biomass magazine - july 2010

INSIDE: DOUBLE THE BIOFUEL YIELD OF AN ACRE OF BIOMASS

July 2010

www.BiomassMagazine.com

Next-Generation Biofuels

Pumping Advanced Biofuels, Cellulosic Biofuels and

Biomass-Based Diesels Into the Nation’s Fuel Market

7 |2010 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 3

INSIDE JULY 2010 VOLUME 4 ISSUE 07

FEATURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 OUTLOOK Advocating Advanced BiofuelsThe fi eld of advanced biofuels covers an array of technologies, feedstocks and fuels. According to Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, to be successful a fuel must possess fi ve characteristics—scalability, fungibility, energy density, affordability and environmental sustainability.By Anna Austin

36 USE Jetting on Biofuels Rentech Inc. and Clearfuels Technology Inc. have teamed to produce drop-in synthetic fuels from wood waste, sugarcane bagasse and other virgin biomass.By Lisa Gibson

42 RESEARCH Double Down Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Minnesota have discovered a way to convert 100 percent of the carbon from biomass into carbon monoxide, doubling the amount of biofuels that can be produced from an acre of biomass.By Lisa Gibson

CONTRIBUTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48 MARKET University Sees Biomass as Future for Energy GenerationThe University of Missouri continues to develop its biomass power base by replacing an existing boiler with a 100 percent biomass-fi red boiler that will produce 150,000 pounds of steam per hour. By Greg Ehm

RESEARCH | PAGE 42

DEPARTMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

04 Editor’s NoteGovernment Sending Mixed MessagesBy Rona Johnson

05 Advertiser Index 06 Industry Events

07 BPA UpdateWe Can Prevent Forest Fires with a Biomass StrategyBy Bob Cleaves

09 EERC UpdateOne Size Doesn’t Fit All—Designing the Right Biomass System for You By Tera Buckley

11 BTEC UpdateProposed EPA Emissions Rules Threaten to Send Biomass Heating Industry Up in SmokeBy Scott Nichols

13 Legal PerspectivesFinancing Biomass Plants Using the BCAPBy Gregory J. Lynch and Craig Johnson

14 Business Briefs

16 Biobytes

18 Industry News

52 Marketplace

4 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 7|2010

Government Sending Mixed Messages

he good news is the U.S. DOE and USDA continues to be supportive of renewable energy and have an-nounced a couple of new funding opportunities.

The DOE and USDA jointly announced on May 6 up to $33 million in funding for research and develop-

ment of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bio-energy and biobased products. According to the release, these projects are subject to annual appropriations, and applications are due July 13.

On May 28, the U.S. DOE announced up to $11 million in funding, spread out over three years, for research and develop-ment in the area of thermochemical conversion of biomass into advanced biofuels that are compatible with existing fueling in-frastructure. The funding is designed to improve the conversion of nonfood biomass to liquid transportation hydrocarbon fuels through pyrolysis. The DOE expects to fund three or four projects and requires a minimum cost share of 20 percent from the applicants. The applications for these funds are due July 9.

On June 2, the DOE announced $5 million in funding for research on the sustainable pro-duction of large quantities of nonfood biomass for bioenergy. The closing date for that funding opportunity is July 16.

To fi nd out more about these biomass funding opportunities, go to www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass.

The bad news is while the DOE is concentrating its efforts on supporting renewable energy, the EPA is trying to regulate it out of existence. Its latest proposed Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology ruling would change the standards for biomass boiler units and those previ-ously considered multifuel boilers would be classifi ed as incinerators and be subject to new emis-sions limits for mercury, hydrogen chloride, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and dioxin.

A 45-day comment period on the new ruling opened June 7 and the Biomass Power As-sociation held a press conference on June 8 to discuss how the ruling would affect biomass power. Bob Cleaves, BPA president and CEO, said he’s been inundated with concerns from the biomass industry. According to one e-mail Cleaves shared during the call, a “mass exodus” from biomass to natural gas would occur if the rule passes.

“This rule is unfortunate and inconsistent with the administration’s stated goal of supporting biomass,” Cleaves said at the press conference, adding that the BPA is willing to work with the EPA to develop health-based, rational and achievable standards.

The EPA also recently released it's fi nal Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule, which doesn't exempt biomass power producers from GHG permitting requirements. This ruling treats biomass the same as fossil fuels, despite the fact that it is carbon neutral (see "EPA tailoring rule worries biomass industry" on page 28).

It’s obvious to me, that the EPA should be included in discussions about renewable energy funding with the DOE and USDA. If not, we could have a situation where the federal government is funding technology that can’t even be operated under EPA rules.

T

Rona JohnsonEditor

[email protected]

editor’sNOTE

7 |2010 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5

advertiserINDEX

10th Pellets Industry Forum 41

2010 Industrial GHG Conference & Expo 54

2010 Northeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo 10 & 56

2010 Southeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo 55

2011 International BIOMASS 53Conference & Expo

2011 Pacifi c West BIOMASS Conference & Expo 8

Advanced Trailer Industries 26

Agra Industries 32

ASI Industrial 44

ATEC Steel 28

BRUKS Rockwood 2

Buhler Inc. 50

Burns & McDonnell 29

Christianson & Associates, PLLP 23

CPM Roskamp Champion 45

Davenport Dryer 38

Energy & Environmental Research Center 12

Encore Business Solutions 47

Envergent Technologies 40

Ethanol-Jobs.com 21

Indeck Power Equipment Co. 24

Intersystems 20

Larox Corp. 33

Morbark, Inc. 51

The Teaford Co. Inc. 27

TSS Consultants 46

Verdant Environmental Services 35

West Salem Machinery 22

WestMor Industries, LLC 39

Williams Crusher 25

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Rona Johnson [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITORSAnna Austin [email protected] Gibson [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann [email protected]

ART

ART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNERSElizabeth Burslie [email protected] Melquist [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALES

CHAIRMANMike Bryan [email protected]

CEOJoe Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTTom Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & MARKETINGMatthew Spoor [email protected]

EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT MANAGERHoward Brockhouse [email protected]

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jeremy Hanson [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGERSMarty Steen [email protected] Brown [email protected] Shields [email protected]

CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

SUBSCRIBER ACQUISITION MANAGER Jason Smith [email protected]

ADVERTISING COORDINATORMarla DeFoe [email protected]

Subscriptions Subscriptions to Bio-mass Magazine are $24.95 per year in the U.S; $39.95 in Canada and Mex-ico; and $49.95 outside North Amer-ica. Subscriptions can be completed online at www.BiomassMagazine.com or subscribe over the phone at (701) 746-8385.

Back Issues & Reprints Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more informa-tion, contact us at (701) 746-8385 or [email protected].

Advertising Biomass Magazine pro-vides a specifi c topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To fi nd out more about Biomass Magazine advertising opportunities, please con-tact us at (701) 746-8385 or [email protected].

Letters to the Editor We welcome let-ters to the editor. Send to Biomass Magazine Letters to the Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your name, address and phone num-ber. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.

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Biomass ’10: Renewable Power,Fuels, and Chemicals Workshop

July 20-21, 2010 Alerus CenterGrand Forks, North DakotaIn its eighth year, this workshop offers a cutting-edge two-day technical pro-gram and exhibit with national experts who focus on biomass production and biomass conversion to power, transportation fuels and chemicals. The workshop will be geared toward industry, research entities, government, community and economic development corporations, fi nancial institutions and landowners. Topics will include trends and opportunities in utilizing biomass, renewable policies and incentives, renewable fuels, fi nancing biomass-related projects, biorefi nery chemicals and products, biomass for heat and electricity, biomass feedstocks and algae.(701) 777-5000www.undeerc.org/biomass10

Northeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo

August 4-6, 2010 Westin Copley PlaceBoston, MassachusettsWith an exclusive focus on biomass utilization in the Northeast—from Maryland to Maine—the Northeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo is one of three distinct regional offshoots of Biomass Magazine’s International BIO-MASS Conference & Expo. The program will include more than 60 speak-ers, including technical presentations on topics ranging from wood pellet manufacturing and biomass densifi cation to combined heat and power and large-scale biomass combustion. Tracks will include electricity generation; industrial heat and power; biorefi ning; and biomass project development and fi nance. (701) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com/northeast

2010 Farm to Fuel Summit

August 11-13, 2010 Rosen Shingle CreekOrlando, FloridaThis fi fth annual summit will be an opportunity for industry leaders and stakeholders to learn, network and strategize to advance the development of renewable energy in Florida. Florida’s Farm to Fuel Initiative was devel-oped to promote the production and distribution of renewable energy from Florida-grown crops, agricultural wastes and other biomass. More than 500 attendees from academia, industry and government participated in last year’s summit.(850) 488-0646www.fl oridafarmtofuel.com/summit_2010.htm

Southeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo

November 2-4, 2010 Hyatt Regency Atlanta Atlanta, GeorgiaWith an exclusive focus on biomass utilization in the Southeast—from the Virginias to the Gulf Coast—the Southeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo is one of three distinct regional offshoots of Biomass Magazine’s Interna-tional BIOMASS Conference & Expo. The program will include more than 60 speakers within four tracks: electricity generation; industrial heat and power; biorefi ning; and biomass project development and fi nance. Speaker abstracts are now being accepted online.(701) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com/southeast

Industrial GHG Solutions Conference & Expo

Nov. 16-18, 2010David L. Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Industrial GHG Solutions Conference & Expo is an educational forum and networking opportunity for environmental compliance professionals, emissions mitigation practitioners, technology providers and corporate ex-ecutives engaged in industrial greenhouse gas management—including GHG measurement, reporting and mitigation—at the facility or corporate level. The event will feature four tracks, 18 panels and nearly 60 speakers. Presentations will focus on GHG measurement, mitigation and offset strate-gies. Speaker abstracts are now being accepted online.(701) 746-8385www.industrialghg.com/conference

Pacifi c West BIOMASS Conference & Expo

Jan. 10-12, 2011Sheraton Seattle HotelSeattle, Washington With an exclusive focus on biomass utilization in California, Oregon, Wash-ington, Idaho and Nevada, the Pacifi c West BIOMASS Conference & Expo is one of three distinct regional offshoots of Biomass Magazine’s Interna-tional BIOMASS Conference & Expo. The program will focus on the vast potential for biomass utilization in the Pacifi c West, featuring more than 60 speakers within four tracks: electricity generation; industrial heat and power; biorefi ning; and biomass project development and fi nance. Speaker abstracts are now being accepted online.(701) 746-8385 www.biomassconference.com/pacifi cwest

International BIOMASS Conference & Expo

May 2-5, 2011 America’s CenterSt. Louis. MissouriThe International BIOMASS Conference & Expo is the biomass industry’s largest, fastest-growing event. In 2010, BIOMASS was attended by 1,700 industry professionals from 49 states and 25 nations representing nearly every geographical region and sector of the world’s interconnected biomass utilization industries—power, thermal energy, fuels and chemicals. With six tracks, 38 panels, 120 speakers, 400 exhibitors and an anticipated 2,500 attendees in 2011, BIOMASS will continue to be the industry’s leading edu-cational, networking and business development forum. Speaker abstracts are now being accepted online.(701) 746-8385www.biomassconference.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

June 27-30, 2011 Indiana Convention CenterIndianapolis, Indiana Entering its 27th year, the FEW is the largest, longest-running ethanol con-ference in the world. The FEW is renowned for its superb programming which remains focused on commercial-scale ethanol production—both grain and cellulosic—operational effi ciencies, plant management, energy use, and near-term research and development. With fi ve tracks, 32 panels, 100 speakers, 400 exhibitors and an anticipated 2,500 attendees in 2011, the FEW remains the ethanol industry’s leading production-oriented educa-tional, networking and business development forum. Speaker abstracts are now being accepted online.(701) 746-8385www.fuelethanolworkshop.com

industry events


7|2010 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 7

After a long, cold winter, the summer is fi nally here. For most Americans, this is the season of cookouts, bonfi res and fi reworks. But these warm months also bring a differ-ent, dangerous kind of blaze: forest fi res.

Seemingly every year, forest fi res burn through mil-lions of acres across the country, devastating communities and causing billions of dollars in damage. The sad truth is that regular forest maintenance could greatly impede the speed and ferocity with which these fi res spread; reducing costs to fi ght them and protecting homes and lives in harm’s way. The climate legislation currently being considered by Congress should take into account that in addition to being a valuable renewable energy source, the biomass industry helps to reduce the spread of forest fi res by clearing highly fl ammable debris from the forest fl oor.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, in 2009 alone there were nearly 80,000 wildfi res burning through almost 6 million acres across the United States. Forest fi res are often fueled by excess small trees and brush that choke forests and create fi re ladders that direct fi res into the crowns of the largest trees. These varying tree densi-ties and the dead, dry brush left behind act as kindling to allow crown fi res to move across the landscape in a highly destructive manner.

The biomass power industry is uniquely positioned to improve forest health and reduce the threat of forest fi res, while at the same time provide clean, renewable electricity to Americans in every region of the country. Without proper forest maintenance—including managed thinning and pre-scribed burns—forest waste is left to build up over time and stoke the fl ames of future fi res. The biomass power industry is prepared to work directly with the U.S. Forest Service and other industry partners, as well as environmen-tal groups, to ensure that forest material is carefully removed and converted to produce green electrical power.

Some environmental groups fear that the biomass in-dustry will clear-cut forests for fuel. This fear can be put to rest. It is not the practice of the biomass power industry to clear-cut forests and it is simply not economically viable to chop down whole trees to generate electricity. Biomass power uses only waste material such as scrap lumber, forest debris, or agricultural harvest waste to generate clean elec-tricity, material that would otherwise be dumped in landfi lls, openly burned, or left as fodder for forest fi res. Currently,

the biomass power industry removes more than 68.8 million tons of forest waste an-nually.

The biomass power industry effec-tively encourages regular forest manage-ment by creating a market for the excess small trees, slash and brush that are chok-ing many of our forests. Removing this incentive to clear brush by discouraging biomass power would result in overgrown, unmanaged forests that pose an increased risk for forest fi res.

Furthermore, generating electricity from biomass actu-ally reduces greenhouse gases. As dead brush decomposes it releases harmful methane gas and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. During the electricity-generating process, bio-mass power eliminates methane gas and reduces the carbon dioxide that would have been emitted otherwise. Account-ing for displaced fossil fuels, the biomass power industry re-moves more than 30 million tons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere annually.

The climate legislation introduced by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., with its focus on stimulating the renewable energy industry, presents an op-portunity for the biomass industry to gain the recognition it deserves as a viable and mature renewable energy source. Not only will more aggressive renewable energy mandates reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but these mandates will also spur new investment in biomass power and encourage the maintenance necessary to clear the waste debris respon-sible for fueling the massive forest fi res witnessed around the country in recent years.

Reducing the intensity and extent of forest fi res by improving forest health will also lower costs for contain-ment and keep fi refi ghters and communities out of harm’s way. Sens. Kerry and Lieberman are leading a new national agenda to build a clean energy economy. With the goals of reducing forest fi res, creating jobs, and improving the envi-ronment, biomass power stands to lead the way in the re-newable energy sector. BIO

Bob Cleaves is president and CEO of the Biomass Power Association. To learn more about biomass power, please visit www.USABiomass.org.

B P AUPDATE

We Can Prevent Forest Fires With a Biomass Strategy

Bob Cleavespresident and CEO, BPA

PACIFIC WEST EVENT

January 10-12, 2011Sheraton Seattle HotelSeattle, Washington

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EERCUPDATE

Renewable energy advocates are praising the 30 states and the District of Columbia for adopt-ing regulatory policies requiring the increased production of renewable energy and the fi ve states that set voluntary goals. It’s a good thing right? After all, those states will be limiting fos-sil-based carbon emissions and will create green energy jobs to counter the effects of the recent recession.

But some of these renewable portfolio stan-dards aim to achieve 25 percent renewable energy in just a decade or so, with much of that energy coming from biomass. Relying on biomass, with-out a good basis for that reliance, may violate some of the basic principles of supply and de-mand.

No biomass is uniformly available across the U.S. or even within individual counties. The fact is one size doesn’t fi t all, and there is no single ideal biomass source. While some sources may have ideal combustion and cofi ring properties, such as wood, other sources such as corn and soybeans are optimal feedstocks for fuel production.

The Energy & Environmental Research Cen-ter is advancing a suite of technologies that can be tailored to the resources available and the needs of each client.

The best biomass resource for a particular energy production scenario will depend on mul-tiple factors that need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis:

Availability and cost of biomass depends on supply and demand. Many biomass sources are already used in other applications and may not be accessible or economical to use as an energy source. For example, agricultural residues are gen-erally diffi cult to collect and are composted in the fi eld to maintain soil quality.

Physical and chemical properties of the biomass will vary depending on the species, geog-raphy, climate and harvest time. This variability is of particular concern when the impact is consid-ered on the slagging, fouling and particulate emis-sions associated with utilizing the biomass as an energy source.

Energy content/heating value can range from 14,000 Btu per pound, found in scrap rail-road ties with nearly no moisture, to 2,600 Btu per pound, typical of leaves and grass clippings with up to 60 percent water.

Transportation costs will likely be the determinant of ac-ceptable moisture and energy content for given biomass appli-cations. Transportation logistics also need to be considered for each scenario.

Land ownership impacts biomass availabil-ity and future growth potential. About one-half of the total acreage in the U.S. has some potential for growing biomass. Nearly 60 percent of the land in the U.S. is privately owned, and the federal government owns 28 percent.

Plant logistics such as size; feed ratio with coal (for cofi ring scenarios); resource process-ing requirements (drying, shredding, pulverizing, separating); storage options; and availability of process utilities for conditioning as-received re-sources also need to be considered.

The right mix takes a multitude of factors into consideration—not because the government mandates it, not because environmental groups support it, but because it makes sense for the par-ticular situation.

The EERC has conducted numerous resource and technology assessments that utilize biomass, and in every case, it has been imperative to verify the information on a local level and test the spe-cifi c biomass source to be used.

Each application requires a thorough tech-noeconomic assessment and analysis of available feedstocks prior to being selected for energy gen-eration or product development. In this way, bio-mass can be made to fi t. BIO

Tera Buckley is a marketing research specialist at the EERC. Reach her at [email protected] or (701) 777-5269.

Tera Buckley marketing research specialist, EERC

One Size Doesn’t Fit All—Designing the Right Biomass System for You

August 4 - 6, 2010Westin Copley PlaceBoston, Massachusetts

The Northeast BIOMASS Conference & Expo program will include more than 60 speakers, including technical presentations on topics ranging from anaerobic digestion and gasification to combined heat and power and large-scale biomass combustion, within the structured framework of general session panels and four customized tracks:

TRACK 1: Electricity Generation

TRACK 2: Industrial Process Heat and Power

TRACK 3: Biorefining

TRACK 4: Biomass Project Development and Finance

Register Todaywww.biomassconference.com/[email protected]

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BTECUPDATE

Last month in this column, Biomass Thermal Energy Coun-cil Chairman Charlie Niebling outlined the recent progress to raise the profi le of biomass heating at the national level. However, on April 29, the industry was confronted with a major challenge. Be-cause of action brought by the Sierra Club and other petitioners, the U.S. EPA proposed new emissions regulations. The proposed regulations would impact existing and new commercial, industrial and institutional boilers burning coal, oil and biomass. BTEC sym-pathizes with the need to decrease emissions of hazardous air pol-lutants (HAP) and believes the best way to achieve this is through the application of practical performance testing and maintenance regimes that achieve signifi cant emissions reductions without bur-dening boiler owners, especially small-scale ones, with onerous compliance costs.

The proposed rule differentiates between small boilers under 10 million Btu (MMBtu) and large boilers over 10 MMBtu. Exist-ing large biomass boilers will not be tested for particulate matter (PM) emissions, but will be required to demonstrate carbon mon-oxide (CO) emissions of fewer than 160 parts per million (PPM) at 7 percent oxygen (O2). These facilities must also undergo a certi-fi ed energy conservation assessment. Rightly, EPA believes that by reducing the heating load with conservation measures emissions will also be reduced. Existing small biomass boilers will not require testing due to technological limitations and relatively high costs for testing. However, a record of certifi ed tune up must be submit-ted to the EPA every two years. This is a tough regimen, but it is doubtful that owners of these older, dirtier boilers will consider upgrading to more modern technology given the proposed re-quirements for new boilers.

Under the proposed rule, new biomass boilers must meet strict emissions limits for CO and PM, which are 100 PPM CO at 7 percent O2 and PM limits of 0.03 pounds per MMBtu. Initial compliance must be demonstrated by a stack test and retested an-nually. After demonstrating initial compliance, a monthly fuel re-cord must also be maintained. If the fuel type is changed a new compliance test must be performed. For biomass boilers, initial compliance cannot be obtained without the performance of a fa-cility energy assessment. These emissions levels are, at a minimum, two times more stringent than what is required to meet strict Ger-man and Austrian Eco-Label requirements. New oil boilers will also be challenged to meet similar strict criteria at 1 PPM CO at 7 percent O2 and PM limits of 0.03 pounds per MMBtu.

Advanced boiler designs control fuel combustion time, tem-perature and turbulence to achieve complete burn-out of the fuel which results in low HAP, such as tars and creosotes. The remain-ing ash PM from highly effi cient wood combustion is mostly inor-ganic salts (calcium, magnesium) not heavy metals (mercury, cad-mium) as are found in coal or heavy oil. As a result, wood particulate

emissions are less toxic than other fossil fuel sources; however in the proposed rule, only PM weight is considered, not composition. Consequently, the surrogate tests—CO for HAP and PM for heavy metals—may not accurately refl ect the differences between biomass boiler and fossil fuel boiler emis-sions.

Installing exhaust testing ports and in-strumentation along with advanced emis-sions control technology such as fi lter bag houses or electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) and other equipment can add immensely to installations costs—approximately $100,000 for even the smallest sized boilers. Testing and control technology can easily cost more than the boiler itself. Annual testing alone is reported to cost $5,000 to $20,000 per boil-er. For boilers under 3 MMBtu the required additional emissions controls and testing make new biomass boilers unaffordable.

Schools, churches and small businesses will be dispropor-tionately affected by these regulations, which could turn a cost-effective, locally available, job-producing heat source into an eco-nomic nonstarter. Many of these applications may utilize more than one boiler, which could easily lead to a doubling, tripling or quadrupling of costs. There is a human component too. In small-scale installations fi nding trained personnel to manage the fi lter bag houses, ESPs and test reporting will be diffi cult. EPA’s favored fuel, natural gas, is not available in many rural communities, where biomass has played a cost-effective heating role. In the Northeast, a region heavily dependent on fuel oil for heating, biomass has ma-terially reduced that dependence, but now biomass heating could be bound and shackled by the proposed rule.

As one reads this article the initial 45-day comment period is complete. The EPA administrator is under court order to com-plete the fi nal rule by Dec. 16. It will then be three years before compliance is mandatory. Seemingly, this is reasonable time to achieve compliance until one considers that the rule is retroactive to the day it is published in the federal register, scheduled for June 4. Potential biomass boiler customers are now putting purchasing decisions on hold while the EPA reaches a fi nal decision. This is a major blow to an industry that is already challenged by a struggling economy. Coordinating our industry’s response, BTEC aims to ensure that the fi nal air quality regulation integrates clean air goals with encouragement for cost-effective, renewable biomass heat for customers throughout the U.S. BIO

Scott Nichols is BTEC director and president of BioHeatUSA. To learn more about the BTEC, go to www.biomassthermal.org.

Proposed EPA Emissions Rules Threaten to Send Biomass Heating Industry Up in Smoke

Scott Nichols director, BTEC

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It’s All Hereiomass is no longer a long-range option for

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LEGALperspectives

s developers know, fi nancing bio-mass to electricity plants in today’s environment is challenging. Fortu-nately, the USDA will soon be re-

viving a signifi cant funding source for biomass feedstocks.

In June 2009, USDA issued a Notice of Funding Availability under its Biomass Crop Assistance Program for matching payments for the collection, harvest, storage and trans-portation of eligible wood, plants and other re-newable materials for sales to qualifi ed biocon-version facilities that convert biomaterials into heat, power, biobased products or advanced biofuels. The intent was to promote the use of renewable biomass products for the produc-tion of electricity and biofuels. However, like many laws, this one had unintended conse-quences. The matching payments resulted in a signifi cant increase in the price of raw timber and undermined an industry that has used saw-dust and wood shavings to make cabinetry.

As a result in February, USDA terminat-ed the 2009 NOFA and issued proposed new rules for the BCAP program. Final rules are expected this summer, and the following sum-marizes the current proposals and discusses their implications for the biomass industry.

Matching Payments: Payments are avail-able for the delivery of eligible material to a qualifi ed biomass conversion facility to either the producer of the material, or the person with the right to collect or harvest the material. Eligible materials generally include renewable plant materials such plants and trees and waste

materials, including wood wastes and wood residues, that would not otherwise be used for higher value products (to avoid sawdust and wood shavings). A qualifi ed biomass conver-sion facility is one that converts or proposes to convert renewable biomass into heat, power, biobased products, advanced biodiesel or ad-vanced biofuels and undergoes a qualifi cation process with the Commodity Credit Corp.

USDA offered three different payment formulas in its proposal, including $1 for each $1 paid by the facility per dry ton of eligible material: up to $45 per dry ton, but matching payments for wood or wood wastes converted into heat or power for on-site use would only be made if those materials exceeded the facili-ty’s historical use; up to $45 per dry ton for ma-terials converted into advanced biofuels, with a lower cap for all other conversions; and paid in a way that rewards delivery to new facilities, newly converted public facilities, and facilities that are increasing their use of biomass. It will be interesting to see which one of these three options the USDA selects in its fi nal rule.

Establishment and Annual Payments: BCAP also offers payments to producers in a designated project area to help cover the cost of establishing a biomass crop, as well as to in-centivize long-term commitments to the crop. A project area is established by a group of pro-ducers or a biomass conversion facility in con-junction with the CCC. A project area must demonstrate a suffi cient facility, and quantity and quality of producers.

Establishment payments can be up to 75 percent of costs such as seed and stock, plant-ing and site preparation. Annual payments are made to producers who contract with CCC to establish or produce eligible crops, with contract terms up to fi ve years for nonwoody perennial crops and up to 15 years for woody perennial crops. An annual payment is reduced to the extent that the producer also receives a matching payment. Eligible crops for estab-lishment and annual payments include crops ineligible for matching payments such as algae and animal, food and yard waste.

The new BCAP is expected to be a sig-nifi cant fi nancing source for biomass plant developers. We believe that the new rules, when issued, will address the unintended con-sequences of the initial NOFA and serve their intended policy objectives of promoting the use of renewable biomass for electricity and biofuels. BIO

Gregory J. Lynch is managing partner of the Madison, Wis., offi ce of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. He is also the co-chair of the Renewable Energy Group and co-founder of the Venture Best venture practice. Reach him at [email protected], http://twitter.com/Renewable_Energ or (608) 283-2240. Craig Johnson is a member of the Renewable Energy, Business and Health Care Practice Groups in the Madison offi ce at Michael Best & Friedrich. Reach him at [email protected] or (608) 257-3064.

Financing Biomass Plants Using the BCAP

Craig Johnson attorney, Michael Best & Friedrich

Gregory J. Lynch attorney, Michael Best & Friedrich

A


business BRIEFSLobeStar Pump is now LobePro

LobeStar Pumps, manufacturer of the LobeStar Rotary Lobe Pump, has announced it will now be LobePro. LobeStar engineers pumping solutions for diffi cult applications such as pumping sludge, slurries, corrosives and waste. The quick growth and acceptance of the company’s products in the global market-place resulted in challenges in trademarking the LobeStar name throughout the world. LobePro notes that nothing but the name has changed. LobePro still has the same engineering and service team and the same Rotary Lobe Pumps. More info can be found at the new website www.LobePro.com. BIO

River Consulting ranks high in a down economyRiver Consulting was ranked as one of the Top 500 Design

Firms in the country by Engineering News-Record for the third con-secutive year. Published annually, the ENR Top 500 recognizes top-performing architectural and engineering fi rms. River Consulting took the 431st spot in ENR’s April 21 issue. The ranking is based upon 2009 revenue, and is a rise from last year’s spot at 440. River Consulting is a mid-major A/E to energy, food, process and indus-trial clients, providing engineering and project management services to companies around the globe and combines the capability of a full-service fi rm with the responsiveness and fl exibility of a spe-cialty engineering practice. BIO

Clenergen names Kumar nonexecutive director, Nelson board adviser

Clenergen Corp. has announced the appointment of MB Sanil Kumar as nonexecutive director and Bonnie Nelson as board adviser. Kumar is the managing partner of Kumar Biju Associates, a fi rm of accountants based in India and the Middle East. He has more than 20 years experience in the accounting and management consultant professions and works with an ex-tensive portfolio of corporate and multinational clients as well as the government and public sectors. Nelson is a prior owner and CEO of the Wall Street brokerage fi rm, Vanderbilt Securi-ties Inc., where she was responsible for taking companies public, over-the-counter trading, mergers and acquisitions, and the de-velopment of joint ventures and strategic alliances for her clients. With a career spanning more than 20 years of investment and merchant banking, Nelson has extensive experience in consulting and corporate fi nance for public and private companies. BIO

Morbark launches Sawdust Quick Switch conversion kit

Morbark Inc. now offers a second quick-switch conversion kit, allowing grinder owners to further diversify their product offerings by simply modifying the hammermill of their Mor-bark horizontal grinder. The original conversion kit, introduced in 2009, gave Morbark grinder owners the ability to make high-quality standard-size chips. The new Sawdust Quick Switch conversion kit also allows grinder owners to supply the large-volume sawdust market. This gives Morbark grinder owners the capability to produce mulch, high-quality chips or sawdust with one machine. The conversion kit is available on Morbark hori-zontal grinder models 3800, 4600, 4600XL and 6600 from any model year, wheeled or track versions. For more information, go to www.morbark.com/quickswitch. BIO

New England Wood Pellet, Sandri announce strategic partnership, sale of Propell Energy

New England Wood Pellet LLC and The Sandri Cos. an-nounced a formal strategic partnership between the two compa-nies, as well as the acquisition by Sandri of NEWP’s commercial pellet boiler business, Propell Energy, which is central to the part-nership. Propell Energy was founded in 2008 to market commer-cial- and industrial-scale pellet boilers for heating schools, offi ce buildings, apartment complexes and other large buildings. Propell also provides economical bulk pellet delivery to large commercial accounts. Sandri will fold Propell Energy into its emerging renew-able energy division. Sandri’s renewable energy group will be led by Jake Goodyear, president of Propell Energy. The partnership also involves a multiyear exclusive supply agreement in which Sandri will buy and resell bulk pellet fuels exclusively from NEWP for re-sale to residential and commercial customers. The two companies also partnered to secure a $3.2 million dollar grant from the Mas-sachusetts Department of Energy Resources to install numerous commercial pellet boilers in western Massachusetts and increase the use of residential high-effi ciency pellet boilers. BIO

Sapphire hires senior director, downstream technology

Sapphire Energy announced veteran oil executive Dan Sajkowski has joined the com-pany as senior director, downstream technol-ogy. After more than 24 years with BP (Amo-co), Sajkowski brings his wealth of experience in the oil and refi ning industry to the burgeon-ing fi eld of algae-based fuel. Sajkowski served as the business unit leader of BP’s Whiting Refi nery, the fourth-largest refi nery in the country, for the past fi ve years. In addition to operational and fi nancial accountability for the site, he was a primary driver behind the largest capital project in the history of Indiana and the most complex project BP has ever undertaken: the $3.8 billion modernization of the Whiting Refi nery. BIO

Sajkowski


John Deere introduces 900 KH-Series Tracked Harvesters

The new John Deere 900 KH-Series Tracked Harvesters of-fer extra power and productivity to take on the toughest trees, with dual power options at 300 horsepower (hp) or the industry-fi rst 330 hp. The 900s feature a larger displacement Tier 3 PowerTech Plus 9.0 liter engine that delivers the power needed to move, swing and harvest faster due to dual swing motors for high torque and a power management system that makes sure no power is wasted. According to the company, the KH-Series boasts the lowest daily fuel cost in the industry, a 295-gallon fuel tank, a fully integrated measuring system that has been factory installed and fully documented for optimized performance and quick, consistent troubleshooting, a protected un-dercarriage with double fl ange rollers for maximum durability, and a best-in-class leveling system to keep the upper frame level, even when the tracks are climbing or tilting on tough slopes. BIO

Ze-gen hires Robertson as vice president of technology

Ze-gen Inc. has announced the addition of David Robertson as vice president of technology. He joins Ze-gen after a 30-year career with BP plc. Robertson will be leading the technology development, project deploy-ment and operations activities at Ze-gen as it advances commercialization of its gasifi ca-tion process. His most recent role was technology vice president, conversion in the refi ning and marketing company in BP. He was responsible for developing a portfolio of technologies to create synthesis gas from a range of primary fuels and creating a range of clean fuels and fuel-related products from syngas. BIO

business BRIEFS

Siemens to deliver steam turbine for UK’s largest biomass project

Siemens has been awarded a major contract to design, manufacture and install a state-of-the-art SST 800 steam tur-bine for the largest biomass-fi red combined-heat-and-power plant ever to be developed in the U.K. The new plant, utiliz-ing Siemens technology enables Tullis Russell, the Fife-based paper manufacturer to meet its energy needs effi ciently and in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. Siemens re-ceived the order from Aker Solutions, a global provider of en-gineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and commission-ing services to the natural resources and energy markets. Aker Solutions is engaged as the EPC contractor to RWE npower renewables on this pioneering project. When fully operational, Siemens’ turbine will be fi red with 400,000 metric tons of har-vested wood and waste and have an installed capacity of 50 megawatts. BIO

Martin Engineering introduces custom-engineered transfer chutes

Martin Engineering has introduced custom-engineered trans-fer chutes to help deliver material control from the time it leaves the conveyor discharge pulley until it reaches the receiving belt. By managing the material speed and direction, Martin Inertial Flow Transfer Chutes can minimize impact and wear on liners and belts, while containing the dust and spillage that are often generated at transfer points. The engineered fl ow chutes employ special geom-etries that capture and concentrate the material stream as it travels through the chute. Every design is tailored to suit the specifi c ma-terial characteristics and conveyor systems of the individual cus-tomer, rather than using stock products and attempting to make them work. BIO

Enerkem announces new board directorEnerkem Inc. has announced the expansion of its board of

directors. Timothy J. Cesarek, managing director in the Organic Growth Group of Waste Management Inc., has joined the company as a director. As announced in February, Waste Management became a strategic investor in Enerkem during the company’s last fi nancing round. Cesarek’s contribution as a director will enhance Enerkem’s expertise in the waste sector. Currently, Cesarek is responsible for originating and commercializing innovative technologies that are consistent with Waste Management’s core business. Prior to joining Waste Management, Cesarek was the president of Koch Genesis where he led the corporate venture arm, identifying and commercial-izing technologies external to the research and development effort of Koch Industries. BIO

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Robertson

Qteros appoints Hager as vice president, corporate communications and government affairs

Qteros Inc. announced the appoint-ment of Susan Hager as vice president of corporate communications and government affairs. In this role, Hager will report direct-ly to John McCarthy, president and CEO. Jef Sharp, senior vice president of corpo-rate communications and government af-fairs, director and a member of the Qteros founding group, will continue to serve the company as a member of Qteros’ board of directors. Hager’s career spans more than 16 years, and has fo-cused on developing results-driven communications campaigns for a broad portfolio of unique life science companies within both the private and public sectors. BIO

Hager


BIObytes Biomass News Briefs

The USDA has approved two ArborGen permit applica-tions for planting and growing genetically engineered eucalyp-tus trees, following the comple-tion of an environmental as-sessment that concluded the fi eld releases are unlikely to pose plant pest risks or impact envi-ronmental quality.

The decision will allow Ar-borGen to continue its research on the genetically engineered traits in eucalyptus, including cold tolerance, and authorizes the confi ned planting of the

eucalyptus trees on 29 sites with 28 of the sites allowing trees to fl ower.

Earlier this year, Arbor-Gen announced an agreement with cellulosic ethanol company Range Fuels to evaluate the use-fulness of woody biomass as a source of cellulose for biofuels and to help Range Fuels under-stand the issues surrounding the planting, management, harvest-ing, storage and transportation of purpose-grown trees as a biofuels feedstock.

ArborGen permitted to growgenetically engineered eucalyptus

Researchers at the Great Plains Institute and the University of Minnesota created an online tool to study the impacts of policy options on the Midwestern econ-omy. Users of the Energy Choice Simulator can “test drive” energy policies and study their effects on the region’s energy production, state government budgets and greenhouse gas emissions, accord-ing to GPI.

The ECS can model policy options such as incentives for re-newable energy and carbon cap-ture, low-carbon fuel standards, cap and trade, and moratoriums on polluting technologies. The online user interface is free and available to the public for constructing sce-narios, changing data assumptions or performing new experiments. Learn more at www.energychoices-imulator.com.

GPI launches Energy Choice Simulator

Mirel F1005 and F1006, members of the Mirel bio-plastic family by bioscience company Metabolix Inc. and agri-giant Archer Dan-iels Midland Co., are now cleared for use in nonalco-holic food contact applica-tions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ac-cording to Metabolix. Mirel is now suitable for a wide range of injection-molded food service and packaging applications including caps, closures and disposable

items such as forks, spoons, knives, tubs, trays and hot cup lids. The clearance also includes products such as house wares, cosmetics and medical packaging.

Mirel bioplastics have the physical properties of petroleum-based resins, but are biobased and biodegrad-able in natural soil and wa-ter environments, in home composting systems and in industrial composting facili-ties.

Mirel bioplastics grades cleared for food contact use

Scottish and Southern En-ergy will soon begin construc-tion on what it believes will be the largest biogas plant in Scot-land, a facility that will be located at a former landfi ll site at Barkip, North Ayrshire.

The plant will be capable of annually processing about 75,000 metric tons of waste to generate approximately 2.5

megawatts of electricity. SSE’s project partner, William Tracey Ltd., has signed a 25-year con-tract with the company to sup-ply feedstock to the plant.

SSE expects the project, which was awarded a £2.2 mil-lion ($2.9 million) grant from Zero Waste Scotland’s Organics Capital Grants Program, to be operational by 2011.

SSE to build Scotland’s largest biogas plant


The Westervelt Co., a land resource organization, will sup-ply Alabama Power with 7 megawatts of power from bio-mass through a long-term con-tract approved in May by the Alabama Service Commission.

Westervelt will generate power from wood byproducts from its Sustainable Forestry Initiative Chain of Custody Certifi ed lumber production fa-cility in Moundville, Ala., along with other sources, according to Westervelt. An incremental amount of 60,000 tons of feed-

stock is anticipated, according to Robby Johnson, Westervelt mar-keting manager.

Westervelt purchased a used steam turbine that is be-ing reconditioned for the facil-ity. Vendors have been selected and contracts are being fi nished, Johnson said, and commercial operation is expected to begin 14 months after engineering work begins. Enough biomass power will be generated to supply 3,000 residential customers.

Westervelt to generate biomass power in Alabama The North Dakota Renew-

able Energy Council and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Mandan, N.D., have granted $450,000 to North Da-kota State University to estab-lish a dedicated biomass testing laboratory, the fi rst of its kind in the state.

The lab will be designed specifi cally to test the dimen-sional, thermal and physical properties of biomass and

will be centrally located at the USDA-ARS site in Mandan, according to NDSU Biofuels Economist Cole Gustafson. One particular goal of the proj-ect is to develop a database of biomass characteristics obtained from samples coming to the lab from across the state.

Development of the facil-ity is expected to take two years before it becomes fully opera-tional.

ND to establish biomass testing lab

The Wisconsin Bio Indus-try Alliance’s Bio Power Initia-tive launched a statewide me-dia campaign to promote the positive benefi ts of biopower in Wisconsin. It includes edito-rial board visits, radio advertise-ments, media releases and other educational materials.

A 60-second radio ad titled “Community” discusses the creation of family sustain-ing jobs from the proposed biomass cogeneration facility in Rothschild, as well as the po-

tential improvement in air qual-ity from the project.

The group is holding a series of editorial board visits around the state, talking with reporters about how the indus-try can positively impact their region, and is working to create a coalition of business leaders and organizations that support clean energy. The initiative has also released a series of fact sheets that help to clearly de-fi ne and explain biopower and its role in Wisconsin.

WBIA launches biomass news campaign

During July, the Univer-sity of Vermont will be of-fering a four-week four-credit biomass-to-biofuels course that will involve hands-on ex-perience in liquid/solid biofu-els and biogas, cover environ-mental, economic, social and other biofuel/biomass-related issues.

Topics to be covered in-clude wood biomass-to-ener-gy, grass energy, oilseed-based biodiesel, biogas from waste biomass, algae biofuels, inte-grated sustainability assess-ments of biofuels, economics

of biofuels, and material and energy fl ows in combined food-energy systems for de-signing appropriate agricul-tural technologies.

The university recom-mends the course to degree and nondegree seeking stu-dents, farmers, budding entre-preneurs, teachers (interested in developing curriculum, or projects at school or college levels) and others.

For more information, visit http://learn.uvm.edu/igs/biomass_to_biofuels.

U of Vermont to offer biomass-to-biofuels course


industry NEWS

U.S. states import billions of dollars in coalThree dozen states are collectively spending billions of dollars an-

nually on imported coal, hundreds of times more than what they spend on renewable energy development and research, according to a Union of Concerned Scientists report released May 18.

“Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal” ranks the 38 states that are net importers of domestic and foreign coal based on federal data from 2008. “Almost all states burn coal for electricity, but only a few mine for it,” said Barbara Freese, report co-author and UCS senior climate and energy policy advocate, during a May 18 press conference to discuss the report. The subject of the report is the money spent on that coal, Freese said. “We maintain that ratepayers in the states would be better served if this money was [kept] at home and used [for] readily-available clean energy technology,” said Marchant Wentworth, UCS assistant climate and energy legislative director.

About 63 percent of U.S. coal consumption comes from Wyo-ming, West Virginia and Kentucky. Foreign coal, which totaled about $1.8 billion for a 16-state supply in 2008 and accounts for an astounding 83 percent of coal consumption in Massachusetts, comes mainly from Colombia, according to the report. “One of the most surprising fi nd-ings of the report is the amount of coal we import from foreign sourc-es,” said Jeff Deyette, report co-author and UCS assistant director of energy research and analysis. Although foreign imports tripled between 1999 and 2008, the U.S. still exports more coal than it imports.

The fi rst-of-its kind report uses six categories to rank state depen-dence on coal imports: total spending on net imported coal; spending on net imported coal per state resident; spending on international coal imports; amount of net coal imports by weight; spending relative to the size of the state economy; and reliance on net imports relative to total power use. A list of top 10 states was developed for each category.

Georgia spent the most on net coal imports in 2008 at $2.6 billion, followed by North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee, Indiana and Missouri, all spending more than $1 billion. The UCS has dubbed the group the “Billion Dollar Club,” joined by South Carolina, according to the report. Georgia is the only state that appears on every list.

Twenty-four net-importing states ranked in one or more of the six categories, but states in the Midwest and Southeast dominate, ac-cording to the report. Of the 29 states that have adopted a renewable energy standard (RES), North Carolina is the only one in the Southeast, according to Deyette, a disappointing statistic when taking into account the abundant forest resources in the region. In addition, several wood pellet plants in the Southeast as well as on the East Coast are exporting their products to Europe instead of selling them domestically.

The U.S. has a reservoir of untapped renewable energy potential,

Deyette said, citing the Southeast. Some states, such as Iowa and Mas-sachusetts, have ratepayer-funded energy effi ciency programs, one of the lowest-cost means of decreasing coal imports, he added. “Many states that are the most dependent on imports are lagging in these poli-cies,” he said.

But it’s not all bad news. Centerview, Mo.-based Show Me Energy Cooperative, the fi rst non-profi t, farmer-owned cooperative in the U.S., produces several tons of pellets per hour and sells them domestically at half the cost of propane, said Steve Flick, president of the board of directors. “We’re the real deal.” The cooperative manufactures its pellets using switchgrass, blue stem and other crops grown by farmers in a 100-mile radius, along with damaged wood. The feedstock is in ample supply and keeps up with the energy value of coal, Flick said.

Facilities such as Show Me Energy’s, along with federal policies such as an RES, will help wean the nation off coal. An RES needs to be “stronger than business as usual” to be effective, Wentworth em-phasized, in excess of 20 to 22 percent by 2020. “We already know this approach works because 29 states already have enforceable standards in place,” he said.

—Lisa Gibson

A Union of Concerned Scientists report revealed that dozens of states are spending billions on imported coal.


With the help of a state program and Indeck Ladysmith LLC, schools in Wisconsin may have the opportunity to reduce fuel costs by switching to woody biomass.

Through a state-funded program, Focus on Energy’s Fuels for Schools and Communities, Wisconsin schools have been able to obtain free prefeasibility assessments to determine whether re-placing their old boilers and furnaces with wood pellet boilers would be economical.

Mike Curci, Indeck Ladysmith Biofuel Center superinten-dent, said he initially meets with school offi cials to determine what kind fuel the school uses—oil, natural gas or propane—what its requirements are and whether wood pellets are a better option. “Once the prefeasibility assessment determines it’s worth the switch to biomass, Focus on Energy will do a full feasibility study and depending on a positive outcome, we look into long-term fuel contracts with the school to help offset the initial capital cost,” he said.

Indeck Energy Services Inc., which offers biofuels produc-tion and electrical generation facilities, operates a 90,000 ton per year wood pellet facility in Ladysmith, Wis., that would supply the schools. A typical-sized kindergarten through fi fth grade north-ern Wisconsin school would require about 250,000 to 300,000 tons of wood pellets annually, Curci said, at an [industry] average cost of $140 per ton, prior to delivery fee. Indeck Energy is also looking into working with schools in northern Minnesota.

So far, the results of feasibility studies have been promising, as Indeck Energy has found about 10 schools that would be able to install the new boilers and eventually see cost-savings associ-ated with the conversion. Curci said whether a school is a good candidate mainly depends on its current fuel contract. “Since natural gas prices are low right now it might not be as good [to switch from] a natural-gas fi red boiler, but as natural gas prices increase over the next couple of years, that will change,” he said. “If a school is using propane or No. 2 fuel oil, it’s always a posi-tive switch.”

A Focus on Energy-funded study conducted in 2008 by the Biomass Energy Resource Center found that as many as 25 per-cent of Wisconsin schools could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs by switching from natural gas to wood or other biomass. According to the study, Wisconsin schools spend nearly $200 million a year on energy.

Today, many schools have experienced declining income or funding, however, and may not be able to afford the initial capital costs of changing out their heating system. To help alleviate that fi nancial burden, Focus on Energy will provide up to $250,000 to a school to go toward implementing a biomass system. These funds will allow Indeck Energy to lease boilers to schools that are strapped for cash along with a long-term fuel contract. After a period of years the school would own the system.

Indeck Energy’s branch Indeck Keystone Energy Inc. designs and manufactures industrial boilers at Erie, Pa., but Curci said the company is also looking at several other commercial and indus-trial systems on the market to help schools select the best fi t.

—Anna Austin

industry NEWS

Indeck Energy helps schools cut costs with biomass

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Indeck Energy has a pellet facility in Ladysmith, Wis., which would supply schools that want to switch to biomass boilers.


The USDA has released reports revealing what types of eli-gible materials have been contracted through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program as of May 18, as well as the number of con-tracts for each material and the total collection, harvest, storage and transportation (CHST) matching payment value.

CHST funds allow matching payments to eligible biomass material owners in the amount of $1 per $1 paid per ton by a qualifi ed biomass conversion facility—a facility that will use the material to produce power, heat, biobased products, advanced biofuels or any combination—to the producer, up to $45 per dry ton for a time limit of two years after the fi rst payment is made. On Feb. 8, the USDA stopped accepting CHST applica-tions and issuing payments until the fi nal BCAP rule is in place, which is speculated to come out this fall.

On a national level, the USDA estimates that 5,423 con-tracts have been granted to date, totaling more than $224 million in matching payments. Bark contracted from nonfederal woody resources led the matching payment categories with 1,426 con-tracts valued at about $42.2 million in payments, followed by fuel wood (755 contracts at $31.4 million) nonfederal hardwood chips (818 contracts at $31.4 million), and forest harvest slash (389 contracts at $27.9 million).

Agriculture resources such as corncobs, grain, nut hulls and sugarcane bagasse have been granted 37 contracts totaling about $246,000. Energy grasses and legumes totaled 99 con-tracts at $200,000 in matching payments, and waste materials such as nonedible fats and oils, nonedible plant processing waste and scraps, orchard wood waste, pellets, roadway maintenance cuttings, sawdust and shavings have been granted 711 contracts totaling about $34.8 million in CHST payments.

On a statewide basis, Alabama has the most contracts at 585, which are worth $22.7 million in CHST payments; Maine’s payment value is the highest at $33.7 million from 423 contracts. Nineteen states were not listed as having any contracts, though data for states with less than four facilities or less than four con-tracts were not reported for confi dentiality reasons.

Though not defi nitive, the USDA has estimated BCAP spending to total about $2.6 billion, including $2.1 billion for matching payments over the next four years.

—Anna Austin

industry NEWSBCAP matching payments reach $224 million


Energy crop company Ceres Inc. and enzyme provider No-vozymes will collaborate on research to co-develop customized plant varieties and enzyme cocktails to improve cellulosic ethanol produc-tion.

The joint optimization project will lead to more effective en-zymes and higher quality energy crops for greater fuel yields and lower capital and operating costs, according to Novozymes. Research will begin with determination of the best enzyme cocktails to biore-fi ne Ceres’ commercial switchgrass seed product, along with similar evaluations of sweet sorghum. Ceres’ researchers will also develop customized plant varieties that can be degraded more easily by No-vozymes’ enzymes, in addition to crops that minimize the compo-nents in biomass shown to decrease conversion rates and yields.

“The composition of biomass varies greatly, even within a crop like switchgrass and sorghum,” said Gary Koppenjan, Ceres corpo-rate communications manager. “Within this variability, we are look-ing for the optimal combination of biomass characteristics (the lock) and the enzyme cocktail (the key). The fi rst step is to understand what locks and keys are available, and then which ones offer the best results.”

Like feedstock characteristics, the process technology is also an important factor, according to Cynthia Bryant, marketing manager

for Novozymes. The two elements can signifi cantly change the spe-cifi c enzyme complex needed to optimize biomass to fermentable sugar conversion. “This is why Novozymes has expanded our re-search from focusing on enzyme development to also researching process technology in the areas of pretreatment, hydrolysis and fer-mentation in order to optimize the feedstock, process and enzyme interrelationship,” she said.

Other contributors such as the producer’s business model can also play a role in the optimal enzyme and crop combination. “The challenge with cellulosic ethanol production is that unlike the corn-to-ethanol process, which basically has a standard process technology and business model, cellulosic ethanol will rely on a multitude of feedstocks, process technologies and business models,” Bryant said. “If two producers use the same feedstock but have different pro-cess technologies and business models, the optimal enzyme complex could be different.”

One way to address the needs of many unique combinations could be to develop enzyme complexes that are best suited for each combination, she said, adding that Novozymes has the capability to do that today and applies it in many of its industries.

—Lisa Gibson

industry NEWS

Novozymes partners for cellulosic ethanol research


industry NEWSCalifornia bioenergy stymied without bill passage

A bill (AB 222) that would expedite the introduction of new conversion technologies to produce advanced biofuels and/or green power from organic waste materials in California has re-cently gained support from three powerful state regulatory agen-cies. Without endorsement from two Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality, however, AB 222 will not reach the Senate fl oor and will die at the end of the year, allow-ing many barriers to bioenergy growth to remain in place.

AB 222 passed the California Assembly with fl ying colors on June 1, 2009, by a vote of 54-13, after it was approved by a unanimous bipartisan vote of 11-0 in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee. In July, it was approved in the Sen-ate Utilities, Energy and Communications Committee, and since is awaiting action in the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality which elected not to act on the bill.

Overall, AB 222 corrects scientifi cally inaccurate defi nitions and antiquated provisions in the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, and thus enables and expedites the in-state produc-tion of advanced, nonfood-derived biofuels and green power from biomass through new nonincineration technologies such as gasifi cation, fermentation and pyrolysis. Despite receiving support from more than 80 major statewide associations, state and federal agencies, electric utilities, waste management fi rms and renewable energy industry groups, the SCEQ has not taken action on it.

AB 222’s newly gained support is evidenced in a letter sent to SCEQ Chair Joe Simitian, signed by the Vice Chair of the

California Energy Commission (and chair of the governor’s In-teragency BioEnergy Task Force) Jim Boyd; Director of Cal-Recycle (formerly known as the Integrated Waste Management Board) Margo Reid Brown; and Chairperson of the California Air Resources Board Mary Nichols.

Urging support for AB 222, the letter said the bill would assist California in meeting state renewable energy and low-car-bon fuel goals. Particularly, it will enable electricity produced from biogenic waste streams—the stream left over after waste is sorted for recycling—to qualify as renewable energy under the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which is set for 20 percent by the end of 2010 and 33 percent by 2020.

Implementation of California’s ambitious Low Carbon Fuel Standard was approved in January and requires the reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels used in California by an average of 10 percent by the year 2020. Reid, Brown and Nichol’s letter states that new conversion technologies would as-sist in developing local fuel sources as part of the LCFS and as it is implemented additional sources for producing low-carbon fuel will be needed to meet the increasing demand.

AB 222 would also remove current statutory restrictions that require thermal conversion projects to have zero emissions, a standard required of no other energy generation technology or manufacturing process in the state, and it effectively precludes any municipal solid waste conversion technologies from qualify-ing for the state’s RPS, according to the letter.

Jim Stewart, AB 222 advocate and chairman of the Bio-


industry NEWS

energy Producers Association, said the letter is a powerful en-dorsement as the three agencies rarely combine to publicly sup-port legislation. He said traditional recycling methods won’t be effective enough to control mounting waste, especially with the rapidly growing population. “In 1989, California passed a man-date for 50 percent recycling, and in that year we landfi lled 40 million tons of waste,” he said. “In 2008, we were supposedly at 58 percent recycling in California, but yet we still landfi lled 40 million tons of waste. That means that after 20 years of effort—from increased population and per capita disposal—we have not reduced the amount of material we are putting in landfi lls. Over the next 20 years, we expect to put another 800 million tons of material [post-recycling], into California landfi lls if we don’t provide new tools and new methods to dispose of the materials. That’s what this [AB 222] is about—we can’t achieve zero waste without having new technologies.”

The way legislation is currently written, if a municipality provides waste (residuals left over post-recycling) to a bioenergy producer who converts it to biofuels or electricity, it counts as disposal—just as it would if that same material was sent to a landfi ll. “For example, if you take green waste or biosolids and you send it to a landfi ll for use as a daily cover, you get credit as waste diversion, not as waste disposal,” Stewart said. “If we take the same material and make biofuels from it, it counts as waste disposal as though we put it into a landfi ll. If landfi ll biogas is combusted to make electricity, credit is granted under the RPS, but if you take the same waste and convert it to fuel or electric-

ity using a new technology it doesn’t qualify as renewable energy even though it’s made from exactly the same feedstock that’s put into the landfi lls. AB 222 would correct some of these illogical rules.”

Stewart also noted that AB 222 would correct a scientifi cally inaccurate defi nition of gasifi cation, which is fundamental to all new thermal technologies. “California has a defi nition which requires zero emissions from the entire production process,” he said. “That means not only zero from the disposal and de-struction of waste, but zero from the biorefi ning aspect as well. There are no oil refi neries or electrical generation plants in the state that could have been built if they required zero air emis-sions; it’s not even minimal or meeting the highest standards, but zero. When the statute was passed back in 1989, these new technologies hadn’t even begun development.”

Stewart recommended that the public write the California Committee on Environmental Quality and demand that AB 222 be passed. “We need to grasp and realize the immense impor-tance of this issue,” he said.

To learn more about AB 222, visit www.bioenergyproduc-ers.org.

—Anna Austin

industry NEWSResearchers discover cellulose conversion benefi ts of ionic liquid

Dissolving cellulosic biomass in nonvolatile and recyclable solvent ionic liquids results in more sugars needed for biofuel production than using traditional acid catalyst extraction, as discovered by two Colorado State University researchers. Not only that, but the reaction is carried out more quickly.

Eugene Chen, professor of chemistry, and Xianghong Qian, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, discovered that ionic liquids—salts that melt at low temperatures—mixed with a suitable amount of water convert biomass directly to sugars. They made the discovery unexpectedly while examining the effects of ionic liquids as solvents when used together with acid catalysts, according to Chen. “We discovered that [ionic liquid]-water mixtures are actually trifunctional, serving as solvent (IL), reagent (water), and catalyst (intrinsic, suitable acidity of the IL-water mixture),” he said.

The acidity of ionic liquid-water mixtures Chen and Qian discov-ered was previously unrecognized but is now found suitable for con-version of biomass into sugars without common side reactions or ad-ditional catalysts. The process also eliminates environmental concerns over acids, creates a homogenous reaction, and has high conversion yields, along with the benefi ts of using a recyclable material.

“ILs are currently expensive, so they must be recovered, recycled and reused,” Chen said. “We have demonstrated the recyclability of ILs

in the conversion process albeit in a small, laboratory scale.”

After conversion to sugars, the next step is to use a metal catalyst to convert the sugars to 5-hydroxylmethyl furfural (HMF), which leads to biofuel with considerably higher energy density than current ethanol-based bio-fuel, Chen said. But the ionic liquid solvents can also convert the bio-mass directly to HMF in the presence of the metal catalyst, he added.

A paper on the work was published in the American Chemical So-ciety journal Energy & Fuels. The next goal in the research is to investi-gate and increase the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass, such as un-treated corn stover and pine wood, into sugars and HMF, Chen said.

—Lisa Gibson

Xianghong Qian assistant professor of mechanical engi-neering, Colorado State University

Eugene Chen professor of chemistry, Colorado State University

Chromatin Inc. will use its expanding technology portfolio to optimize fi t-for-purpose sorghum for use in biofuels, biopower and renewable chemicals.

Through compositional screen analysis, marker assisted breed-ing and gene stacking technologies, the company will deploy pro-prietary feedstocks near term and ultimately optimize sorghum for specifi c bioprocessors’ needs, according to the company. “We re-ally think it’s the ideal energy crop,” said Chromatin CEO Daphne Preuss. “We looked at everything and did a lot of analysis. Sorghum became the clear winner by a landslide.” The globally cultivated crop can generate starch, cellulose and sucrose, distinguishing it from all others. “It gets us an opportunity to touch a lot of end users,” she said.

According to Preuss, the three most important elements when optimizing a crop include aiming for the right quality, making good use of the land, water and other resources, and matching the quali-ties of the crop to the user. Chromatin has taken the time to un-derstand the needs of farmers and bioprocessors who would use the optimized strains and has developed solutions for them, she said. The company expects to have some seed products ready by the next growing season, but can employ some of its technologies immediately. “We think we can make an immediate difference,” she

said, adding that there is a lot of interest among growers and pro-ducers.

Chromatin, launched in 2001, began by developing its core technology platforms in crop improvement and now focuses solely on the optimization of sorghum for its recently-launched renew-able energy endeavors. “I think that there’s enormous opportunity in this area,” Preuss said. “We’re excited about optimizing these products and putting them in the hands of the farmers and bio-processors.” The company’s Mini-Chromosome Platform gene-stacking technology was one of its fi rst, but has since been joined by a number of others. “Mini Chromosomes is one of those game-changing breakthroughs,” Preuss said. “But since that time, we’ve built an entire portfolio of technologies to optimize sorghum.”

The company also recently acquired the assets of hybrid sor-ghum developer, marketer and distributer Sorghum Partners Inc., along with Milo Genetics LP. The transaction provides Chromatin with access to SPI’s well-established network of sorghum grow-ers and distributors, as well as Milo Genetics’ commercially viable sorghum germplasm.

—Lisa Gibson

industry NEWS

Chromatin optimizes sorghum

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FirstEnergy encounters opposition to biomass plansAkron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy has plans to convert its

312-megawatt coal-fi red R.E. Burger power plant along the Ohio River to biomass, but two state organizations have con-cerns with sustainability and the source of that biomass.

The Ohio Environmental Council and Consumers’ Counsel have asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to reject FirstEnergy’s request for classifi cation of its project as a re-newable energy facility on the grounds that it has not provided enough information to warrant the qualifi cation. That would mean First Energy could not count the energy generated from biomass there toward its state mandate of 12.5 percent renew-able electricity from utilities by 2025, according to Will Reis-inger, staff attorney with the Ohio Environmental Council.

“We think that FirstEnergy has not explained enough about their project to identify why it qualifi es as a renewable energy project,” Reisinger said. The PUCO has agreed with the agen-cies’ argument twice, indefi nitely suspending the company’s application, he added. The two agencies are now requesting dismissal of the application altogether. “We want some basic in-formation about the source of the biomass material,” Reisinger said. “The whole state could be deforested to produce energy for this one project.”

The biomass plant would be one of the largest in the coun-try, requiring about 1 million tons of biomass each year, accord-ing to Mark Durbin, FirstEnergy spokesman. FirstEnergy has yet to determine the type and source of feedstock that would be

used at the $200 million retrofi tted facility, but it could consist of woody biomass or agricultural biomass. “We’re actually in the process of looking through the requests for proposals for fuel,” Durbin said. “We would work with fuel suppliers.” He added that the company does not agree with the arguments against it and has provided all the information required for the applica-tion. “We have done everything we need to do,” he said, adding that he would not speculate as to the impact on the company or project if the PUCO rejects its application.

FirstEnergy is required by the U.S. EPA to convert the fa-cility to biomass feedstock if it wants to continue generating electricity there, Reisinger said, adding that the concerns lie in the application and renewable energy qualifi cation, not in the retrofi t itself. The sole project would meet the state mandate for the company, while providing extra renewable energy credits to sell to other utilities, Reisinger said, adding that biomass is only one of a few options for renewable energy. “If this generates as much as they think it will, FirstEnergy can use that to comply with the renewable energy standard.” No deadline exists for the PUCO to reach a decision on the application.

“Ultimately, the PUCO will decide,” Durbin said.

—Lisa Gibson


industry NEWS

ZeaChem breaks ground on demo plantZeaChem Inc. broke ground in early June on its 250,000 gallon-

per-year cellulosic ethanol and ethyl acetate demonstration plant in Boardman, Ore., and is still on track with previously mapped-out commercialization plans despite tough economic conditions that have hampered or halted other biofuels projects across the country.

According to ZeaChem President Jim Imbler, the hard times are actually good for some developers. “It weeds out the weak,” he said. Imbler added that strong support from local, state and federal government as well as investors and project partners have largely in-fl uenced the company’s ability to maintain its momentum.

The fi rst stage of the project will implement the company’s core process––fermentation-to-ethyl-acetate, a salable chemical in-termediate and precursor to cellulosic ethanol––which will be built and tested at Hazen Research facility in Golden, Colo. The follow-ing stage, supported by a $25 million grant from the U.S. DOE Of-fi ce of Energy Effi ciency and Renewable Energy Biomass Program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will produce cellulosic ethanol. “The interesting thing about ethyl acetate is that it takes about half the equipment that ethanol takes to make, but sells for twice the amount,” Imbler said. He said the company’s “stage” strategy is similar to building with Lego blocks. “We build one block at a time, optimize it, and then add another,” he said. “It’s very tra-ditional in the way that chemical plants are built; the majority of the time they are add-ons.”

Imbler said ZeaChem chose Boardman as the project’s location because of the company’s contract with GreenWood Resources, a

Portland-based timberland investment manager, to obtain sustain-able hybrid poplars from nearby farms held by GreenWood Tree Farm Fund LP. Wheat straw and other energy crops/waste streams will also be utilized at the plant, to produce about 135 gallons of ethanol per bone dry ton.

“We view our platform as more of a biorefi nery,” said Imbler, who has an extensive background in oil refi ning. “We have a process that allows us to take molecules off at different steps, which we can do based on market pricing. Our C2 platform, which we are focusing on right now, produces three products—acetic acid, ethyl acetate and ethanol—and we will be producing each of them at this plant for commercial testing.”

The Oregon Employment Department calculated that the con-struction and operation of the demonstration biorefi nery will create 292 direct and indirect jobs in Oregon, 167 of which will be located in Morrow County, where Boardman is located.

ZeaChem hopes to have a license agreement signed by the end of this year to build its fi rst commercial plant, and has begun work on its C3 platform to produce lactic and propionic acids.

Overall, Imbler said the company has simply stuck to its plan. “[Sticking to the plan] is what makes or breaks new companies,” he said. “The world is your oyster, but you have to decide what you’re going to do without being too fl ashy and just execute.”

—Anna Austin


The biomass power industry was unpleasantly surprised with the release of the U.S. EPA’s fi nal Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, which does not exempt biomass power producers from greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting requirements despite past EPA affi rmations that biomass is carbon neutral, and requires the same GHG reporting obli-gations as fossil fuel consumers.

Because the EPA did not explicitly raise the issue of biogenic car-bon in its proposed tailoring rule, the agency determined that it could not make a decision regarding the treatment of biogenic carbon in the fi nal rule. This is despite receiving a number of comments requesting that the agency exempt emissions from biogenic activities or biomass combustion or oxidation activities, including solid waste landfi lls, waste-to-energy projects, fermentation processes, combustion of renewable fuels, ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative energy production that use biomass feedstocks. At the same time some commenters opposed the exemption of biogenic/biomass activities, the EPA said, claiming a lack of a valid scientifi c basis for treating these GHG emissions differently than other GHG emissions and that it should not be assumed that all biomass combustion is carbon neutral.

While the EPA said it did not address the issue of exemptions for biomass combustion or biogenic emissions, the agency said it is mind-ful of the role that biomass or biogenic fuels and feedstocks could play

in reducing anthropogenic GHG emissions. The decision, the EPA added, is not fi nal and does not foreclose its ability to provide this type of exclusion at a later time when it has additional information about overwhelming permitting burdens due to biomass sources, or to pro-vide another type of exclusion or other treatment based on some other rationale. “Although we do not take a fi nal position here, we believe that some commenters’ observations about a different treatment of bio-mass combustion warrant further exploration as a possible rationale,” the EPA said. “…we plan to seek further comment on how we might address emissions of biogenic carbon dioxide under the PSD and title V programs through a future action, such as a separate Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued some brief state-ments on the EPA’s decision, assuring that as the [GHG permitting] process moves forward, the USDA will work with the EPA to ensure that rules designed to reduce the buildup of GHGs in the atmosphere also encourage the development and utilization of biomass energy re-sources and avoid unnecessary regulatory impediments and permitting requirements.

Despite the EPA expressing intentions to revisit the issue, those relevant to the biomass power industry remain disappointed. Ameri-can Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman

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said the rule treats biomass fuels identically to fossil fuels, in effect un-dermining the administration’s support for renewable energy policy in this country. “The forest products industry is proud of its voluntary reductions in GHGs and our increasing reliance on domestically grown, renewable and carbon neutral biomass to power our mills—all of which are important for a sustainable future,” she said.

David P. Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, pointed out that the U.S. has increased the amount of trees by nearly 50 percent over the past 50 years. “… our nation stores more carbon in its forests than it releases from them,” he said. “That is why energy from forest biomass does not increase carbon in the at-mosphere.” Tenny also said that regulating biomass energy the same as fossil fuels would be a signifi cant shift in federal policy and a power-ful disincentive to use biomass to address U.S. renewable energy and climate needs. “The economic impacts on forest owners, mills using biomass energy and rural jobs would be signifi cant, and the resulting de-valuation of private forests could increasingly force this land into more economically competitive alternative uses with far fewer GHG mitiga-tion benefi ts,” he said.

Biomass Power Association President Bob Cleaves emphasized that biomass power emissions add no new carbon to the atmosphere, and that they should not be regulated by the EPA. “Biomass power gen-

erates electricity from waste wood and debris on the forest fl oor already naturally emitting carbon and methane gas,” he said. “The biomass electricity generating process only emits biogenic carbon—carbon that already exists in the atmospheric cycle. In many cases, biomass power actually reduces greenhouse gases by eliminating the harmful methane gas that would otherwise be emitted during decomposition.”

Cleaves added that emissions from fossil fuels are fundamentally different and signifi cantly more harmful than emissions from biomass power, and that equating biomass emissions with fossil fuel emissions ignores the fact that carbon from fossil fuels has been buried for thou-sands of years deep in the earth, and burning those fossil fuels to gen-erate electricity introduces massive amounts of new carbon into the atmosphere. “BPA is encouraged, however, by the EPA’s recognition of the important role that biomass power plays in reducing green-house gases,” he said. “Acknowledging that biomass emissions are not the same as fossil fuel emissions is a signifi cant step towards forming policies that expand the use of clean, renewable biomass power and improve the environment.”

—Anna Austin

industry NEWS

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OUTLOOK


OUTLOOK

As the chief lobbyist for the Advanced Biofuels Association, Michael McAdams advocates for many different technologies, pathways and products, which are all seeking federal support to help get a foot in the door of the fuel market.

By Anna Austin


OUTLOOK

With their extreme versatil-ity and often complicated nature, it isn’t easy for most people to wrap their

brain around advanced biofuels, and the defi nitions in the renewable fuels standard 2 (RFS2) aren’t much help.

When Congress released RFS2, which was signed into law in December 2007 as part of the Energy, Independence & Secu-rity Act of 2007, biofuel volume require-ments were separated into three categories: advanced biofuels, cellulosic biofuels and biomass-based diesel. An advanced bio-fuel is defi ned as a renewable fuel—other than ethanol derived from corn starch—that is derived from renewable biomass and achieves a 50 percent greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. A cellulosic biofuel is defi ned as a renewable fuel derived from any cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin that is derived from renewable biomass achiev-ing a 60 percent GHG emission reduc-tion. The potentially perplexing factor is that some cellulosic biofuels won’t meet the 60 percent GHG threshold but will meet the 50 percent threshold, and will therefore count as an advanced biofuel. In addition, though biomass-based die-sels are advanced biofuels, the advanced

biofuel quantity is reserved for biofuels outside of the cel-lulosic biofuel and biomass-based diesel subsets, such as sug-arcane ethanol.

Michael McAd-ams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, says he

views them all as advanced biofuels de-spite the language in the RFS. In observ-ing them, he suggests, three fi lters should be used: technology, feedstock, and fi nal product or molecule.

Pathways and End Products Generally, there are three technologi-

cal pathways to advanced biofuels: oleo-

chemical (using natural oils derived from plants and animal fats), biochemical (facil-itates chemistry between living organisms using sugars/starches, enzymes or dedi-cated microorganisms) or thermochemi-cal (cellulosic biomass conversion to syn-gas as an intermediate step) processes.

Using cellulosic biomass, the modern pathways are acid or enzyme hydrolysis, gasifi cation and pyrolysis, and depend-ing on which additional step is taken, can produce a number of biofuels. Acid or enzyme hydrolysis, through additional saccharifi cation and fermentation steps, can produce ethanol, butanol or hydro-carbons. Gasifi cation routes result in a versatile synthesis gas, which through ad-ditional syngas fermentation or Fisher-Tropsch steps can result in cellulosic etha-nol, renewable diesel, green gasoline or jet fuel. Pyrolysis, which is the extreme heat-ing of biomass in the absence of oxygen, will result in bio-oil, which can be further processed into biogasoline or renewable diesel. Pyrolysis can also densify biomass into biochar, a soil carbon sequesterer or fuel source.

Sugar and starch feedstocks are fer-mented to produce hydrocarbons, ethanol or butanol; biodiesel and renewable diesel can be made using natural oils and trans-esterifi cation or isomerization/hydrotreat-ing processes, and the overall possibilities don’t end there (see page 33).

Michael McAdamspresident, AvancedBiofuels Association

‘The market will choose the winners and losers. We believe in that, rather than letting public policy choose. The market allocates resources better, and the market will make those determinations better than if something is prescribed in statute.’

—Michael McAdams, president, Avanced Biofuels Association


McAdams says the Advanced Biofuels Association repre-sents companies from all ends of the advanced biofuels spec-trum—from UOP LLC, A Honeywell company, (green diesel/jet fuel) to the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (sugar-cane ethanol) to Solazyme Inc. (algae-based diesel) to Neste Oil Corp. (renewable diesel). Advocating technology neutrality, Mc-Adams recognizes that out of the myriad of current and up-and-coming companies, only a minority will fi nd a stable role in the fuel market. “The market will choose the winners and losers,” he says. “We believe in that, rather than letting public policy choose. The market allocates resources better, and the market will make those determinations better than if something is prescribed in statute.”

So what would make an advanced biofuel more apt to be em-braced by the market? Production barriers aside, McAdams says there are fi ve characteristics a perfect advanced biofuel should possess: scalability, fungibility, energy density, affordability and environmental sustainability/friendliness.

Favorable CharacteristicsA fuel produced in small quantities in a laboratory or at pilot

scale won’t necessarily scale-up in the same way. Part of achiev-ing a successful scale-up is securing a steady and sustainable feedstock supply, as the amount required dramatically increases. “A process needs to be tied to a feedstock that’s available in a quantity such that you could make a lot of it, in a way that would help achieve [U.S.] energy diversity and security goals,” McAd-ams says.

Once the fuel is successfully scaled to commercial quan-tities and is ready for the market, fungibility becomes an is-sue. “There are many companies using a range of platforms to

OUTLOOK

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Pathways to Renewable Fuels


transform renewable biomass into a hydrocarbon molecule with no oxygen atom, exactly the same as if it had come from a refi n-ery or barrel of oil,” McAdams says. “This means it lasts a long time and is totally fungible in existing systems. We wouldn’t have to put new pumps into 127,000 gas stations, change whole auto-mobile fl eets, or build $20 billion worth of pipeline to transport it from the middle of the country to the coast. These are drop-in fuels compatible with today’s systems.”

Once fungibility is squared away, fuel consumers are likely to choose the one that will give them the best bang for their buck. If a biofuel is much cheaper than gasoline, the initial ap-peal is obvious, but it’s necessary for that fuel’s performance to adequately compare with traditional fuels. “From a consumer standpoint, you’d much rather have hydrocarbon molecules than ethanol, for example, because ethanol contains 70,000 Btu per gallon versus gasoline, which is 124,500 Btu,” McAdams says.

In some cases, advanced biofuels can be more expensive to make. “If the capital cost of the unit is $500 million, that’s obvi-ously a disadvantage,” McAdams points out. “Looking at cer-tain cellulosic or gasifi cation facilities, generally there’s a higher capital cost associated with building them. The enzymatic costs of reducing woody biomass to sugar slurry are certainly higher than the enzymatic cost of making corn ethanol. They need to be affordable—competitive with oil—such that you don’t have to subsidize it forever because it will eventually be able to stand on its own.”

Perhaps the most debatable desired characteristic is en-vironmental sustainability/friendliness, which McAdams de-scribes as the most complicated and contentious in terms of determining the right mix of environmental compliance and sustainability. “There’s maintenance of habitat, conservation of land, reduction of the amount of water used in making a fuel/plant, maintaining ozone air quality and reduction in GHG for-mations, which depends on what your views are on the various models,” McAdams says. “What’s the right combination to de-termine an accurate life-cycle analysis of any given fuel from any

given feedstock? When we look at wood or grasses, generally speaking, those kinds of feedstocks [when run through a range of different models] show a lower carbon footprint overall than fi rst-generation feedstocks—that’s a fair statement, but [carbon life cycles] can be debated to no end.”

The RFS sets the GHG emission reduction standards in its biofuel categorization, and if a fuel doesn’t meet those stan-dards it doesn’t count toward the set quantities. In 2010, the RFS calls for 950 million gallons of advanced biofuels. The cellulosic portion was lowered from 100 million gallons set in RFS1 to a signifi cantly lower 6.5 million gallons in 2010.

Will this year’s advanced biofuel quantities be met despite the adjusted quantity? The answer depends on who you ask, McAdams says.

The RFS and Federal Support “The EPA, which by statute sets the volume quantities by

fall each year, clearly didn’t think the initial RFS targets would be achieved,” McAdams says. “The reduction specifi cally in the cel-lulosic target, which was very signifi cant, will only get worse over time because the number is supposed to ramp up each year.”

The problem with meeting the mandate for most companies is a lack of initial capital to get the facilities built, McAdams says. Throughout the years, renewable energy industries such as solar and wind have been granted investment tax credits to get them off the ground, and the advanced biofuels industry is urging Con-gress to allow them the same opportunity. After all, without these facilities the RFS will not be met, and without adequate fund-ing, the facilities will not be built. An investment tax credit would help, says McAdams, who was trying to convince lawmakers to approve one by mid-May. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced a biofuels tax incentive bill that extends the investment tax credit to advanced biofuels, and would make available the 30 percent investment tax credit for qualifi ed advanced biofuel production for companies whose sole and exclusive purpose is to produce advanced biofuels for sale.

Nearly 40 groups and companies, such as the Renewable Fuels Association, BlueFire Ethanol Fuels Inc., Coskata Inc., Enerkem, Verenium Corp., Range Fuels Inc. and Iogen Corp., have expressed support for the investment tax credit, pointing out that there will be no commercial cellulosic biorefi neries commis-sioned before 2011 at the earliest, due to the lack of funding.

“This is a discussion about the rate of speed we want ad-vanced technologies deployed,” McAdams says. “If policymakers want to expedite them, we need to decide if the government can assist with that by giving the advanced biorefi ning industry the same priviledges as wind, geothermal and solar have had. If we can fund them, the gallons will fl ow; it will take the pressure off the debate of whether the whole thing is a mirage because there are no gallons.”

Once the facilities are built, will advanced biofuels need

OUTLOOK

‘If policymakers want to expedite them, we need to decide if the government can assist with that by giving the advanced biorefi ning industry the same priviledges as wind, geothermal and solar have had. If we can fund them, the gallons will fl ow; it will take the pressure off the debate of whether the whole thing is a mirage because there are no gallons.’

—Michael McAdams, president, Avanced Biofuels Association


OUTLOOK

subsidies similar to other biofuels? “Depending once again on what your feedstock and technology is, right now you gener-ally fall in one of these buckets: if you’re Gevo (Inc.) produc-ing biobutanol, you get 60 cents per gallon under the VEETC (Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit). If you’re Tyson (Foods Inc.), Neste or Amyris (Biotechnologies Inc.) making a non-co-processed renewable diesel, then you get $1 per gallon (blend-ers excise tax credit),” McAdams says. “If I’m Virent (Energy Systems Inc.) and I make speciated gasoline out of a catalyst

technology using sugar or corn, I get 50 cents per gallon. If I’m a cellulosic company I have a $1.01 production tax credit, and if I’m algae, I don’t know where I go. If I make a fuel, I guess I default to the alternative fuels mixture credit because it gives me 50 cents per gallon for a fuel. ”

One aspect that needs to be examined from McAdam’s per-spective, is the technology/feedstock/fuel parity. “It isn’t parity now and doing this will lead to determining at what stages of de-velopment various technologies and fuels are, and what should we do in terms of the effi cient deployment of U.S. resources moving forward,” he says. “We’ve had 25 years of the ethanol tax credit that has been suffi cient to build a 14 billion gallon industry. Should we continue to help the ethanol guys to poten-tially lower the price at the pump by a cent or two, or should we take what’s going to be about $6 billion each year if we continue the VEETC, and tailor that credit to build new plants deploying new technologies if they can compete affordably, fungibly and sustainably? These are decisions that have to be made and policy conversations that need to take place.”

Working together would help, he adds. “The whole indus-try needs to get out of their silos, step back and have a col-lective conversation to determine what’s in the best interest of the entire biofuels industry, and then help the government sort through those questions,” he says. “We need to ask ourselves, at what point should an industry’s subsidy end, and whether the current statutes are tilted toward a certain technology and if that’s ultimately good or bad. The industry is way too siloed right now.” BIO

Anna Austin is a Biomass Magazine associate editor. Reach her at [email protected] (701) 738-4968.

McAdams was one of several presenters during the Biomass Priorities on the Hill general session at the 2010 International Biomass Conference & Expo that was held in May at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

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USE

ClearFuels and Rentech are integrating their technologies for a demonstration facility that will produce drop-in renewable fuels, one of several developments taking shape in the advanced biofuels industry.

By Lisa Gibson

Jetting on Biofuels


USE


By the end of 2011, Rentech Inc. and ClearFuels Technology Inc. will have an integrated dem-onstration biorefi nery that will

serve as a model for their commercial-scale plans at sugar mills and wood products fa-cilities. The two companies’ technologies complement each other perfectly, they say, and the project will have a signifi cant im-pact on the advanced biofuels industry.

The partnership will facilitate the in-stallation of ClearFuels’ biomass gasifi ca-tion system in Rentech’s Commerce City, Colo., product demonstration unit (PDU). The gasifi er will be attached to Rentech’s syngas-to-liquid technology, which is based on the Fisher-Tropsch process. The PDU has been producing drop-in synthetic fuels from natural gas but the integration will allow production of fully renewable fuels from wood waste, sugarcane bagasse and other virgin biomass.

“Clearly, we think it is a major step forward to show essentially a shoot-to-tank demonstration from wood waste and sug-arcane bagasse to RenDiesel and RenJet coming out the back end of the plant,” says Harold Wright, Rentech’s chief technology offi cer. The fuel produced currently with Rentech’s technology is certifi ed and ASTM-approved. RenJet was tested in April on an engineering validation fl ight by United Air-lines, marking the fi rst time a commercial airline has used synthetic fuel in fl ight, ac-cording to Rentech, although that fuel was made with natural gas. “We’re substituting CO (carbon monoxide) and hydrogen from biomass,” says ClearFuels CEO Eric Darm-staedter. “It doesn’t matter where it comes from. The end product—the fuel—is the same. The fuel is already certifi ed, whether it comes from coal, natural gas or biomass, it doesn’t matter. Once we integrate with Rentech, it’s a fully renewable fuel.”

How the Process WorksRentech believes its PDU is the only

fully integrated synthetic transportation fu-els facility in the U.S., producing about 420 gallons per day of fuels and chemicals. The technology uses a cheaper, proprietary iron-based catalyst and has a unique proprietary

design, Wright says. “The beauty of our technology is it will work on a wide variety of renewable feedstocks as well as fossil-based feedstocks like natural gas,” he says. Rentech chose ClearFuels’ technology from a pool of more than 200 candidates because it has the capacity to maximize liquid yields and hasn’t been deployed on a demonstra-tion scale, according to Wright. “We had made an investment in ClearFuels’ technol-ogy because of its ability to integrate well in an integrated biorefi nery to produce high volumes of liquids,” he explains.

ClearFuels’ gasifi er, dubbed High Ef-fi ciency Hydrothermal Reformer, is charac-terized as an indirect-fi red steam reformer. With steam instead of oxygen or air, the system does not process nitrogen and needs no oxygen plant for operation, Darmstae-dter says. It also allows for control of the resonance time of the biomass and steam inside the reformer to adjust the syngas characteristics without redesigning the re-former. “We can operate it in one confi gu-ration to make 65 percent hydrogen,” he explains. “In another confi guration, we can make 40 percent hydrogen and 40 percent carbon monoxide. That’s the same reform-er.” ClearFuels focuses only on unprocessed biomass such as crop residues, corn stover, sawdust and bark to allow for the simplest possible process and operation.

Coupling the two technologies results in the highest yield at the lowest cost for the best fi t. “It’s a great integration of our tech-nology to theirs,” Darmstaedter says. “We just happened to come together and see the fi t.” The project received $23 million from the U.S. DOE, and is one of 19 biorefi nery endeavors to receive a total of $564 mil-

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‘We’re trying to assist these companies in getting the data that would be necessary for them to go out and get private fi nancing for the commercial replication.’

—Valri Lightner, acting biomass program manager, DOE

lion from the American Recovery and Re-investment Act to accelerate construction and operation of pilot, demonstration and commercial-scale systems.

“Our focus on advanced biofuels really has been one that’s based on energy inde-pendence, and the idea is to replace foreign sources of fuel with domestic sources of fuel,” says Valri Lightner, acting biomass program manager for the DOE. “Biofuels offer a near-term, clean, domestic source of liquid transportation fuel.” The program’s overall goals include achieving energy se-curity, developing clean energy, advancing science and technology, and creating jobs, she says, adding that biofuels support all of them.

The DOE is currently cost-sharing 27 biorefi nery projects, one of which is oper-ating now—Verenium Corp.’s 1.4 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Jennings, La.—and the rest scheduled for operation by 2011 or 2013, Lightner says. The ARRA funding recipients were cho-sen through a four-step process beginning with a compliance review, which includes basic criteria such as ensuring all the proper forms were completed and submitted. Next is the technical merit review, where exter-nal experts evaluate the technical merit and rationale for the project, ensure it demon-strates credible economics and a competi-tive advantage, and assess the project man-agement and execution. The policy review by DOE staff follows, ensuring geographic and technological diversity, and evaluating how well the project fi ts the DOE portfo-lio as well as its ability to meet the ARRA schedule. Last, a selection offi cial makes the fi nal decision based on all the criteria. Sus-tainability is an important aspect of a proj-ect’s viability, Lightner emphasizes, saying the department considers 100 million dry metric tons per year of available feedstock to be a good standard.

“What we’re really looking to do in these projects is to validate both the cost and the technology,” Lightner says, adding that it helps bridge the “Valley of Death” between a proven concept at laboratory scale and enablement of a commercial real-ity in the future. Financers look for projects

that are proven at one-tenth to one-fi ftieth of commercial scale with data over a period of time, she explains. “We’re trying to as-sist these companies in getting the data that would be necessary for them to go out and get private fi nancing for the commercial replication.”

When awarding money, the DOE fa-vors fuels that meet the renewable fuels standard, including the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements, so the scale-ups can qualify toward the standard, Lightner says. Rentech’s fuels meet the re-quirements, Wright says, reducing nitrogen dioxide, sodium oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and tailpipe carbon emis-sions. When made from biomass, the fuels also have low life-cycle GHG emissions. “We think that the fuels meet a demand for cleaner fuels from the tailpipe perspective, but also meet the needs of cleaner fuels from the overall carbon emissions perspec-tive,” he says.

Wright adds that Rentech’s fuels can be used today in planes, trains and automo-biles. “We think that, because we have the ability to make drop-in fuels—diesel and jet fuel—that will fi t into today’s pipeline and today’s infrastructure and today’s engines, that this will be a major step forward for the industry,” Wright says. “There will be other players in the industry, but many don’t pro-duce drop-in fuels. I think there will be a lot of interest in these drop-in fuels as we go forward.” Not only that, but Rentech’s fu-els can be produced cost-competitively and at commercial scale, adds Julie Dawoodjee, Rentech’s vice president of investor rela-tions and communications.

Rentech now has a 25 percent strate-gic ownership interest in ClearFuels and the companies plan to polish their process dur-ing the demonstration, using its success as a blueprint for commercial biorefi neries co-located with sugar mills and wood products facilities. The setup would allow for readily available feedstock with little transportation costs.

Branching OutThe fi rst such project is planned for

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Collinwood, Tenn., slated for operation by early 2014. The memo-randum of understanding (MOU) specifi es Hughes Hardwood will supply 1,000 dry tons of wood products per day for the production of about 16 million gallons of synthetic jet or diesel fuel and 4 mil-lion gallons of naphtha per year, along with about 8 megawatts of renewable power. The wood products will be mostly byproducts and waste from Hughes Hardwood, but may include slash and oth-er residues harvested directly from the forest, Darmstaedter says. The only difference in the gasifi er from demonstration to com-mercial scale is the number of tubes in the reformer, altering the capacity from 20 tons per day to 250 tons per day. The commercial systems will utilize four 250-ton-per-day modules.

“If the demonstration is successful, the next step is a com-mercial plant,” Darmstaedter says, adding that he fully expects positive results and is in discussions with more possible co-loca-tion partners. “We’re confi dent enough in the expected outcome of the demonstration that we’re in project development on four commercial facilities, one of which we’ve announced.” Darmstae-dter believes ClearFuels’ technology could be a good fi t for other syngas-to-liquid processes, too, allowing for a wider imprint on the advanced biofuel market. “We won’t fi t with every application, but there are enough of them out there where we think we do fi t well, where we think we’ll help make a difference.”

Rentech is working on several projects separate from Clear-Fuels as well, developing two production facilities, both of which already have off-take agreements with airlines. The proposed Stra-tegic Fuels and Chemicals Complex near Natchez, Miss., would use fossil fuel feedstock such as natural gas to produce about 30,000 barrels per day of synthetic fuels and chemicals, while exporting more than 120 megawatts of power. Thirteen domestic and inter-national airlines have signed MOUs for a fuel supply from the facil-ity.

The proposed Rialto Renewable Energy Center in Rialto, Calif., would produce about 640 barrels of RenDiesel per day from urban woody green waste and export about 35 megawatts of power. The facility will employ Rentech’s technology, coupled with the Silva-Gas biomass gasifi cation system. Rentech has multiyear agreements with eight domestic airlines to supply up to 1.5 million gallons per year of fuel for ground service equipment at Los Angeles Inter-national Airport (LAX) beginning in late 2012, when the facility is expected to go on line. “That allows the airlines at the airport to meet all of their environmental regulations without changing their

‘The roadblock has been fi nancing the fi rst new plants because the appetite in the loaning community has been very slow to react to funding the fi rst type of any technology and so what you see that’s exciting in the biofuels space, in the bioproducts space, are some things that are the fi rst of a kind.’

—Michael McAdams, president, Advanced Biofuels Association


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ground service fl eet,” Wright emphasizes. “There are emissions is-sues around LAX and so they’re under some mandates to reduce those and this fuel allows them to meet those mandates without actually changing any of the engines or any of the equipment they have on the ground today.”

United Airlines will purchase 5,500 gallons per month of RenD-iesel from Rialto for use in vans, trucks and specialized aircraft sup-port equipment such as aircraft tugs, ground power support units and forklifts, according to United spokesman Mike Trevino. “From a business standpoint, United and other airlines at LAX have the opportunity to utilize a domestically produced fuel that does not depend on overseas crude oil, and hopefully will be available at a stable price,” he says. The agreement will lower United’s carbon footprint by 1.8 million pounds annually and, when combined with its addition of electric-powered vehicles, will bring emissions from United’s ground equipment at LAX close to zero.

Driving DevelopmentProgress in the advanced biofuels industry may not be speed-

ing up, but the recent developments are encouraging, according to Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Associa-tion. “I’m delighted to see the development,” he says. “We’ve been waiting for it and now we’re actually seeing some commercial dem-onstrations being brought forward.” McAdams cites a 75 MMgy Dynamic Fuels LLC renewable diesel plant in Geismar, La., that is nearly complete. A 50/50 joint venture between Tyson Foods Inc. and Syntroleum will convert Tyson’s large byproduct stream of beef tallow, pork lard, chicken fat and various greases to fuel.

But even with all the recent progress, the advanced biofuels industry could use a boost, one that could come in several forms, such as an investment tax credit or continued funding from the DOE, which has exhausted its integrated biorefi nery funding for 2010-’11. “The No. 1 obstacle is fi nancing,” McAdams says, adding that mature technologies are emerging from the point of having been demonstrated in a lab or small pilot. “The roadblock has been fi nancing the fi rst new plants because the appetite in the loaning community has been very slow to react to funding the fi rst type of any technology and so what you see that’s exciting in the biofuels space, in the bioproducts space, are some things that are the fi rst of a kind.”

Companies such as ClearFuels and Rentech that received fund-ing get a giant boost, enabling scale-up and possibly attracting more investors. “They should be very excited,” McAdams says. “We’re excited about this development. This shows the deployment of these new technologies. It shows cross-partnership and it moves us one step closer to commercializing that kind of development.”

Wright agrees. “The future’s bright for renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel,” he says. BIO

Lisa Gibson is a Biomass Magazine associate editor. Reach her at [email protected] or (701) 738-4952.

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RESEARCH

A team of researchers has developed a high-temperature catalyst biomass gasifi cation system they say can double the amount of biofuel that can be produced with an acre of biomass, and with no char byproduct.

By Lisa Gibson


Double Down


RESEARCH


The biofuels industry might be a different arena if there were a gasifi cation technology with the capacity to convert 100 percent

of the carbon from biomass into carbon monoxide, increasing twofold the amount of biofuel that can be produced from a sin-gle acre of feedstock. Now, imagine a sys-tem that does it without producing char.

Paul Dauenhauer, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Am-

herst Department of Chemical Engineering, says he and his team of researchers from the department and the University of Min-nesota have developed that system.

It began four years ago when Dauenhauer started designing a bio-mass gasifi er that would use a high-temperature

catalyst, but without the harmful byproduct biochar. His research has evolved and the team—led by him and University of Min-nesota Professor Lanny Schmidt—now says it can alter the char-free process to convert all the biomass carbon to the essential bio-fuel element carbon monoxide instead of a mix of carbon monoxide and carbon diox-ide. “When I got started in this, I wanted to fi nd a process that would allow me to use wood fi bers and switchgrass and things like that directly with catalysts,” Dauenhauer says. “Now, since I’ve been able to have that

breakthrough, the question is, what can I do with it? What’s exciting about this current research is that since now we’re able to use catalysts directly with biomass, we can do all sorts of crazy things like add methane and carbon dioxide and it does all the chemistry in a single reactor.”

Char-Free ChallengeInside the special catalytic reactor sits a

hot surface that melts the cellulose immedi-ately upon contact into a liquid droplet that is essentially melted sugar. The heat transfer

RESEARCH

Paul Dauenhauer, assistant professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

‘So the benefi t of touching particles with this high-temperature surface is you get this conversion to a liquid due to the high heating rates. It basically makes the particle convert down a chemical pathway that’s very favorable for making gasses and volatile organics.’

—Paul Dauenhauer, assistant professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst


RESEARCH

is dominantly from the surface, at least 10 times higher than transfer from the hot air in the reactor, Dauenhauer says. “It makes it really easy to heat the biomass up extremely fast,” he says, adding that the reaction takes place so quickly it cannot be seen with the naked eye, so the team used a high-speed camera to capture the event. “The fact that the biomass forms this liquid is very excit-ing for researchers such as myself because now we know how these things convert and we can use it to make reactors,” he says. The discovery has already led to more research into how wood chips are converted into fuel.

Dauenhauer says the achievement of the liquid droplet without char is all in the reactor design. “If you design your reactor with different heating rates, and basically a different geometry will do this for you, it’ll make the particle heat up really slowly and instead of seeing the liquid, you’ll actually see char formation and things like that,” he explains. A lot of processes make biochar,

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Dauenhauer’s ternary diagram illustrates the “teardrop” zone where the reaction is optimal.

SOURCE: PAUL DAUENHAUER


but when using high-temperature catalysts, the biochar will coat the catalyst, rendering it less effective.

“So the benefi t of touching particles with this high-temperature surface is you get this conversion to a liquid due to the high heating rates,” Dauenhauer says. “It basically makes the particle convert down a chemical pathway that’s very favorable for making gasses and volatile organics.” In addition, the reactor needs to control the heat fl ow to keep it moving in the right direction and allow the particles to hit the hot surface while permitting the heat to get to it. The team is using a rhodium-based reforming catalyst, but has also demon-strated its process with a nickel-based cata-lyst and will continue research into cheaper catalysts in the future, although the main focus is the reactor design, Dauenhauer says.

Carbon ConversionWith existing gasifi cation technology,

only about 50 percent of biomass carbon is converted to carbon monoxide, the remain-der emitted as carbon dioxide, according to Dauenhauer. The team’s design, however, recovers all the carbon in the biomass and, with the right balance of carbon dioxide and methane, converts it all to carbon mon-oxide.

The team used Dauenhauer’s ternary diagram (see page 45) to accomplish the

RESEARCH

perfect combination of fuel, oxygen and carbon dioxide that would facilitate the re-verse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction. “If you operate the reactor within that tear-drop, you can actually get all of your bio-mass carbon back as carbon monoxide,” he says. But in order to do that, research-ers had to co-feed hydrogen into the reac-tion to supply the energy needed to drive the RWGS reaction, they say. In lieu of a hydrogen injection, the team adds methane to create hydrogen inside the catalytic reac-tor. “Using this catalyst, now we can add the carbon dioxide, the biomass and, instead of adding hydrogen, we actually generate the hydrogen within the reactor and use it right away,” he says. “Everything happens within a single reactor. That’s why I get so excited. It does so many things at once.”

The system could be set up near an existing natural gas power plant, providing ready access to methane and carbon diox-ide. The team has a ways to go before its project is ready for commercialization, al-though Dauenhauer believes it may be ready in as few as two years. While the hot surface reaction has been tested on aspen trees, cel-lulose, starch, polyethanelene and municipal solid waste, the team has only used pure cel-lulose in experiments with carbon dioxide and methane additives.

Mixed ReactionsThe response from the research com-

munity to the team’s fi ndings has been mixed, Dauenhauer says, and one crucial aspect of the process has yet to be deter-mined: economics.

“As always, there are two questions: Does the process work; and is it economic compared with other uses of biomass?” says Peter Flynn, mechanical engineering professor at the University of Alberta. Bio-

‘In terms of the university, we’re focused on generating the intellectual property that American companies and start-up companies can use to get these new types of processes and reactors into the fi eld as quickly as possible.’

—Paul Dauenhauer, assistant professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst


to increase it dramatically, but I don’t think entirely all of it would be [converted]. I’m pretty sure they’d still have a little bit of car-bon dioxide, even if it’s only like 5 percent.” The reaction can only be forced to a cer-tain point, he explains. Dauenhauer says the amount of carbon dioxide that is converted to carbon monoxide depends on where in-side the teardrop shape the reactor is operat-ing. “The closer the reaction conditions are to the center, the higher the conversion of CO2,” he says. Even some of the carbon di-oxide added to the process is converted, he adds.

Since char production has been a prob-lem in biomass gasifi cation, a system that eliminates it would be a signifi cant develop-ment, Flynn says, although there are other proposed solutions. “They are saying they have found a spot they can operate where they don’t produce any char, and if that’s

true, it’s a big deal.” It’s one of two reasons the process is intriguing, he adds, along with methane that in effect can be converted to liquid transportation fuels. “It sounds rea-sonable. I know enough to say to it sounds reasonable.”

Dauenhauer says the ultimate goal of the research is to answer the scientifi c ques-tions that will lead to a wide array of new biomass processes and reactions. “In terms of the university, we’re focused on generat-ing the intellectual property that American companies and start-up companies can use to get these new types of processes and re-actors into the fi eld as quickly as possible.” BIO

Lisa Gibson is a Biomass Magazine as-sociate editor. Reach her at [email protected] or (701) 738-4952.

RESEARCH

mass gasifi cation and subsequent Fischer-Tropsch conversion to liquid fuels are just not economic processes, Flynn says. “[The researchers are] getting a higher yield of syngas from the biomass by using meth-ane, so in effect, they have a way of turning biomass and methane into a precursor of liquid fuels,” he explains. “But today, if you just turn biomass into liquid fuel, it’s not as attractive as other things you can do with the biomass and if you turn natural gas into liquid fuel, it’s not as attractive as other things you can do with natural gas, unless you’ve got a stranded fi eld [of natural gas]. So I don’t know if putting these two things together will make favorable economics. But it is something new.”

The process might modify the actual yield from the process for the same capi-tal cost, says Doug Bull, thermochemical projects manager for Iowa State Univer-sity’s Center for Sustainable Environmen-tal Technologies. “That’s how it might help the economics because they might actually get more product for a similar cost of plant equipment,” Bull says. Understanding both the chemistry that’s happening and the re-actor that can double the yield of carbon monoxide does change the economic analy-sis considerably, Dauenhauer says. “If you derive twice as much fuel from an acre of land as before, you’re doubling your return potentially,” he says.

Bull agrees with Flynn that gasifi ca-tion is not economic, adding that fast py-rolysis is pulling ahead in popularity with its cheaper cost and simplicity. Even the U.S. DOE is shifting more toward pyrolysis, Bull says, as investment is risky for costly gasifi cation processes. At the end of May, the DOE allocated up to $11 million over the next three years for research and devel-opment of biomass pyrolysis for advanced biofuels.

Both Bull and Flynn are skeptical of some of the details of the team’s process, having not experimented with the reactions themselves. “They’re sort of just modifying the reaction chemistry to get more of the gasses they desire,” Bull says, adding that complete conversion of all the biomass car-bon is a diffi cult feat. “They might be able


CONTRIBUTION

MARKET By Greg Ehm

University Sees Biomass as Future for Energy Generation

The University of Missouri is creating initiatives to help develop biomass market in the state.

Biomass has been in use at the University of Missouri power plant

since 2005. The power plant boilers have been cofi ring wood waste up to 5 percent with coal in the existing plant boilers, consuming between 5,000 and 6,000 tons of woody biomass this year.

So far, using biomass as an alternative fuel source has had

a positive impact on the uni-versity campus. Overall, green-house gas emissions have been reduced by 7,000 tons per year and the reduction in carbon di-oxide emissions is equivalent to planting 28,000 acres of trees. In addition, by sourcing locally grown biomass, the university has reduced diesel fuel con-sumption by almost 16,000 gal-lons per year that would have

been used to transport coal to the power plant from neighbor-ing Illinois.

The university recently made the decision to replace an existing boiler with a 100 per-cent biomass-fi red boiler that will produce 150,000 pounds of steam per hour. This will in-crease the power plant’s steam output by 30,000 pounds per hour once the unit is replaced—

enough to build capacity and meet anticipated growth. The new boiler should be in opera-tion in 2012.

“We needed to add steam capacity at the power plant, so we began looking at our op-tions,” says Gregg Coffi n, su-perintendent of the University of Missouri power plant. “We could expand using coal, but that would be problematic from

The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily refl ect 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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Private and public partnerships are being developed to design and build specialized equipment that will more effi ciently harvest woody biomass. The State University of New York and New Holland have created a harvesting head that is fi tted onto a New Holland forage harvesting machine.


an environmental standpoint. Obtaining a permit would be dif-fi cult, and we anticipated push-back from the campus and local community in regard to adding another coal-fi red boiler.”

The university believed it could install a biomass boiler much more cost-effectively for the life cycle, compared with natural gas. Plus the biomass would provide several benefi ts that a natural gas boiler would not. Biomass is 100 percent re-newable and would provide an investment back into the local economy instead of purchasing coal and natural gas from other states.

“We have the potential—with this new biomass boiler—to displace about 25 percent of our coal consumption,” Coffi n says. “It’s a pretty signifi cant jump considering we’re current-ly at less than 5 percent.”

Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain

The biggest challenge ac-cording to Coffi n will be sourc-ing biomass fuel for the boiler and having adequate storage and handling systems in place to serve the unit. The new boiler will require 100,000 tons of biomass annually, which is a substantial jump from the 6,000

tons currently being sourced.Coffi n sees about one-

third of the woody biomass fuel coming from waste stream sources—mills, chopped pallets, development clearing, tree trim-ming and ice storm damage—one-third from forestry man-agement and thinning efforts and another third coming from growing biomass instead of tra-ditional crops.

“We are tapping into the resources here at the universi-ty,” Coffi n says. “The university forestry department has been actively involved with the proj-ect, helping source woody bio-mass from waste trees. They’re

highly interested in supporting a forestry thinning effort and es-tablishing the criteria for that.”

According to Hank Stelzer, a state forestry extension spe-cialist for the University of Mis-souri, the state forests are not in the best of health.

“Forest thinning would greatly improve the health and quality of our forests and at the same time provide a good, re-newable source of fuel for the plant,” Stelzer says. “We’re de-veloping a set of thinning and harvesting guidelines to make sure we protect the long-term integrity of the state forests, yet create a sustainable source of

MARKET By Greg Ehm

In three years, the trees will grow up to 20 feet with eight to 10 stems per tree. An acre can be expected to produce 9 to 13 dry tons woody biomass.

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biomass, not just for the university but for other facilities across the state.”

Biomass—A New Value-Added Crop

The university is exploring options to grow woody biomass crops on marginal ground and in the river bottom areas across the state that were affected by fl ooding in 1993. The land in these areas is no longer ec-onomically viable for traditional row crops

as the soil profi le features a deep sand for-mation. While this type of soil isn’t suited for row crops, it is ideal for certain species of trees, such as willow and cottonwood.

Stelzer and other forestry faculty are in the process of establishing research plots that will test various species of trees to de-termine their potential as energy crops. The University of Missouri’s Center for Agro-forestry began experimenting with different species of cottonwood and hybrid poplar

MARKET By Greg Ehm

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back in the late 1990s and over the years has identifi ed select clonal varieties that are well-suited to the soil conditions in Mis-souri. Today, the research is being done in collaboration with the State University of New York, University of Minnesota and Mississippi State University.

Traditionally willow and cottonwood trees have been planted in a 10-foot-by-10-foot spacing pattern and were allowed to grow for fi ve to six years before being harvested. Stelzer says that current think-ing is to plant the trees in a double-row confi guration, however, where two rows will be planted close together on 2-foot-by-2-foot centers with a 5-foot space and then another double row of trees.

“Basically we will set the cuttings in year one and clip out the tops to help pro-mote multiple sprouts,” Stelzer says. “The trees will grow for three years and reach a height of up to 20 feet with several stems (eight to 10) coming from that clump. The neat thing is, especially with willow and cottonwood trees, is the ability to harvest the trees about every three years or six times over the 20-year life of the tree. At 20 years of life the trees will be removed and the process starts all over.”

Stelzer says that producers can expect to produce 9 to 13 dry tons woody bio-mass per acre at the end of the three-year growing cycle, and this number will go up as the university identifi es higher yielding varieties over time. At the current price the power plant is paying ($35 per ton) that would generate $315 to $473 in revenue to the farmer on just one acre. That’s enough to get a farmer’s attention considering the input and production costs are minimal.

Harvesting the woody biomass is an-other issue, but a team of researchers at the State University of New York have been working with New Holland, a lead-ing agricultural equipment manufacturer, to develop specialized equipment to har-vest the woody biomass. Basically, the team has created a harvesting head that is fi tted onto a New Holland forage har-vesting machine. As the machine moves through a fi eld of trees, the harvesting head clips off the trees, which are then fed


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into the machine and a cutter drum chops the woody biomass into small pieces, simi-lar to processing a tree in a brush chipper. The resulting processed woody biomass is placed onto trucks and transferred to a storage site.

The MU Forestry Department, in co-operation with the MU Center for Agro-forestry, is developing a pilot program at the Horticultural and Agroforestry Re-search Center in New Franklin, Mo., that will include test plantings of various tree species to produce woody biomass. The pilot will also test harvesting options and deliver the resulting wood chips to the power plant. The purpose of the pilot project is to show farmers how they can adapt this new crop to their farms.

“Woody biomass production has the potential to be more profi table and eco-nomical than traditional row crops, espe-cially in the Missouri river bottoms laid waste by the fl oods of 1993 and 1995,” Stelzer says. “It also allows farmers to re-gain lost production acres with fewer dis-turbances to the land compared with tra-ditional agronomic production. We’re also enabling the farmer to integrate forestry practices into other areas of the farm that will not only provide another source of income, but also serve as a sediment, nu-trient and pesticide trap in the root sys-tems of these trees.”

Considering More Than Woody Biomass

Coffi n and his team are also seriously exploring how to utilize corncobs in the new boiler as the university is located in the heart of Missouri corn production. Plus the new boiler technology burns at a lower combustion temperature making it more suitable to agricultural-based fuels.

“The new boiler can handle a full-size cob and the opportunities to source cobs as a fuel source are abundant in our state,” Coffi n says. “The biggest challenge is col-lection and storage. However, companies are developing innovative collection sys-tems that are showing promise. We just need to address how to deal with such a large volume of material.”

This project will truly be a test to see how the biomass industry can and will de-velop in the state.

Should the price of biomass become more expensive than natural gas, however, Coffi n has the ability to switch the boiler over to gas until the price of biomass comes back in line with fossil fuels.

Either way, the university and the Co-lumbia community will see a reduction in conventional emissions.

“I believe the campus community ap-preciates this opportunity to produce energy from a renewable crop and reduce green-house gas and carbon emissions,” Coffi n says. “We’re creating something here that’s a win-win for everyone involved and from the calls we’re receiving, there’s a lot of support for the direction we’re taking.”BIO

Greg Ehm is a features writer for Two Riv-ers Marketing in Des Moines, Iowa. Reach him at [email protected].


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