March 2015 Biomass Magazine

Driving DevelopmentProject Developers On Their Road From Concept To ConstructionPage 18

www.biomassmagazine.com

February 2015

Plus:New Faces

In Domestic Pellet Market

Page 20

And:Cellulosic RINs:

Big Boost For Biogas

Page 34

March 2015

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MARCH 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 3

INSIDE

MARCH 2015 | VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 3

POWER 10 NEWS

11 COLUMNSuper Bowl of PoliticsBy Bob Cleaves

12 DEPARTMENTEagar To Get StartedA small Arizona community is on track to deploy a novel technology that will convert the areas abundant wood waste streams into power.By Tim Portz

06 EDITORS NOTEHere Be DragonsBy Tim Portz

07 INDUSTRY EVENTS

08 BUSINESS BRIEFS

46 MARKETPLACE

20

INCREASINGLY INNOVATIVE: The rapidly growing pellet industry has stoked innovation, including the use of hot oil tube dryers. See Page 18.PHOTO: ASTEC INC.

PELLET 17 NEWS

18 CONTRIBUTION Pellet Plant VOCs: Best Practices In ControlBy Malcolm Swanson PE

20 FEATUREOpportunity Still KnocksWhile Europes growing demand for pellets is the industry's big story, two U.S. forest products businesses see continued opportunity in the domestic market. By Carla Harper

4 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | MARCH 2015

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BIOGAS 32 NEWS

33 COLUMNGood Policy Should Float All Bio-BoatsBy Amanda Bilek

34 FEATUREThe Cellulosic RIN RevolutionFor biogas project developers, the revenue opportunity afforded by the renewable fuel standard has made the business case for vehicle fuel production hard to ignore.By Katie Fletcher

THERMAL 26 NEWS

31 COLUMNGetting Woodstoves From Here To ThereBy John Ackerly

28 DEPARTMENTTrial By FireAfter a number of attempts, the community of Unity, New Hampshire, makes the economics for biomass-derived heat pencil out.By Katie Fletcher

ADVANCED BIOFUELS & CHEMICALS 38 NEWS

39 COLUMNSay It Aint So, JoeBy Michael McAdams

40 FEATUREConstructing A Full-Service VisionSG Preston plans to leverage ambitious vertical integration strategies to simultaneously enter multiple bioenergy markets.By Ron Kotrba

INSIDE

MARCH 2015 | VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 3

ADVERTISER INDEX

24-25 2015 International Biomass Conference & Expo

47 2015 National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo

48 4B Components, Ltd.

8 Airofl ex Equipment

38 AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG

16 American Pulverizer Co.

42 Andritz Feed & Biofuel A/S

36 ASGCO

2 Astec, Inc.

7 Bandit Industries, Inc.

10 Basic Machinery Co., Inc.

46 BBI Project Development

31 Continental Biomass Industries

13 Detroit Stoker Company

22 DI PI

32 English Boiler & Tube, Inc.

14 Fike Corporation

9 Gray

37 Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc.

45 IHI Power Services Corp.

23 Integrated Environmental Solutions

15 Iowa Economic Development Authority

19 Javo International BV

29 KEITH Manufacturing Company

4 New Holland Agriculture

26 ProcessBarron

30 Tramco, Inc.

43 Verdante BioEnergy Services

17 Williams Crusher

44 Wolf Material Handling Systems

34


Here Be Dragons

While reading the features contained in this months Biomass Magazine, our project development and plant construction issue, I found myself thinking about the medieval cartographers and how they would represent the edges of the known world. Often they would include images of dragons or serpents, presumably to make the point that just beyond the area they were able to depict in a map there was risk.

Bioenergy projects also bring inherent risks and the theme that emerges from this months collection of sto-ries is that during the development phase of each project, great effort was and is being made to mitigate those risks.

In Katie Fletchers page-34 story, The Cellulosic RIN Revolution, she makes clear that biogas project developers have found the renewable fuel standard can deliver more economic certainty to their digesters via the generation of renewable identifi cation num-bers (RINs). Weve been tracking this trend for well over a year now and Mike Silva, civil engineer and project manager at CR&R Environmental Services, underscores its impor-tance saying, RINs and Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits really helped us make the deci-sion to go to transportation fuel versus electricity. The project near Perris, California, still carries risk, of course, but the RIN platform contributed to a level of surety that got the money and the shovels moving.

Carla Harpers page-20 story, Opportunity Still Knocks, demonstrates that a care-fully considered and well-executed business plan that avoids overreach is often the best risk mitigation approach available. Her feature traces the project development journey of two smaller pellet production facilities whose owners would probably prefer to call right sized. Amidst the excitement of rapidly expanding pellet markets overseas, these two plants took a measured approach and built pellet capacity that perfectly complements exist-ing feedstock streams as well as the markets immediately available to them.

Finally, I urge everyone to pay particular attention to the columns offered by both Amanda Bilek (page 33) and Mike McAdams (page 39) in the context of mitigating risk. Bilek, McAdams and every other association representative who contribute to our title wake up each day and work to build a policy environment that provides all of us with as much surety as they can deliver as we work to take market share from well-entrenched energy incumbents. McAdams column about the peril that poorly administered regula-tions can deliver an industry into is a must read and only buttresses the respect I have for everyone who, despite the risks that come with this industry, sails forth into the unknown.

TIM PORTZVICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE [email protected]

EDITORS NOTE

EDITORIALPRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF Tom Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR Tim Portz [email protected]

MANAGING EDITOR Anna Simet [email protected]

SENIOR EDITOR Ron Kotrba [email protected]

NEWS EDITOR Erin Voegele [email protected]

STAFF WRITER Katie Fletcher k [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann [email protected]

ARTART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Burslie [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALESCHAIRMAN Mike Bryan [email protected]

CEO Joe Bryan [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS Matthew Spoor [email protected]

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR John Nelson [email protected]

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Howard Brockhouse [email protected]

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERChip Shereck [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGER Jeff Hogan [email protected]

CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

TRAFFIC & MARKETING COORDINATOR Marla DeFoe [email protected]

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERSChris Sharron, Western Oregon Wood Products

Amanda Bilek, Great Plains Institute

Stacy Cook, Koda Energy

Ben Anderson, University of Iowa

Justin Price, Evergreen Engineering

Adam Sherman, Biomass Energy Resource Center

Biomass Magazine: (USPS No. 5336) March 2015, Vol. 9, Issue 3. 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.

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Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling

COPYRIGHT 2015 by BBI International

Subscriptions Biomass Magazine is free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for anyone outside the United States. To subscribe, visit www.BiomassMagazine.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (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 speci c topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To nd out more about Biomass Magazine advertising opportuni-ties, 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 Managing 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

Heating the MidwestAPRIL 20, 2015Minneapolis Convention CenterMinneapolis, MinnesotaThe Midwest relies heavily on fossil energy for heating homes and business-es. Heating the Midwest is a network of thermal biomass advocates working to increase awareness and usage of renewable biomass for heat, which has the potential to greatly reduce the regions dependence on propane and fuel oil for thermal energy. Colocated with the 2015 International Biomass Con-ference & Expo, being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Heating the Midwest is a compelling combination of the right topics being discussed at the right place, at the right time.866-746-8385 | www.biomassconference.com

International Biomass Conference & ExpoAPRIL 20-22, 2015Minneapolis Convention CenterMinneapolis, MinnestoaOrganized by BBI International and produced by Biomass Magazine, this event brings current and future producers of bioenergy and biobased products together with waste generators, energy crop growers, municipal leaders, utility executives, technology providers, equipment manufactur-ers, project developers, investors and policy makers. Its a true one-stop shopthe worlds premier educational and networking junction for all biomass industries.866-746-8385 | www.biomassconference.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & ExpoJUNE 1-4, 2015Minneapolis Convention CenterMinneapolis, MinnesotaThe FEW provides the global ethanol industry with cutting-edge content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dynamic business-to-business environment. The FEW is the largest, longest running ethanol conference in the worldand the only event powered by Ethanol Producer Magazine.866-746-8385 | www.fuelethanolworkshop.com

National Advanced Biofuels Conference & ExpoOCTOBER 26-28, 2015Hilton OmahaOmaha, NebraskaProduced by BBI International, this national event will feature the world of advanced biofuels and biobased chemicalstechnology scale-up, project nance, policy, national markets and morewith a core focus on the industrial, petroleum and agribusiness alliances de ning the national advanced biofuels industry. With a vertically integrated program and audi-ence, the National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo is tailored for industry professionals engaged in producing, developing and deploying advanced biofuels, biobased platform chemicals, polymers and other re-newable molecules that have the potential to meet or exceed the perfor-mance of petroleum-derived products.866-746-8385 | www.advancedbiofuelsconference.com

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PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPSBusiness BriefsBlueRock Energy, ReEnergy Black River announce agreement

BlueRock Energy and ReEnergy Black River LLC have entered into a services agreement to support ReEnergys delivery of power from its 60 MW ReEnergy Black River facility to the Fort Drum U.S. Army installation in New York. Under the agree-ment, BlueRock Energy is performing load forecasting, scheduling and delivery services from the plant to Fort Drum and other wholesale support services.

4B Components promotes Knapp4B Components

Ltd. has promoted Brian Knapp to the position of vice presi-dent with responsibil-ity for technical sales and service for the companys electronics division. Knapp start-ed at 4B in 2005 as an engineer within the electronics department and became tech team manager in 2010. He is an active member of the Grain Elevator and Processing Society and has made numer-ous industry presentations on the subject of hazard monitoring.

Terex Environmental Equipment announces new products

Terex Environmental Equipment plans to launch two new products early this year: the TDS 820 slow-speed shredder and the TTS 620 trommel screen. The TDS 820 is a versatile slow-speed machine for shredding all types of material utilizing the same shred-ding tool. The TTS 620 features an effi cient engine and hydraulic drive system combined with advanced material processing control. It is suited for screening compost, biomass, soil, gravel and waste.

FLSmidth AFT incorporates company, announces catalytic filter bag technology

FLSmidth AFT Operations has an-nounced FLSmidth Air Pollution Control Regional Services will be incorporated into its operational business unit. FLSmidth AFT and Regional Services have been collaborating for more than a decade due to their product and service synergies and shared customers in various industries. AFT manufactured fi lter bags and supplied related baghouse accessories while Regional Services

installed those onsite. The goal of this new alignment is to help customers comply with environmental regulations while optimizing their operations with the use of FLSmidth AFT professionally trained service personnel to provide customer service before, during and after the project is complete. FLSmidth also recently announced a cooperation agreement with Haldor Topsoe to develop a unique catalytic fi lter bag technology. The product, branded EnviroTex, is capable of removing dust, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in one integrated and cost-effective process.

Algenol adds Zenk Timothy Zenk

has joined Algenol as executive vice president of business develop-ment. Zenk previously served as senior vice president of corpo-rate development for Sapphire Energy Inc. Richard Cranford, has also joined the company from Sapphire, along with Shaun Bailey and Jon Meuser from Synthetic Genomics, Jay Askander and Christoph Neuendorf from Alstom,

Knapp

Zenk


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Strategic alliance to commercialize CFP process

Anellotech Inc., IFP Energies nouvelles and its subsidiary Axens have announced a strategic alliance to develop and commer-cialize a new technology for the low-cost production of biobased benzene, toluene and paraxylene using Anellotechs process of catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of nonfood bio-mass. The technology will address large-scale units and produce purifi ed aromatics streams suitable for modern derivative production processes at a very competitive price with re-spect to their petroleum-based counterparts.

DCT introduces quick-release bracket for dust suppression

Dust Control Technology has intro-duced a new quick-release manifold bracket, engineered to limit worker exposure to harsh service environments and potential safety hazards, while minimizing process down-time. Designed to fi t all fan-driven models of DustBoss atomized mist dust suppression equipment, the new bracket design allows

removal and replacement of the manifold in about fi ve minutes, with no tools required.

Abengoa adds executive Abengoa has appointed Ignacio Garcia

Alvear co-chief fi nancial offi cer responsible for investor relations and capital markets, effective Feb. 1. Alvear previously served as chief fi nancial offi cer of Abengoa Bioenergy. He replaces Barbara Zubiria. Garcia Alvear joined Abengoa in 1995. Abengoas board of directors has also appointed current CEO Manuel Snchez Ortega as fi rst vice-chair-man, replacing Jos B. Terceiro. Independent director Antonio Fornieles Melero was selected to be lead director, second vice-chair-man and a member of the audit committee and the appointments and remuneration committee.

Covanta changes leadership Covanta Holding Corp. has announced

Anthony Orlando, who has served as the companys president and CEO since 2004 and director since 2005, will transition from his role of CEO in March. He will remain on the companys board of directors. Stephen

Jones, who most recently served as senior vice president and general manager at Air Products and Chemicals Inc., will become Covantas president, CEO, and a member of the board of directors.

Green Biologics raises $76 million Green Biologics has raised $76 million

to support the acquisition and conversion of a Minnesota ethanol plant to produce n-butanol and acetone. The $76 million includes the closing of a $42 million follow-on equity funding round co-led by existing investors Swire Pacifi c Limited and Sofi nno-va Partners. The balance of the $76 million includes $34 million that was raised predomi-nantly in debt fi nancing from Tennenbaum Capital Partners, along with equity and debt investment rolled over by existing members of Central MN Ethanol Co-op LLC in Central MN Renewables LLC, a U.S. affi liate of Green Biologics. Ocean Park Advisors acted as fi nancial advisor to CMEC on the CMR consideration election structuring and process.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

SHARE YOUR INDUSTRY NEWS: To be included in the Business Briefs, send information (including photos and logos, if available) to Business Briefs, Biomass Magazine, 308 Second 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 correspon-dence.


PowerNews

The European Commission has approved the U.K.s plan to provide state aid to the proposed Teesside combined-heat-and-power facility. The 199 MW, biomass-fi red facility is one of eight renewable energy projects selected to receive the fi rst contracts for difference (CfD) under the U.K.s electric market reforms.

The Teesside plant will be located in the Tees Valley in northeast England, and is sched-uled to begin operations in July 2018. The project will provide electricity to the national grid and heat to local customers.

In a statement, the European Commission said it has determined that U.K. plans to sup-port the plant are in line with European Union aid rules. The aid given will be granted to the operator of the plant in the form of a variable premium above the market price for electricity to compensate for the higher costs of biomass energy.

The European Commission has now ap-proved state aid for six of the eight renewable energy projects awarded early CfDs, including fi ve off-shore wind projects that were granted commission approval in July. As of the close of January, the Drax and Lynemouth biomass conversion projects were still awaiting state aid approval.

EU approves state aid for Teesside project

The International Renewable Energy Agency has released a new report that determines many sources of renewable energy are now cheaper than fossil fuels.

The report, titled Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014, states that biomass, hydropower, geothermal and onshore wind are all competitive with or cheaper than coal, oil and gas-fi red power stations, even without fi nancial support and despite falling oil prices.

Within the report, IRENA indicates biomass can provide dispatchable baseload electricity at very competitive costs. The

regional or country weighted levelized cost of electricity ranged from as low as 4 cents per kWh in India and 5 cents per KWh in China to 8.5 cents per kWh in Europe and North America over the past 10 years.

IRENA said the potential for biomass cost reductions is highly heterogeneous due to the different stages of development of the various biomass technologies. While the cost reduction potentials for established technologies are relatively small, the long-term potential for cost reductions for less mature technologies remains good.

IRENA: Renewables cheaper than fossil fuels

Biomass Power2010 2013 2014 2010-2014

(% change)

New capacity additions (GW) 7.7 5.5 3.0+ -61%Cumulative installed capacity (GW) 68 86 89+ 31%Typical total intalled cost range: OECD (2014 $/kW)

1,800-6,820 1,880-6,820 1,880-6,820

Typical total installed cost range: non-OECD (2014 $/kW)

400-2,000 400-2,000 400-2,000

Global LCOE range (2014 $/kWh) 0.03-0.14 0.03-0.14 0.03-0.14SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY

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Earlier this month, President Obama released his fi scal year 2016 budget. As many of you know, this is an annual event, and mostly political theatre. Reading the proposal feels like Russell Wilsons desperation pass to wide receiver Jermaine Kearsebold, dra-matic and fl eetingly successful. It will rally the base and create a feel good moment, just like the prospect of handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch on the 1-yard line with second down and goal. But, like the Patriots defense, I view this Republican Congress as stopping any major legislative initiatives and without the drama of a Malcom Butler interception.

Enough from a Pats fan (is there ever such thing as enough?). Lets look at this budget. As in the past, its helpful in understanding the priorities of the administration and how budget and tax issues might help our industry.

For starters, the president is proposing to spend big on the Department of Energy, to the tune of $29.9 billion, an increase from $27.3 billion enacted for the department in 2015 and the $27.2 billion in 2014. Importantly, $7.4 billion is requested for clean energy technology programs alone.

Climate change at various federal agencies comes out a big winner.

EPA would get $8.6 billion, an increase of $500 million over the current year's enacted level, includ-ing $239 million for EPA's climate change initia-tives, with $25 million set aside for helping states craft compliance plans for forthcoming power plant emissions regulations, and a $4 billion incentive fund to help states that want to go beyond those rules' minimum requirements.

Over at USDA, $400 million to map fl ood risks, $200 million for USDA to plan for extreme weather

events, and funding for coastal, drought and wildfi re resilience programs.

Also, $500 million is proposed for the fund-ing of a Green Climate Fund, the fi rst tranche of a multiyear pledge.

In the area of tax reform, oil and gas take a hit while renewables, including biomass, are promoted like never before.

The budget proposes to cut more than $4.1 bil-lion in oil and gas tax incentives next year. Through the decade running to 2025, the administrations cuts in oil and gas incentives would total about $44 billion, while coal incentives would drop by $4.25 billion. These cuts include the repeal of intangible drilling costs that allow producers to write off well drilling expenses in one year. Eliminating the deduc-tionwhich can total as much as 90 percent of the expenses to drill a wellwould cost the industry $2.3 billion in FY16 under the administrations budget request.

Other oil and gas tax credits, long favored by the industry, are on the presidential chopping block. The proposal seeks to repeal the percentage depletion incentive for oil and natural gas wells, valued at $1.1 billion; eliminates $295 million in tax preferences for coal, including mandatory cuts of $183 million for percentage depletion for hard mineral fossil fuels; $45 million for a domestic manufacturing deduc-tion for hard mineral fossil fuels and $40 million for expense accounting of exploration and development costs.

Author: Bob CleavesPresident and CEO, Biomass Power Association

[email protected]

Super Bowl of Politics: Debating the Presidents Budget BY BOB CLEAVES

POWER


Concord Blue Eagar LLC, a unique biomass power project that began its project development journey in 2009, is finally poised to break ground this summer, giving a unique conversion technology its first North American foothold. BY TIM PORTZ

The town of Eagar, Arizona, sits nearly in the middle of a straight line connecting Phoenix and Albu-querque. Situated at in the foothills of the White Mountains, Eagar is sand-wiched between the massive Apache-Sitg-reaves National Forest to the west, and to the south, the vast Colorado Plateau, which stretches north all the way to Utah. While only a small handful of actual roads service the vast expanse of forest and high desert that surround the town, this summer may fi nd Eagar the convergence of a broad ar-ray of renewable energy, forest restoration, technology development and international business stories.

Eagar is the site identifi ed by Concord Blue Energy USA Inc. to be the fi rst North American deployment of a unique con-version technology initially developed and proven at pilot scale in Germany in 2002. The patented technology, which the com-pany calls the Concord Blue Reformer, uses steam thermolysis to convert nearly any car-bonaceous material into syngas and a char byproduct. The syngas from the Concord Blue Reformer is unique because of its high percentage of hydrogen, typically around 50 percent. While this syngas stream is of a high-enough quality that it can be refor-mulated into high-value biofuels and bio-chemicals, in Eagar it will be converted via

internal combustion into around 1 MW of electric power.

We came across Concord Blue in 2008 quite serendipitously at a conference and began to build a relationship with them, says Gregory Bilson, now Concord Blues chief development offi cer. At that time, Bil-son and his father, both serial entrepreneurs, were working to enter the renewable energy space under the project development banner Western Energy Solutions. My father had built some solid relationships with a couple locals in Eagar, Arizona, one of them being the former town manager Bill Greenwood, Bilson says.

Greenwood, like town managers all

POWER

A SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT: The forested areas surrounding Eagar, Arizona, are choked with fuel and susceptible to major re events. In 2011, the Wallow Fire forced a complete evacuation of Eagar. The power project under development by the Concord Blue Eagar LLC would t neatly into a multistakeholder initiative to fund forest restoration activities in the area, thereby decreasing the chance of catastrophic re.

DEPARTMENT

Eagar to Get Started


POWER

across the country, was constantly working to make the most of the resources at his disposal to generate stable economic activity and jobs within his community.

Eagars an area where they have quite a lot of wood waste, milling activity and stewardship activity, Bilson says. Bill was look-ing to bring in a project that would provide a place for this wood waste to go and help stabilize the job market they have there.

Focus On Forest ManagementGreenwood and the community of Eagars interest in forest

management cannot be overstated. The vast stands of Ponderosa pines that border the community are federally managed national forests that have engaged in fi re suppression for nearly a century. As a result, the forests have evolved into stands densely packed with fuel resulting in a very dangerous situation. In fact, in 2011, an unat-tended campfi re resulted in the largest wildfi re in the states history, the Wallow Fire, which burned nearly 850 square miles of forest, four commercial buildings and 32 residences. The town of Eagar and seven other nearby communities had to be evacuated. Recog-nizing that forest thinning had to be completed, the federal govern-ment worked to build a plan that would thin hundreds of thousands of acres, at the time the largest forest management and restoration project ever undertaken. The challenge was, and remains, fi guring out a way to fund the much-needed thinning.

Ideally, the restoration efforts can be partially funded by add-ing value to the wood harvested during the thinning operation. The forest products industry in the area is optimized to convert these smaller-diameter trees into dimensional lumber and other high-value products, but residuals from their operations and forest slash re-main. Some of those materials are currently incinerated in nearby Snowfl ake, while others were simply burned in open pits.

One of the promises we made to the town when we came in was that we would take in all these slash materials so long as they were not contaminated with trash, Bilson says. We would divert them from the pit and convert them in a way that they were not combusted, which would reduce a lot of particulate matter they were used to getting.

Driving Towards Economic ViabilityWhile a new home for these forest and sawmill residuals will

be welcomed in Eagar, for the project to offer a long-term benefi t for the community it must offer a return for Concord Blue. The op-portunity fi rst attracted the attention of Bilson and his father nearly eight years ago, but making the economics pencil out has proven challenging.

In terms of the Eagar project, Bilson says, the reason it dragged out for such a long period of time is that when we were originally brought in, we were under the impression that wed be able to get a power purchase agreement from the local cooperative there.

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POWER

For various reasons, this power purchase agreement was slow to materialize. Early in 2013, things began to change and Navopache Electric Co-Op Inc. issued a request for pro-posal that was eventually awarded to Concord Blue, negotiated and signed.

Once that happened, Bilson says, the project basically came back to life and we were able to go back to actively developing the project.

The full value of the Concord Blue Reformer technology is not fully realized

through power sales alone, however. A by-product of the unique, oxygen-free conver-sion environment is a carbon-rich material known as biochar. The production of biochar is very similar to the production of charcoal. The differences, largely, can be found in their eventual use. Charcoals ability to produce in-tense heat has led to uses ranging from cook-ing to more industrial uses including smelting. While proponents of biochar believe the ma-terial holds incredible promise, the markets are very much nascent.

The main application for bioachar at this stage is as a soil amendment, Bilson says. There is also application in the indus-trial world and were working with one of the most established brokers in the U.S. to market char for this project.

While Bilson refrains from identifying the broker by name, the importance of fi nd-ing buyers for this byproduct remains clear and Bilson and his team arent satisfi ed to rely on the slow-to-come soil amendment market.

Were actually looking into creating new markets for a renewable char where it hasnt been used before, Bilson offers.

Specifi cally, Bilson identifi es all of the markets that are currently served by the ac-tivated carbon typically produced from coal streams.

There are certain niches in the market where a biobased activated carbon would be quite attractive, Bilson says.

Eyeing GroundbreakingThe Eagar project is small by design.

Concord Blues technology brings with it incredible scalability, so facilities that dwarf the 1 MW Eagar installation are well inside of the Concord Blue Reformers operational parameters.

We fi gured the fi rst couple of projects in North America would be mostly paid out of the cash drawer, Bilson says. So we tar-geted something that would be economically palatable at a smaller scale.

All that remains for Bilson and his team is the awarding of an air permit. Upon is-suance of the air permit, dirt will begin to move.

Because of the modular nature of the technology, Bilson expects that as long as permits are awarded this spring or even early summer, the construction can be complet-ed in 2015 and commissioning can follow shortly thereafter or at the very beginning of 2016, thereby bringing to a conclusion a development story eight years in the making.

Author: Tim PortzExecutive Editor Biomass Magazine

[email protected]

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PelletNews

Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Tolko Industries Ltd. recently began construction of a pellet plant at Tolkos sawmill in Lavington, British Columbia. The plant is expected to be operational by September.

The facility, with an estimated annual capacity of 250,000 metric tons, will employ a drying technology that features a low operating temperature, resulting in a lower emission con-centration and minimized fi re risk. According to the companies, the plant will also implement bag house fi ltration on both the pellet plant and Tolko fi ber delivery systems, improving overall air quality in the Lavington area.

Colocating the plant here at Lavington will bring a number of benefi ts, said Troy Connolly, general manager of B.C. Lumber at Tolko Industries. It will allow us to deal with the excess of sawdust and shavings that has been collecting, on site and at other locations in the valley, since Domtar Kamloops reduced its operations in 2013. It will also help us to create more effi cient rail and trucking logistics and improve the level of both emissions and fugitive dust control. This is a good project for the com-munity and the mill, and one that supports the long-term viability of the Lavington sawmill.

Pellet production is expanding in Russia. Swedish forestry company RusForest AB recently announced it has engaged AS Hekotek, a mechanical engineering company, to build a 30,000 metric ton plant at its Magistralny saw-mill in eastern Siberia.

Once complete, the facility will utilize sawmill residues, improving the long-term profi tability of the sawmill. RusForest said the resulting pellets will be marketed in the European and South Korean markets. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of the year.

Hekotek also recently announced the start-up of a 30,000 ton pellet plant in eastern Siberia that it built for Lesresurs LLC. The facility includes a 4.5-ton-per-hour pellet press and ham-mer mill supplied by Dutch producer CPM. Other parts of the production line, including various conveyors and production units and a drum dryer with a furnace for drying sawdust, were produced by Hekotek.

Construction starts on British Columbia pellet plant New pellet plants developed in Russia

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PELLET

Pellet Plant VOCs: Best Practices In Control

To people outside the forest products industries, it is surprising to learn that the nice fresh pine fragrance our nos-es detect around a wood pellet plant is actually evidence of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since the EPA decided many years ago that VOC emissions must be controlled, state agencies and pel-let plant operations, along with many others, have gone about the task of making it happen. Wood naturally releases VOCs whether it is still standing in the forest, being harvested, or processed into a product such as wood pellets. The natural VOC release is accelerated when heat is applied, as in a drying process, or when more fi ber surface is exposed, as in size reduc-tion via hammer milling. Also, forming the dried wood dust into pellets tends to release more VOCs, because of the application of a signifi cant amount of energy to the material and the resulting temperature rise.

Accelerated VOC release in the pellet making process is not only an emissions issue but it also represents a loss of energy from the pellets. VOCs are natural chemical compounds that have energy content. Obviously then, the better job we can do of minimizing the release of VOCs from the wood, the higher the energy content of the pellets. So, the best means of VOC emission control is to, as much as pos-sible, avoid releasing these valuable compounds from the wood in the fi rst place.

Of course, regardless of how we process the wood into pellets, some VOCs will be re-leased from the wood. To keep the plant oper-ation in environmental compliance, the VOCs released from the wood must be contained and controlled within the plant system. There are two fundamental approaches to VOC control. The most widely used approach is to incinerate the VOCs in a regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTO) or regenerative catalytic oxidizer (RCO)

at the plants exhaust points. A wet Electro-static Precipitator (WESP) is typically used up-stream to reduce the contamination that occurs in the RTOs and RCOs. This method is neces-sary when using the conventional convection type rotary dryers. A newer approach involves using a hot oil tube dryer, operating with a hot oil temperature of about 500 degrees Fahren-heit (vs. the 1,100 F hot gas temperature of the convection dryers), to remove water while removing less of the hemicellulose. The vari-ous compounds that make up hemicellulose are those that, when evaporated in the drying process, become VOCs. These compounds have relatively low boiling points, so, the drying temperature makes a difference in the mass of VOCs liberated.

There is a signifi cant difference in the economics of the pellet-making operation be-tween these two different approaches to the VOC emissions issue. The WESPs, RTOs or

A DIFFERENT APPROACH: The generation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a reality of wood drying, and hence pellet production. As the industry scales the momentum of innovation follows including new approaches for VOC destruction. Here a hot oil tube dryer is installed at a pellet production facility. PHOTO: ASTEC INC.

CONTRIBUTION

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily re ect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).


PELLET

RCOs required with the conventional dryer systems are major pieces of capital equipment. They must be maintained and require fuel and electricity to operate. By contrast, VOC con-trol is incidental with the hot oil tube dryer. No additional special equipment or capital equipment is needed. Also, no purchased fos-sil fuel is needed. In fact, the VOCs that are evaporated from the wood in drying, although not a lot, are used as part of the fuel to run the drying process. So, instead of VOC destruc-tion adding expense, it actually reduces operat-ing cost.

One large plant has a natural gas cost of $1.25 per metric ton of pellets or $625,000 per year for 500,000 tons. By contrast, the hot oil tube dryer system burns no fuel at all for de-struction of VOCs.

In addition to the avoiding the cost of fuel and maintenance for WESP or RTO type systems, a benefi t is found simply keeping in the pellets what would, in the convection dryer systems, become VOCs. Hemicellulose has a higher heating value of 13.6 megajoules per kilogram, so, it has an energy content that is worth keeping. To determine the quantity of the VOCs being released from the wood in the pellet-making process, consider what EPAs document, AP42, shows as the uncon-trolled emission factor for condensables from the drying process of particle board making. (EPA considers this the process most similar to pellet making.) AP42 shows 1.1 pounds per ton. (See AP42, 10.6.2.) For a pellet plant producing 500,000 tons of pellets per year, the uncontrolled dryer emissions of condensables would be 550,000 pounds per year. Although experience shows that the pellets actually have a little more energy per ton when the mate-rial is dried in a hot oil tube dryer, the simplest way to show some value to this is just to con-sider that the 550,000 pounds per year of mass largely ends up in the pellets. That means, in effect, that a producer would have an extra 250 tons per year to sell. Since the cost of the overhead, material, and production are there either way, the entire sales price of $45,000 goes straight to the bottom line as net profi t.

Going back to EPAs AP42 emission fac-tor for condensable VOCs, we see that it is just that, condensable VOCs. Also, it shows only the VOCs from the drying process. The to-tal mass is easily twice this amount when we

include noncondensables and emissions from other steps of the process such as dry ham-mer milling, pelletizing, and cooling. Because the hot oil tube dryer has a hot oil heater com-bustion chamber available in which to burn VOCs, noncondensables are scavenged from their various sources and used almost entirely as fuel for the drying process. This means that either some of the incoming green wood that would otherwise be used as fuel isnt used that way and is, therefore, available to become pellets, or some purchased fossil fuel is not needed. In either case, a conservative way to apply a value to this is to say it is about the same as the additional pellet value associated with the condensables. So, the total additional pellet sales will be about $90,000. Again, this total goes straight to the bottom line because all costs are already there.

As briefl y mentioned above, retaining as much as possible in the pellets rather than evaporating it results in a higher energy con-tent in the pellets. The jury is still out on ex-actly how much advantage, since it is virtually impossible to get a valid direct comparison but it appears to be on the order of 0.5 gigajoules per ton. Since this is anecdotal information at this point, the value is not included in the fol-lowing totals.

The maintenance cost for the WESPs and RTOs and associated equipment is around $2.25 per ton or about $1,125,000 per year. The capital cost of the equipment is about $13 million.

This rather simplistic analysis does not attempt to address the cost of downtime as-sociated with regularly washing the ceramic elements of the RTOs, etc. So, there is con-siderably more money that could be added to this bottom-line advantage calculation, if one wanted to take the time to work it out. Obviously, the assumption is made here that the capital cost and maintenance cost of the two different dryer islands (not the back end pollution controls) are at least similar. That may or may not be true, but there is no doubt that WESPs and RTOs or RCOs are required with the convection type dryers and are not required for the hot oil tube dryer systems.

Author: Malcolm Swanson PEAstec Inc.


PELLET

New development in the small-scale pellet space is not a venture of the past. In the past year, at least four projects with annual production vol-umes of less than 40,000 metric tons of pellets were announced in very different regions, with very different feedstock situations, to say noth-ing of markets. Two of these relative newcom-ersSnow Timber Pellets LLC and Queston Wood Pelletsare up and running with explicit aims to serve a largely local market.

By examining the stories of these two facili-ties, a common set of development characteris-tics shared by the two plants begins to emerge. Queston Wood Pellets and Snow Timber Pellets each were able to leverage existing capital, guar-anteed feedstock supply, a familiarity with the requisite equipment, access to available markets and important transportation logistics to make their interest in pellet production become a real-ity.

Together with these critical factors for suc-cess, both felt compelled to provide a high qual-

ity, readily available pellet to a waiting domestic market. This commitment is good news for residential and light industrial pellet users in New England and the Midwest.

2 Small-Pellet ApproachesSnow Timber Pellets LLC is a pellet pro-

duction effort of forest products manufactur-ers Snow Country Hardwoods and Snowbelt Hardwoods both based in Hurley, Wisconsin. Snowbelt Hardwoods has been operating since 1994, processing over 15 million board feet of hardwoods sourced predominantly from the forests of northern Wisconsin and Michigans Upper Peninsula. Snow Timbers fi rst load of pellets was shipped late last year and the plant is now operating two shifts a day, four days a week to produce around 240 tons of bagged pellets. Queston Wood Pellets, a spin-off of a Vermont-based family owned business in the New Eng-land industrial maintenance, engineering, and construction space, went into full production on Jan. 26 with a capacity of 35,000 tons annually.

OPPORTUNITY STILL KNOCKS

In an industry largely focused on adding capacity in half million ton chunks, two producers acted on an opportunity they saw for far smaller pellet operations. BY CARLA HARPER

THE NEW ADDITION: The installation of pellet capacity was a natural extension for a Hurley Wisconsin-based family of ve distinct but integrated forest products companies.PHOTO: SNOW TIMBER PELLET LLC


PELLET

A long time in development, the pellet pro-duction facility graduated from test batches and incremental production to daily volumes closer to their nameplate capacity Jan. 25.

Today is the fi nal shakedown, says Ste-ven Querrey, co-owner of the company with his brother, Dan Querrey, who serves as president. Weve been making pellets, but in one-off tons. We stop and tweak, and then start again. Tomor-row is full production.

Infl uencing FactorsIndustry headlines the past several years

have been dominated by the development of pellet facilities with capacities in the 500,000 tons per year range. Buoyed by fi nancial in-centives and carbon policy, entrepreneurs and project developers had little trouble amassing capital to enter the export market. The fi rst of these projects began to emerge in the mid-2000s and new projects continue to be an-nounced on a nearly monthly basis.

Whether European demand continues

its impressive momentum is of little conse-quence for Queston or Snow Timber. Both of these newcomers built their facilities to serve entirely different, and much closer-to-home markets.

We cant compete with the East Coast when it comes to exporting our pellets into European markets; trucking to a rail line is a huge cost and not feasible for us at the mo-ment, Brady Francois, of Snow Timber Pel-let, tells Biomass Magazine.

Stable, Priced Right, Ample Its hard to underestimate the role of sup-

ply in making a pellet operation work. More than a few newcomers to the pellet game have shut down over the past fi ve years or more due to supply issues. Manufacturers in the West have business models challenged by an in-ability to consistently get access to feedstock. Time and time again, pellet project developers build business plans that rely upon forest thin-ning contracts from federal lands only to be-

come acutely aware of the diffi culty of these stewardship contracts when put into practice.

In regions where more land is private and longer growing seasons dominate, the cost of raw material is at play.

For Queston in Vermont, its a different story. We have a lot of support within the chip industry with many companies wanting us to succeed, Dan says.

Phase two of Queston's plan involves a log yard where they bring in wood tapped from a 68-mile radius Vermont wood basket. Debark-ing and chipping will take place in the yard. The operation currently has a good relationship with a wood chip distributor.

For the Snow Timber team, access to raw materials is central to their business plan and a competitive advantage they are eager to leverage. We consider the high price mills are paying for pulpwood a big indicator for the future of our product, Francois says. A lot of people here burn wood in outside boilers. The cost of pulp-wood is ridiculous. Many folks with their own


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wood burning boilers are migrating towards pellets.

For some producers, this rising price of pulpwood would present some very acute fi -nancial challenges. However, like other produc-ers before them, Snow Timber Pellets is closely aligned with a parent facility already actively engaged in value-added forest products manu-facturing.

Snowbelt Hardwoods, in business since 1994, is a hardwood dry kiln operation that is one of fi ve operating companies that coexist on a 55-acre site near Hurley, Wisconsin. The tip of the spear for these companies is Snow Ridge Lumber, which receives inbound logs and converts them into dimensional lumber. Wood chips and other residual woody byprod-ucts from Snow Ridge Lumber are consumed by the kilns at colocated Snowbelt Hardwoods, which kiln dries green lumber from Snow Ridge. Finally, Snow Country Hardwoods converts the dried lumber into solid hardwood fl ooring, and a wide range of fi nished mould-ing and millwork. The sawdust generated by Snow Country Hardwoods supplies the vast majority of Snow Timbers raw material needs. The fi fth company operating under this broad umbrella is Snow Run Trucking, which the other companies utilize to get their products to market.

Collectively this family of companies seemed the perfect seedbed from which to grow a pellet production facility. Not only does Snow Timber enjoy ready access to feedstocks and important distribution logistics, the com-pany was able to leverage robust in-house en-gineering and equipment expertise to bring the various components of their pellet production online and keep it running. We looked at sev-eral different options for several years, Fran-cois says. We considered everything from producing our own electricity to producing colored mulch, to pellet making. Ultimately, a pellet plant made the most sense for us.

Starting With An IdeaWithout an already deployed family of

forest product manufacturing facilities to le-verage, the development team at Queston turned to intellectual property to gain traction with investors.

Before there was a Queston Wood Pel-lets, the same ownership group had formed the entity Clean Tech LLC, which developed a patent-pending technology for producing a pellet that when burned emits fewer green-house gases and far less acid than a traditional pellet.

Were putting our pellets on Tums, Dan Querrey offers. We are neutralizing the acids

PELLET

VERMONT'S NEWEST CAPACITY: For now, Queston Wood Pellets will produce conventional pellets, but the company's long-term plans are to leverage a patented pellet production method that produces a reduced acid pellet company founders hope will fetch a premium in the marketplace.


in our chips, which later become our pellets.This technology and the pending patents

were then leveraged to generate investor confi -dence when the team went looking for capital.

It really gave Queston some great value, Dan says.

This momentum, paired with profession-al connections helped the Querreys amass $1.5 million in capital.

We were able to be selective; even turned a couple down, Steven Querrey says. Weve got an incredible group of investors.

Still just weeks into their foray into mak-ing pellets full time, Queston will, for now, produce only conventional softwood pellets. Once the production team irons out all of the expected bugs and brings the facility into a more predictable and consistent output, the plan will be to manufacture these enhanced, low-acid pellets a couple of days each week.

Weve got several customers and clients who are waiting to run trials on our enhanced pellets Dan says.

Dan Querrey notes that the marketplace value of the enhanced pellets is still being determined. From a Btu perspective, when tested in a calorimeter these pellets are virtu-ally identical to conventional wood pellets, he says. However, when we actually burn our enhanced pellets in an appliance, we fi nd that the internal temperatures of the appliance are 6 to 11 percent hotter when compared to a control.

Ultimately, Queston will look to leverage these enhancements in the marketplace via its own pellets as well as license the technology to other interested producers.

Finally, and while not a direct infusion of capital for the company, Queston sees Ver-monts tax credits for bulk pellet conversion as an industry boost. Vermont offers upwards of a $4,500 tax credit, depending upon the system type.

The team at Snow Timber Pellets, like their counterparts at Queston Wood Pel-lets are eager to achieve and maintain steady, nameplate capacity production.

We had a large learning curve, Francois says. It took us about six months to get the process running once all equipment was or-dered. We are pleased with the product and the plant is built for easy expansion.

Owing to the vast majority of their inputs emanating from their forest products pro-cessing facilities, their pellet is composed of

95 percent hard maple and red oak kiln dried planer shavings and hog fuel. This formula yields the clean-burning pellet with a low-ash content and high-Btu content that discerning residential pellet consumers desire. We use no written recipe or guidelines in making the pel-lets. We learned as we went along. We also be-lieve in the use of third-party testers to ensure our quality, Francois adds.

The Secret SauceMany serious pellet buyers live in rural

areas. The manufacturer with the knowhow and wherewithal to reach those markets fi rst, fastest, and the cheapest wins. Freight costs are a major factor. Pellets compete against the other energy sources that require no rolling transportation, like solar, wind and natural gas. Propane is the closest competitor to the pellet.

The Querrey family is all about local heat-ing options. We all have pellet stoves, Steven says. Weve seen the market here monopo-lized by Big Box stores. Theres just not much local supply.

Steven admits that to stay only in Ver-mont is not realistic, but has no plans to look for wood or customers outside of New Eng-land.

Snow Timber Pellets Francois says, Lo-gistics are key in this business. If we keep it local, that reduces transportation and enables us to balance quality, local availability, and keep the price competitive. Snow Timber caters to a Wisconsin/Michigan base of customers buying pellets for its freestanding pellet stoves or pellet furnaces.

Queston produces both bulk and bagged pellets and aims for an even split amongst those two distribution approaches. They are proponents of the New England bulk deliv-ery movement and are already working closely with bulk distributors. With an eye on con-tinued growth in the bulk market, they are actively developing a softwood pellet with greater durability so that it can withstand the rigors of pneumatic delivery systems. Querrey says, Even with No. 2 heating at relatively low prices right now, the pellet stove industry is still booming in Vermont. It just makes sense.

Author: Carla [email protected]

PELLET


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ThermalNews

In two new research papers, FutureMetrics LLC President William Strauss has investigated the impact of a strong dollar and falling oil prices on the pellet sector. The fi rst paper focuses on the impact of the strength-ening dollar on utility and producer margins in the industrial pellet sector. The second features three interactive dashboards related to where crude oil prices are going and the resulting impact on pellets used for thermal ap-plications in the domestic market.

Since most long-term contracts for industrial wood pellets are paid in U.S. dollars, as the pound and euro weaken, the cost per ton in those cur-rencies increases. While some currency risk can be hedged, the paper predicts that if the dollar continues to strength-en as expected, profi t margins could be challenged.

Reports analyze impact of strong dollar, falling oil prices

Colorado bill would incentivize biomass thermal projects in public buildings

Several bioenergy-related bills were introduced in the Colorado Senate early this year, including one that aims to create an incentive program to promote the use of woody biomass in public buildings.

Jan. 7, State Sen. Matt Jones introduced SB15-009, the legislation aimed at creating a wood biomass grant program to promote the use of woody biomass as a fuel source for public buildings. The program would be funded by an annual $1 million transfer from the states general fund for fi ve fi scal years. The Colorado Department of Natural Resources would be tasked with awarding grants to a public entity that would use woody biomass as a fuel source. The legislation explains that preference would be made for projects that use a woody biomass energy system for two or more public buildings located near one another. The legislation also specifi es that rules for the grant program would include criteria to evaluate grant applications, in part, based on an analysis of whether the building is located within a reasonable distance of a forested area of the state, as determined by the state forester.

North American pellet capacitySOURCE: FUTUREMETRICS

4.62MILLION METRIC TONSFor Domestic Heating Market

12.04MILLION METRIC TONSFor Export

Regarding falling oil prices, Strausss analysis fi nds that while the pellet sector could experi-ence a slowdown in demand growth if crude prices remain low, he stresses that low oil prices will be temporary. Over time, he said, pellets for heating will remain the lower cost fuel.

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THERMAL

This February, the wood heating community experi-enced two major upheavals, one in a state where the gover-nor proposed banning wintertime stove use and the other, of course, being the release of new national stove regula-tions for the fi rst time since 1988. In both cases, industry agreed with the goalscleaner stoves and cleaner airbut opposed the way government is getting there.

In terms of execution and outcome, the Utah and federal regulations could not have been more different. The Utah governments drastic proposal to ban stove use came out of the blue, while the EPA took nearly 10 years of slowly grinding bureaucratic wheels. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the Utah proposal went up in fl ames. In a somewhat embarrassing defeat for a well-intentioned idea, industry easily rode a wave of conservative outrage forcing the governor back to the drawing board.

What drove the drastic proposal in Utah was pretty simple. It was the need to reduce terrible pollution in the Salt Lake area, which is prone to inversions. The state calculated that a complete ban would take fewer resources to enforce than the other options.

Despite the turtle-like speed of EPA, there too the lack of resources made them lean on industry to undertake much of the necessary testing and studies. Funding for the EPA has been cut back, and this issue isnt a high enough EPA priority to justify the expenses necessary to rewrite a major rule. The lack of resources seemed to just make everything go slower and slower. For instance, the initial voluntary program for outdoor wood boilers took 10 years instead of 3 years to fi nalize. The compliance desk at EPA doesnt even have a full-time person, which causes bottle-necks.

Despite the long delay, my organization, the Alliance for Green Heat, thinks the EPA did a pretty good job balancing all the different interests in its new standards for stoves. The EPA is supposed to write the rule based on BSER (best system of emission reduction) while simultane-ously ensuring its cost effective and doesnt unduly burden small businesses. And they are also supposed to be driven by health-based data. All these policy values confl ict with each other, and ultimately allow the EPA the fl exibility to make compromises based on good ideas, good business senseand Congressional pressure.

While most people believe stoves can and should pol-lute our air less, a big chunk of America doesnt agree with the goal of requiring stoves to be cleaner, or that people should be told when they can burn stoves and when they cant. The EPA rule is seen by many as simple over-regula-tion that will drive up prices of stoves that are already clean enough and doing nothing to address all the old, unregu-lated stoves. But if most of us want to see steps taken to reduce smoke output from old or improperly used stoves, how do we get from here to there?

One solution tossed about is a large federally funded changeout program that would give rebates or tax credits to remove millions of old stoves and replace them with clean-er ones. But there is little momentum or political will for that kind of funding, and even the stove industry doesnt seem willing to put resources into trying to get Congress or the administration to fund something like this.

We think a solution in Utah and elsewhere in the U.S. where wood smoke is too high could be sunset rules requir-ing homeowners to stop using old, uncertifi ed stoves after a certain date, such as 2018. This is already being done in several counties in Washington state, and we will have to watch that closely to see how well it works.

The EPAs rule had some very creative provisions, which no one saw coming, and which may defi ne the legacy of the rule. Everyone was watching for the emission standards that would kick in 2020 and the delayed imple-mentation for warm air furnaces. But a provision that we think may have a huge impact, despite receiving little media attention, is the optional cordwood certifi cation test.

Moving the fl eet of U.S. stoves from being tested with crib wood (2-by-4s and 4-by-4s) to regular cordwood is key to the future of cleaner wood heating. Instead of mandat-ing any cordwood test standard, the EPA made it optional for now, and set the level at 2.5 grams per hour. Some stoves can already pass that, but watch this issue over the next months and years. The EPA could never set a cord-wood standard that low if it were mandatory, but by making it optional, it may stick and turn out to be one of the most important legacies of this law.

Author: John AckerlyPresident, Alliance for Green Heat

[email protected]

Getting Woodstoves FromHere To ThereIn Utah and USBY JOHN ACKERLY


THERMAL

DEPARTMENT

Trial By Fire A year after firing up a Hurst biomass combined-heat-and-power system to service two critical-use properties in Unity, New Hampshire, Sullivan County attests to the robust unit's reliability.

BY KATIE FLETCHER

At the site of what was once a dairy barn built into the hilly countryside of Sul-livan County, New Hamp-shire, a very different facility now resides. Although built for different purposes, each structure utilized the slop-ing terrain to its advantage.

Prior to vacancy, the dairy barn functioned as a two-level operation; cows on the upper level and a manure pit below. The natural gradient of the land worked well for the ma-nure pit confi guration. Today, that downhill slope lent itself perfectly, so that now the chip trucks deliver on the upper

level into the chip bin, and then the hydraulic racks just pull it out and the regular feed system takes it to the boiler, says John Cressy, Sullivan County facilities director.

Two feasibility studies and multiple plant and biomass system tours later, the town of Unity now hosts a Hurst

biomass boiler district heat-ing system to serve two of the towns critical-use facilities. The countys 166-bed nursing home and 168-bed prison complex, as well as a smaller meeting building, are connected to the system, primarily for heat and hot water. One other building, a carpenter shop/equipment

MULTILEVEL CONFIGURATION: Installation of the Hurst biomass boiler with a fuel reclamation system required specialized construction design to account for the unique terrain of the site and the 15-foot elevation discrepancy between the material handling and storage areas of the boiler room.PHOTO: JOHN CRESSY, SULLIVAN COUNTY FACILITIES DIRECTOR


garage, is in the process of be-ing brought online. Altogether around 300,000 square feet of conditioned space will be served.

The combined-heat-and-power (CHP) system also provides all of the steam and some electricity to the facili-ties. The jail has a commercial

laundry that was already using steam dryers, so both steam and hot water are now provid-ed to the laundry by the bio-mass plant. The system also lends about 5 to 10 percent of the total electricity load a year to a 40 kW turbine gen-erator set at the nursing home. Cressy explains that it is not

A SITE REPURPOSED: Sullivan County, New Hampshires, district energy project included tearing down an old dairy barn and erecting a 3,000 square-foot building. This building houses the Hurst biomass heating system to serve the nursing home, prison complex and two other smaller onsite buildings in Unity. PHOTO: JOHN CRESSY, SULLIVAN COUNTY FACILITIES DIRECTOR

THERMAL


cost effective to make steam solely for electricity generation as it is cheaper to purchase through the public utility. However, if the steam already being used to heat the building and hot water is utilized, its close to free. The amount of electricity produced is based on the amount of steam the nursing home demands, so it varies over the course of the year.

The goal of the project is to get as close as possible to replacing 100 percent of the previously used fuel oil and propane gas with wood chips.

Cressy and his team took the time to research the bio-mass-fuel technology before they reached where they are

today. Upon Cressys arrival to his role in Sullivan County fi ve years ago, a feasibility study was in progress for such a biomass project. That was exciting to come into a new position and realize that this was the initia-tive, Cressy says. Something that had been near and dear to my heart for a while.

The study results did not meet county expectations, however, and the project was put on the back burner. Two years ago, the county was ap-proached by the USDA For-est Service Wood Education and Resource Center, with an offer to conduct a feasibility study. The study came back and looked great, Cressy says. Armed with that information,

we were able to move forward with an approval process.

After a request-for-pro-posal process, a 5 million Btu per-hour, 150 pounds per-square-inch, hybrid-design Hurst boiler was selected. Ad-ditional Hurst project equip-ment includes a reclamation system with a nine-tree recip-rocating fl oor, an oximizer de-aerator with a duplex pump set and a propane package boiler.

Bob Waller and his com-pany, Thermal Systems Inc., are the authorized Hurst Boiler representatives serving New Hampshire. Waller and TSI helped oversee the project development. Because of the terrain weve had to confi gure the equipment around, it lent

itself nicely to a reciprocat-ing fl oor fuel reclaim system, Waller says.

As for the entire system itself, Waller says, Itll last 25 years, or indefi nitely if its maintained.

Sullivan County lit the fi re Dec.1, 2013. The system has been operating for over a year, and has proved even more reliable than anticipated, ac-cording to Cressy, even though it was initially fi red up in the heart of a very cold winter. Its not like we had a chance to warm up to it, Cressy says. We just launched and it was full steam ahead, it was kind of a trial by fi re, literally.

Concrete data has yet to surface with the past year spent

THERMAL

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learning how to effectively run the boiler, but Cressy believes better data will be collected at the end of this winter. Were still trying to fi gure it out, but Im comfortable in saying that were doing 60 percent of our heating load, and I know itll be better than that, he says.

According to Cressy, in calendar year 2014, the coun-ty saved around $200,000 in fuel costs, out of a little over $500,000. The total project cost $3.4 million, and received grants totaling $675,000, in ad-dition to a tax-exempt bond through a local bank. New Hampshires recent renewable energy incentives now avail-able to the marketplace al-lowed the project to secure the

grants, and obtain an agree-ment to recover renewable en-ergy credits after testing.

Biomass projects in a rural town like Unity can make a real impact by moving fuel dollars back into the local economy, Cressy says. I drive by the guys house who we buy a lot of our wood chips from, he says. It just doesnt get, in my opinion, any better than that.

The locally sourced, re-newable wood chips are pro-vided by Cousineau Forest Products of Henniker, New Hampshire. Trucks deliver the material to the facilitys wood chip bin, which can hold 80 to 90 tons of chips at a time, or about a weeks worth in the winter months.

Ultimately, although very different in nature, both the prison and nursing home need care 24/7. Redundancy be-comes especially important in this case, and so the old boilers are maintained and in place if needed.

Both Cressy and Waller believe biomass heating will continue to play a large role in New Hampshire. Its been a good alternative, especially here in the Northeast, and the Hurst technology has been a big part of thermal systems for 50 years now, Waller says.

Education is key for pub-lic support of these projects. In fact, inspired by the initia-tive, Cressy has visited local high schools, and shared his

knowledge with the students. He sometimes tells the stu-dents, Its kind of like grand-mas wood cook stove with a tea kettle on top, but a whole lot more high-tech.

More high-tech indeed. To me, all of the economic benefi ts and all of the environ-mental benefi ts are great, but there is so much real-life learn-ing to be done on a project like this, Cressy says. Math, science, physics, welding, con-struction, environmental stud-ies, etc., therein lie some of the unheralded benefi ts.

Author: Katie FletcherStaff Writer, Biomass Magazinekfl [email protected]

701-738-4920

THERMAL


BiogasNews

U.S. EPA data indicates nearly 17.21 billion renewable identifi cation numbers (RINs) were generated last year, including more than 33.01 cellulosic RINS.

Approximately 32.96 million D3 cellulosic biofuel RINs were generated in 2014, along with 54,308 D7 cellulosic die-sel RINs. According to the EPA, 683,643 D3 RINs were generated for ethanol, 44,168 for cellulosic renewable gasoline, 14.91 million for renewable compressed natural gas and 17.35 million for renew-able liquefi ed natural gas.

Approximately 142.98 million D5 advanced biofuel RINs were generated

in 2014, with 20.35 million generated for biogas. D5 RINs were also generated for ethanol, naptha, heating oil, nonester re-newable diesel and renewable compressed natural gas.

More than 14.33 billion D6 renew-able fuel RINs were generated last year, with 14 billion of those RINs generated for ethanol. The remaining D6 RINs were generated for biodiesel and nonester renewable diesel.

In addition, nearly 2.69 billion biomass-based diesel RINs were generated last year, with 2.14 billion of that volume generated for biodiesel.

Biogas-based fuels top 2014 cellulosic biofuel production

The California Energy Commission recently awarded Colony Energy Partners Tulare LLC a $5 million grant to support the construction of a biogas project in Tulare, California, that will produce 2.8 million diesel gallon equivalents of biogas each year. The total cost of the project is estimated to be between $25 million and $30 million.

The grant will help purchase the main pieces of equipment for the plant, such as a gas conditioning skid and digester equipment for what is referred to as the Endeavor facility.

The projects high-solid anaerobic di-gester design can process locally collected dairy manure, food and agricultural pro-cessing residuals, restaurant and cafeteria food scraps, restaurant grease trap residu-als, and organic municipal solid waste.

The facility is permitted for up to 500 tons of waste per day, with a solids con-tent up to 40 percent. The digested waste will produce approximately more than 1.5 million standard cubic feet per day of biomethane.

California biogas project wins grant

2014 RIN dataRIN Category No. of RINs

(millions) No. of RINs for renewable methane-based fuels (milions)

Biogas Renewable CNG Renewable LNG

D3 32.96 14.91 17.35D4 2,686.88D5 142.89 20.35 0.06D6 14.33D7 0.05SOURCE: U.S. EPA


BIOGAS

There are exciting biobased industry developments happening all across the U.S., no doubt about it. Biobased industry development is also facing its share of challenges, but signifi cant opportunities can be found at the state and local level. In Minnesota, there are project proposals moving forward in the metropolitan area that would use anaerobic digestion (AD) to process organic material from households and institutions to produce biogas. The biogas would be cleaned and compressed to fuel garbage trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles. These projects will help metropol-itan counties reach increased recycling goals and zero waste goals for the city of Minneapolis.

Outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, other proposed projects would collect organic materials from food processing facilities and livestock operations to codigest at regional (AD) facilities. These projects are also planning to clean and compress biogas for transportation fuel. As I have written about before, newly adopted rules by the Environ-mental Protection Agency under the renewable fuel standard that allow certain biogas pathways to generate cellulosic RINs is proving to be a game changer for the U.S. biogas market.

In addition to the biogas project proposals, Minnesota has a global leading cluster of renewable chemical company headquarters and R&D facilities that are looking to scale-up to commercial production. Minnesota also has a strong foundation of established biofuel and forest product manu-facturing facilities. Factor in access to abundant agricultural and forestry feedstocks, intellectual capital, and infrastructure and Minnesota has many of the essential ingredients for a strong bioeconomy.

In Minnesota the legislative session is well underway. My organization, the Great Plains Institute, staffs and facili-tates a diverse coalition of business, agricultural, forestry, and environmental interests called the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota. The mission of the coalition is to articulate and implement a Minnesota state policy and regulatory agenda to expand renewable chemical, advanced biofuel, and biomass thermal energy industries, along the entire value chain from R&D through commercial production and use.

The Coalition came together in 2012 and has been working to implement state policy that will take advantage of the countless project development opportunities to build a strong bioeconomy, including biogas projects. Instead of trying to advance individual projects that would use one type of feedstock or a specifi c technology to produce a singular

renewable fuel or biobased product, the coalition believes we have a stronger chance of implementing truly transformative policy by bringing all of the biobased project opportunities under one unifying policy agenda. What unites the agenda for our coalition is the opportunity for Minnesota to use our tremendous biomass resources to displace petroleum in transportation and the materials and products we use every day.

This year the coalition is working to advance a policy that would establish a production incentive program for the commercial deployment of advanced biofuel, renewable chemical and biomass heat. Eligible projects would produce their product in Minnesota and utilize Minnesota agricultural and forestry feedstocks. A production incentive will make an annual per unit payment to the facility for the actual production of an eligible product over a 10-year period. A production incentive requires the private market to secure fi nancing and end-use agreements, but once a facility is up and running the state incentive can help pay down debt. It is a an approach that allows the state to help fi rst of its kind and early stage technology scale-up companies without risk-ing those dollars with an up-front investment that may never come to pass.

Minnesota has a his

Documents

March 2015 Biomass Magazine