september 2013 biomass magazine

2013 Sponsors, Supporting Organizations, Media Partners & Exhibitors

September 30 - October 3, 2013Hilton Orlando | Orlando, Florida

PLATINUM SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

MEDIA PARTNERSAlfa Laval, Inc.

Algae Biomass Organization

Algae Foundation

Algae Biotech

Algae Industry Magazine

Algae To Omega Holdings, Inc

AlgEternal Technologies LLC

Algix LLC

AMEC

Applied Chemical Technology

Appropriate Technical Resources

Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3)

BD Biosciences

BioProcess Algae, LLC

CBO Financial, Inc.

Cellana LLC

Colorado Lining International

Crown Iron Works Company

Diversified Technologies, Inc

EMD Millipore

Energi Insurance Services Inc

Evodos

Flottweg Separation Technology, Inc.

Fluid Imaging Technologies, Inc.

GEA Westfalia Separator

GF Piping Systems

Heliae Corporation

Measurement Specialties, Inc.

MicroBio Engineering

National Center for Marine Algae and

Microbiota (NCMA)

National Renewable Energy Laboratories

Nexus Corporation

OpenAlgae

OriginOil, Inc.

Particle Sizing Systems

Phenometrics Inc.

Rough Brothers Inc.

Sapphire Energy Inc.

SCHOTT North America, Inc.

Southwest Research Institute

Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Thar Process

The Boeing Company

University of California, San Diego

US Department of Energy Biomass Program

UTEX The Culture Collection of Algae

Waterwheel Factory, Inc.

Watson-Marlow Pumps Group

EXHIBITORS

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AS OF AUGUST 14, 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 3

INSIDE¦

SEPTEMBER 2013 | VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 9

POWER

06 EDITOR’S NOTEA Grower Community MustersBy Tim Portz

07 INDUSTRY EVENTS

08 BUSINESS BRIEFS

38 MARKETPLACE

ADVERTISER INDEX¦

2013 Algae BIomass Summit 2

2013 National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo 11

2014 International Biomass Conference & Expo 5

AGCO Corporation 26

Algae Biomass Organization 10

AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG 32

Biomass Power Map 42

Clariant Produckte (Duetchland)GmbH 41

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. 18

Crown Iron Works Company 25

Dieffenbacher 27

Fagen Inc. 16

GEA Westfalia Separator 4

Himark bioGas 12

Indeck Power Equipment Co. 28

Jeffrey Rader Corporation 17

Pellet Mill Magazine 7

Portage and Main Outdoor Boilers 33

Renewable Energy World 43

REPREVE Renewables 37

Retsch, Inc. 21

USIPA 44

West Salem Machinery Co. 22

14

12 NEWS

13 COLUMNSetting Record Straight on Tailoring Rule DecisionBy Bob Cleaves

14 FEATURE On Board with BiomassTo stay operating beyond 2020, Boardman Power Plant in Oregon is testing torrefi ed energy crops and biomass residuals as fuel sources.By Anna Simet

PELLETS 18 NEWS

19 COLUMNFiber Supply Critical to Pellet Project SuccessBy Eric Kingsley

20 DEPARTMENT Casting a Wider Feedstock NetSupporting its coal-to-biomass conversion, Drax has included energy crops in its pellet feedstock stream.By Tim Portz

THERMAL

22 NEWS

23 COLUMNReinventing the Wood Stove: Vital to Wood Heat’s FutureBy John Ackerly

Biomass Magazine: (USPS No. 5336) September 2013, Vol. 7, Issue 9. Biomass Magazine is published monthly by BBI International. Principal Offi ce: 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. Periodicals Postage Paid at Grand Forks, North Dakota and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Biomass Magazine/Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203.

TM

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling

COPYRIGHT © 2013 by BBI International

CORRECTION: In the July issue of Biomass Magazine, Biomass Construction Update (p.11), the boiler type for the NPI USA Co-Generation Facility and NOVEC’s South Boston Energy plant were listed as Detroit Stoker boilers. FSE Energy designed and fabricated the boilers at NPI and NOVEC’s plants utilizing a Detroit Stoker spreader stoker grate system.

% D

ry S

olid

s

2468

0

31.534

Spiral plate Disc stack

11.5% Difference

10

32343638

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With six service offices throughout North America and professionals that are experts in algae separation, GEA Westfalia Separator offers the centrifugal separation equipment that can cost-effectively meet your needs. We welcome the comparison between the two separation technologies.

To learn more and find out about testing one of our machines, contact Keith Funsch at 201-784-4322 or [email protected] or visit us online at www.wsus.com.

When different technology enters a market, there is always some

question about how it compares to what’s been available. That’s the case with spiral plate versus disc stack separating equipment. Disc stack separation has a proven 50-year record in algae dewatering and concentration. With over 300 installations worldwide, the process has been perfected and a significant amount of data collected.

Design elements in disc stack machines allow production of a superior product at a lower cost. Here are the facts:

1. Continuous machine operation allows for maximum up-time during processing. Solids are ejected at regular intervals with absolutely no interruption. There is no need to slow down the equipment and then bring it up to operating speed with a disc stack separator.

2. Automatic cleaning-in-place (CIP) is programmed in the machine, saving time and labor costs.

3. G-forces over 10,000 allow for production of pastes that are 11.5% drier.

4. Processing parameters such as speed and ejection time are adjustable on disc stack equipment. This allows production of solids with varying dry matter levels for different customer requirements.

5. Thirty (30) models are available with capacities ranging from less than 1 m3/hr to over 150 m3/hr. We work with you to find the machine that maximizes production for your current operation. Most machines can be scaled up as needs change.

6. Energy consumption, given the complete range of disc stack machines we offer, is equal to or less than what spiral plate technology offers. Disc stack machines use up to 20% less power.

Setting the Record Straight on Algae Separation

engineering for a better world

GEA Mechanical Equipment US, Inc.

GEA Westfalia SeparatorDivisionToll-Free: 800-722-662224-Hour Technical Help: 800-509-9299www.gea.com

1725


20 DEPARTMENT Real Green HeatBuilt with algae-fi lled bioreactors, the exterior of the BIQ apartment complex in Hamburg, Germany, produces heat and power.By Anna Simet

BIOGAS28 NEWS

29 COLUMNWhat If We Included Biomass in Waste-to-Energy Investments? By Patrick Serfass

30 FEATURE Aiding an Energy CrisisAn energy-crop consuming biogas project in the U.S. Virgin Island’s St. Croix will result in clean and low-cost energy.By Anna Simet

ADVANCED BIOFUELS & CHEMICALS

34 NEWS

35 COLUMNA Charged But Successful RFS Debate By Michael McAdams

36 DEPARTMENT More for LessHybrid poplar and a succinct feedstock strategy are essential to Zeachem's commercial progress. By Anna Simet

38 FEATURE Dedicated Feedstock ForerunnerChemtex is gearing up to build a 20 MMgy cellulosic ethanol plant that will consume a broad range of purpose-grown energy crops.By Sue Retka Schill

INSIDE¦

SEPTEMBER 2013 | VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 9

866-746-8385 | [email protected]

#IBCE14 Follow Us: twitter.com/biomassmagazine

March 24-26, 2014Orlando, FLwww.biomassconference.com

At the 2013 event in Minneapolis …

96% of exhibitors made valuable contacts

100% of the exhibitors positively rated the quality of the entire conference

94% of exhibitors would recommend this conference

“This is a ‘must attend’ event if you are developing biomass to energy projects. All the burning issues were covered in the conference and the important equipment providers have an expo booth.” – Guillermina Perez del Castillo, Abengoa

“I will go again next year & I will get more sales directly from contacts made at this conference.” – Justin C. Miller, Scott Equipment

“Great show to attend. Excellent opportunity to network with industry execs and professionals as well as catch up on industry topics and developments.” – Matt Weidner, Weidcom

The Largest Biomass Conference in North America

Biomass Power & Thermal | Pellets | Biogas | Advanced Biofuels

30

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6 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013

A Grower Community Musters

In this issue of Biomass Magazine, we investigate the momentum building for purpose-grown or dedicated energy crops and algal biomass inputs. Crops like arundo donax, miscanthus, Giant King Grass, switchgrass and others are being cultivated, as their name sug-gests, exclusively for their downstream conversion into energy products. On the one hand, this frees these crops from some of the agronomic practices

so common in their food and feed crop cousins. Largely, energy crops are perennials, and once established, deliver abundant volumes of bio-mass per acre. Moreover, energy crops are often grown on marginal lands that wouldn’t deliver the requisite yields with more traditional annual cropping systems. Together, these two attributes alone form the impressive one-two punch that continues to drive investment in the kind of plant breeding, stand establishment and conversion research activities that are featured in the pages that follow. On the other hand, because these crops are designed exclusively for the production of en-ergy products, there are no other markets driving their development or delivering additional revenue streams that could augment the revenues producers will receive for the biomass bound for energy production.

Sue Retka Schill’s feature “Dedicated Feedstock Forerunner” suc-cinctly outlines this dichotomy as she compares the feedstock plans for Chemtex’s Project Alpha in North Carolina with the plans for the cellulosic ethanol facilities currently under construction in the Corn Belt. Retka Schill reports that the acres required to deliver the nec-essary biomass to Project Alpha will ultimately be half of the acres required to yield the same number of biofuel gallons when compared to standard corn yields and conversion rates. The biggest difference, and arguably the biggest challenge for energy crop developers, is that growers and converters must overcome producer risk. Perhaps the last thing farmers in Iowa concern themselves with when planting corn in the spring is fi nding a market for the resultant bushels. Their market is virtually assured. Energy crop growers are not guaranteed this surety and, as a result, the acres currently engaged in energy crop production number in the hundreds.

The opportunity is there. Collectively, the projects featured in this month’s issue will generate a market for tens of thousands of energy crop acres. If one thing is certain, it’s that energy crops are increas-ingly being identifi ed as an input for every energy market this industry serves, and the success of converters and growers will follow the same trajectory.

TIM PORTZVICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE [email protected]

¦EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITORIAL

PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEFTom Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Tim Portz [email protected]

MANAGING EDITOR Anna Simet [email protected]

NEWS EDITORErin Voegele [email protected]

SENIOR EDITORSue Retka Schill [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann [email protected]

ARTART DIRECTOR

Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNERElizabeth Burslie [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALESCHAIRMAN

Mike Bryan [email protected]

CEOJoe Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & MARKETINGMatthew Spoor [email protected]

MARKETING DIRECTORJohn Nelson [email protected]

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Howard Brockhouse [email protected]

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERChip Shereck [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGERSKelsi Brorby kbrorby@bbiinternational

CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

ADVERTISING COORDINATORMarla DeFoe [email protected]

EXTERNAL EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERSShane Chrapko, Himark Biogas

Stacy Cook, Koda EnergyBenjamin Anderson, University of Iowa

Gene Zebley, Hurst BoilerAndrew Held, Virent Inc.

Kyle Goerhing, Eisenmann Corp.Subscriptions Biomass Magazine is free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for any country outside of the United States, Canada and Mexico. To subscribe, visit www.BiomassMagazine.com or you can send your mailing address and pay-ment (checks made out to BBI International) to Biomass Magazine Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to 701-746-5367. Back Issues & Reprints Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at 701-746-8385 or [email protected]. Advertising Biomass Magazine provides 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 contact us at 701-746-8385 or [email protected]. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. Send to Biomass Magazine Letters to the Contributions Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or email to [email protected]. Please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.


INDUSTRY EVENTS¦

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Phone: 866-746-8385 Email: [email protected] in advertising to 8,000+ targeted pellet and biomass industry pros?

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Pellet Production

National Advanced Biofuels Conference & ExpoSeptember 10-12, 2013CenturyLink Center OmahaOmaha, Neb.Proving Pathways. Building Capacity.Produced by BBI International, this national event will feature the world of advanced biofuels and biobased chemicals—technology scale-up, project fi nance, policy, national markets and more—with a core focus on the industrial, petroleum and agribusi-ness alliances defi ning the national advanced bio-fuels industry. 866-746-8385 | www.advancedbiofuelsconference.com

Algae Biomass SummitSeptember 30-October 3, 2013Hilton OrlandoOrlando, Fla.This dynamic event unites industry professionals from all sectors of the world’s algae utilization in-dustries including, but not limited to, fi nancing, algal ecology, genetic systems, carbon partitioning, engi-neering and analysis, biofuels, animal feeds, fertil-izers, bioplastics, supplements and foods.866-746-8385 | www.algaebiomasssummit.org

International Biomass Conference & ExpoMarch 24-26, 2014Orlando Convention CenterOrlando, Fla.Organized by BBI International and coproduced by Biomass Magazine, the International Biomass Con-ference & Expo program will include 30-plus panels and more than 100 speakers, including 90 techni-cal presentations on topics ranging from anaerobic digestion and gasifi cation to pyrolysis and combined heat and power. This dynamic event unites industry professionals from all sectors of the world’s inter-connected biomass utilization industries—biobased power, thermal energy, fuels and chemicals. 866-746-8385 | www.biomassconference.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & ExpoJune 9-12, 2014Indiana Convention CenterIndianapolis, Ind.Celebrating its 30th year, the FEW provides the global ethanol industry with cutting-edge content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dy-namic business-to-business environment. The FEW is the largest, longest running ethanol conference in the world—and the only event powered by Ethanol Producer Magazine. 866-746-8385 | www.fuelethanolworkshop.com


PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPSBusiness BriefsAttorney moves practice to CaliforniaStoel Rives partner Graham Noyes is transferring his practice to the fi rm’s Sacramento, Calif., offi ce. He represents clients involved in conventional and advanced biofuels, as well as forestry, agricultural, and solid waste-to-energy projects, and biogas projects involving anaerobic digestion, thermochemical gasifi cation, and other advanced technologies. Noyes has extensive experience with the federal renewable fuel standard and California’s low carbon fuel standard. He is also a well-known speaker and writer on renewable energy credits and renewable identifi cation numbers.

BTEC releases developer tools The Biomass Thermal Energy Council

has announced the release of two new tools to help manufacturers, project developers, engineers and architects better understand biomass systems for the commercial building sector. A resource library hosts more than 100 documents on a variety of topics, from technical and fi nancial topics, to information on policy, case studies and health and environment. The second is a stakeholder document that outlines the individuals and groups of people in a community that project developers should consider when deliberating the development of new projects. Development of the tools was supported by a grant from the Wood Education and Resource Center of the U.S. Forest Service.

BioNitrogen announces board, executive changes

Biobased urea fertilizer producer BioNitrogen Corp. has made several changes to its board. Carlos Contreras, CEO of the company, was promoted to chairman of the board. Mario Beruvides, previous chairman of the board and a professor of industrial engineering at Texas Tech University, is continuing to serve on the board of directors. Juan Vazquez has stepped down from the board, but is continuing to act as an advisor to the company. Roger Imperial, who has served as a senior consultant at Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, also joined the company’s board of directors. In addition, Ernie Iznaga, who previously served as operations manager of BioNitrogen, has been promoted to the position of vice president of operations.

Drax reveals biomass railcar The Drax Group plc has unveiled the U.K.’s fi rst purpose-built biomass rail freight wagon at the National Railway Museum in York. The wagon was developed by designers at Lloyd’s Register Rail and manufactured by WH Davis. It will transport biomass from the Ports of Tyne, Hull and Immingham to the Drax Power Station, which is located near Selby. The wagon has a capacity of 116 cubic meters and can transport 71.6 metric tons of biomass. The volume of the newly designed wagon is nearly 30 percent larger than freight wagons currently in use in the U.K.

CPM appoints general manager CPM, a supplier of process engineering,

process equipment and aftermarket parts for the biofuels, oilseed, animal feed and food processing industries, has appointed Todd Fierro as Crown Companies general manager. Fierro fi lls a new executive management position responsible for global coordination of all sales, operations, engineering, strategy, and administrative functions. He will be based in Roseville,

Minn., and will report to CPM CEO Ted Waitman. Most recently, Fierro served as president of Oshkosh Corp.’s commercial segment, focusing on new product introduction and strategic development.

ACORE announces interim president, CEO

The American Council on Renewable Energy’s board of directors has announced Michael Brower, Mosaic Federal Affairs senior federal policy director and principle, will step in to lead the organization during its search for a new president and CEO. Brower is currently a member of the board of directors. He will begin the role in September and will immediately begin working in collaboration with Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, ACORE’s outgoing president and CEO. McGinn was recently nominated by President Obama to serve as the next assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment.

Senate approves EPA administrator The U.S. Senate has

voted to approve Gina McCarthy’s nomination to lead the U.S. EPA by a vote of 59 to 40. Prior to her nomination, McCarthy served as assistant administrator for the EPA’s Offi ce of Air and Radiation. She replaces former Administrator Lisa Jackson, who resigned in December.

Emera completes sale of Canadian plant The Nova Scotia government has announced the sale of the 30 MW biomass-fi red Brooklyn Power Corp. plant is complete. Emera Energy Inc. purchased the facility for $25 million. The government fi rst announced the sale in December 2012 following its

Noyes has extensive experience in the biofuels and bioenergy sectors.

Representatives of the ethanol industry have applauded McCarthy’s approval


decision to purchase Bowater Mersey Paper Co. Ltd. from Resolute Forest Products Inc. and change the name to ReNova Scotia Bioenergy Inc. The Brooklyn Energy facility was purchased as part of that deal.

Kephart named to advisory committee

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz have appointed Kevin Kephart as the new committee co-chair of the Biomass Research and Development Initiative Technical Advisory Committee. Kephart, vice president of research and development at South Dakota State University, will serve as co-chair beside former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. The committee is made up of 32 volunteers from industry, academia, nonprofi t organizations and local government who discuss and work with technical issues involving energy and agriculture.

Canadian thermal system gains EPA qualification

Heat Smart Plus Inc., the factory representatives for Manitoba-based Piney Manufacturing, announced that the company’s new biomass heating system has gained U.S. EPA qualifi cation for North American distribution. The news comes following two years of development and testing. The Portage and Main EnviroChip 500 biomass heating system is fueled with wood chips. A large fuel storage bin is coupled with a high-effi ciency boiler to consistently generate 280,000 Btu per hour. A water and glycol mix is pumped from the boiler into a building by means of insulated underground pipe. Resulting heat is dissipated by a heat exchanger or in-fl oor hydronic heat loops.

Sundrop Fuels selects contractor Sundrop Fuels Inc. has named

international engineering and construction fi rm IHI E&C International Corp., a U.S. subsidiary of Toyko-based IHI Corp., as contractor of choice for its inaugural facility near Alexandria, La. The combined commercial and demonstration plant will annually produce approximately 60 million gallons of gasoline from natural gas while providing the platform for Sundrop Fuels to prove its proprietary gasifi cation technology for making renewable gasoline from woody biomass.

DOE grant supports development of sugar analysis system

Carbo Analytics was awarded a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant for fi scal year 2013 from the U.S. DOE to support the development of a biofuels sugar analysis system. The technology aims to provide a rapid determination of accessible C5 and C6 sugars in a biomass sample. The company has partnered with CEM Corp., a developer of microwave digestion systems, to prepare biomass samples. The combined solution is expected to allow biofuel operators to fl ag potential feedstock problems and facilitate suppliers in developing and supplying the highest value products.

NSF funds biobased isoprene research

Biofuels research underway by C5.6 Technologies of Middleton, Wis., and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is getting a boost from a $224,292 National Science Foundation grant. C5.6 Technologies and the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable

Technology at UW-Stevens Point will use the funding to support continued research on the development of bacteria that will ferment sugar into isoprene, a high-energy molecule that can be used to make jet fuel and other products. The funding was awarded through the NSF’s Small Business Technology Transfer Program, which promotes innovation in the private sector by linking businesses with university researchers.

Mississippi pellet plant plannedThe Mississippi Development Authority

has announced Green Circle Bio Energy plans to locate a wood pellet plant at the George County Industrial Park near Lucedale, Miss. The 500,000 ton per year facility is expected to be operational by spring 2015. Pellets produced at the proposed facility will be exported from the Port of Pascagoula to European markets. The project represents a company investment of $115 million.

Iowa landfill gas project expands Waste Management of Des Moines

announced the expansion of its Des Moines Metro Methane Recovery Facility at the Metro Park East landfi ll in Polk County, Iowa. The plant is the results of a public-private partnership between Waste Management and Metro Waste Authority. The plant currently generates 6.5 MW of power. Once the expansion is complete, the production capacity will expand to 11.2 MW. The new plant will add three additional engines to convert landfi ll gas into energy, with room to add a fourth engine in the future.

BUSINESS BRIEFS¦

SHARE YOUR INDUSTRY NEWS: To be included in the Busi-ness Briefs, send information (including photos and logos, if available) to Business Briefs, Biomass Magazine, 308 Sec-ond Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You may also email information to [email protected]. Please include your name and telephone number in all cor-respondence.

Kephart has expertise in biobased projects and fuels.

These companies and organizations are serious about developing algae as a source of fuel, feed, food, and countless other products. Are you?

Joining the Algae Biomass Organization puts you in touch with the entire algae value chain, from suppliers to producers, from engineers to investors, from state governments to Capitol Hill.

Learn about our tiered membership programs and the benefits at www.algaebiomass.org, or call 507-765-2134 today.

CO-LOCATED EVENTSeptember 10, 2013 | Omaha, NE

Sponsors, Supporting Organizations, Media Partners, & Exhibitors

MEDIA PARTNERS _________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS ______________________________________________________________

SPONSORS _____________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

EXHIBITORS _____________________________________________________________________________

American Supply Company Chromatin, Inc. Cooling Technology Institute EAD

Himark bioGas Hydro-Klean, LLC Iowa Central Fuel Testing Laboratory Nebraska Screw Press

North American Industrial Services PIP - Process Industry Practices Scott Equipment Company Team Industrial Services


PowerNews

A report published by U.K.-based energy purchaser SmartestEnergy high-lights the contribution commercial-scale independent renewable energy projects are making to the region’s energy industry. The analysis, titled “Energy Entrepreneurs Report 2013,” indicates that 392 projects came online in 2012, with 2,011 indepen-dent power projects in existence in the U.K. at the end of the year.

In 2012, the total number of in-dependent biomass projects grew by 2 percent, while anaerobic digestion projects increased by 5 percent. Biomass proj-ects now make up 32 percent of onsite capacity, with anaerobic digestion projects accounting for 22 percent. Onsite projects are defi ned as those developed by a busi-ness to power manufacturing facilities and commercial premises.

Farm-owned generation capacity was the fastest growing category of indepen-dent generators, with a 74 percent increase in projects. Biomass accounted for 2 percent of on-farm projects, and anaero-bic digestion 9 percent. Farmers owned 17 percent of the U.K.’s commercial-scale independent renewable energy projects last year.

Dominion Virginia Power placed its biomass-fi red Altavista Power Station into commercial operation in July. The 51 megawatt facility in Altavista, Va., is the fi rst of three stations the company is converting from coal to biomass. Dominion is also converting two similar stations in Hopewell, Va., and South-ampton County, Va., to run on biomass.

Dominion acquired all three power plants in 2001. They had been in opera-tion since 1992 and were used primarily to produce steam for manufacturing plants, and intermittently to meet peak electricity demand. In April 2011, the company announced its plans to invest approximately $165 million to convert the plants to be fueled with waste wood.

According to Dominion, conver-sion of the Hopewell and Southampton stations is progressing on schedule. Both plants are expected to reach commercial operation before the end of the year. All three plants are expected to oper-ate continuously following conversion to biomass, helping to meet Virginia’s voluntary renewable energy goal of 15 percent by 2025.

Independent power production contributes to UK energy mix

Conversion of Altavista Power Station complete

12 Greenway PlazaSuite 1100Houston TX 77046

Toll Free: 1 855 8HIMARK (1 855 844 6275)email: [email protected]

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In the aftermath of the D.C. Circuit’s decision on how the U.S. EPA will regulate greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions from biomass, many questions have been raised, indicating a lot of confusion about what the decision means for the regulation of biogenic CO2 emissions.

First, let’s clear up what the decision actually achieved. Importantly, contrary to some press reports, the decision is not about whether EPA can legally exclude biomass, and also does not halt the three-year study. To quote the court, “Because the Deferral Rule cannot be justifi ed under any of the administrative law doctrines relied on by EPA, this opinion… leaves for another day the question whether the agency has authority under the Clean Air Act to permanently exempt biogenic carbon dioxide sources from the PSD (prevention of signifi cant deterioration) permitting program.” If and when EPA adopts a permanent exemption for some or all biogenic carbon dioxide sources, we will have the benefi t of three years of scientifi c study, as well as fully briefed and contextual-ized arguments about EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act. In other words, the Court found EPA’s rationale for deferring GHG regulation as lacking, not that regulation of biomass was scientifi cally sound or even justifi ed under the Clean Air Act.

Here’s a summary of the rule’s sordid history, which is needed when trying to understand the recent decision. Shortly after promulgating the Tailoring Rule, EPA issued a Call for Information, seeking technical and scientifi c infor-mation to “evaluate different accounting approaches” for measuring biogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Specifi cally, EPA sought information about how to treat biogenic car-bon dioxide sources differently for purposes of measuring the emissions that trigger the PSD and Title V permitting programs. For example, EPA requested comments on how to “determine the net impact on the atmosphere of CO2 emissions” and the “appropriate spatial/geographic scale for conducting this determination.”

In March 2011, EPA, citing its ongoing efforts to understand the unique characteristics of biogenic carbon dioxide, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on whether it should defer regulation of these sources for a three-year period. Simultaneously, it pub-lished a guidance document for determining best available control technology (BACT) for biogenic carbon dioxide emissions from sources that were regulated under the PSD permitting program at Step One of the Tailoring Rule.

Based on comments and studies received during the notice-and-comment period, and following up on the Call for Information, EPA issued a rule—the one challenged in the court case— postponing regulation of biogenic carbon dioxide sources for three years. In support of this so-called Deferral Rule, EPA repeatedly emphasized that “the issue of accounting for the net atmospheric impact of biogenic CO2 emissions is complex enough that further consider-ation . . . is warranted.”

It is important to keep in mind that the Deferral Rule contains a sunset provision: absent further agency action, on July 21, 2014, biogenic carbon dioxide will be regulated under the PSD and Title V programs, as modifi ed by the Tailoring Rule.

Although the Deferral Rule is a temporary regulation, it functions, in effect, as a permanent exemption from the PSD permitting requirement for any biogenic carbon dioxide source constructed during the three-year defer-ral period. Exempted sources would have to obtain PSD permits only if they undertake a modifi cation project after the deferral period ends.

The Deferral Rule is also voluntary. To quote EPA, “Each state may decide if it wishes to adopt the defer-ral and proceed accordingly.” At least one state, Massa-chusetts, is currently regulating biogenic carbon dioxide sources at Step Two of the Tailoring Rule.

Contrary to reports in the media, EPA’s position is not to permanently exempt biomass. In fact, as noted by the dissenting judge, EPA has conceded “the possibility…that more detailed examination of the science of biogenic CO2 will demonstrate that…some biogenic feedstocks…have a signifi cant impact on the net carbon cycle.”

EPA is not permanently treating biogenic CO2 emissions differently. As the Deferral Rule explains, EPA believes, based on the evidence currently in its possession, that further study may support a decision to give special treatment to some biogenic emissions.

We look forward to working with EPA to craft a rule that acknowledges the benefi ts of biomass as a way to fi ght climate change and promote healthy forests, and the need to expand—rather than close—energy markets for biomass.

Author: Bob CleavesPresident and CEO, Biomass Power Association

www.biomasspowerassociation.com [email protected]

Setting Record Straight on Tailoring Rule Decision

POWER¦

BY BOB CLEAVES


¦POWER

BIOMASS OR BUST: Portland General Electric is in the midst of determining whether it will repower its 600-MW power plant in Boardman, Ore., with biomass or shut down.PHOTO: TED TIMMONS


POWER¦

Torrefi ed biomass may extend the life of Portland General Electric’s Boardman Power Plant by several decades.BY ANNA SIMET

On Board with Energy Crops

Near the Columbia River just outside of eastern Oregon’s Boardman sits the state’s last operating coal plant, a 600-MW facility built in the late 1970s.

Though the plant has plenty of years left in it, the state's decision to phase out coal left Portland General Electric exploring its options.

In 2010, PGE was approved to continue to burn coal at Boardman until 2020, with some temporary emissions controls upgrades. After that, $500 million in additional pollution controls would be required to comply with fed-eral and state sulfur, nitrogen and mercury rules, thus en-

abling the plant to continue operations until at least 2040.Ultimately, PGE faced three possibilities—closing by

2020, making costly upgrades, or switching to another fuel source. If closed, it would make history as the youngest coal plant in the U.S. to shut down as a result of air quality regulations, but doing so and building a new plant else-where makes more economic sense than keeping it open for upgrades.

With the upgrade option ruled out, the fate of the plant rests on the feasibility of using torrefi ed energy crops as fuel, and PGE has spent the past several years

¦POWER

PGE is no stranger to renewable energy. According to the

U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory, PGE has

more renewable power customers and sold more renew-

able energy than any other utility in the U.S.

conducting in-depth research and rigorous testing to determine what the possibilities are.

Exploring OptionsInitially, PGE looked into repowering with natural gas, but rendered

that option unfeasible. “We did a study on natural gas and found the area didn’t have a gas line, but that wasn’t the real issue,” says Jaisen Mody, PGE projects manager. “The issue was that the Boardman boiler was designed for coal combustion, and using gas in the existing boiler made it highly ineffi cient. The cost wasn’t conducive to running the plant long-term, as we would have to change out the boiler. We decided that con-verting an old Rankine cycle coal boiler wasn’t the way to go because of the capital expenditure.”

Basically, it boiled down to the notion of using gas meant building a new gas plant, adds Steve Corson, PGE spokesman.

When PGE began evaluating biomass back in 2010, wood pellets were tested but gummed up the plant’s pulverizers. Crop research began at that point, and arundo donax was chosen as a fuel of interest due to its great growth potential. It’s been found to produce upwards of 35 dry tons per acre per year, compared to switchgrass, which will yield 4 to 13 dry tons per acre per year.

PGE has been growing arundo test plots around the Boardman area for the past couple of years—about 92 acres—and has harvested it a few times, storing the crop for test burns, Mody says. He adds that while the initial emphasis was mostly on arundo, that’s changed a bit.

On one hand, a single energy crop is attractive because it’s dedicated

to producing feedstock volumes needed, but reliance on a single fuel source is risky for a number of reasons, including harsh weather, natural disasters or pests. “So we’re also investigating other biomass sources, in-cluding sorghum and ag waste,” says Mody.

One thing that’s certain is that if energy crops and biomass are used at Boardman, they will be torrefi ed fi rst. “Torrefaction is the right way to repower Boardman with biomass, because we’re anticipating no changes to plant equipment,” Mody says.

Corson adds that torrefaction would allow the plant to pulverize the fuel just as it is doing with coal, but green biomass would require a lot of changes. Additionally, researchers have found that torrefi ed biomass is more hydrophobic than Prairie River Basin coal, which is currently used at Boardman.

Later this year, PGE is installing a torrefi er at Boardman, and will then begin its test burns, according to Mody. “These test burns are criti-cal for us,” he says. “We think running this test will prove to us that we can run torrefi ed biomass through the plant, and we’ll also collect emis-sions data. Then we’ll sit down and fi gure out what it’ll take to run the plant for air permitting and the economics of that.”

Mody notes that each feedstock tested—arundo or sorghum—

could have a different effect on the boiler, slagging or fouling it, so close attention will be paid as to what source is torrefi ed and how.

According to a study done in 2012 by researchers at the University of Washington, Washington State and Oregon State University, oper-ating at 300 MW and producing power under optimal economic con-ditions, about 1.25 million tons of torrefi ed arundo would be used by Boardman, based on the Btu content of torrefi ed arundo (10,400 Btu per pound). About 794 dry tons of arundo would produce 52.7 tons of torrefi ed chips, the researchers found, so a total of 67.6 thousand acres of arundo would be required to produce 1.25 million tons of torrefi ed chips and support torrefaction, assuming 33 dry tons per acre per year.

Of course, while multiple sources would be used, Mody admits ob-taining necessary quantities remains PGE’s biggest challenge in the quest to repower with biomass.

Moving Foward“It's [repowering] always been one issue—the source of biomass,”

says Mody. “How can we procure and move enough in an economic manner that would sustain a large plant? The production of biomass, whether we’re growing or buying it, remains our biggest challenge. That’s why we’re looking at diversity now—one species isn’t the answer. It’s about what we can grow at a reasonable price, and what’s available out there.”

If the torrefaction test burns are successful, more work has to be done to calculate the economics and emissions profi les of a full-scale torrefi er. Once that data is complete, PGE will bring it to its integrated resource planning process, which is a comprehensive plan presented to the public utility commission that lays out its generating portfolio re-source requirements.

At that time, the next step for Boardman will be decided, Corson adds. “At this point, what we’ll really be saying is, okay, we know we can do this, is it better than the other options?”

Author: Anna SimetManaging Editor, Biomass Magazine

[email protected]

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PGE has concluded a successful small-scale pilot project

using algae to capture and consume carbon dioxide emis-

sions from the Boardman Plant. It is among the fi rst utilities

to undertake a dedicated investigation into using algae to

reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The process involves capturing CO2 and feeding it to algae,

which is being grown adjacent to the plant. During pho-

tosynthesis, the algae ingest CO2 and release oxygen into

the air, retaining oil and other byproducts. The oil can be

squeezed out of the algae and used to produce biodiesel.

The remaining biomass has the potential to produce etha-

nol and proteins for livestock feed.


PelletNews

An annual biofuels report fi led with the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Global Agricultural Information Network provides an overview of the rapidly ex-panding Canadian pellet industry, noting production increased by approximately 33 percent from 2010 through 2012.

The country was home to 42 pellet plants with a combined capacity of 3 mil-lion metric tons last year. In 2010, Canada was home to only 33 plants with a com-bined capacity of 2 million metric tons.

Since 2006, the vast majority of Canadian pellets have been exported,

but the percentage of product being shipped overseas has been reduced in recent years. In 2014, the report predicts that 2.21 million metric tons of the 3.23 million metric tons of pellets produced in Canada will be exported.

While production has grown rapidly, consumption of wood pellets in Canada held relatively steady from 2006 through 2011, averaging between 65,000 and 95,000 metric tons per year. Consump-tion increased to 233,000 metric tons last year and is projected to reach 690,000 metric tons in 2014.

Chip Energy has broken ground on a biomass recycling and pelletizing plant in Goodfi eld, Ill. Once complete, the prototype plant will be capable of producing 100 tons per day of condensed biomass from a variety of feedstock sources, including wood waste, energy crops and agricultural residues. In addition to pellets, the facility will have the ability to produce briquettes and logs. The plant is expected to be operational during the third quarter of this year.

The plant is being constructed from recycled shipping containers confi gured in a vertical fashion, which results in a foot-print spanning only 70 feet by 104 feet, but reaches 70 high. Paul Wever, president of Chip Energy, said the design will increase the effi ciency of the facility.

Wever also operates a construction equipment company that prototypes and builds specialized tools for the off-highway equipment industry. He has leveraged that experience to develop the pellet plant, with the aim to supply the equipment and technol-ogy to a wide range of customers, particu-larly those in the power and cellulosic fuels industries.

Canadian pellet consumption forecast to grow Prototype pellet plant breaks ground

Canadian wood pellet data2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 (estimate) 2014 (forecast)

Number of plants 25 29 33 37 42 46 46Capacity (million tons) 1.40 1.70 2.00 2.93 3.00 3.71 3.71Production (million tons) 1.24 1.30 1.32 1.93 2.00 2.54 3.23Consumption (million tons) 0.095 0.095 0.950 0.065 0.233 0.400 0.690Exports (million tons) 1.24 1.24 1.23 1.87 1.37 1.74 2.21SOURCE: USDA FAS GAIN, Canadian Biofuels Annual report


You can’t run a wood pellet mill without wood. This seems obvious, but I frequently hear from people who think they have identifi ed a technology and customer combination that will make for a successful project, but yet they haven’t given much, if any, thought to their wood supply.

Of course, identifying wood supply is critical to a pellet project’s success, and should be one of the earli-est steps taken when evaluating opportunities. Whether building a pellet mill to serve the domestic heating mar-ket or offshore export, fi nding a location and develop-ing a wood supply strategy that allows for a consistent and reliable supply at a price the mill can afford and suppliers can profi t is critical to a project’s success.

Many developers— often at the urging of fi nancial backers—seek to fi nd long-term contracts that lock in the volume and price of wood for years. In a few places, such a strategy might actually work. Unfortunately, many of the contracts that I have seen cross my desk as part of due diligence simply don’t—and can’t—provide the certainty and surety that the developer wants it to.

There are a few reasons for this:• It is hard to fi nd a wood supplier that is suf-

fi ciently creditworthy to stand behind a long-term contract. Yes, there are good organizations, run by good people, with years or decades of experience in the forest industry. I am sure they will do everything they can to honor a contract (or, perhaps more importantly to them, a handshake). However, many companies just don’t have the fi nancial resources to stand behind a long-term contract, and if a supplier can’t back a con-tract, it is of limited value.

• Wood supply relies upon a fragmented supply chain, with landowners, foresters, loggers and truck-ers all participating before wood gets to the mill. It is uncommon to fi nd a fi rm that has all of these compo-nents, and it’s very hard to contract a credible promise to supply something you don’t own or control.

• Wood used for energy is low-grade, and just isn’t worth as much as other products coming off a log-ging job. Landowners make much more money selling sawlogs for lumber production than wood for pellet production. The money from sales to pellet mills may be important, but it often isn’t the primary focus for assuring long-term profi tability.

Given these challenges, wood pellet projects should instead concentrate on developing a system and infrastructure to manage a wood supply that is consis-tent, reliable, and provides for stable volume and price. In truth, this is important with or without a long-term wood supply agreement. Elements that a project should consider include:

Diversity of supply. Make certain that there are multiple suppliers, perhaps providing multiple types, of feedstock. This way, failure of a single supplier doesn’t have catastrophic results for the pellet mill.

Surge capacity with existing suppliers. Make certain that suppliers can “turn up the volume” for short periods of time, to account for interruptions from other suppliers.

Signifi cant wood storage capacity. Allow for buying when supplies are plentiful and to provide a buffer against any short-term supply interruptions (e.g., weather, or market-related downtime at a sawmill that provides sawdust as a feedstock).

Clear price expectations. Make the price some-thing that loggers know and can make enough money to justify investment in equipment. Sometimes efforts to squeeze the price down as far as it can go has short-term benefi ts, but almost always causes some suppliers to leave a facility and results in a higher, more volatile price in the long-term.

Refl ect supplier costs. Suppliers use diesel in the harvest, processing and transport of wood to a facility. They also have no control over diesel costs. Communi-cate to suppliers how changes in diesel—both increases and decreases—will be refl ected in the price you pay them.

Pellet mills are simply the latest in a long line of forest industries that need signifi cant and price-stable volumes of wood. No matter what a supply contract does or doesn’t say, a project’s real success can be best addressed by giving careful thought and planning to wood supply.

Author: Eric KingsleyVice President, Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC

[email protected]

Fiber Supply Critical to Pellet Project Success

PELLET¦

BY ERIC KINGSLEY


DEPARTMENT

¦PELLET

The conversion of half of its generat-ing capacity from coal to biomass has placed Drax Group and its power sta-tion in Drax, England, among the top

stories in the biomass-to-energy sector. Once complete, Drax Group will own and operate the largest biomass-derived power station in the world. But while the bulk of attention is given to the conversion activities at the power facility, the innovation generated by this transi-tion is certainly not limited to the plant alone.

The pellet facility, located just 6 miles east of Drax in the village of Goole, was built in 2008, fully commissioned in 2009, and may well be the world’s fi rst commercial-scale pellet facility processing signifi cant quantities of ded-

icated energy crop inputs, predominantly mis-canthus. This 100,000-ton-per year facility has added energy crops to its input stream, and the crop now represents about 40 percent of the material consumed at the facility. Wheat straw and rapeseed straw make up the rest, represent-ing 45 percent and 15 percent of the input vol-ume, respectively. Once pelletized, miscanthus pellets can deliver between 16.8 and 17.1 giga-joules per ton (GJ/t). Comparatively, wood pel-lets typically generate between 17 and 18 GJ/t.

Drax Group is diligently working to build the most sustainable biomass supply chain pos-sible for the power station. Commenting on the role that energy crops like miscanthus will play in this endeavor, Melanie Wedgbury, head

of external communications, notes, “Miscan-thus presents a long-term, dedicated fuel with great sustainability credentials. It can be grown on marginal land and is a viable option for U.K. farmers. The product does not require any me-chanical drying and can be processed through pellet mills that are designed for straw pelleting with some modifi cations.”

In order to keep the facility in Goole ad-equately supplied with the requisite volumes of miscanthus, Drax currently has supply agree-ments with nearly 120 farmers in the area. Drax's initial contracts were with producer groups only, avoiding individual contracts. Re-alizing that in order to achieve the volumes it was targeting, Drax would also need off-take

Casting a Wider Feedstock NetDrax Group is leveraging its capabilities to build the most sustainable supply chain possible.BY TIM PORTZ

AUTOMATION DRIVES EFFICIENCY: The lightly staffed pellet facility at Goole utilizes state-of-the-art unloading, handling and stacking equipment to facilitate rapid truck unloading. This equipment unloads 12 square bales of miscanthus, wheat or rapeseed straw at a time.

PELLET¦

contracts with individual produc-ers, and thus formed a producer program titled Green Shoots Pro-gramme. Drax’s decision to offer off-take agreements to individual farmers provides them with the surety they need to procure capital and make the investments neces-sary to establish the crop on their land, including the purchase of harvesting equipment. “For farms with marginal land or areas of the farm that are expensive to farm, this is an easy decision,” Wedgbury says. “Cash fl ow is an issue for smaller farmers, however, banks and fi nance companies will now support this activity on farms.”

Establishing and growing required input volumes is only a part of the challenge Drax has worked to overcome. Effectively pelletiz-ing the fi brous miscanthus came with a steep learning curve, and for this, Drax worked hand-and-glove with its pellet mill supplier Andritz. “Andritz has been very helpful throughout the project at Goole and the collaboration has resulted in a joint learning program, for both Drax and Andritz, when tackling the process-ing of diffi cult materials, such as miscanthus,” says Wedgbury.

While Goole’s production volumes repre-sent a tiny fraction of the 6 to 7 million tons of biomass the power station will require, it

remains a vital aspect of the company’s long-term biomass strategy, and continues to deliver valuable discoveries for Drax. “Energy crops and the Goole pellet plant have created a year-round opportunity for local growers, haulers and labor forces, as well as a source of usable sustainable biomass,” Wedgbury adds. “Wider than that, it has been an essential part of Drax’s learning curve in understanding how pellet mills operate and has informed our decision making for other investment opportunities in the biomass supply chain.”

Author: Tim PortzExecutive Editor, Biomass Magazine

[email protected]

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PRECISE AND ORDERLY: The material-receiving and temporary storage at the Goole pellet facility is a study in precision. A machine unloads the trucks and stacks the bales in neat rows and delivers the bales into the in-feed chute when the mill needs more material.

FINISHED PRODUCT: Newly extruded pellets are warmed by both the pressure from the roller assembly and the introduction of small amounts of steam before the material is fed into the die.


The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change has published tariff levels for the residential version of its Renew-able Heat Incentive program. A similar program has been opera-tional in the U.K.’s non-domestic sector since November 2011.

A tariff level of 12.2 pence per kWh (p/kWh) was set for biomass heat. Biomass technolo-gies eligible for participation in the program include biomass-only boilers and biomass pellet stoves with back boilers. Other

renewable thermal technologies are also eligible for the program, including air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and solar thermal installations.

“Investing for the long term in new renewable heat technologies will mean cleaner energy and cheaper bills. So this package of measures is a big step forward in our drive to get innovative renewable heating kit in our homes,” said Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker.

ThermalNews

A white paper published by FutureMetrics inves-tigates the positive economic impacts that Biomass Thermal Utilization Act of 2013 could lead to, should it become law. The bill was introduced in the U.S. Sen-ate in May and the U.S. House of Representatives in July. The report was prepared by William Strauss, chief economist of the Biomass Thermal Energy Council.

The bill aims to provide tax incentives to support the installation of commercial and industrial biomass heating systems.

According to the white paper, the substitution of biomass fuels for heating oil and propane systems will have a “dramatic positive effect on the economies of thermal energy dependent states.” The report speci-fi es that when used in modern high-effi ciency boilers, biomass fuels can lower the cost of heat by 40 to 60 percent when compared to heating oil.

The bill would help ensure money that would have been spent on heating oil or propane stays in the local economy and reduces heating bills, leading to additional disposable income being spent locally. The measure would also support the biomass supply chain, creat-ing new jobs. The sale and installation of new heating systems would also generate jobs, and lead to sales tax revenues and income tax revenues.

UK sets tariff levels for residential RHI program

Analysis outlines economic benefits of biomass thermal incentives

SOURCE: U.K. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE


About 4 million Americans heat with U.S. EPA-certifi ed wood stoves, and 8 million with old, uncertifi ed ones. Neither group is getting the low emissions and high effi ciency that they should, so a new breed of wood stove is needed to ensure that homeowners don’t routinely dampen down airfl ow to get longer burns. The solution is to control combustion air by a computer, not by a human.

Computer chips are optimizing effi ciency in virtually every major household appliance. Soon, sensor technol-ogy will control airfl ow, indicate the optimal time to refuel and average effi ciency, when to clean the chimney and how many gallons of oil were avoided. This will not only increase effi ciency and save money, but also reduce emissions and improve safety.

The Alliance for Green Heat and Popular Mechanics created the Wood Stove Design Challenge to showcase and test cutting-edge innovations along with newly designed hy-brid, masonry, condensing and electricity-producing stoves. An expert panel of 10 judges selected 14 fi nalists from fi ve countries out of 50 applicants, and the teams will compete in the Wood Stove Decathlon in Washington, D.C., in Novem-ber. There, the stoves will be rigorously tested for emissions and effi ciency, and assessed for potential end-user error.

Many in the stove industry are excited about a new breed, but others are resistant or sensibly cautious about new designs. To stay competitive, however, companies need to anticipate the most signifi cant technology trends that are shaping their industry.

Connecting stoves to the Internet allows engineers to monitor how their stoves are being used and what can be modifi ed to better them. This can also enable technicians to diagnose problems remotely, saving time and money by instructing the stove owner over the phone on proper maintenance and use.

Stoves that monitor and meter heat can be eligible for renewable energy credits (RECs) or certifi cates just like solar panels or geothermal systems. RECs give owners of renewable energy appliances an ongoing energy produc-tion subsidy, enabling a shorter payback period. This helped the solar panel industry take off, and it can do the same for wood and pellet appliances.

Will this technology innovation provide one more option, or disrupt and dominate the market? Pellet stoves added an option. This one will, too. Automation and sensor

technology may help reduce the cost of wood stoves and make it easier to meet the EPA’s upcoming stricter emissions standards. Regardless, wood heat needs an image makeover if it is going to be embraced as a major component of our renewable energy future. Otherwise, it will be sidelined or even restricted, like Montreal’s recent ban of the use of all wood stoves by 2020, even U.S. EPA-certifi ed ones.

One of the hallmarks of energy effi ciency innovation is the removal of the consumer from the equation. Savings are achieved not because one operates something correctly, but because the technology does. Our cars, furnaces, dishwash-ers and refrigerators embody this principle. Woodstoves are beyond ready to join this revolution.

The real value of the Wood Stove Design Challenge is not instigating the invention of new technology, but it will:

• Speed up the integration of technologies that already exist and make them more affordable.

• Bring together people from different disciplines to tackle challenges, share ideas and develop partnerships.

• Draw policymaker attention and raise the profi le of the technology featured.

• Generate public enthusiasm and infl uence consumer attitudes.

• Engage youth and encourage inventors outside the industry.

When Ben Franklin invented the Franklin stove, he amalgamated existing designs into a mediocre stove despite the existence of far cleaner and more effi cient designs al-ready prevalent in Europe. Franklin’s major contribution was the ability to market a mediocre technology that people were ready and willing to use. His challenge was to get consum-ers to stop relying on smoky fi replaces, and he was pretty successful. Today our challenge is to get consumers to stop relying on old, uncertifi ed wood stoves and prevent them from routinely using EPA certifi ed stoves poorly.

If wood stoves are going to continue to be a major resi-dential energy player, we need a new breed that is genuinely clean, effi cient and user friendly. Join us in November to be part of the process.

Author: John AckerlyPresident, Alliance for Green Heat

[email protected]

Reinventing the Wood Stove: Vital to Wood Heat’s Future

THERMAL¦

BY JOHN ACKERLY


DEPARTMENT

¦THERMAL

When viewing photos of the BIQ apartment complex in Ham-burg, Germany, one might ques-tion whether or not it’s real. The

futuristic-looking, gleaming green facility was offi cially put into operation at the end of April, and its makers claim it is the world’s fi rst pho-tobioreactor (PBR) facade.

Hosting 200m² of integrated photobiore-actors, the fi ve-story, 15-unit apartment com-plex grows algae on its surface and produces

heat and power as a result. The microalgae used in the facades are cultivated in fl at panel glass bioreactors, according to designer Arup’s Eu-ropean research leader Jan Wurp. “In total, 129 bioreactors have been installed on the south-west and southeast faces of the four-story residential building. The heart of the system is the fully automated energy management cen-ter where solar thermal heat and algae are har-vested in a closed loop to be stored and used to generate hot water,” says Wurp.

The innovative facade system is the result of three years of research and development by Colt International, based on a bioreactor con-cept developed by SSC Ltd. and design work led by Arup. Funding support came from the German government’s ZukunftBau research initiative.

How It WorksThe photobioreactors positioned on

the southwest and southeast sides of the

Real Green HeatThe epitome of “green” energy, a building in Hamburg, Germany, produces heat and power from algae.BY ANNA SIMET

PHO

TO: I

BA-H

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SUN SUCKER:Two exterior walls of the BIQ apartment complext in Hamburg, Germany, are made of bioreactors that capture sunlight to produce heat, and grow for algae for biogas production.


THERMAL¦

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building grow algae not just for energy production, but also for controlling light and shade in the building. Each is 70 cm wide, 270 cm tall and 8 cm thick, and is mounted on a steel frame and arranged within a group.

Photobioreactors are fi lled with an aqueous solution and CO2 is constantly added as a nutrient, which enables the algae to fl ourish. It is supplied to the algae via a saturation device that directly introduces fl ue gas from a micro-CHP (combined-heat-and-power) system into the water cir-cuit. The use of CHP is controlled as need-ed for the desired growth of algae, and a monitoring network continually checks all parameters relevant to the process, which is almost fully automated.

The culture medium in the photobio-reactors is constantly stirred by supply of compressed air through an airlift to prevent the microalgae from sinking and settling. Small, lattice-like beads serve as scrapers and are enclosed within the photobioreac-tors, and prevent algae from depositing on the glass. The photobioreactors are all con-nected in a series, so algae and its medium circulate through all of them when the system is operating, according to concept designer IBA-Hamburg.

The photobioreactors may reach a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (95 de-

grees Fahrenheit) during the day when fac-ing sunlight, thus acting as solar thermal absorbers. As the medium is heated, it is circulated through the building service cen-ter. At a central location, algae biomass is fi ltered out from the culture medium and collected, which takes place in a fl otation system, specially developed by IBM-Ham-burgh together with company AWAS In-ternational GmbH.

After the liquid is separated from the algae, most is returned to the photobiore-actors, with a small amount being removed from the system and discharged into a pub-lic sewer. The harvested algae is fed to an external biogas plant, which sends power to the grid, and powers the micro-CHP.

On the thermal side of the equation, heat demand by the building is relatively low, and needed on a seasonable basis, so several components are in place to store and make use of heat when necessary.

Heat is drawn off the algae-fi lled me-dium through a heat exchanger, and ther-mal energy is distributed throughout the building for several uses, including heating the air and preheating hot water. Excess heat is stored 80 meters deep in geother-mal boreholes, from which energy is drawn with heat pumps as needed in periods of low heat generation by the bioreactors.

At the same time, waste heat from

Basic data per m2 bioreactor areaBiomass production 15 g TS/m2/day (900 kg/year)Energy production in biomass 345 kJ/m2/dayBiogas production from biomass 10.20 L methane/m2/dayEnergy indicators for 200 m2 bioreactor area with 300 days of production per yearBiomethane production 612 m3 methane/yearEnergy in methane 6487 kWh/yearEnergy loss (auxilary power, etc.) 30 percent of productionNet energy as methane approx. 4541 kWh/yearNet energy from heat approx. 6000 kWh/year

BIQ Energy Outputs

SOURCE: IBA-HAMBURG


¦THERMAL

Whether harvesting and collecting corn stover or growing miscanthus and energy cane on previously unused land, biomass

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Fueling the future.

the fl ue-gas production process—the nutrient for the photobioreactors—is captured and also used to heat water, and surpluses are stored.

According to IBA-Hamburg, although it wasn’t implemented, the original plan used photovoltaics on the roof. Though it could easily be done in the future, in the meantime, electricity will be drawn from the grid.

While the initial photobioreactor facade design was implemented at an apartment, IBA-Hamburg believes it is a good fi t for several other applica-tions, including industrial and com-mercial constructions, buildings for public infrastructure, trade, or residen-tial buildings.

Rainer Mueller of IBA-Hamburg points out that this is an example of al-gae production technology leaving the lab and being brought to real life, as a piece of architecture. “So now we have to survey the bioreactors,” Mueller

WALL ARMOR: Photobioreactors on the BIQ building are about 2 feet wide, 9 feet tall and and 3 inches thick.

PH

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: IB

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THERMAL¦

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says. “We do this monitoring together with renowned universities, and we also use the feedback of the residents. As for now, everything is running smoothly from the operational point of view. Some of the people who moved in told us that in the begin-ning, they just had to get used to the occasional bubble sound made inside the water panels.”

Boiled down to a very basic idea, IBM-Hamburgh’s vision behind the energy concept is the connection of different energy sources working to-gether, thus bringing together, in one circuit, solar energy, geothermal ener-gy, a condensing boiler, district heat-ing, and the production of biomass in the bioreactor facade.


[email protected] ONE OF A KIND: The unique BIQ building prototype took three years to develop from initial concept development to

completion.

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The University of Wisconsin-Os-hkosh and its partners recently broke ground on a new 1.4 MW biogas plant that will include a public education center at Pickett, Wis.-based Rosendale Dairy, the state’s largest dairy farm.

The $7 million project is funded by the UW Oshkosh Foundation and will utilize livestock waste to gener-ate, capture and combust methane. In addition to supporting the univer-sity’s goal in creating a carbon-neutral campus, the facility will also provide its environmental science, microbiol-ogy, sociology and other students with

an off-campus laboratory to develop expertise as renewable energy and rural social scientists.

Additional partners in the project include Milk Source, BioFerm, the Viessmann Group, Soil Net, Alliant Energy and Infi nity Lawn and Garden. The Rosendale facility will produce seven times more energy than the ex-isting UW Oshkosh dry-fermentation anaerobic biodigester, which went online in 2011. Both facilities feature technology provided by Viessmann and BioFerm.

BiogasNews

Blue Shere Corp.’s proposed 5.2 MW anaerobic digestion project in Charlotte, N.C., has received a signed commitment letter from Caterpillar Financial Service Corp., the fi nancial division of Caterpillar Inc., to provide $17.785 million in debt fi nancing. The commitment is 100 percent of the debt fi nanc-ing required for the project.

Blue Sphere, along with its German-based partner Biogas Nord AG, is acting as integrator of the project though its joint venture company, Bino Sphere.

With the debt fi nancing commitment in place, Blue Sphere is completing all closing conditions, in-cluding investment tax credit monetization, feedstock supply and permits. The company expects to break ground on the project during the third quarter of this year, with completion expected during the third quarter of 2014.

According to information released by Blue Sphere, it will retain a 37.5 percent ownership posi-tion in the Charlotte project. The company is also developing a 3.2 MW anaerobic digestion project in Rhode Island. That project is expected to break ground before the end of the year.

UW Oshkosh breaks ground on new AD system

Cat Financial to finance Blue Sphere AD project

BIG ON BIOGAS: The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and its partners break ground on an anaerobic digestion plant at Rosendale Dairy.

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Early July, the U.S. DOE Bioenergy Technologies Offi ce issued a request for information regarding waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies. The American Biogas Council was pleasantly surprised that questions included biogas, and had lots to say in response. In this month’s column I’ll share just the main points.

In the biogas industry’s eyes, we are a WTE industry. Biogas systems take valuable resources considered by most to be waste, and use a natural, biological process to turn it into energy and other valuable coproducts. To most people, however, WTE only relates to combustion, incineration or gasifi cation of waste to create heat (for steam to make electricity) or synthesis gases. The DOE has taken a similar narrow view on other terms; their biomass program has fa-mously only focused on liquid, direct substitutes (drop-in) for gasoline or diesel, leaving out multitudes of other biomass industry needs. As a result, taking an appropriately inclusive view of WTE was both surprising and welcome.

Biogas systems, turning waste into energy using anaero-bic digestion (AD), is proven with thousands of commercial installations around the world, predominantly outside the U.S. Even with that maturity, research and development (R&D) is still needed to evolve in our rapidly changing energy world.

Today, the segment of the biogas industry focused using food waste, industrial organics and municipal solid waste to feed biogas systems is just starting to grow, while the established segments, mostly farms and wastewater facilities, expand. There’s great opportunity because there’s a lot of waste, but globally, the WTE industry tends to mature most rapidly in markets where waste disposal and energy costs are high. In the U.S., however, the low costs of waste disposal and energy generation have stunted efforts. As an industry, we have to get more creative in the way we develop biogas systems that are competitive in this environment.

Communities and states striving to reach landfi ll diver-sion targets of 75 percent, and in some cases zero waste, will fi nd it impossible to do so without diverting the organic frac-tion of waste (often 25 percent or more) to organics recycling facilities like biogas systems. Therefore, it makes sense for government entities to invest in infrastructure and permitting improvements for biogas development as an essential public service for generating renewable energy, reducing disposal and reaching greenhouse gas and low-carbon fuel goals.

Over many years, federal policy has failed to recognize the many benefi ts of biogas systems—emissions reduction, waste reduction, odor reduction, renewable energy genera-tion, soil amendment production, nutrient separation and

dozens of related economic and social benefi ts—which has put the U.S. in last place when it comes to biogas R&D. Fed-eral policy has focused on systems with fewer benefi ts overall, putting the U.S. far behind in the R&D and implementation of biogas systems, a key WTE technology. In the meantime, countries including Germany, Netherlands, the U.K. and India have advanced the technology and the biogas industry with more than 20,000 installations. Here’s where the biogas industry wants some R&D:

• Biogas upgrading to biomethane and compressed vehicle fuels.

• Higher effi ciency, lower-cost biogas to electricity con-version equipment.

• Enhanced pretreatment systems for unique or con-taminated waste streams before they enter the digester.

• Greater container mixing effectiveness and net energy effi ciency.

• Coproduct/digestate processing for nutrient sequestra-tion and separation.

• Higher-effi ciency heat exchangers and waste heat utilization.

In the U.S., where the term “biofuel” usually connotes only liquid fuels, lack of R&D funding puts biogas in a disad-vantaged position. This has limited the number of public and private researchers with expertise in the fi eld, and without a steady stream of technology advancements, industry growth and investment is slowed. Increased R&D could lead to larger, private investments and industry growth.

While AD biogas for transportation fuel is given credit under the EPA’s renewable fuel standard, there are no federal policies or subsidies to encourage the use of biogas for thermal energy production, whether as a medium-Btu fuel via a dedicated pipeline or as a high-Btu fuel injected into the interstate pipeline network. This is in stark contrast to the massive support provided to geothermal and solar thermal technology.

A steady investment over the next 10 years would build the U.S. capacity for renewable energy generation, create new products to support American agriculture, move communi-ties and states towards zero waste, regain U.S. R&D leader-ship and create a multitude of economic and social benefi ts that we can all use.

Author: Patrick SerfassExecutive Director, American Biogas Council

[email protected]

What If We Included Biogas In Waste-to-Energy Investments?

BIOGAS¦

BY PATRICK SERFASS


¦BIOGAS


BIOGAS¦

Biogas and other renewable projects that capitalize on existing resources may be one answer to daunting energy challenges faced by island countries.BY ANNA SIMET

Aiding an Energy Crisis

Like most of the world’s islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands is nearly 100 percent reliant on imported fossil fuels. On average, homeowners are paying about 47 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, nearly 30

cents more than in New York, the highest-paying state in the contiguous U.S., and close to 40 cents higher than Washington, which boasts the lowest rates.

In early 2012, the Hovensa oil refi nery in USVI’s St. Croix—the only one on the island and one of the largest in the world, employing about 1,200 people—closed, citing reasons of fi nancial loss due to low prices of U.S. natural gas, and a weakened demand for petroleum prod-ucts prompted by the global economic slowdown. The closure has not only affected energy costs, as the refi nery provided No. 6 heavy fuel oil and No. 2 diesel fuel to generate most of the electricity on the island, but also eliminated 2,200 direct and indirect jobs associated with the refi nery. This has spurred devastating ripple effects on St. Croix’s and the USVI’s economy, including elimination of about $60 million in annual govern-ment revenue.

For the past few years, there’s been a great deal of focus on re-newable energy development in the country. Self-sustained, fast-tracked projects are a necessity and strong area of focus, and include wind, solar, biomass and biogas. A project in St. Croix, being developed by Tibbar Energy USVI, is strategically utilizing the island’s year-round warm cli-mate and frequent rainfall to grow a fast-growing, high-yielding energy crop that will be used to produce power via anaerobic digestion.

Exploring OptionsLas Vegas-based Tibbar Construction Services owner Tania Tomyn

and her brother Mark, an environmental engineer, learned of the U.S. Virgin Island’s high energy cost situation, and how it has escalated to a serious energy crisis. Considering St. Croix a second home, the two de-cided to investigate the possibility of launching an energy project there, and along with the rest of the company’s team and multiple partners, are in the midst of developing a 7 MW biogas plant.

Resulting company Tibbar Energy had an initial goal of evaluat-ing what organic feedstocks were available, and will be taking part in a


fats, oils and greases and food waste joint recycling partnership with the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, a recycling option the island currently doesn’t have. “Landfi ll space is limited, and we didn’t overlook this,” Tomyn explains. “However, those streams are small, and don’t make up volume that creates any signifi cant amount of energy.”

The company will continue to explore other organic streams in the Caribbean and on the island, but Giant King Grass—sup-plied by licensee company Viaspace Inc.— was selected as the feedstock of focus for a number of reasons. Partly because it is na-tive to the tropics, but also because relatives of the grass—napier and elephant grass—have done well in the same climate.

Viaspace CEO Carl Kukkonen says GKG has properties very similar to corn straw or stover in terms of combustion and biogas, biofuel and pellet production. What sets it apart from corn straw are its extreme-ly high yields, which Kukkonen says are “10 times the yield of corn straw per acre per year.”

He adds that the company is making GKG pellets every day, but electricity produc-tion via direct combus-tion or biogas is the simplest way to utilize the grass. “We believe that biofuels and bio-chemicals will be a ma-jor opportunity in the future, but there are no real commercial oppor-tunities today,” he says.

The fi rst GKG for the St. Croix projects was planted, initially by hand, at the end of last September. “Then we moved to a mechanized system with trans-planters,” says Tomyn, describing the pro-cess as similar to transplanting vegetables from a nursery. These initial three GKG nurseries, totaling an estimated 30 acres, are where the plants will be grown to populate the 1,500 acres needed for the project.

Tibbar’s farm team has spent a year in GKG trials, growing in the driest and wet-test parts of the island, working with mul-tiple agronomists who have grown some of the largest energy crop plantations in the world, according to Tomyn. “What we have found is that GKG has performed very well

¦BIOGAS

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SUPER SOAK: GKG stalks are cut down into pieces that include a node, and gathered to be soaked in organic root stimulant before being planted.

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BIOGAS¦

serves for those nonbase-load renewables, and our project works with the USVI Water and Power Authority to generate power to the island in the most effi cient manner and at the lowest cost.”

St. Croix is similar to a small, rural com-munity, and has the highest energy cost in the U.S., Tomyn emphasizes. “Keeping that in mind, we needed to design a project that created value for the community and made good sense. So how do you add value? By creating jobs and agricultural opportunities, and hopefully an agricultural renaissance.”

Tibbar’s project will create 30-plus per-manent jobs for 25 years, and additional tem-porary jobs during the construction phase. The company will invest $70 million into the island within the next two years and expects it to have a very positive effect on tourism, as the focus currently is on showing the “sus-tainable side” of the island, Tomyn says.

The most recent milestone the project achieved was the securing of a power pur-

chase agreement (PPA) with WAPA, at the end of June. WAPA approved an intercon-nection agreement—the result of a study performed to determine how energy pro-duced from Tibbar will be integrated into the grid—and signed a 25-year PPA with an option for an additional fi ve years at the end of the contract. Per the agreement, WAPA will pay 24.5 cents per kilowatt-hour to Tib-bar for the fi rst fi ve years, 24 cents for years 6 to 20, and 23 cents for the remainder of the contract.

“We are now working hard on design and farm planning and fi nal agreements,” Tomyn adds. “We expect to have permitting done by late fall, then Layne/Entec starts to build the plant. We will be producing power per our June 2015 PPA schedule.”


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with minimal irrigation and likes the tropical climate,” she says.

The GKG will be harvested like any silage crop, and transportation equipment will be similar to corn silage equipment, which will haul feedstock to the plant each day. “We will also have silage in storage in silage packs if it is too wet to harvest,” says Tomyn.

Other partners in the project include Bioenergy Crops of Spain, Austria-based Entec, which will build the plant, technol-ogy provider Layne/Entec, and Denmark-based engineer/builder/operator Renew Energy a/s. Tibbar has also strategically partnered with the USVI Department of Agriculture Commissioner Louis Peterson to further develop large ponds and gutters for maximum water runoff harvesting ca-pacity.

Benefi ts and MilestonesSince St. Croix is an environmentally

sensitive ecosystem, it is imperative that a project work within those parameters, To-myn points out. “St. Croix has other types of renewables like wind and solar, but they don’t provide base load power like our tech-nology. The utility has to keep spinning re-

SOUTH SHORE STAND: Tibbar Energy CEO Tania Tomyn, left, stands with USVI Sen. Judi Buckley and Chris Mitchell, chief researcher at the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, in front of the South Shore Giant King Grass Nursery.

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AdvancedBiofuelNews

In July, California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the lawsuit fi led by Poet LLC against the Cali-fornia Air Resource Board in regard to its implementation of the state’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) program.

The court’s decision essentially upholds the LCFS program, but requires CARB to correct certain aspects of its implementation. Under the ruling, the LCFS regulations in effect for 2013 will remain in effect until CARB completes the corrective actions specifi ed by the court.

Among the roughly half-dozen cor-rective actions named by the court is a requirement for CARB to accept public comments for a 45-day period for all issues related to the approval of several pro-posed LCFS regulations, including those associated with carbon intensity values attributed to land use changes. The board is also required to include four emails from consultants regarding the computer model used to calculate indirect carbon emissions in the rulemaking fi le. Those emails were previously left out of the fi le.

Sapphire Energy Inc. has paid of its entire $54.5 million USDA loan guarantee. The company was awarded the guarantee in late 2009 under the USDA’s Biorefi nery Assistance Program to support the construc-tion of a fully integrated, algae-to-crude oil commercial demonstration facility in Columbus, N.M.

The Green Crude Farm was completed on time and on budget, and is currently pro-ducing renewable crude oil on a continuous basis. According to Sapphire, the opera-tional crude oil farm has led to additional investment in the company and commercial partnerships. Sapphire repaid the remaining loan balance in full after receiving additional equity from private investors.

The company also recently announced that it is expanding its partnership with The Linde Group to commercialize a new industrial-scale conversion technology needed to upgrade algae biomass into crude oil. Together, the companies will refi ne the hydrothermal treatment process developed by Sapphire. That process sis currently oper-ating at the pilot scale.

The U.S. DOE has announced more than $22 million in new investments to help develop cost-competitive algae fuels and to streamline the biomass feedstock supply chain for advanced biofuels. Of the investment, nearly $16.5 million will be split between four algae projects; two located in California, one in Hawaii and another in New Mexico. The goal is to boost the productivity of sustainable algae while reducing capital and operating costs.

Hawaii Bioenergy was awarded a $5 million investment to develop a photosyn-thetic open pond system to produce algae oil. The project will also demonstrate re-

processing technologies that reduce energy use and the overall cost of extracting lipids and producing fuel intermediates.

Sapphire Energy was also awarded $5 million. The funding will support the devel-opment of a new process to produce algae-based fuel that is compatible with existing refi neries. The project will also work on improving algae strains and increasing yield through cultivation improvements.

An additional $5 million will go to New Mexico State University, where the investment will support research to increase the yield of microalgae. The project will also develop harvesting and cultivation

processes that lower costs while supporting year-round production.

Finally, California Polytechnic State University is receiving $1.5 million to in-crease the productivity of algae strains and compare two processing technologies. The project, based at a wastewater treatment plant in Delhi, Calif., includes 6 acres of algae ponds.

The remaining $6 million will support a project led by RDC Enterprises to reduce the harvesting, handling and preprocess-ing costs of the biomass feedstock supply chain.

Court ruling leaves California LCFS in place

Sapphire pays off USDA loan guarantee early

DOE invests in algae, biomass supply chain

Select carbon intensity values under the LCFS (gCO2e/MJ)Gasoline substitute Diesel substitute

Biogas, landfi ll 11.56 12.51Renewable gasolinea 21.3Cellulosic ethanolb 21.3Reneawble diesel (tallow) 19.65Ethanol (conventional) 95.66Biodiesel (soy) 83.25aEstimated based on stakeholder consultation bAverage of CARB pathways for ethanol from farmed trees and forest ways SOURCE: "CALIFORNIA'S LOW CARBON FUEL STANDARD: COMPLIANCE OUTLOOK FOR 2020," PREPARED FOR CALETC


In Washington, the renewable fuel standard (RFS) remains a lively topic of debate. On July 23-24, the House Energy and Commerce Committee hosted two panels that included 15 stakeholder groups to ex-plore the current impacts of the RFS. These panels brought together representatives serving the interests of biofuels, oil, automotive, agriculture and the envi-ronment.

I represented the Advanced Biofuels Association on the fi rst panel, alongside Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of Renewable Fuels Association; Jack Ge-rard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute; Charles Drevna, president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers; and Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientist. Our panel was peppered with questions for nearly three hours. In what could fairly be described as a charged environment, no less than six members of Congress addressed this fi rst panel and explained that the Committee was neither likely to repeal the RFS nor leave the program untouched.

Both Gerard and Drevna took the position that the RFS was broken and beyond fi xing, and therefore should be repealed. However, Dineen and I were able to illustrate that the blend wall issues being discussed represented less than two-tenths of one percent of the entire fuels pool projected in 2013 for America. I also informed the Committee that the private sec-tor has invested $14.7 billion over the last six years in an effort to stand up the advanced and cellulosic sec-tor called for under the RFS, according to Bloomberg Energy.

In more targeted questioning, members of the committee probed into the progress of the advanced and cellulosic sectors. Although the oil industry rep-resentatives continued to complain that there are no cellulosic gallons available and that they are being taxed, I was able to highlight the opening of a num-ber of cellulosic facilities currently making gallons. Additionally, I reminded the committee of the recent district court case, which vacated the 2011 and 2012 cellulosic standards and returned their funds. Prob-lems addressed and remedied.

Of particular interest were the bipartisan natures expressed and the interest from both sides of the aisle to continue support for the advanced and cellulosic in-dustries. For example, at one point during the panel, Congressman Joe Barton, R-Texas, told Mr. Gerard that if he had spent $15 billion, he would not be asking the committee to ignore the progress and investment.

At the end of the ABFA statement, I suggested the committee draft a letter inquiring as to EPA’s au-thority to deal with any of the short-term blend wall issues. I also advised that the EPA not only has suffi -cient authority to address these issues in an expeditious fashion, but also that Congress should encourage EPA to release a framework for both 2014 and 2015 to send a clear signal as to how they plan to set the future Re-newable Volume Obligations (RVO).

I am delighted to write that on Aug. 6, EPA re-leased its 2013 fi nal RVO numbers, which once again lowered the cellulosic pool in line with the court direc-tive to six million gallons for 2013. In a major victory for the ABFA and National Biodiesel Board, the EPA denied the request from Growth Energy and RFA to lower the advanced pool and maintained the number at 2.75 billion gallons. This is a great accomplishment for the advanced biofuels industry in just three short years. In addition, EPA stated their plan to release 2014 RVO numbers for comment in late September. In its statement, EPA suggested it has the necessary author-ity to address current concerns with the blend wall and will evaluate what the appropriate numbers will be for 2014.

These latest actions have set about a dual track to address blend wall concerns between the regulatory process, led by EPA, and the legislative process, led at this time by the House Energy and Commerce Com-mittee. As such, we can expect an extremely active and eventful fall for the RFS. So, stay tuned and stay en-gaged, as I expect everyone reading this column has an interest in the outcome of this debate.

Author: Michael McAdamsPresident, Advanced Biofuel Association

(202) [email protected]

A Charged But Successful RFS DebateBY MICHAEL MCADAMS

ADVANCED BIOFUELS & CHEMICALS¦


DEPARTMENT

¦ADVANCED BIOFUEL

When Zeachem was scouting a location for the company’s 250,000-gallon-per-year dem-onstration-scale biorefi nery,

locating next to a pre-existing, 28,000-acre hybrid poplar plantation in Boardman, Ore., was a no-brainer.

As Zeachem’s primary partner, Forest Stewardship Council-certifi ed GreenWood Tree Farm Fund is under contract to har-vest, chip and transport poplar feedstock to the biorefi nery, which consumes 10 bone dry tons (BDT) per day and is locat-ed just fi ve miles away. The company will continue to supply Zeachem with hybrid poplar when it completes its fi rst commer-cial plant.

Poplar trees and some other types of dedicated energy crops offer a distinct ad-vantage over biomass residuals—much more feedstock per acre, says Carrie Atiyeh of Zeachem. “If you look at the volume of biomass you’re able to produce per acre from poplar trees, it’s in the range of about 10 to 15 bone dry tons (BDT) per acre, so it has a very high density,” she says. “Biomass residu-als, depending on type and location, amount to about 2 to 3 tons per acre. Poplar allows for a much smaller footprint in terms of the number of acres needed, and that cuts down on managing and transportation costs, and emissions profi les.”

Poplar trees mature in 3 years and re-generate after being cut at the stem, only

needing to be replanted after fi ve harvests, or 15 years, Atiyeh says. “We call it our ‘stor-age-on-the-stump’ strategy, part of which is co-locating our refi neries with our feedstock source, as it really minimizes the logistical costs of our biofuel and biochemical pro-duction.”

Wheat straw, abundant in the region, is also used at the plant. Atiyeh describes the company’s feedstock strategy as utilizing 60 to 70 percent from a dedicated energy crop, and ag residue for the remainder.

Technology and the Future In a nutshell, Zeachem’s technology

platform uses hydrolysis to break down biomass into sugars, which are fermented

More for LessZeachem Inc.’s use of dedicated hybrid poplar trees means more feedstock at a lower cost.BY ANNA SIMET

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POPLAR PREP:GreenWood Tree Farm Fund chips and transports poplar feedstock to the Zeachem's biorefi nery, which consumes 10 bone dry tons per day.


to produce acetic acid. The acetic acid may be purifi ed into an intermediate chemical used in the production of paint or inks—a $16 billion annual global market—or be sent through a recovery and conversion process to produce ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate

can be sold into the coating and adhesive market, or reacted with hydrogen to produce cellulosic ethanol.

Right now, Zeachem is continuing to optimize production at its demo unit to col-lect all data needed to bring on line its fi rst

commercial plant. “We’re operating on what we call ‘campaign mode,” which means the plant is running for a certain amount of time to meet specifi c performance target in terms of production and effi ciency, making sure all individual process units are optimized,” Ati-yeh says.

Chemicals produced at the demonstra-tion plant are being used for internal testing purposes, but Atiyeh says as larger quantities are produced, Zeachem intends to sell them into the chemical and consumer markets.

The commercial facility, a 25 MMgy facility currently under development, will also be located in Boardman, adjacent to the demo plant. “A benefi t here is the really tight logistics, Atiyeh reiterates. The further it is to transport feedstock, the more impacts on the economics. That’s why we liked the Boardman area—access to existing resourc-es. “That’s a strategy we’re procuring as we move forward into commercial production.”


[email protected]

ADVANCED BIOFUEL ¦

AERIAL VIEW: At its demonstration facility in Boardman, Ore., Zeachem can manufacture a variety of products, including acetic acid, ethyl acetate and cellulosic ethanol.

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¦ADVANCED BIOFUEL

PROJECT PARTNERS: Paolo Carollo, executive vice president of Chemtex, and Mark Conlon, vice president of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, stand in front of a second-year Arundo donax plantation. While the center lost its state funding this summer, Conlon reports the N.C. departments of agriculture and commerce will be continuing much of its work.PHOTO: BIOFUEL CENTER OF NORTH CAROLINA


ADVANCED BIOFUEL¦

Chemtex’s Project Alpha targets multiple energy cropsBY SUSANNE RETKA SCHILL

Dedicated Feedstock Forerunner

Project Alpha in North Carolina is going to commercial-ly test a broad range of purpose-grown energy crops.

Chemtex International Inc. received a $99 mil-lion conditional loan guarantee from the USDA a year ago, along with a $3.9 million grant from the USDA through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, to support the establish-ment of more than 4,000 acres of miscanthus and switch-grass across 11 counties in North Carolina to help supply the new facility. “The Chemtex project in Clinton, N.C., will use a multifeedstock strategy including switchgrass, high biomass sorghum and arundo donax, as well as select hardwood tree species, miscanthus and Bermuda grass residuals,” says Mark Conlon, vice president of sector development for the Biofu-els Center of North Carolina.

Chemtex’s planned 20 MMgy cellulosic ethanol facility will require between 20,000 and 30,000 acres of energy crops. “That’s considerably less than the corn acres that would be re-quired for a facility of that size,” Conlon points out. A corre-sponding 20 MMgy corn ethanol plant based on Iowa average corn yield would need more than 54,000 acres, he says, and in the South, where yields can run half that of prime Corn Belt corn crops, considerably more.

Chemtex will be the fi rst cellulosic ethanol plant to rely on a mixture of purpose-grown energy crops. Most plants in various stages of development are planning to use nondedi-cated feedstocks, or a combination of the two. For example, two plants under construction in Iowa, one by the Poet/DSM partnership in Emmetsburg and the other by DuPont in Ne-vada, are planning to use corn stover. Abengoa Bioenergy’s

plant in Hugoton, Kan., will use mixed feedstocks including straw, corn stover and purpose-grown switchgrass. Enerkem Inc.’s nearly complete plant in Alberta is using municipal solid waste (MSW), as are several others in earlier development stages. Zeachem in Oregon is utilizing hybrid poplar and wheat straw, and Ineos New Planet BioEnergy LLC, located next to a landfi ll, is using mixed vegetative and wood waste at startup, with plans to include MSW in the future.

“The Chemtex biomass mixed-feedstock, supply-chain strategy is unique,” Conlon says. “It provides a greater level of fl exibility in dealing with unpredictable supply chain itera-tions and reduces overall inventory costs, in that harvest can be spread out over a greater number of months. It’s a very well-thought-out, cost-effi cient strategy where eastern North Carolina farmers gain profi table market options with the new Chemtex demand for energy crops.”

Creating a 30,000-acre supply chain to supply a biorefi n-ery that hasn’t begun construction yet—using a brand new conversion technology—is no small task when using crops that have never been grown before. But as Chemtex and oth-ers are showing, the new technologies work, and North Caro-lina is providing an example of how the farmer side can be developed.

Travis Hedrick, director of operations for Repreve Re-newables LLC, says BCAP is a very important part of signing up farmers to try miscanthus. “BCAP is absolutely helping with the cost and it’s a useful program—it shows support from the USDA.”

Due to budget wranglings in Washington, the fi nal


go-ahead for the BCAP project came late in the season, shortening the available time for grower meetings. “We had a two-month signup period where we were able to sign up 200 acres,” Hedrick says. The results from the fall plantings have been good, he adds. “The farmers that signed up are excited with their stands.” Getting a good stand with a high-density plant population is critical to getting good yields, and that’s something Hedrick’s company has focused on while developing its proprietary system and equipment for grow-ing the vegetatively propagated, high-yielding perennial grass.

Advanced PathwaysWhen Chemtex fi rst announced Proj-

ect Alpha, it named switchgrass and miscan-thus—both feedstocks that already had ap-proved pathways with the U.S. EPA for use as advanced biofuel feedstocks. Chemtex pe-titioned EPA for a pathway for arundo donax (giant reed), one of the multiple feedstocks used at its fi rst-of-its-kind cellulosic ethanol plant that completed its commissioning pro-cess early this summer in Crescentino, Italy.

EPA announced its fi nal rule in June, adding giant reed and napier grass as ap-proved pathways for advanced biofuels. Since they are the fi rst feedstocks to be approved that are considered potentially invasive, the EPA included new requirements for address-ing potential invasiveness (see sidebar).

“The EPA-approved pathway for arundo donax and napier grass is welcome, appreci-ated and very much doable,” Conlon says. North Carolina did a thorough assessment of the perennial grass that is widely used as a landscaping plant, he adds, ultimately de-ciding that it did not need to be declared a noxious weed. Biomass supply agreements in North Carolina are going to include most of the EPA requirements regardless, as they must meet state requirements for best man-agement practices for energy crops, as well as the terms of the USDA loan guarantee that Chemtex received. The protocols will include such things as new farm/producer orientation to discuss production and best management practices, setbacks and buffer requirements, monitoring programs, annual producer re-porting and eradication protocols.

A big part of the equation in North Carolina is providing alternative crops for the fi elds used for swine lagoon and poultry litter disposal. The state regulates how much waste can be applied to fi elds depending upon the soil type and the ability of the crop to take up

nutrients with the goal of minimizing leach-ing. Coastal Bermuda grass is one of the most commonly used crops, Conlon says, resulting in a surplus of hay in the state. That surplus can be utilized by Project Alpha, he says, and farmers are very interested in the prospect of

¦ADVANCED BIOFUEL

Managing Invasiveness Risk When napier grass and giant reed joined the list of feedstocks approved by the U.S. EPA

as pathways for advanced biofuels, the ruling came with a new set of requirements addressing the potential invasiveness of the energy crops. The EPA is asking that the biofuel producer “submit a letter from the appropriate USDA offi ce with its registration materials, stating USDA’s opinions regarding the likelihood of the feedstock spreading beyond the planting area, and the suffi ciency of the risk mitigation plan.”

The risk management plan (RMP) outlined in the rule is comprehensive, including: • A hazard analysis of critical control points. • Best management practices that include strategies to minimize escape and eradication

protocols.• A site decommissioning plan.• A plan for ongoing monitoring and reporting, both during production and for a suffi cient

period after the site is no longer in use to ensure the crop didn’t spread.• A communication plan for notifying federal, state and local authorities if the feedstock is

detected outside the intended area.• Documents showing the biofuel producer has agreements in place with growers and

any intermediaries responsible for the harvesting, transport and storage of the feedstocks.Annual third party audits are required to verify the RMP is being adhered to, with the pos-

sibility of more frequent monitoring for new growers in the fi rst growing cycle. The provisions go on, covering other documentation and reporting requirements. The EPA stresses that none of its rules supersede any local, state or federal authority to restrict these feedstocks.

The handling of invasiveness risk is going to vary greatly. While North Carolina doesn’t anticipate giant reed will become a problem, California and Texas have declared it a noxious weed as it has spread since being introduced more than a 100 years ago to stabilize stream banks. Bill Anderson, an energy crop researcher wtih the USDA Agriculture Research Service, explains that while giant reed doesn’t produce seeds, it does form secondary shoots along the upper nodes of the plant which can break off and fl oat along in a river or a fl ood event to propagate elsewhere. Eradication can be a problem since it requires multiple applications of glyphosate to kill and produces large rhizomes that can be a challenge to deal with.

Napier grass presents other issues. In more tropical climates, it sets seed and will spread, and is thus a concern in southern Florida, although one since-discontinued project did get permitted to use the crop, Anderson adds. Further north it won’t set seed due to killing frosts and must be propagated vegetatively. With potential yields of 15 dry tons a year, or higher with good fertility, napier grass shows promise as a biomass crop along the southern coastal states and east Texas, Anderson says.


ADVANCED BIOFUEL¦

better-returning alternatives. Murphy-Brown LLC, the livestock production subsidiary of Smithfi eld Foods Inc., signed a long-term agreement for the supply of purpose-grown feedstocks for Project Alpha to be grown on approximately 6,000 acres—land not typi-cally used for grain production.

Having a range of feedstocks to select from will be an advantage, Conlon adds. Farmers will like the ability to make choices, particularly with the option of the annual high-biomass sorghum. For the biorefi nery, a range of crops should mean harvest and collection can be spread over a larger time frame. “Unique to Chemtex, supply contracts with farmers are being established based on stumpage prices—crops standing in the

fi eld,” he says. “Chemtex can and will arrange for direct chop harvest and delivery to its fa-cilities as needed. Limited baling and storage are required and to this extent, supply chain infrastructure is complete and ready to go. In the shorter term,” he adds, “feedstock sup-ply from mixed hardwood stands abundant in eastern North Carolina will fi ll the sup-ply chain while purpose-grown energy crop acreage develops and matures to peak yield expectations.”

Author: Susanne Retka SchillSenior Editor, Biomass Magazine

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