Trash talk: Worthan angry county not in the loop on biofuels company

http://www.douglascountysentinel.com/news/local/article_64c7c62e-0793-11e3-b23a-0019bb30f31a.html

Posted: Saturday, August 17, 2013 7:18 pm

Ron Daniel / Staff Writer | 

While the city and county have made strides toward working together over the past year and a half, sparks still fly from time to time, as Friday’s meeting of the Development Authority of Douglas County proved.

Douglas County Commission Chairman Tom Worthan didn’t mince words when the subject of a biofuels company interested in locating at the landfill and turning trash into fuel came up.

Douglasville Development Services Director Jeff Noles told the city’s development authority Tuesday morning that landing the company “would be a big win for the county and give them an opportunity to make money where they’re not currently making money.”

But the landfill is outside the city limits and is run by the county. Worthan made clear again Friday the county wants no part of the project and that he wasn’t happy about being left out of the talks.

Noles, Chris Pumphrey, executive director of the DADC, and DADC Board Chairman Ron Wilson were all involved in a conference call with the company about three weeks ago, according to Wilson.

“I have pushed for cooperation, communication,” Worthan said. “It’s embarrassing for me that our development authority had been in contact with these people. Evidently the city development authority has.”

Wilson told Worthan the conference call wasn’t positive. The company would make fuels like synthetic diesel from the decomposition of trash. But Wilson said there were concerns about groundwater pollution and air quality if the company moved here.

Additionally, the company was looking at using the Douglas County landfill to handle the trash for all of the west metro Atlanta area, which would mean an increase from 100 garbage trucks a day on rural roads like Cedar Mountain Road and Mann Road to 1,000.

“From a development authority standpoint, we didn’t have any interest at all,” said Wilson.

Worthan wasn’t satisfied.

“Mr. Chairman, even if you didn’t have any interest in it, I should have been told that you were talking about it,” Worthan said.

Wilson said he agreed and apologized to Worthan.

Douglasville Mayor Harvey Persons said he and Worthan made a pact when he took office in 2012 the city and county would work “in the spirit of cooperation.”

“I think it’s incumbent on both of these bodies to make sure the chief elected officials of the city and county are aware of what’s going on as it relates to economic development,” said Persons.

Wilson said he believed the city and county development authorities were doing just that. But Wilson said the development authority hasn’t traditionally gone to the county and city governments with projects “we take no action on.”

Worthan said he found out about the project second-hand from a Douglasville city council member earlier this week, that even the Douglasville-Douglas County Water Sewer Authority knew about the project, but that the county “was left out of the loop completely.”

“As I’ve said all along, I push for cooperation and consolidation and whatever I could,” Worthan said. “But there’s no excuse for what happened. It just happened to happen, and I don’t expect it to again.”

Then Worthan got in the final words of the meeting, making clear one last time where the county stands on the biofuels company locating at the landfill.

“Not interested,” he said.

Also at Friday’s meeting, Atlanta Kitchen Equipment, located on Industrial Access Road in Douglasville, announced plans to add 20,000 square feet of space and an additional 20 employees.

The expansion will cost $2.5 million and the DADC agreed to help the company get tax-exempt bonds.

Also, Pumphrey also said a land owner in the northwestern corridor of the county had approached the DADC about buying 109 acres just north of the railroad tracks, which could be used to spur industrial growth in that area.

Pumphrey said the DADC is looking “to see what options are there.”

Petroleum groups ask EPA for relief from biofuel mandate

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/316927-petroleum-groups-ask-epa-for-relief-from-biofuel-mandate

By Zack Colman - 08/13/13 06:07 PM ET

The petroleum industry formally asked the Obama administration on Tuesday to lower the amount of corn-based ethanol refiners must blend into transportation fuel in 2014.

Failing to adjust the Renewable Fuel Standard’s blending targets could result in “severe harm to the U.S. economy” resulting from higher gasoline prices, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) said in comments regarding a request for a waiver from the rule.

The groups' claim of economic damage relied on an API-commissioned NERA Economic Consulting study that said leaving the fuel mandate intact could raise diesel costs 300 percent and gasoline costs 30 percent in 2015.

The request from the oil trade organizations comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is showing it might bend on the fuel mandate.

Created in 2005 and expanded two years later, the rule calls for blending 36 billion gallons of biofuel into traditional transportation fuel by 2022. It’s at the center of an intense lobbying and political fight that’s drawing attention on Capitol Hill.

The EPA acknowledged last week that refiners could approach the “blend wall” in meeting the federal biofuel-blending mandate’s accelerating targets. It said it would consider tinkering with the requirements for next year to accommodate those concerns.

 

 That term refers to the point at which the oil industry says refiners would need to produce gasoline with higher ethanol concentrations than the market-standard 10 percent mix. 

 

In their formal waiver request, the groups asked the EPA to lower the Renewable Fuel Standard’s blending requirements to below 10 percent of gasoline to avoid the blend wall.

Honoring the waiver would eliminate 3.35 billion of the 18.15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol called for in 2014, providing “short-term relief” from the rule, said Bob Greco, API downstream group director, in a statement.

The petroleum industry and automakers have warned fuel blends with a 15 percent ethanol concentration, known as E15, could damage car engines. They also say tankers and gas stations don’t have the infrastructure to support the fuel.

The biofuel industry has rejected those claims. It contends that E15 is safe, noting that the EPA has approved E15 for use in cars made in 2001 or later.

Biofuel groups pushed back against the waiver request, saying that it was designed to protect the profits of oil producers and refiners.

“The actions by API and AFPM are designed with one goal in mind — to eliminate any competition from clean, green biofuels in the liquid transportation fuels marketplace,” Tom Buis, chief executive of corn ethanol group Growth Energy, said in a Tuesday statement.

The EPA has so far rejected all previous Renewable Fuel Standard waiver requests, which have centered on the corn-based ethanol that dominates the biofuel market.

Last year, poultry and meat producers failed to secure a waiver when they argued the mandate was pushing corn prices upward and harming their businesses. And several state governors also unsuccessfully lobbied the EPA for relief on those grounds.

The waiver requests are just one example of how the mandate has come under fire in Washington, D.C.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has pledged to overhaul the rule, saying that the mandate’s goals are unrealistic.

Corn-based ethanol has kept pace with original projections, but many next-generation biofuels have fallen well short of the marks Congress laid out when it expanded the mandate 2007.

Many lawmakers also say the intent of the law — to wean the U.S. off foreign fuels and drive down greenhouse gas emissions — can be accomplished with domestically produced natural gas and oil discovered since the rule was last updated.

But biofuel groups contend next-generation biofuels are just starting to come online in commercial quantities. They say changing the mandate would threaten economic development in rural communities that have come to depend on the biofuel industry.

— This story was updated at 2:56 p.m. on Aug. 14.

Franklin plant with McAuliffe ties under a campaign spotlight

http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-08-11/news/dp-nws-mcauliffe-wood-pellets-20130811_1_terry-mcauliffe-franklin-pellets-pellet-plants

August 11, 2013|By Michael Welles Shapiro, mwshapiro@dailypress.com | 757-247-4744

 

For more than two years, talk of a new wood pellet plant has dangled the promise of jobs and new business in the rural town of Franklin.

More recently an associated storage and export facility announced late last year offered hope of a long-term tenant at a mostly vacant state-owned shipping terminal in Portsmouth.

Now that Terry McAuliffe, a business partner involved in the deals, is running for governor, the projects have become fodder in a slash-and-burn political campaign. Most recently the group Citizens United produced a 29-minute film portraying McAuliffe as a serial exaggerator in his business life and asking Franklin residents, "Where are the jobs?"

Though neither site is in service, interviews, public documents released by the Virginia Port Authority and a recent article in the trade publication Biomass Magazine all suggest progress is being made toward a pellet operation, albeit at a slower pace than was originally anticipated by a McAuliffe business partner and a Houston-based energy company involved in the deals.

Peter O'Keefe, the McAuliffe business associate, told the Daily Press in April 2011 that "if all goes well, we will be up and running in about 18 to 24 months" — or by April 2013.

He said Friday it has taken longer to finance the projects because utility companies in the United Kingdom are waiting on two much-delayed regulatory decisions before they enter into new long-term contracts to buy American wood pellets.

"They're more than a year behind where we thought they would be (on the ruling)," O'Keefe said of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change. But with "the way those decisions are expected to come down, the outlook is bright."

Citing confidentiality agreements, O'Keefe said he could not go into any level of detail about negotiations with International Paper over a lease site for what's called Franklin Pellets.

McAuliffe declined to discuss the wood pellet project, saying they would be better addressed by O'Keefe. But a McAuliffe spokesman rebutted several of the points made in the Citizens United film.
Pellet plants pulverize a variety of forms of wood, including waste byproduct from lumber facilities, and produce pellets that can be burned as a supplement to or substitute for coal at power plants.

The Franklin initiative is one of a number of prospective wood pellet plants that have sprouted up across the southeastern part of the country. Existing pellet plants and the prospective new facilities seek to take advantage of a European Union subsidy program that created a hunger among British and European utility companies for U.S. and Canadian product.

The partnership with McAuliffe ties is hoping to build a plant called Franklin Pellets on land leased from International Paper, which runs a large campus that is now home to a fluff-pulp mill and a recycled tissue company. Using a separate corporation, the group is more than 11 months into a lease negotiation with port officials.

There are several indicators that there's been progress on both sets of negotiations, according to three sources familiar with the talks who all declined to speak on the record citing the confidentiality agreements.

"They're trying to make a go of it and get the (Portsmouth Marine Terminal) lease together," one source said.

The 20-year lease includes a six-month interim early termination period that gave CMI and MultiFuels an opportunity to walk away. That period expired Feb. 28. The Daily Press obtained a copy of the lease from the port authority.

"There's no effective date yet as far as occupancy goes, but they did not walk away from it," the source said. "They're trying to finalize the lease and an occupancy agreement but they have to find a buyer (for their pellets)."

That would put Franklin Pellets in the same position as numerous other would-be pellet operations.
Seth Ginther, a Richmond lawyer and head of the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, said the financing for a wave of new wood pellet developments are on hold pending an environmental policy decision in the U.K. that's expected to stoke more demand for U.S. pellets.

"If you're a developer in today's market for export to Europe you're constantly juggling three different balls — European policy, raising money for a project for when the policy gets in place, and also logistics," Ginther said.

"Once you have that policy certainty, you finance your facility on the back of that off-take agreement," he said, referring to a contract, typically with a utility, to ship a certain amount of pellets from a manufacturing plant.

County takes out USDA loan to buy land for wood pellet plant

http://msbusiness.com/blog/2013/08/06/county-takes-out-usda-loan-to-buy-lans-for-wood-pellet-plant/

by Associated Press
Published: August 6,2013

LUCEDALE — George County supervisors have signed off on $1.3 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture loans to pay for land where a new wood pellet plant will go.

The Mississippi Press reports that the USDA rural development loans will be used to purchase the property that will expand the George County Industrial Park.

Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. announced in June that the $115-million plant will produce up to 500,000 tons of pellets per year.

Wood pellets are shipped overseas to European utilities plants to use as biomass energy that complies with their stricter sustainability guidelines. The pellets are made from a mix of soft and hard woods.

George County secured a $1 million loan with no interest and a $283,000 loan with 1 percent interest.

They are both five-year notes.

“It took almost 10 months to get here,” Community development and communications director Ken Flanagan told supervisors yesterday. “With any luck, this fall we’ll get everyone together for a groundbreaking.”

The money will mostly be used to purchase the land, he said, and lease payments from the company will pay the note.

Any money left over from the loans will be used for road work.

Flanagan said the county will also be responsible for upgrading wastewater lines, and upgrading drinking water and process water to the site, among other infrastructure work.

That work will be funded through additional loans and grants that will be announced later, Flanagan said.

County leaders have said the mill will create 126 new full-time jobs in George County and others at the Port of Pascagoula in Jackson County.

The facility is expected to be operational by spring 2015.

Green Circle is wholly owned by the JCE Group, a privately owned international investment company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Pellet plant project to create 175 jobs in Selma

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/pellet_plant_project_to_create.html

By Dawn Kent Azok | dazok@al.com
on August 05, 2013 at 10:43 AM, updated August 05, 2013 at 11:26 AM

Zilkha Black Pellets will be produced in Selma. (Zilkha Biomass Energy)

SELMA, Alabama -- Zilkha Biomass Energy is renovating an existing facility in Selma in a project that will produce wood pellet fuel and create 175 jobs.

The company is moving in to the former Dixie Pellets plant, which it bought out of bankruptcy in 2010.

It will become the world's first full-scale plant to produce Zilkha Black Pellets, which are an environmentally sustainable and low carbon fuel that can be transported and burned by coal plants using their existing equipment, a press release said. Unlike traditional compressed wood pellets, the hydrophobic Zilkha Black Pellets can't be damaged by water.

The facility itself is expected to have 55 jobs, with another 120 jobs in the trucking and forestry industries in the community. And during construction, about 380 jobs are expected.

U.S. Bank, Stonehenge Capital Company and AMCREF Community Capital said today they are providing $5.3 million in financing for the project through federal and Alabama state New Markets Tax Credits, a program that encourages the investment of private capital in designated low-income communities. Investors receive tax credits.

Selma is the county seat of Dallas County, which has the third-highest unemployment rate in Alabama.

Construction is underway, and the plant is set to begin operations in 2014.

"We're excited to open the world's first full-scale Zilkha Black Pellet plant in Alabama," Jack Holmes, chief executive for Houston-based Zilkha Biomass Energy, said in a statement. "Selma offers the workforce and training that will help make this facility successful. The plant will produce 275,000 tons of our Black Pellets per year, which can generate enough clean, renewable electricity to supply 50,000 homes per year."

Birmingham's Bradley Arant Boult Cummings served as borrower's counsel to Zilkha Biomass on the deal. The team was led by Birmingham partner Beau Byrd, along with Birmingham partner Paul Compton, Nashville partner Mark Miller, and Birmingham associate Jimmy Long.

Central Louisiana making gains in biomass industry

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20130723/BUSINESS/307160021/Central-Louisiana-making-gains-biomass-industry

 Written by Jeff Matthews

Jul. 23, 2013   |   

 

Sundrop Fuels CEO Wayne Simmons (center) announces in 2011 that his company would build a $450 million biofuels plant in Rapides Station. The plant is expected to employ about 150 people and begin operation in late 2015. / Town Talk file photo

Central Louisiana appears to have struck gold, and workers don’t even have to dig for it. It’s just lying on the ground.

The area has very quickly grabbed a significant share in the emerging biomass manufacturing market, with three large plant projects announced in the past 19 months.


Local economic developers are optimistic that more activity is on the horizon.

“We’re still seeing an unusual amount of opportunity in that area,” said Jim Clinton, president and chief executive officer of Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. “I don’t think this will be the last opportunity we see.”

All three projects are manufacturing plants that use wood products — mostly things that have been looked at as waste, such as leftover shavings or parts of the tree unsuitable for making lumber — in some way to create fuel that is more environmentally friendly than traditional fossil fuel.

Colorado-based startup Sundrop Fuels. Inc. announced in late 2011 that it is building the pilot plant for its “green gasoline” in the Rapides Station area near Boyce. The plant is expected to employ about 150 people and begin operation in late 2015.


The fuel can be used like normal transportation fuel, but instead of being refined from petroleum, it is produced in a unique gasification process using natural gas and woody biomass.


The plant is expected to produce about 60 million gallons of fuel per year. But that’s just the beginning. Sundrop is hoping its new technology takes off and the company can follow through on building as many as four more plants, each producing more than 200 million gallons of fuel per year. 

Local economic developers would love to see one of those “megaplants” going up next to the pilot plant off Interstate 49.


In April, wood pellet manufacturing giant German Pellets breathed life back into the tiny LaSalle Parish town of Urania when it announced a $300 million plant there.

The plant will be on the site of the former Louisiana Pacific and Georgia Pacific plant that closed in 2002. It is expected to create 500 jobs and come online next spring.

Wood pellets are used extensively in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, to generate electricity and heat. They are most commonly made by pressing wood shavings and sawdust into a globe or cylinder shape.

The facility in Urania is billed as the world’s largest pellet plant. It is expected to produce one million tons of pellets per year.

Most recently, Hinterland LLC announced plans to build a pellet manufacturing plant in Vidalia.


The facility at Vidalia Industrial Park is expected to cost more than $100 million and employ more than 50 people. It has access to the developing Port of Vidalia.

“I tell people wood is our oil,” said Rick Ranson, vice president of the regional development alliance in Alexandria.
 

“Biomass certainly going back several years has been identified by state and local entities as a target,” Clinton said. “Our wood base, our resources give us a position of strength in the field.”

Keeping Pace with Pellet Trade

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/9238/keeping-pace-with-pellet-trade

The Port of Brunswick is one of many upgrading and expanding to meet Europe’s surging pellet demands. 

 

By Tim Portz | July 22, 2013

U.S. Highway 82 follows a predominantly western course, away from the port complex at Brunswick, Ga., running first slightly northwest and then doglegging to the southwest. It ambles through Glynn, Brantley and Ware counties before arriving in Waycross, Ga. This 60-mile stretch of highway traces a path through some of the densest stands of southern yellow pine in the country. Together, these three counties boast nearly .5 million forest acres, most of them privately owned and actively managed for delivery to the area’s forest products complex, including area pellet mills. East of the Port of Brunswick lies the Atlantic Ocean, and the world’s fastest-growing pellet market. Linking this incredible forest biomass resource to power generators in the United Kingdom and northern Europe, which seek a less carbon-dense fuel are port terminals like the East River Terminal at the Port of Brunswick.

In August 2011, the Georgia Ports Authority and Logistec, a Montreal-based stevedoring and terminal operations company, announced a shared investment in the East River Terminal to facilitate the rapidly growing export market for wood pellets. Commenting on the project, Curtis Foltz, GPA executive director said, “The significant expansion and installation of new infrastructure at East River Terminal will accommodate Georgia’s export for biomass fuels and create jobs throughout Georgia’s transportation, logistics and forest industries.”

Investing in this critical piece of infrastructure has proven to be wise and timely, as the demand for wood pellets has increased as predicted, contributing to the highest cargo levels the GPA has ever experienced. In April, 2.4 million tons of cargo passed through Georgia’s ports, a new record. Tonnage moving through the East River Terminal increased 14 percent over the same time frame in the previous year, reaching nearly 670,000 tons. The growth in East River’s tonnage was led by biomass fuels, validating the 2011 investments.

A critical component of the investments was a deepening of the shipping channel from 30 to 36 feet.  Expounding on the ramifications of that improvement, David Proctor, Logistec terminal manager, says, “The GPA also dredged from 30 to 36 feet, which will increase our capability of bringing in larger vessels for pellet exports. With a 30-foot-depth, you can only get maybe 15,000 or 16,000 tons of any kind of cargo into the Port of Brunswick. With the expansion and the deepening of the channel down to 36 feet, we are capable at this time of moving close to anywhere from 35,000 to 40,000 tons of wood pellets in a vessel. “There are economies of scale with the larger-size vessels, and this additional draft allows us to attract a new target market when serving the large-size utility companies overseas.”

Already a significant piece of Georgia’s forest products industry, pellet producers in the state manufacture over 1 million tons of pellets each year. Current production levels, however, pale in comparison to the nearly 3 million tons of production capacity currently planned or under construction. Virtually all of this new capacity is being developed to serve the growing European market. Georgia’s port operators are feeling the momentum, too, and Proctor notes, “We continue to prospect for new opportunities, and there are many interested parties that we are pursuing.”

As production capacity in Georgia increases, its ports are keeping pace, ensuring the critical market access necessary to maximize the opportunity that fuels growth in both the state’s forest products and port sectors.

Georgia Biomass outlook is strong

http://www.theblacksheartimes.com/articles/2013/07/20/opinion/doc51e586eabc61e257532059.txt

World’s largest fuel pellet plant sees a bright future for renewable energy production here

By Robert M. Williams, Jr.

Published:Wednesday, July 17, 2013 4:06 AM EDT

The news came in early 2010 that Southeast Georgia would be home to the world’s largest producer of wood pellets for fuel to power Europe’s energy generating plants.

That our job-hungry area would be a focus for the renewable energy movement brought a flurry of welcome publicity. Then-Governor Sonny Perdue came for the groundbreaking of the $175 million Georgia Biomass plant later that year and, by mid-2011, the first of hundreds of truckloads of pine timber began rolling through the gates each week. Employing more than 80 people and indirectly creating hundreds more jobs, the Georgia Biomass plant has been a natural fit. This new industry needed our abundance of pine trees as a raw material, rail lines to ship the fuel pellets out and a nearby port at Savannah to send them on their way to Europe where the United Kingdom is leading the way on promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

The operation has not been without one or two hiccups. A wood dust explosion a year ago shut down production temporarily but, fortunately, injured no one. Today, Plant Manager Brad Mayhew is proud to say Georgia Biomass has not had a single lost-time injury on the job since opening over two years ago. The firm felt another kind of blow a few months ago, however, when RWE, one of Europe’s five leading electric and gas companies, and the owner of Georgia Biomass, announced they would not continue their focus on utilizing wood pellet technology, leading to fears the plant could be sold, or worse, shut down. Doomsayers around the area were quickly saying: “We knew it was too good to be true.”

But wait.

Georgia Biomass officials hosted a sit-down this week, to set the record straight for area political leaders and the press.

With demand far outstripping supply and Georgia Biomass’ entire production capability already sold through mid-2015, don’t expect this plant to go anywhere anytime soon.

“Last year, Georgia exported about a million tons of wood pellets,” said Georgia Biomass CEO James Roecker. “We did about 60% of that. By 2020, the Southeast will be shipping 6-7 million tons of pellets.”

In other words, there’s still lots of money to be made turning our tall pine trees into tiny pellets and Georgia Biomass plans to lead the way.

“This company is not currently up for sale by RWE, but we’ve had about 20 companies make inquiries if they ever do,” added Roecker.

All of this is good news for area businesses. Forest products have been a mainstay of this region’s economy for more than a century and Georgia Biomass has only further emphasized the impact of timber on so many of us.

Think about this. Last year Georgia Biomass purchased 54,000 truckloads of pine timber. Those trees came from within a 75-mile radius and put more than $40 million into the pockets of landowners, timber dealers, etc. The multiplier effect of gas purchases, trucks, tires and more means the impact of this plant represents hundreds of millions of dollars to this region.

The staggering number of trees consumed by this one plant often leads to the inevitable question: “How long can we continue to provide pine trees to meet this demand?”

The answer: As long as needed.

“Georgia is growing 20 million tons of trees more than are being harvested every year,” explains Georgia Biomass procurement forester Barry Parrish. “We’re only tapping 20 percent of the excess growth. There’s five million extra tons being grown just within our 75-mile radius.”

Eighty-five employees at GB are drawing paychecks. Hundreds, probably thousands, more are impacted by this new industry.

The sweet scent of pine chips lingers in the air around the Georgia Biomass plant.

And it smells like money.

• Robert M. Williams, Jr. is Editor & Publisher of The Times. Email: rwilliams@theblack­sheartimes.com.

Once powerful logging region getting back to its roots with biomass fuel source

http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/09/4785036/once-powerful-logging-region-getting.html

Published: July 9, 2013

By Mike Lacy — The Journal of South Mississippi Business

 

South Mississippi has found itself on the edge of an industrial opportunity that could literally light a fire in its the economic engine and put it on the world stage for decades. Wood pellet manufacturing appears to be a nice fit for a region long known as a logging powerhouse. Proponets promise infrastructure renewal, employment opportunities, tangential small business growth and a clear conscious that comes from creating a long-term, self-sustaining, eco-friendly fuel for the world.

Trouble is, a lot of other people want a piece of the action, and some neighboring states may already be ahead in its plans to capitalize. In wood pellet manufacturing, companies take forest junk that doesn’t meet milling specifications and make it into what could be the next big not-really-so alternative fuel source.

“Other Southern states — Louisiana, Georgia and Florida — are on board and building wood pellets and ports to handle them,” said Ken Flanagan, community development director for the George County Board of Supervisors. “They are moving very quickly. Georgia may be a little ahead of the curve. It’s very obvious to us that this is a competitive business market. Our sister states are getting into this game.” But, he said that South Mississippi is “definitely on the forefront” of the battle.

“You’re going to hear about wood pellets for years to come.”

In late June, Green Circle Bio Energy, Inc., announced plans to build a $115 million wood pellet manufacturing plant in George County’s Industrial Park, which it says will create 126 full-time jobs and produce about 500,000 metric tons of pellets to be shipped to European markets. Construction of the plant on a 120-acre site is expected to begin this fall.

It was the second plant in five months to announce plans to build in the George County Industrial Park and one of four wood pellet producers to have considered George County as home for their plants. Gulf Coast Renewable Energy announced plans in March to build a 320,000 metric ton-plant that would create 40 jobs and 288 indirect jobs. But, so far, plans have not yet materialized.

Green Circle’s arrival has also spurred infrastructure development for the George County Industrial Park as well as the Port of Pascagoula to support the industry.

In April, the state House of Representatives and Senate authorized a borrowing bill that included $10 million for the Port of Pascagoula. The port will put the $10 million toward the development of a specialized facility to support the state’s wood-pellet industry.

Port Director Mark McAndrews said at the time of the announcement that the center will be built in a terminal in its Bayou Casotte east harbor and will have a conveyor system, storage silos and a ship loader for receiving and shipping wood pellets.

The total cost will be $28 million to $30 million. The port and the terminal’s operating partner will pay the balance after the state’s $10 million, McAndrews said.

When Green Circle was in negotiations with George County, it was also in negotiations with the Port of Pascagoula. “The port authority wanted to make sure we were on the same page as they were,” Flanagan added. “They have to act independently, but it was a good, open relationship.

“For us, keeping this inside Mississippi is very important,” he said. “If we produce it in Mississippi, we want to ship it out from Mississippi.”

The product

Wood pellets are a refined biomass fuel. By “pelletizing” residual forest waste, sawdust and used wood pallets, millions of tons of waste can be put to work for the economy while enhancing the environment. The process utilizes parts of trees that do not meet sawmill specs — like the trucks or the tops.

Biomass energy proponents say wood pellet energy is carbon neutral, largely because regrowth of vegetation was believed to recapture and store the carbon that is emitted to the air. But some environmental groups have questioned the simplistic claim arguing that it depends on how the fuel is harvested, from what forest types and what kinds of forest management are applied.

Wood pellets pose no soil or water contamination risks. The Mississippi Biomass Council also states that a typical wood pellet plant will produce 70K tons of pellets per year, enough to supply one 250 MW generating plant with 5 percent of its fuel as co-fired biomass.

Basically, the wood is processed, ground into a paste and squeezed into pellets. In doing so, the moisture content is reduced from 50 to 60 percent down to about 5 percent, making it dense, stable for long-term storage and easily shippable. There are no additives.

Why now?

Wood pellet manufacturing has been around for years, but what’s driving the market right now is a mandate to reduce carbon emissions from power plants in Europe by 2020. When mixed with traditional coal, wood pellets can burn at the same heat and rate, but with a reduced carbon emission.

But while Green Circle is the latest news, Enviva Pellets has been operating an industrial plant in Wiggins since 2010, replacing Piney Wood Pellets, which produced more for residential use.

Enviva owns one other plant in Amory (Monroe County) and a third plant is operated by New Biomass Energy in Quitmann.

Enviva Wiggins is a 150,000-ton wood pellet manufacturing plant. It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

Elizabeth Woodworth, director marketing communications for Enviva, said the Wiggins site was the “right opportunity” and the “right combination.”

“It is a good business environment, has incredible forest resources that are robust and healthy for us and it’s also located near a deep-water port,” she said.

Enviva Pellets exports through the Port of Mobile and has no immediate plans to change.

Why here?

According to a study commissioned by the Mississippi Development Authority, forestland dominates the Mississippi landscape, covering about 65 percent of the state. This coverage provides an excellent woody biomass supply to support the bioenergy and biochemical industries. It is estimated that about 6.5 million dry tons of unutilized pulpwood and woody biomass residues are available for new bioenergy and biochemical development in Mississippi. In addition, annual timber growth exceeds harvests in the state by a ratio of 1:13:1, meaning that 1.3 units of timber are added to the state’s stocks for each unit harvested each year.

“This immediately struck me that here is an emerging energy market — there’s no better way to say it,” Flanagan said. “It will never be like coal or oil, but in the recycling energy market, wood pellets do not have a rival.”

Europe makes wood pellets as well, but its “wood basket” — the area of harvesting wood within a 50- to 70-mile radius — is not as big as it is in the certain areas of the United States. In choosing a potential site, manufacturers consider how many years one can harvest, replant and harvest again.

Green Circle President and CEO Morten Neraas said it was important in the process to have more trees growing than what are being taken.

“But you’ve got to have more than wood,” Flanagan said. “You don’t want to be too far away from the Coast.” And he said the combination of rail and highway transportation to the Port of Pascagoula put George County in a good position. Is it good for Mississippi?

Nash Nunnery with the MDA said it has been estimated that nearly 100 new jobs are created by a typical pellet plant, including plant operators and workers, loggers, landowners and truckers. Each plant requires delivery of up to 6,000 truckloads of wood biomass equating to around 2,500 truckloads of wood pellets to customers each year.

The latest figures from a 2010 report from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security found that biomass industry-related jobs, not just those involving the wood pellet industry, directly or indirectly employed nearly 187,000 Mississippians.

Woodworth said in addition to direct and in-direct jobs created, it also adds an incentive for forest owners to keep their forests intact “rather than using it for agriculture — or worse — developing into strip malls.”

She said her company “goes through the supply chain” to obtain the raw material — sometimes through sawmills and sometimes on private forestland.

“It (the industrial process) helps promote bio diversity and value to the forest owner,” she said. “Maybe that will help him decide to keep his forest a forest. Over history, we’ve seen direct a correlation.”

Pricing

Woodworth said that wood pellet relative cost is one of the lowest, second only to onshore wind sources.

“But because wood pellets uses current utility infrastructure, it saves the utility on capital costs to retrofit,” she said.

But while Europe is the company’s primary business partner, she hopes that domestic acceptance of biomass fuel sources and, in turn, domestic business will increase.

“In Europe, it’s not a political matter. It’s a given,” Woodworth said. “Here, it’s divisive. I’d love to see biomass take off. It’s good for the environment and it’s part of the puzzle to use.

“When we talk about the impact of Enviva, we don’t focus on the fact that it’s a new green economy,” Woodworth said. “We’re connected to managing jobs and getting the forest industry back on its feet.

“We’re excited to be in the South Mississippi business region,” she said. “ The area has high quality labor in manufacturing. “And what’s cool about Wiggins, is that this facility is part of a global energy future.”

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/09/4785036/once-powerful-logging-region-getting.html#storylink=cpy

German company to open wood pellet factory in Urania

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20130418/BUSINESS/304180018/German-company-open-wood-pellet-factory-Urania?nclick_check=1

Apr 18, 2013
Written by Jeff Matthews

The world’s largest wood pellet plant is coming to one of the smallest towns in Central Louisiana.

German Pellets will begin work immediately on a $300 million plant in Urania that is expected to create 500 jobs, officials with the company and Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance announced Wednesday. The plant is expected to be operational in the spring of 2014.


“We are ecstatic about the decision by German Pellets to locate in Urania,” said Rick Ranson, vice president-major employers for CLEDA. “German Pellets is a premier company and this is an historic announcement, not only for Urania and LaSalle Parish, but also the entire Central Louisiana region.”


“Pellet consumption worldwide is on the rise, especially in Europe,” said German Pellets Chief Executive Officer Peter Leibold. “This means that the construction of large production capacities is necessary.”


Demand for wood pellets from the European power plant market for the generation of electricity has risen sharply, according to a company release. There is also increasing demand for the product to generate heat for private consumers and larger scale users such as schools and hospitals.


Wood pellets are made from wood shavings and sawdust pressed into a cylindrical shape. The plant in Urania is expected to produce one million tons of pellets per year.


It’s the second major project recently announced in Central Louisiana involving the wood industry and renewable energy. Sundrop Fuels is building a plant near Alexandria that will convert wood waste and natural gas into gasoline.


CLEDA officials are hoping to see more in the future.

“There’s a lot of activity in that sector, so this is an important play for us,” said CLEDA President Jim Clinton. “Plus, it’s foreign direct investment. That’s what you always like to see, bringing in capital from outside the region.”


“I tell people wood is our oil,” Ranson said.

Founded in 2005, German Pellets is the leading manufacturer of wood pellets in Europe. Its first U.S. plant — in Woodville, Texas — has roughly half the capacity of the planned plant in Urania.

 

The Root of Georgia’s Pellet Boom

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/8795/the-root-of-georgiaundefineds-pellet-boom

Over 24 million acres of biomass, an attractive business climate and suite of incentives is keeping Georgia in the project spotlight.

By Chris Hanson | April 02, 2013

PELLET PUNDIT: RWE chose Waycross, Ga., for the location of the largest pellet plant in the world.

The late Ray Charles once said an old, sweet song kept Georgia on his  mind. Today, it’s the growing biomass production industry that is keeping pellet producers from forgetting the Empire State of the South.

Georgia’s forestry industry had every right to sing the blues during the Great Recession. In the years between 2006 and 2010, the industry lost 41,235 direct and indirect employees, dealing a horrible blow to Georgia’s second-largest industry and the 47 counties that are dependent on the state’s forests, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.

With the economy currently rebounding, however, the U.S. Southeast, especially  Georgia, has become a hotbed for biomass projects.  Georgia’s forestry industry is showing signs of stabilization as of 2011, due in part to the biomass industry. Herty Advanced Materials and Development Center, a "new product accelerator" aligned with Georgia Southern University, currently has 32 bioenergy projects, proposed or in operation, ranking it second in the nation––behind California with 33––according to Jill Stuckey, director of external relations. These projects are investing millions of dollars in rural communities hit hard by the recession and employing dozens of local residents, she says. Germany-based RWE Innogy located its wholly owned subsidiary Georgia Biomass LLC, one of the largest pellet plants in the world, at Waycross, Ga.

Neighboring states are experiencing slower development––Florida currently has 15 bioenergy projects and Alabama has eight. So what makes Georgia the Graceland of southern bioenergy? James Roecker, CEO of Georgia Biomass, says RWE’s decision to locate the company’s first U.S. facility in Georgia was influenced by several factors, largely, Georgia offers an abundant fiber supply in close proximity to the coast. “[And] the Savannah harbor we are utilizing has good capability to handle and ship wood pellets in bulk, and has proven capability and facilities to store and ship other bulk products,” he adds. There is also an established rail corridor that connects the fiber basket with the harbor, plus the city of Waycross has a healthy business climate and provided access to good labor talent, he says. “We received exceptional support from the local, economic development organization, the county, and the state of Georgia.”

Though it isn’t the sole factor, as evidenced by Roecker’s statements, an abundant—and growing—biomass supply is playing a major role in what’s being perceived as a pellet and biomass project boom.

More Biomass, More Business

Georgia has an estimated 24 million acres of trees, which have been growing roughly 30 percent above usage for the past few years, according to Craig Scroggs, a USDA Rural Business and Cooperative specialist. The state forestry commission says that of the 24 million acres, 92 percent is in private hands and ready for commercial use, the highest in the U.S.

Recognizing the value of its largest natural resources, Georgia takes great strides in sustaining its forested lands. According to the forestry commission, the state's forested land has remained stable since the 1950s, and has a greater volume than in the 1930s. Forest loss due to expanding cities is offset by converting old farm lands to forest, the commission says.  By responsibly managing its green sea, the forestry industry provides the perfect nest for bioenergy projects and other wood-related businesses. “We have more biomass than anyone in the nation except for Oregon—we plant trees like Iowa plants corn,” Stuckey says.

The business environment is the second reason pellet producers are making Georgia their home. State and local governments cooperate with existing and interested parties to create incentives and an efficient planning process, and it’s that business/government synergy that’s making things happen.
One example is Georgia’s Quick Start program. The program provides free workforce training to qualified businesses in the state, and each training program is tailor-made to the specific company. The program trained 80 employees at Georgia Biomass, and Roecker says the training included team dynamics, problem solving, communications and plant operations. He adds that he has received very favorable feedback from the involved employees.

One Stop Shop, a program established by Herty in 2005, is another tool pellet companies are utilizing. It acts as a networking forum for new and expanding businesses, and includes matching companies to universities and state and federal offices to expedite permitting and explain state and federal policies and procedures. Stuckey says other states have tried to duplicate the program, but was unaware if they were as successful. The Herty program has brought in billions of dollars of new companies to Georgia, and more are coming in, she says.

Herty’s newest pilot pellet mill, at Savannah, Ga., also demonstrates the cooperation between state organizations and private businesses. On Feb. 5, Herty announced the opening of the fully integrated pilot pellet mill, which will provide a facility for producers to validate process technology testing different pellet designs. The plant allows producers to lower risk by testing a pellet design without having to interrupt a plant’s production line.

Georgia also offers tax credits to taxpayers and biomass projects. Taxpayers are eligible for credits when they transport or divert wood waste to biomass facilities on a per-ton basis, and biomass projects are eligible for a clean energy property tax credit. The credit is available to businesses installing renewable energy products and can cover up to 35 percent of the cost.

Even the USDA invests in biomass projects in Georgia. Scroggs says that in 2012, the USDA Rural Development guaranteed a $9.6 million loan for SEGA Biofuels to retool its facility to produce a more desirable wood pellet, and other USDA programs utilized were the Rural Energy for America Program, Woody Biomass Utilization Grant, and the Advanced Biofuel Producer Program. To date, the USDA has invested up to $450 million in biomass projects in the state.

Although Georgia has the natural resources and the government and private programs that assist getting steel in the ground, the existing infrastructure is the last crucial piece of the biomass boom.

Ideal Infrastructure

The cohesion between road, rail, and shipping terminal creates the ideal logistic scenario for producers.  As of 2007, Georgia is crisscrossed with over 117,000 miles of public roads, including 18,000 miles of state highway and 1,000-plus miles of major interstate highway.  A $119 million expansion of the Jimmy DelLoach Parkway is one of the most recent updates to the state's road system. Set to come online in late 2015, the project is a four-lane extension from Interstate 95 to less than a mile from the Port of Savannah, and aims to make port traffic more efficient and less congested.

With more than 5,000 miles of rail, Georgia’s railroad system could stretch from Chicago to Moscow, attracting many  pellet producers to locate their facilities on or near this major line of transportation. Georgia Biomass and SEGA Biofuels are located on the CSX mainline to the Port of Savannah. At the ribbon cutting for Georgia Biomass, Hans Bünting, CEO of RWE Innogy, said the partnership between CSX rail yards and the port in Savannah was one of the most important factors in choosing a location for the project.

Although Georgia’s 100-mile coastline is shorter than its northern and southern neighbors, it is home to the fastest growing deep-water ports in the U.S, and their capabilities are being upgraded. The ports in Savannah and Brunswick are in the process of expanding or renovating their facilities. According to the Georgia Port Authority, Gov. Nathan Deal allocated more than $134.4 million and proposed another $46 million to deepen the Port of Savannah to accommodate super-sized container ships. The GPA predicts the expansion project will prepare the area for larger container ships and lower transportation costs.

Mostly known for its automobile import and export facility, the Port of Brunswick is also receiving a makeover from the state. In order to meet the growing demand for local biomass fuels, the GPA has upgraded the East River Terminal at the Port of Brunswick, which increased output to 1 million tons annually.

Economics 101 says with a boom, there must be a bust. As more and more biomass projects locate to Georgia, it seems that it is only a matter of time before pellet producers have to compete with each other, as well as other forestry-related industries, while remaining sustainable. Scroggs said although biomass production levels have been 20 to 30 percent higher than usage, tremendous growth in the pellet industry in Georgia will move the state towards a one-to-one production-to-usage ratio in the near future.

“The pellet industry is here now and has been really successful and really fast growing,” Stuckey says. While the pellet industry is a wonderful placeholder for the next 10 to 15 years, she adds, where the real future lies will be with companies that can afford to pay more for biomass feedstock to efficiently create crude oil products for drop-in fuel replacements, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. To avoid future feedstock conflicts, Herty is looking at other types of plants that grow faster than pine trees, such as miscanthus and the paulownia tree to create a more sustainable environment, as well as testing different pellet consistencies with Herty’s pilot pellet mill.

Roecker, too, is optimistic about the future. “We strategically located our Waycross facility to be in a fiber basket that is not shared by others in our industry or by sawmills along the coast,” he says. “Based on the studies we have participated in, all indications are that fiber supply will be plentiful for the foreseeable future.”

Author: Chris Hanson
Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine
701-738-4970
chanson@bbiinternational.com

Country forestry banquet set for Tuesday

http://dailysoutherner.com/community/x1221097993/Country-forestry-banquet-set-for-Tuesday

March 25, 2013
 

BY JOHN H. WALKER  

THE DAILY SOUTHERNER

 

TARBORO — Persons with an interest in the timber industry will gather Tuesday at the East Carolina Agriculture and Education Center for the annual Edgecombe County Forestry Banquet.

The meal portion of the event will get under way at 6:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 7:15

Clay Altizer, Utilization Forester for the North Carolina Forest Service, and Edward Sontag, director of fiber sourcing for Envira LP, will deliver the main presentations.

As recently as the third quarter of 2011, the forest products sector in North Carolina included 2,299 manufacturing facilities and provided 67,613 jobs and an annual payroll of $2.7 billion.

The overall economic benefit to the state was estimated at $23.8 billion with a total related work force of 178,498.

Sontag will talk about the future of palletized woody biomass.

Enviva is one of the largest manufacturers of processed biomass fuel in the form of 100 percent wood pellets in the United States and Europe.

Enviva operates a pellet facility in Ashokie capable of producing 350,000 metric tons of wood pellet annually and is scheduled to bring a 500,000 metric ton plant online in Northampton at mid-year.

Woody biomass is made up of the trees and woody plants, including limbs, tops, needles, leaves, and other woody parts, grown in a forest, woodland, or rangeland environment, that are the by-products of forest management.

The National Energy Policy Act, signed into law on August 8, 2005, recognized the importance of a diverse portfolio of domestic energy. The policy outlined 13 recommendations designed to increase America’s use of renewable and alternative energy. One of these recommendations directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Energy to re-evaluate access limitations to federal lands in order to increase renewable energy production, such as biomass, wind, geothermal, and solar.

On June 18, 2003, The Departments of Energy, Interior, and Agriculture announced an initiative to encourage the use of woody biomass from forest and rangeland restoration and hazardous fuels treatment projects. The three Departments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Policy Principles for Woody Biomass Utilization for Restoration and Fuel Treatment on Forests, Woodlands, and Rangelands, supporting woody biomass utilization as a recommended option to use to reduce hazardous fuels rather than burning or employing other on-site disposal methods.

In North Carolina, North Carolina General Statutes 105-277.2 through 105-277.7 provide an incentive for farmers and foresters to keep agricultural and forested land in those uses through property tax deferments as part of the use value program.

In order to qualify for forestry use, there must be at least 20 acres of forested land, and you must present to the tax assessor a Forestry Management Plan, showing the forested land is under a sound management program.

For more information, contact Bob Filbrun at 641-7815.

KiOR announces cellulosic diesel shipment, 2012 financial results

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/8745/kior-announces-cellulosic-diesel-shipment-2012-financial-results

By Erin Voegele | March 19, 2013

• 
  KiOR Inc. converts biomass into renewable diesel and gasoline products.
  KiOR Inc.

On March 18 KiOR Inc. announced the initial shipment of cellulosic diesel from its commercial-scale plant in Columbus, Miss. On the same day, the company reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012 as well as the entire fiscal year. According to the financial release, KiOR recorded its first revenues since inception during the fourth quarter 2012.

Fred Cannon, KiOR’s president and CEO, called the cellulosic diesel shipment a major step forward for his company, the biofuels industry, and the renewable fuels sector. “With first production at Columbus, KiOR has technology with the potential to resurrect each and every shut down paper mill in the country and to replace imported oil on a cost effective basis while creating American jobs,” he said. “This facility demonstrates the efficacy of KiOR's proprietary catalytic biomass-to-fuel process with the potential to deliver cellulosic gasoline and diesel to the U.S. We are proud to be making history in Mississippi. The technology is simply scalable and we believe sufficient excess feedstock exists in the Southeast alone to build almost fifty KiOR commercial scale facilities."

Cannon added that the U.S. EPA’s recent actions to qualify cellulosic gasoline for the renewable fuel standard (RFS) market and increase the gasoline blend rate to 25 percent have de-risked KiOR’s business strategy and created a market for the company’s hydrocarbon fuels that is nearly twice the size of the current ethanol market.

During the fourth quarter of 2012, KiOR posted a net loss of $29.7 million, compared to a net loss of $27 million during the prior quarter. Net loss for the full year was $96.4 million, compared to a net loss of $64.1 million in 2011.

KiOR recorded its first revenues since inception during the final three months of 2012. The $87,000 in revenue is attributed to the sale of blended cellulosic diesel from the company’s research and development facility. The fuel was blended with fossil diesel. The cost of revenue for the quarter was $68,000, and related to the first sale, including production, shipping and blending costs.
During a call to discuss the results, Cannon noted his company faces three primary risks: technology scale-up risk, regulatory risk, and financial risk. Since the last financial update was made in November, Cannon said KiOR has made substantial progress in addressing all three risks.

“A mitigation of scale-up risk due to commercial production of cellulosic gasoline and diesel at Columbus is a remarkable achievement by the KiOR team,” he said. “ In four years we have successfully achieved a 20,000 ton scale up in our proprietary biomass to fuels technology from proof of concept in our pilot plant to our demonstration plant and now to our first commercial scale facility at Columbus.”

While KiOR had previously stated it expected commercial shipments of biofuels to commence in late 2012, Cannon noted the company encountered unexpected startup issues unrelated to its technology, but has since overcome those normal startup issues and proven that KiOR’s biomass-to-fuels technology works at commercial scale. “In fact, we know now that our technology performs better in terms of quality as it is scaled,” he continued. “From very good oil at the very small pilot plant to even improved quality oil at the demo and now to our best ever quality oil made at Columbus. So high in quality we’re converting over 90 percent of our oil from Columbus into transportation fuel.” The conversion rate for conventional crude oil is only about 70 percent, he added.

Regarding regulatory risk, Cannon said that the EPA’s recent pathway rulemaking was the last hurdle to KiOR’s ability to fully participate in the mandated RFS2 market. “What this means is that every gallon of cellulosic gasoline and diesel that comes out of KiOR’s Columbus facility and all our future facilities will generate 1.5 or 1.7 cellulosic grams per gallon, which unlocks significant additional value for KiOR relative to nearly all other renewable fuel companies,” he said.

Cannon also spoke about EPA’s approval of an increased Part 79 registration for blending KiOR’s cellulosic gasoline at levels up to 25 percent. “At a 25 percent blend, KiOR has a 33 billion gallon per year domestic market for its cellulosic gasoline. This is more than the entire RFS2 renewable volume obligation in 2022. By comparisons, this is double the size of the ethanol market and without any blend wall limitations,” Cannon continued.

During the call, Cannon also addressed two factors he said KiOR believes will de-risk its funding risk. First, he said, is the achievement of milestones. Second, he continued, is flexibility. “In our experience, one of the best ways to drive value in any financing process, whether debt or equity, is to have the flexibility to raise financing when the market allows a company to maximize the value for its existing shareholders,” he said, noting that Alberta Investment Management Co. and Vinod Khosla have agreed to amend the loan agreement KiOR signed last year in order to give the company flexibility it needs from a liquidity perspective to drive financing for the Natchez facility.

“Specifically, we have increased the potential launch under the agreement from $75 million of current principal to $125 million, with affiliates of Vinod Khosla committed to funding that additional $50 million upon request from the company,” Cannon continued. “If funded, this additional funding would automatically convert into equity in connection with future financing for the Natchez project, which further enhances our flexibility going forward.”

New company to bring $25 million wood pellet plant to George County

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/03/new_company_to_bring_25_millio.html

By April M. Havens | gulflive.com
on March 04, 2013 at 10:04 AM, updated March 04, 2013 at 11:51 AM

LUCEDALE, Mississippi -- Gulf Coast Renewable Energy LLC plans to bring a $25 million wood pellet manufacturing facility to George County's industrial park, company officials announced Monday at the Board of Supervisors meeting.

The project will create 28 new jobs and 144 indirect jobs, company Vice President for Engineering Gary Ogle said.

It will produce about 160,000 metric tons of pellets per year, Ogle said, and the company also plans to double production within the next 3 years.

GCRE, a new company, will produce biomass for sale to European utilities, which will mix the pellets with coal to reduce their carbon emissions.

Offtake agreements are in place, mostly with utility companies in the United Kingdom, said Economic Development and Communication Director Ken Flanagan.

The plant should be producing pellets by the fourth quarter of 2014, Ogle said, and will take up to 14 months for construction.

"The timeline's getting tight," he told supervisors.

The company is buying from Mississippi Export Railroad about 40 acres that sit just south of Vulcan Materials on Industrial Road.

The company will tie into the existing railroad spur, and about 3 railroad cars of pellets will be sent to the port in Theodore, Ala., every 2 to 3 days, Flanagan said.

Ogle asked supervisors for help building an access road to the site and said he will work with Mississippi Power and the county for assistance with utilities and connections.

"We're glad y'all chose us," board President Kelly Wright said, noting the company represents "the type of growth we're looking to get."

Ogle told him, "George County always felt right from the beginning."

Ogle has experience building at least 3 wood pellet facilities over the last 10 years -- 1 each in Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas -- but this is the first under the new company, Flanagan said.

The pellets are made from a mix of soft and hard woods, including long and scrap timber. There is minimal waste in the process, as even the removed bark is used to fire the wood driers.

Flanagan said the facility will be a good fit for George County.

"It's an emerging energy business, not a smoke stack driven business," he said. "And it's a good step in showing what our industrial park has to offer, including highway access, a rail spur and a workforce that understands hard work."

Local businessman testifies before members of Congress

http://www.baxleynewsbanner.com/archives/4383-Local-businessman-testifies-before-members-of-Congress.html

Wednesday, February 20. 2013

 

By Jamie Gardner

Fram Renewable Fuels President Harold Arnold, at the invitation of Congressman John Barrow, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade on February 14 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The hearing, A Nation of Builders: Manufacturing in America, allowed members of Congress to examine manufacturing in America and to garner input from business leaders across the country.

“I’ve seen the great work the folks at Fram Renewables are doing right here in the 12th District of Georgia,” said Congressman Barrow.  “With expansion plans underway, Fram Renewables is creating jobs and pumping life into the economy, both in and around Baxley.  I look forward to welcoming them to Washington, and sharing their story with other members of the committee.”

Congressman Barrow, a member of both the full E&C Committee and CMT Subcommittee, visited Fram Renewables during his 2012 Made in Georgia Tour, and requested their participation in this hearing. The company manufactures and exports wholesale wood pellet fuel to utility companies globally.

Arnold offered his appreciation to the committee for the opportunity to speak and shared news about his company’s successes and future plans. Fram currently exports over 300,000 metric tons of wood pellets to Europe and has plans to increase to more than one million tons exported by 2015.

Arnold praised the U.S. Government for supporting businesses that increase American exports and thanked the government officials for assistance through the small business loan guarantee program. He further added to members of Congress that timely attention to American ports, such as Savannah and Brunswick, is vitally important to exporters as they rely on economical shipping rates to markets around the world.

Appling Pellets, Fram’s Baxley operation, opened for business in 2007 and provides approximately 40 jobs. The initial investment in the Appling facility was $25 million. The Baxley facility produces over 230,000 metric tons of wood pallets annually.

In 2012 the company opened a second facility in Lumber City and invested $10 million in this facility. The Lumber City operation employs 14 and creates 120,000 metric tons of wood pellets. Fram also broke ground on a third facility that will be built in Hazlehurst. The first phase of this project will employ approximately 50 people and require a $60 million investment. Eventually, phase two of this particular project will add another 25 jobs and an additional investment of $30 million. Arnold estimates that indirectly some 400 jobs will be retained or created in the various parts of the wood pellet supply chain.

While Arnold offered some words of praise to the U.S government, others that testified offered opposing views. As an example, one business owner of a steel company told members of congress that the U.S. government’s stringent regulations have been devastating to the steel industry across the country.

LSU AgCenter Commissions Advanced Biofuels Pilot Plant

http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/info/bf_articles.html?ID=129936

 Date Posted: January 28, 2013

St. Gabriel, LA—The fledgling biofuels and bioprocessing industry in the South took a step forward Friday, Jan. 25, with the formal commissioning of a pilot plant at the LSU AgCenter Audubon Sugar Institute.

This indicates success in several areas, said LSU AgCenter Vice Chancellor John Russin.

The infusion of federal funding will benefit the state and the sugar industry as well as the biofuels and bioprocessing industry and the rural economy, Russin said.

“This is an amalgam of a true team effort.”

The pilot plant is part of a larger project funded by a five-year, $17.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through its agriculture and food research initiative, said William Goldner, national program leader for sustainable bioenergy in the USDA Institute of Bioenergy, Climate and Environment.

The grant came as a result of a competitive peer review of proposals to create regional systems for sustainable production of biofuels and biobased products, Goldner said.

“We want to enhance existing agriculture and improve opportunities for rural communities.”

Dedicated to producing biofuels and biochemicals from agricultural crops and byproducts, the pilot plant is the centerpiece of the AgCenter’s Sustainable Bioproducts Initiative, said AgCenter project director Vadim Kochergin.

It will focus on processing sweet sorghum, energy cane and other grassy feedstocks into convertible sugars, fiber and bioproducts for further refining into butanol, gasoline, isoprene and biochemicals, he said.

The pilot plant is a scaled-down version of a typical sugar mill, said Juan Miguel Bueno, president and CEO of Manufacturera 3M, S.A. de C.V. in Cordoba, Mexico.

Bueno’s company fabricates sugar mills used in Louisiana, so his challenge was to design and produce the pilot plant.

“It’s exactly the same as a big mill but on a smaller scale,” Bueno said of the project that took about five months to engineer and manufacture.

“By developing new things, we can produce new energy and new resources,” he said.

The pilot plant is seen as a milestone for the project that Kochergin described as a “work in progress.”

“The facility can be scaled up to any capacity,” Kochergin said. “The focus is on primary processing of sweet sorghum, energy cane and other grassy feedstocks.

"We can facilitate projects targeting evaluation and validation of technologies as well as training of research and operating personnel.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity to identify potential feedstocks, not only for Louisiana but all of the South,” said Carrie Castille, associate commissioner for government affairs and science advisor in the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

“This project will provide long-term, lifecycle assessment for continued crop production with respect to weather,” Castille said.

Louisiana is in a unique position for feedstock production, and lifecycle assessment will provide information on how various crops perform during different weather patterns, such as drought.

“The benefits this facility will give to Louisiana landowners is forward thinking,” said Klein Kirby, chairman of A. Wilbert’s Sons, LLC, a leading Louisiana land development company.

“This is a huge tool for the Louisiana sugar industry, for the processors and for the landowners,” Kirby said.

For more information, call 225-578-5839.

USDA funds MSU biofuel study

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121222/BIZ/312220019/USDA-funds-MSU-biofuel-study?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

10:16 PM, Dec 21, 2012  

 A team of Mississippi State University agricultural economists recently received U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to study policies impacting biofuel supply chains.

Keith Coble is the principal investigator for a project to develop a model to assess how state or federal policies might affect the development of the Southeastern biofuels industry. Coble will work with fellow MSU agricultural economists Daniel Petrolia and J. Corey Miller. Their work will evaluate the effects of risk, incentives and environmental policy on economic sustainability.

All three researchers are affiliated with MSU’s Sustainable Energy Research Center, which researches and develops environmentally and economically sustainable energy technologies that promote the growth of sustainable energy industries in Mississippi and the Southeast, according to an MSU news release.

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the $273,120 grant through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

USDA Grants Support Sustainable Bioenergy Production

http://www.nifa.usda.gov/newsroom/news/2012news/12141_afri_bioenergy.html

Media Contact: Jennifer Martin, (202) 720-8188

LANSING, Mich., Dec. 14, 2012—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $10 million in research grants to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help create jobs. Vilsack highlighted the announcement today with a visit to Michigan State University, a grant awardee. The Secretary also pointed to a recent study released by Iowa State University (ISU), and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which finds that while the use of biobased products in automobile manufacturing is increasing, there are still many parts in the top-selling automobiles manufactured in the United States that may be replaced with biobased materials. 

“USDA and President Obama are committed to producing clean energy right here at home, to not only break our dependence on foreign oil, but also boost rural economies,” said Vilsack. “These projects will give us the scientific information needed to support biofuel production and create co-products that will enhance the overall value of a biobased economy. Today, with a strong and diversified U.S. agricultural sector, the American automobile industry has a greater incentive for expanding use of biobased products while supporting good-paying jobs here in the United States.”

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded the grants through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI’s sustainable bioenergy challenge area targets the development of regional systems for the sustainable production of bioenergy and biobased products that: contribute significantly to reducing dependence on foreign oil; have net positive social, environmental, and rural economic impacts; and are compatible with existing agricultural systems.

The long-term goal for the research projects, which were selected through a highly competitive process, is to implement sustainable regional systems that materially deliver liquid transportation biofuels to help meet the Energy Independence and Security Act goal of 36 billion gallons per year of biofuels by 2022. The programs focus on the many environmental, social and economic benefits and trade-offs associated with decisions and policies regarding the where, when, and how of national and regional biofuels development. Projects were awarded in four areas: 1) policy options for and impacts on regional biofuels production systems, 2) impacts of regional bioenergy feedstock production systems on wildlife and pollinators, 3) socioeconomic impacts of biofuels on rural communities, and 4) environmental implications of direct and indirect land use change.

Fiscal year 2012 awards include:

• University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., $36,000
• Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz., $350,000
• University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., $345,689
• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $496,996
• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.,  $497,851
• Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, $493,210
• University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $499,009
• University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $350,000
• Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich., $349,695
• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $498,786
• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $349,996
• Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Miss., $273,120
• University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., $499,447
• Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Mo., $94,258
• Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, N.J., $349,963
• Duke University, Durham, N.C., $349,084
• University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla., $466,534
• Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., $349,624
• Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., $149,977
• Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., $348,959
• Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., $50,000
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn., $350,000
• Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $255,972
• Texas AgriLife Extension, College Station, Texas, $499,619
• Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., $349,993
• West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.V., $349,952
• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., $496,109
• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., $345,327
• USDA Agricultural Research Service, Peoria, Ill., $500,000

AFRI is NIFA’s flagship competitive grant program and was established under the 2008 Farm Bill. AFRI supports work in six priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition and health; renewable energy, natural resources and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities.

Each award was made through a competitive selection process. An external peer review panel reviewed all proposals and made award decisions based on scientific merit to the best and brightest scientists across the nation.

The ISU report, Biobased Automobile Parts Investigation, shows that “the history of biobased automobile parts begins early in the development of automobiles themselves. During the 1930s, automobile pioneer Henry Ford began developing soy-based automobile parts.” The report goes on to highlight how a variety of U.S. automobile manufacturers are showing a greater commitment to exploring biobased options, and provides a variety of resources for policymakers and other decision-makers interested in exploring the issue. 

Creating new markets for the nation's agricultural products through biobased manufacturing is one of the many steps the Obama Administration has taken over the past four years to strengthen the rural economy. Since August 2011, the White House Rural Council has supported a broad spectrum of rural initiatives including a Presidential Memorandum to create jobs in rural America through biobased and sustainable product procurement; a $350 million commitment in SBA funding to rural small businesses over the next 5 years; launching a series of conferences to connect investors with rural start-ups; creating capital marketing teams to pitch federal funding opportunities to private investors interested in making rural connections; and making job search information available at 2,800 local USDA offices nationwide.