Burning Bio News

A new company, called Point Bio Energy, LLC, is developing a $124 million wood pellet project at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in Louisiana. The 400,000 metric ton per year wood pellet facility will receive the feedstock for the plant from the underutilized wood basket in the Baton Rouge area as well as by barge from the Mississippi River, Atchafalaya River, Red River, and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Confluence Energy, Kremmling, CO, tries to rebound after tough winter for biomass industry. The company has about 2,000 tons of wood pellets are bagged and stacked at their plant. Last fall, the regional pellet markets became saturated, heating oil prices dipped — causing consumers to look less for alternative fuel sources — the economic recession struck and a mild winter dropped demand for pellets even further, creating what Confluence Energy plant owner Mark Mathis called “the worst year (the pellet industry) has ever had.”

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge, LA, will become the site of a $124 million wood pellet-making plant. Point Bio Energy LLC of Baton Rouge will employ between 85 and 100 people and have an annual production capacity of 400,000 to 450,000 tons a year.

A recent report from the North American Wood Fiber Review confirms what many livestock producers already know. The market for wood fuel pellets is smoking hot. It has dramatically reduced local availability of sawdust and wood chips and fueled the market for one-time cheap bedding. Average sawdust prices in the U.S. Northwest were $28 per oven-dry metric ton (ODMT) in 2004, peaked at $74 per ODMT in late 2008, then declined to $64 during third-quarter 2009. Prices in other U.S. regions have followed a similar pattern.

Sunflower hulls are made into pellets at Dove Creek (CO) at San Juan Bioenergy. San Juan is extruding food-grade oil from the more than 10,000 acres of sunflowers and safflowers grown in that corner of the state. Some of the sunflower hulls and other green waste from the plants power San Juan’s own gasification plant. The rest of the pellets are trucked to Silverton for the first large-scale use of sunflower hull pellets for heat in the state.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Heating Plant will conduct test burns to replace a portion of the coal it burns with wood pellets. The test burn — replacing 10-15 percent of the coal with the wood pellets — will help the university determine if the wood pellet mix is a viable biofuel option that may help UW-Eau Claire reduce the amount of coal it burns.

RWE Innogy of Germany and BMC of Sweden will invest $150 million to build a “green energy” wood pellet plant on 300 acres in Waycross (Georgia)’ Industrial Park. When completed, the plant will produce 750,000 tons of wood pellets annually. That much product will do more than create 75 jobs.

The wood pellet industry is poised for expansion. An Arkansas start-up, NexGen Biomass, announced plans to build 150-employee plant capable of producing 440,000 tons of pellets a year on the site of a former saw mill in El Dorado. It is the second such investment in the state this year, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In August, Phoenix Renewable Energy started construction on a $110 million pellet processing facility in Camden, Ark. Both are responding to Europe’s rapidly growing appetite for biomass fuel. The Pellet Fuels Institute, based in Washington, estimates that North American production reached about 6.2 million metric tons in 2009.

RenewaFuel LLC is moving forward on establishing its 150,000 ton per year, biomass cube facility in Marquette, WI. RenewaFuel intends to move forward with a lease agreement for the use of two large aircraft hangars, which formerly housed B-52 aircraft when the facility was part of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. Their goal is to begin production by mid 2010. Their biofuel cubes have about the same energy as coal, but emit 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, 35 percent less particulate matter and 30 percent less acid gases than coal.

CN (Canadian National) - North America’s largest mover of forest products - is on track to haul more than 800,000 tons of wood pellets (http://www.cn.ca/woodpellets) this year and sees more opportunities in the future for this “green” source of heating energy. “Since 2005, we have experienced a 16 per cent compounded annual growth in our wood pellet traffic, and we see growing potential for this business in domestic and international markets,” said James Foote, executive vice-president, Sales and Marketing.

Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel LLC, a Holland-based manufacturer of fuel pellets for heating, plans to expand its workforce as it struggles to keep up with demand. The 3-year-old company has gone from operating one shift five days a week to operating three shifts seven days per week with 25 employees.

Magnolia BioPower LLC announced plans for a $130 million factory in Brantley County, FL, that will turn waste forest products into fuel pellets and electricity. When all phases are operating, the plant will turn out a million tons of wood pellets a year and generate 30 megawatts of electricity, officials said. Half of the power generated (15 MW) will be used on site.

The Lee Energy Solution 75,000 ton per year pellet mill in Crossville, AL is nearing completion. The feedstock is forest slash and one of the target markets is as a fuel to heat poultry houses.

Five weeks after an explosion rocked the newly-opened Geneva Wood Fuels LLC pellet mill, the owners learned they would receive a $500,000 economic-recovery loan from the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME). The 140,000-ton-per-year wood pellet mill in Strong became operational in March 2009. The early-morning explosion on Aug. 8 damaged the dryer portion of the manufacturing facility. FAME’s assistance will allow the company to get a jump-start on rebuilding the mill until insurance proceeds are received.

Iowa entrepreneur, Cindy Williams, owns Pellet Pros, a home-use pellet mill. There are several sizes of personal-use machines that have a production range from 65 pounds per hour to 600 pounds per hour with starting prices of around $2,600. Hammer mills are used to reduce the size of biomass, or organic material, before it is put through the pellet mill that actually makes the pellets. Hammer mills will grind straw, switch grass, wood chips and corn stalks and other biomass to size for all pellet mills. Williams will work with clients to develop the proper ‘recipe’ for making good fuel pellets.

Carolina Wood Pellets LLC, a new manufacturing business in south Macon County, is in production after several years of planning and development and has begun selling its product. This new pellet mill is estimated to have a 10,000 ton per year production capacity.

As homeowners plan for winter heating, they may qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $1,500 if they purchase and install a 75-percent efficient wood- or pellet-burning (biomass) stove in 2009 or 2010. Thirty-percent of the total cost, including the appliance, installation and piping, can be claimed.

Dixie Pellets in Selma, MS, has closed for what is hoped to be a temporary basis. Dixie Pellets began operation in 2008 in Selma, MS. Initially the Selma-based plant had expected to ship two million tons of the wood pellets each year.

Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie (MI) is studying the potential of reed canary grass (RCG) pellets as an environmentally friendly and economical heating fuel, as well as a possible economic stimulant for the Eastern Upper Peninsula. LSSU biology department head Gregory Zimmerman has identified two superior recipes: One utilizes brewers grains with RCG, and the other mixes fryer grease and cardboard with RCG.

Progress on the 90,000 ton per year Indeck Pellet Mill has not progressed as planned. Pike County, MS, Supervisors have approved the road development of the rail spur, but Indeck financing is experiencing some delays.