January 2015 Biomass Magazine

January 2015

Maintenance Matters Exploring the Vital Role that Effective O&M Plays at Successful Facilities

Plus: Outsourcing Biogas O&M Page 36

And:

Managing Dust To Ensure Safe Pellet Production Page 24

www.biomassmagazine.com

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INSIDE ¦ -DQXDU\

JANUARY 2015 | VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 1

Maintenance Matters

MAINTENANCE MUSCLE: Joel Sadden,

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Fuel Handler at Koda Energy in Shakopee, Minn. is one of many sets of hands that keep that facility operating in top form.

PHOTO: TIM PORTZ, BBI INTERNATIONAL

06 EDITOR’S NOTE It’s In the Way that You Use it

By Tim Portz

07 INDUSTRY EVENTS 08 BUSINESS BRIEFS 10 BIOMASS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE 46 MARKETPLACE

CORRECTION:

In the October issue of Biomass Magazine, in article Achieving Sustainability Goals, it incorrectly stated that “Wildlife may benefit through the return of native plant communities that are among the most highly diminished of any in the world (less than a 99 percent loss),” rather than a more than a 99 percent loss. It also made a recommendation for energy crop harvest to leave less than 10 inches of residual stubble, but should have read more than 10 inches.

18 POWER 16 NEWS 17 COLUMN EPA’s Biogenic Carbon Framework: A New Chapter For Biomass

By Bob Cleaves

18 FEATURE Tuning A Power Station's Turbine Heart The efficiency and, ultimately, the profitability of a biomass power plant relies upon the continuous maintenance of the facility’s steam turbines.

By Katie Fletcher

PELLETS 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 service@bbiinternational. com. Advertising Biomass Magazine provides a specific topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To find out more about Biomass Magazine advertising opportunities, please contact us at 701-746-8385 or service@ bbiinternational.com. 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 asimet@bbiinternational. com. Please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.

22 NEWS 23 COLUMN Transitioning From Pulverized Coal To Pulverized Pellets

By William Strauss

24 FEATURE Combustible Dust An Explosive Issue Pellet plant operators continue to drive dust control measures into their operational plan, preferring to eliminate the accumulation of dust before it can become a hazard.

By Katie Fletcher

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 3

REASON

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BREAKTHROUGHS

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So visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com.

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INSIDE ¦

ADVERTISER INDEX¦

JANUARY 2015 | VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 1 2015 Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

46

2015 International Biomass Conference & Expo

14

Airoflex Equipment

22

Andritz Feed & Biofuel A/S

26

Astec, Inc.

2

BBI Project Development

15

Bois Energie 2015

9

Continental Biomass Industries

8

CPM Roskamp Champion

44

DI PIÙ

30

European Biomass Conference & Exhibition

21

Evergreen Enginering

28

Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc.

39

Iowa Economic Development Authority

4

Javo U.S.A., Inc.

40

KEITH Manufacturing Company

THERMAL 30 NEWS 31 COLUMN What EPA Leadership Looks Like

By John Ackerly

32 FEATURE Preventative Maintenance Protocols For Commercial Biomass Boilers A manufacturer of biomass boilers offers operators some guidance on the routine maintenance necessary to keep biomass appliances running as efficiently as their fossil-fueled cousins.

By Grant Gagner

7

New Holland Agriculture

48

M-E-C Company

16

Morbark, Inc.

47

TerraSource Global

20

Vector Systems Inc.

34

Verdante BioEnergy Services

33

Warren & Baerg Manufacturing Inc.

45

Wolf Material Handling Systems

38

34 BIOGAS 34 NEWS 35 COLUMN Biogas and Fuel Cells: A Marriage of Old Ideas, New Technologies

By Bud DeFlaviss

36 FEATURE Mitigating Operational Risk New Jersey-based Natural Systems Utilities leverages deep biological expertise to help keep digester projects at peak output.

By Tim Portz

ADVANCED BIOFUELS & CHEMICALS 40 NEWS 41 COLUMN Hope vs Change

COPYRIGHT © 2015 by BBI International

By Michael McAdams

Biomass Magazine: (USPS No. 5336) January 2015, Vol. 9, Issue 1.

Biomass Magazine is published monthly by BBI International. Principal Office: 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Grand Forks, North Dakota and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Biomass Magazine/Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203.

42 CONTRIBUTION Managing Rail Bottlenecks Conventional biofuel and increasingly advanced biofuel producers eye looming winter rail bottlenecks and consider operational approaches to align production volumes with the distribution bandwidth available.

By Karla Harper

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5

¦EDITOR’S NOTE

It's in the Way that You Use It There is a concrete causeway between two rows of evenly spaced saccharification tanks at the Project Liberty cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. In early September, at the facility’s grand opening celebration, I joined what I think is fair to call a throng of other journalists in this causeway waiting for the day’s best photo opportunity. The King TIM PORTZ VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT of the Netherlands along with POET-DSM & EXECUTIVE EDITOR tportz@bbiinternational.com executives would make their way down this alley of sorts against a backdrop of carefully stacked corn stover bales. The event organizers rightly figured this spot to offer the assembled photographers the best opportunity for the one image that told the story of the day. Shutters snapped as the king approached and after some handshaking, he stepped through an open doorway making a left and disappeared from sight.

Earlier that day, I had made the same left. The guts of the facility is a tangle of tanks, piping and ductwork. Just beyond the distillation and fermentation infrastructure is a small, nondescript room that may well be the most important 600 square feet in the entire advanced biofuels segment. This control room is anything but photogenic, but the critical role it will play in bringing that facility up to capacity and keeping it there cannot be overstated.

This control room serves as the nerve center of the plant and provides plant personnel with real-time access to over 10,000 data points. After all of the celebration and eye-popping photo ops, this humble nerve center and the control rooms like it across the industry will be where the fate of cellulosic conversion will be decided.

In this month’s issue of Biomass Magazine, we closely examine industry operations and management programs and how they are deployed. None of us in this industry are immune to the awe that big, shiny new facilities can impart whether it’s a community digester, an export scale pellet plant or a cellulosic ethanol production facility like Project Liberty. This issue’s quarterly installment of our popular Biomass Construction Update is loaded with them.

That said, without effective operation, these facilities will make little more than good photographs. Going further, unless a facility’s operational strategy is best in class, delivering a return on investment is far from assured.

The stories in this issue explore how solid operations and maintenance programs not only drive performance risk out of capital intensive projects, but also reduce downtime while increasing overall plant safety.

EDITORIAL PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF Tom Bryan tbryan@bbiinternational.com VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR Tim Portz tportz@bbiinternational.com MANAGING EDITOR Anna Simet asimet@bbiinternational.com NEWS EDITOR Erin Voegele evoegele@bbiinternational.com STAFF WRITER Katie Fletcher kfletcher@bbiinternational.com COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann jtellmann@bbiinternational.com

ART ART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Burslie bburslie@bbiinternational.com

PUBLISHING & SALES CHAIRMAN Mike Bryan mbryan@bbiinternational.com CEO Joe Bryan jbryan@bbiinternational.com VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS Matthew Spoor mspoor@bbiinternational.com SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR John Nelson jnelson@bbiinternational.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Howard Brockhouse hbrockhouse@bbiinternational.com SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Chip Shereck cshereck@bbiinternational.com ACCOUNT MANAGER Jeff Hogan jhogan@bbiinternational.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry jbeaudry@bbiinternational.com TRAFFIC & MARKETING COORDINATOR Marla DeFoe mdefoe@bbiinternational.com

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Chris 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

6 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

INDUSTRY EVENTS¦ Le Salon Bois Energie 2015 MARCH 19-22, 2015

Parc Expo Nantes, France The Salon Bois Energie is a unique Exhibition in France dedicated to the entire wood energy chain. It is the benchmark event for wood energy. Being staged in 2015 in Nantes, already welcoming 20 countries through its doors, the Salon Bois Energie is the international show place and meeting point for the French market. This distinctive event is reputed for bringing wood energy to life with indoor operational stoves and fireplaces, outdoor wood fuel machinery demonstrations, exhibitors from all across Europe, conferences, and innovation awards. +33 (0)3-84-86-89-30 | www.boisenergie.com

International Biomass Conference & Expo APRIL 20-22, 2015

Minneapolis Convention Center Minneapolis, Minnesota Organized 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 manufacturers, project developers, investors and policy makers. It’s a true one-stop shop—the world’s premier educational and networking junction for all biomass industries.

866-746-8385 | www.biomassconference.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo JUNE 1-4, 2015

Minneapolis Convention Center Minneapolis, Minnesota The FEW provides the global ethanol industry with cutting-edge content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dynamic business-tobusiness environment. The FEW is the largest, longest running ethanol conference in the world—and the only event powered by Ethanol Producer Magazine.

866-746-8385 | www.fuelethanolworkshop.com

National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo OCTOBER 26-28, 2015

Hilton Omaha Omaha, Nebraska Produced by BBI International, this national event will feature the world of advanced biofuels and biobased chemicals—technology scale-up, project finance, policy, national markets and more—with a core focus on the industrial, petroleum and agribusiness alliances defining the national advanced biofuels industry. With a vertically integrated program and audience, 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 renewable molecules that have the potential to meet or exceed the performance of petroleum-derived products.

866-746-8385 | www.advancedbiofuelsconference.com

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 7

Business Briefs PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPS

ABO announces board changes The Algae Biomass Organization has appointed Tim Burns, co-founder and a board member of Bioprocess Algae LLC, as chair of its board of directors. Martin Sabarsky, CEO of Cellana Inc., has been appointed vice president of the board of directors. The previous chair, Margret McCormick, CEO of Matrix Genetics, maintains a position on the board.

Burns

Sabarsky

ADBA changes name The Anaerobic Digestion & Biogas Association has changed its name to the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association in response to a rapidly changing political and economic landscape. Central

to this decision is the recognition that, as new technologies and products develop, there will be opportunities to innovate and incorporate them with anaerobic digestion to improve profitability and sustain the industry’s growth.

of lockout-tagout services and solutions.

ESC’s unique methodology utilizes quick response codes that can be scanned to obtain asset information and streamline compliance with both external regulations and internal safety policies.

EPA recognizes Amyris, Solazyme The U.S. EPA has recognized two biorefining companies with Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards.

Amyris Inc. was recognized for engineering yeast to make a renewable fuel replacement for petroleum diesel. Solazyme Inc. was recognized for developing novel oils from sugar and engineered algae in a way that significantly reduces the environmental effects that typically occur in producing and processing petroleum-based or plant-based oils.

AREVA signs contract with BOLT Energias AREVA has signed a contract with Brazilian utility BOLT Energias for the construction of the Campo Grande biomass power plant in the state of Bahia. Once completed, the 150 MW plant will be the largest biomass facility in the country. Under the contract, AREVA will provide engineering, procurement and construction services for Campo Grande, a plant composed of three 50 MW modules and fueled with woody biomass. The facility is scheduled to connect to the national grid in mid-2017.

Rockwell Automation acquires assets of ESC Services Rockwell Automation Inc. has purchased the assets of ESC Services Inc., a global hazardous energy control provider

Tecogen supplies equipment to biogas project Tecogen Inc. has sold its proprietary emissions reduction system to the Eastern

CBI Magnum Force Flail Debarker & Microchipping System Custom Built with Pride for Rentech

WorldÊs Best Portable and Stationary Biomass Recovery Systems Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. • 22 Whittier Street, Newton, NH 03858 USA • (603) 382-0556 • www.cbi-inc.com

8 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

BUSINESS BRIEFS¦

Municipal Water District in Perris, California.

The system will be a larger-scale version of Tecogen’s Ultra emission after-treatment product. It will be applied to a 48-liter engine fueled with biogas at EMWD’s Moreno Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility.

Professor honored in Canada Robin Rogers has been named Canada excellence research chair in green chemistry and green chemicals at McGill University. Rogers comes to Canada from The University of Alabama, where he was Rogers Robert Ramsay chair of chemistry and director of the center for Green manufacturing.

Ansell installs second biogas boiler Ansell has announced the completion of its second biomass boiler at the Ansell factory complex in Biyagama, Sri Lanka.

The new boiler has a capacity of 12.5 MW

and will be the largest hot water boiler in Sri Lanka. Ansell Lanka already has a 10.5 MW boiler installed at its premises.

Synagro Technologies appoints CEO Synagro Technologies has named Stephen Cole as president and CEO. He has executive experience leading sales, marketing, manufacturing operations, business development and logistics functions. Cole previously served as an industrial advisor for EQT Holdings/EQT Partners. He also previously served as CEO of SVM Inc. Synagro Technologies has also announced the addition of Mary Lynn Smedinghoff as vice president and chief human resources officer. She will be responsible for developing the strategic direction and formulation of all company human resource policies, procedures, systems and initiatives in alignment with the strategic direction and expansion of Synagro. Smedinghoff most recently served as executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Veolia Environnement.

Metso provides equipment to biomass plant in Poland Metso will supply an innovative superheater corrosion management solution to Tauron Cieplp sp. zo.o’s combined-heat-andpower plant in Tychy, Poland, in cooperation with Valmet. The solution enables the power plant to extend the lifetime of its superheater in the 35 MW unit’s biomass-fired bubbling fluidized bed boiler, maximize fuel flexibility, optimize fuel economy and lower its environmental impact.

Pennsylvania funds AD project The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority has provided a $546,382 grant to Drew Remley Farm to aid in the purchase and installation of an anaerobic digestion at its farm located in Liberty Township.

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 evoegele@bbiinternational.com. Please include your name and telephone number in all correspondence.

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 9

Biomass CONSTRUCTION UPDATE Biomass Power

Pellets

Biogas

Thermal

Advanced Biofuel

New Technologies Revive Old Facilities by Steve Stucko Looking at the following profiles two clear themes emerge: The repurposing of closed or idled facilities, and the move of new technologies from the lab to pilot, demonstration or full scale facilities.

Both Rentech pellet facilities, Atikokan and Wawa, were shuttered wood fiber facilities. E-Pellets Group is pursuing a similar development strategy as it has acquired a Louisiana Pacific oriented strand board (OSB) mill in Athens for its pellet facility.

These companies are exploiting the existing structures, equipment, transportation resources and even the existing workforce while avoiding many of the issues associated with siting a new facility.

Additionally, the Escanaba Generating Station was a municipally owned coal facility that was being closed when it was purchased

by Escanaba Green Energy for conversion to biomass and tirederived fuel (TDF). In a similar move Marquette Green Energy is finalizing the purchase of a shuttered coal fired plant, which powered the now closed K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base.

Marquette Green Energy plans to return it to service with biomass and TDF as well, selling excess heat to other civilian industries that are taking up locations on the closed base.

The emerging technologies profiled include completion of a number of facilities with multiple

energy coproducts such as Abengoa’s 25 MMgy cellulosic ethanol facility in Kansas where the facility produces more electricty than it requires to operate. A new proprietary process to be installed at Mendota Bioenergy’s Demo Plant uses energy beets to produce ethanol, biogas and electricity in addition to fertilizer.

This quarter’s Biomass Construction Update is peppered with projects that are exploiting location selection and technology advancements as they look to maximize their project’s productivity, resource use, coproduct utilization and financial viability.

Escanaba Generating Station, Escanaba Green Energy LLC Location

Escanaba, Michigan

Engineer/builder

N/A

Primary fuel

Waste wood, tire-derived fuel

Boiler type

Stoker

Nameplate capacity

23 MW

Combined heat and power

Yes

Government incentives

None

IPP or utility

IPP

Groundbreaking date

TBD

Start-up date

TBD

The facility has been purchased and financing required for fuel conversion is nearing completion.

Escanaba Generating Station PHOTO: ESCANABA GREEN ENERGY

Marquette Green Energy Location

Belleville, Michigan

Engineer/builder

Steam Control Systems Inc.

Primary fuel

Tire-derived fuel, wood, waste wood

Boiler type

Bubbling fluidized bed boiler

Nameplate capacity

34 MW

Combined heat and power

Yes

Government incentives

CRA and New Markets Tax Credit Qualified including green bonds

IPP or utility

IPP

Groundbreaking date

TBD

Start-up date

TBD

Proposed retrofit of an existing generating facility that was part of KI Sawyer Air Force Base prior to closure of the base.

10 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Marquette Green Energy PHOTO: MARQUETTE GREEN ENERGY

CONSTRUCTION UPDATEÂŚ Conifex Power, Mackenzie Generating Station

Thunder Bay Generating Station, Ontario Power Generation

Location

Mackenzie, British Columbia

Location

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

Engineer/builder

Spectrum Energy/Clean Energy/JV Driver

Engineer/builder

N/A

Primary fuel

Hog fuel, wood shavings, forest residues

Primary fuel

Advanced biomass pellets

Boiler type

ABB ICFB Boiler

Boiler type

Suspension fire system

Nameplate capacity

36 MW

Nameplate capacity

150 MW

Combined heat and power

Yes

Combined heat and power

No

Government incentives

N/A

Government incentives

10-year PPA

IPP or utility

IPP contracting to BC Hydro

IPP or utility

Provincial utility

Groundbreaking date

November 2013

Groundbreaking date

2nd half 2014

Start-up date

Anticipating Q1 2015

Start-up date

Q2 2015

Start up was delayed due to electrical equipment failure during a 72-hour test run in October.

This facility is no longer burning coal and the construction plan is progressing.

E-Pellets Group - Athens Location

Athens, Georgia

Design/builder

N/A

Export Port

Savannah, Georgia

Export location

European Union

Pellet Grade

Industrial premium pellets

Capacity

450,000 metric tons

Feedstock

Yellow pine

Groundbreaking date

N/A

Startup date

August 2015

This shuttered Louisiana Pacific OSB mill will be converted it into a wood pellet production facility.

E-Pellets Group-Athens PHOTO: GOOGLE

Rentech Inc. - Atikokan

Project Complete

Rentech Inc. - Wawa

Location

Atikokan, Ontario

Location

Wawa, Ontario

Design/builder

N/A

Design/builder

N/A

Export Port

Port of Ontario

Export Port

Port of Ontario

Export location

Europe

Export location

UK (Drax)

Pellet Grade

Industrial premium pellets

Pellet Grade

Industrial premium pellets

Capacity

100,000 metric tons

Capacity

450,000 metric tons

Feedstock

Crown Forest Wood

Feedstock

Crown forest wood

Groundbreaking date

2014

Groundbreaking date

2014

Startup date

November 2014

Startup date

1Q 2015

This project has a 10-year off-take contract with Ontario Power Generation for 45,000 tons annually.

Major equipment is in place. Drying, bark furnace and both log cranes have been commissioned.

Biomass Secure Power Natchitoches, Biomass Secure Power

Zilkha Biomass Selma, Zilkha Biomass Energy

Location

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Location

Selma, Alabama

Design/builder

Biomass Secure Power

Design/builder

Zilkha Biomass Fuels

Export Port

Port of New Orleans

Export Port

Port of Mobile

Export location

Europe, Asia

Feedstock

Mostly softwood, some hardwood

Pellet Grade

Industrial premium pellets

Pellet Grade

Zilkha Black Pellets, premium

Capacity

3 lines, 340,000 metric tons each

Annual capacity

275,000 metric tons

Feedstock

Softwood, 30 percent hardwood

Export location

Europe

Groundbreaking date

January/February 2015

Groundbreaking date

April 2014

Startup date

Q1 2016

Start-up date

2015

Construction will start after completion of financing, which is expected in January.

Construction is continuing on schedule for completion in early 2015.

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 11

Biomass Power

Pellets

Biogas

Thermal

Advanced Biofuel

Snow Timber Pellets, Snowbelt Hardwoods Location

Hurley, Wisconsin

Design/builder

Bliss, Hamer, Orion

Export port

N/A

Export location

N/A

Pellet Grade

Residential

Annual Capacity

12,000-15,000 tons

Feedstock

Hardwood

Groundbreaking date

September 2014

Startup date

November 2014

Project Complete

Construction and startup went very smoothly and and pellets are being shipped.

Snow Timber Pellets PHOTO: SNOW TIMBER PELLETS

Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas LLC, Abengoa Bioenergy

Project Genesis, Cool Planet Energy Systems

Location

Hugoton, Kansas

Location

Alexandria, Louisiana

Design/builder

Abengoa Bioenergy New Technologies

Design/builder

N/A

Process technology

Proprietary process

Process technology

Cool Planet proprietary

Biofuel/biochemical product(s)

Cellulosic ethanol

Biofuel/biochemical product(s)

Renewable gasoline blendstock

Feedstock

Corn stover, wheat straw, switchgrass

Feedstock

Yellow pine waste, forest byproducts

Production capacity

25 MMgy

Production capacity

5-10 MMgy

Type of RINs

D3

Type of RINs

D3 and/or D7 cellulosic biofuel RINS

Coproducts

21 MW of biomass power

Coproducts

Biochar

Groundbreaking date

September 2011

Groundbreaking date

August 2014

Start-up date

Power: January 2014, Fuel: October 2014

Start-up date

Late 2015-early 2016

Project Complete

Solids from the ethanol process are used to generate 21 MW of electricity.

Earthwork is complete and construction bids are being received for a start construction in early 2015.

Mendota Bioenergy, LLC - Demo Plant

Lanzatech Freedom Pines Biorefinery LLC

Location

Tranquility, California

Location

Soperton, Georgia

Design/builder

N/A

Design/builder

N/A

Process technology

Proprietary

Process technology

Proprietary thermochemical pathway

Biofuel/biochemical product(s)

Ethanol

Biofuel/biochemical product(s)

Ethanol and possibly butadiene, jet fuel

Feedstock

Energy beets

Feedstock

Woody biomass

Production capacity

1 MMgy

Production capacity

2 MMgy

Type of RINs

N/A

Type of RINs

N/A

Coproducts

Biomethane, electricity, liquid fertilizer

Coproducts

Char/ash

Groundbreaking date

2014

Groundbreaking date

2014

Start-up date

2015

Start-up date

2015

Equipment is being installed with startup expected during Q1 2015.

District Heat Montpelier, Montpelier, Vermont

A gasifier will produce syngas for ethanol fermentation in this former Range Fuels facility.

Project Complete

Location

Montpelier, Vermont

Engineer/Builder

Engineer: Hallam ICS, Evergreen Energy Contractor: Kingsbury Companies LLC

Primary fuel

Wood chips

Boiler type

Two 600-horsepower, dual-fuel AFS Energy Systems steam boilers

Nameplate thermal capacity

40.2 MM Btu/hr

Heat end use

$8 million U.S. DOE, U.S. Forest Service, Vermont Village Green grants

Government incentives/grants

2 MW

Groundbreaking date

April 2013

Start-up date

October 2014

The project utilizes 100 percent biomass during the heating season and fuel oil during the shoulder seasons.

12 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Skærbæk Power Station Conversion, Dong Energy Location

Fredericia, Denmark

Engineer/builder

B&W Vollund

Primary fuel

Wood chips

Boiler type

B&W Vollund fluidized bed

Nameplate thermal capacity

280 MWth

Heat end use

District heat

Government incentives/grants

N/A

Groundbreaking date

September 2014

Start-up date

Early 2017

The contract with B&W Vollund was signed in Q2.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE¦ Cheyenne Biogas Power Plant

Project Complete

Location

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Engineer/Builder

Microsoft, Siemens, FuelCell Energy

Substrate(s)

Municipal sewage

Digester type

Thermophilic

Gas cleaning technology

N/A

Biogas production capacity

178 CFM

Biogas end use

Fuel cell to produce electricity and combusted to produce process heat

Power capacity

.3MW

Groundbreaking date

2013

Start-up date

November 2014

Cheyenne Biogas Power Plant

This is a Microsoft pilot project employing a molten carbonate fuel cell to power a mobile data center.

PHOTO: SIEMENS

Noblehurst Green Energy

Location

Linwood, New York

Engineer/Builder

EnviTec Biogas

Substrate(s)

Dairy manure, FOG, grocery waste, dairy effluent

Digester type

Complete mix followed by a plug-flow system

CHP?

Yes

Biogas production capacity

36.8 CFM

Biogas end use

Electrical generation

Power capacity

.44 MW

Groundbreaking date

2014

Start-up date

Q1 2015

Noblehurst Green Energy

USDA Rural Development’s Rural Energy for America Program awarded the project $494,520.

PHOTO: NOBLEHURST FARMS INC.

Roeslein Alternative Energy of Missouri LLC, Roeslein Alternative Energy LLC

CRMC Dartmouth Bioenergy Facility – Pilot Phase, CRMC Bioenergy LLC

Location

Northern Missouri

Location

Dartmouth/New Bedford, Massachusetts

Engineer/Builder

Roeslein Alternative Energy LLC

Engineer/Builder

CRMC Bioenergy LLC

Substrate(s)

Hog manure

Substrate(s)

Food wastes, sludge, FOG, liquid or slurried nonhazardous organics

Digester type/technology

Lagoon style, floating impermeable cover

Digester type/technology

Continuous feed, wet, mesophilic, 100,000-gallon digester

Gas cleaning technology

Molecular sieve/PSA

Gas cleaning technology

N/A

Biogas production capacity

2 million-plus MM Btu/year

Biogas production capacity

30 cubic feet per minute; actual determined by operations

Biogas end use

CNG and LNG

Biogas end use

Power production for sale to adjacent LFG-to-energy facility

Power capacity

N/A

Power capacity

N/A

Groundbreaking date

May 2014

Groundbreaking date

November 2013

Start-up date

Phase one: June 2015

Start-up date

October 2014

Project Complete

Eight-eight manure lagoons are being covered and flaring of captured gas began in September.

Ribbon cutting for pilot facility was held in October. Construction of a full-scale digester will follow.

San Joaquin County, Landfill Gas-To-Energy Facility

Milam Renewable Natural Gas Facility, Waste Management

Location

Linden, California

Engineer/Builder

Project Complete

Location

Fairmont City, Illinois

Ameresco Inc.

Engineer/Builder

Venture Engineering, Icon Mechanical

Substrate(s)

MSW

Substrate(s)

MSW

Digester type/technology

Landfill

Digester type/technology

Landfill

Gas cleaning technology

Regenerative Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA)

Gas cleaning technology

Membrane CO2 removal, PSA nitrogen removal

Biogas production capacity

1,700 SCFM

Biogas production capacity

3,500 SCFM

Biogas end use

Power production for city of Palo Alto

Biogas end use

Natural gas pipeline

Power capacity

4.3 MW

Power capacity

N/A

Groundbreaking date

October 2012

Groundbreaking date

October 2013

Start-up date

November 2014

Start-up date

November 2014

The project utilizes two parallel SRS vessel trains to allow continuous fuel processing and two GE Jenbacher reciprocating engine generators.

Project Complete

This is an addition to the existing Milam Landfill-Gas-to-Energy facility, which produces 2.4 MW of electricity.

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 13

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PowerNews UK DECC outlines bioenergy investments in annual statement U.K. Department of EnUK bioenergy investments ergy and Climate Change SecEstimated investment 2010-2013 £6.3 billion retary Edward Davey recently delivered his annual energy Estimated investment 2014-2020 £5-5.9 billion statement to Parliament. As Employment level 2012-2013 up to 14,700 part of the statement, Davey Installed capacity (Q2 2014) 4.3 GW said that record investments Under construction 0.8 GW of £45 billion ($70.99 billion) in electricity generation and Awaiting construction 3.8 GW networks since 2010 have In planning 0.5 GW put the nation on target to SOURCE: U.K. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE meet its future low carbon requirements. The renewables jobs. By that time, the report predicts investment includes £6.3 bilbiomass could provide the equivalent lion specifically invested in biomass and of 10 percent of the nation’s current bioenergy since 2010. power supply, which is enough to power A report that accompanied the approximately 8 million homes. In 2013, statement indicates the U.K. is expected biomass and waste accounted for about to invest an additional £5.0 billion to 4 percent of inland energy consumption £5.9 billion in biomass energy projects in the U.K. through 2020, supporting up to 14,700

EPA releases updated biogenic carbon framework, issues guidance memo The U.S. EPA released a revised framework for assessing biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary sources in November. The revised framework is undergoing additional public review. The agency has also issued a memo providing regulatory guidance on how the updated framework will impact the Clean Power Plan and Prevention of Significant Deterioration Program.

The memo outlines the EPA’s current thinking with regard to the treatment of biogenic emissions under the CCP and PSD program. Notably, it indicates the EPA plans to propose revisions to the PSD rules to include an exemption from the best available control technology (BACT) requirement for GHGs from waste-derived feedstocks and from nonwaste biogenic feedstocks derived from sustainable forest or agricultural practices.

In response to the EPA’s announcements, Biomass Power Association President Bob Cleaves said the agency had never before made such a clear and emphatic endorsement of biomass. Cleaves said EPA is describing waste-derived materials and forest-derived materials as having "minimal or...no net atmospheric contribution of biogenic CO2 emissions,” and called the declaration “a very positive and very clear statement.”

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16 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

POWER¦

EPA’s Biogenic Carbon Framework: A New Chapter For Biomass

BY BOB CLEAVES

When the Clean Power Plan, the EPA’s nationwide carbon reduction plan that sets specific emissions targets for each state, was released June 18, the EPA and the Agency’s Science Advisory Board had not yet completed their work on the carbon accounting of biogenic emissions. Important questions regarding how the EPA should model biogenic emissions and thus how biomass power could play a role in reducing overall carbon emissions were left unresolved.

As I have said in past columns in Biomass Magazine, biomass energy plays an important role in the mix of energy sources helping to reduce U.S. GHG emissions. The White House, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, and the international scientific community have all recognized that sustainable biomass can be an important source of low-carbon energy, particularly waste biomass and residues from sustainable forestry management and forest products manufacturing.

These materials provide consistent, baseload, renewable sources of energy and should be given a clear pathway for utilization by the EPA in any rulemaking regarding biogenic emissions. Biomass energy is recognized in nearly every state that has a Renewable Portfolio Standard. Failure to adequately credit the carbon mitigation attributes of low-carbon sustainable biomass in the final rule could result in state compliance plans that exclude this clean energy technology, the potential closure of biomass facilities, and a lost opportunity for greater GHG reductions. But, due to an onslaught of litigation from groups opposed to biomass, we have been left on the edge of our seats for the better part of four years to see how the EPA would decide to count biogenic carbon emissions.

Luckily, we no longer have to wonder. Nov. 19, the Agency released the Revised Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources and its accompanying memorandum to states from acting assistant administrator McCabe. Together, the Framework and the EPA’s implementation of it support a clear, science-based approach that provides regulatory certainty while deferring important policy implementation to the states.

Dec. 1, BPA filed comments with the EPA on the CPP, which can be found on our website. While the big

picture—that the EPA recognizes the value of biomass as a renewable energy source that should contribute to the nationwide reduction of carbon emissions—is very positive, there are still questions that we need answered.

We welcome the EPA’s determination that wastederived materials, biogas and forest-derived industrial by-products are “likely to have minimal or no net atmospheric contributions of biogenic CO2 emissions, or even reduce such impacts, when compared with an alternate fate of disposal.” We have asked the EPA to clarify in the final plan that nonforestry cellulosic materials—like urban wood, wood-derived construction and demolition debris, and railroad ties—be specifically included in the definition of “waste-derived feedstocks” since these organic materials do not cause land use changes and do not deplete carbon stocks.

Also, regarding the EPA’s decision to include in the plan “sustainably derived” forest-derived feedstocks, we urge the EPA to recognize that for decades, states have managed their forests using sustainable land management practices. Existing state laws promote and protect healthy forests, and the plan should recognize that the EPA does not have the expertise or resources to set or enforce sustainability standards.

Finally, we encourage the EPA to clearly state that biomass power plants that use feedstocks covered by the McCabe Memorandum are exempt from regulation under the Clean Power Plan. To the contrary, biomass power from renewable and sustainable feedstocks should be encouraged as a compliance tool under Section 111(d).

All in all, the news from the EPA is a good sign for the biomass industry. After waiting several years for the revised framework, this document, along with the memo to states encouraging the counting of biomass in the Clean Power Plan, are a great way to kick off 2015, and a new, more stable, chapter for biomass.

Author: Bob Cleaves President and CEO, Biomass Power Association www.biomasspowerassociation.com bob@biomasspowerassociation.com

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 17

GLOBAL SERVICE NETWORK: Siemens Power Service can deliver maintenance and repair onsite or using its extensive factory network with major repair facilities in six countries. This SST-300, 50 MW industrial steam turbine at the Nuremberg, Germany. The SST-300 series provides geared drive to a 1,500 to 12,000 rpm generator.

Tuning A Power Station's Turbine Heart Steam turbine generators are reliable machines, but require surveillance to remain problem-free and keep electricity pumping.

BY KATIE FLETCHER

18 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

POWER¦

M

any power plants use steam to generate electricity, and many of them still use fossil fuels to heat water for steam. The electricity is produced when the steam flows over a series of aerodynamic turbine blades, rotating a turbine which activates a generator. Biomass-fueled power plants, whether an energy-from-waste (EfW) or a woodfired facility, are increasingly producing renewable energy using turbine generators.

Essentially, from a turbine-generator (TG) point of view, there is no difference between the maintenance at either an EfW or wood-fired biomass power plant. “With the steam turbine generator set, or turboset, there are no differences between maintenance operations for waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities and wood-fired biomass plants,” says Hanno Garbe, senior sales manager for steam turbine units at Siemens Energy.

Covanta Energy Corp., a power producing company with steam turbines at both installations, agrees. “Both energy from waste and biomass combustors generate live steam to drive the turbine,” says Frank Miller, vice president of maintenance technology at Covanta.

Covanta owns and operates 45 EfW facilities around the world including facilities in Canada, Italy and China. Currently, the company has four operating wood-fired biomass facilities, 115 boiler installations, five of which are woody biomass fired, and 59 turbine generators, five running on biomass. “Covanta is the largest EfW operator in the world and produces power for approximately one million homes annually,” Miller says. This equates to 20 million tons of solid waste being processed into 9 billion pounds of steam, which is sold to a variety of industries.

Covanta has a wide variety of sizes, styles and manufacturers; nine steam turbine makes and 11 generator manufacturers.

Siemens is one provider of steam turbines for various biomass fuel types. Siemens Turbine generator sets have been deployed in over 93 biomass-fueled plants in the past decade. “Our fleet of steam turbines is currently comprised of more than 200 turbines at waste-to-energy facilities and biomass power plants all over the world. The most installations are in Europe, Asia and the U.S.,” says Thorsten Scheller, Siemens’ head of business development and product management for service of industrial steam turbines.

Siemens steam turbines range from 75 kW up to 250 MW, and can be used with many biomass boilers. Stoker boilers and fluidized bed combustion boilers are the two most common technologies used to combust biomass, according to Siemens. Feedstock characteristics are used to determine which boiler is appropriate for the plant. Siemens also can supply steam turbines with auxiliary equipment, such as a generator, a condenser system, monitoring and control systems, power transmission equipment and others.

GE Power and Water is another large provider of steam turbines. It has produced more than 530 GW of steam turbine capacity in more than 6,000 installed units since the beginning of the 20th century. The product line features high performance impulse technology with multiple feed water heater design configurations, integral cover buckets, brush seals and abradable coatings, improved diaphragm nozzle construction and others.

Inspections and Overhauls Predictive, not reactive maintenance is required to reduce forced outages and shorten planned outages, which can be extended for unforeseen repairs, according to Turbine Generator Maintenance Inc. The focus should be on prediction and prevention, not just on inspection and repairs. Covanta requires preventive maintenance (PM) tasks daily, weekly and quarterly that do not interrupt normal operations, as well as an annual safety system trip test.

“Typically all PM work is done in-house with specialty vendors for lube oil analysis and vibration analysis, thermography, etc.,” Miller says.

TGM is a provider of turbine generator services that includes inspections, assessments, overhauls, consulting, engineering and more. The company can perform turnkey inspections on steam turbines for most all original equipment manufacturers (OEM), servicing the entire generator unit: controls, auxiliaries, gearboxes and generator, as well as steam path components. One of its services is a Running Condition Assessment program that can reduce unscheduled outages, identify future repairs, shorten planned outages through contingency planning and increase the overall reliability of the equipment. TGM uses a grading system to review previous testing reports. The generator reliability assessment and diagnostic evaluation algorithm arrives at a letter grade representing the generator’s condition. TGM uses these assessments to work with plant management to develop an ongoing multiyear outage plan. TGM has serviced both Siemens and GE units among many others.

Siemens, GE and Covanta also have their own maintenance programs in place to avoid unscheduled and unwanted downtime.

Maintenance on steam turbine generator sets can be divided into inspections and overhauls. Inspections are aimed at assuring proper functioning of all systems, whereas partial or full overhauls are conducted to inspect the status of the components and exchange wear and tear parts, and accordingly repair damages at an early occasion. “As some of the defects can only be determined during the dismantling of the turboset, periodic major overhauls are strongly recommended,” Scheller says.

One of the problems that can occur with the units is associated with the age of steam turbines and the end-of-life of some components. “For example, a common problem in steam turbines with 20

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 19

¦POWER to 25 years of operation is stress corrosion cracking,” Miller says.

“This occurs at highly stressed locations on the turbine rotor.”

Another example is gearbox speed reducers, which require gear set replacement due to fatigue fracturing of gear teeth. “Covanta has inspection programs to identify indications for both of these potential issues in order to repair or replace proactively,” Miller says.

Siemens provides periodic inspections every 12,500 equivalent operating hours (EOH), partial overhauls every 25,000 EOH and major overhauls every 50,000 EOH. “Based on our continuous development, such as our advanced monitoring capabilities, Siemens can offer extended times between major overhauls under a long term program,” Scheller says. “The basis is a close partnership between Siemens and its customers, performing regular monitoring of the turbosets, thereby being in a position to closely monitor and assess any adverse behavior.”

The program gives Siemens the ability to make instant recommendations, and the maintenance cycles can be extended, giving significant rise in reliability and availability while at the same time lowering maintenance costs, Scheller says.

Covanta has a TG outage plan, which requires a major overhaul—full turbine steam path inspection, repairs and generator field removal—every seven years, for approximately 20 days. The plan also calls for a minor TG safety and controls system overhaul every three to four years approximately five days long, Miller says.

“Major overhauls are done primarily to address machine integrity

and performance efficiency,” he says. “Covanta performs about 15 TG outages a year including major and minor overhauls.”

Miller adds that the company uses a combination of resources to accomplish all maintenance-related activities. “Covanta Maintenance Technology, which is our in-house group, has both turbine and electrical/generator field specialists that specify work and work alongside overhaul contractors and OEM support as required during the outages.”

Manufacturing for Maximum Runtime GE has a technical advisory services team to ensure proper assembly and placing of parts into service. Siemens equips steam turbines with electronic control and protection systems to protect against adverse operation. The company also offers a service concept to ease and optimize the maintenance for their power producer customers, Garbe says. “Combining our customers’ operational knowledge with our in-depth OEM engineering knowledge, Siemens aims to maximize the availability and reliability of their machines,” Scheller says.

Remote troubleshooting, in case of an event, is also offered by Siemens, in which it can analyze the large amounts of data collected on the rotating equipment. This monitoring plays a key role in overall maintenance and long-term, problem-free operations. Covanta specifically tracks the TG monitor bearing temperature, lube oil pressures, supply temperature and drain temperature, turbine axial

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Handling a World of Materials

POWER¦ position indicators, local temperature of the exhaust hood, electrical status of generator output, voltage and MW, etc. “There are also process and steam condition monitoring and controls on the boiler supply side and the condensing side as well,” Miller says.

A steam turbine generator usually has the following scope: steam turbine, generator, gearbox, if applicable, oil system, electronic control and protection system. “In addition, if required, we also offer water-cooled condensers, as well as enhanced monitoring and control systems, power transmission and distribution equipment and process control,” Garbe says. “The extended scope can increase the turnover or enhance the reliability.”

Garbe says, the steam turbine generator sets are designed to last as long as possible; for example, the root-clamping design and screws have 50,000 maintenance-free operating hours and the overall components are designed for a lifetime of at least 200,000 operating hours.

When manufacturing the components for a turbine, certain measures are undertaken to ensure the highest quality of the design properties. Some measures include ultrasonic inspections, magnetic particle tests, dimensional checks, and run out measurement and testing of components separately, such as oil unit or full-test run of the core turbine.

High-quality design properties are needed because, as Siemens says, the heart of virtually every EfW plant is a steam turbine generating electrical power out of the heat from the combustion of

EUBCE 2015

waste. A steam turbine is the key to harnessing energy from waste.

Covanta’s largest facility, Covanta Fairfax Inc., processes more than 3,000 tons of MSW per day. Without its two condensing steam turbine generators, the facility would not be able to sell over 80 MW of renewable energy to Dominion Virginia Power Co. Likewise, two of Siemens’ SST-110 steam turbines would not have the capacity to produce 11.5 MW of electricity in Linköping, Sweden, at the Gärstad waste incineration plant operated by Tekniska Verken, where a total of 420,000 tons of sorted waste per year is incinerated for energy recovery.

Steam turbine generators can utilize various fuel sources to generate electricity. As more are installed in the renewable energy sector, maintenance programs are essential to ensure limited scheduled downtime and avoid the unscheduled downtime altogether. As steam turbine generators are the heart of EfW facilities, it is the job of manufacturers, power producers and technicians alike to keep electricity flowing from them.

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During the Hamburg conference we were able to activate more than 20 high valuable contacts to settle distinct business and project cooperations.

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Registration now open! www.eubce.com Institutional Support

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 21

PelletNews Wood-to-energy consortium launches

Rentech announces startup of Canadian pellet mills In late October, Rentech Inc. announced the startup of its Atikokan wood pellet facility. Commissioning and startup of the Wawa facility was expected to begin before the end of the year. All major equipment at the Wawa facility was in place in October, and certain critical items, including the drying system, bark furnace and both log cranes were commissioned and operational at that time.

“I’m pleased to reach this important milestone at the Atikokan facility. Our Canadian team has done a superb job

22 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

managing the construction of Rentech’s first two pellet plants, through one of the worst winters on record. We are excited about beginning operations and bringing jobs back to these communities,” said Sean Ebnet, senior vice president of Rentech’s wood fiber business.

Rentech noted delays in deliveries by certain vendors prolonged construction and startup of the two Canadian plants. The first shipment of pellets to Drax is expected to occur during the second quarter.

The Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center in Savannah, Georgia, U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, recently announced the launch of the Consortium for Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions.

The consortium’s goal is to spearhead development of commercially viable, advanced wood-to-energy products that can be produced from low-value trees and forest residues that can compromise forest health and increase the frequency of wildfires.

AWES’s initial focus will be on torrefaction. “Our initial work will center on determining the commercial viability of torrefaction—the ‘roasting’ of wood in a low-oxygen environment—to create an energy-dense product that can more easily be shipped, stored and used to produce renewable energy,” said Alexander Koukoulas, president and CEO of Herty.

According to information released

by Georgia Southern University, founding partners will seek the participation of public and private institutions in the consortium.

PELLET¦

Transitioning from Pulverized Coal to Pulverized Pellets

BY WILLIAM STRAUSS

Converting old pulverized coal power plants to use advanced solid biofuels rather than coal provides a ready-to-go solution for compliance with states’ renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The strategy delivers low-carbon and low-cost electricity that will also satisfy the EPA’s proposed carbon policy under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Power Plan. This strategy is the lowest-cost pathway to compliance and provides a renewable solution without the intermittency of wind and solar. The strategy does not cost jobs. In fact the strategy creates new jobs.

Most coal fired power stations are pulverized coal plants. Those plants convey coal into pulverizing machines that crush the coal into a fine powder. That powder is pneumatically conveyed from the pulverizers to the burners. The burners are mounted in the sidewalls of the power boiler. The coal dust is blown into the burners and combusts very rapidly; almost like a liquid fuel.

Two years ago, the concept of using pulverized wood pellets in large coal fired power stations to completely replace coal was unproven. That has changed with three large power plants proving that using pellets in power stations not only works, but allows the power station to consistently and reliably generate the same amount of electricity as they did with coal (Drax in the UK and Ontario Power Generation’s plants in Atikokan and Thunder Bay Ontario). There is no derating of the power plant. Just as many megawatts can be generated from the renewable low-carbon fuel as from coal.

Although the EPA’s carbon policy that would incentivize high carbon emitting power generators to mitigate their CO2 emissions is a few years from implementation, 27 U.S. states do have renewable portfolio standards (RPS).

11 other states have variants on RPS. RPS goals apply to 55 percent of retail electricity production in the US. The RPS systems provide incentives to the generators by issuing renewable energy certificates (RECs) for each MWh generated from renewable sources. RECs are traded in the open markets and have values ranging from a few dollars to over $50 per REC. The pathway to that lowest-cost renewable power for RPS and EPA section 111(d) compliance that also has the benefits of being available on demand (dispatchable) or continuously (baseload) is via the conversion of older pulverized coal power plants into updated facilities that run on advanced solid biofuels.

Thermal generating stations that can be switched on as needed can complement the wind and solar component of the renewable low-carbon power portfolio. Every MW of wind or solar power needs a MW of thermal generation (or hydro where available) to keep the grid balanced when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.

Converting from pulverized coal to advanced solid biofuel will have a significant positive net job impact in the fuel supply chain. The typical argument against renewable power solutions such as wind and solar is that they will result in a higher electricity price placing a drag on economic growth. Wind and solar generation results in significantly higher power prices than power generated from plants converted to use pellets; and wind and solar are a generation pathway that requires no labor for fuel provisioning.

The best solution for new renewable power generation that has baseload and peaking characteristics is the conversion of older pulverized coal plants from coal to renewable low-carbon advanced solid biofuel. When there is a carbon policy in the U.S., the converted plants will already satisfy low-carbon requirements. For every MWhe not generated by coal, on average, about 1400 pounds of CO2 is not emitted. For a 500MW power station, that adds up to about 3,000,000 tons per year.

Wood pellet supply chains are well-established. The quantity of power that can be generated is limited to the sustainable quantities of renewable woody biomass. However, within that sustainability boundary, a significant proportion of older pulverized coal plants can be converted.

Many new pellet manufacturing projects could be developed if the demand were to increase. There is no shortage of sustainable feedstock in the fiber baskets of the U.S. and Canada.

This is a strategy that does not need R&D, does not need massive subsidies, and does not need any significant infrastructure investment. The fuel supply chain is already well-established Pellets offer a low cost, low carbon, reliable, ready to deploy, renewable solution to our peaking and base load power demand that will result in the creation of more jobs than any other power generation technology.

Author: William Strauss President, Future Metrics www.futuremetrics.com williamstrauss@futuremetrics.com

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 23

¦PELLET

INCREASED PRODUCTION AND PROTECTION: The Pacific BioEnergy facility in Prince George, British Columbia, has been operational since 1994, and was rebuilt and expanded in 2007, and again in 2010 to 350,000 metric tons capacity. Pacific BioEnergy and other pellet producers in British Columbia are spearheading an initiative to work together and share best practices on how to best manage dust at their facilities to reduce the risk of fires and explosions.

PHOTO: SPLASH MEDIA GROUP

24 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

PELLET¦

Combustible Dust an Explosive Issue As the pellet-making industry grows, more emphasis is being placed on mitigating and managing the potential for dust-generated fires and explosions.

BY KATIE FLETCHER

D

ust that accumulates at wood pellet plants during the production process can end up being a fuel source itself, fueling unwanted fires or explosions. This potential hazard makes effective dust management an integral part of wood pellet manufacturing. “Essentially we are taking a woody product, reducing its particle size and drying it into its most combustible form, and then densifying it afterward,” says Shawn Bells, general manager with Pacific BioEnergy. “So with regard to what we do, we’re probably doing the exact opposite of what you are supposed to be doing—we are creating a fuel—so then we have to deal with it.”

Producers recognize the nature of their operation can produce hazards. “We started really getting serious about dust about 10 years ago,” says Stephen Faehner, president and CEO of American Wood Fibers. “Then OSHA became focused on dust control and management. That’s, I think, when it heightened everyone’s awareness.”

It is the combustible nature of dust at pellet plants that makes it a hazard. Combustible dusts (CD) are defined by OSHA as fine particles that present an explosion hazard when suspended in air in certain conditions. Organizations like OSHA help the industry manage and enforce safety, and some organizations that cater to the pellet industry are beginning to step up compliance standards and

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 25

¦PELLET

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These are the primary filters for the pelletizing line at Drax's Morehouse BioEnergy site in Bastrop, Louisiana.

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www.andritz.com 26 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

standardize protocol. The International Standards Organization has launched an effort, under the direction of Working Group 4 of ISO/TC238, to develop global standards for numerous components of commercial, industrial and small-scale pellet production. Topics to be addressed include not only prevention, detection, suppression and management of fires and explosions, but also safe handling and storage, analysis of spontaneous heat generation and analysis of off-gassing products. Another example of the effort is WorkSafeBC’s new dust policies in British Columbia, Canada. Separate explosions in early 2012 that destroyed two sawmills and resulted in four deaths and 42 injured workers at Burns Lake and Prince George, British Columbia, spurred the organization to prepare a review and action plan that outlines plans for an agency restructuring and reviews mitigation of safety hazards from dust at sawmills and wood manufacturing facilities. “We crafted a policy that speaks to the responsibilities of employers, workers and supervisors

with respect to the management and control of combustible dust,” says Al Johnson, vice president of prevention services with WorkSafeBC. As part of the policy for employers, WorkSafeBC expects them to undertake a risk assessment to account for all of the potential risks and unique aspects at their particular mill. After the risk assessment, employers need to create a dust management and control program based on the assessment’s results. “That program then needs to be implemented and all of the workforce needs to be trained in that program,” Johnson says. “So that when we come knocking on their door doing an inspection, and we ask for their program, they can demonstrate that they have a written program.”

Additionally, the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and all of its British Columbia member mills have agreed to work with the BC Forest Safety Council to create a combustible dust audit tool customized for pellet mill operations. “This has basically helped mature the rest of the pel-

A Safe Distance: A baghouse with spark detection and abort gates are located over 100 feet away at an American Wood Fibers pellet plant.

PHOTO: AMERICAN WOOD FIBERS

let industry by relying on the strengths of the larger producers to share the standards, the protocols, give them this inspection that they can use to ensure that their systems are safe and up to the standard of the rest of the industry,” Bells says.

The pellet industry is evolving, and so are dust management practices and the regulations and standards that accompany them. Equipment vendors are also onboard.

“It is apparent that there is more focus on the dust collection and safety systems and devices within the pellet manufacturing facilities,” says Andy Clarke, vice president of sales at Clarke’s Sheet Metal Inc. “The basic concepts have remained the same, however, there have been advancements with regard to energy efficiency and advancements aimed at reducing downtime and increasing safety.”

Elements of Explosions There are many important factors when considering the explosivity of CD including size, shape, moisture and environment.

The industry refers to the dust explosion

pentagon when illustrating the mix of components that need to be present to cause explosions or fires. The five elements of the pentagon include fuel, ignition source, dispersion, confinement and oxygen. Removing any one of these elements can prevent an explosion, but not necessarily a fire.

Dust is present with other elements of explosions in every stage of the pelletmaking process in both internal systems and external environments. Although producers can’t see what happens in the pipes and machines of the internal system, “what we do know is those internal systems have four elements of that explosion pentagon present,” says Scott Bax, senior vice president of operations with Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. “Really, the only thing you are missing at any given time is an ignition source. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of energy from all pellet producers to have very good systems.”

The external environment comes down to whether dust is present and can be dispersed. Few systems at plants are perfectly sealed, so dust can accumulate on places

like ducts, shafts, cable trays or other places where a small amount of dust is leaking.

“What is required is a management system; it should measure the rate of dust accumulation and link that to a rigorous cleanup schedule and program to minimize the presence of dust,” Bax says.

The National Fire Protection Association creates standards and guidelines for the pellet industry to follow. “As pellet producers, and, in general, the entire wood industry, we have a better understanding of the issue of combustible dust and that is paying off,” Bax says.

The NFPA provides the guideline of one-eighth of an inch over 5 percent of the area accumulating dust to meet the minimum explosible concentration. They define the size of deflagrable wood dust as .5 mm or less with a moisture content of less than 25 percent. “Mill practices on equipment operation and safety is continually influenced by the NFPA and OSHA, and we are continually working to comply with these changing standards,” says Bruce Livesay, vice president of marketing and owner of JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 27

¦PELLET Western Pneumatics Inc. “Knowledge of continued process and safety regulations make it our responsibility to pass this knowledge to our customers.”

Managing the Mess Information shared at a joint WPAC and WorkSafeBC combustible dust workshop held over the summer of 2014 discussed components of how to manage CD at pellet plants. Areas to improve a dust management program include a risk assessment process, implementation of controls, regularly scheduled inspections, thorough investigation of all incidents so as to prevent recurrence, education, training and supervision, program audit and review, a corrective action process and records and statistics to identify trends.

WorkSafeBC works with five companies operating 10 wood pellet mills to improve dust management programs, Pacific BioEnergy and Pinnacle are two. “WorkSafeBC’s done a very good job helping us with the education piece,” Bax says.

Employee training is regarded as essential moving forward. “A big one, probably our biggest one, is continuing to empower employees to understand combustible dust and report on any dust-related issues anywhere they believe there is a concentration of dust,” Bax says.

Equipment manufactures and vendors also take part in educating. “We train our customers how our equipment operates and how it should be maintained,” Livesay says. “Documentation is created to substantiate initial operating performance and periodic checks confirm the proper operation of our systems. We also perform inspections and critiques of systems which have been in operation for years and require upgrading.”

Designing for Dust Building design and engineering controls are also impactful factors in dust management. Some pellet producers say this is the sustainable management practice. “The long-term solution to keeping your plant clean is not cleanup,” Bells says.

28 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

“It’s meant to be an interim step until you have all the engineering, design, all of the steps necessary to keep the dust contained and keep it from spilling out of the process.”

Various equipment features can help fugitive dust from accumulating. Having round metal ducting, and monitoring overhead beams, ducting, electrical cable trays, lighting fixtures and more is important, as these are prime locations for fugitive dust to linger. Sonic air fans can help prevent dust from accumulating in elevated areas that can be difficult to reach, Bax says. Other equipment Pinnacle has for dust mitigation includes NFPA compliant vacuums that are antistatic, as well as wireless temperature sensors in pelletizers, among other equipment.

Western Pneumatics works with 12 large pellet plants, including dryer and pollution abatement systems for Green Circle, Georgia Biomass, German Pellets and Sega Biofuels, to name a few installations. “We developed new lines of dust collection filters and they have been received well for hammermill air-assist, cooler aspiration, dry fiber and pellet silo aspiration and truck and rail load-out aspiration,” Livesay says. “We also provide the high pressure pneumatic systems to move fines and dust from one end of the plant to the other.”

Dryers use wet precipitators and rapid thermal oxidizers to handle and clean large volumes of air before it is discharged into the atmosphere, according to Livesay.

Abort gates are one piece of equipment that exhaust hazardous air flow from the ducting. The gates are activated from spark detection system sensors. A spark detection system itself is primarily used as a fire prevention method in dust collectors by detecting and extinguishing sparks and embers. Sparks can be caused by various things such as a dull tool, damaged fan bearings or an overheated motor.

There is equipment to manage the fuel and ignition elements of the dust explosion pentagon, but elements like oxygen and confinement are inevitable.

Keeping it Clean: Circulating fans by AFE are designed to knock down dust from accumulating on ledges and hard-to-reach spaces to avoid potential combustible dust hazards at American Wood Fibers' pellet plants.

PHOTO: AMERICAN WOOD FIBERS

“So you try to focus on eliminating the fuel and minimizing ignition sources,” Bax says.

“Those are the two items you have the most control over.”

The Combustible Challenge “There’s a dust focus,” Faehner says.

“The challenge is trying to change a lot of the culture in the wood products industry.”

He adds that almost everyone in the business is focused on manufacturing, and they’re certainly focused on safety, but at the end of the day they have to produce the goods. “With that in mind you have situations where people are driven to produce, produce, produce and they’re reluctant to either stop and fix a dust source—the dust is coming from somewhere—or to be mindful that you must have good housekeeping.”

Although the industry is taking dust seriously, organizations like WorkSafeBC, with a health and safety focus, hope it can become embedded into the overall day-to-day management of the facility. “We’re trying to integrate the safe management of wood dust into their overall operation culturally, if you

will, so they just naturally see it as something they need to manage on a day-in-day-out basis,” Johnson says.

Johnson went on to say, stepping up the focus on health and safety is part and parcel of WorkSafeBC’s goal for pellet mill owners to maintain sustainable compliance in dust control management.

The standards take work to maintain for producers. “We have heightened our awareness and increased our focus to go from a very, very tidy facility to a spotless facility, and that’s a challenge because we are still at the stage where we’re still implementing more engineering to deal with some of the point source spillage issues,” Bells says.

Equipment design and system design is more technical than ever as dust control systems now involve many more safeguards, according to Livesay. “Existing mills will be challenged to improve dust control and once the dust is collected to install, equipment which will keep personnel safe and minimize the chance for fires or explosions,” he says.

Producers agree that one of the best paths forward is collaboration among in-

dustries dealing with CD issues. “The next evolution is a better understanding of where other organizations have been able to effectively manage dust and develop best practices, so focusing on improving collaboration within the pellet industry, within the forest products industry, and then even broader with payoff,” Bax says.

The work being done with CD standards in BC is just one example of how the industry is working to mitigate the fine particle byproduct of pellet production from becoming a source of fuel itself. “As the regulator, we’re working closely with the pellet mills in the province and they’re working closely with us,” Johnson says. “A lot of work has been done, we see that, to effectively strengthen their programs around managing combustible dust in the pellet mill facilities. I think a little more work can be done, but the indications are positive that they’re moving in that direction.”

Author: Katie Fletcher Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 kfletcher@bbiinternational.com

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 29

ThermalNews Bridger Bowl Ski Resort to install biomass boiler The Montana Department of Montana beetle impact Natural Resources and Conservation Mountain pine All western bark has awarded Bridger Bowl Ski Resort beetle (in million beetles (in million acres) acres) in Bozeman $20,000 to support the installation of a $50,000 wood boiler.

2000 0.04 0.10 The cordwood boiler system will 2001 0.11 0.22 run on beetle-killed timber and wood 2002 0.25 0.40 cut for slope maintenance and forest 2003 0.29 0.44 management on the ski hill. Bridger 2004 0.45 0.67 Bowl will use the Austrian-based Frol2005 0.75 1.08 ing FHG-Lambda Turbo 3000 boiler 2006 0.79 0.92 to heat the ski resort’s operations and 2007 0.73 0.84 maintenance shop through radiant 2008 1.77 1.83 floor heating that was already in place.

2009 3.49 3.57 According to Randy Elliott, 2010 2.06 2.09 general manager at Bridger Bowl Ski 2011 0.97 0.99 Area, the boiler should produce about 170,000 Btu and has a 600-gallon2012 0.63 0.64 pressurized heat and water storage 2013 0.52 0.55 system. He said the reason this boiler SOURCE: U.S. Forest Service and storage system was selected is that it burns cleanly with a 90-percent The DNR also awarded grants to supefficiency rating. Elliott hypothesizes the port wood energy projects at Troy Public installation will pay for itself within about Schools and SmartLam Technologies five years.

Group.

State grant supports wood-fired district heating project in NH Capital Regional Development Council has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service to support the development of a woodfired district heating system in Claremont, New Hampshire. The project is being developed by New Hampshirebased HotZero and will connect buildings in the community’s downtown district to the wood-fired system. Participating building owners are expected to realize significant savings in heating costs without the need to use scarce capital and building space to install separate biomass systems.

The grant dollars will be used to complete engineering for the project. It is expected that the first phases of the district heating system will be operational in late 2015. Initially, the project will focus on the Opera Square section of downtown, but is designed to scaleup over time to connect other sections of the city.

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THERMAL¦

What EPA Leadership Looks Like

BY JOHN ACKERLY

I recently attended a wood stove conference and was so impressed with what leadership looked like from the Environmental Protection Agency. Administrator Gina McCarthy attended in person and brought high-level aides who stayed for two days. She gave a rousing speech about building coalitions, making stove research a top priority and how the EPA is funding six universities to do some of that research.

The EPA is now leading a research effort that will deliver practical results to a wide range of stakeholders.

They are conducting trusted independent research not just on reducing emissions but also on improving the energy efficiency of stoves. In the near future, the EPA will be translating these results into the field, by bringing innovative, consumer-driven stove technologies to homes.

By now you have guessed that this was not a domestic wood stove conference, but an international wood cookstove conference. Neither the EPA administrator nor its number two has ever attended the far larger domestic heating stove conventions. Even junior EPA staff sometimes can’t get funding approved to attend. But funding to attend cookstove events does not appear to be a problem.

The goals of the domestic heat stove and international cookstove communities are the same: to develop and deploy cleaner and more efficient stoves to reduce the health risks of wood smoke and use a renewable resource more sparingly. Both communities also need to create demand for more advanced stoves so that consumers don’t just keep using their older models.

Perhaps most importantly, the heat stove and cookstove communities need aggressive outreach and education efforts so that the advanced stoves are used properly. In both cases, the technical design of stoves is only half the battle. The other half is how they are used in the hands of consumers.

I have no issue with the amount of EPA time and resources being spent to try and solve such a pressing international problem. Nearly 3 billion people use traditional wood cookstoves or open fires to cook on. In the U.S., there are only 12 million homes that heat with wood, and more than 99% are effectively vented to the outside. What is vexing is that there is such a stark difference between how a similar domestic issue is being treated. Domestic wood stoves seem to have a far lower priority, certainly based on the amount of time top brass at EPA appear to spend on it.

Domestic wood stoves are a group of appliances that EPA

is trying to regulate, but there is no discernible vision and leadership from EPA about what role really clean wood and pellet stoves could play in our energy future.

In contrast, the EPA has no regulatory role in the international cookstove arena, but provides real leadership, vision and coalition building. The international effort to encourage cleaner cookstove use in developing countries can be a noble, almost altruistic program like the Peace Corps.

It certainly can be tempting to focus on other people’s problems instead of facing our own.

One reason the international cookstove movement is such a high profile issue at both EPA and the State Department is that Secretary Hilary Clinton adopted it as an issue that she felt deserved much more attention. We agree with her. But when will a cabinet level official feel that domestic wood heating is a both a problem and an opportunity that deserves much more attention?

If Secretary Clinton becomes president, there could be an opening to focus more on improving wood stove emissions and efficiency in the United States as she really understands the health impact of wood smoke and the importance of access to affordable fuel for households.

If a Republican is elected in 2016, there also could be an opening, as wood and pellet heat is a mainstream rural issue that is often overlooked by the liberal democrats pushing residential renewable energy policy. Democrats have tended to focus on subsidies for a wealthier urban and suburban demographic to adopt solar panels.

There may be other arenas where the U.S. is putting more effort into an international issue than into a similar domestic one. This may be a case where there is lower hanging fruit internationally because the air quality and sustainability issues are far, far worse than they are here. It is true that U.S. leadership can make a real difference. Regardless, the stark contrast between the EPA’s approach to addressing domestic and international stoves is something that this administration needs to change. A good start would be for top EPA officials to attend the next wood stove convention in Nashville, Tennessee in March. Bridging the divide between cooking and heating technologies will produce dividends for both communities—and for the EPA. Author: John Ackerly President, Alliance for Green Heat jackerly@forgreenheat.org www.forgreenheat.org

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 31

¦THERMAL CONTRIBUTION

Preventative Maintenance Protocols For Commercial Biomass Boilers Biomass boilers, much like fossil fuel boilers, carry a maintenance schedule that needs to be performed on a regular basis. Newer biomass boilers are becoming easier to operate and maintain because of the automated control of fuel delivery, combustion, and ash extraction.

BY GRANT GAGNER

B

ASSURING A LONG LIFE: The Woodmaster CS-300, capable of producing 1 million Btu per hour, is very capable of a service life that rivals its fossil fuel-fired cousins as long as appliance owners perform basic, regular maintenance.

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

32 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

iomass boilers equipped with automatic ash extraction systems typically include the following: • Internal ash extraction: Consists of one or more augers that move the ash from the combustion chamber into an ash pan or an external ash auger.

• External ash extraction: Consists of one or more ash augers that collect ash from the internal ash augers that empty into a selfcontained ash bin.

• Fire tube pneumatic cleaning: Consists of a manifold of hoses or pipes that automatically send a blast of compressed air through fire tubes, which are located on the last pass of a three-pass biomass boiler system. This is also commonly known as the boiler's “tube nest.”

If a biomass boiler is equipped with the above components, a daily walk-through of the boiler room is all that is necessary. On average, a boiler operator will spend 10 to 30 minutes inspecting the boiler, making sure the combustion levels and flue gas temperatures are within the boilers set points. Maintenance times will vary based on the size of boiler, fuel type, and rate of consumption.

Biomass boilers without automatic ash extraction systems will need to be shut down more frequently to be serviced manually.

The increased cost of maintaining the boiler

THERMAL¦ MONTHLY MAINTENANCE MUSTS: A monthly inspection of the working parts of the fire pot, the secondary air nozzles (on left) and the stoker auger are recommended.

Weekly Check for ash buildup in the firebox, clean if necessary Check ash cyclones and ash bins, empty if necessary Check fuel levels in bulk hoppers Check exhaust stack temperatures Check boiler alarm system and all control functions

Monthly Check boilers combustion chamber, ceramics and firepot Check all sensors on boiler Check the fuel augers on the supply at the boiler, clean or empty if necessary Check ash bins, empty if necessary

Yearly Check measurement of combustion values and adjustment at start up Check for wear on augers, conveyors and any other moving parts Check components such as gear boxes, grease if necessary Clean out firepot and airways of ash Check for wear on ceramics Inspect all motors and sensors

and work load will directly result in reduced fuel savings and job performance.

Biomass boilers equipped with automatic ash extraction and tube cleaning will increase the boiler performance, efficiency, and lifespan. It is important to keep the fire tubes clean of ash to obtain the best efficiency possible. Once ash starts to settle in the tubes it insulates the heat transfer, thus, sending the heat up the exhaust rather than exchanging it into the boiler water.

With proper maintenance of a biomass boiler, the life span will be comparable to a fossil fuel boiler system. The internal combustion parts will last longer and the boiler will consume less fuel. It is important to check with the boiler manufacturer or owner’s manual to follow their suggested maintenance schedule.

While the manufacturer will have maintenance schedules listed for each of their boiler models, it is also important to work with a local representative to create a service agreement. Regular checks by a certified service representative will increase the performance of the boiler.

Service representatives are trained to run diagnostics on biomass boiler systems.

They will recommend adjustments to optimize boiler performance, creating years of trouble-free operation and significant fuel savings.

Author: : Grant Gagner Sales Manager, Woodmaster ggagner@woodmaster.com 218-253-3142

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 33

BiogasNews WM produces pipeline quality landfill gas in Illinois

Novus Pacific to develop Oregon AD facility Novus Pacific LLC is developing a $20 million bioenergy project at the Port of Morrow in Boardman, Oregon. The project is expected to break ground soon, once the financing package is complete. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce biogas, organic fertilizer and clean water.

Novus Energy has been testing its trademarked Novus Bio-Catalytic system on a mobile, 50-foot semi-trailer-mounted demonstration plant. According to Jeff Zierdt, vice president of process operations with Novus, the company determined now is the time to move forward with a full-scale plant.

The company’s NBC process differs from traditional anaerobic digestion (AD) systems in that it requires only about four days to convert waste to biogas instead of around 20 like other AD operations. The 1 MMgy anaerobic digester will consume 442,000 tons of waste per year, broken down into about 120 tons of onion waste a day and approximately 275 tons of potato waste solids from a local fry plant. An additional 10,000 gallons of manure per day will be added to the mix from a local dairy farm.

Waste Management recently announced the opening of a unique landfill gas project that is creating pipeline-ready natural gas from the biomethane produced at its Milam Landfill in Fairmont City, Illinois. Starting in December, the renewable methane was injected into the Ameren Illinois pipeline for withdrawal at other locations, including some WM facilities.

The Milam Renewable Natural Gas Facility is designed to process approximately 3,500 standard cubic feet per minute of incoming landfill gas. That equates to the volume of fuel needed to power approximately 200 Waste Management CNG collection trucks each day, and represents more than 5 percent of the natural gas that is used in WM’s entire CNG fleet per day.

“The Milam Renewable Natural Gas Facility is the first facility of its kind we’ve actually built from the ground up,” said Jim Trevathan, executive vice president and chief operating officer for WM, although, the facility is the third WM project to convert landfill gas to natural gas.

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34 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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BIOGAS¦

Biogas and Fuel Cells: A Marriage of Old Ideas, New Technologies

BY BUD DEFLAVIIS

When it comes to the way we power our homes or fill up our vehicles, regardless if one’s motivation is environmental stewardship or national security, Americans have known for a long time that the status quo cannot continue.

The move to use our resources more wisely, while relying on domestically available resources is universally supported. The path to achieving it is less clear.

Until recently, a person wanting to do their part either had to pay a lot of upfront money for residential solar panels, or resort to carpooling. Thankfully, recent technological improvements and policies intended to incentivize biogas production and fuel cell purchases are beginning to have their desired impact. And as the markets for these technologies continue to expand, energy providers are beginning to merge the two in a number of exciting applications.

For those unfamiliar with the technology, fuel cells generate electricity electrochemically, without combustion. The process consists of combining hydrogen or a hydrogen-rich fuel, with oxygen.

For the moment, the hydrogen-rich feedstock of choice is understandably natural gas, which has become affordable and abundant, thanks to the shale gas revolution.

However, some notable projects involving biogas have been placed in service over the years that deserve attention, kudos, and replication.

Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley fuel cell manufacturer, features six installations where customers contract for biogas, which is directed into natural gas pipelines. Then the fuel cell systems generate electricity on-site for the facility. One of the company’s more visible projects is a 10 MW station that powers Apple Computer’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The biogas is produced by a landfill about three miles from the data center. Data centers, which are on track to consume 140 billion kilowatthours of electricity annually by 2020 in the United States, are frequent targets for clean energy technologies. The fuel cells at Apple supplement the company’s renewable power plan for the location, which also features a 100-acre 20 MW solar array.

FuelCell Energy, another stationary power manufacturer, has developed a number of projects that directly utilize biogas to provide heat, power, and sometimes cooling for customers. At the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pol-

lution Control Plant in San Jose, California, a 1.4 MW fuel cell provides electricity and heat to the waste water facility, reducing electricity and natural gas consumption from local utilities. The energy generated is enough to offset the annual consumption of 1,400 households.

Like Bloom Energy, FuelCell Energy’s power plants are being employed by technology companies that value strong environmental performance and high-quality, reliable power. The company recently completed a project in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with Microsoft to build a zero-carbon data center. With biogas supplied from the Dry Creek municipal wastewater treatment facility, the fuel cell generates more than 300 kW of renewable power, two-thirds of which will power the data center, with the remainder powering the wastewater facility.

Biogas and fuel cells are not just limited to stationary applications. FuelCell Energy recently completed an advanced demonstration in Fountain Valley, California, on the world’s first trigeneration plant. The project harnesses on-site biogas to produce electricity, heat and hydrogen for use in fuel cell electric vehicles.

While this is the first plant of its kind, the potential is tremendous for sustainable power generation as well as transportation. By one account, installing similar trigeneration systems at California’s major waste water treatment plants would generate enough hydrogen to power about 10 percent of all the cars on the state’s roads.

Harnessing biogas in the most efficient way possible makes sense, and will undoubtedly continue to gain traction. However, the government can play an important role in hastening the transition to these technologies.

Our association continues to advocate for consistent and predictable funding for research and development and advanced demonstration projects. The same assurances should be extended to our tax policies, where appropriate and predictable tax credits should be extended for these technologies.

Policymakers from both parties have generally agreed with these positions, but we must continue to remind it takes smart, predictable policies to get the job done.

Author: Bud DeFlaviis Director of Government Affairs, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association bdeflaviis@fchea.org www.fchea.org

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 35

¦BIOGAS

DEPARTMENT

OUTSOURCED OPERATION: The digester built and owned by FCPC Renewable Generation LLC, which is owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has enlisted Natural Systems Utilities for both operations and maintenance as well as feedstock procurement. The facility accepts a varied mix of food waste streams and its biogas produces enough power to satisfy 1,500 homes.

Mitigating Operational Risk Anaerobic Digesters are among the most challenging biomass conversion technologies in the industry. New Jersey-based Natural Systems Utilities is increasingly being tapped to offer its O&M expertise to a growing roster of digester facilities.

BY TIM PORTZ

A

naerobic digestion is perhaps the biomass industry’s most malleable technology. Digesters are deployed into a broad array of civil and industrial environments. In fact, anaerobic digesters are deployed in so many different environments the actual number of operating digesters remains elusive. Anaerobic digesters can be found at breweries large and small, food processing facilities, wastewater treatment plants, waste management facilities, dairies, swine operations, and, increasingly, purpose-built community digesters that accept multiple feedstocks, leveraging their rich organic content to generate renewable power or even a purified biogas that can be used as a vehicle fuel.

This flexibility brings with it some unique challenges, however.

36 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Because of the unique nature of most digesters and the feedstocks that make them go, there is no uniform approach to successfully operating a digester, no set protocols on how to troubleshoot digesters that aren’t performing at anticipated levels. Recognizing this, New Jersey-based Natural Systems Utilities, a sustainable infrastructure development company, has developed an operations and maintenance (O&M) offering into its suite of services.

“It’s the reason we’re in this business,” says Ryan Brandt, executive vice president at NSU, noting that the efficient operation of digester assets has been a challenge for the biogas sector. NSU leveraged a management team with deep experience in wastewater treatment and water reuse strategies to build out its digester offer-

BIOGAS¦

ing. “How NSU is different is that we are focused on biological wastewater operations and our executive management team has significant experience operating those systems,” Brandt says. “NSU senior managers are microbiologists, engineers, Ph. D.s and wastewater operators. They are all supported by our technology team led by Eugenio Giraldo, an industry expert in anaerobic digestion.”

The NSU team finds itself involved with digester projects in three different ways. The owners and operators of existing digesters that aren’t achieving operational goals often reach out to NSU to turn the productivity of their digesters around. Additionally, when project developers begin the work of financing their project, they often receive pushback from lenders and financiers to shore up their operational plan and NSU’s services become a way to mitigate this risk. Finally, NSU works in concert with other parties to finance, build, and operate facilities.

Brandt points to the recently completed and commissioned digester at the Forest County Potowatomi Community renewable generation facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a practical example of successfully addressing the challenges digesters can present. The nearly BEING BILINGUAL: For digesters to get to and remain at expected levels of energy production, its $20 million dollar facility, built in 2013 operators must be well-versed in both the mechanical and biological aspects of the facility. Here a

by Miron Construction takes in a diverse worker checks in on the genset at the Forest County Renewable Generation facility.

PHOTO: NATURAL SYSTEMS UTILITIES mix of food waste streams, creating biogas that is used to make electric power. don't want to start injecting waste into our digester that is toxic At peak efficiency, the facility is capable of providing power for to our microbiology or requires us to add chemicals to accept the 1,500 homes, which is currently sold to WE Energies under a 15- material. For example, some waste streams are quite acidic and they year power purchase agreement. Additionally, captured waste heat require caustic to be added to balance the pH before adding them is used for water and space heating at the nearby Potawatomi Bingo to the digester. NSU understands the feedstock characteristics and Casino. The facility attracted numerous industry accolades during we blend compatible wastes to naturally buffer our recipe, driving its construction and commissioning, but a challenge that remains down the use of commodity chemicals required to keep our bugs is making sure the digester operates continually at or even above happy.” expected levels of productivity.

For digester operators, achieving a steady, predictable and “At a facility like this one that brings in a diverse number of constant rate of production is the ultimate goal, and understandfeedstocks, what you really need to do, from the operational side, is ing the biogas potential of all the feedstocks available to introduce understand what the characteristics are of the feedstocks that are into the digester is an ongoing process. Owners and operators of coming into your facility,” Brandt says. “We look at concocting an new digesters often find themselves managing a large volume of entire recipe. We focus on understanding and testing every load diverse feedstocks immediately following commissioning. “When that comes into our facility. We make sure we’re not getting a load you ramp up a facility, you get a lot of waste and you can start to that’s going to cause an issue with the biology of the system. We get a lot of biogas production. The challenge, however, is you start

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 37

¦BIOGAS going up and down with biogas production.

Our operators try to attenuate that to arrive at as constant a rate of production as they can, which keeps our microbiology balanced and in check,” Brandt says.

For Brandt, achieving a steady, predictable level of biogas production reaches far beyond the facility gate. A digester’s performance and stability are pinned directly to the feedstock procurement engine that owners build to supply the facility. “We have experience not only in operations but in procuring feedstock. We’re doing that in the Milwaukee area; we’re also doing that at our New Jersey facility,” Brandt says. “You have to look at the big picture and try to make this entire facility operate as a full circle and a build a really good, humming infrastructure. NSU believes it is critical for the operator to lead the feedstock procurement process so they can effectively manage the entire process, adding, it makes no sense to force incompatible feedstocks into an operation, and the opera-

38 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

tor needs to be heavily involved and preferably in charge of this effort. “You’ve got to put a number of pieces together and have the experience, as well, to give you a successful operations project,” he says. “Those facilities that hire just an operator and are trying to focus solely on operating the facility may do a really good job at operating it, but you really have to have a full-circle understanding of the feedstocks that come in, and what feedstocks can’t, with each unique digestion technology.”

Putting Financiers At Ease As NSU’s experience and track record of success continues to grow and activity in the biogas space accelerates, Brandt and his team find themselves being contacted more and more by other developers and owners.

There is a strong appetite for digesters in the development and investment community, driven by the increasingly attractive economics of solid digester projects. One

of the bigger sticking points with many digester projects, however, is risk in effectively operating a system that is both biological and mechanical. “It’s not enough to just know the equipment and not understand the biology. You have to understand both.

That’s where NSU sees a gap in the market,” Brandt says. The financial community has taken notice and are urging developers seeking financing to look closely at their operational strategy.

“When these projects come up, the developers may actually call us and say, ‘Hey, we’re trying to get financed. We’d like to talk to you about operating the plant so that we can go through our due diligence process and close on financing,” Brandt says. “My sense is there will be more parties looking for third-party O&M. I think it’s really being demanded by the finance community.”

Once engaged with a project, NSU deploys a strategy of sound facility specific hires they can blend with the expertise they already have on staff. “When we hire a plant manager, we might be looking at someone that has not just the ability to operate the facility but can he manage the broader operation. They can offer expertise on the financial side, managing employees, or overseeing the operations or even having a real hands-on level of experience with the technology,” Brandt offers.

“Then we’ll hire the technical staff, maybe someone that is really good with pumps, really good with motors or someone really good with an engine. We’ll have those kind of people on site. Then, we utilize what we call our corporate support, which is a bit like a digester SWAT team. That includes our chief technology officer, our director of technical operations, and our regional operations manager. It’s made up of at least three people and those people will be monitoring data from the plant and be in contact with plant personnel on if not a daily basis then certainly on a weekly basis. They’ll make regular site visits and look over everything and make sure everything is operating properly.”

Encouraged by the success they are having helping other projects get financed, NSU is not afraid to develop projects themselves. “And obviously, we see our involvement in our own projects and op-

BIOGASŒ erating those projects as a significant risk mitigant,� says Brandt.

In addition to leveraging the microbiology expertise NSU has on staff, the company has developed a software solution to help digester developers, owners and operators better predict biogas production before feedstocks are ever brought on site.

NSU calls this solution its BOOM model, or Biogas Optimization and Operations Management. “It’s a software program that we have that basically predicts how much biogas you’re going to be able to provide with a given type of feedstock based upon the chemistry of that feedstock and how far you can start pushing these digesters,�

Brandt says.

While engineers are capable of designing digesters to hold a given amount of feedstock, no one has really tackled the challenge of connecting that to the feedstocks that are available and their inherent biogas potential. “What we have is a predictive model that basically is calibrated directly to the site based on the existing chemistry. This is real time,� Brandt says.

The end result is that operating teams can strategically target certain waste streams over others, dialing in a digesters feedstock program to maximize its productivity.

The Road Ahead NSU continues to refine its offering and sharpens its tools as the company sees a biogas industry poised for continued growth. For Brandt and NSU, the opportunities in the industry are likely to continue to be regionalized, at least in the near term.

When asked to cite some of the regional differences in market opportunities Brandt says, “In the Midwest, where I’m focused, very little private investment is really done in the municipal wastewater treatment plants. On the East Coast, it’s a very common practice.� This, by no means indicates that NSU doesn’t expect opportunities in the Midwest. “Agricultural anaerobic digestion is also an area of continued growth, especially if you start looking at the watersheds and where do those nutrients go. I don’t see that slowing down too much,�

Brandt says.

Of course, without buyers willing to buy biogas-generated power or, increasing-

ly, vehicle fuel, market growth will be slow. “A lot is going to be dependent upon the offtakes. It’s one thing to be able to develop a project and find a feedstock. If you don’t have an offtake or a certainty on the offtake to finance these projects, it’s all moot,�

Brandt concludes.

While working to shore up market opportunities and the legislation that affirms those opportunities are the domain of industry associations, NSU has taken up the yoke of solidifying the foundation of digester operation. If industry advocates continue

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to have success creating market opportunities for biogas developers, those developers and their finance partners now have an O&M resource available that is steadily building a pattern of successful and predictable operation.

Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine tportz@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4969

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JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 39

AdvancedBiofuelNews Oregon moves forward with Clean Fuels Program A public comment peCarbon dioxide reduction requirements riod on the Oregon Clean Fuels 2016 0.25% Program closed in November.

2017 0.50% The program, which is similar to 2018 1.00% California’s Low Carbon Fuels 2019 1.50% Standard, requires a 10 percent reduction of greenhouse gases 2020 2.50% from transportation fuels over a 2021 3.50% 10-year period.

2022 5.00% The first phase of the pro2023 6.50% gram was adopted in December 2024 8.00% 2011. In February, the Oregon 2025 and beyond 10.00% Department of Environmental SOURCE: Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Quality was directed to draft rules for the second phase of to implement the program after the end of the program. The comment the year. period on those rules has closed. While A wide variety of fuels would be the DEQ is moving forward to implement eligible for use under the program, includthe program, it is currently subject to a ing biogas-based biofuels, cellulosic fuels, statutory sunset date of Dec. 31, 2015. first-generation biofuels, electricity and If that sunset date is not removed by the hydrogen fuels. state legislature, the DEQ will be unable

Purdue researchers announce new biofuel processing technology Researchers at Purdue University have demonstrated a new process to convert biomass into liquid fuel. The method could make mobile processing plants possible. A patent application on the concept was filed in 2008. The research team has now demonstrated that the process works in laboratory experiments, said Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering.

The new method, called fast-hydropyrolysis-hydrodeoxygenation, works by adding hydrogen into the biomass-processing reactor. Critical to the technology is a new platinum-molybdenum catalyst and design

40 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

of the hydropyrolysis reactor system. The new method offers advantages over conventional technologies because it produces biofuel from all biomass as opposed to a portion of the biomass such as cellulose or lignin only, Agrawal said.

To complete the reaction, biomass and hydrogen is fed into a high-pressure reactor and subjected to extremely fast heating, rising within a second to more than 900 degrees Fahrenheit. To date, the process has been tested with cellulose and poplar wood, showing that it represents a potentially practical new biofuels technology.

ADVANCED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS¦

Hope vs Change

BY MICHAEL MCADAMS

The midterm elections have been completed and the American people voted overwhelmingly for change in the United States Senate. In the election to break gridlock in Washington, we saw a clean sweep by the Republican party in all but two races that were considered toss-ups. Even states that had posted significant polling leads for incumbents, such as Sen. Warner in Virginia, produced cliffhangers and were not declared final for days following the election.

So, what does it mean for biofuels? And, what does it bode for policy efforts in the new Congress beginning in 2015? Many pundits would say “not much,” I disagree.

Already we see significant changes in terms of who will set the agenda and run the individual committees in the Congress. For example, you have a Kentucky Majority Leader, Sen. McConnell, who will set the agenda for the Senate floor rather than Harry Reid from Nevada. For the past two years, Sen. Reid was very cautious in terms of allowing votes on a variety of contentious issues. As a direct result, Democratic candidates had a record that was “97 percent in favor with the president” due to the limited number of votes they were able to take, which was a favorite, and effective, talking point of Republican challengers.

Sen. McConnell has promised a return to regular order.

That means lots of votes on lots of potentially contentious issues. It will be interesting to see if he follows through on that pledge given the number of moderate Republicans in his party who will be up for election in 2016. Nevertheless, if he does allow regular order, then individual senators will have more opportunities to fire up challenging amendments on issues like climate change or water policy, both during consideration in committee and during open debate on the Senate floor.

A second major change will occur at the committee level. In my view, the No. 1 changes for the biofuels industry are the demotions of Sen. Boxer, from California, to the minority, and the ascension of Sen. Inhofe, from Oklahoma, as the chairman of the Environment and Public works committee. Sen. Inhofe has been a frequent and open critic of climate change policy, challenging the basic facts and the validity of the issue itself. As for biofuels, he has been an open critic of corn ethanol for years and will set the agenda on the committee for any actions to consider, including potential reform of the RFS. Given

the fact that several Democrats already wish to reform the RFS, this could create a bipartisan base on which to build compromise legislation.

In the House, we see a change in the leadership for the Republicans with a new Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, who is a very different figure than former Leader Eric Cantor, who was defeated. Additionally, Frank Palone from New Jersey is taking the helm as the leader of the Democrat minority on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. A seat Pallone gained by defeating Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked candidate in a tightly contested vote of the House Democratic Caucus.

Let me conclude by asking what’s on the plate that we ought to be watching? The EPA has kicked the can down the road on the RVO numbers for both 2014 and 2015, until late in 2015. Clearly, this shows a lack of support or clarity by the administration on how to manage the RFS. To me, this situation will raise the likelihood that members of the House or Senate will take up this issue on their own to try to either steady the program or to repeal it.

Tax policy was half a loaf at the end of the year, with a one-year extension granting a reprieve from disaster but resulting in renewed uncertainty. Given all the efforts to move a two-year bill and the conversations around overall tax reform, it’s anyone’s guess what Congress will do with the biofuels tax extenders in 2015. So, be careful betting on 2015 like many of you did in 2014. At the end of the day, there is still much division and contention between the two parties and the rules the Republicans used to block progress (requiring 60 votes to pass even consensus bills) are still in place and will likely to be used by the Democrats.

After all, turnabout is fair play.

Therefore, we will have to be engaged, reach out to the new members and build new alliances to preserve and move forward a growing and challenging advanced and cellulosic industry. Finally, we must press the administration to continue to complete new pathways for new companies and their fuels, and expedite the final RVOs for the coming year. Buck up, this one is going to be a bit rough.

Author: Michael McAdams President, Advanced Biofuels Association michael.mcadams@hklaw.com www.advancedbiofuelsassociation.com

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 41

¦ADVANCED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS

DOWN THE LINE: Rail cars like these are vital components of any biofuels producer’s production strategy. The inability to move finished product away from the plant creates a bottleneck that quickly forces producers into production decisions they’d rather not have to make.

42 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

ADVANCED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS¦

Planning for Rail Bottlenecks Rail operators promise fewer delays, more transparency, and big capacity investment for the nation’s rail network in 2015. A few seasoned CEOs offer insight on coping with and planning for delays in winter.

BY CARLA HARPER

S

eventy percent of ethanol producers rely on railroads to ship product, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Rail Road Performance Measures website, a voluntary site for six major North American freight railroads, showed a 23 percent decrease in average speeds of the common manifest trains (multiple product carriers) from April 2013 to April 2014.

In the April 2 edition of This Week in Petroleum, EIA reported that ethanol stores nationwide dipped 4 million barrels below the average March levels of 20 million barrels.

East Coast inventories last March reached 4.5 million barrels, the lowest since EIA began recording data in June 2010.

Ethanol plants generally have about five to 10 days of storage capacity, according to several company representatives. When storage runs out, there are three choices: shut down, go into an idle mode, or use trucking to move product off site.

Lamberton, Minnesota-based Highwater Ethanol CEO Brian Kletscher says, “I’ve got 10 days of storage. After that, we must shut down, but not for more than about 12 hours at a time.”

According to Kletscher, weather related train delays resulting in nine down days for Highwater at a cost of $1.5 million in lost in-

come last year.

“Added cars and crews help, but mother nature overrules at times, and this must be factored into the bottom line. The key is to have a winter plan in place before the temperatures plunge. You’ve just got to monitor the weather systems and know that a delay anywhere along the system will create a domino effect,” says Kletscher.

“Rail delays have our attention, given last year’s experience,” says Mike Jerke, CEO, Guardian Energy Management LLC of Janesville, Minnesota. “Our solution is to keep the communication lines open with our marketers and actively stay ahead of car movements, where things are slowing down or speeding up. You’ve just got to be mindful.”

And to those new cellulosic facilities coming on line, Kletscher says, “If you’re plan’s not working, reach out to your fellow ethanol producers. We’ve been through it.”

Investment And Preparedness “BNSF is working with our ethanol customers to make sure their products get to their ultimate destination,” wrote Amy Casas, BNSF director of corporate communications, in a statement to Biomass Magazine on Nov. 14.

The statement touted “an industry record capital investment of $4 billion to improve our network and expand capacity,

JANUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 43

¦ADVANCED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS particularly in the Northern region of our network to handle growth.” The investment includes 500 new locomotives as well as 6,000 new employees, representing 13 percent of a 46,000-person workforce. Better communication with customers is also promised.

BNSF posted a Winter Action Plan to its website Oct. 30 with detailed steps taken to keep engines from freezing and prepare for forecasted weather and emergencies. The tactics include increasing mechanical rapid responders by 25 percent, adding 800 new container and trailer spots at key intermodal facilities in the Chicago area, and increasing emergency generators and salt supplies.

Railroad Performance Measures website, which includes weekly statistics for cars on line, train speed, and terminal dwell, reported BNSF manifest train speeds steady since late November 2013, averaging about 19 miles per hour. Unit train speeds are up slightly to 20.8 from a fluctuation between a low of 17 and high of 22.3. Dwell times have changed little from a year ago November, but are down slightly from 30.8 hours in 2013 to 28.5 this year. That number reflects the average of all terminals.

BNSF is performing better than last February when its Galesburg, Illinois, terminal, which handles many ethanol cars from Iowa, reached a peak dwell time of 60 hours.

Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont, Minnesota, sits on the CP line. According to CEO Randall Doyal, the company needs to ship roughly 120 million gallons or about one train a week. It has 250 cars in the fleet, which is fine if the cars are coming back on schedule.

“Last winter, we had the railroad saying they were pulling a car, yet we had pictures of the car still sitting in Des Moines, Iowa.”

Doyal predicts seven years at least for the rail carriers to resolve what he sees as an overcommitted and under-employed industry. “I think the railroads looked at their book of business a number of years ago and felt right sized.” Then the Bakken shale play opened up and, according to Doyal, “suddenly the railroads have more freight than they can shake a stick at. Ethanol took a back seat.”

The winter railroad debacle led RBob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association president, to write a public letter, run in part, April 3, by the Wall Street Journal, to the Association of American Railroads stating that the “sheer chaos” of the rail system damaged the 44 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

ethanol industry by increasing prices that ultimately landed on consumers at the gas pump.

EIA reported on its website in April, “Rail congestion, cold weather raise ethanol spot prices,” that spot ethanol prices expanded by $1 in March between New York Harbor and Chicago. The spread is usually about 25 cents. The extra 75 cents is attributed to the winter railroad delays.

It further stated that ethanol futures prices suggest that market participants expect short-lived price increases as rail system congestion improves and producers increase production in response to prices.

As of Dec. 4, ethanol prices were at $1.77 per gallon, according to EIA.

3 Winter Options According to a range of biofuel producers, there are only three options when delays back up storage—shut down, idle mode, or trucking.

Pipelines would be the safest, most efficient means to cover the open distances to major ports but Doyal says, “We’d need to move 10 times the volume to make the costs feasible.”

Eagle Ford Shale, an online oil industry market report, indicated a coming bottleneck back in 2011 stating, “We need more pipelines delivering crude in the Gulf Coast. We don’t have capacity, so oil marketers resort to railroad agreements.”

Trucking is limited due to costs as well as crude delivery demands. Only short hauls make sense for the trucking option.

Kletscher points out that the best plans made by railroads and ethanol producers alike can always be foiled by weather. Every operation has contingency and emergency plans that involve slowing or even shutting down, depending on management’s calculus of the alternative costs.

Plans like those of Highwater Ethanol, Al-Corn and the cellulosic producers all include avoiding shut downs. “The key is to first have a plan. Run through it periodically. Think today about worst cases and talk to your board about the costs,” Kletcher says.

“The issue with ethanol is a high water concentration. We use water for cooling plus the mash has a high water concentration. It’s better to not shut down,” Doyal says. Water in the lines must be kept

ADVANCED BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS¦ warm in order to keep the distillation process going and the pipes from freezing.

“It’s all about logistics, whether a rail car is delayed or a truck tips over. We ship out by rail on a short line, so product can go either direction,” says Patrick Gruber, CEO of advanced biofuels maker Gevo based in Englewood, Colorado.

Getting important inputs in can also factor during extreme weather delays. “We slowed down due to an inability to get natural gas delivered over excessive cold,” Jerke says.

Taking realistic stock of what the railroad can honestly accomplish is part of the plan too. When trains are running on schedule, a smaller leased railcar fleet works for ethanol producers, but when they are not, issues arise.

Al-Corn, according to Doyal, only needs 250 cars in its fleet, if the cars are coming back every five days or less as promised by the railroad. What the railroad called a “virtual pipeline,” didn’t perform under extreme weather conditions and increased crude oil production.

Government Intervention Complaints of rate increases and unfair preference to the oil industry got the attention of legislators and federal regulators.

John Thune, R-N.D., Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.V., Commerce Committee chairman, introduced the STB Reauthorization Act of 2014 in September. The bill will “…increase efficiency of the Surface Transportation Board by changing internal processes and increasing timeliness of STB decisions to improve U.S. rail service,” according to a press release.

In October, the Surface Transportation Board initiated new weekly reporting requirements for all Class I carriers in order to “better understand performance across the entire network.” The data, which is not much different from the existing voluntary reporting at the Railroad Performance Measures site, is publicly available at www.stb.dot.gov. It includes summary of service in general, average train speeds by type of freight, total car types on line, average dwell time at origin, and more.

Hinging on Distribution Doyal recalls the early ’80s, following the oil embargo and the big push for energy inde-

pendence, working for small renewable producers in Portales, New Mexico. “The chemist told us the future is cellulose because of its massive availability and low cost to grow. He didn’t foresee the obstacles,” he says. While three celebrated new cellulosic facilities came online this year in the Midwest, with a fourth projected for early 2015, the biofuels industry as a whole remains concerned about the impacts of federal policy.

Kent Hoekman, former petroleum engineer now with the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, says, “Developing liquid renewable energy is easy. Man’s been converting starch to alcohol for thousands of years.” Even a technology that converts cellulosic feedstock to liquid fuel is now proven. Hoekman reports that what’s hard today is launching a functional industry, from raw material to customer. “The whole thing has to work at cost and scale. You won’t see any mom ‘n pop operations,” claims Hoekman.

Hoekman ticks off the requirements: “feed stock supply chain, technology, infrastructure, transportation, distribution, customer acceptance, cost, codes and standards, regulations, environmental concerns, and investment. It takes big investment backing and a lot of skill.”

Gruber says transportation and cold weather are the least of his problems. “Unstable and unclear government policy is hurting us because it’s confusing for investors.”

“All ethanol producers have the same weather, transportation and storage problems” Doyal says. “We also share a common concern over the unpredictable stance of EPA toward renewables.”

All the hurdles, much like the original railroad expansion westward, circle back to investor interest and consumer acceptance, both of which can be very fickle. Fortunately, weather forecasts for 2015 are mild, comparatively.

Author: Carla Harper carlamgarrison@gmail.com

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