2017 RVO rule, finalized in November, was caught in the melee of the new administration&rsquo;s regulatory reform efforts, which froze all regulations issued by the Obama administration between Oct. 30 and Jan. 20. If the new administration chooses to, it could tinker with the final numbers by engaging in a process to review the current mandates, propose an alternative, and solicit comments on the revisions. It goes without saying that the annual RVO rule is the bedrock of the RFS program, and the EPA&rsquo;s timely publication of the mandates for ethanol, biomass-based diesel, and cellulosic fuels is essential. Although I believe chances are low that the new administration will attempt to alter the 2017 RVO rule, it is incumbent upon all parties in the renewable fuels sector to encourage the new administrator to finalize the existing rule, as proposed, without delay.
Second, the new administration will have to hit the ground running to propose the 2018 RVO rule for public comment by early June. We should work with the EPA to keep the process on schedule, for we all remember vividly how strong the negative impact was when it took the EPA three years to publish the RVOs for 2013, 2014 and 2015. The industry&mdash;and particularly the advanced industry&mdash;cannot stand to be left in suspended animation for more time if we are going to support the RFS program&rsquo;s growth.
Third, moving the point of obligation is a Trojan horse. Doing so would lead to the demise of the RFS by fundamentally shifting the power at the fuels distribution rack, and raising overall prices for both sellers and consumers of fuels across the country. Ironically, the very people who chose not to invest in compliance with the RFS program would be the ones rewarded with market power. Parties that had worked toward compliance would be left paying the bill. Therefore, we must comment in support of the EPA&rsquo;s published denial of the petitions to move the point of obligation.&nbsp;
Fourth, tax reform is on the agenda, and we must come to the table to participate in this effort. On the offense, we have an opportunity to extend the biodiesel blenders credit and the second-generation and alternative fuels credits. On the defense, the industry stands to be affected by the border adjustment tax, as it may impact many of our customers. These are complex and weighty issues, but we must remain informed and actively participate in these negotiations to protect our markets, our sellers, and our end users. The current proposal on the border adjustment tax would shift over a trillion dollars in the economy, a risky move without a firm understanding of the winners and losers in such a shift.
A final note: As always, we must continue to support the budget and rulemakings in the various agencies that we rely on for permits and pathway approvals under the RFS program. Let&rsquo;s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.&nbsp;
This year is shaping up to be a most fluid and challenging year. Mark some dates on your calendar to visit Washington, D.C., in the coming months. As we engage with the Congress and the administration in this brave new world, our industry&rsquo;s engagement will be imperative. Author: Michael McAdams President, Advanced Biofuels Association michael.mcadams@hklaw.com www.advancedbiofuelsassociation.com

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Advanced Biofuel Association President Michael McAdams provides an overview of the outstanding issues confronting the industry, and outlines priorities of the next six months. 

The RFS in 2017: A Brave New World 

Its 10th century B.C., and you walk into one of several heated baths in the Assyrian Empires capital after a long, hot day. In 16th century A.D., you do the same with Persian baths.&nbsp; In Victorian London, you find yourself walking along the streets of a lighted city. What do these events in history have in common?&nbsp; They all utilize that same source of energy, one of the oldest and most renewable sources of energy: biogas from anaerobic digestion.&nbsp;
Even without technological advances or engineering marvels, the baths of Persia, Assyria and others, as well as the lighted lamps of Victorian London, operated efficiently and without fail.&nbsp; Of the more common renewable energy sources, biogas is one of the oldest, and the most sustainable.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The anaerobic digestion process, unlike most any other energy-producing process, relies upon a workforce we do not see&mdash;microbes that consist of bacteria and methanogens working hand-in-hand to achieve the best results they can. In their world, perfection is making the most available food sources accessible for the next in their assembly line. To give equally for what they take, the bacteria work to break down the carbon compounds into lower fatty acid chains, or volatile fatty acids, which methanogens use to convert with hydrogen into methane gas. Along with producing low-chain carbons, many of these bacteria also produce hydrogen as a waste product, or a more complex carbon dioxide gas (CO2). Methanogens use these volatile fatty acids and CO2&nbsp; as food sources, and the hydrogen as an energy source to produce methane gas.
By ensuring we have the right bacteria to work in conjecture with our friendly neighborhood methanogens, we can achieve higher than anticipated yields. Ever wonder why some digesters thrive at 75 percent methane, and other stumble and struggle at 40 percent? Engineering does play a part in this, but not as significantly as one may think. Biology is equally important. Knowing which biology works best for the feedstocks you have is a vital component to your success. To determine this without impairing or risking the success of your current production, we are called to utilize Biochemical Methane Potential Test Systems (BMP), methods by which we can simulate our exact criteria, mixing timings and speeds, and operating temperatures. Using exact feedstocks makes a difference, as the naturally occurring biology is different in one region then it is in another. We may find strong sulfate-consuming bacteria as a part of a recipe in sulfur-rich water regions, but find more aggressive, carbon-hungry munchers like Clostridium in another region. It is vital to use what exists naturally, and find a compliment to help it work more effectively. To do this, one may find that simple enzymes that stimulate current biology may be enough, other times we one may find the need to introduce additional bacteria to help break down those longer chain bacteria. Whatever the solution, in the era in which we live, there are plenty of options, and plenty of opportunities to find the right solutions. It may take 10 attempts, maybe even 20, but if one is patient and continues to pound at it, the most fitting solution for the digester will be found.&nbsp;
Technology has advanced over the millennium since man discovered anaerobic digestion, but only recently, with growth of our understanding of the microbial world, have we come to understand the use of outside microbial additives. This understanding is new, and even our understanding of the microbes themselves is still evolving.&nbsp; It has only been in the last couple decades that we understood that Archaea (the class of organisms that methanogens belong to) is not even a true bacterium. The world went through its technical revolution, and is now entering what one could refer to as the microbial revolution. Where we once thought everything needed to be steamed and made void of biology, we now understand that some of these biological entities are our friends. This friendship extends to our energy production within anaerobic digestion.
Often, it&rsquo;s mistakenly assumed that this biology will evolve to suit our needs, and forgotten that these organisms are subjective to specific living conditions. Overloading with metals or minerals can become toxic. Digesters can obtain upset stomachs and upset biology, just as we do. Just as occasionally we are required to watch our diet, we need to do the same for our digesters.
In the end, we wish to see methane gas, CH4, in the highest possible form. We know from research and practical application that we can see 70 percent CH4 or, on occasion higher, in a healthy digester system. So how do we get there?&nbsp; How do we get to the Holy Grail that we all know is possible but struggle so aimlessly to acquire?&nbsp; The thing to understand is this: CH4 is produced by methanogens, and methanogens prefer fatty acid chains that are 1-6 carbons in length, simple foods. These fatty acids are known as volatile fatty acids. For this to occur, enter our trusty bacteria friends.&nbsp;
The process of breaking down the fatty acid chains is likely the most important step in the entire process. To break these medium- to long-chain fatty acids, and even very long-chain fatty acids, down into simpler fatty acid chains that the methanogens can consume, is a key to every digester&rsquo;s efficiency.&nbsp; Whether we break down these chains using ultrasonic or other mechanical methodologies, spend our resources working to ensure the right biology is present, or even a combination of both, this is the key stage for an anaerobic digester&rsquo;s productivity. How well these fatty acid chains get broken down into more amiable forms is what allows a digester to be successful.
So how can one determine the right bacterial amendment for a digester?&nbsp; The simplest means is to perform side-by-side BMP analysis utilizing the standard operational procedure and typical feedstocks, against potential biological additives offered in the industry. In this manner, one can dictate the production capabilities of a digester with and without these biological additives, answering whether or not it is worth the cost, time and the effort. Do these additives result in enough increase to justify those costs?&nbsp; In my experience, I have yet to encounter a situation in which we did not find a product that was the perfect solution to far exceed current production levels. In some cases, these increases were to the magnitude of 200 percent increases. In others, it was a meager 30 percent increase in production, but for over 20 digester simulations, we have seen increases 100 percent of the time over the standard input.
BMPs and biologicals are a very important tool combination for anaerobic digesters. Many debate the efficiency of BMP work as being typically 25 to 30 percent, but the reality is in the way the BMP work is completed.&nbsp; If it uses a biological inoculant that the digester is not utilizing, then the overall results can easily be 25 percent, or even 50 percent off.
Why are BMP results so different than actual real life results? If you seed your digester only once, the benefits of the introduced bacteria are lost over time, as these populations either wither away or are diluted to nonexistence. A BMP is a batch reactor, working under the assumption that the digester is fed the same constantly, with the right blends of nutrients and metals. Staff should be well-enough educated to look for red flags, and to know the yellow flags when they first appear. Ensure your digester is always kept well-trained and in top mechanical condition, working to its best ability. Don&rsquo;t shortchange your success by limiting your digester&rsquo;s biological capability to fully process carbon into energy. Your biology is one-third your success. As in business, the difference between the red and the black can sometimes be as small as a 10 percent factor.&nbsp;
Where there is a will, there is a way. Find the will to succeed by applying today&rsquo;s sciences and technologies to your digester&rsquo;s successful operations. Author: Will Charlton President, Digester Doc wcharlton@digesterdoc.com 208-731-3234
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).

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Ensuring a digester has the right bacteria to work in conjecture with methanogens can lead to higher-than-anticipated yields and a more profitable operation.

Biologicals and BMPS: A Modern  Digester's Blueprint for Success

In January 1982, the same year that a small welding and manufacturing company in Bark River in Michigan&rsquo;s Upper Peninsula was officially incorporated,&nbsp; it built and installed a biomass heating system at the nearby North Central Area&rsquo;s high school building in Powers, Michigan. The area surrounding the community of Powers is rich in timber, and the school, hoping to capitalize on abundant streams of waste wood, made the decision to heat its facility with biomass. The project was the first of its kind for Messersmith Manufacturing Inc., and it provided the young company with a successful case study it could point to, right in its own backyard.
The system was built in parallel to the existing natural gas system, tucked neatly into the basement of the school. When the facility was built, the school received fuel deliveries in much smaller quantities, typically by small, dump-truck sized loads. At the time, the on-site storage capabilities were well suited for the existing waste wood collection and delivery infrastructure. This didn&rsquo;t last long, however, and eventually, the fuel delivery infrastructure completely outgrew the fuel receiving operation.
Brett Harter, head of maintenance and transportation at North Central Area School, joined the district staff in time to have operated the original system. &ldquo;It would take anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours to unload a truck, because the biomass would go into a hopper and up through a conveyor, and on to another conveyor in the building that would spread it out,&rdquo; he says.
The system became finicky in its old age, Harter says. &ldquo;It had been revamped a bit in 1994, but the chip delivery system was completely worn out, the augers and things like that.&rdquo; Back then, the challenge for Harter was that toward the end of its useful life, the chip handling system required daily monitoring. &ldquo;I was there seven days a week,&rdquo; Harter says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to go there every day. If I let it go too long, and there was a belt off or something, you&rsquo;d wind up with one heck of a mess.&rdquo; Specifically, Harter pointed to a metering bin that, when full, had a flapper mechanism that would turn off the conveyors that fed it with new chips. On more than one occasion, the flapper mechanism failed, and an entire truckload of chips would overwhelm the metering bin, filling the room with chips. For Harter, this meant the better part of a morning shoveling chips by hand.
The team at Messersmith, many of them just kids when the original system was installed, recognized that the school&rsquo;s boiler and chip handling system was in a need of an overhaul. &ldquo;The problem really was that it would take the better part of day to get the fuel from where it was delivered outside into the storage area,&rdquo; says Jeremy Mortl, president at Messersmith. &ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t a good place to park a truck to make a fuel delivery that made sense for where it was ultimately stored. That was a big struggle.&rdquo;
A number of other capital projects, including new parking lots and some new buses, led the district to launch a bond initiative and the timing seemed right to capitalize an overhaul of the biomass heating system. &ldquo;They called us up,&rdquo; Mortl says.&nbsp; &ldquo;The district just doesn&rsquo;t have time to maintain a boiler or service any issues that may come up. They needed something that had minimal maintenance. Their other desire was to have more fuel storage capabilities. They wanted an easier solution to get their fuels into their fuel storage area.&rdquo;
The first challenge the Messersmith team had to confront was positioning a new fuel handling facility in a way that would allow a truck to get in, unload, and get out with the greatest ease. The school building sits on a relatively small footprint, and both Messersmith and the district knew that gobbling up even more already limited parking space would not be popular. &ldquo;We had to come up with the best solution for a building layout so that they could get truck and trailer in there, get it turned around, and empty fuel into the bin,&rdquo; Mortl says. A local engineering firm was hired, and together, the companies worked up a plan for a covered building that would not only receive fuel deliveries, but also hold a combustion unit, a boiler and the associated piping and control systems.
This collaboration led to an initial design concept that Mortl describes as &ldquo;pretty close&rdquo; to what was eventually built. &ldquo;The one change the district made to the initial design was to have more fuel storage capability than what we had originally drawn up,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They can take more than one full truckload of fuel now. Plus, it makes it nice for them in the summer time. When there is no fuel in that bin, they can keep a couple of pieces of equipment in there.&rdquo;
The final design included a 93-foot by 24-foot building, and with over 1,000 square feet of that space dedicated to fuel storage, over 50 tons of wood chips can be held on-site, enough to feed the boiler for nearly three weeks in the coldest days of winter. Also included in the project was a traveling auger design that Messersmith invented. &ldquo;There is an auger that travels along a beam in a carriage system,&rdquo; Mortl says. &ldquo;That carriage will travel along the 60-foot length of the beam, and the auger will move material onto the belt conveying system. There are carbide teeth built into that auger system so that if frozen or compacted fuel comes into the building, those carbide teeth will chew it up, break it apart, and move it onto the belt conveying system.&rdquo; Tight Construction Window A unique challenge confronting the design and construction team was the limited time frame that comes with doing work for schools. Groundbreaking wasn&rsquo;t held until the day after school let out for the summer. Once the property was vacated, building began in earnest.
The concrete work was completed first. A three-and-a-half-inch pad, with larger footings to support the weight of the combustion unit and boiler, was engineered and poured. Once that was complete, a crane set in the Messersmith combustion unit, and atop that, a 2.5 million MMBtu Hurst boiler. The heat output closely matches the district&rsquo;s old system, but Mortl highlights the dramatically increased efficiencies in the new boiler. &ldquo;The old boiler worked just fine,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But it was 30 years old.&rdquo;
One advantage that Messersmith uses to make the most of short construction timeframes is its in-house fabrication capabilities. While the demolition, excavation and concrete work were being done at the school, Messersmith&rsquo;s welders were building the combustion unit, the fuel handling system and all of the ladders and catwalks for the facility. &ldquo;The same crew of people who manufacture the equipment are the same ones who go and do the installation on it as well,&rdquo; Mortl says. &ldquo;This is one of the more unique things we do. We are a turnkey solution in that way.&rdquo;
Once the main components were in place, the general contractor began erecting the building around the new system. Work progressed throughout the summer, and the system was still being buttoned up when the late summer temperatures finally gave way to early fall, and the oncoming heating season. &ldquo;We fired up the system Nov. 14,&rdquo; Harter says. &ldquo;They were still just finishing up the electrical inside the building.&rdquo;
For Harter, the transition to the new system couldn&rsquo;t have been easier. The control systems are virtually the same, and there is no longer day-to-day worry over the fuel handling system. For him, the biggest challenge has been letting go of his old habits. &ldquo;If I go by there on a weekend, I&rsquo;ll stop by,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t have to. On Friday night, I&rsquo;ll make sure the ash bins are empty, and I won't see the system again until Monday morning.&rdquo;
The extent of Harter&rsquo;s weekly routine, which was once characterized by time-consuming repairs, is now emptying ash bins and sweeping, he adds. &ldquo;This new system, it&rsquo;s just a world of difference.&rdquo;
Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4969 tportz@bbiinternational.com

A Messersmith Manufacturing combustion unit sits beneath a 2.5 million MMBtu boiler at the North Central Area junior high and high school in Powers, Michigan.  

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After 30-plus years of operation, a biomass heating system at a school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was replaced by the company that originally built it.

North Central Area's Biomass Reboot

The Biomass Thermal Utilization Act (BTU Act), a federal investment tax credit on high-efficiency biomass heating systems, will be one of the Biomass Thermal Energy Council's top priorities again this year. In 2016, the BTU Act came closer than ever to becoming law. With this momentum, last Congress&rsquo;s champions of BTU Act, Maine Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, have agreed to spearhead the proposal again. Other efforts to achieve tax parity for biomass at the national level might be bolstered by the new Congress&rsquo;s priority to reform the U.S. tax code. These efforts would make biomass thermal competitive with other renewable energy technologies, and expand markets for biomass across the country.
BTEC members have also made progress with state-level biomass efforts. In Maine, for example, a commission to study the state&rsquo;s biomass industry recommended including thermal energy in the state&rsquo;s renewable energy requirements. If passed into law, this proposal would encourage facilities to use biomass to increase the efficiency of their thermal energy systems.
BTEC is beginning the year with a strong focus on developing codes and standards for biomass thermal energy in residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. One such proposal from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers, would expand the definition of on-site renewable energy for high-performance buildings to include biomass.
The other technical priorities for BTEC in 2017 include putting the finishing touches on the Wood Energy Financial Calculator, a tool that project managers can use to assess the cost savings of converting to biomass heat; completing laboratory testing of the first U.S. efficiency test standard for commercial-sized wood boilers; and working with industry stakeholders to create a U.S. wood chip standard. Besides BTEC, other partners working directly on the wood chip standard initiative include Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
The policy and technical priorities presented above will be discussed further at BTEC&rsquo;s annual Northeast Biomass Heating Conference &amp; Expo. The event will be in Burlington, Vermont, from April 25-27, and include tracks on policy, technical and project development, and business development. The goal of NEBHX 2017 is to introduce biomass thermal energy to a wider array of stakeholders, including specifiers, engineers, architects, and facility managers, as well as those already in the industry. Author: Aaron Aber Project Assistant, Biomass Thermal Energy Council Aaron.aber@biomassthermal.org 202 596-3974

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The Biomass Thermal Energy Council  is beginning the year with a strong focus on developing codes and standards for biomass thermal energy in residential, commercial, and institutional buildings.

Biomass Thermal Legislative Advances 

Many of us in the wood and pellet heating movement are doing a lot of soul searching these days. Not only do we have a president who questions the science behind climate change, we also have to deal with the effects of a warming world that is gradually reducing demand for the renewable energy technology we support.
Even though Trump is a climate change skeptic and put the head of Exxon in charge of our state department, could he still do something good for our modest slice of the residential renewable energy movement?
Obama was a champion of renewable energy, but his administration did not deliver that much for our sector. He did give us a vision for an America that would steadily increase the amount of renewable energy on our grid, and in our cars. Renewable heat policy was sure to follow.&nbsp;
Under Obama, the U.S. Forest Service, a division of the USDA, was a vocal proponent of rural Americans who benefit from wood and pellet heating. Hopefully, their leadership in this area will continue. Under Obama, the U.S. EPA did a good job updating stove and boiler emission standards, which is absolutely necessary for wood and pellet heating systems. But there was no real leadership or vision at the level for promoting the deployment of the most advanced equipment, as there is in Europe.
We could go backward under Trump if Congress were to abolish the wood stove and boilers emission regulations, which some of the extreme right-wing members want to do.&nbsp; They have already introduced legislation to that end. The wood and boiler industry unanimously opposes doing away with these regulations, since reasonable and clear federal rules are good for industry, compared to a patchwork of state and local rules.
We could stay the same course with little federal support or intervention, which is probably the most likely scenario. Wood stoves would continue to outsell pellet stoves by three to one, and the legacy of millions of old, polluting stoves would stay put, heating more homes than their cleaner EPA-certified cousins.
Maybe the Republican Congress and even the White House could advance this sector more than the last Congress or the Obama administration. President Trump&rsquo;s base is far more rural than Obama&rsquo;s, and much of it is low- to middle-income. These are also families who struggle to pay heating bills, and are part of a demographic that buys wood and pellet stoves.&nbsp;
A first step for Congress would be to pass the BTU Act, which would finally treat high-efficiency biomass heating just as other renewables are treated. This means tax credits for institutions and households that are investing in a domestic energy pathway that supports rural America.&nbsp;
A second step is a program that helps rural Americans upgrade old wood stoves to cleaner, more efficient options such as heat pumps, pellet stoves or certified wood stoves. There are about 12 million Americans with wood stoves, and only about half a million with solar panels. Both have about the same capacity to reduce fossil fuel use, but most of those 12 million stoves are not as clean or efficient as they should be. As a country, we still have the opportunity to harness the potential of those 12 million households by upgrading those appliances.
This Congress can help support rural economies and American jobs by supporting modern biomass heating. Currently, we export millions of tons of wood pellets to Europe for low-efficiency electricity generation, when we should be transforming that production for high-efficiency heat and combined heat and power for use here at home.&nbsp;
I am still hopeful that Congress can focus on rural America in a way that helps millions of households affordably heat their homes with a domestic fuel.&nbsp; Congress is our best hope.&nbsp; As for our new president, I didn&rsquo;t vote for him, but I&rsquo;m not writing him off, either.&nbsp;&nbsp; Author: John Ackerly President, Alliance for Green Heat jackerly@forgreenheat.org www.forgreenheat.org&nbsp;

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Even though President Trump is a climate change skeptic and put the head of Exxon in charge of our state department, could he still do something good for our modest slice of the residential renewable energy movement?

Trump, Obama and Wood Stoves

Not far from the Dublin Port shoreline, perhaps resembling a modern office building more than a power facility, Dublin Waste-to-Energy stands ready to fulfill its purpose.
There, the labor of upward of 1,300 people over the past two years will finally be realized. Adjacent to the new, gleaming white waste-to-energy facility rests the shuttered Poolbeg Power Station, referred to by locals as the Pigeon House, an area landmark that, next to Dublin WTE, is now much less noticeable from a bird&rsquo;s-eye view. That is, aside from its famous, red-and-white-striped twin stacks, which rise far above most structures in Ireland, even those of its new neighbor. At 100 meters high, Dublin WTE&rsquo;s stacks are roughly half the height of Poolbeg Power Station&rsquo;s, which was decommissioned in 2010, though the site still hosts an operational power station.
Commissioning of Dublin WTE has begun, and it won&rsquo;t be long before it is converting the city&rsquo;s waste into electricity. Director of Operations Thomas Ericksen is overseeing plant operations, and says the crew is walking down systems and preparing for first fire, which will be in March. Ericksen, who relocated from Orlando, Florida, to Dublin to oversee the project, has been part of Covanta&rsquo;s team since 1986, working at a number of the company&rsquo;s U.S. waste-to-energy plants over the length of his career, which he says &ldquo;has gone fast.&rdquo;
Currently finishing up getting his staff of 54 in place, Erickson will continue his role at Covanta Dublin for a few more years, before turning it over to his No. 2 man, the chief engineer.
In the meantime, he&rsquo;ll make sure startup and operations run as smooth as possible, and that the two core functions of the plant are achieved&mdash;reducing waste, and providing power to around 80,000 homes. And, down the road, the facility will also provide district heat to 50,000 homes. Waste In, Power Out Covanta will operate and maintain the facility, which has secured a 25-year tip fee arrangement with four Dublin local authorities, through the Dublin City Council, to provide disposal services for a minimum of 320,000 tons of waste annually, representing over half of the facility's capacity. The rest has been contracted through the marketplace.
In a nutshell, waste is hauled in to Dublin WTE via truck, that waste is burned to generate heat, the heat is converted to steam, and the steam drives a turbine generator to create power, says Ericksen, who is able to explain the process in great detail without hesitation. &ldquo;Waste coming in is reduced by about 90 percent by volume due to the combustion process, so you only have about 10 percent of the original volume of waste that you need to dispose of,&rdquo; he says.
Due to a lack of treatment facilities and active landfills&mdash;only six remain open today, according to the Ireland Environmental Protection Agency&mdash;the country has relied heavily on waste exports, resulting in outbound shipments totaling several hundred thousand tons of waste annually. In recent years, a push to change waste management practices in Ireland has focused alternate waste disposal and reduction methods, including organic waste separation and collection, and development of anaerobic digestion facilities and treatment plants such as Dublin WTE.
Daily, up to 1,800 tons of waste will be trucked to Dublin WTE by haulers, who will first go over a weigh bridge to, upon their exit when they are reweighed sans waste, calculate how much was brought in. &ldquo;Trucks then come off the scale and receive to a tipping floor, a rather large bunker that is 75 meters long, 25 meters wide, and about 8 meters deep,&rdquo; Ericksen says. The majority of the waste is dumped directly into the bunker, and loads are inspected to ensure nothing unacceptable to the facility&rsquo;s waste license, or anything potentially harmful to employees or the facility, is mixed in with the waste. &ldquo;If we do find something, we have a quarantine area where we&rsquo;ll push it over to, and it will be picked up and disposed of properly,&rdquo; Ericksen says.
The remaining waste is dumped into the pit and picked up by two large, mechanical cranes and fed into the hoppers, where it is sent down a feed chute into the four-pass, horizontal&nbsp; boiler. &ldquo;The burning takes place on a reciprocating grate, and we have underfire air that comes in off the tipping floor to keep it under negative pressure, which prevents any odors from escaping the facility&mdash;so we&rsquo;re sucking air from the outside in&mdash;and we use that air for combustion in the furnace,&rdquo; Ericksen says. &ldquo;The burning of the waste takes place on grates, and the heat generated there is used to create steam in the boiler. Water wall tubes transfer the heat energy into steam, which is then piped over to the turbine generator to create power.&rdquo;
While the power generation process itself ends there, treatment of gasses, emissions and end products is just beginning. &ldquo;At the end of the system, the flue gas carried through the boiler has to be cleaned up before it&rsquo;s sent out into the atmosphere,&rdquo; Ericksen explains. The first step occurs in the furnace, where aqueous ammonia is added to neutralize NOx emissions into nitrogen and water. &ldquo;The next step is in the back of the boiler&mdash;once you have recovered all of the heat you economically can out of the boiler system, the gas is sent through a semidry scrubber. We inject lime slurry and carbon&mdash;the lime is used to neutralize acid gases, and the activated carbon is used absorb metals that may be coming in with the waste.&rdquo;
The next step is a baghouse filtration system, which filters out dust, dirt and particulate matter, followed by a polishing wet scrubber. &ldquo;We circulate a sodium hydroxide solution through a packed bed scrubber,&rdquo; Erickson says. &ldquo;We bring the flue gas through that, and it neutralizes any additional gases that may have come through the system, and absorbs other fine particulate matter. From there, we finally go up and out the stack.&rdquo;
The facility is also equipped with a continuous emissions monitoring (CEM) system that monitors a number of parameters required by permit, as well as a backup CEM.
Residues from the combustion process will be transferred to an off-site processing plant for recovery of ferrous and nonferrous metals, which are recycled, and production of aggregate materials that can be used for various construction applications, or to secure the voids of depleted salt mines.
The plant is wastewater free, and the majority of its process water supply will come from rain water and a neighboring waste water treatment plant.
Down the road, the two-unit, 600,000-ton-per-year plant will provide district heating to around 50,000 homes. &ldquo;It was designed to include district heating, but what&rsquo;s needed now is the infrastructure throughout Dublin to interconnect,&rdquo; Ericksen says.
For now, Ericksen continues to work finalizing and training the plant&rsquo;s crew, which he says has exceeded his expectations. &ldquo;I was a little concerned about staffing the operational side of the plant, as there is only one other waste-to-energy plant in Ireland, and it&rsquo;s only been here a few years,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of people I have been able to employ, and I look forward to a very successful startup and long-term operation of the facility with this type of expertise. We have a great bunch of guys.&rdquo; Author: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine asimet@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4961
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Dublin Waste-to-Energy Fast Facts
Location:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Poolbeg, Dublin, Ireland Project leads: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Covanta Energy (Developer) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hitachi Zosen Inova (EPC contractor) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PM Group (Civil engineering) Boiler Specs:&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nominal superheated steamgeneration - 125.0 t/h &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nominal superheated steam temperature - 443.0 degrees C &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nominal outlet steam pressure - 62.0 bara
Boiler manufacturer: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duro Dakovic steam boiler Waste capacity: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 600,000 tons annually Incentives: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ireland&rsquo;s renewable energy feed-in tariff Power capacity: 58 MW

Construction of Dublin Waste-to-Energy is complete, and the first firing of waste is scheduled to occur in March.

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A public-private partnership between Covanta and Dublin City Council, Covanta Dublin will process approximately 600,000 metric tons of waste annually and will power 80,000 homes.

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A state-of-the-art, waste-to-energy plant at Dublin's Poolbeg Peninsula is readying to fire up. Built by Covanta Energy Inc., the facility will generate enough power for 80,000 homes, and eventually, district heat as well.

The New Stacks in Town

As the new administration settles into office and the 115th Congress takes shape, we are looking ahead at potential policy opportunities for the biomass industry in 2017. The following are some key issues the Biomass Power Association is preparing for.
Infrastructure and Forestry. We are seeing a shift in the administration from a focus on renewable energy during the Obama era, to a focus on forestry, jobs and infrastructure. Both the Trump administration and Democrats have expressed a strong interest in investing in a large infrastructure package; a Democratic proposal has budgeted $100 million specifically for energy infrastructure.
Compared to previous years, we are seeing much more interest from the administration and Congress in land management and logging. Many federal lands across the country need management, whether it&rsquo;s the 100 million dead trees in California, or the dry, densely forested lands of the Southeast, and GOP leaders have consistently recognized this.
The Farm Bill, legislation that preserves policies that support the agriculture and forestry industries, must be reauthorized by 2019. Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson from rural Minnesota, is seen by many as a conservative Democrat willing to make deals across the aisle. There may be an opportunity to work across the aisle for funding to improve forest health on federal, state and private lands.
Tax. We are hearing both enthusiasm and skepticism on the likelihood of tax reform being completed this year. It&rsquo;s been a priority for Republicans, but right now, it&rsquo;s taking a back seat to other priorities like health care and immigration. If tax reform does happen, we expect major changes to the Section 45 production tax credit program, if it survives at all.
Regulations. Congress and the Trump administration have both made it a priority to identify regulations to roll back. So far, none of the regulations tagged for removal involve biomass, but there may be some upcoming opportunities, particularly with the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s Non-hazardous Secondary Materials rule.
EPA. We will be watching closely for any action on the Clean Power Plan and on the EPA&rsquo;s regulation of carbon from biogenic sources. We do not expect the plan to move forward, even though the U.S. EPA administrator nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has pledged several times to continue to regulate carbon dioxide. Rather than setting and enforcing carbon reduction targets as the Clean Power Plan proposed, we expect a more laissez-faire approach to state clean air regulations. He has also proposed allowing coal facilities to stay open with a requirement for improved emissions controls, possibly opening up an opportunity for cofiring with biomass.
U.S. Forest Service. Sonny Perdue, former governor of Georgia, is the nominee to lead the USDA, which houses the U.S. Forest Service, a sponsor of Bioenergy Day and one of our closest partners in the U.S. government. Throughout his tenure as governor, Perdue strongly supported forestry, and even attended the openings of several biomass facilities. We are encouraged by his biomass experience and are looking forward to continuing our strong relationship with the U.S. Forest Service.
While some signs point to an encouraging political climate for biomass, there still remain many questions about how far a Republican-led government will be willing to go to support biomass. There is also unprecedented gridlock on Capitol Hill, and a Republican party with some internal disagreements. For now, a few weeks into the Trump administration, we are seeing some indications of the policies to expect over the next four years, and we see some reasons to be optimistic about the biomass industry. However, given the hostile political climate and lack of cohesion even among political parties, very little is clear about what will move forward.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, none of these policies would happen without our trusted team at BPA. I&rsquo;m pleased to announce the promotion of Carrie Annand as our new executive director, and Nick Mazuroski as our new vice president of operations. Congratulations, Carrie and Nick. Author: Bob Cleaves President, Biomass Power Association bob@usabiomass.org www.usabiomass.org

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As the new administration settles into office and the 115th Congress takes shape, the Biomass Power Association is  looking ahead at potential policy opportunities for the biomass industry in 2017. 

Biomass: A 2017 Policy Outlook

1. Yargus sells manufacturing operation to AGI Yargus Manufacturing Inc., a manufacturer of Layco brand fertilizer and industrial material handling equipment located in Marshall, Illinois, has entered into an agreement to sell its manufacturing operation to Ag Growth International Inc., a publicly traded company located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
2. AEBIOM elects president, board European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) has elected Didzis Palejs as its new president, succeeding Gustav Melin, who led the organization for the past six years. Palejs has worked in the energy and wood industry for nearly 20 years at local and international levels in both sales and logistics. He has served as the chairman of the Latvian Biomass Association and as the vice president of the European Pellet Council. In addition, AEBIOM elected Thomas Siegmund as vice president and renewed part of its board by appointing Michael Doran, Christoph Pfemeter, Marijan Kavran, Vilma Gaubyte Eric Vial, and Gustav Melin. 3. BTEC elects board member Dane Floyd, president and CEO of Biomass Engineering and Equipment, has been elected to serve on the Biomass Thermal Energy Council board of directors. BTEC advances the sustainable use of wood and agricultural biomass for clean, efficient heat and combined heat and power to meet U.S. energy needs and strengthen local economies. Biomass Engineering and Equipment designs and manufactures machinery for the biomass and wood processing industries.
4. Ocean Park advises on Abengoa Hugoton plant sale Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas recently closed the $48.5 million sale of its cellulosic ethanol plant located in Hugoton, Kansas, to Synata Bio in an auction conducted under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Ocean Park acted as exclusive sell-side advisor to Abengoa. Ocean Park was involved in all facets of this transaction, including securing the debtor-in-possession financing, developing the marketing strategy, contacting over 200 parties in the sales process, and generating interest from multiple bidders in the auction. 5. Reverdia adds team member Alexander Krapivin has joined Reverdia as business development manager. He will work with the company&rsquo;s commercial team to maximize opportunities in the global market for bio-succinic acid. Krapivin previously worked at GFBiochemicals, developing the market for biobased platform chemicals in applications such as resins and coatings, bioplastics and downstream markets. Prior to GFBiochemicals, Krapivin was employed by Dow Corning, Dow Chemical and Shell Chemicals in international sales, business development and marketing. 6. MHG launches new corporate identity Meredian Holdings Group Inc., a biopolymer manufacturer, recently announced it will do business as Danimer Scientific, effective immediately. MHG&rsquo;s updated corporate identity is a visual salute to its solid, steadfast origins as a biotechnology company committed to sustainability and the development of innovative bioplastic products that do not contribute to global pollution. Danimer Scientific was originally formed in 2004 and provided sustainable polymer solutions by developing compostable and biodegradable plastic alternatives. 7. Enerkem appoints CFO Enerkem Inc. has appointed Dominique Boies as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO). Boies has more than 20 years of experience in corporate and finance strategy, investment banking and operations. Prior to joining Enerkem, he was executive vice president and CFO at RONA, where he was responsible for the financial and corporate strategy, investor relations, accounting, financing, treasury and legal affairs. At RONA, he led the company&rsquo;s turnaround, as well as the transaction that resulted in the acquisition of RONA by Lowe&rsquo;s, valued at CA$3.2 billion ($2.45 billion). Prior to this, Boies held various senior executive positions at RBC Royal Bank and the Caisse de d&eacute;p&ocirc;t et placement du Qu&eacute;bec (CDPQ), one of the largest institutional fund managers in North America. 8. Amyris appoints CFO Amyris Inc. has appointed Kathleen Valiasek as chief financial officer. She is a senior finance and business executive with more than 20 years of experience serving start-up, venture-backed and Fortune 500 companies. She replaces Raffi Asadorian, who has resigned to pursue a new opportunity, but will continue to support specific projects, as well as serve in an ad hoc consulting capacity to ensure a smooth transition. Prior to joining Amyris, Valiasek was founder and CEO of Lenox Group Inc., a finance and strategic consulting firm. There, she worked closely with the senior management teams of private and public&nbsp; companies, including Kaiser Permanente Inc., Albertsons Inc. and Cytokinetics Inc. Prior to that, she served in key venture capital, real estate development and accounting roles. Her background includes finance, SEC reporting, strategic planning, debt and equity financing, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. 9. QED offers landfill gas monitoring system QED Environmental Systems has announced it is offering the Landtec GEM5000 series as part of the QED line of environmental products. The GEM5000 is designed specifically for monitoring landfill gas collection and control systems and has the ability to sample and analyze the methane, carbon dioxide, and oxygen content of landfill gas. 10. Xergi announces plant order, patent Xergi has announced an order for its 10th biogas plant in the U.K. Bonby, North Lincolnshire-based Brigg Lane Biogas Ltd. has hired Xergi to build a new biogas plant that will convert up to 75,000 metric tons of food waste annually into green gas, which will then be distributed via the local gas grid. Brigg Lane Biogas will be located on the same site as Bio Waste Solutions, a company that pretreats food waste for biogas plants in other parts of the U.K. Soon, that food waste will be taken by the new biogas plant instead, minimizing transport. The biogas plant will be able to take additional waste from other suppliers. Xergi also recently announced it has developed X-chopper as a solution for the pretreatment of deep litter and other challenging biomasses for biogas plants. Recently, the technology was granted a European patent. The patent secures Xergi the rights to the solution that enables X-chopper to continuously pretreat deep litter and other biomasses without having to make frequent stops to empty and clean the pretreatment unit. When deep litter is added to an X-chopper, the biomass is macerated by rotating chains inside the X-chopper. The design of the individual link in the chain impacts how the biomass is macerated, and how long the links can last.
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AEBIOM General Secretary Jean-Marc Jossart (left), former President Gustav Melin, and President Didzis Palejs 

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Business Briefs

The biomass heating system at the North Central Area junior and senior high school in Powers, Michigan, profiled on page 28, can be mostly viewed from one spot. Standing in the open doorway of the building that serves as the fuel receiving, fuel handling and boiler house, a person could easily mistake it for a large bus garage. Conversely, the new Highland Pellets pellet production plant in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, featured on page 18, would take the better part of a day to see.
As different in size as the two facilities are, they share a number of common traits that help illustrate the current state of best practices in construction of biomass conversion facilities. When I spoke with Jeremy Mortl, president of Messersmith Manufacturing Inc., the system&rsquo;s fabricator and installer, about its success in meeting the aggressive construction schedule, he stressed the importance of fabricating the major system components at the company&rsquo;s local facility. The North Central Area school district wanted to minimize construction activity and its associated noise while classes were in session, so construction activities were forbidden until school dismissed for the summer. Without getting a head start on fabrication, having a system installed and ready to deliver heat that winter would have been a stretch.
For Highland Pellets, the decision to utilize off-site fabrication was driven entirely by a desire to get a plant built and generating revenue as quickly as possible. Highland Pellets was the second commercial-scale effort for Astec Inc., a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based manufacturer hoping to leverage decades of experience in asphalt and aggregate processing to gain a strong presence in the wood pellet sector. Our team has been covering the development of this project since it was announced in 2014, and the story in this issue of Biomass Magazine was our first opportunity to get some opinions on Astec&rsquo;s unique modular approach. Ben Hubbard, president of Nexus PMG, an independent engineering consultant hired by Highland Pellets, told Associate Editor Katie Fletcher, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited to be a part of a project that could potentially deliver pellets to the market much faster than any that we&rsquo;ve seen in our experience, and we&rsquo;ve seen quite a few.&rdquo;
The completion date for each of these projects was critical for vastly different reasons, and despite the massive difference in project scale, the construction approaches to hit each deadline had a lot in common.
Tim Portz Vice President of Content&nbsp; &amp; Executive Editor tportz@bbiinternational.com

Tim Portz
Vice President of Content  & Executive Editor
tportz@bbiinternational.com

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Though the completion dates of two projects featured in the March issue of Biomass Magazine were critical for vastly different reasons, despite the massive difference in scale, the construction approaches to hit each deadline had a lot in common.

March 2017

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

The RFS in 2017: A Brave New World

Biomass Thermal Legislative Advances

Trump, Obama and Wood Stoves

Biomass: A 2017 Policy Outlook

A Matter of Scale

Featured

True Sustainability in Pine Bluff

The New Stacks in Town

Contributions

Biologicals and BMPS: A Modern Digester's Blueprint for Success

Departments

Commercial Proving Grounds

North Central Area's Biomass Reboot

March 2017.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

The RFS in 2017: A Brave New World

Biomass Thermal Legislative Advances

Trump, Obama and Wood Stoves

Biomass: A 2017 Policy Outlook

A Matter of Scale

Featured

True Sustainability in Pine Bluff

The New Stacks in Town

Contributions

Biologicals and BMPS: A Modern Digester's Blueprint for Success

Departments

Commercial Proving Grounds

North Central Area's Biomass Reboot

March 2017